After India summoned a senior U.S. diplomat to lodge a protest over remarks on the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Washington on Wednesday stressed that it encourages fair, transparent, timely legal processes and “we don’t think anyone should object to that”. “We continue to follow these actions closely, including the arrest of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal,” U.S. State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
Two killed after anti-CAA meeting in Meghalaya
Two persons were killed in Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills district on Wednesday following a meeting organised by a local organisation against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) of 2019. Police said the bodies of the two persons — both non-tribals — were found at Ichamati and Dalda under the Shella Assembly constituency. Both places are close to the State’s border with Bangladesh. The district’s Superintendent of Police, Rituraj Ravi, told journalists that the post-mortem was yet to be done. “Additional police teams from Shillong have been sent to the site,” he said.
IPL-17 : MI vs SRH | Records go for a six as SRH outshines MI in run fest
Travis Head played a gem of an innings, Abhishek Sharma was stunning and Heinrich Klaasen flamboyant as the trio fashioned Sunrisers Hyderabad’s impressive 31-run win against Mumbai Indians in a high-scoring IPL league match at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Wednesday night.
Priest can give CAA eligibility certificate, says government helpline
A local priest may issue an “eligibility certificate” under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), 2019 to validate the religion of an applicant, according to a response received by The Hindu through the Union Ministry of Home Affairs’ CAA helpline. The certificate, a mandatory document, is to be enclosed along with an affidavit and other documents that the applicants are to upload on the CAA portal. “The reasons for which applicant wishes to acquire Indian citizenship” must also be stated.
Congress announces 14 more candidates for Lok Sabha polls
The Congress on Wednesday brought out a fresh list of 14 candidates from Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh for the Lok Sabha elections. Some of these were cleared by the Central Election Committee (CEC) of the party earlier in the evening. Sources said the CEC had discussed around 18 names and most had been cleared. In Uttar Pradesh, the party named Dolly Sharma from Ghaziabad, Virendra Chowdhury from Maharajganj, Nakul Dubey from Sitapur and Shivram Valmiki from Bulandshahr.
₹50 lakh stolen from van carrying cash to ATM in Kerala
In a brazen daylight theft, ₹50 lakh was stolen from a van that was taking the money to fill cash vending machines, at Uppala in Kasaragod in Kerala on Wednesday .The incident occurred outside an ATM of the Axis Bank around 2 p.m. The van involved in the incident belongs to a private agency, Secure Valley. Notably, it arrived at the location without security personnel. The police apprehended the driver and seized the van.
Nirmala Sitharaman decides against contesting Lok Sabha polls
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has decided against contesting the Lok Sabha election, she said on Wednesday, citing the lack of “money to contest” the poll and her inability to meet the “winnability criteria” in southern States such as Andhra Pradesh or Tamil Nadu that she could have considered battling from. The Minister, in her second term in the Rajya Sabha, had been sounded out by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s top brass to consider a Lok Sabha candidature in the upcoming election, along with some of her Upper House cabinet colleagues such as Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Environment and Labour Minister Bhupender Yadav.
Government notifies revised wages under the MGNREGS
The Union government on Wednesday notified the revised wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), with several States reporting a hike in wages by 8 to 10%. The hike ranged from ₹7 in Uttar Pradesh (2023- ₹230 – to 2024 rate of ₹237) to ₹34 hike in Goa (2023 wages ₹322 to 2024 wages ₹356). Significant jump in wages have been reported by Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Goa, where the hikes varied from 8% to 10.5%. Bihar follows closely behind, where the wages have been revised by ₹17.
Former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt convicted in false drug seizure case
A court in Gujarat on Wednesday convicted former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt in a drugs seizure case dating back to 1996. The court is expected to pronounce the quantum of punishment on Thursday. The sessions court in Palanpur held Bhatt guilty of falsely implicating a Rajasthan-based lawyer, Sumer Singh Rajpurohit, by claiming that police had seized drugs from a hotel room in Palanpur where the lawyer was staying. The case was lodged when Bhatt was the district Superintendent of Police.
‘Close your eyes, feel my presence’: Arvind Kejriwal’s wife reads out his message to people
Sunita Kejriwal, the wife of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, posted a video message on the CM’s X account on Wednesday, where she relayed a message from her husband: “While my body is in jail, my spirit is with the people of Delhi.” “Close your eyes, and you will feel my presence around you,” Ms. Kejriwal said, relaying her husband’s message with her eyes closed and hands folded. While remanding Mr. Kejriwal in Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody, a court in New Delhi had allowed him to meet his wife and lawyers between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. daily.
Solution cannot be found on battlefield, says Jaishankar on Russia-Ukraine conflict
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on March 27 said India’s position in the Russia-Ukraine conflict has been that a solution cannot be found on the battlefield and New Delhi wants to find a way of bringing this conflict to an end. Responding to a question on India’s position on the Russia-Ukraine conflict during his interaction with the Indian diaspora in the Malaysian capital, Mr. Jaishankar said that there are “no winners of a conflict”. “We took the position from the start, that you’re not going to get a solution to this conflict on the battlefield,” he said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday announced the candidature of Navneet Rana for the reserved Amravati Lok Sabha seat in its seventh list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha election. Ms. Rana, an independent MP and the incumbent legislator of the Amravati Lok Sabha seat, is a supporter of the BJP along with her husband Ravi Rana, who is the current MLA from Badnera (in Amravati). The announcement now paves the way for Ms. Rana to formally join the BJP and contest on the Scheduled Caste (SC) reserved seat.
Rameshwaram Cafe blast: NIA conducts simultaneous raids in Shivamogga and Tamil Nadu
The National Investigation Agency (NIA), probing Bengaluru’s The Rameshwaram Cafe blast case, conducted simultaneous raids and questioned several suspects in Shivamogga, Karnataka, Chennai, and Ramanathapuram districts in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday (March 27). NIA sleuths on Wednesday raided the residences of Mussavir Hussain Shazib and Abdul Matheen Taha in Thirthahalli. The duo are accused in the 2020 Al Hind IS module case registered in Suddaguntepalya and have been absconding since. They are also said to be the kingpins of the Thirthahalli module and accused in the Mangaluru cooker blast of November 2022. Given the similarity in the timer and detonator devices in the IEDs used in The Rameshwaram Cafe blast and the cooker blast, agencies have suspected the role of the same module.
Woman stripped, paraded and beaten up in M.P. village; four women held
Four women were arrested for allegedly beating up, stripping and parading a 30-year-old woman over a dispute at a village in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore district, police said on Wednesday. A video of the purported incident that occurred during the Holi celebrations also surfaced on social media. “On Monday, four women forcibly pulled the victim out of her house, beat her up and humiliated her by stripping her naked in public at Bachhora village of Gautampura police station area,” Superintendent of Police (Rural) Sunil Mehta said.
