The Evening Wrap: 9 killed in Kanchanjunga Express accident in West Bengal

At least nine persons, including two railway crew members, were killed on Monday when a goods train carrying containers collided with the 13174 Down Agartala Sealdah Kanchanjunga Express between Rangapani and Chattar Hat stations in West Bengal’s Darjeeling district. The accident occurred under the Katihar division of the Northeast Frontier (NF) Railway about 10 km from the New Jalpaiguri station at 8.55 a.m. on Monday. Kanchanjunga Express was moving at a slow speed when the goods train travelling on the same track overshot the signal and hit the train from the rear with a significant speed. Four coaches from the rear side of the Kanchanjunga Express and five wagons of the goods train got derailed because of the impact of the collision, blocking the train movement on both up and down lines. A few bogies of the Kanchanjunga Express, including the guards’ cabin, and two parcel vans climbed onto the bogies of the container carrying the goods train because of the impact of the collision. The coaches were badly mangled and the rescue personnel had to struggle for hours to extricate the dead and the injured. Nine persons were grievously injured and 32 sustained minor injuries. Chairperson of the Railway Board Jaya Varma Sinha said the collision might have happened as the goods train driver disregarded the signal and hit the Kanchanjunga Express. She said the loco pilot of the goods train and the guard of Kanchanjunga Express died in the accident. “We have to control human error and [installation of] Kavach is the most important thing on which work is going on in mission mode. So far, we have introduced Kavach for 1,500 km and another 3,000 km will be completed this year,” the chairperson said. She added that the railway network under West Bengal was being included under Kavach protection (made-in-India technology to prevent collisions of trains travelling on the same track) this year as part of the 3,000 km being brought under surveillance. The unaffected compartments of the Kanchanjunga Express along with the passengers injured left for Sealdah from the accident site around 12.40 p.m. on Monday. The Kanchanjunga Express had left Agartala in Tripura at 8.15 a.m. on June 16 and was expected to arrive at Sealdah at 7.20 p.m. on June 17. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw reached the accident site and took stock of the relief work. The Minister met the injured at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital. He declared an ex gratia of ₹10 lakh for the families of the casualties, ₹2.5 lakh towards the seriously injured, and ₹50,000 for those who sustained minor injuries. Mr. Vaishnaw said the accident would be investigated by the Commissioner of Railway Safety. The accident severely affected rail movement in north Bengal and northeastern States. About 37 trains had to be diverted through New Jalpaiguri, Siliguri Junction, Bagdogra and Aluabari Road stations and eight trains had to be cancelled. The debris on the up line was cleared at 5.40 p.m., according to the NF Railway, and work for restoration of the down line is in progress. Opposition targets Modi government over ‘utter mismanagement’ of Railways Expressing their condolences over the loss of lives in the collision between Kanchanjunga Express and a goods train in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri, Opposition leaders targeted the Narendra Modi government and sought accountability. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, a former Railway Minister himself, alleged “utter mismanagement” of the Railway Ministry in the past 10 years of the Modi government. “Extremely distressed by the Kanchanjunga Express train collision accident in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, where many people have lost their lives and several have been injured,” Kharge said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). As a responsible Opposition, it is our bounden duty to underline how the Modi government has systematically converted the Rail Ministry into a platform of ‘camera-driven’ self-promotion. Today’s tragedy is yet another reminder of this stark reality,” Kharge alleged. “Make no mistake, we will remain persistent with our questions and shall make the Modi government accountable for its criminal abandonment of the Indian Railways,” the Congress chief added. Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, in a post on X, said, “The increase in railway accidents in the last 10 years is a direct result of the mismanagement and negligence of the Modi government” and asserted that “as a responsible opposition, we will continue to question this blatant negligence and hold the Modi government accountable for these accidents”. “The Railway Ministry, busy in PR exercises, is miserably failing in its basic responsibility of ensuring safety. There was no accountability fixed after the deadly Balasore accident, and this latest tragedy is the result of no remedial steps taken to prevent such accidents in the future. The PM and the Railways Minister must take responsibility for this steep deterioration in safety standards in the Indian Railways,” added Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal. Urging the Railways to help the family of the victims and injured, Communist Party of India general secretary D. Raja said, “The Railway Ministry should focus on larger issues of infrastructure, rail track maintenance, signalling system, and proper manpower to prevent such mishaps. Earlier, the Railways used to have separate budget, but, ever since the BJP came to power, that is not the case.” In an X post, the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party put out a 25-year-old video of Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar, who had resigned as the Union Railway Minister after the Gaisal train tragedy of 1999 that killed over 285 people. “But Ashwini Vaishnaw in the Modi government, who had two major train accidents during his tenure, never once accepted the responsibility for the train accident,” the NCP said in its post. Trinamool Congress’ Derek O’Brien said that “a government focused on vanity projects, does not care about safety”. Nikhil Gupta, accused of murder for hire plot against Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, extradited to U.S. Indian national Nikhil Gupta, who is accused of being involved in murder-for-hire plot against a Sikh separatist, has been extradited from Czech Republic, media reports said on June 16. Gupta, 52, was arrested in the Czeck Republic last year at the request of the US government on charges of being involved in a plot to assassinate Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. He is expected to be produced before a federal court in New York on Monday. Gupta is currently lodged at the federal Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn, where he is listed as an inmate. The Washington Post was the first news outlet to report his extradition. “Gupta, who had been detained in the Czech Republic, arrived in New York over the weekend, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive legal proceedings. Typically, extradited defendants must appear in court within a day of their arrival in the country,” the daily said. Federal prosecutors allege that Gupta hired a hitman to kill Pannun. They allege that an unnamed Indian government official was involved in it. Gupta’s extradition comes ahead of the New Delhi visit of US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan for the annual ICET dialogue. The issue is expected to be raised by Sullivan before his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval. India has denied its involvement in such a case and has instituted an investigation into the allegations. Gupta through his attorney has denied the charges and has said that he has been “unfairly charged”. “Gupta’s attorney, Rohini Musa, wrote in a petition to the Indian Supreme Court that her client is being unfairly prosecuted, saying there is “nothing on record to link the Petitioner to the massive alleged plot to assassinate the alleged victim,” The Washington Post said. “Musa complained that Gupta received adverse legal advice from a Czech government-appointed attorney “under the undue influence of … U.S. Agencies” during the initial phase of his detention. She said India and the United States were “going back and forth to blame each other for their foreign policy,” the daily reported. Bihar police recover 6 post-dated cheques ‘issued for NEET question paper facilitators’ The Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of the Bihar police has recovered six post-dated cheques suspected to have been issued in favour of mafia demanding over ₹30 lakh from each candidate seeking alleged leaked question paper ahead of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to undergraduate medical courses held last month. “During the course of investigation, EOU sleuths recovered six post-dated cheques that were issued in favour of criminals who reportedly facilitated question papers to the aspirants ahead of the examination,” Manavjit Singh Dhillon, Deputy Inspector General (DIG), EOU, told PTI on Sunday. “Investigators are ascertaining details about account holders from the banks concerned,” he added. The EOU has so far arrested 13 people, including four examinees and their family members, in connection with the alleged NEET-UG 2024 paper leak case. All accused belong to Bihar, said the DIG. The EOU has also issued notices to nine candidates (seven from Bihar and one each from Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra) to join the probe, he added. The NEET-UG 2024 was conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) at 4,750 centres in 571 cities for more than 24 lakh candidates. The result of the NEET-UG 2024 was declared on June 4. As soon as the results were declared, there was an uproar, with many students alleging discrepancies. According to sources, it is suspected that nine aspirants, along with four other examinees from Bihar who have already been arrested by the EOU, received the exam’s question paper and answers in a ‘safe house’ near Patna a day before it was conducted on May 5. During interrogation, the aspirants disclosed that their parents had paid more than ₹30 lakh for every candidate to those who facilitated questions papers ahead of the exam. “The evidence of the transaction has also been found and six post-dated cheques have also been recovered during the course of investigation. The EOU sleuths also recovered partially burnt question papers from the safe house. “We have sought reference question papers from the NTA. It has not responded to this so far. Once we get reference question papers from the NTA, we will send the burnt question paper to the appropriate forensic laboratory for its examination,” the DIG said. The NEET-UG examination is conducted by the NTA for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country. Sources in the EOU further said that investigation has so far revealed that the question papers of NEET-UG and their answers were provided to around 35 aspirants before the May 5 exam. Candidates from different places in Bihar were brought to a rented accommodation at Ramkrishna Nagar in Patna, where they were provided with the question papers and answers. Police conducted a search at the rented premise and recovered mobile phones, admit cards and other incriminating documents, the sources said. Congress for in-depth review of NEET, NTA, NCERT via Parliamentary Standing Committees The Congress on June 16 said there were “serious questions” on the integrity of the National Testing Agency and the manner in which the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) is designed and administered. The Opposition party said it hoped that when the new Standing Committees of Parliament get constituted, it would take up an in-depth review of the NEET, NTA and NCERT. “I was a member of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare between 2014 and 2019 and recall broad support for NEET. But there were MPs, especially from Tamil Nadu, who had raised concerns that NEET would privilege CBSE students and would disadvantage youth coming from non-CBSE schools,” Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a post on social media platform X. “I do think now that this CBSE issue needs proper analysis. Is NEET discriminatory? Are students from poorer backgrounds being denied opportunities? Other States like Maharashtra also have expressed grave doubts on NEET,” he said. There are also serious questions on the integrity of the National Testing Agency itself and the manner in which NEET is designed and administered,” he said. The NCERT itself has lost all professionalism in the last decade, Ramesh claimed. “Hopefully the new Standing Committee(s) when they get constituted will take up an in-depth review of NEET, NTA and NCERT. This should receive the highest priority,” he said. Finance Ministry cautions public against ‘Drugs in Parcel’ scam Stepping in to act against the rampant ‘Narcotics Drugs in Parcel’ extortion scam that many have fallen victim to, the Union Finance Ministry’s Revenue department on Sunday advised the public to stay vigilant and stressed that Customs officials never call individuals over a phone or email to remit Customs duties in private accounts. “Various incidents have come to light through news portals/social media platforms of fraudulent persons posing as Indian Customs officers cheating the public of their hard-earned money across the country. These frauds are primarily done using digital means like phone calls or SMS, and are focused on extracting money through the purported fear of immediate penal action,” the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) said. The CBIC has launched a multi-modal campaign to spread awareness of such fraudsters’ modus operandi and urged people to immediately report such cases on www.cybercrime.gov.in or its helpline number 1930. Advising people to disconnect calls from people posing as courier staff or Customs officials, if there is any suspicion of fraud or irregularities, the CBIC also shared some of the common tricks deployed to carry out such scams. “Fraudsters posing as courier officials contact via calls, text messages or emails claiming that Customs have held a package or parcel and requires payment of Customs duties or taxes before it can be released. As a pressure tactic, fraudsters impersonate Customs/Police/CBI officials and demand payment of Customs duty/clearance fees for packages/gifts that purportedly have been received from a foreign country and require Customs clearance,” a CBIC statement said. The targeted individuals are asked to make payments for the release of their goods, or informed that their package has been seized due to illegal content such as drugs, foreign currency, fake passport, contraband items, or violations of Customs regulations. “Fraudsters threaten legal action or fines and demand payment to resolve the issue,” the CBIC said, stressing that people should neither send money to unknown individuals nor share or disclose personal information such as passwords, credit card CVV (card verification value), or Aadhaar numbers with them. In briefRahul Gandhi to retain Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat; Priyanka Gandhi to contest from Wayanad Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will keep the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh and vacate the Wayanad seat in Kerala from where his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will contest, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said on Monday. Kharge was speaking to reporters after the Congress’ top leadership held discussions on the issue at his residence in New Delhi. NSA Ajit Doval, his U.S. counterpart Jake Sullivan review implementation of iCET National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval on June 17 held extensive talks with his American counterpart Jake Sullivan, focusing on implementation of the ambitious India-U.S. Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET), bilateral defence ties and regional security situation. Sullivan is visiting Delhi from June 17 to 18, in the first trip to India by a senior Biden administration official after the Modi Government came to power for the third term. The U.S. National Security Advisor (NSA) is accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising senior U.S. Government officials and industry leaders. Four Maoists killed in encounter with police in Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum At least four Maoists, including a woman, were killed in an encounter with police in Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum district on June 17 early morning, officials said. The incident took place in Tonto and Goilkera area, they said. “Four Maoists were killed in the gunfight, while two have been arrested,” Jharkhand Police spokesperson and IG (Operations), Amol V. Homkar, told PTI. Among the four killed Maoists, one was a zonal commander, one sub-zonal commander, one area commander and a cadre of the organisation, the IG said. Two Maoists, including a woman, were also arrested and one of them is an area commander of the organisation. Another police officer said that the police were out for a search operation. Meanwhile, the Maoists, who were lying in ambush, started firing and police returned the fire in which four Maoists were killed. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 17 June 2024 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [View in browser]( [More newsletters]( 9 killed in rail accident in West Bengal At least nine persons, including two railway crew members, were killed on Monday when a [goods train carrying containers collided with the 13174 Down Agartala Sealdah Kanchanjunga Express]( between Rangapani and Chattar Hat stations in West Bengal’s Darjeeling district. The accident occurred under the Katihar division of the Northeast Frontier (NF) Railway about 10 km from the New Jalpaiguri station at 8.55 a.m. on Monday. Kanchanjunga Express was moving at a slow speed when the goods train travelling on the same track overshot the signal and hit the train from the rear with a significant speed. Four coaches from the rear side of the Kanchanjunga Express and five wagons of the goods train got derailed because of the impact of the collision, blocking the train movement on both up and down lines. A few bogies of the Kanchanjunga Express, including the guards’ cabin, and two parcel vans climbed onto the bogies of the container carrying the goods train because of the impact of the collision. The coaches were badly mangled and the rescue personnel had to struggle for hours to extricate the dead and the injured. Nine persons were grievously injured and 32 sustained minor injuries. Chairperson of the Railway Board Jaya Varma Sinha said the collision might have happened as the goods train driver disregarded the signal and hit the Kanchanjunga Express. She said the loco pilot of the goods train and the guard of Kanchanjunga Express died in the accident. “We have to control human error and [installation of] Kavach is the most important thing on which work is going on in mission mode. So far, we have introduced Kavach for 1,500 km and another 3,000 km will be completed this year,” the chairperson said. She added that the railway network under West Bengal was being included under Kavach protection (made-in-India technology to prevent collisions of trains travelling on the same track) this year as part of the 3,000 km being brought under surveillance. The unaffected compartments of the Kanchanjunga Express along with the passengers injured left for Sealdah from the accident site around 12.40 p.m. on Monday. The Kanchanjunga Express had left Agartala in Tripura at 8.15 a.m. on June 16 and was expected to arrive at Sealdah at 7.20 p.m. on June 17. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw reached the accident site and took stock of the relief work. The Minister met the injured at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital. He declared an ex gratia of ₹10 lakh for the families of the casualties, ₹2.5 lakh towards the seriously injured, and ₹50,000 for those who sustained minor injuries. Mr. Vaishnaw said the accident would be investigated by the Commissioner of Railway Safety. The accident severely affected rail movement in north Bengal and northeastern States. About 37 trains had to be diverted through New Jalpaiguri, Siliguri Junction, Bagdogra and Aluabari Road stations and eight trains had to be cancelled. The debris on the up line was cleared at 5.40 p.m., according to the NF Railway, and work for restoration of the down line is in progress. Opposition targets Modi government over ‘utter mismanagement’ of Railways Expressing their condolences over the loss of lives in the collision between Kanchanjunga Express and a goods train in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri, [Opposition leaders targeted the Narendra Modi government]( and sought accountability. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, a former Railway Minister himself, alleged “utter mismanagement” of the Railway Ministry in the past 10 years of the Modi government. “Extremely distressed by the Kanchanjunga Express train collision accident in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, where many people have lost their lives and several have been injured,” Kharge said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). As a responsible Opposition, it is our bounden duty to underline how the Modi government has systematically converted the Rail Ministry into a platform of ‘camera-driven’ self-promotion. Today’s tragedy is yet another reminder of this stark reality,” Kharge alleged. “Make no mistake, we will remain persistent with our questions and shall make the Modi government accountable for its criminal abandonment of the Indian Railways,” the Congress chief added. Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, in a post on X, said, “The increase in railway accidents in the last 10 years is a direct result of the mismanagement and negligence of the Modi government” and asserted that “as a responsible opposition, we will continue to question this blatant negligence and hold the Modi government accountable for these accidents”. “The Railway Ministry, busy in PR exercises, is miserably failing in its basic responsibility of ensuring safety. There was no accountability fixed after the deadly Balasore accident, and this latest tragedy is the result of no remedial steps taken to prevent such accidents in the future. The PM and the Railways Minister must take responsibility for this steep deterioration in safety standards in the Indian Railways,” added Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal. Urging the Railways to help the family of the victims and injured, Communist Party of India general secretary D. Raja said, “The Railway Ministry should focus on larger issues of infrastructure, rail track maintenance, signalling system, and proper manpower to prevent such mishaps. Earlier, the Railways used to have separate budget, but, ever since the BJP came to power, that is not the case.” In an X post, the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party put out a 25-year-old video of Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar, who had resigned as the Union Railway Minister after the Gaisal train tragedy of 1999 that killed over 285 people. “But Ashwini Vaishnaw in the Modi government, who had two major train accidents during his tenure, never once accepted the responsibility for the train accident,” the NCP said in its post. Trinamool Congress’ Derek O’Brien said that “a government focused on vanity projects, does not care about safety”. Nikhil Gupta, accused of murder for hire plot against Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, extradited to U.S. Indian national Nikhil Gupta, who is accused of being involved in murder-for-hire plot against a Sikh separatist, has been [extradited from Czech Republic]( media reports said on June 16. Gupta, 52, was arrested in the Czeck Republic last year at the request of the US government on charges of being involved in a plot to assassinate Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. He is expected to be produced before a federal court in New York on Monday. Gupta is currently lodged at the federal Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn, where he is listed as an inmate. The Washington Post was the first news outlet to report his extradition. “Gupta, who had been detained in the Czech Republic, arrived in New York over the weekend, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive legal proceedings. Typically, extradited defendants must appear in court within a day of their arrival in the country,” the daily said. Federal prosecutors allege that Gupta hired a hitman to kill Pannun. They allege that an unnamed Indian government official was involved in it. Gupta’s extradition comes ahead of the New Delhi visit of US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan for the annual ICET dialogue. The issue is expected to be raised by Sullivan before his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval. India has denied its involvement in such a case and has instituted an investigation into the allegations. Gupta through his attorney has denied the charges and has said that he has been “unfairly charged”. “Gupta’s attorney, Rohini Musa, wrote in a petition to the Indian Supreme Court that her client is being unfairly prosecuted, saying there is “nothing on record to link the Petitioner to the massive alleged plot to assassinate the alleged victim,” The Washington Post said. “Musa complained that Gupta received adverse legal advice from a Czech government-appointed attorney “under the undue influence of … U.S. Agencies” during the initial phase of his detention. She said India and the United States were “going back and forth to blame each other for their foreign policy,” the daily reported. Bihar police recover 6 post-dated cheques ‘issued for NEET question paper facilitators’ The Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of the Bihar police has [recovered six post-dated cheques]( suspected to have been issued in favour of mafia demanding over ₹30 lakh from each candidate seeking alleged leaked question paper ahead of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to undergraduate medical courses held last month. “During the course of investigation, EOU sleuths recovered six post-dated cheques that were issued in favour of criminals who reportedly facilitated question papers to the aspirants ahead of the examination,” Manavjit Singh Dhillon, Deputy Inspector General (DIG), EOU, told PTI on Sunday. “Investigators are ascertaining details about account holders from the banks concerned,” he added. The EOU has so far arrested 13 people, including four examinees and their family members, in connection with the alleged NEET-UG 2024 paper leak case. All accused belong to Bihar, said the DIG. The EOU has also issued notices to nine candidates (seven from Bihar and one each from Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra) to join the probe, he added. The NEET-UG 2024 was conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) at 4,750 centres in 571 cities for more than 24 lakh candidates. The result of the NEET-UG 2024 was declared on June 4. As soon as the results were declared, there was an uproar, with many students alleging discrepancies. According to sources, it is suspected that nine aspirants, along with four other examinees from Bihar who have already been arrested by the EOU, received the exam’s question paper and answers in a ‘safe house’ near Patna a day before it was conducted on May 5. During interrogation, the aspirants disclosed that their parents had paid more than ₹30 lakh for every candidate to those who facilitated questions papers ahead of the exam. “The evidence of the transaction has also been found and six post-dated cheques have also been recovered during the course of investigation. The EOU sleuths also recovered partially burnt question papers from the safe house. “We have sought reference question papers from the NTA. It has not responded to this so far. Once we get reference question papers from the NTA, we will send the burnt question paper to the appropriate forensic laboratory for its examination,” the DIG said. The NEET-UG examination is conducted by the NTA for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country. Sources in the EOU further said that investigation has so far revealed that the question papers of NEET-UG and their answers were provided to around 35 aspirants before the May 5 exam. Candidates from different places in Bihar were brought to a rented accommodation at Ramkrishna Nagar in Patna, where they were provided with the question papers and answers. Police conducted a search at the rented premise and recovered mobile phones, admit cards and other incriminating documents, the sources said. Congress for in-depth review of NEET, NTA, NCERT via Parliamentary Standing Committees The Congress on June 16 said there were [“serious questions” on the integrity]( of the National Testing Agency and the manner in which the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) is designed and administered. The Opposition party said it hoped that when the new Standing Committees of Parliament get constituted, it would take up an in-depth review of the NEET, NTA and NCERT. “I was a member of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare between 2014 and 2019 and recall broad support for NEET. But there were MPs, especially from Tamil Nadu, who had raised concerns that NEET would privilege CBSE students and would disadvantage youth coming from non-CBSE schools,” Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a post on social media platform X. “I do think now that this CBSE issue needs proper analysis. Is NEET discriminatory? Are students from poorer backgrounds being denied opportunities? Other States like Maharashtra also have expressed grave doubts on NEET,” he said. There are also serious questions on the integrity of the National Testing Agency itself and the manner in which NEET is designed and administered,” he said. The NCERT itself has lost all professionalism in the last decade, Ramesh claimed. “Hopefully the new Standing Committee(s) when they get constituted will take up an in-depth review of NEET, NTA and NCERT. This should receive the highest priority,” he said. Finance Ministry cautions public against ‘Drugs in Parcel’ scam Stepping in to act against the rampant ‘Narcotics Drugs in Parcel’ extortion scam that many have fallen victim to, the Union Finance Ministry’s Revenue department on Sunday [advised the public to stay vigilant]( and stressed that Customs officials never call individuals over a phone or email to remit Customs duties in private accounts. “Various incidents have come to light through news portals/social media platforms of fraudulent persons posing as Indian Customs officers cheating the public of their hard-earned money across the country. These frauds are primarily done using digital means like phone calls or SMS, and are focused on extracting money through the purported fear of immediate penal action,” the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) said. The CBIC has launched a multi-modal campaign to spread awareness of such fraudsters’ modus operandi and urged people to immediately report such cases on www.cybercrime.gov.in or its helpline number 1930. Advising people to disconnect calls from people posing as courier staff or Customs officials, if there is any suspicion of fraud or irregularities, the CBIC also shared some of the common tricks deployed to carry out such scams. “Fraudsters posing as courier officials contact via calls, text messages or emails claiming that Customs have held a package or parcel and requires payment of Customs duties or taxes before it can be released. As a pressure tactic, fraudsters impersonate Customs/Police/CBI officials and demand payment of Customs duty/clearance fees for packages/gifts that purportedly have been received from a foreign country and require Customs clearance,” a CBIC statement said. The targeted individuals are asked to make payments for the release of their goods, or informed that their package has been seized due to illegal content such as drugs, foreign currency, fake passport, contraband items, or violations of Customs regulations. “Fraudsters threaten legal action or fines and demand payment to resolve the issue,” the CBIC said, stressing that people should neither send money to unknown individuals nor share or disclose personal information such as passwords, credit card CVV (card verification value), or Aadhaar numbers with them. In brief Rahul Gandhi to retain Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat; Priyanka Gandhi to contest from Wayanad Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will keep the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh and vacate the Wayanad seat in Kerala from where his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will contest, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said on Monday. Kharge was speaking to reporters after the Congress’ top leadership held discussions on the issue at his residence in New Delhi. NSA Ajit Doval, his U.S. counterpart Jake Sullivan review implementation of iCET National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval on June 17 [held extensive talks]( with his American counterpart Jake Sullivan, focusing on implementation of the ambitious India-U.S. Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET), bilateral defence ties and regional security situation. Sullivan is visiting Delhi from June 17 to 18, in the first trip to India by a senior Biden administration official after the Modi Government came to power for the third term. The U.S. National Security Advisor (NSA) is accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising senior U.S. Government officials and industry leaders. Four Maoists killed in encounter with police in Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum At least four Maoists, including a woman, were [killed in an encounter with police]( in Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum district on June 17 early morning, officials said. The incident took place in Tonto and Goilkera area, they said. “Four Maoists were killed in the gunfight, while two have been arrested,” Jharkhand Police spokesperson and IG (Operations), Amol V. Homkar, told PTI. Among the four killed Maoists, one was a zonal commander, one sub-zonal commander, one area commander and a cadre of the organisation, the IG said. Two Maoists, including a woman, were also arrested and one of them is an area commander of the organisation. Another police officer said that the police were out for a search operation. Meanwhile, the Maoists, who were lying in ambush, started firing and police returned the fire in which four Maoists were killed. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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