Today, Er Abdul Ghani Kohli, former Minister, J&K, called on Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha at Raj Bhavan.

The former Minister, accompanied by representatives of nomadic tribes, discussed various matters pertaining to the welfare of nomadic people with the Lt Governor. They put forth the demands of facilities like transportation and offline permission options for smooth migration of nomads to high-altitude regions of the UT, besides establishing an Eklavya Model School at Kalakote and other demands.

While interacting with the delegation, the Lt Governor said that the UT Government is taking dedicated initiatives for the holistic welfare of all tribal people of J&K.

The Lt Governor assured them that the issues and demands would be looked into for their early redressal on merit.

Terrorists are not liking the wind of peace flowing in Kashmir. So nowadays, terrorists are targeting security forces and people from outside states.

Terrorists shot non-local drivers in Pulwama. He was immediately admitted to the nearest hospital for treatment. The driver has been identified as Sonu Sharma, son of Banarasi Sharma, resident of Pathankot. Other details are awaited.

Reasi Police claimed to have busted a gang involved in selling fake helicopter tickets to Vaishno Devi pilgrims with the arrest of three accused from Bihar. Police also identified 40 websites involved in selling phoney helicopter tickets to pilgrims.

Reasi SSP Amit Gupta said, “Police had registered three separate FIRs at Katra police station based on complaints regarding fake online helicopter tickets being sold to Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrims. Special teams were framed under the supervision of Katra SP Amit Bhasin and were dispatched to various parts of the country for the arrest of the accused involved in the crime. After a hectic investigation, a team headed by Kuljeet Singh, SDPO Katra, zeroed in on some places in Bihar and subsequently raided various locations and nabbed three fraudsters from Bahadurpur area in Khagaria district of Bihar.”

All accused were brought to Katra after obtaining a transit remand from the court. The accused were identified as Ashok Mistri, Santosh Kumar and Lakhpati Paswan. Police also claimed to have seized incriminating material from their possession. “Moreover, during the investigation, 40 fake websites selling fake helicopter tickets to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrims were identified and blocked,” the SSP said.

Last month on March 18, Jammu Police, with assistance from Rajasthan Police had, busted a gang of fraudsters offering fake online helicopter tickets to Vaishno Devi pilgrims through fake websites and had arrested four people.

A lookout notice has been issued against former Jammu and Kashmir minister Babu Singh who has gone underground after his name figured as a suspect in a hawala transaction case here, officials said Wednesday.

Singh’s link to the case surfaced after the police Thursday arrested Mohmmad Shareef Shah (64) and seized Rs 7 lakh of alleged hawala money from him.

The seized cash was allegedly meant to support the insurgency in the Jammu district, the police said.

“We have issued a lookout notice for Babu Singh,” a senior police officer told PTI, adding that the Jammu senior superintendent of police issued the notice.

The J&K Police has also informed airport authorities at various places so that Singh does not flee the country, they said the police are focusing on various areas in different states to track Singh down. On Friday, Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbagh Singh had said that the politician is absconding and will be traced soon.

“After his questioning, a complete picture will emerge in the case which is linked to Pakistan and separatism,” he had said, adding that some people have already been arrested, and the money trail indicates that the fund was meant for subversive and anti-national activities.

Shareef Shah, a resident of south Kashmir, was arrested with the Hawala money on March 31 in the Gandhi Nagar area of Jammu on Thursday.

Shah had disclosed that he was tasked by Jatinder Singh, aka Babu Singh, chairman of the Nature-Mankind Friendly Global Party and a former minister in the PDP-Congress coalition government in Jammu & Kashmir, to collect money from a person named Omer in Srinagar.

Shah had come to Jammu after receiving the money from Omer. He revealed the names of his local and overseas associates — Javed and Khatib from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and Farooq Khan from Toronto.

Shareef Shah is also the admin of a secret WhatsApp group having members from various nations, including Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

S Gurdev Singh from Jammu, Sidhant Sharma from Kathua and Shrief Sartaj from Jammu were detained for questioning. A case has been registered, and an investigation is in progress.

Babu had initially launched the International Democratic Party and then contested and won the 2002 assembly elections from Kathua.

Subsequently, he was inducted as a minister in the Congress-PDP coalition government.

The government of Jammu and Kashmir has reported receiving proposals for investments worth approximately ₹ 51,000 crore so far, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

Responding to a question in a written reply, the Minister shared the information indicating towards these proposals since the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35 A from Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019.

Moreover, in order to boost industrial development in the Union Territory, Rai said the government of Jammu and Kashmir has also notified the Jammu and Kashmir Industrial Policy, Jammu and Kashmir Private Industrial Estate Development Policy and Jammu and Kashmir Industrial Land Allotment Policy.

He further said that the government of India has notified the New Central Sector Scheme for Industrial Development of the Union Territory on February 19 last year to attract capital investments in Jammu and Kashmir with a financial outlay of ₹ 28,400 Crore (upto the year 2037).

“The Scheme provides four types of incentives namely Capital Investment Incentive, Capital Interest Subvention, Goods and Services Tax Linked Incentive and Working Capital Interest Subvention,” said the Minister when asked, “whether the government has announced any industrial policy for Jammu and Kashmir to boost industrial activities in the UT”.