The modest chavanni – the now-obsolete 25-paise coin – is gaining currency in western Uttar Pradesh ahead of the State election following a war of words over loyalty and caste identity between Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) president Jayant Chaudhary and his former ally, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav.

The conflict escalated after Mr. Yadav made a veiled jibe targeting Mr. Chaudhary. “We turned a chavanni into a rupee, and yet they left us,” the SP chief said at a recent event in Lucknow. This was a direct reference to Mr. Chaudhary’s own famous 2022 declaration, when he resisted Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) initial overtures during the 2022 poll by saying, “I am not a chavanni that will flip.”

After subsequently flipping to join the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) before the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Mr. Chaudhary became a prime target for the Opposition.

At the time, he defended the move because the BJP-led government conferred the Bharat Ratna on former Prime Minister and his grandfather, Chaudhary Charan Singh, before the election.

Jat loyalties in the region are broadly governed by farming issues, respect for Mr Chaudhary’s family and Hindutva, and perhaps that’s why Mr. Chaudhary explained his political switch to the electorate during the Lok Sabha election with a cryptic line, “Main palta nahin hoon, maine palti di hai, ise patakhni marna kehte hain (I didn’t turn my back or betray anyone; I executed a strategic move to slam my political rivals.”

The Jats read it in two ways. Those nursing a grudge against Mulayam Singh Yadav – for betraying the trust of his mentor Charan Singh and scuttling his son Ajit Singh’s chances of becoming U.P.’s Chief Minister after the Janata Dal came to power in December 1989 – saw Mr. Chaudhary’s flip to the BJP as a perfect move. And farmers who questioned the silence of the BJP’s Jat face, Sanjeev Balyan, during the farm agitation saw it as a strategic manoeuvre to reclaim Jat politics from the BJP while remaining in the NDA fold. Mr Balyan, who defeated then RLD Supremo Ajit Singh in 2019, lost his seat in 2024. 

Two years later, the ground has shifted. In SP’s electoral narrative, Mr. Chaudhary is in the Rajya Sabha because of its largesse and should have resigned when the RLD joined the NDA. The breakdown happened over the number of seats, but SP sympathisers underline that the BJP left only two seats for RLD in the Lok Sabha poll while the SP was ready to give five more. Out of nine MLAs, RLD has two Muslim MLAs in the Jat belt, and the SP seems keen to win them and their community support base. The party is also reaching out to Gurjars to make a choice.

Despite joining hands with the BJP, Mr. Chaudhary hasn’t given up on his bhaichara plank, but the current friction will make it difficult for him to hold on to it. It is favourable for the BJP as it will help it polarise the election in western U.P. For, after RLD’s rise in 2022, Muslim farmers once again saw Jat farmers as their shield. 

There is a section in the ruling party in the State that feels that the tie-up with the RLD didn’t help, as the INDIA bloc secured six of the eight seats in the heart of the sugarcane belt in 2024. But observers feel the BJP’s central leadership bought peace at the U.P. border by aligning with RLD, and in that sense it is a successful move because the Jat farmers had packed their lathis and parked their tractors off the National Highway 9. In its recently constituted Parliamentary Board, RLD has included Yudhvir Singh, farmer leader and the general secretary of the Tikait faction of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, as a special invitee.

RLD insiders believe the party stemmed the impending disaster from the BJP’s internal fight and is seeking a bigger slice of the pie. With the SP, RLD contested 33 Assembly seats. It helps that the Jats are agitated against the SP because now even those who feel Chaudhary Charan Singh saw Mulayam Singh Yadav as his political heir in his lifetime cannot ignore the SP chief’s personal attacks. They are using the hukka bharna (doing the bidding), a cultural metaphor of subservience, to describe Mulayam Singh’s respect for his mentor.

Meanwhile, SP’s Jat leaders are getting into semantics to deflect the issue and are invoking Charan Singh, who cautioned against the entry of diya bati (the symbol of the Jan Sangh) in villages.

There was a time when Mr. Chaudhary described the alliance between SP, Bahujan Samaj Party, and RLD as a tie-up that best reflected the State’s social fabric. He resisted projecting himself as a Jat leader in public. However, the current fracas, where SP State president Shyamlal Pal mocked the RLD leadership by saying that they “taught them (Jats) the ABCD of politics”, has forced him to invoke his Jat background through a thinly veiled post on X, where he said it would have been better had people named him rather than targeting the community.

Playing on the letters, Mr. Chaudhary remarked last week at a rally in Saharanpur, “G for Ganna and J, you know”, warning the RLD would trap the SP right between the two. SP’s Gurjar leadership responded, “If J stands for Jat, G has to be Gurjar.”

Political observers feel after resisting for a long time, Mr. Chaudhary had to bow to a large chunk of his vote bank’s demand, which saw the community’s future with the BJP after the Muzaffarnagar communal riots. However, after two years in government, where he is Minister of State for Education, the same section that didn’t support him enough when he led protests against the Agniveer recruitment is questioning his silence on Gen-Z protests against paper leaks and rewinding reels of his speeches during the farmer protests and the police action against him in Hathras after the rape and murder of a Dalit girl. The recent murder of Haryanvi singer Ankit Balyan in Shamli is seen as yet another provocation for him to get into ‘action’ mode.

The big question in the days to come is whether Mr. Chaudhary will shed the chavanni tag by making the BJP cede seats worth a rupee for him.

Published – September 08, 2026 10:55 pm IST

A three-year-old girl was raped allegedly in the house of her neighbour in Banda district of Uttar Pradesh, said the police, adding that the woman, who witnessed the crime, and her accused friend have been arrested.

“Our child was playing outside. She was lured by way of chocolates, chips and then she was raped. When she returned home, she pointed to her groin and said it’s hurting. She was heavily bleeding,” said the victim’s mother.

The mother added that they rushed to a police station, and the cops then took them to a hospital.

“Based on the woman’s complaint, a case has been filed against their neighbour, her male friend. The two have been arrested,” said a senior police officer.

The girl is undergoing treatment at the hospital and is said to be stable.

(With inputs from Maneesh Mishra) 

The police paraded them through the very market where they fired gun shots, threw down bombs in a busy market to celebrate the birthday of their gang leader in Uttar Pradesh, showed a video.

The incident, which was reported from the Lal Bangla area of Kanpur, took place on Wednesday.

CCTV footage helped zero in on the suspects and the police arrested three people.

The three arrested have been identified as Sahil (18), Debu Kumar Valmiki (27), and Razjulla (23).

The video showed that the men, surrounded by cops, were taken around the same busy market to restore confidence among the people.

A senior police officer assured that under no circumstances will the social peace be allowed to be disturbed.

“The police is keeping an eye on some of the associates of the three accused who have been arrested now and appropriate action will be taken against them,” said the senior police officer.

(With inputs from Arun Agarwal)
 

Hathras:

A teenager was apprehended for allegedly killing a boy two months ago, believing that their boarding school would be forced to shut down after the death, allowing him to go home, police in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras said on Thursday.

Police had earlier said that on September 26, a 9-year-old boy’s body was found in the backseat of the school director’s car. They suspected that the director and his family had ‘sacrificed’ the boy to bring fame to the school and resolve family issues. 

Following this, five people were arrested on charges of murder and tampering with evidence. 

However, on Thursday, Superintendent of Police, Chiranjeev Nath Sinha said that they conducted interviews with the other students and found that a 13-year-old boy had been asking classmates how he could get the school closed.

During questioning, he confessed to killing the victim using a towel, he said.

“He thought that with the child’s death, the school would be forced to shut down and he would be able to leave,” Sinha said.

CCTV footage revealed the suspect walking around with a towel before the incident. After the alleged strangulation, the teenager reportedly asked a friend to sleep next to him, claiming to be scared.

The suspect is currently in juvenile detention and an investigation is underway. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bijnor:

The Uttar Pradesh Police has arrested the mastermind of a gang involved in the abduction of actor Mushtaq Khan and comedian Sunil Pal on the pretext of inviting them for an event, officials said on Monday. Later, another accused — Ankit alias Pahadi — surrendered.

Lavi Pal alias Rahul Saini was arrested after an encounter in which he was injured on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday.

Superintendent of Police Abhishek Jha said, “On October 15, the accused, posing as Rahul Saini, invited film actor Mushtaq Khan for an event in Meerut on November 20, offering Rs 25,000 as advance payment and a flight ticket.” “On November 20, Mushtaq Khan was picked up from the Delhi airport in a car and brought to Bijnor, where he was confined in a house in Chahshiri belonging to Lavi Pal,” he added.

The actor managed to escape a day later.

“On the morning of November 21, when the kidnappers were asleep, Mushtaq Khan managed to flee and sought shelter at a nearby mosque. From there, he returned home. His event manager Shivam Yadav later filed a report at Bijnor Kotwali on December 9,” Jha said.

Further investigations revealed that the gang used a similar modus operandi to target Pal in Meerut, the officer said.

During Khan’s abduction, transactions worth Rs 2.5 lakh were made using his mobile phone. The police had already arrested six members of the gang but had been searching for Lavi Pal and three others.

Based on a tip-off, the police learned that Lavi Pal and his cousin Shubham would be arriving at Jain Farm at Mandawar Road on the night of Sunday-Monday.

“When officers attempted to apprehend them, they opened fire. A bullet hit SHO Uday Pratap’s bulletproof jacket. In the ensuing encounter, Lavi Pal suffered a bullet injury in his leg while Shubham managed to escape,” Jha said.

Lavi Pal was arrested and taken to the district hospital.

Additional Supreintendent of Police Sanjeev Bajpai said a country-made pistol, two cartridges, and Rs 35,050 extorted during Khan’s abduction were recovered from Lavi Pal.

“There are plans to take strict action under the Gangster Act, and property acquired through criminal activities will also be seized,” he said.

The Bijnor and the Meerut police had each placed a Rs 25,000 bounty on Lavi Pal.

The authorities are now interrogating him to uncover details about his gang’s operations and other potential targets in the film industry.

Later, another accused Ankit alias Pahadi surrendered at Kotwali City, SHO Uday Pratap Singh said.

A video of Ankit before his surrender at the police station became widely circulated on social media.

The video purports to show Ankit pleading with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, saying, “Yogi ji, please forgive me. Save me from the Uttar Pradesh Police. I have committed the crime of kidnapping Sunil Pal.” Sunil Pal was allegedly abducted on December 2 after being invited under the pretence of performing at an event. The kidnappers held him hostage for nearly 24 hours and released him only after extorting Rs 8 lakh in ransom.

Following this, Sunil’s wife registered a zero FIR in Mumbai that was subsequently transferred to the Lal Kurti police station in Meerut, with the local police launching an investigation into the claims. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bahraich:

A Class-11 student of Navayug Inter College at Mihinpurwa in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich district allegedly stabbed his English teacher on Thursday for confiscating his mobile phone in the classroom, police said.

The teacher, Rajendra Prasad, sustained serious injuries and is undergoing treatment at the district medical college, they added.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (City) Ramanand Prasad Kushwaha told PTI, “Three days ago, the teacher confiscated mobile phones of several students since using cell phones is prohibited on the campus. Angered by the move, one of the boys attacked the teacher with a knife when he was taking attendance on Thursday.” 

The ASP said that the injured teacher was rushed to a local hospital, which referred him to the district medical college due to the severity of his injuries.

Based on a complaint lodged by the teacher’s family members, a case has been registered against the accused student, and the knife used in the crime has been recovered, the officer said.

Speaking to reporters from his hospital bed, Mr Prasad said, “A few days ago, the mobile phones of a few students were confiscated which were returned later. However, some students got upset by the move. Three students were involved in the attack on me — one arranged the knife, another attacked me, and a third student assisted them. I was caught off-guard when I was attacked. As I tried to push him away, he struck on my head.”

 “If evidence shows the involvement of other students, action will be taken against them as well,” he said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

One fine morning, when a woman went to her son’s bedroom, to wake him up for school, little did she know it would become the cause of her death. On December 3, Aarti Devi, a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur, asked her 17-year-old son, Aman, to get up for school. But the teenager wasn’t in the mood. Instead, he got angry and pushed his mother to the ground, leading to a fatal head injury. The case came to light after Aarti’s husband Ram Milan, a scientist at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Chennai, tried calling her multiple times but found the phone to be switched off.

The horror doesn’t end here.

After killing his mother, Aman cut off the CCTV, locked the house from outside and lived with the dead body for four days. When the body began to rot and smell, he started burning incense sticks.

On the fifth day, the teenager decided to step out and sit at a nearby temple.

When Aarti didn’t answer her partner’s phone calls for two to three days, Ram Milan got worried. He dialed his sister-in-law and requested her to check on his family.

The sister-in-law found the house locked from inside. The smell coming from the house was too strong to be ignored. It smelled of crime.

“I flew back to Gorakhpur on December 8. I saw my wife’s body lying in a pool of blood,” said Ram Milan.

The family informed the police who sprang into action and sent the body for postmortem. The boy was found sitting near a pond at a nearby temple.

Initially, the boy informed the police that his mother died due to a fall. He panicked and fled the house and wandered for four days, Aman told Police.

However, the investigation raised questions. Police found bloodstains at two different spots, indicating the body was dragged. They also recovered cash from the teenager’s room.

According to the neighbours, Aman was an addict. He would take up money from his mother in the name of coaching but would spend it on alcohol and drugs. Reportedly, the school too had complaints against Aman.

“During interrogation, the boy confessed on Tuesday evening that on the morning of December 3, his mother asked him to go to school. When he refused, a dispute over money ensued, and his mother threw cash at him in frustration,” Superintendent of Police (North) Jitendra Srivastava told news agency PTI.

Raged, the teenager pushed his mother.

A case has been registered against Aman and he has been sent to a juvenile home.

Aarti Devi used to live with her son in Sushant City in Pipraich, Gorakhpur, while her partner stayed in Chennai for work and her elder daughter was in another city, studying MBBS.

Bareilly:

A local court in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly sentenced a 22-year-old person, who faked his sexual identity, to 20 years imprisonment for raping a minor girl, a police officer said on Tuesday.

Superintendent of Police (City) Bareilly Manush Pareek said initially the accused had claimed to be a female transgender, but a medical examination conducted at the SGPGI Lucknow, as per court orders, revealed the accused as biologically male.

The incident occurred in the Mirganj area in August last year. Farin Kinar allegedly lured the survivor on the pretext of watching TV and committed the crime. He also allegedly threatened to harm her if she disclosed the incident, the officer said.

“Hearing the case on Monday, Special Judge POCSO Court-3 Umashankar Khar found Farin guilty. The court considered the medical examination report and witness statements. Farin was sentenced to 20 years rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 12,000,” the officer said.

The court ordered that the fine amount be given to the victim, he said.

Farin’s counsel had claimed that Farin was transgender, wore women’s clothes and was “incapable of committing rape”. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Sambhal:

A 25-year-old man shot at a woman undergraduate student before turning the gun on himself in the Asmoli area of this Uttar Pradesh district, police said on Saturday.

The injured student (18) is undergoing treatment at a hospital.

Superintendent of Police Krishna Kumar Bishnoi said, “One Gaurav from Amroha called the woman — a BSc student — and shot at her. He then fatally shot himself with the same gun at the spot.” “The motive behind the attack is under investigation,” he added.

The teen’s mother said the student told her that she would return home by 1 pm. “I just found out that someone shot at her.” A forensic team was called to examine the crime scene. A pistol and two empty bullet casings were recovered, the police said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)