India

Mumbai, Mar 19 (PTI) Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani on Thursday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate in Mumbai in connection with a money-laundering probe against Yes Bank promoter Rana Kapoor and others, officials said.

The agency is expected to record the statement of Ambani under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The 60-year-old businessman arrived at the ED office in Ballard Estate around 9:30 am.

Raipur, Mar 19 (PTI) A Naxal was killed in a gunfight with security forces in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh on Thursday, police said.

The skirmish took place around 7.30 am in the forest near Gampur village under Kirandul police station area, when a joint team of security forces was out on a counter-insurgency operation, Inspector General of Police (Bastar range) Sundarraj P told PTI.

Mainpuri (UP), Mar 19 (PTI) A man shot dead his two young daughters at his house in Dharau village here for their alleged involvement in a mobile theft, police said.

He later surrendered before the police.

Kolhapur, Mar 19 (PTI) As a precaution against the coronavirus epidemic, under-trial prisoners at Kalamba Jail in Maharashtra's Kolhapur district will not be sent to the courts in person but will `appear' through video-conference.

With the state recording the highest number of coronavirus patients in the country so far, the government is stressing the need to curtail unnecessary traveling.

New Delhi, Mar 19 (PTI) The novel coronavirus cases in India rose to 169 on Thursday after 18 fresh cases were reported from various parts of the country, according to the Health Ministry.

The cases include 25 foreign nationals -- 17 from Italy, 3 from the Philippines, two from the UK, one each belonging to Canada, Indonesia and Singapore.

NEW DELHI (AP) — Dharam Singh Rajput can’t afford to buy hand sanitizer, which could help ward off transmission of the coronavirus in his community.

The Rajput family could opt for something more basic — soap and water — to achieve hand hygiene. But sometimes there is no clean running water in their neighborhood, which sits next to open sewage canals and mounds of garbage in the heart of New Delhi, India’s capital. “The kind of water we have access to has the potential to cause more diseases instead of warding off the virus if we use it to wash our hands,” Rajput said.

Kolkata; 18 March 2020 (PTI): A BJP activist has been arrested for organising a cow urine consumption event here, claiming that it will protect people from coronavirus or cure those already infected, leading to a civic volunteer falling ill after drinking it, police said on Wednesday.

He was arrested late Tuesday night following a complaint filed by the victim with the police, they said.

Muzaffarpur (Bihar), Mar 18 (PTI) A petition was filed on Wednesday before a court here accusing Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan of failing to put a check on "black marketing" of face masks and hand sanitizers, the demand for which has spiked in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

Social activist Tamanna Hashmi filed the petition before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Mukesh Kumar where it has been posted for hearing on March 30.

New Delhi, Mar 18 (PTI) The government is considering rate moderation for small savings schemes in the upcoming quarter, a development that could lead to speedier transmission of monetary policy rate cuts, sources said.

During the current quarter, the government refrained from cutting interest rates on small savings schemes, such as Public Provident Fund (PPF) and National Savings Certificate (NSC), despite moderating bank deposit rates.

New Delhi, Mar 17 (PTI) Over 1.86 lakh passengers who have returned from the coronavirus-affected countries have been screened at the Delhi airport till date and placed under surveillance, Delhi Health Department authorities said on Tuesday.

The total coronavirus cases in Delhi now stands at eight.