Breaking News, March 16 | Daily Wrap- Highlights

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) was conducting searches at the residence of Church of North India (CNI) Jabalpur Diocese's sacked Bishop P C Singh in connection with a money laundering case, an official said on Thursday. The ED's action came months after the Madhya Pradesh Economic Offence Wing (EOW) arrested him after allegedly recovering around Rs 1.60 crore in Indian and foreign currencies from his bungalow here. The ED's searches started on Wednesday and are still continuing, an officer of the central agency told PTI.

The government on Thursday informed the Allahabad High Court that classrooms of sealed Rampur Public School run by Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan's Jauhar Trust will be opened for internal examinations from 6 am to 3 pm on March 17 and 18. The school was on Tuesday sealed by Rampur district administration as the premises was not cleared despite the cancellation of the lease. Taking the statement of Additional Advocate General (AAG) on record, a division bench comprising Justices S P Kesarwani and Anish Kumar Gupta directed the Rampur district administration to abide by the statement of AAG and fixed March 21 as the next date of hearing in the case.

As thousands of farmers continued their march to Mumbai on Thursday to press their demands, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said his meeting with their representatives went well and the government would make a statement in the legislature on the issue. A leader of the "long march", however, said the farmers and tribals taking part in it would not stop until the government takes some concrete measures.
 

Light rain hits Mumbai. The IMD has predicted thunderstorm, lightning in several Maharashtra districts including Raigad, Pune, Ahmednagar, Satara, Solapur, Nanded, and Dhule during the next 3-4 hours.

On one side our PM is there and on the other side is that person from the Gandhi family who has been defeated by the people of Amethi. He defamed the nation on foreign soil. Today BJP takes a pledge that the leader of the Congress party who insulted our motherland will not get any vote from this constituency, Union Minister Smriti Irani said.

BSF rescued two rare species of birds from smugglers in a search operation they conducted after receiving information. They recovered two wooden boxes containing Dwarf Cassowary birds. The birds were handed over to the Forest Department in Krishnanagar, officials said.

Edmonton police said Thursday that two patrol officers were killed while responding to a call. Police did not immediately release any details about what happened. Police chief Dale McFee was expected to make a statement later Thursday. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted his condolences and support to the officers' loved ones and colleagues.

There are many people in our country who proudly say they are Muslim, Christian and I have no problem with that but we need a person who can proudly say that I am a Hindu. India needs such a person today, says Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma in Belagavi.

 As the strike of Maharashtra government employees seeking restoration of the Old Pension Scheme entered the third day on Thursday, it emerged that the state government has appointed private agencies to fill up vacancies on a contractual basis. The umbrella body of the unions coordinating the strike blamed the government's "stubborn attitude" for the continuance of their agitation. An application seeking end to the strike was filed in the High Court, and it could be heard on Friday.

Thunderstorms accompanied by lightning and light to moderate spells of rain with gusty winds reaching 30-40 kmph are very likely to occur at isolated places in the districts of Raigad, Pune, Ahmednagar, Satara, Solapur, Nanded, Dhule during the next 3-4 hours, IMD said.

A general strike in Greece called in response to a rail disaster last month grounded flights and extensively disrupted services, as large protests were held in cities across the country on Thursday. The strike also kept ferries to the Greek islands at port, left public hospitals running with emergency staff, halted public transport services and led to class cancellations at state-run schools. Unions have rallied behind railway workers' associations that have staged rolling walkouts since the head-on train collision in northern Greece on February 28 that left 57 people dead and dozens injured.

Defence Ministry has approved proposals worth over Rs 70,000 crore for buying different weapon systems for the Indian defence forces, officials said. READ MORE

Lt Governor V K Saxena has directed officials to ensure that Delhi is adorned with flowering plants throughout the year and asked the NDMC to plant five lakh tulips, sourced from Jammu and Kashmir or Himachal Pradesh, in the next season, officials said on Thursday. The Lt Governor chaired a meeting to review the Horticulture divisions of various departments and agencies and their future preparedness with regards to flower plantation and other activities.

Keeping its interests in mind ahead of the Assembly elections scheduled for 2024, the Andhra Pradesh government has allocated the lion’s share of the state Budget -- more than Rs 54,000 crore of the total Rs 2,79,279 crore -- to Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) schemes, targeting potential voter segments such as pensioners, farmers, students and women. Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath tabled the 2023-24 Budget in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday.

 Caller ID verification platform Truecaller on Thursday announced the opening of its first exclusive office space outside of Sweden, in Bengaluru. The office was inaugurated virtually by Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship & Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday arrived in Parliament House after his return from abroad and met Speaker Om Birla urging him to allow him to speak in Lok Sabha. He earlier said he has said nothing against India or the Parliament during his London visit. Gandhi said he would speak in Parliament if he is allowed by the chair. "If they allow me to speak in Parliament, then I will say what I think," he told reporters while leaving Parliament. He said it will not be to the BJP's liking when he speaks inside Parliament. Gandhi said if he is not allowed, he would speak outside Parliament. Gandhi met Speaker Birla along with the leader of the Congress party in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

Delhi's jailed former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia has been booked by the CBI in a fresh case related to alleged misuse of official position and using the city government's Feedback Unit for "political snooping", officials said Thursday. Already arrested by the CBI in the excise policy case and at present in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate, the woes of 51-year-old Sisodia aggravated after the agency registered a fresh case against him on Tuesday and five others for alleged criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, forgery and provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act, they said. The agency has booked Sisodia, a 1992-batch IRS officer Sukesh Kumar Jain who was then secretary of vigilance, retired CISF DIG Rakesh Kumar Sinha who was working as special advisor to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and joint director in the Feedback Unit, they said. Besides, former joint deputy director of Intelligence Bureau Pradeep Kumar' Punj, who was working as deputy director of the Feedback Unit, retired assistant commandant of CISF Satish Khetrapal who was working as feedback officer and Gopal Mohan, advisor, anti-corruption, to Kejriwal were also booked in the case, officials said.

Video and photos of three maternal uncles giving their niece wedding gifts worth over Rs 3 crore in Rajasthan's Nagaur district is going viral on social media. When the bride's maternal grandfather and uncles reached the venue carrying Rs 80 lakh cash, jewellery, plot papers, tractor for 'mamera' or 'mayra' (a traditional ritual where the maternal uncle of the bride or groom carries gifts for his niece or nephew in their marriage, everyone present there was surprised. Anushka, daughter of Ghevari Devi and Bhanwarlal Potaliya, had tied the nuptial knot on Wednesday during which the bride's maternal grandfather Bhanwarlal Garwa, a resident of Burdi village, along with his three sons Harendra, Rameshwar and Rajendra gave the gifts. Ghevari Devi and her family were overwhelmed with the gesture. However, Bhanwarlal said Ghevari is the only daughter in the family and due to her luck, his three sons have got so much wealth.

The Supreme Court on Thursday extended by four weeks the protection from arrest granted to Ambience Group promoter Raj Singh Gehlot in a money laundering case linked to an alleged bank loan fraud of Rs 800 crore. The Enforcement Directorate (ED), represented by Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, opposed the grant of relief before a bench headed by Justice B R Gavai saying the person who siphoned off hundreds of crores of rupees should not be granted bail allegedly on fake medical grounds. “I wonder why all these economic offenders are always hospitalised after the filing of the case. Otherwise they are hale and hearty,” the law officer told the bench which also comprised justices Vikram Nath and Sanjay Karol. The submissions were opposed by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Gehlot. Rohatgi said that the apex court on November 4, 2022, had ordered re –examination of Gehlot by a medical board to be constituted by the Director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here. The order of this court on medical examination cannot be rendered nugatory, he said.

Maharashtra School Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar told the Assembly on Thursday that 30,000 vacancies for teachers are being filled through the Teacher Aptitude and Intelligence Test (TAIT) and the process would be completed by April. The minister said it has been decided to hold TAIT twice a year. Replying during the question hour, Kesarkar said two private agencies – IBPS and Tata Consultancy Services – have been entrusted with the task of recruitment. These companies also work for the central government and are reliable, he said. The recruitment process is expected to be completed by April and the teachers will be available in the next academic year, he said.

A man was killed while his sister sustained serious injuries when their motorcycle skid and hit a bus on the Dangdi-Kangu link road in the district, police said Thursday. The deceased Shivam (21) was returning to his village along with his sister Anshika (18) after taking part in the Holi fair in Sujanpur Tira when the accident occurred on Wednesday night, they said. Shivam lost control of the bike at a sharp turn, police said. The injured girl was rushed to a Hamirpur hospital for treatment. A case has been registered and investigations are underway, police said.

The Uttar Pradesh government will set up sewage treatment plants in every city with a population of over one lakh to cope with the growing population burden of the urban areas, officials have said. Several schemes are being implemented to maintain cleanliness in the state and strengthen facilities in cities according to population. The state government has already set the target of having STPs for 70 per cent of Uttar Pradesh's population in the next two years. Under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) 2.0, the state government recently approved the City Sanitation Action Plan in 160 urban bodies to provide relief from the sewage problem, a senior official said. It will be followed by preparing a detailed City Sanitation Action Plan, presenting the complete details of sewage management in the state, the present status of the sewer network, STP reports, statistics of main drains and drains of municipal bodies, gap analysis, while chalking out a strategy as per target, he said. It is estimated that in each district only 30 per cent area is urban which houses more than 50 per cent of its population.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has said that only 2.98 per cent of its overall ECIRs or complaints have been filed against serving or former MPs and MLAs even as its conviction rate under the anti-money laundering law is at a high of 96 per cent. The federal probe agency has published an updated data of its action under the three laws it implements-- the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEOA)-- till January 31, 2023. The ED was entrusted with enforcing the stringent provisions of the PMLA, enacted in 2002, from July 1, 2005. The law empowers the agency to summon, arrest, attach the assets of the accused at the investigation stage and prosecute the offenders before a court of law. The data said the ED filed a total of 176 Enforcement Case Information Reports (ECIRs), equivalent to a police FIR, against existing and ex MPs, MLAs and MLCs which comes to 2.98 percentage of the total 5,906 such complaints filed since the law came into being. It said a total of 1,142 prosecution complaints or charge sheets have been filed by it till now under the PMLA and it arrested a total 513 people under these ECIRs and prosecution complaints. Trial, according to the data, was completed in a total of 25 cases under the PMLA till this period, and, this resulted in conviction in 24 cases. One case resulted in acquittal.

President Droupadi Murmu will arrive here on Thursday as part of her six-day visit to Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Lakshadweep. Murmu will visit INS Vikrant, the country's first indigenously built aircraft carrier, when she arrives in Kochi in the afternoon. Later, she will present the President's Colour to INS Dronacharya, the Gunnery School of the Indian Navy here, officials said. On Friday, the President will visit spiritual guru Mata Amritanandamayi's Math in Kollam. On the same day, she will attend a civic reception to be hosted in her honour in Thiruvananthapuram. She will also dedicate to the nation the Technical Books of Diploma and Engineering that have been translated into Malayalam by Digital University Kerala (DUK) in a function being organised at Kowdiar. She will leave for Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on March 18 and pay tribute at Vivekananda Smarak and the statue of Thiruvalluvar, officials said. On March 18 evening, she will attend a civic reception to be hosted in her honour at Kavaratti, the capital of Union Territory of Lakshadweep. On March 19, the President will interact with members of Self Help Groups at Kavaratti, they said.

A powerful explosion in a coal mine in central Colombia that affected four other mines linked by tunnels has killed at least 11 people and left 10 others missing, the government said Wednesday. President Gustavo Petro said on his Twitter account that rescuers were making every effort to reach the trapped miners. The blast, which was attributed to a build up of methane gas, took place Tuesday night in the municipality of Sutatausa in the Cundinamarca department. Cundinamarca Gov. Nicolás García Bustos initially reported four deaths with two people recovered alive and 17 trapped in the mine. But Álvaro Farfán, captain of the Cundinamarca fire department, told local media the explosion affected five mines interconnected by tunnels, generating a "chain" blast with a wider impact. Petro later raised the death toll to 11. Energy and Mines Minister Irene Vélez said 10 people were still trapped in the mines. The blast occurred when the highly explosive methane gas ignited, Vélez said. Explosions and landslides are common in Colombia's coal mines. 

The Rajasthan BJP will stage "massive" protests across the state against the Congress government between March 16 and April 5. State BJP chief Satish Poonia will launch the protest from Bharatpur on Thursday. He also address a public gathering near the district collectorate on the occasion. The party will 'gherao' the collectorates in all 33 districts of the state during the protests. It will also organise public meetings to raise issues such as "pending" promises of farmer loan waiver, paper leaks, "deteriorating" law and order, and "increasing" crime against women among others. State BJP general secretary Bhajan Lal Sharma said that the state and district office bearers, MPs, MLAs, activists and common people will participate in protests at district headquarters against the promises made by the Congress government to the farmers and youth.

India's Kavilmadam Ramaswami Parvathy, who has served in leading roles at the World Food Programme in Türkiye and Afghanistan, has been appointed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Tajikistan. Parvathy took up her new post as Resident Coordinator in Tajikistan Wednesday, following the appointment by the Secretary-General and confirmation from the host Government, Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, said at the daily news briefing. "We remain with full gender parity among our 130 Resident Coordinators," Dujarric said.

Two persons, including an 18-year-old boy and a 56-year-old woman, committed suicide in as many incidents separated by a few hours in a building located in suburban Kandivali, police said on Wednesday. The woman hanged herself in her flat on Tuesday as she was upset that her daughter couldn't become a mother, an official said. In another incident, an 18-year-old boy jumped from the building on Wednesday morning after his father shouted at him for not studying. His body was spotted by watchmen of the building and society members. Police have registered cases of accidental death and further investigation is on, an official added.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke to his Russian counterpart on Wednesday about the destruction of a U.S. drone over the Black Sea after an encounter with Russian fighter jets, which brought the two countries closest to direct conflict since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine a year ago. It was the first call between Austin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu since October. And Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had a similar call with his Russian counterpart, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces. "We take any potential for escalation very seriously. And that's why I believe it's important to keep the lines of communication open," Austin said at a Pentagon press briefing. "I think it's really key that we're able to pick up the phone and engage each other. And I think that that will help to prevent miscalculation going forward." The U.S. military said it ditched the Air Force MQ-9 Reaper in the sea after a Russian fighter jet poured fuel on the surveillance drone and then struck its propeller while it was flying in international airspace. Russia has denied that it caused the accident. The U.S. has said it was working on declassifying surveillance footage from the drone that would show Tuesday's crash. That the top U.S. and Russian defence and military leaders were talking so soon after the incident underscored the seriousness of the encounter over the Black Sea and that both sides recognized the need to tamp down the risks of escalation. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, contact between U.S. and Russian military leaders has been limited, with Russian officials refusing to take U.S. military calls in the early months of the war.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named a former governor general Wednesday as a special investigator to look into allegations of Chinese interference in Canada's last two elections. Trudeau announced Wednesday that David Johnston will take the role of special rapporteur. Johnston will decide if a public inquiry is needed and Trudeau said he will abide by recommendations. The Globe and Mail, citing unidentified intelligence sources, reported last month that China preferred to see Trudeau's Liberals re-elected in the 2021 election and worked to defeat Conservative politicians considered unfriendly to Beijing The governor general is the representative of Britain's monarch as head of state and holds a mostly ceremonial and symbolic position. Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed Johnston governor general in 2010 and his term was extended under Trudeau until 2017. Johnston has law degrees from the University of Cambridge and Queen's University. He was a law professor for 45 years and was also president of the University of Waterloo.