Kolkata, June 26: After four years, a prime absconding accused in the killing of a BJP worker, Abhijit Sarkar, in the 2021 post-poll violence was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday.

The arrested person was identified as Arun Dey, for whom the CBI had earlier announced a reward of Rs 50,000. He was one of the five main accused persons in the murder of Sarkar, a resident of the Kankurgachi area in North Kolkata, during the violence that broke out after the 2021 West Bengal Assembly election.

Sources said Dey was finally arrested on Thursday from a secret hideout in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal. However, further details on the matter are still awaited.

Four other prime accused persons in the case, namely Sukhdeo Podder a.k.a. Sukha, Gopal Das a.k.a. Vishal, Amit and Biswajit Das a.k.a. Bomba, are still absconding.

All five of them were identified as Trinamool Congress strongmen in the area and were also known as close confidants of the ruling party legislator from Belegahta Assembly constituency in North Kolkata, Paresh Paul and Trinamool Congress councillor in Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), Swapan Samaddar.

Paul has already been questioned by the CBI sleuths in this connection. However, his name was not in the charge sheet filed by the CBI in the matter, which angered the family members of the slain BJP worker.

To recall, Abhijit Sarkar was killed on May 2, 2021, soon after the results of the 2021 Assembly elections were declared, where Trinamool Congress bagged a landslide victory.

The CBI took over the investigation from the Kolkata Police following an order of the Calcutta High Court. In September 2021, a trial court in Kolkata declared the five accused absconders.

Thereafter, CBI declared a reward of Rs 50,000 on each of them. Finally, after over four years, one of the five accused and absconding persons has been arrested by the CBI sleuths. He might be presented at a special court in Kolkata later in the day, and the CBI counsel is expected to seek his custody for further interrogation, sources said.

Hyderabad, June 26: A young woman created a scare by driving a car on a railway track near Hyderabad on Thursday.

The woman drove the car for about seven kilometres in the Rangareddy district, disrupting railway traffic for about two hours in the morning.

At a level crossing at Kondakal, she turned the car onto the track, sending panic among passersby. Locals tried to stop her at Nagulapalli, but she allegedly threatened them with a knife and sped away.

She drove the car for a distance of about seven kilometres between Nagulapalli and Shankarpalli. A train coming on the same track was stopped after the loco pilot applied the brakes on spotting the car, averting a disaster.

The young woman’s action sent the railway staff into a tizzy. Later, the railway employees, with the help of locals, managed to stop the car and overpowered her.

Local police rushed to the spot and took her into custody. The woman was identified as Ravika Soni, a native of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.

She was said to be working as a software engineer at a company in Hyderabad. She was recently removed from the job and was reportedly suffering from depression.

Police were questioning her to find out whether she did that to make reels. She was sent for medical examination. Police personnel had a tough time controlling her.

Police officials said they have informed her family members.

The woman’s action disrupted railway traffic on the Hyderabad-Bengaluru routes. Some trains were stopped at the surrounding railway stations.

Railway police also launched an investigation into the incident. The railway authorities have taken a serious note of the breach, as this could have resulted in a disaster.

Preliminary investigation by police revealed that the woman reached Kondakal from Narsingi and instead of crossing the railway gate, she turned the vehicle onto the track, triggering panic.

New Delhi, June 26: IAF Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla is on his way to create history by becoming the first Indian to reach the International Space Station (ISS). Shukla, along with three others from the US, Poland, and Hungary, is expected to dock at the orbiting laboratory at 7 a.m.EDT (4.30 p.m. IST).

Lucknow-born Shukla launched to the ISS at 2:31 a.m. EDT (12 noon IST), from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, aboard a new SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket.

“The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying four Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) crew members is orbiting Earth and on its way to the International Space Station after launching from Kennedy Space Center at 2:31 a.m. EDT on Wednesday,” NASA shared in an update.

Dragon is carrying Ax-4 Commander Peggy Whitson, Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla, and Mission Specialists Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski and Tibor Kapu.

It “will dock to the Harmony module’s space-facing port at 7 a.m. on Thursday,” NASA added.

After 41 years, India now will have an astronaut in space. Shukla will also be the second Indian in space after Rakesh Sharma’s flight in 1984.

In his message on the way to the ISS, Shukla said, “Namaskar, my dear countrymen! What a ride! We are back in the space once again after 41 years. It’s an amazing ride. We are revolving around the Earth at a speed of 7.5 kilometres per second.”

“This is not my journey alone, but I am carrying the Indian flag with me, and this is the journey of India’s human space flight,” Shukla added.

He is carrying carrot halwa, moong dal halwa and mango nectar with him to satiate his cravings for home-made food in space.

The Axiom-4 Mission is not just a scientific feat but a testament to India’s rising stature as a global technology powerhouse. It reinforces the nation’s capability to lead space innovation, promote sustainability, and contribute meaningfully to global missions.

Once aboard the ISS, Shukla will conduct pioneering experiments related to food and space nutrition.

These experiments, developed under a collaboration between ISRO and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), with support from NASA, aim to enhance understanding of sustainable life-support systems, a crucial aspect of future long-duration space travel.

The research will also study the effects of microgravity and space radiation on edible microalgae — a nutrient-rich, high-potential food source for future space missions. The experiment will evaluate key growth parameters and examine transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic changes in different algal species in space compared to their behaviour on Earth.