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CBI court convicts former Guj BJP MP in RTI activist’s murder

Agencies
July 7, 2019

Ahmedabad, Jul 7: A Special Court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) here on Saturday convicted former Gujarat BJP MP Dinu Bogha Solanki in the murder of RTI activist Amit Jethva. The court also convicted six others in the case. The quantum of punishment will be pronounced on July 11.

Jethva was shot dead outside the Gujarat High Court on July 20, 2010, by two assailants. Jethva, had through RTI queries, exposed illegal mining in the Gir forests allegedly involving the former parliamentarian. Gir forests are the only abode of the Asiatic Lion.

Special CBI judge K.M. Dave convicted the seven accused, including Solanki, a former Lok Sabha member from Junagadh constituency in the Saurashtra region.

Solanki was chargesheeted by the CBI as the key conspirator in the murder of the RTI activist. The CBI established that Jethva was killed at Solanki's behest because he brought to light the illegal mining activities, involving the MP, in the prohibited areas of the Gir forest. The findings were based mainly on call data records (CDR).

The murder case was earlier investigated by Ahmedabad Detection Crime Branch (DCB), which had chargesheeted six persons -- Shiva Solanki, a nephew of Dinu Solanki, Shailesh Pandya, Bahadursinh Vadher, Panchan G. Desai, Sanjay Chauhan and Udaji Thakore. But the DCB gave a clean chit to all the accused.

Jethva's father, Bhikhabhai Jethva, had then moved the Gujarat High Court and filed a petition seeking a fair probe by the CBI into the investigation.

After more than 100 out of the total 195 witnesses turned hostile, the Supreme Court ordered a re-investigation in the high profile case.

CBI Judge Dave twice sought security cover for himself and his family as he was presiding over the sensational murder case. Even Bhikhabhai Jethva had sought protection, but Justice S.H. Vohra of the Gujarat High Court had disposed off the petition ruling that this was not required.

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News Network
August 7,2020

Idukki, Aug 7: Several people lost their lives and dozens of tea estate workers are feared trapped under soil in Kerala’s Munnar after torrential rains triggered a massive landslide on today. 

As many as five bodies have been recovered and rescue workers are fighting inclement weather to remove the debris.

According to rescue workers, four lanes of quarters and a church are buried under mud and around 80 people are feared trapped.

Seven people have been rescued so far and shifted to the hospital.

Sources said a portion of Pettimudi came crashing down on the workers colony with a deafening roar in the wee hours of Friday.

As people were sleeping in the quarters, there was little time to escape.

Further, with the Periyavara bridge being washed away, it became all the more difficult for rescue workers to reach the spot.

The construction of a new temporary Periyavara bridge however, is underway.

The bridge was previously destructed during the deluge of August 2018. Later during the north west monsoons and the south west monsoon of 2019, it suffered damage again.

The present bridge, which got damaged on Thursday after Kannimala river levels rose, was constructed under the leadership of Coir fed.

Although a new concrete bridge has been constructed near the temporary bridge in Periyavara, vehicle  movement has not been possible because the authorities are yet to build its approach via road.

The new bridge is to be constructed at a cost of Rs 4.75 crore from Devikulam MLA S Rajendran's fund.

The entire area has been cut off from outside world and communication networks have also crashed.

Teams of Fire and Rescue personnel, NDRF, revenue officials, estate workers and police are struggling to conduct rescue operations.

Meanwhile, District collector H Dhineshan said a team of rescue personnel was sent to Pettymudy after he was briefed about the mishap and search operations to locate and rescue people are underway.

Facilities have been arranged at the hospitals nearby to provide necessary treatment facilities to the people being rescued.

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News Network
February 9,2020

New Delhi, Feb 9: As the outbreak of novel coronavirus has lead to the death of more than 800 Chinese nationals, aviation regulator DGCA on Saturday said that foreigners who went to China on or after January 15 will not be allowed to enter India.

The DGCA, in its circular to airlines on Saturday, reiterated that all visas issued to Chinese nationals before February 5 have been suspended.

However, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) clarified, "These visa restrictions will not apply to aircrew, who may be Chinese nationals or other foreign nationalities coming from China."

"Foreigners who have been to China on or after January 15, 2020, are not allowed to enter India from any air, land or seaport, including Indo-Nepal, Indo-Bhutan, Indo-Bangladesh or Indo-Myanmar land borders," the DGCA said.

Among Indian airlines, IndiGo and Air India have suspended all of their flights between the two countries. SpiceJet continues to fly on Delhi-Hong Kong route.

On February 1 and 2, Air India conducted two special flights to Chinese city of Wuhan, epicentre of the outbreak, evacuating 647 Indians and seven Maldivians.

Till date, three Indians have tested positive for novel coronavirus.

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News Network
June 10,2020

New Delhi, Jun 10: Petrol price on Wednesday was hiked by 40 paise per litre and diesel by 45 paise, the fourth straight daily increase in rates after oil PSUs ended an 82-day hiatus in rate revision. Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 73.40 per litre from Rs 73, while diesel rates were increased to Rs 71.62 a litre from Rs 71.17, according to a price notification of state oil marketing companies.

Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.

This is the fourth daily increase in rates in a row since oil companies on Sunday restarted revising prices in line with costs, after ending an 82-day hiatus.

In four hikes, petrol price has gone up by Rs 2.14 per litre and diesel by Rs 2.23.

Latest petrol, diesel prices in top cities:

New Delhi: Petrol ₹73.40. Diesel ₹71.62

Gurgaon: Petrol ₹72.86. Diesel ₹64.90

Mumbai: Petrol ₹80.40. Diesel ₹70.35

Chennai: Petrol ₹77.43. Diesel ₹70.13

Hyderabad: Petrol ₹76.20. Diesel ₹70b

Bengaluru: Petrol ₹75.77. Diesel ₹68.09

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