Lucknow: Muzaiburrahman Bablu, former city president of the Samajwadi Party (SP), died by suicide at his residence in Maulviganj, around 10:30 AM on Friday. The SP leader, who had been battling cancer, used his licensed revolver to take his own life.

Moments before his death, Bablu sent a poignant message in a WhatsApp group that read, “Duaon mein yaad rakhna” (Remember me in your prayers). The sound of the gunshot drew neighbours to the scene, where they found the SP leader in a critical condition.

Those who knew him were aware of his illness, but none expected him to take such a drastic step. According to close associates, Bablu had been suffering from both physical and mental distress for an extended period, which ultimately led to this tragic decision.

The Samajwadi Party expressed their grief over Bablu’s death through their official account on X (formerly Twitter), stating, “The demise of Lucknow’s former city president Muzaiburrahman Bablu ji is extremely sad. May God grant peace to his soul and our deepest condolences to the bereaved family.”

Following the news of his death, numerous party workers gathered at Bablu’s residence. After being alerted, the cops reached the spot.

The police recovered the body and sent it for a post-mortem examination.

Hyderabad, Jan 10: Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy said on Friday that Future City proposed to be developed near Hyderabad will compete with international cities like New York, London, Seoul, Tokyo and Dubai.

Addressing the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) National Council meeting here, he said the government has decided to build fourth city that is Future City in Hyderabad. “We want to build the greatest city in India. It will be pollution-free Net zero and services sector oriented,” he said.

Asserting that Telangana State completed 10 years, he said that the government now has a much bigger dream of the development of Telangana and it is “Telangana Rising”.

The Chief Minister said Hyderabad was being developed as a city to deal with natural disasters. Measures have been initiated to make Hyderabad pollution-free city. As part of these efforts, polluting vehicles are being shifted beyond the Outer Ring Road.

Revanth Reddy said the government was focusing on promoting the automobile sector in Telangana. Registration and road tax are exempted for electric vehicles. Telangana has already registered the fastest sale of electric vehicles in India. A fleet of 3,200 electric buses will be added to the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation soon.

He told the CII representatives that the Musi Rejuvenation project will revive the water body and facilitate the flow of fresh water on a 55 km stretch in Hyderabad. The government has already started works which require meeting Hyderabad’s drinking water needs till 2050.

The Chief Minister said that a 360 km long Regional Ring Road (RRR) has been planned. The state government has requested the Centre to approve regional ring rail around the RRR. Radial roads connecting ORR and RRR are also being developed. The area between ORR and RRR will be developed as a hub for the manufacturing sector. Pharma, Life Sciences, Aerospace, Defence, EVs and solar industries will be set up here, he said.

He said since Telangana does not have a coastline, the government is planning to develop a Dry Port. A special road and railway connection with the Bandar port in Andhra Pradesh is also planned. Stating that the government’s vision is to strengthen the state economy, he invited investors to invest in the state.

He assured them that the government was creating an ecosystem with the highest ease of doing business. The Chief Minister told the industrialists that the state government has set up a special skill university for skill development. The government has constituted a Board with Anand Mahindra as its Chairman.

He appealed to the CII representatives to support the Skill University corpus fund. “We are also establishing a Sports University and a Sports Hub,” he added.

Agartala, Jan 10: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths on Friday conducted raids in Tripura and searched the residence of a police official and premises of several people allegedly involved in drug peddling and money laundering cases, sources said.

The sources said that the ED officials conducted the raids and examined documents and various papers of the persons allegedly involved in the drug business and money laundering.

These raids were mainly conducted in various places of three districts –West Tripura, South Tripura and Sepahijala.

Around 250 security personnel, including the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans, assisted the ED teams during the raids.

However, the ED has not given official confirmation about the findings of the raids.

According to the sources, the raids were conducted at the offices and residences of several key persons, who run the cross-border rackets from behind and so far remained untouched by the law enforcing agencies.

The ED teams reportedly scrutinise documents, digital evidence and other materials that could provide leads in dismantling the suspected nexus involving drug traffickers and financial offenders.

Though Tripura has become the most important producer of Ganja (marijuana) and a corridor for synthetic drugs like highly addictive methamphetamine tablets, this is the first time in Tripura that such major raids were conducted by the Central agency against the key drug players.

“In Agartala, the ED raided the houses of several illegal drug traders who have been doing the business engaging unemployed and smart semi-educated youths,” the sources said.

According to sources, the ED identified seven persons, including Dhruba Majumdar, an Assistant Sub-Inspector of Tripura Police, in the drug peddling racket. Majumdar is presently posted at the Crime Branch section under the office of the Superintendent of Police, South Tripura district and a resident at Baikhora.

According to the sources, some officials of Tripura Gramin Bank were also involved in the drug trafficking racket with some money trails linked to that bank.

The ED sleuths also summoned some Tripura Gramin Bank officials and questioned them early on Friday.

Meanwhile, just before the 2023 Tripura Assembly elections, the ED conducted raids in different places of West Tripura and Sepahijala districts as part of their investigation relating to drug trafficking cases and seized documents on bank deposits worth Rs 2 crore.