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Saradha scam: Suspended Trinamool MP Kunal Ghosh attempts suicide in prison cell

November 14, 2014

Saradha scamKolkata, Nov 14: Suspended Trinamool MP Kunal Ghosh, jailed in the Saradha chit fund case, was admitted to a Kolkata hospital in the wee hours of Friday after attempting suicide inside his high-security prison cell.

Ghosh, a member of Rajya Sabha, was rushed to the SSKM Hospital in the city after reportedly consuming more than 50 sleeping pills. Doctors carried out a gastric suction on him. His condition was said to be critical but stable. He is on oxygen support.

"He was brought here at 3am in a drowsy condition. He is better now," said Pradip Mitra, the director of Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research in the hospital.

The guard deployed outside his cell at night noticed the MP was unconscious, and informed the jail officers. The local police station was informed, and Ghosh rushed to the hospital.

Doctors told HT he probably consumed tablets of the alprazolam group, a popular sedative, but it is still not known how he managed to get them inside the Presidency central jail. His prison cell is guarded by two securitymen.

A source told HT that Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths will grill the jail authorities on how Ghosh accessed the sedatives.

Ghosh, in front of a judge, had threatened suicide on Monday unless the influential people named in the scam were not arrested within 72 hours.

"He was extremely depressed even during the last hearing (on Monday). We informed the court too. It is surprising how sedatives found their way inside the jail," said Soumyajit Raha, Kunal Ghosh's lawyer.

Ghosh, who was the chief executive officer of the media arm run by the Saradha Group, had earlier said he was made a scapegoat, and the 'biggest beneficiary' of the scam was Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

He had also accused other top Trinamool Congress leaders of being involved in the scam.

Alongside Saradha Group chief Sudipta Sen and his close associate Debjani Mukherjee, Ghosh has been named in a CBI chargesheet in connection with the case.

The ruling Trinamool Congress indefinitely suspended Ghosh in September last year after he embarrassed the party by alleging that its top leadership was trying to frame him.

The shadow of the Saradha chit fund scam has been hounding Banerjee and her government since it exploded in early 2013. The issue had triggered a storm during the Lok Sabha election campaign, with opposition parties training guns on Banerjee over the scam.

Last year, the Centre had ordered a multi-agency probe into the activities of the Kolkata-based group in the scandal estimated to be worth around Rs. 20,000 crore.

The company's promoters and top executives were accused by angry investors of creating a web of companies across several states in eastern India to dupe small depositors.

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News Network
March 4,2020

Mar 4: Twenty-one Italian tourists and three Indian tour operators have been sent to an ITBP quarantine facility in Delhi on Tuesday for suspected coronavirus exposure, official sources said.

Health Ministry sources said these foreigners, 13 women and eight men, were in the same group of which an Italian and his wife have tested positive in Rajasthan capital Jaipur.

“His (Italian in Jaipur) condition is stable,” a source said.

Three Indians, who were accompanying this Italian group as tour operators, have also been sent to the ITBP facility in Chhawla area of south-west Delhi, they said.

All these people, staying at a five-star hotel in south Delhi, have been put in “preventive isolation” at the ITBP camp and their samples will be taken on Wednesday, sources said.

The centre already has 112 people, 76 Indians and 36 foreigners, since February 27 after they were evacuated by an IAF plane from Wuhan in China, the epicentre of the coronavirus.

The first samples of these 112 people had tested negative when reports came in last week.

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Agencies
August 4,2020

New Delhi, Aug 4: Over 50 per cent of COVID-19 deaths in India have taken place among people aged 60 years and above and 37 per cent deaths have been reported among patients in the age group of 45 to 60 years, Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

Addressing a press conference, Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary, Health Ministry said that 11 per cent COVID-19 deaths took place in the age group of 26 to 44.

The 18 to 25 age group and those below 18 years reported one per cent deaths each.
"Currently, 5,86,298 active COVID-19 cases are in India and over 12 lakh people have recovered.

50 per cent deaths due to COVID19 have taken place among the age group of 60 years or above and 37 per cent deaths took place in the age group between 45 to 60 years," Bhushan said.

"A total of 11 per cent COVID-19 deaths took place in the age group of 26 to 44. Only 1 per cent in 18 to 25 age group and 1 per cent in below the age of 18 years," he added.

Bhushan said that 68 per cent of COVID-19 deaths have been reported among male patients and 32 per cent among female patients which is broadly in line with the global scenario.

The number of recovered COVID-19 patients in India is increasing daily and is now over double the number of active cases.

Bhushan said that the case fatality rate (CFR) is lowest since the first lockdown.

"More than 2 crore COVID-19 tests have been conducted, including more than 6.6 lakh tests in the last 24 hours. Recovered cases are now double of the active cases. 

The case fatality rate (CFR) is lowest since the first lockdown," he said
"This is the first time after the first lockdown that the fatality rate is at the lowest, at 2.10 per cent. The fatality rate has seen a progressive decline and it is continuing, which is a good sign," he added.

According to the World Health Organisation, CFR is a measure of the severity of a disease and is defined as the proportion of reported cases of a specified disease or condition which are fatal within a specified time.

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Agencies
January 14,2020

Microsoft's Indian-origin CEO Satya Nadella on Monday voiced concern over the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), saying what is happening is "sad" and he would love to see a Bangladeshi immigrant create the next unicorn in India.

His comments came while speaking to editors at a Microsoft event in Manhattan where he was asked about the contentious issue of CAA which grants citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

"I think what is happening is sad... It's just bad.... I would love to see a Bangladeshi immigrant who comes to India and creates the next unicorn in India or becomes the next CEO of Infosys," Nadella was quoted as saying by Ben Smith, the Editor-in-Chief of New York-based BuzzFeed News.

In a statement issued by Microsoft India, Nadella said: "Every country will and should define its borders, protect national security and set immigration policy accordingly. And in democracies, that is something that the people and their governments will debate and define within those bounds.

"I’m shaped by my Indian heritage, growing up in a multicultural India and my immigrant experience in the United States. My hope is for an India where an immigrant can aspire to found a prosperous start-up or lead a multinational corporation benefitting Indian society and the economy at large".

The Centre last week issued a gazette notification announcing that the CAA has come into effect from January 10, 2020.

The CAA was passed by Parliament on December 11.

According to the legislation, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014, due to religious persecution will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.

There have been widespread protests against the Act in different parts of the country.

In Uttar Pradesh, at least 19 persons were killed in anti-CAA protests.

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