CBI probe against Mulayam, his son to continue in DA case: SC

New Delhi, Apr 15: Tablighi Jamaat leader Maulana Saad Kandhalvi has been booked for culpable homicide after some of the attendees of the religious congregation died due to coronavirus, police said on Wednesday.

Kandhalvi had organised the religious gathering at Nizamuddin Markaz last month against the social distancing protocol imposed by the Centre to curb the spread of the deadly disease.

An FIR was registered against the cleric on March 31 at Crime Branch police station on a complaint of the Station House Officer of Nizamuddin.

He was earlier booked for holding the event, police said.

“After several attendees of the Tablighi Jamaat event succumbed to coronavirus, we added IPC section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) in the FIR against the leader, a police official said.

Some foreigners who attended the event have also been booked for violation of visa norms.

In an audio message, Kandhalvi had said that he was exercising self-quarantine after several hundreds who visited the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Nizamudddin Markaz tested positive for coronavirus.

The FIR registered against the Tablighi Jamaat event says that the Delhi Police contacted the authorities of Nizamuddin Markaz on March 21 and reminded them of the government order which prohibited any political or religious gathering of more than 50 people.

It says that despite repeated efforts, the event organisers failed to inform the health department or any other government agency about the huge gathering inside the Markaz and deliberately disobeyed government orders.

“The sub district magistrate of Defence Colony inspected the premises several times and found that around 1,300 people, including foreign nationals, were residing there without maintaining social distance. It was also found that there were no arrangements of hand sanitizers and face masks,” the FIR adds.

The Nizamudddin centre, attended by thousands, turned out to be a hotspot for spread of coronavirus not only in the national capital, but the entire country.

More than 25,500 Tablighi members and their contacts have been quarantined in the country after the Centre and the state governments conducted a "mega operation" to identify them.

At least 9,000 people participated in the religious congregation in Nizamuddin. Later, many of the attendees travelled to various parts of the country.

Kolkata, July 13: Debendra Nath Roy, a member of the West Bengal legislative assembly (MLA) from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was found dead near his house in north Bengal’s Uttar Dinajpur district on Monday morning.

BJP leaders and his family members have alleged that he was murdered. 

BJP president JP Nadda has expressed “shock” at Roy’s “deplorable and suspected heinous killing” and condemned the incident.

He questioned the rise of “gunda raj” in West Bengal under Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s watch amid the worsening law and order in the state, which is slated to hold assembly polls next year, where the BJP is seen to be the primary challenger to the CM’s citadel.

“The suspected heinous killing of Debendra Nath Ray, BJP MLA from Hemtabad in West Bengal, is extremely shocking and deplorable. This speaks volumes of the gunda raj and failure of law and order in the Mamata Banerjee-led government. People will not forgive such a government in the future. We strongly condemn the incident,” he tweeted.

The BJP has demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the lawmaker’s unnatural death.

His body was found in the balcony of a shop near his house at Bondol in Hemtabad, Uttar Dinajpur district, on Monday morning.

“The body has been sent for autopsy. We are investigating the case. No one has been detained for questioning or arrested so far,” said a police official from Uttar Dinajpur district, requesting anonymity.

“Roy was murdered. The way his body was found suggests that it was a premeditated murder and the accused tried to pass it off as a suicide. The ruling TMC (Trinamool Congress) is involved in his murder,” alleged Rahul Sinha, national secretary, BJP.

The TMC, however, refuted the BJP’s allegations.

“I heard that he (Roy) died by suicide. Police are investigating the case. Let the truth come out. If he has been murdered, then the culprits should be identified and punished as per law,” said Kanhaiyalal Agarwal, a TMC leader from Uttar Dinajpur district.

BJP leaders said some people had called Roy around 1 am on Monday and he went out of his home. His body was found on Monday morning.

Roy had won the Bengal assembly elections from Hemtabad on a Communist Party of India (Marxist) ticket in 2016, but joined the BJP last year.

New Delhi, May 13: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will address a press conference in New Delhi at 4 pm on Wednesday.

The information regarding the press conference by the Union Finance Minister was given through a tweet by the Ministry of Finance today morning.

Sitharaman's press conference comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced USD 265 billion fiscal stimulus to deal with COVID-19 situation in the country. The package is the second largest in Asia after Japan.

"I announce a special economic package today. This will play an important role in the 'Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.' The announcements made by the government over COVID, decisions of RBI and today's package totals to Rs 20 lakh crore (USD 265 billion). This is 10 per cent of India's GDP," the Prime Minister said in his address to the nation on Tuesday.

"This economic package is for our small-scale industries, MSMEs, which are the means of livelihood of crores of people and is the strong base of our resolve for self-reliant India. To prove the resolve of self-reliant India, the emphasis has been given on land, labour, liquidity and laws, in this package," he added.

The PM had also said that the economic package is for "the country's workers, farmers, who are working hard day and night for the countrymen in every season. This economic package is for the middle class of our country, who pays tax honestly and contributes to the development of the country."

He had announced that the fourth phase of the nationwide COVID-19 induced lockdown would be in "new form with new rules."