
MPPEB shadow over Jabalpur dean’s death
Dr DK Sakale, in-charge dean of Jabalpur’s Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College, was found dead at his official bungalow on Friday morning. His body had 90% burns.
Superintendent of police Harinarayanchari Mishra said, prima facie, it appeared to be a case of suicide, but investigation was looking into other angles.
The police did not find a suicide note in the house, where the 64-year-old Dr Sakale was alone when the incident took place. According to Mishra, the deceased had been taking off work frequently during the past two months.
A distinguished forensic expert, Dr Sakale is said to have a clean track record. He had taken action against a couple of MBBS students who had allegedly got admission to the medical college fraudulently.
The names of these students had cropped up during investigation into the pre-medical test scam.
The police said Dr Sakale's wife had served him tea at about 7 am. She had left for her routine morning walk after handing over a newspaper to him. On return, she found her husband lying burnt in the corridor of the house, said police.
A kerosene container, a matchbox and a few burnt matchsticks were found by the police in the garden.
Dr Sakale was on a 20-day leave and he was to retire in two months. Vice-chancellor Madhya Pradesh University of Health Sciences Dr DP Lokwani said the dean was a man of strong willpower who used to conduct 10 post-mortems a day at times.
"It looks unusual that such a person would commit suicide," he said.
Demand for inquiry
Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh demanded an inquiry into death of Dr Lokwani and said his death might be linked with the PMT scam.
He said the inquiry can be handed over to the CBI or the STF that is looking into scam.
President Junior Doctors Association of the medical college Dr Yogendra Dhakad also demanded a high-level inquiry into the dean's death.

Cold wave claims lives of two nomad children in Kashmir
- The family of nomads had been living in a ramshackle shed covered with tarpaulin and polythene in a forest area of Devsar in Kulgam district.

Govt postpones 10th round of talks with farmers' leaders to Jan 20: Reports

Glitches in Co-WIN portal leads to drop in Covid vaccination percentage in Bihar
- Vaccination officers complained that the Co-WIN portal was slow in responding that made uploading information on it time consuming and tedious.

Stalin accuses AIADMK govt of putting on hold projects brought during DMK rule

14 people develop AEFI on second day of Covid-19 vaccination drive in Bengal
- The turnout rate dropped on Monday as Co-WIN glitches continued.

High level EC team on 3-day Assam visit to take stock of assembly polls
- The Election Commission team will hold meetings with the senior bureaucrats and police officers including state chief secretary and police chief to know about security arrangements.

Two Manipur journalists held for article, released after admitting to oversight
- The police claimed that the article openly endorsed revolutionary ideologies and activities.

Retired Odisha professor seeks to donate house for construction of police statio
- In a letter to CM's private secretary, he offered to donate his three-room newly constructed house in Balitutha village of coastal Jagatsinghpur district to Odisha police.

News updates from Hindustan Times: SC panel to begin work on farm laws on Jan 19

India, Japan sign pact to give skilled workers access to Japanese jobs
- Foreign secretary Harsh Shringla and Japan’s ambassador Satoshi Suzuki signed the memorandum of cooperation (MoC) on Monday.

Tandav makers say sorry after a torrent of criticism over web series
- The controversy around 'Tandav' has triggered demands that the government quickly enact a law to regulate content on OTT platforms such as Amazon Prime and Netflix.

SC panel on farm laws to begin work on January 19
- On January 12, after two days of deliberation, the Supreme Court had suspended the pro-reforms farm laws approved by Parliament in September.

3,81,305 beneficiaries received Covid-19 vaccine, says health ministry

Indian, French Rafale jets set to take part in war games in Rajasthan
- The exercise has been codenamed 'Desert Knight 21'.

Nitish Kumar says cabinet to be expanded soon
- Nitish Kumar had said earlier that the BJP was still to hand over the list of probable candidates to be included in the cabinet.