Two soldiers and a militant were killed in a gunfight that broke out in south Kashmir’s Shopian district. According to a defence ministry spokesperson the gunfight that broke out in Chermarg village of Zainapora area of Shopian. He identified the slain soldiers as Santosh Yadav and Sepoy Chavan Romit Tanaji, both from 1 RR. The encounter broke out after the police and security forces launched a cordon and search operation in the area. As the joint team of forces approached the suspected spot, the hiding militants fired upon them, triggering off a gunfight.
Gujarat pays £6.95mn to health care workers' kin
The Gujarat government paid £6.95 million to the kin of 139 healthcare workers who died during the pandemic under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package insurance scheme, according to a data tabled in the Rajya Sabha recently. The claims were the third highest in India, behind 201 in Maharashtra and 160 in Andhra Pradesh. Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya also added that Gujarat was among the few states from where the response on mortality was received. According to the data, the state recorded deaths of 20 doctors and nurses each, six ambulance drivers and 128 paramedics. The state-based organizations of doctors and nurses said that the number could be higher. The earlier collation by the Indian Medical Association had indicated deaths of 62 doctors in Gujarat till April 2021 ahead of the second wave that claimed many more.
Former minister cuts 46-year-old ties with Cong
Former law minister Ashwani Kumar resigned from Congress, bringing an end to his 46-year association with the party. He sent his resignation to party president Sonia Gandhi, in which he said, “Having given my thoughtful consideration to the matter, I have concluded that in the present circumstances and consistent with my dignity, I can best subserve larger national causes outside the party fold.” Kumar said that his decision to quit Congress followed “agonising reflections” on the fact that the party he was accustomed to “is no longer there”. While he refused to identify an individual or groups of people responsible for the party’s steady decline over the years, Kumar said Congress no longer has a “transformative and inspiring leadership to lead the party, nor ideological battles.”
Body found a year after Chamoli flood
The body of 27-year-old engineer Gaurav Prasad who went missing at NTPC’s Tapovan Vishnugad project site following flash flood at Chamoli's Rani village was retrieved more than a year after the incident. More than 200 people died in the February 7, 2021 flash flood. The body was retrieved from the slush choked tunnel at the project site, where rescue work is still underway after a year. Around 30 workers were trapped inside this tunnel when flood waters filled it with muck. They never made it out. A resident of Rishikesh, Gaurav was the eldest among three siblings, with a younger sister and a brother.
CBI quizzes ABG ex-chief Agarwal
A week after registering an FIR in the ABG shipyard bank fraud case, the CBI is learnt to have questioned Rishi Kamlesh Agarwal, the former CMD of the company. The development has put to rest the rumours regarding the accused directors having fled the country. Agarwal was questioned for over eight hours in connection with the alleged scam pegged at a staggering £2.88 billion. The questioning revolved around allegations of laundering, diversion and misappropriation of the loan amount, sources said. The other accused named in the FIR have also been located at different places in India. Though sources said that the CBI had served a notice to another accused named in the FIR, the agency did not confirm it citing ongoing investigation. The CBI had earlier filed an FIR naming ABG Shipyard directors Rishi Kamlesh Agarwal, Santhanam Muthaswamy, Ashwini Kumar, Sushil Agarwal, Ravi Vimal Nevetia, and ABG International Pvt Ltd.
Maneka, son not among BJP campaigners
With BJP leaders Maneka Gandhi and son Varun not campaigning in their stronghold Pilibhit parliamentary constituency - which has five assembly segments - there is a perceptible confusion regarding strategy within party ranks. Maneka and Varun still have a significant support base and have been elected, whether as independents or on symbols of other parties. In the last two general elections, they (Maneka in 2014 and Varun in 2019) got over 500,000 votes each. However, they are not on the BJP list of star campaigners. Varun said that he was afflicted with the Delta variant of Covid. I have still not recovered. I will reach my constituency once my health permits. A close aide of the MP said that a large number of supporters in Pilibhit do heed Varun’s call at the time of assembly polls.
Pakistan arrests 31 Indian fishermen
Pakistan's maritime authorities have arrested 31 Indian fishermen and seized five of their vessels for allegedly fishing in the country's territorial waters, officials said. The Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) said that it apprehended the intruding vessels during patrolling in the Pakistan Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The PMSA said that one of its "ship apprehended five Indian fishing boats along with 31 crew." The boats were towed to Karachi for further legal proceedings as per Pakistani Law and UN Convention on Law of the Sea, it said. Pakistan and India regularly arrest fishermen from either side for violating the maritime boundary which is poorly marked at some points.
Employee cheats Amul of £400,000
A man working with AmulFed Dairy in Bhat village of Gandhinagar siphoned off £400,000 from the cooperative giant by clearing bills of a dummy firm he had created in his wife’s name, according to a complaint filed with the police. Anil Bayati, a general manager with AmulFed Dairy, alleged in his FIR that Ujjawal Vyas and his wife Miti Vyas took the money between July 21, 2010 and February 2, 2022. Bayati said the irregularity came to their notice after an accountant found that a transporter of the company, Miti, had the same address as Ujjawal, who worked as an assistant manager in the accounts section. The FIR said that Rameshchandra Jain, an accountant, met Bayati on February 10 and said that the owner of MU Carting Transport Company, Miti, and an AmulFed employee, Ujjawal, shared the same address. When Bayati inquired, he found that Miti was Ujjawal’s wife. “Ujjawal had created the fake firm in his wife’s name and even cleared bills for the fake transport company since he was in the accounts department,” said Bayati in the FIR.
