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Odisha youngsters launch Blanket Challenge for homeless
Bhubaneswar: Youngsters in Odisha posted an idea on social networking site Facebook about 15 days ago. Now, many of them are joining the cause to keep the homeless locals in Bhubaneswar warm during the winter.
A group of 35 youngsters, many of whom came to know one another through Facebook, have started a “Donate a Blanket Challenge” here to collect old blankets and other woollen clothes for the homeless people who are spending nights on railway platforms and bus stands and by roadsides.
The youngsters, coming from engineering, management, medical and arts sectors, are collecting the winter stuff by opening small centres at various places and moving door-to-door in the city to seek donations.
“After seeing homeless people sleeping under an open sky in this winter without even a single blanket, our three-four friends decided to help them. We made a Facebook page ‘Donate a Blanket Challenge’ for promotion of our idea. Many youngsters have joined the initiative,” Durga Charan Samal, a member of the group, told IANS.
They posted pictures and shared their vision on the page. The idea worked well. Around 35 volunteers are working to collect and distribute the blankets and winter clothing.
Samal said the volunteers have collected 500 old blankets and woollens in the last 15 days, and are distributing these among the destitute people of the city.
As the professionals work during the day, they organise collection camps Sundays at some places.
“Last Sunday, we opened a counter in Shastrinagar area. We already opened a counter in front of the Ram Mandir in Janpath here to encourage people for donation. The response is good. We will continue this till December end,” said Snehashish Senapati, an engineering student.
He urged people of other towns to organise similar camps in their areas.
When asked about the “Donate a Blanket Challenge”, Soumya Ranjan Mohanty, a member of the group, said: “We were inspired by the ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’, which went viral in the social media to raise awareness about the disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. So, we decided to promote it by that name.”
“This will lead the society to a bright future…a better tomorrow,” said Sunita Garabadu, Odia film actress.
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What monkey fled with a bag containing evidence in it: Read full story
The court, generally, considers a person who commit a crime and the one who destroys the evidence, as criminals in the eyes of law. But what if an animal destroys the evidence of a crime committed by a human.
In a peculiar incident in Rajasthan, a monkey fled away with the evidence collected by the police in a murder case. The stolen evidence included the murder weapon (a blood-stained knife).
The incident came to light when the police appeared before the court and they had to provide the evidence in the hearing.
The hearing was about the crime which took place in September 2016, in which a person named Shashikant Sharma died at a primary health center under Chandwaji police station. After the body was found, the deceased’s relatives blocked the Jaipur-Delhi highway, demanding an inquiry into the matter.
Following the investigation, the police had arrested Rahul Kandera and Mohanlal Kandera, residents of Chandwaji in relation to the murder. But, when the time came to produce the evidence related to the case, it was found that the police had no evidence with them because a monkey had stolen it from them.
In the court, the police said that the knife, which was the primary evidence, was also taken by the monkey. The cops informed that the evidence of the case was kept in a bag, which was being taken to the court.
The evidence bag contained the knife and 15 other important evidences. However, due to the lack of space in the malkhana, a bag full of evidence was kept under a tree, which led to the incident.