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As many as 741 LPG cylinders were seized from 102 locations across Chhattisgarh as part of a crackdown on hoarding and black marketing amid the West Asia crisis, an official said on Friday (March 13).

Teams from the Food Department and district administration have been conducting surprise inspections at suspected locations to curb hoarding of domestic LPG cylinders, an official release stated.

"So far, 741 cylinders have been seized from 102 places across the state. Raipur district recorded the highest number of seizures with 392 domestic LPG cylinders confiscated, followed by Bilaspur district, where 130 cylinders were seized," it said.

It stated that five LPG bottling plants are operational in the state, comprising two each run by Indian Oil Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, and one by Bharat Petroleum Corporation.

It added that an adequate stock of domestic LPG was available at these plants and bottling was being carried out at full capacity.

Eleven Indian nationals, living illegally in the US, have been charged with visa fraud for conspiring to carry out staged armed robberies of convenience shops, according to US federal prosecutors.

Authorities said the suspects are accused of organising fake robberies for the purpose of allowing the store clerks to falsely claim they were crime victims on immigration applications towards getting a Green Card.

Jitendrakumar Patel, 39, Maheshkumar Patel, 36, Sanjaykumar Patel, 45, Dipikaben Patel, 40, Rameshbhai Patel, 52, Amitabahen Patel, 43, Ronakkumar Patel, 28, Sangitaben Patel, 36, Minkesh Patel, 42, Sonal Patel, 42 and Mitul Patel, 40 have been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud.

They all were living unlawfully in various US states such as Massachusetts, Kentucky and Ohio.

According to the charging documents, in March 2023, Rambhai and his co-conspirators set up and carried out staged armed robberies of at least six convenience/liquor stores and fast food restaurants in Massachusetts and elsewhere.

It is alleged that the purpose of the staged robberies was to allow the clerks present to falsely claim that they were victims of a violent crime on an application for a U non-immigration status (U Visa).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit West Bengal on Saturday (March 14) to address a rally at the iconic Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata and unveil development projects worth around Rs 18,680 crore, in his first trip to the state after the publication of the post-SIR electoral rolls last month.

The rally, organised by the BJP, will mark the culmination of the party's statewide 'Parivartan Yatra' ahead of the 2026 assembly elections.

After the surge in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the setback in the 2021 assembly polls, the BJP’s yatra is being seen as its most expansive statewide mobilisation in recent years.

The yatra, which began on March 1, a day after the publication of the revised electoral rolls under the Special Intensive Revision exercise, criss-crossed nearly 5,000 km across the state, covering 237 assembly constituencies.