Breaking News, April 7 | HIGHLIGHTS

A team of the Ahmedabad Crime Branch will reach here around 2am on Saturday with alleged conman Kiran Patel who was arrested in Jammu and Kashmir for posing as a senior PMO official, said police. Patel was handed over to Gujarat Police late Thursday afternoon after its request for his custody was granted by the court of the chief judicial magistrate in Srinagar.

The Congress on Friday held protests against Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for using an allegedly objectionable word against its state unit chief Kamal Nath. The Congress held protests in all the districts in the state seeking Chouhan's resignation and burnt his effigies, a release from the party said. The release said the indecent language used by the CM showed his "frustrated mentality". Nath too tweeted on the issue and said "the entire world is seeing how the MP chief minister is behaving".

Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal on Friday urged the people of Karnataka not to "repeat the mistake of 2018 polls", and to provide an absolute majority to the BJP in the May 10 Assembly elections.
During an Interaction with the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI), he asked the people to elect a strong and single-party government, which would be committed to the welfare of the people of Karnataka and provide good governance. The 2018 Assembly polls had thrown up a hung verdict, following which the Congress and JD(S) joined together to form a coalition government initially. However, the BJP later got MLAs from the rival parties to defect, and emerged as the single largest party.

Six people allegedly involved in phishing activities were arrested in Jharkhand's Deoghar district, police said on Friday. The cybercriminals were apprehended during a raid in a building under the Town Police Station limits, DSP (Cyber) Sumit Prasad said. Twenty-six mobile phones, 37 SIM and four ATM cards along with a notebook were recovered from their possession, the police officer said. At least 77 crime links were detected from the SIM cards and the IMEI numbers of the seized mobile phones, he said. "The investigation is on," the DSP added.

Five men, four of them history sheeters, were arrested for allegedly robbing a jewellery showroom at gunpoint in west Delhi's Nangloi area, police said on Friday. The accused have been identified as Nitesh, 26, Paramjeet, 26, Abhishek, 22, Raunak, 24, and Rajat, 23, all residents of Rohtak district in Haryana, they said. Four of the five arrested had robbed a jewellery showroom of gold and silver ornaments, along with some cash, in Nangloi on Tuesday, a senior police officer said. On Thursday, police got information that Paramjeet would be coming to Mundka. A trap was laid and police intercepted a scooter on Rohtak road and nabbed Nitesh, Paramjeet, and Abhishek, Deputy Commissioner of Police (outer) Harendra Singh said.

Four girls have been killed in a fire in a building in Uttarakhand's Dehradun district, officials said on Friday, putting the age of the children between two-and-a-half and nine years. The building in the district's Chakrata area caught fire on Thursday evening. The charred remains of two girls have been found, District Magistrate Sonika told PTI. Asked about the two other girls, Sonika said State Disaster Response Force personnel could not find their remains. The deceased were identified as two-and-a-half-year-old Saijal, five-year-old Adhira, and Samriddhi and Sonam, both aged nine. Search and rescue operations have been stopped, Sonika said and added that the area's naib tehsildar had been suspended.

On World Health Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday said his government will continue working to augment the health infrastructure and ensure quality healthcare to people. "On World Health Day, we express gratitude to all those who work to make our planet healthier. Our Government will continue working to augment health infrastructure and ensure quality healthcare to the people," he tweeted.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday took a swipe at Pakistan, saying while India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership is providing free ration to over 80 crore people, the people in the neighbouring country are struggling to get two meals a day. Addressing a gathering here, he said the world was today looking at India how governments should function. “All Indians are getting benefits of development schemes without any discrimination. The nation is scaling new heights of prosperity. Efforts are being made to create the best security environment in the nation," the chief minister said. Adityanath, along with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, was here to attend the inauguration of Kaushambi Mahotsav 2023. Several development projects were launched and many players of 'Sansad Khel Spardha' were also honoured on the occasion. During the programme, Shah inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of a total of 117 development projects worth more than Rs 612 crore, a statement said. “Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, India has been providing free ration to more than 80 crore people for the past three years, on the other hand, people in Pakistan are struggling to get two proper meals,” Adityanath said. He said Uttar Pradesh is scaling new heights under the leadership of Modi and the guidance of Shah.

The Uttar Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) is mulling stern action against real estate developers, after 41 out of 51 promoters from across the state skipped an important review meeting of projects despite its summons, according to officials. Among the possible actions that could be taken against these promoters are freezing of bank accounts, withholding of purchase of unit sales, ban on new project registration or jail term if found to be selling units in lapsed projects, they said. UP RERA secretary Rajesh Kumar Tyagi said that a review meeting of the non-NCR projects was called at the authority's Lucknow office on March 28, but 41 out of the 51 promoters remained absent from it. “Promoters who are constantly absent in the review meetings and ignoring the orders of the Authority, are now listed by the Authority and action against them will be taken soon, as per RERA rules.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday strongly condemned the dropping of certain chapters and portions from NCERT class 12 textbooks and alleged that "complete saffronisation" of academic books was the objective behind the move. Historical facts cannot be denied by just cutting out portions that are inconvenient (to some one) from textbooks, he said in a Facebook post. Excluding certain portions and chapters from the textbooks with a political motive was not only a negation of history but also a condemnable move. It is evident that the objective behind such actions is the "complete saffronisation of textbooks", the CM added. In the hard-hitting post, Vijayan said it was clear whose interest was being served by the omission of portions about the assassination of the 'Father of the Nation' Mahatma Gandhi and the subsequent banning of the RSS, from the political science textbook of class 12. Portions about the Mughal Empire were also cut down from the history textbook of the same class, he pointed out.

CNG and piped cooking gas prices will be cut by 9-11 per cent after the government revised the formula for pricing of natural gas, but there is no clarity on deregulation of the fuel, analysts said. While the Union Cabinet accepted an expert committee report to price bulk of domestically produced natural gas at 10 per cent of month average import price of crude oil with a floor of USD 4 per million British thermal unit and a cap of USD 6.5, tinkering with the panel's suggestions will help the government avoid prices going up right in the middle of general elections next year. "City gas distributors could reduce prices of compressed natural gas (CNG), used by vehicles, and piped natural gas (PNG), used by homes, by 9-11 per cent, with the government accepting the key recommendations of the Kirit Parikh Committee," Crisil Ratings said. "Had the previous pricing regime continued, prices would have likely risen." But the government has not acted on the panel's recommendation to fully deregulate prices in 2027. Asked about the deregulation of gas prices, Oil Secretary Pankaj Jain, briefing reporters late on Thursday evening, had stated that the decisions taken by the Cabinet have been comminuted.

In light of the rise in the number of COVID-19 cases, the Goa government on Friday resumed in-patient testing at state-run hospitals using antigen testing kits, a minister said. Goa had on Thursday recorded 162 new cases of coronavirus infection, which raised the active tally in the state to 872. Taking to Twitter, state Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said, "I have directed the team at @GoaGmc to activate the genome sequencing machine on the premises, and the secretary for health has been notified on the same. We have also begun in-patient testing at government hospitals using antigen testing to keep the situation under control."

Amid rising cases of coronavirus, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday held a review meeting and advised states to stay alert and be prepared for COVID-19 management.  In the meeting with state health ministers and principal and additional chief secretaries held virtually, Mandaviya stressed on identifying emergency hotspots by monitoring trends of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) cases, ramping up testing and vaccination and ensuring readiness of hospital infrastructure. Along with enhancing genome sequencing and ramping up whole genome sequencing of positive samples, he also emphasised on creating awareness about following Covid-appropriate behaviour.

West Bengal: A fire broke out at a shop behind New Town City Center in North 24 Parganas. Two fire tenders and police are present on the spot. Further details awaited.

Railway Protection Force conducts flag march at Rishra railway station in Hooghly district following an incident of stone pelting on 4th April.

"Wearing of masks in public places is mandatory in Puducherry," says District Collector E.Vallavan, amid the Covid-19 surge in the country.

Section 144 of CrPC imposed in the Shorapur constituency of Yadgiri district for two days, after a clash broke out between BJP and Congress supporters on April 6. The orders were issued by the District Collector of Yadgiri.

Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya holds a review meeting with Health Ministers of States/UTs on the Covid19 situation.

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) demolishes "illegally built" film studios in the Madh-Marve area of ​​Mumbai.

Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu met party president, Mallikarjun Kharge and party general secretary in-charge communications, Jairam Ramesh.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recalled the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the occasion of Good Friday.

Telangana BJP president and MP Bandi Sanjay offers prayers at a temple after being released on bail from Karimnagar district jail in the SSC paper leak case.

India records 6,050 new cases of Covid-19 in 24 hours; Active case tally stands at 28,303.

Angry mob attacked police personnel during a raid at the residence of an accused in Dimaha village in Bihar's Naugachia last night. Villagers alleged that police assaulted the accused's wife and child.

Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Friday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks on the BJP's commitment to social justice, claiming that under this government the "rich get richer and the poor get poorer".

Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahato, and MLAs pay last respects to Minister for Education Jagarnath Mahato who passed away at a private hospital in Chennai on April 6.

Assam: Police detained four persons and recovered 386 ATM cards with cash in Morigaon district last night, further investigation underway.

Uttar Pradesh reported its first death due to Covid-19 this year, health officials said. The state also reported 192 fresh Covid cases during the day while 68 patients recovered in the state, including one in state capital Lucknow. At present, there are 842 active Covid cases in the state.

Devotee carries wooden cross depicting the crucifixion of Jesus Christ during a procession on the occasion of Good Friday in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya and MoS Health Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar take part in a walkathon starting from Vijay Chowk to Nirman Bhawan in Delhi, on the occasion of World Health Day.

Israel launches air strikes on Gaza Strip, reports AFP News Agency citing Army