Breaking News, March 6

A fresh controversy has erupted in Tamil Nadu with fringe Hindu groups coming out against first Dalit woman Mayor of Chennai, R. Priya meeting a controversial Bishop Ezra Sargunam, who in a speech earlier called upon Christians to punch Hindus hard in the face till they bleed. He had also said that there was nothing called Hindu religion and had asked the Christian faithfuls to beat up anyone who says that Hinduism was a religion.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a career journalist and former editor of The Spectator magazine, in an opinion piece in The New York Times published on Sunday, described Russia as a great nation and a great world power. He wrote: "We have no hostility toward the Russian people, and we have no desire to impugn a great nation and a great world power."

Jammu and Kashmir police have busted a terror module of proscribed terror outfit JeM at Awantipora in South Kashmir and arrested four terrorist associates, officials said on Sunday. Police in Awantipora have busted a terror module of proscribed terror outfit JeM by arresting four terrorist associates identified as Umar Farooq Dar, resident of Shahbad, Soraj Manzoor Malik, resident of Midoora, Irshad Ahmad Lone, resident of Midora and Afnan Javeed Khan, resident of Shahbad.

The proposed metro cess in Mumbai and Pune is likely to have a detrimental impact on the residential markets in the regions which are currently recovering, said property consultant firm JLL. As per reports, an additional 1 per cent cess will be levied on all property purchased from April 1 in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur. "While Mumbai recorded 96 per cent of pre-Covid sales in Q4 2021 (compared to Q4 2019), Pune's sales were 252 per cent of pre-Covid numbers. On an annual basis as well, Mumbai and Pune saw sales improve by 30 per cent and 130 per cent on a Y-o-Y basis in 2021," the firm said in a note.

The Election Commission (EC) is going to organise an International Election Visitors Programme (IEVP), 2022, for foreign election management bodies and organisations in virtual mode on Monday (March 7) during the last phase of ongoing Assembly elections of Uttar Pradesh. The IEVP 2022 provides an opportunity for the EC to share best practices and experience of the conduct of the polling process along with the steps taken to ensure compliance of Covid-19 protocols, the EC said in a statement on Sunday.

One person was killed and another injured seriously on Sunday after being hit by a tractor driven by a man who allegedly had a dispute with one of them over a drain construction work in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur district, police said.

Tamil-origin fishermen in Sri Lanka have urged Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin to intervene in the ongoing conflict between the Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu with the Sri Lankan Navy. A fishermen association across the northern districts of Jaffna, Kilinochchi, and Mullaitivu located in Northern Sri Lanka have written a joint statement to M.K. Stalin. The Tamil Fishermen community requested the Chief Minister to bring up a 'progressive' solution to the fisheries conflict that affects the fisherfolk in Tamil Nadu.

Kerala Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) President, Panakkad Sayyid Hyder Ali Shihab Thangal (74) passed away at a private hospital in Ernakulam district's Angamaly on Sunday. His funeral will be held at Panakkad in Malappuram district on Monday morning. He was the State IUML President for the past 12 years and succeeded his elder brother Panakkad Mohammed Ali Shihab Thangal.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, on Sunday, met around 50 students who had returned from Ukraine. The chief minister interacted with the students and took information about the situation there. Adityanath said that it is necessary to exercise restraint in times of crisis. He said that four ministers of the government were camping abroad and so far 1,400 students have returned from Ukraine.

A 20-year-old woman was found dead on Sunday in a village in Mau area, with police suspecting that she was raped before being killed. Superintendent of Police, Dhawal Jaiswal said injury marks on the woman's neck suggested that she was strangulated. The woman was missing since Saturday evening, he said, adding that some persons have been detained in connection with the case. Prima facie the woman was raped and killed, Jaiswal said.

The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad seized drugs estimated to be worth 2,170 crore in the last three years and arrested 73 people, including a number of Pakistani nationals, in this connection, the ATS said on Sunday. It claimed that Pakistani smugglers many times tried to use the Gujarat coast to smuggle drugs, but all such attempts were foiled. The Gujarat ATS carried out joint operations with the Indian Coast Guard and local police to bust several such attempts, the anti-terror agency said in a release. In 2021 alone, narcotics worth Rs 1,466.18 crore were seized, while drugs worth Rs 704.04 crore were confiscated in the previous two years, it said.

Maharashtra: Prime Minister Narendra Modi lays foundation stone and inaugurates multiple developmental projects in Pune.

An 'ahata' (open bar) operating illegally was shut down following a joint raid by the chief minister's flying squad and the excise department, police said on Sunday. The cashier of the establishment was arrested during the raid that was conducted on Saturday night, they said. Police said the 'ahata' owners did not have the requisite licences to serve alcohol and hookah. Deputy Superintendent of Police Inderjeet Yadav of the CM's flying squad said on the basis of a complaint, a special team was formed to raid the 'ahata', Desi Khaat, located in Backyard Sports Club, Sector 65.

Police have registered a case against a man for allegedly cheating a COVID-19 patient's relative here in Maharashtra by taking money from him under the pretext of arranging a medicine required to treat the viral infection, an official said here on Sunday. The complainant told the police that his uncle was admitted to a civic-run COVID-19 hospital in Mumbra town of Thane district on August 29 last year. Doctors at the hospital prescribed an antibody cocktail injection to treat the patient, following which the latter's nephew came in contact with the accused, identified as Nayansingh Chouhan.

President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday (March 6) organised a run at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here to promote fitness and health consciousness as part of 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' celebrations, an official statement said. 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' is an initiative of the government of India to commemorate 75 years of independence. The run was flagged off by the President and First Lady Savita Kovind, the statement issued by the President's office said. The 5-km run started from the Rashtrapati Bhavan forecourt and ended at the Rashtrapati Bhavan sports complex, it said. Along with the President, senior officials and staff of the President's Secretariat participated in the run, it said.

Maharashtra: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates 12 km stretch of total 32.2 km Pune Metro Rail Project.

Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Saturday questioned the silence of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the mysterious death of student activist Anis Khan and said that she has forgotten the Muslims who had reposed faith in her since her party's win in the state election. Chowdhury, who is also the WBPCC president, alleged that the state government is trying to hide the truth behind the incident and stop investigation into it. Chowdhury, who met the the student activist's family members at their house at Amta in Howrah district during the day, claimed that the special investigating team formed by the state government to probe the death "would yield nothing but rubbish".

Union minister Narayan Rane and his MLA son Nitesh Rane were quizzed by the police here for several hours on Saturday in connection with a case registered against them for allegedly making slanderous and misleading statements about the death of Disha Salian, late actor Sushant Singh Rajput's former manager. Rane and his son, both BJP leaders, arrived at the Malvani police station in the western suburbs around 1.45 pm, and left around 10.45 pm, nine hours later. The Union minister's supporters thronged outside the police station when he arrived. The Malvani police had earlier sent a notice to Nitesh Rane to appear before the investigating officer on Thursday. His father was asked to appear on Friday. But their lawyers had said that as the state legislature was in session, the two leaders would appear before the police on Saturday.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia Saturday said the city government's Business Blasters programme, which aims to encourage entrepreneurial mindset among students, will be started in private schools also from next year. He was speaking at the Business Blasters Investment Summit and Expo at the Thyagraj Stadium here where over 100 business ideas of government school students were presented to investors. He said that the programme was successful due to the hard work of the children of government schools. "In view of its success, in the coming time, the Delhi government will start the programme in private schools of Delhi as well," he said.

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A 23-year-old youth strangled his father to death for not allowing him to sell their ancestral property and sought to dispose his body by wrapping it in a quilt and setting it ablaze, police said on Saturday. Narhauli village resident Vineet took the “horrific” step when his mother had gone to her parental home to meet her ailing father, police said. Identifying the victim as Amrit Lal, 55, police said after killing his father Vineet informed his mother that his father was not well and asked her to come back home. After reaching home, Vineet’s mother realised what her son had done and informed the police following which the police sent the body for the post-mortem and arrested the youth. “The youth has confessed his guilt,” Superintendent of Police Martand Prakash Singh said, adding he also confessed that he killed his father because he was not allowing him to sell the ancestral home.

A one-and-a-half-year old sloth bear, that was found entwined in a barbed wire fence, has been rescued by a multi-agency team from the outskirts of village in Madhya Pradesh's Raisen district. Early on Friday morning, the sloth bear cub was found in a perilous condition as it was caught in the barbed wire fence surrounding a sugar cane farm in the Chiklod forest range located in Raisen district. Local farmers heard its painful cries and immediately contacted the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department. A joint team from Wildlife SOS and Van Vihar National Park in Bhopal drove nearly 45 km to reach the site, a release from Wildlife SOS said on Saturday.

Mizoram's COVID-19 tally rose to 2,17,038 on Saturday as 433 people tested positive for the infection, 136 less than the previous day, an official said. The northeastern state's coronavirus death toll rose to 662 as one more person succumbed to the infection, he said. The daily positivity rate stood at 22.19 per cent as 1,951 samples were tested for COVID-19.

BJP state President Sukanta Majumdar on Saturday claimed the TMC has unleashed an “unofficial emergency ” in the state, where working for BJP was “nothing short of a crime.” He also alleged the ruling Trinamool Congress and CPI(M) had entered into a "secret pact" in the recently held civic polls where BJP could not win in any of the 108 municipalities. The ruling TMC reacted to the charges claiming that these were “wild allegations” made by a party which did not enjoy the confidence of the electorate.

Indrani Mukerjea, accused of killing her daughter Sheena Bora, has said the CBI was reluctant to probe her "Sheena is alive" claim to cover up their own "shoddy investigation" in the case. Indrani had recently submitted an eight-page application before the special CBI court claiming that Bora is alive and had urged it to direct the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe her claim. Last, week the CBI had submitted a written response, which said her claim was a "figment of her imagination” and that it was “next to impossible” Bora was alive. The CBI had further said Mukerjea's application had no merit and that it had been filed with malafide intention to delay the hearing of the trial. On Thursday, Mukerjea, through her lawyer Sana Khan, filed a rejoinder to CBI's reply. The details were made available on Saturday.

A police officer has filed a complaint in the ACJM court against a ruling party MLA alleging that the legislator abused, threatened and pressured him to arrest a person in a case of criminal trespass. A 7.37 minute-long audio clip of the purported phone call between Sanjay Kumar, SHO at Bhainsroadgarh police station here and the accused Congress MLA from Begun (Chittorgarh) Rajendra Singh Bidhuri went viral on Friday. Following this, the Opposition BJP created an uproar in the House and demanded an investigation into the matter. Kumar’s statement was recorded at the court of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Rawatbhata, and the next hearing is scheduled for March 7, a police statement issued on Saturday mentioned.

Delhi on Saturday reported 274 fresh COVID-19 cases while the positivity rate stood at 0.58 per cent, according to data shared by the Health Department. No death was reported in the national capital, which so far has reported 26,134 fatalities. With the fresh cases, the national capital's infection count increased to 18,61,463, according to the latest health bulletin. Prior to Saturday, Delhi had recorded zero fatality count on February 28 when the city had logged 258 cases. The number of COVID-19 tests conducted a day ago stood at 47,652, the bulletin said.