Breaking News, February 2

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said it has carried out search operations at the residential and business premises of Pawan Kumar Jajodia, a Cuttack-based businessman, in connection with a money laundering case. This search operation was conducted last month at three places in Odisha's Cuttack. The ED official said that during the searches, various incriminating documents were seized.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) that handed over Arunachal Pradesh youth Miram Taron to the Indian Army on January 27 -- nine days after he was allegedly abducted, had tortured the teenager while he was in its custody, Lok Sabha member Tapir Gao claimed on Wednesday. Gao, who represents the Arunachal East constituency, said that the PLA had tortured Miram, and kept him blindfolded, tied his hands, gave electric shocks, adding the teenager was also subjected to other inhuman treatments.

"Violating the international law, the PLA cruelly tortured Miram Taron in their custody. Earlier, several PLA personnel, Chinese citizens including woman were captured in the Indian territory, but the Indian Army immediately handed over them to the Chinese authority with full dignity," the parliamentarian told IANS. He said that the Indian authority must look into the matter and take appropriate action and resolve the border dispute with China.

India on Wednesday extended a USD 500 million credit line to Sri Lanka to fund the country’s fuel purchases, the Indian High Commission said, as the island nation struggles to overcome its worst financial and energy crisis in decades. Last month, the Indian High Commission said that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar agreed to offer critical support and a USD 500 million credit line in a letter to his Sri Lankan counterpart GL Peiris.

The United States could be willing to enter into an agreement with Russia to ease tensions over missile deployments in Europe if Moscow steps back from the brink in Ukraine, according to a leaked document published in a Spanish newspaper on Wednesday. The daily El Pais published two documents purported to be written replies from the United States and NATO last week to Russia's proposals for a new security arrangement in Europe.

If the last month was hectic when Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan was going hammer and tongs in the way the ruling Pinarayi Vijayan government was handling issues related to Kannur University, he is presently perusing the amendment to the Lokayukta Ordinance that has come to him from the Vijayan government. And sitting on his 'head' is the Congress-led Opposition which paid a visit to him last week asking him not to put his signature to it, as all its powers have been taken away leaving it a mere recommendatory body. By now, Khan, after receiving the Ordinance, after a first look at it, sent it back to the government with some queries and quick in answering, the government sent it back to him again. The Congress, BJP and the second biggest ally in the Vijayan government, the CPI have slammed Vijayan on the issue and the CPI went a step forward when its state secretary Kanam Rajendran said this undue haste was not needed, when the budget session of the assembly is just round the corner. A media critic on condition of anonymity said the weekly cabinet meeting has not taken a decision on the budget session of the Kerala Assembly. "The cabinet decides the date and sends it to the Governor who gives his clearance. Vijayan has played a calculated role in not announcing the date because if he does that, then Khan need not sign the Ordinance. So Vijayan is waiting to hear from Khan," said the critic.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee re-elected as TMC Chairperson unopposed. 

The Supreme Court Collegium has approved elevation of 12 advocates and judicial officers as judges in the Telangana High Court. The Collegium at its meeting on Tuesday approved the proposal for elevation of seven advocates and five judicial officers as judges. They include four women. The advocates who will be elevated as judges are Kasoju Surendhar alias K. Surender, Chada Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy, Surepalli Nanda, Mummineni Sudheer Kumar, Juvvadi Sridevi alias Kuchadi Sridevi, Mirza Safiullah Baig and Natcharaju Shravan Kumar Venkat. The judicial officers who will get the elevation are G. Anupama Chakravarthy, M.G. Priyadarshini, Sambasivarao Naidu, A. Santosh Reddy and Dr D. Nagarajun. This will take the number of judges in Telangana High Court to 30 including Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma. The High Court will still have 12 vacancies. In June 2021, the bench strength of Telangana High Court, which has over 2.3 lakh pending cases, increased from 24 to 42 judges.

Ten persons were injured on Wednesday in a road accident in J&K's Poonch district. Police sources said a minibus carrying the passengers went out of the driver's control at Swajian village of Mandi area in Poonch district after which the vehicle turned turtle. "Ten persons were injured in this accident, 2 of them sustaining critical injuries. The injured have been shifted to hospital", police sources said.

The Odisha government has dismissed senior IAS officer and former managing director of the Odisha Rural Housing Development Corporation (ORHDC), Vinod Kumar from service on corruption charges. This action was taken after the corruption charges levelled against Kumar were found to be true and the Union government accorded necessary clearances to this effect, official sources said here on Wednesday. Kumar, a 1989-batch IAS officer, is accused of sanctioning funds of Rs 33.34 crore through unfair means in the aftermath of super cyclone. At that time, he was serving as the MD of the ORHDC. As a result, the State government suffered huge financial losses. Following this, the Odisha government had filed 27 vigilance cases against Kumar, of which he has been convicted in two of the cases. The State government has always taken strong action against corruption. As per its 'zero tolerance towards corruption' policy, the state has recently given compulsory retirement to a senior IFS officer Abhay Kanta Pathak on corruption charges.

A major fire broke out in a factory manufacturing electric capacitors in Maharashtra's Nashik district on Wednesday, but there was no report of any casualty, a fire brigade official said. He said the fire brigade received a call at 5.18 am of the blaze in the factory, located in Satpur industrial area. The fire quickly spread in the premises due to raw materials like plastic items and hard boards used for packaging which were stored in a large quantity in the unit, he said. The factory's first floor was completely destroyed in the fire, the official said. There was no loss of life, but a large number of goods kept in the unit were gutted in the blaze, he said.  Six fire tenders were pressed into service and the fire was doused by around 8 am, he said, adding that the cooling operation was still on.  The cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained, he said. 

An encounter has started between the terrorists and security forces in the Nadigam area in South Kashmir's Shopian district, officials said on Wednesday. "Encounter has started at Nadigam area of Shopian. Police and security forces are on the job," police said. The gunfight broke out after a joint team of the police and the security forces cordoned off the area and launched a search operation on the basis of specific information about the presence of terrorists.

Two criminals allegedly made a failed attempt to abduct a minor girl in the national capital, a police official said here on Wednesday. According to the police, the incident occurred on January 31, Monday at around 7.30 p.m. in the evening at Begampura area of south Delhi. Deputy Commissioner of Police Benita Mary Jaiker said a PCR call was received on Monday at 8.40 p.m. from Begampur area that an 11-year-old girl was taken away by two unknown persons. "Immediately, the police staff reached the spot where mother of the victim girl reported that at about 7.30 p.m. she was inside her home and her daughter was standing on stairs outside," the DCP said. As the accused duo tried to forcibly abduct the minor girl, she started screaming and crying loudly. "On hearing the screams of her daughter, the mother came outside the home and found that two boys, aged about 25-26 yrs, were taking away her daughter," the official said.

Pakistan continues to reel under high inflation. The country's general inflation measured by Consumer Price Index (CPI) clocked in at 24-month peak of 13 per cent in January as prices of almost all commodities and utilities maintained a growing trend. The sectors that posted double-digit growth in prices when compared to January 2021 included perishable and non-perishable food items, energy, transportation, clothing, restaurants and health, reported Dawn news. While household and energy rates increased by 15.5 per cent, the transport sector led the inflationary trend with an increase of over 23 per cent, followed by 13 per cent and 14 per cent for perishable and non-perishable food items, restaurants and hotels 13 per cent and clothing 12 per cent. This is the highest CPI inflation since January 2020 when it was 14.6 per cent. The CPI inflation for urban population increased by 13 per cent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis in January 2022 as compared to an increase of 12.7 per cent in the previous month and 5 per cent in January 2021.

Maharashtra: Pimpri Chinchwad Police arrested a constable and 7 others for allegedly abducting a man to extort Bitcoins worth Rs 300 crores, DCP (Zone 2) Anand Bhoite said on Tuesday. 

CPI Rajya Sabha MP Binoy Viswam has given  suspension of business notice under rule 267 demanding discussion on Pegasus spyware. 

A 22-year-old woman has complained to police that she was molested by an unknown person while travelling on a bus from Bilaspur in Haryana to her home in Pataudi, an official said on Tuesday. She told police that the man groped her on the bus on Monday evening. An FIR in this regard has been registered at the Bilaspur police station, its SHO Jai Prakash said, adding a search is on to identify the person and nab him.

Ahead of the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, police here on Tuesday arrested a man with over Rs 39 lakh cash, officials said. The man was identified as Anil Kumar, a resident of Meera Enclave in Agra, they said. Following a tip-off, Rs 39,19,900 was recovered from Kumar, who was travelling to Delhi in a private bus, Superintendent of Police (City) Martand Prakash Singh said. He claimed that he was taking the money to Delhi to buy articles that he would sell in Agra, the SP said. After he failed to explain how he got the money, he was handed over to the Income Tax department, the police said. The police are conducting raids to check the misuse of money in the upcoming assembly elections. In another raid on Monday, Rs 3,50,000 was recovered from a man near K D Medical College here under Chhata police station area, the police said. The man was identified as Shahid, a resident of Haryana's Faridabad, they said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi held a phone conversation on Tuesday to discuss the Ukrainian crisis and the establishment of security guarantees between Russia and the West. In response to Draghi's concern about the situation regarding Ukraine, Putin said that the Kiev authorities are evading the fulfillment of obligations under the 2015 Minsk agreements, Xinhua news agency reported. When discussing the long-term and legally binding security guarantees in detail, Putin outlined Russia's key approaches to this matter and emphasized the importance of observing the fundamental principle of "the indivisibility of security" as is upheld by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. As for bilateral issues, Putin told Draghi that Russia will continue to ensure stable supplies of natural gas to Italy. 

Two officers were shot and killed on the campus of Bridgewater College in Bridgewater, eastern US state of Virginia, on Tuesday. A male shooter was taken into police custody, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the college's statement. In an email sent to students and staff, the college identified the victims as campus police officer John Painter and campus safety officer J.J. Jefferson. Police responded to a report of an active shooter on the Bridgewater College campus on Tuesday afternoon, and the suspect was arrested a short time later not far from the campus. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares have been briefed on the situation. 2 officers killed in shooting at college in US' Virginia 

A 14-year-old girl has filed a police complaint against her uncle alleging that he molested her while she was alone at her aunt's place, officials said on Tuesday. The accused is on the run, they said. According to the complaint filed by the girl, she went to her aunt's house on January 1 and stayed there for a while. On January 5, when her aunt had gone to the market and she was alone at home, her uncle touched her inappropriately. The complainant said she did not disclose the incident to anyone out of fear. She came back home on Monday and confided in a boy in her neighbourhood who suggested that she files a police complaint.

J&K: Wildlife SOS arranges special diet for Himalayan black bears in winters at Dachigam National Park, Srinagar. Black bears don't go into complete hibernation, their activities don't stop. Jaggery, honey, dates and seasonal fruits are included in their diet, said Aaliya Mir, SOS Manager. 

Mexico's central bank says remittances- the money migrants send home to their relatives- grew by 27.1% in 2021 to total about $51.6 billion for the year as a whole. That is a record amount, despite the coronavirus pandemic, and would surpass almost all other sources of Mexico's foreign income, including tourism, oil exports and most manufacturing exports. The bank said Tuesday the phenomenon doesn't appear to be tailing off; remittances in December grew to $4.76 billion, 30.4% more than in the same month of 2020.