Rapist gets death sentence, throws bricks at media, snatches police rifle

New Delhi, Jul 29: Air Commodore Hilal Ahmad Rather has become a buzz name in Kashmir overnight. Hilal saw off the first batch of Rafale jets which took off from France to India on Monday. Among other things, he has also been associated with the weaponisation of the Rafale aircraft for acclimatisation to Indian requirements.

Hilal is presently India's Air Attache in France.

The career details of this officer of the Indian Air Force (IAF) read like the decoration scroll of the best flying officer anywhere in the world.

Born in the south Kashmir's Anantnag district to middle-class parents, Hilal's father, late Mohammad Abdullah Rather retired as a deputy superintendent of police (Dy SP) in J&K police department. He has three sisters and is the only son of his parents. Hilal studied in Sainik School in Nagrota town of Jammu district.

He was commissioned in IAF as a fighter pilot on December 17, 1988, became flight lieutenant in 1993, wing commander in 2004, group captain in 2016 and air commodore in 2019.

He graduated from defence services staff college (DSSC). He also graduated from air war college (USA) with distinction. He won the sword of honour in NDA. Hilal is also the recipient of Vayu Sena Medal and Vishisht Seva medal.

With an impeccable record of 3,000 accident-free flying hours on mirage-2000, MIG-21 and Kiran aircraft, Hilal's name will now forever be associated with Rafale in India.

Bengaluru, Aug 4: Karnataka on Tuesday reported its biggest single-day spike of 6,259 Covid-19 cases and 110 fresh deaths, taking the total infection count to 1,45,830 and the toll to 2,704, the health department said.

The day also saw a record 6,777 patients getting discharged after recovery, outnumbering the fresh cases. Out of 6,259 fresh cases, a total of 2,035 cases were from Bengaluru Urban district. The previous biggest single-day record was on July 30 when the state added 6,128 cases.

A bulletin from the department said cumulatively 1,45,830 Covid-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state and it included 2,704 deaths and 69,272 discharges. Out of the 73,846 active cases, as many as 73,212 patients were stable in isolation at designated hospitals while 634 in the intensive care units.

Among the fresh deaths, Bengaluru Urban accounted for 30 followed by Dakshina Kannada (13) and Mysuru (9).

Most of the people who succumbed either had a history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) or Influenza-like illness (ILI), the bulletin said. Besides Bengaluru Urban, the other districts which reported higher fresh cases on Tuesday are Mysuru 662, Kalaburagi 285, Ballari 284, Belagavi 263, Dakshina Kannada 225, Davangere 191, Dharwad and Hassan 188. Bengaluru Urban district continued to top the list of positive cases with a total of 63,033 infections, followed by Ballari 7,638 and Dakshina Kannada 6,388.

Among discharges too Bengaluru Urban tops the districts with 27,877 discharges, followed by Ballari 3,724 and Kalaburagi 3,470. A total of 14,89,016 samples had been tested so far, out of which 42,458 on Tuesday with 29,488 being rapid antigen tests.