Five must-read stories—March 1

Child trafficking accused names Vijayvargiya, Roopa Ganguly

In a major embarrassment to the BJP, the names of its Central and State leaders—national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and women’s wing president Roopa Ganguly—has been mentioned by a key accused in a recent child trafficking case in north Bengal, reports The Hindu.

Modi’s adopted village in Varanasi rues no follow-up on development

Residents of Jayapur village in Varanasi, which PM Narendra Modi adopted as part of the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, say toilets constructed under Modi’s Swachh Bharat Mission have started to crumble, solar panels getting stolen. A Mint report.

Trump condemns Kansas shooting in first address to Congress

US President Donald Trump opened the joint session of Congress address on Tuesday by condemning threats against Jewish centres and the shooting in Kansas in which an Indian man was killed, says The Hindustan Times quoting agencies.

Gurmehar’s grandpa blames BJP for the trolling

Kanwaljeet Singh, grandfather of Gurmehar Kaur who has been facing hate messages and rape threats on the social media, on Tuesday said he stood by his granddaughter's statement and blamed the BJP for the trolling, reports The Tribune.

Official contradicts PM on Kanpur train accident

Days after PM Narendra Modi told an election rally in Uttar Pradesh that the Kanpur train accident, which killed over 140 people last year, was a “conspiracy planned by people sitting across the border”, the chief of UP railway police told a video conference organised by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu that there was no sabotage, reports The Hindu.