Latest news with #Aradhya
Indian Express
5 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
A road to her village, a newborn in her family — before her own delivery, YouTuber Leela Sahu welcomes niece
In a singsong voice, 22-year-old Leela Sahu smiles at the camera and answers a relative's offscreen question — 'Leela, iska kya naam rakhe ho?' (Leela, what have you named her?). Without hesitation, she replies: 'Aradhya'. In the reel she uploaded to Instagram, she adds playfully: 'Ghar mein Pihu, Pari, Sundariya bhi hai'. The child in her arms is not hers, but her sister-in-law's newborn daughter — the first baby born in the family in 11 years. But Aradhya's birth marks the emotional culmination of a year-long public campaign led by Leela, a Bagheli YouTuber from Madhya Pradesh's Sidhi district who drew national attention to the broken, unpaved roads that made emergency healthcare in her village nearly inaccessible for pregnant women. 'She was born healthy. The ambulance came about an hour after we called, and it took another hour or so to reach the hospital,' Leela told The Indian Express. 'My due date is August 2. My only hope is the ambulance will come in time.' Leela said this was the first child in the family in the last 11 years. 'That's why I gave her many names, Aradhya, Pari, Sundariya,' she said. As her own delivery date approaches, Leela says she won't give up. There are six pregnant women who are expecting to deliver in the coming months, and a road is crucial for access to healthcare. 'My work isn't done just because construction began. I'll keep raising my voice till the full road is built. Because this isn't just about one ambulance, or one baby. It's about the other woman too.' The road, or at least parts of it, has finally started to take shape. In late July, after months of public pressure and viral videos, construction work began in Khaddi Khurd under the initiative of local Congress MLA Ajay Singh Rahul, who stepped in after BJP MP Rajesh Mishra's comments triggered outrage. The Congress leader said he was moved to act after seeing how the local MP dismissed Leela's concerns by suggesting he would personally carry pregnant women to the hospital on their due dates. The path to this moment began in July 2023, when Leela, then in her first trimester, posted a video tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 'You got all 29 MPs from Madhya Pradesh, Modi ji. Can't you at least give us a road?' she had said, speaking in Bagheli dialect from her mud-brick home in Khaddi Khurd. Her message resonated across platforms, drawing attention to the region's collapsing infrastructure, where pregnant women were routinely transported by tractor and stretchers due to inaccessible roads. In March 2025, officials from the Madhya Pradesh Rural Road Development Authority confirmed that a five kilometre road under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana had been surveyed and submitted for state approval.
News18
17-07-2025
- News18
Blackmailed By Girlfriend's Father For Rs 30 Lakh, BTech Student Dies By Suicide
Last Updated: A week before the suicide, the girl's family accused Tushar of harassment; a police settlement followed with lakhs paid, but his family says the threats and pressure continued A tragic case of student suicide in Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, has taken a disturbing turn with fresh allegations of blackmail and harassment. Tushar Verma, a second-year student at Ram Swaroop University, was found dead by hanging in the Lakhpedabagh locality under the Kotwali Nagar area. Initial investigations suggest that Tushar was being blackmailed and harassed by his girlfriend's father. He had allegedly demanded Rs 30 lakh, which may have pushed Tushar to take the extreme step. Following Tushar's suicide, his family conducted a post-mortem and performed his last rites. The case took a shocking twist when Tushar's sister discovered incriminating evidence on his mobile phone. The family subsequently lodged a police complaint, accusing the girl and her family of blackmail and extortion. Tushar's mother, Sushma, disclosed that her son had a love affair with a girl, supported by photos of the couple. She accused the girl's father, Majnu Patel, of repeatedly harassing their family by lodging police complaints and demanding large sums of money for settlement. Despite an initial agreement, Patel continued to demand Rs 30 lakh, exacerbating Tushar's distress. According to Tushar's uncle, the girl, Aradhya, an intermediate student, lived in Barabanki with her brother. Tushar was friends with Aradhya's brother and frequently visited their house. About a week before the suicide, Aradhya's family had accused Tushar of harassment, leading to a police-mediated settlement which allegedly involved a payment of lakhs of rupees. However, Tushar's family claims the harassment persisted. On the night of the suicide, Tushar dined with his mother and sister before going to sleep in a separate room. At around 3 AM, Tushar recorded a video on his mobile phone, detailing his ordeal and accusing Aradhya's family of extortion and mental harassment. He then used his mother's saree to hang himself in the courtyard. The police were alerted early in the morning, and they sent Tushar's body for post-mortem before his family cremated him. The family has filed a written complaint against Satish Chandra Verma and others. The local police station in-charge RK Rana confirmed that the police are investigating the matter and will register a case based on the complaint, evidence, and Tushar's pre-suicide statement. If you or someone you know needs help, call any of these helplines: Aasra (Mumbai) 022-27546669, Sneha (Chennai) 044-24640050, Sumaitri (Delhi) 011-23389090, Cooj (Goa) 0832- 2252525, Jeevan (Jamshedpur) 065-76453841, Pratheeksha (Kochi) 048-42448830, Maithri (Kochi) 0484-2540530, Roshni (Hyderabad) 040-66202000, Lifeline 033-64643267 (Kolkata) view comments First Published: Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Indian Express
03-07-2025
- Indian Express
Three children drown in waterlogged areas in Mohali
Three children reportedly drowned in rainwater in Mohali. While two 11-year-old children reportedly drowned in a rainwater-filled park located in Sector 119, Mohali, evening on Wednesday, one died in Bakarpur village on Thursday. The victims of Sector 119 incident have been identified as Aayan and Aradhya, both residents of the nearby Balongi village. According to eyewitness accounts, the children had gone to play in a GMADA-maintained park that had become waterlogged due to recent rainfall. While playing, they entered a deeper part of the flooded area and were unable to keep themselves afloat. Locals who noticed the incident rushed the children to Phase 6 Government Hospital, where doctors declared both of them dead on arrival. Aayan's father revealed that the pond-like park was at least six-feet deep. He said the children had returned from school and gone out to play, unaware of the danger posed by the accumulated water. 'Even today, cattle were seen bathing in that same park. That tells you how deep the water is,' he added, visibly angry and heartbroken. He also alleged serious negligence by the authorities.'Even after two children died, no GMADA official has visited the site to inspect the situation,' he said. Eyewitnesses reported that Aradhya had slipped into the water first. Ayan, in an attempt to rescue her, jumped in after her but drowned as well. Ayan's father, who rushed to the spot after being alerted by his daughter's phone call, immediately jumped into the water in a desperate effort to save the children. He later expressed outrage at the inaction of bystanders. 'If even one person had stepped in to help, both children would be alive today,' he said. SHO Balongi Kulwant Singh, said that the police team reached the spot and have started an investigation. The bodies were sent for postmortem and a case has been registered. The parents of the children are demanding that authorities are also looking into whether the GMADA's failure to properly maintain or secure the park played a role in the tragedy.
CBS News
14-04-2025
- Science
- CBS News
Future Leaders winner using technology in Colorado to create solutions
Throughout the school year, CBS Colorado, along with Chevron and Colorado School of Mines, recognizes six high school students who excel in science, technology, engineering and math, STEM. The Future Leaders Award comes with $1,000 and a profile on CBS News Colorado. The latest winner of the Future Leaders award is Siddhartha Aradhya, a senior at Rock Canyon High School in Douglas County. Aradhya is taking a full load of Advanced Placement classes, but that doesn't stop him from being on the track and cross country teams. He's also working on several projects outside of school. Aradhya had a firsthand experience with online predators. "We had a fake account, a fake Instagram account and we got a lot of weird messages on it. We took it to the police," he explained. From that interaction, Aradhya got the idea to write CatchChat, a program that helps law enforcement catfish online predators. "They're not always trained to talk like, say, a 16-year-old girl," Aradhya said of investigators. The AI in CatchChat can do it for them. Type the offender's message into the program, and it can give you appropriate emojis or slang to continue the conversation. Right now, the Douglas County Sheriff's Department is testing the program for Aradhya. "The goal is that we want to automize the process fully so the police officers who are trained to do so many incredible things can then go do those incredible things and not have to do something that they're not trained at," Aradhya said. Aradhya created another computer program to help workers identify if water is tainted. "It's just a program where you'd upload microscopic images and ou'd see whether they're certain types of algae," he said. Algae blooms are toxic in drinking water, so Aradhya is developing a drone that would emit light to kill algae. This project is in the testing phase. "There's different parts of the experiment that you want to test, like what type of light? How far the light should go?" "Is the environment kind of a passion of yours?" asked First Alert Chief Meteorologist Dave Aguilera. "I really like dinosaurs," Aradhya replied. "I've just always been interested in like environments and the natural world." "Have you been out to Dinosaur Ridge?" Aguilera followed up. "Yea, I love Dinosaur Ridge," Aradhya answered. He also loves helping his fellow students. He served on the Student Advisory Committee to the Douglas County School Board. "I was more involved with financial literacy, so like getting a curriculum across schools that wouldn't interfere with students time that much," he said. "That's such a great idea because there's not much of that," Aguilera said. "Yea, you know how to do algebra but not your taxes," Aradhya said with a laugh. He expanded on those lessons and created a nonprofit called The More You Know. Now, he shares the knowledge with organizations that what to offer financial literacy to their clients. Aradhya plans to go to college but he hopes to find time to continue working on these projects that he's already started. "Specifically CatchChat is probably the one that I'm most excited about. I want to keep automaking that," he said. LINK: Future Leaders Award CBS News Colorado will be taking nominations for its Future Leaders Award through April 18, 2025.
