Expressing condolences on the unfortunate death of Deputy Superintendent of Police Surender Singh, who had gone to investigate an illegal mining case in Nuh, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday announced a relief of Rs 1 crore and job to one of the family members of the victim.

The state government is standing with the bereaved family in this hour of grief and strict action would surely be taken against those found guilty. Surender Singh was a brave officer and his bravery will always be remembered, he said, as per an official statement.

The Chief Minister made this announcement in a programme held in Gurugram. During this, he along with all dignitaries who attended the programme observed a two-minute silence for the departed soul.

Khattar assured the family that the culprits involved in this case would not be spared at all. He said strict action has been ordered in the matter. The culprits will be arrested as soon as possible and strict punishment will be given.

The DSP had gone to Nuh to investigate an incident of illegal mining.

During the investigation, Surender SinghAwas allegedly crushed to death by a dumper driver.

After the incident, the search operation is on to nab the accused. Police officers are present at the spot and are investigating the matter.

India added 20,557 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 4,38,03,619, while the active cases increased to 1,45,654, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

The death toll climbed to 5,25,825 with 40 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

The active cases comprise 0.33 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.47 per cent, the ministry said.

An increase of 2000 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 4.13 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 4.64 per cent, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,31,32,140 and the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.20 per cent.

According to the ministry, 200.61 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide vaccination drive.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23 last year. It crossed the four-crore mark on January 25 this year.

The 40 new fatalities include 11 from Kerala, six each from West Bengal and Maharashtra, four from Punjab, three from Sikkim, two from Delhi and one each from Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Odisha and Rajasthan.

Six inmates here allegedly attacked the assistant jail superintendent of the central jail, who had gone to search the barracks on Wednesday.

Police said a case has been registered against the accused, including Amanpreet Singh, Gurdeep Singh, Sukhdeep Singh and Jagdeep Singh.

Police said a jail inmate, Karamjit Singh, had given a written complaint to Additional Jail Superintendent Gurcharan Singh Dhaliwal that some inmates were trying to extort money from him.

It has been stated in the FIR that accused Gurdeep Singh, Iqbalpreet Singh, Balkar Singh, Jagdeep Singh, Sukhdeep Singh, Rajveer Singh and Amanpreet Singh had allegedly demanded Rs 85,000 from him and threatened to kill him in case of non-payment.

To investigate this, Additional Superintendent Gurcharan Singh Dhaliwal and Assistant Jail Superintendent Amarvir Singh reached the barracks.

On spotting the officials, the accused inmates started running away from the spot. But Amarvir Singh caught Amanpreet Singh.

Other accused attacked the jail official leaving him injured.

A mobile phone and two SIM cars have been recovered from the accused.

Two separate cases have been registered by police for the attack on the prison official and the recovery of mobile phone and the SIM cards.

New satellite images emerged on Tuesday indicating the construction of a Chinese village East of the Doklam plateau on the Bhutanese side, a region that is considered important for India’s strategic interest.

The Indian and Chinese armies were locked in a 73-day stand-off at the Doklam tri-junction after China tried to extend a road in the area that Bhutan claimed belonged to it.

The NDTV came out with the images captured by MAXAR, a company that focuses on space technology and intelligence, and said the village is fully inhabited with cars parked at the doorstep of virtually every home.

It said alongside the village is a neatly marked all-weather carriageway, which is part of China’s “extensive land grab” in Bhutan.

The road could give China access to a strategic ridge in the Doklam plateau.

There was no immediate comment from the Army on the new images.

“The new satellite images, sourced from Maxar, indicate that a second village in the Amo Chu river valley is now virtually complete while China has stepped up construction of a third village or habitation further South,” the NDTV said in its report.

The government had said previously that it keeps an eye on all the activities along its border.

China has been ramping up border infrastructure in several sensitive locations, including along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh where the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been locked in an over two-year standoff with the Indian Army.

In October last year, Bhutan and China signed an agreement on a “three-step roadmap” to expedite negotiations to resolve their festering boundary dispute.

Bhutan shares an over 400-km-long border with China and the two countries have held over 24 rounds of boundary talks in a bid to resolve the dispute.

The two countries also held 10 rounds of negotiations at the ‘Expert Group’ level.

The Doklam tri-junction is considered important from the point of view of India’s security interests.

The India-China stand-off in the Doklam plateau in 2017 even triggered fears of a war between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. Bhutan said the area belonged to it and India supported the Bhutanese claim.

India had strongly opposed the construction of the road at the Doklam tri-junction as it would have impacted its overall security interests.

The India-China face-off was resolved following several rounds of talks.

The government briefed an all-party meeting on Tuesday on the unfolding situation in Sri Lanka, which has been facing its worst economic crisis in seven decades.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who made the initial remarks, and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi were among the senior members of the government at the briefing, which was also attended by P Chidambaram and Manickam Tagore of the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) Sharad Pawar and T R Baalu and M M Abdulla of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).

M Thambidurai (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), Saugata Ray (Trinamool Congress), Farooq Abdullah (National Conference), Sanjay Singh (Aam Aadmi Party), Keshava Rao (Telangana Rashtra Samithi), Ritesh Pandey (Bahujan Samaj Party), Vijayasai Reddy (YSR Congress) and Vaiko (Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) were among those who attended the meeting.

Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis in seven decades, with a severe foreign exchange shortage hampering the import of essentials, including food, fuel and medicines.

The economic crisis has also sparked a political crisis in the island nation after a popular uprising against the government. Acting president Ranil Wickremesinghe has declared a state of emergency in the country.

Political parties from Tamil Nadu such as the DMK and the AIADMK had demanded at an all-party meet before the Parliament’s monsoon session began that India should intervene in the crisis shrouding the neighbouring country

Joint opposition candidate for the vice presidential election Margaret Alva on Tuesday filed her nomination papers for the post and was accompanied by a host of leaders.

The vice presidential poll will be held on August 6 to elect the successor to M Venkaiah Naidu, whose term ends on August 10.

Several opposition leaders, including Congress’ Rahul Gandhi, NCP’s Sharad Pawar, CPI-M’s Sitaram Yechury, CPI’s D Raja, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, were present during her nomination filing.

Tuesday is the last date for submission of nominations for the vice presidential election.

“It’s a tough election without a doubt, but I’m not afraid to take on the challenge,” she had said on Monday while thanking opposition parties who have supported her candidature.

Alva, 80, is pitted against NDA’s Jagdeep Dhankhar, who resigned as West Bengal governor after being nominated on Saturday evening.

Former Rajasthan governor and Congress veteran Alva was unanimously chosen as the joint opposition candidate for the post of vice president on Sunday.

All MPs of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, including nominated members, comprise the electoral college for the vice president’s election.

Two men are feared dead after they were swept away by the strong currents in the Mahi Erav river amid heavy rainfall in Rajasthan’s Pratapgarh district, police said Tuesday.

Rescue teams are searching for the missing persons, they said.

The incident happened in Bawdi village of the district when four people were crossing the river last night, police said.

Due to sudden strong current of the river amid heavy rainfall, two of them were swept away, while the remaining two swam to safety, Station House Officer, Ghantali, Sohan Lal said.

He said rescue teams are carrying out operation to find the missing persons.

Those missing were identified as Jeta Delia (25) and Rajeng Singh (22).

Police have arrested three persons for allegedly stealing Rs 12.20 crore from a private bank in Maharashtra’s Thane district, an official said on Tuesday.
The theft took place on July 9 at the bank’s branch in Manpada area of Dombivli town here.

Based on a tip-off, sleuths of the Thane crime branch’s property cell laid a trap and nabbed three of the accused from Mumbra area here on Monday, senior police inspector Anil Honrao said in a release.

The police recovered from them Rs 5.80 crore out of the stolen cash and property worth Rs 10 lakh, he said.

Efforts were on to recover the remaining amount from them.

The police were also searching for the main accused and others involved in the crime, including an employee of the bank, the official said.

Those arrested have been identified as Israr Abrar Hussain Qureshi (33), Shamshad Ahmed Riaz Ahmed Khan (33) and Anuj Premshankar Giri (30).

The Manpada police have registered a case against the accused under Indian Penal Code Sections 381 (theft) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), the official said.

Noted filmmaker Mani Rathnam was admitted to a private hospital here, on Tuesday, reportedly over symptoms of fever.

The corporate hospital where he has been admitted is yet to officially react.

Sources said the ace director was taken to the hospital with symptoms of fever today and he underwent a checkup. He had tested negative for COVID-19, and is likely to be discharged today, the source added. The Ponniyin Selvan director was working on the post-production of his historical drama, which is slated for release on September 30.

An Indian Army Captain and a Junior Commissioned Officer were killed in a grenade blast along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district Sunday night. The blast is reported to be accidental.

A defence spokesperson said that the deceased along with other troops were performing their duties along the LoC in the Mendhar sector when the grenade went off.

The deceased soldiers have been identified as Captain Anand and Naib Subedar Bhagwan Singh.

They were evacuated to the Army’s Command Hospital at Udhampur, but they succumbed to injuries, the spokesman added. A Court of Inquiry has been ordered into the matter.