Union Minister and Amethi MP Smriti Irani came down on an education officer after meeting retired school teachers who still haven’t been paid their dues.

Ms Irani is on a 3-day visit to her parliamentary constituency Amethi. While attending an event on Friday, she was approached by a group of upset retired school teachers who complained about unpaid salaries.

She immediately called up the district inspector of schools and asked him to clear all the pendencies right away.

“Whatever pendency you have on your desk, clear it today itself,” Ms Irani tells the officer.

The video of the BJP MP’s conversation with the education officer has gone viral on social media. She can be heard telling the officer that every person staying in Amethi comes to her directly with their problems.

“Display some humanity. This is Amethi, every citizen here has access to me,” she says.

She told the officer that the Yogi Adityanath government also wants that the teachers should get their dues, so he should take action immediately.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Ayodhya today to inaugurate the city’s new airport along with the redeveloped railway station. The prime minister also held a roadshow in the city. Amid heavy security, he waved at the crowds that had gathered along the road. The crowds cheered and showered flowers as the prime minister’s convoy passed by.

Next, PM Modi will reach Ayodhya train station, recently renamed to Ayodhya Dham Junction, and inaugurate the new three-story revamped station. He will also flag off six Vande Bharat and two Amrit Bharat trains. 

From there, he will travel to the newly-built Maharishi Valmiki Ayodhya Dham International airport. The airport, which will start operations from January 6, has been developed at a cost of over ₹1,450 crore and will serve nearly 10 lakh passengers annually. Flights from big cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Ahmedabad will bring in devotees from across India to the grand temple of Lord Ram after its consecration. 

The prime minister’s visit comes weeks before the grand consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple on January 22. On Saturday, the trustee of Ram Janmbhoomi Teertha Kshetra, Bimlendra Mohan Pratap Mishra, said that the selection process for the idol of Lord Ram Lalla has been completed and the unanimously selected idol will be brought for ‘Pran Pratishtha’ ceremony next month.

A wealthy Indian-origin couple and their teenage daughter were found dead in their $5 million mansion in the US state of Massachusetts in an apparent domestic violence incident, according to media reports.

The bodies of Rakesh Kamal, 57, his wife, Teena, 54, and their 18-year-old daughter, Ariana, were found in their Dover mansion at about 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Norfolk District Attorney (DA) Michael Morrissey said.

Dover is about 32 kilometres southwest of downtown Boston, the capital of Massachusetts.

Teena and her husband, who also went by Rick, had previously run a now-defunct education systems company called EduNova.

The district attorney, who described the “terrible tragedy” as a “domestic violence situation,” said a gun was found near the husband’s body.

He declined to say whether all three family members were shot dead — and by whom, the New York Post reported.

Morrissey said he was waiting for the medical examiner’s ruling, which was expected soon, before deciding whether to refer to the incident as a murder-suicide.

The district attorney refused to speculate on a motive for the slayings.

The couple appeared to have faced financial problems in recent years, online records show.

The grim discovery of their bodies was made after a relative had stopped by to check on the family members after not hearing from them in one or two days, the district attorney said.

Morrissey added that there had been no prior police reports or domestic incidents tied to the home.

“There’s been no police reports, there’s been no problems, no domestic issues, no nothing at that house or in the entire neighborhood that I’m aware of,” Morrissey said.

“This is very unfortunate and our heart goes out to the entire Kamal family on this tragedy.” “I hate to see it at any time,” Morrissey added of domestic violence incidents. “I think some of the tensions that people feel in relationships often come out around the holidays.” The district attorney said the investigation into the slayings was ongoing and that investigators had worked the crime scene through much of the night.

“Although the investigation is at a very preliminary stage, the evidence available at this time does not indicate the involvement of any outside party, but suggests that this is a deadly incident of domestic violence,” his office said in a statement.

“It is not believed that there is any ongoing danger to the Dover community related to this incident.” The family’s sprawling mansion — estimated to be worth $5.45 million — went into foreclosure a year ago and was sold to the Massachusetts-based Wilsondale Associates LLC for $3 million, according to The Post.

The Kamals had purchased the 19,000-square-foot estate – which boasts 11 bedrooms – for $4 million in 2019, according to the records, according to media reports.

The family members were the only ones living in the mansion at the time, the DA said, adding that the area, one of the richest in the state, was “a nice neighbourhood, a safe community.” Their company was launched in 2016 but was dissolved in December 2021, state records show.

Teena Kamal was listed on EduNova’s website as the chief operating officer of the company, describing her as an alum of Harvard University and Delhi University in India.

According to his biography on the EduNova website, Kamal was an alumnus of Boston University and the MIT Sloan School of Management, as well as Stanford University.

Before working at EduNova, he “held many executive positions in the education-consulting field,” the biography added.

EduNova marketed a “student success system” designed to improve the grades of students in middle school, high school, and college,” The Boston Globe newspaper reported.

Teena filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in September 2022 – listing between $1 million and $10 million in liabilities, filings show. The case, however, was dismissed two months later due to insufficient documentation.

Teena, who was a Harvard alumnus, was listed as one of the board of directors for the American Red Cross of Massachusetts.

Her online bio touted her more than three decades of working in the education and technology industries.

Meanwhile, the couple’s daughter was a student at Middlebury College, a $64,800-a-year private liberal arts school in Vermont, where she was studying neuroscience, according to her LinkedIn.

Morrissey also said a homicide has not been reported in Dover since 2020, and he has never worked a homicide case from that neighbourhood since he started his position as District Attorney 12 years ago.

“It’s very rare to have this kind of a violence situation almost in any community in Norfolk County, but particularly Dover,” Morrissey said.

“It’s a small, well-run community, but like everybody else, there are problems out there that can affect no matter where you live.”