It has been five months since 64-year-old Shakambhari last met her husband Satyam Verma, a freelance translator and former journalist who was arrested on April 17 in connection with the Noida workers’ protest. “I could never have imagined that those in power could be afraid of people like Satyam,” she told The Hindu.

Uttar Pradesh Police booked him in 11 cases in addition to charging him under the National Security Act (NSA) in connection with the agitation and sent him to the Greater Noida district jail.

Earlier this month, the Allahabad High Court had quashed the detention of the other individual — 25-year-old student Akriti Chaudhary — booked under the NSA over the April stir while coming down heavily on Gautam Buddha Nagar District Magistrate Medha Roopam, who had issued the detention order.

On Tuesday, the High Court deferred the hearing on Mr. Verma’s bail plea after the State counsel sought an opportunity to file objections to his application, citing parity with Ms. Chaudhary. The court scheduled the next hearing for September 23.

In her detention order against the former journalist, where she invoked the NSA, Ms. Roopam stated that the former journalist had “engaged in criminal conspiracy to incite widespread violence and harm the state”.

‘Link’ to Nepal protests

It cited the police report, based on which the NSA was invoked, accusing him of “indirectly instigating the workers… to commit violence” not only in Noida but “also in Nepal, leading to the ‘Gen Z’ revolution”. The police report describes Mr. Verma as an “ideological catalyst” and a Marxist who “inspires the new generation to join rebel organizations” and who engages in “violent writing work hidden under a false cover”.

“Satyam and I have shared a close association for nearly four decades. During this period, Satyam worked with reputed media organisations and later left his job to take up editing work. I was with him when he was editing the [Rajkamal Prakashan’s] World Classics series. I was also with Satyam when he translated Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle into Hindi,” said Ms. Shakambhari.

Speaking to The Hindu at the jail on a rainy afternoon, the freelance translator said he had lost significant weight since his incarceration. He said initially he had difficulty in procuring medicines for ailments such as diabetes. “Things are better now. I am taking my medicines and keeping busy with reading and translation work. We also play volleyball sometimes with a ball made of discarded polythene. That’s just how we pass time here,” he said.

Mr. Verma was picked up from Janchetna bookstore in Lucknow on April 17, four days after the violence in Noida. “The police had been after us since he had put up a Facebook post in support of the workers’ movement,” said Katyayani Sinha, his colleague and relative.

She added, “He was called to a police station on April 9 and forced to delete the post. On April 13, the police again came to the Janchetna office in Lucknow and, on the pretext of questioning, took me, Satyam and Sanjay, our colleague, to the Hasanganj police station and kept us there for the entire day.” Janchetna is a book distributor. Mr. Verma, a founding member, currently serves as its treasurer.

“On April 17, around 11.30 a.m., a large police contingent surrounded the office. They seized laptops, mobile phones, books and other items and took Satyam away. They also searched his home without a search warrant. They seized his personal belongings and took him to Noida without an arrest warrant,” said Ms. Sinha. His lawyers have disputed the legality of the arrest and alleged that due process had not been followed.

The NSA against him was invoked on May 12 while he was in jail. On May 26, he was produced before the NSA Advisory Board where the police submitted additional grounds for his arrest, which his counsel Manik Gupta claimed was done in contravention of the law.

“Verma was unaware of the complete grounds of his arrest when he appeared before the board, which was illegal,” said Mr. Gupta.

He said, “As per the charges, the ‘conspiracy’ to instigate workers was hatched at Karawal Nagar on March 22. The Allahabad High Court has already noted in Akriti’s case, with respect to that event, that the gathering was nothing more than an innocuous inauguration of a library for the children of poor workers… The police have not been able to present any evidence so far to corroborate their claims.”

Perusing prison library

Mr. Verma said he has been busy reading books at the prison library, including D.N. Jha’s Ancient India: In Historical Outline, R.S. Sharma’s Early Medieval Indian Society: A Study in Feudalisation and The Making of the Madras Working Class by D. Veeraraghavan. He has also been translating the works of Howard Fast and Bertolt Brecht in Hindi.

Published – September 16, 2026 01:30 am IST

Finding merit in the couple’s allegation that the police were siding with the woman’s father, the court imposed costs on both the police authorities and the complainant. Image for representation
| Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Sambhal (UP):

The Uttar Pradesh Police Thursday rejected reports that the 1978 communal riots in Sambhal, which claimed several lives, will be reinvestigated.

“A misleading piece of information is being spread through social media and other platforms that a reinvestigation into the 1978 communal riots in Sambhal is being initiated. However, no such development is taking place,” Sambhal Superintendent of Police (SP) Krishna Kumar Bishnoi said.

He further said that “MLC Shreesh Chandra Sharma had submitted a letter under Rule 115 on December 17, requesting details regarding the 1978 riots. Consequently, the government had sought information on the matter.” The relevant information is being compiled, and it will be sent to the government once the process is complete, he said.

The police clarification comes in response to widespread rumours about a potential new probe into the decades-old riots.

Tension has been simmering in Sambhal since the November 24 violence during a court-ordered survey at the Shahi Jama Masjid in the city’s Kot Garvi area. Four lives were lost in the violence and several people left injured. 

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

Gorakhpur (UP):

Police in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur have arrested a young man for allegedly breaking into homes at night and hitting sleeping women on the head. In five such incidents spread over four months, one woman died and four others were injured. The accused, Ajay Nishad, now faces multiple cases, including that of murder.

Police have said Ajay Nishad faces a 2022 child abuse case and was in jail for six months. Out on bail, he lived in Surat for sometime before returning to Gorakhpur. His first night attack was on a July 30, when he entered a house, hit a woman on the head and fled with some jewellery.

According to police, this incident set the modus operandi for the ones that were to follow. “He started with a robbery. He attacked a woman and hit her on the head. He then adopted this as a modus operandi,” senior police officer Dr Gaurav Grover told the media.

The next incident, police said, took place on August 12. This time, the blow was more severe and the victim died of the injuries. This was followed by three more incidents, dated August 26, November 10 and November 14, police said.

Dr Grover said police have established Ajay Nishad’s involvement in the crime on the basis of CCTV footage of the localities he struck in. “He has described the chain of events during questioning. We have also corroborated the statements by the complainants in all the cases to conclude that all these crimes were committed by him,” he said.

Police said some of the complainants had spotted Ajay Nishad before he escaped. “They had described him as a young man who always wore black clothes and remained barefoot. We questioned people on and identified suspects based on these inputs,” he said.

Police have recovered several blunt objects, including an iron rod and a bed leg, suspected to have been used in the attacks. Police have said they would put the matter before a fast-track court and ensure strict punishment for Ajay Nishad.

Inputs by Abrar Ahamad

Lucknow:

The Uttar Pradesh Police’s STF has arrested a man who allegedly duped people by posing as the chief minister’s personal secretary, it said on Friday.

Farooq Aman (26) was arrested from the Kamta Tiraha (tri-section) of Lucknow.

In a statement, the Special Task Force (STF) said Aman duped people by posing as the chief minister’s personal secretary and organised online gambling.

He was arrested late on Thursday.

The accused was found to have been associated with an organised gang that cheats people by promising to help them pass competitive examinations in exchange for money and organising online gambling, the STF said.

Aman is a resident of Sahriya village in the Nizamabad area of Azamgarh district. Two mobile phones, Aadhar card, and several documents were seized from him, it said.

A case has been registered against the arrested accused at Cyber Crime Commissionerate police station, Lucknow, under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the IT Act.

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

Gonda, UP:

A retired soldier allegedly shot dead a Dalit man over a land dispute in a village here on Monday, police said.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Vineet Jaiswal said Arun Singh, a retired soldier residing in a village in the Umri Begamganj police station area, was involved in an ongoing dispute with Ramesh Bharti (46), a member of the Scheduled Caste community, over a land parcel.

On Monday evening, Arun Singh allegedly cornered Ramesh near Pakri Dubey village under the Tarabganj police station limits and opened fire, killing him on the spot, Mr Jaiswal said.

“Upon receiving information about the incident, senior police officials, along with a forensic team, visited the spot, seized the body, and sent it to the district headquarters for postmortem,” the SP said.

Based on a complaint filed by the victim’s son, a murder case has been registered at the local police station and multiple teams have been formed to arrest the accused, the officer added.

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

Creating reels has become a daily routine for many. Whether it’s dancing, modelling or any other type of video, people on the internet are always game for anything and everything, consistently making headlines. And just when you thought it couldn’t get any more bizarre, a video has emerged online, going viral, and leaving social media users outraged. In the video, a woman is seen dancing in the middle of the road while displaying a pistol in her hands. The clip, featuring popular YouTuber Simran Yadav, was reportedly shot on a highway in Lucknow. It caught the attention of Lucknow Police as well, who took notice of the same and took prompt action.

The video posted on X by user Advocate Kalyanji Chaudhary shows the influencer dancing to a Bhojpuri song in the middle of a street, while boldly brandishing a gun in her hands. “Instagram star Simran Yadav of Lucknow is openly flouting the law and code of conduct by waving a pistol on the highway and making a video viral to show off her community’s power in the society, but the officials are maintaining silence,” the X user wrote while tagging the authorities. 

Take a look below: 

instagram star सिमरन यादव लखनऊ सरेआम नियम कानून व आचार संहिता की धज्जियाँ उड़ाते हुए highway पर पिस्टल को लहराकर video वायरल करके समाज में अपनी बिरादरी का रौब जमा रहीं हैं परंतु अधिकारी चुप्पी साधे हुए है l @dgpup@ECISVEEP@Splucknow_rural@Igrangelucknow@adgzonelucknow@myogipic.twitter.com/GN4zWsc1P9

— Advocate kalyanji Chaudhary (@DeewaneHindust1) May 9, 2024

As soon as the video went viral, Lucknow Police reacted saying that an investigation over the matter has been instructed to the concerned authorities. “The concerned have been directed to take necessary action,” read the comment by the Lucknow Police. 

संबधिंत को आवश्यक कार्यवाही हेतु निर्देशित किया गया है।

— LUCKNOW POLICE (@lkopolice) May 9, 2024

Meanwhile, the video has left internet users fuming. Reacting to the clip, social media users expressed anger and urged authorities to take action immediately. “Why is she showing a gun and all so casually in the middle of the street with people around?” And sharing the same on the internet with such a massive following is simply not acceptable,” commented one user. “I hope the authorities will take some kind of action against her reel. This is not corrected,” expressed another. 

Simran Yadav has over 2.2 million followers on Instagram and over 1.8 million subscribers on YouTube.  

Bareilly, UP:

 A 25-year-old Uttar Pradesh Police constable allegedly shot himself in the head in this district on Friday, police said.

Arun Yadav of Amroha district had been on duty at Gularia Gauri Shankar Temple in the Sirauli area till the evening. After returning to his room, he allegedly switched off his mobile phone and shot himself, they said.

Hearing the sound of gunfire, police and locals rushed to his room and found Yadav lying injured. He was taken to a nearby hospital and then to the district hospital where he succumbed, the police said.

Superintendent of Police (Rural) Manush Pareek and other officials reached Sirauli police station and analysed Yadav’s mobile phone. They also spoke to his colleagues to ascertain the possible reasons behind his suspected suicide.

The police believe Yadav shot himself due to family reasons.

Senior Superintendent of Police Ghule Sushil Chandrabhan said efforts are underway to ascertain the reasons behind Yadav’s suicide. His family is being contacted and his call details are being checked.

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

Ghaziabad:

 A 40-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly raping his two minor daughters for the last four years and threatening to kill them if they objected, a police official said on Monday.

Upon noticing the girls, aged 15 and 17 years, traumatised and attending their classes half-hearted, a teacher sought to know the reason from the elder sister, the official said.

The girl narrated their plight to the teacher, who in turn informed the police.

The sisters told the teacher that after leaving the school, they used to sit in a park till their mother returned from work. They said that their father had been jobless for many days and their mother was the only breadwinner, the police official said.

ACP of Masuri Naresh Kumar said the accused was arrested on Sunday.

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

Gonda:

A man wanted in a loot case surrendered before the police here with a placard hung around his neck that read “I have come to surrender, don’t shoot me”, officials said on Wednesday.

The man, identified as Ankit Verma, has been on the run for the past six months, they added.

“It is a result of the fear of the police among the criminals that they are surrendering,” Circle Officer (CO) Navina Shukla said.

On Tuesday, Verma reached the Chhapia police station with a placard hung around his neck and shouted, “I have come to surrender, don’t shoot me,” he said.

The placard also carried the same message in his handwriting, the police officer said.

One Amarjit Chauhan of Mahuli Khori village had filed a complaint with the police alleging that when he was returning from a college on February 20 on a motorcycle, two men stopped him near Piprahi bridge and looted his two-wheeler, mobile phone and wallet at gunpoint, he said.

Subsequently, a case of robbery was lodged and during investigation, the names of Ankit Verma and another person came to the fore, Shukla said, adding Superintendent of Police Ankit Mittal also announced a reward of Rs 20,000 on their arrest.

Station House Officer Suresh Kumar Verma said the man was placed under arrest and other legal formalities were carried out.

The surrender of the man before the visit of Chief Minister Yogi Aditynath here is being described by the police as a “big achievement”. 

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