Barricades at Sarojini Market, in New Delhi. (Express Photo by Praveen Khanna)Delhi Live News: Delhi reported 5,481 new cases and three more deaths on Tuesday. The positivity rate has now risen to 8.37%. The city now has 14,889 active cases. There are 168 people on oxygen support now while the number of patients on ventilators (14) has doubled in a day.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain earlier said that a weekend curfew is being imposed in view of the rising Covid cases. But this should not be considered to be a lockdown, he added.
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Tuesday decided to impose a weekend curfew in Delhi, starting from this week. Only essential movement will be allowed during the curfew. Work from home in all government and private offices except essential services.
Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday tested positive for Covid-19 and has mild symptoms, the CM informed on Twitter. He has requested everyone who came in contact with him in the last few days to get tested.
With Covid cases on the rise, Jain had on Monday said over 81% of the total samples sequenced over the last two days were found to have the Omicron variant. Of the 187 samples sequenced in the two days, 152 were classified as omicron, as per the data shared by the Delhi government.
A 25-year-old man was arrested for allegedly cheating over 150 people on the pretext of sending them abroad on work visa, police said on Tuesday.
The accused, Mohammad Mohsin alias Parvez Ahmad (25), is a resident of Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, they said.
According to police, they noticed some suspicious activities at a Laxmi Nagar-based travel agency, Focus Travels. Later, it was found that a syndicate that cheated people on the pretext of sending them abroad on work visa was running out of the premises. (PTI)
The Delhi Police on Tuesday opposed before the high court here pleas for quashing FIRs against residents of Chandni Mahal area for hosting foreign attendees of Tablighi Jamaat congregation in March 2020, saying they gave shelter to the attendees who travelled from the Nizamuddin Markaz in violation of the prohibitory orders imposed on movement to contain the spread of COVID-19.
In a status report filed in response to the petitions by the accused to dismiss the criminal proceedings, the city police said that the members of the Jamaat were residing in Nizamuddin Markaz from March 26, 2020 to March 31, 2020 but were found to be present in Chandni Mahal area in Central Delhi on April 1, 2020.
The investigating agency said that the accused in the present set of FIRs admitted and accommodated the assembly of the Jamaat on their premises after the prohibitory order on movement was issued by authorities.
The counsel for the petitioners, lawyer Ashima Mandla, told Justice Mukta Gupta that the factual stand of the investigating agency was incongruous.
The judge granted time to the petitioners to file a rejoinder to the police's status report and listed the case for further hearing on February 28. (PTI)
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed the pleas moved by Future Group companies seeking a direction to the arbitration tribunal, which is adjudicating on Amazon's objections against their deal with Reliance, to take a decision on their application for the termination of the arbitration proceedings before moving any further.
"Both the petitions are dismissed," said Justice Amit Bansal, who had reserved the order on the petitions filed by Future Coupons Private Limited (FCPL) and Future Retail Limited (FRL) on January 3.
The judge said the orders would be uploaded on the website of the high court shortly. (PTI)
At the Safdarjung Observatory, the minimum temperature on Tuesday was recorded at 8.5 degrees Celsius, according to the IMD. The weatherman has forecast a partly cloudy sky with the possibility of very light rain later in the day, while the maximum temperature is likely to settle around 20 degrees Celsius.
Delhi reported 5,481 new cases and three more deaths on Tuesday. The positivity rate has now risen to 8.37%. The city now has 14,889 active cases. There are 168 people on oxygen support now while the number of patients on ventilators (14) has doubled in a day.
A 27-year-old man was arrested for allegedly robbing two employees of a businessman of Rs 50 lakh at gunpoint, police said on Tuesday.
Manpreet Saini, a resident of Delhi's Karala, was previously involved in over 25 cases, including robbery and snatching, they said. Efforts are on to trace his two other associates involved in the latest robbery, police said.
The incident took place in west Delhi's Tilak Nagar area on December 27 when Lucky Mehra and Harvinder Singh were sent by their employer to Vikas Puri to collect payment of Rs 50 lakh, the police said. (PTI)
BJP MLAs staged a walkout on the second day of the Delhi Assembly session when Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia blamed Union Home Minister Amit Shah of taking away the government's power to grant compensation to COVID victims' kin.
He also cautioned BJP MLA Vijender Gupta against indulging in “worthless talk”.
Gupta had asked why Delhi government was not providing jobs to dependents of government employees who died during coronavirus pandemic on sympathetic grounds.
Sisodia in his reply lashed out at BJP and asked them to go the LG and Home Minister Amit Shah and ask them why this power was taken away from Delhi government. "Kejriwal government favours providing jobs to kin of any employee who dies on duty but this comes under the Services department that is under Delhi LG," Sisodia said.
Upset over Shah's name being dragged into the matter, Leader of Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri raised 'Amit Shah Zindabad' slogans in the House and staged a walkout along with other BJP leaders. (PTI)
Jamia Millia Islamia has directed that only those employees who have received at least one dose of the anti-coronavirus vaccine will be allowed entry in their offices and departments, in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the campus.
In an order issued on December 31, the university said action will be taken against those employees who have not even taken a single dose of vaccine and they shall not be allowed entry in their offices.
"The period of absence from duties of such employees shall be treated as 'On Leave' till the administration of the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine," the order stated.
The order said the administration of the first dose of the vaccine/complete vaccination will be verified by the department concerned through the Arogya Setu app or through the vaccination certificate produced by the employee concerned. (PTI)
A 22-year-old woman was arrested from southeast Delhi's Hazrat Nizamuddin area for allegedly supplying drugs, police said on Tuesday. The accused has been identified as Aasma alias Nasima, a resident of Hazrat Nizamuddin, they said.
On Sunday, police received a tip-off that a woman would come to Bhogal on a scooter to sell psychotropic substances to an unknown person. Police laid a trap and nabbed the woman, a senior police officer said. A total of 2,065 grams of ganja was seized from her possession, the officer said. Interrogation revealed that Aasma is a widow. Her husband died last year due to a chronic disease, police added. (PTI)
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain has said that about 5,500 new Covid-19 cases were reported in Delhi on Tuesday, and the positivity rate is close to 8.5 per cent. He also said that a weekend curfew is being imposed in view of the rising Covid cases. But this should not be considered to be a lockdown, he added. (PTI)
A weekend lockdown will be imposed in Delhi, starting this weekend, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Delhi metro and buses will now allow 100 per cent seat occupancy to avoid crowding at bus stops and stations.
The decision was taken in a Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) meeting to review the Covid-19 situation in the national capital.
“I request people to not go out during the weekends, unless it is an emergency,” Sisodia said. Read more
'Weekend curfew in Delhi will be imposed Saturday and Sunda. Request people to go out for essential needs only,' says Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
All Delhi Government officials who are not involved in essential services will work from home. Private offices will be allowed to call 50% of their staff to office, says Sisodia.
He also added, "Buses and metros will run at full capacity, but no one will be allowed without masks. this is being done to ensure there is no crowding at stations and bus stops."
Of the 11 revenue districts in the capital, five have seen a three-fold increase in daily Covid cases in the past five days. District officials have strengthened the implementation of micro-containment zones and plan to cordon off the area, block, colony, or RWAs if there are five or more containment zones.
According to data shared by district officials, South, Southeast and West have seen the highest spike between December 29 and January 2. In this period, South district, which has been on top of the list since cases started increasing, saw a spike from 175 to 484; Southeast district saw a jump from 124 to 492; while West saw cases increasing from 94 to 464. Read more
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Tuesday decided to impose weekend curfew in Delhi, starting from this week. Only essential movement will be allowed during the curfew. Work from home in all government and private offices except essential services.
A Delhi court on Tuesday pulled up the CBI for filing a closure report against a former Canara Bank and Union Bank honcho under investigation for allegedly amassing disproportionate assets, stating that a transaction Rs. 1.15 crore was “not prima facie legal but only an attempt to camouflage illegal money” and therefore merited deeper investigation.
The case was registered on allegations that Archana Bhargava, former chairperson and managing director of United Bank of India and executive director of Canara Bank, abused her official position to obtain for herself and for a company owned by her husband and son — Rank Mercantile Private Ltd (RMPL) — various amounts from companies that got loans from the banks she helmed. Read more
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his ministers are expected to get new offices at ITO as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government is planning to construct twin towers at an estimated cost of Rs 1,910 crore.
The new building, comprising 30 to 35 storeys, will be constructed on three plots of land at ITO after demolishing the existing structure at Vikas Bhawan-1, MSO Building (PWD headquarters) and GST Building. The total plot area of these three existing buildings is 53,603 square meters. Read more
Cloudy skies and the possibility of very light rainfall are on the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast for Tuesday, while the week ahead is also likely to be a rainy one.
The IMD has predicted that two western disturbances are likely to affect northwest India from January 4 to 9. Western disturbances are storms that originate in the Mediterranean region and bring winter rainfall to parts of northwest India.
Light rainfall remains on the IMD forecast from January 5 to January 8, followed by the possibility of thunderstorms on January 9 and 10. Read more
From journalists to a pilot to a Congress leader to the mother of a missing JNU student — these are among the 100-plus Muslim women who have found their names on a website that used their photos without consent, alongside degrading text meant to imply they were being auctioned.
This comes barely six months after another such website was created, also using GitHub, a provider of Internet hosting for software development. No arrest has been made so far in that case by police in Delhi, Noida or Gurgaon. Read more
Five men, including the 20-year-old informer of Uttar Pradesh police have been arrested for allegedly committing robbery of Rs 75 lakh after posing as policemen.
East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) has decided to take strict action against property tax defaulters and issued a notice to M/s Parsvnath Developers Limited, owner of Parsvnath Mall located in Akshardham, in this regard, said the civic body in a press statement.
Additional commissioner Brajesh Singh said that Parsvnath Developers had not paid property tax for the last three years. They failed to file the required information regarding the property tax liability of the mall premises, he said. Read more