In a big breakthrough for the Special Operations Group investigating the paper leak cases in Rajasthan, four suspected kingpins of the racket have been arrested. The arrests have also revealed that the objective of the four men, who are government employees themselves, was not just to make money – which they did by the bucketload – but also to ensure that their relatives got government jobs.

In the past five years, there have been seven high-profile exams in which papers were leaked and the issue is seen to have contributed to the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government’s loss in the state in last year’s elections. The four arrests have been made in connection with the Junior Engineer exam, which was held in December 2020.

The four accused who have been arrested are Harshwardhan Meena, who is a revenue official, Rajendra Yadav, who is a government teacher, Shivratan Mot, a librarian and Rajendra Kumar Yadav, alias Raju, a police sub-inspector. The police said they suspect that the four men worked in tandem with the cheating rings operating in the state and were among the kingpins of the paper leak operation.

Police believe Meena did not only make crores from leaking papers but that he and his family were involved in getting dummy candidates appear for the exams. Like Meena, his wife is also a revenue official, and she is alleged to have made a dummy candidate sit for a police sub-inspector exam. She had, however, failed the physical test.

Meena’s brother has also been arrested earlier for setting up a dummy candidate for the senior teacher exam

Yadav, a government school teacher, was part of conducting the junior engineer exam and is believed to be the mastermind behind the paper leak. He was the one who allegedly took a photo of the paper and sold it to Meena for Rs 50 lakh. Meena, in turn, made crores from selling it to interested candidates.

An official said Yadav ensured that his son became a junior engineer, and his daughter-in-law is also a senior government teacher

VK Singh, Additional Director General of Police, Special Operations Group, said, “Harshwardhan Meena was picked up from the Nepal border. The groups linked to cheating and leaking of papers in the state sometimes cooperate and, at other times, they compete with each other.”

Officials said that, apart from the four men who have been arrested, the role of 50 government employees from various departments is under the scanner.

Rakul Preet Singh and Jackky Bhagnani tied the knot today in Goa in the presence of close friends and family. Now, their dreamy first photos are out.

Newlyweds Rakul Preet Singh and Jackky Bhagnani unveiled photos from their wedding ceremony in a joint post. The snaps see Rakul looking lovely in a cream and pink lehenga with floral details. Meanwhile, Jackky looked dapper in a cream-coloured sherwani.

Check out the post here:

They captioned the photos, “Mine now and forever- 21-02-2024 #abdonobhagna-ni,” with a pink heart emoji. 

The comments section was filled with love pouring him from the couple’s friends in the film industry. Varun Dhawan, Samantha and Jacqueliene Fernandez wrote, “Congratulations” with heart emojis. 

Rakul and Jackky’s wedding guestlist included several celebs including Ayushmann Khurrana and Tahira Kashyap, Bhumi Pednekar, Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra, Aditya Roy Kapur and Ananya Panday and more.

The price of sugarcane has been increased by 8 per cent for the 2024-25 financial year and will come into effect from October, the government has said. The hike came amid a huge tussle between the government and farmers over minimum support price. The price of cane will now go up from Rs 315 to Rs 340 a quintal.

Announcing the hike, Union minister Anurag Thakur declared that the government is pro-farmer. “Our government is working for the betterment of farmers and agriculture,” he said.

“It has been decided to fix the price for the upcoming sugarcane season, in the period from October 1, 2024, to September 30, 2025, to ensure the fair and reasonable price of sugarcane to the farmers by the sugar mills,” he said.

“It has been decided to fix the price at Rs 340 per quintal for the year 2024-25 as compared to the previous year which was Rs 315,” he added.

The cabinet approval for the cane price hike came this evening during a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The “Fair and Remunerative Price” will ensure prosperity of sugarcane farmers, the government said.

In a statement, the government said it has provided a premium of Rs. 3.32 per quintal for every 0.1 percentage point increase above 10.25% in the recovery.

“It is noteworthy that India is already paying the highest price of sugarcane in the world and despite that, the  government is ensuring the world’s cheapest sugar to domestic consumers,” read the statement.

The Centre’s decision will benefit more than 5 crore sugarcane farmers and their families and lakhs of other persons involved in sugar sector, the government said.

“It re-confirms fulfilment of Modi ki Guarantee to double farmers’ income,” the statement added.