Muscat: Authorities in various countries have announced that Ramadan 2023 will start from Thursday in the Gulf countries due to the absence of a new moon. It will be launched in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar on Thursday.
The launch in Oman will be announced today.
Kochi: Unitac MD Santhosh Eapen arrested in Life Mission case. The arrest was made by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). ED alleged that Santhosh Eapen paid bribe to UAE Consul General and others in the LifeMission project. He was arrested after being called for questioning. The ED filed the case against Santhosh Eapen as the first accused in the Vadakancherry Life Mission case.
New Delhi: ED interrogates Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter K Kavita in connection with black money transaction in Delhi liquor policy scam. Kavita, who was not present for the previous notice, appeared before the ED today as per the decision of the party leadership. ED is interrogating Kavita with Arun Ramachandra Pilla, who is in custody.
This is the second time that K Kavita is being questioned at the ED Delhi Zonal Office in the liquor policy scam case. Kavita arrived in Delhi last night along with top BRS leaders including her brother KT Rama Rao. Although the ED had asked Kavita to appear last Thursday, Kavita was not present citing that her plea was pending before the Supreme Court. However, the party leadership decided that if they do not appear before the ED, there will be an impression that the leaders are absconding from the law, so Kavitha should appear today.
Today, the ED is questioning Kavita along with Arun Ramachandra Pillai and Kavita’s former chartered accountant Buchibabu Gorantla, whom the ED accuses of being a benami of Kavita. Although BRS is worried that Kavitha may be arrested, the legal advice received is that there is no possibility of arrest as the petition is pending before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court will hear Kavitha’s petition next Friday. ED has submitted a caveat petition on the petition filed by Kavita.
Kozhikode: An employee of the Kozhikode Medical College has been suspended pending investigation for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman who was undergoing surgery. After noticing the incident, Health Minister Veena George had directed the Director of Medical Education Department to investigate and take immediate action.
Sasidharan, a native of Vadakara, was suspended pending investigation. He was caught by the police in the city limits. He was nabbed by a police investigation team led by Medical College Assistant Commissioner K Sudarshan.
In her complaint to the police, the woman has said that she was molested after being admitted to the women’s surgical ICU from the operation theater.
New Delhi: Covid cases are increasing in the country. 918 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours. The daily positivity rate is 2.08 percent. All three deaths were reported within 24 hours. With this, the total number of covid deaths in the country has reached 5,30,802. The country’s covid death rate is 1.19 percent. A meeting of top officials will be held on Monday to discuss the situation in the wake of rising covid.
Currently, 6,350 people are under treatment. According to the Ministry of Health, the number of people affected by covid in the country so far is 4.46 crore (4,46,95,420). Of these, 4,41,58,703 people have recovered.
Devikulam: The High Court canceled the election in Devikulam constituency. The court annulled the victory of LDF candidate A Raja. The court accepted the contention of the opposing candidate that Raja was not eligible to contest the reserved seat. The petition was filed by UDF candidate D Kumar.
The petitioner’s contention was that a non-reserved person contested and won the reserved seat Devikulam. Therefore, the petitioner also demanded that Devikulam elections should be cancelled. The petitioner argued that A Raja was not a member of the SC community but a converted Christian community. The petitioner alleged that Raja was the son of parents who received Mamodisa at the Christian church in Mattupetti. The petitioner had pointed out that Raja and his wife Shiny were Christians and had contested the election by showing false documents. The Single Bench found that the arguments in the petition had prima facie merit and annulled the Devikulam election. But the High Court did not allow the demand of the UDF candidate to declare him as the winner. A Raja won the 2021 election by 7847 votes.
Kochi: The High Court rejected the plea of Jolly, the prime accused in the Koodathai murder series. The court rejected Jolly’s demand for an open court trial. The prosecution told the court that the secret trial was decided keeping in mind the privacy and security of the witnesses. The prosecution pointed out in the court that there is a provision in the law and the secret trial provides an opportunity to the witnesses to come to the court and tell the truth without fear. Accepting this, Jolly’s petition was dismissed by the single bench.
A secret trial is conducted in rape or terrorism cases. Jolly filed a petition in the High Court demanding a public trial as his case is a case of murder.
Chandigarh: Adviser of ‘Waris Punjab De’ chief Amritpal Singh arrested. Sarabjeet Singh Kalsi alias Daljeet Singh Kalsi, who is also a financial assistant, has been arrested, central agency sources said.
Punjab Police has arrested 78 people including close followers of Amritpal Singh. Internet control will continue in the state till 12 noon today Punjab Police clarified. Police searched Amrit Pal Singh’s house in Jalandhar for four hours.
Police have seized two cars of Amritpal Singh. The Punjab Police has warned that fake news should not be believed and strict action will be taken against those who try to disrupt peace in the state. Heavy security was provided in the state.
L’Oro: 15 people were killed and 126 injured in the earthquake in Ecuador and Peru. The earthquake shook the coast of Ecuador and northern Peru. 11 people died in Ecuador’s coastal region of L’Oro and 2 in the highlands of Azua. A 4-year-old girl also died after her house collapsed in the Tumbes region of Peru on the border with Ecuador. There are also reports of many people trapped in the debris in L’Oro.
According to the report of the US Geological Survey, there was an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 on the Richter scale. The epicenter of the earthquake was located at a depth of 66.4 kilometers underground in the city of Balao.
Many houses, schools and medical centers were damaged. Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lazo announced that an emergency team has been deployed to help those affected by the earthquake.
Peruvian Prime Minister Alberto Oterola said the quake was felt from Peru’s northern border with Ecuador to the central Pacific coast.
Kozhikode: Minister of Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs G R Anil said that the government is trying to ensure complete food availability during the 100-day program related to the second anniversary of the government. No family or individual, including the very poor, should be without access to food grains. The Minister said that the Food and Public Distribution Department is in the process of giving them complete ration cards.
The minister was speaking at the district level inauguration of the ‘Opam’ project implemented with the help of auto workers. Through the ‘Opam’ project, food security is ensured by providing adequate ration to the needy families. It is also a scheme to deliver ration materials directly to the homes of the people belonging to the very poor and who cannot go to the ration shops to buy ration. The Public Supply Department is also involved in this scheme which has been launched by the state government to eradicate hunger completely. 6773 families and individuals have been identified as extremely poor in the district. The Minister said that out of 451 families without ration cards, 375 have already been given cards.
The traveling ration shop project was implemented from the thought that food grains should not be deprived in the tribal villages during the covid period. As part of the project, ration goods and products were delivered to 134 tribal villages twice a month at government expense. Mobile ration shops are now widespread. So are the welfare schemes. The minister said that the government is directly delivering food grains to various welfare institutions including orphanages and destitute homes.
