A health worker takes swab sample for Covid test in New Delhi. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)Delhi News Highlights: Continuing the rising trend in daily cases, Delhi on Tuesday recorded 1,118 new Covid-19 infections at a positivity rate of 6.50 per cent, and two deaths. Delhi had reported 614 new cases from 8,700 tests, and a positivity rate of 7.06 per cent on Monday. Meanwhile, taking cognizance of rising Covid cases in Delhi, L-G Vinai Kumar Saxena Monday directed officials to conduct genome sequencing of all positive cases to check for any new variant.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was questioned by the ED for the second consecutive day on Tuesday in the National Herald money-laundering case, with the grand old party calling the agency action vendetta politics of the Centre against opposition leaders. Gandhi (51) arrived at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) headquarters on APJ Abdul Kalam Road in central Delhi around 11:05 am, accompanied by his sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. His questioning began at 11:30 am after the completion of legal formalities, officials said.
In weather updates, a cloud cover cocooned Delhi on Tuesday, causing the maximum temperature at the Safdarjung Observatory, the city’s base station, to drop below 40 degrees Celsius for the first time this month, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The observatory recorded a maximum temperature of 39.6 degrees Celsius as against 43.7 degrees Celsius on Monday. The minimum temperature settled at 31.2 degrees Celsius, three notches above normal. Consecutive western disturbances and lower level easterlies predicted in the coming days are likely to keep the heat at bay. The IMD has issued a yellow alert, warning of thundershowers or light rain over the next six days. The mercury is predicted to drop to 35 degrees Celsius by Sunday.
Pulling up the Municipal Corporation of Delhi for approaching the court against a labour court order seeking records in a case filed by a workman, the Delhi High Court has said a public body should exercise utmost restraint and caution while instituting litigations.
Observing that the courts are already overburdened, Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma said the application filed under Section 33-C(2) of the Industrial Disputes Act is yet to be decided by the labour court. The petitions by the MCD could have been avoided until the matter is decided by the courts below, added Justice Sharma.
Terming the objections raised by the MCD over the order of production of documents “strange”, the court said the ID Act is welfare legislation for the assistance of labour or workmen to get their disputes settled expeditiously. Read More
Days after they recovered Rs 5.43 crore from two employees of a hawala operator but allegedly entered only Rs 3.18 crore in police records, the Delhi Police has registered an FIR against the SHO of Patel Nagar and two of his subordinates. All three have been removed from the police station, and the role of senior officials is also learnt to be under the scanner.
An officer said a patrolling staff comprising two policemen, posted with Patel Nagar police station, caught two men on Monday evening carrying three big black bags near East Patel Metro station. “The duo informed them that they were carrying books for their shop, but police staff asked them to open it and found Rs 5.43 crore.
They informed their SHO, who asked them to come to the police station along with the suspects,” a senior police officer said. Read More
Air pollution shortens lives by almost ten years in the National Capital Territory of Delhi, according to data from a recent Air Quality Life Index report by the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute.
Achieving and sustaining reduction in particulate pollution as per the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) targets could lead to “remarkable health improvements”, the report said. A permanent nationwide reduction of 25% of particulate pollution, would increase India’s national life expectancy by 1.4 years and life expectancy for residents of Delhi by 2.6 years, according to the fact sheet released for India.
The goal of the NCAP, which was launched in 2019, is to reduce the level of particulate matter concentrations by 20% to 30% from its 2017 levels by 2024. Read More
The Enforcement Directorate has summoned Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for questioning for the third consecutive day on Wednesday in connection with the National Herald money-laundering case, news agency PTI reported.
Gandhi was quizzed by the agency at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) headquarters on APJ Abdul Kalam Road in central Delhi today and the session is expected to end shortly.
Gandhi (51) arrived at the ED headquarters around 11:05 am, accompanied by his sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and his statement was recorded under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), officials said. Read More
The IMD, in its evening update on Tuesday, has said that light intensity rain/drizzle is expected over isolated places in West, South-West, South, South-East Delhi and NCR (Noida, Dadri, Greater Noida, Gurugram, Faridabad, Manesar, Ballabhgarh) Farukhnagar, Kosali (Haryana) Gulaoti, Siyana, Sikandrabad (UP) during the next two hours.
A Delhi court Tuesday allowed the Punjab Police to take into its custody gangster Lawrence Bishnoi so they can question him in the case registered to probe the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala. Describing Bishnoi as a key conspirator, the police said that his custodial interrogation is necessary.
Bishnoi’s counsel had opposed the Punjab Police custody, saying that there is an apprehension that he may be killed in a fake encounter. While the court has allowed Punjab Police to take Bishnoi into custody, the decision on its application for transit remand is currently pending.
Punjab Police had Monday formally nominated Lawrence Bishnoi and his brother Anmol Bishnoi, Satwinder Singh alias Goldy Brar and others as accused in the case registered at City 1 Mansa police station. A total 20 persons have been nominated as accused in the case -- nine are in custody and custody of eleven is pending. Chief Judicial Magistrate Mansa on Monday issued a warrant for arrest of Bishnoi and asked Punjab Police to produce him before it on June 16. Read More
Aiming to effectively control and curb noise pollution in Delhi, the city government has proposed to empower officials of civic bodies to take action against violators, according to officials.
The Delhi Environment Department has also submitted a proposal to the Union Environment Ministry to designate SHOs as an authority to prosecute violators under noise pollution rules.
Under the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000, deputy commissioners, subdivisional magistrates, assistant commissioners of police (traffic), subdivisional police officers -- including of railways and airports -- and member secretary and chairman of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee have been designated as an authority to take action against violators. (PTI)
On the second day of their ‘Satyagraha’ march from AICC Headquarters in New Delhi, hundreds of Congress leaders, including Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, General Secretary Randeep Surjewala and MPs Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and K C Venugopal, and members were detained by the Delhi Police for illegal assembly and violating police orders.
The senior Congress leaders were detained outside the AICC office. They were marching to support senior leader Rahul Gandhi as he was heading towards the Enforcement Directorate office for questioning in connection with the National Herald case.
The Delhi Police had earlier denied permission for the protest and also imposed Section 144 CrPC in the area. Read More
The Delhi High Court has dismissed a petition to quash a central government order permitting the interception of telephonic calls of a corruption suspect, which resulted in the CBI case against him, saying that the law of the land weighs in the favour of the public interest over certain individual interest.
Justice Chandra Dhari Singh stated that the interception order was passed by the Ministry of Home Affairs in the light of the compelling reasons for public security which are protected as reasonable restrictions upon the exercise of fundamental rights.
The accused, who claimed that the interception violated his right to privacy, prayed for a direction that the intercepted messages and calls be destroyed and not used for any purposes including the trial against him as it was procured illegally. (PTI)
Gautam Budh Nagar police Monday arrested a Chinese national and a woman hailing from Nagaland from a five-star hotel in Gurgaon.
Police said the Chinese national, identified as Xue Fei, a native of Xinji in China’s Hebei province, and his friend, Petekhrinuo, who is from Kohima, had been staying in a flat in Greater Noida. Fei’s visa had expired in June 2020 and he had been staying illegally in India ever since.
Police said they had received information from Sursand police station in Sitamarhi, Bihar, about two Chinese nationals – Yung Hai Lung (34) and Lo Lung (38) – being arrested by Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) while they were trying to enter Nepal from India through the Bhithamore border outpost in Sitamarhi on June 12. Read More
A court in Delhi Tuesday reserved its order on AAP minister Satyendar Jain’s bail plea in the money laundering case being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate. The court will pronounce the order on June 18.
The ED had arrested Satyendar Jain on May 30 in an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) registered by it on the basis of a case lodged by the CBI in August 2017 under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Jain is accused of having laundered money through at least four companies allegedly linked to him. The ED has said that Jain acquired assets from 2015 to 2017, which were “disproportionate to his known sources of income”. He is currently in judicial custody. (Read More)
The Delhi Police on Tuesday stopped Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra from entering the national capital even as a party spokesperson claimed that he was on a personal visit.
The move by the Delhi Police comes at a time when Congress leaders and workers are staging protests at several places, including Delhi, against the Enforcement Directorate notices to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party leader Rahul Gandhi.
Dotasra was en route to Delhi by road for some personal work and was stopped at the border. “The Delhi Police said that there are orders not to allow him to enter the national capital,” the spokesman said. (Read More)
The office of the deputy commissioner of police, north-west district, Delhi issued an order on Monday stating that all kinds of leaves of police officials in its jurisdiction had been stopped with immediate effect, citing “communal scenario and prevailing law and order situation” in Delhi. The order also directed the officers and staff who have gone on leave to join their respective duties.
“In view of the communal scenario and prevailing law and order situation in Delhi, all kind of leaves are hereby stopped with immediate effect. The leaves already granted/sanctioned are also hereby cancelled. The officer/staff who are already running on leave shall join their place of duty at-once, without fail. No officer shall grant/sanction any kind of leave to their subordinate staff without prior approval of DCP north-west district,” the order read.
The order added that all the supervisory officers should ensure compliance, and non-compliance of the order may lead to “stern action” against the staff. (Read More)
A sub-inspector of the Delhi Police was killed and a head constable seriously injured when the vehicle they were travelling in collided with a truck late on Monday night near Uttar Pradesh’s Gajraula, the police said.
The deceased, identified as SI Subhash Chand of West Delhi’s Harinagar police station, was bringing in a man accused of kidnapping when the accident occurred, according to the police.
Deputy commissioner of police (west) Ghanshyam Bansal said, “SI Subhash Chand was returning from the Bareilly direction when a moving truck collided with his vehicle. Head constable Rajender was badly wounded in the accident and is currently in the hospital.” (Read More)
Over 90 districts across 16 states have started lifting fortified rice to distribute under the Public Distribution System (PDS) and a quantity of 2.20 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) has already been distributed in the first two months of the financial year 2022-23—April and May—under the second phase of the implementation of the rice fortification programme, the Department of Food and Public Distribution said Monday.
Addressing a press conference, Food Secretary Sudhanshu Panday said, “In the second phase… Our idea is, as part of the strategy, to cover all districts which are aspirational districts or heavy burden districts in terms of the malnutrition assessment and that number works out to about 291.”(Read More)
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has been detained. Delhi Police has said that he will be taken to the police station in his own vehicle.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi reaches the ED office for the second round of questioning in the National Herald money-laundering case. (PTI)
Many Congress workers have been detained while protesting against ED summons to Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case.
Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee President Anil Chaudhary was detained and manhandled.