MUMBAI: According to activist and social worker Shreha Dhargalkar, the victim of the Delhi murder case Shraddha Walkar was quiet and aloof but wanted to do something to clean up the garbage and filth in Mumbai.

She once told me she wanted to have a small family and have a child. That was her dream, Shreha said, adding that Shraddha at times seemed to be lost and contradicted herself.

“She was hardworking, but she did not mix with the others or talk to them much. She was an introvert. She only spoke when she was spoken to or asked any questions. She was reserved and mostly kept to herself. She did not share anything about her family or personal life,” Shreha told this website.

Marathi film actor and theatre artiste Madhuri Sangita Patil who also worked with the victim, said the 28-year-old Shraddha Walkar who was murdered by her live-in partner Aftab Amin Poonawalla in Delhi and her body chopped into 35 pieces, had volunteered for a beach cleanup drive at Versova, Madh and Aksa beaches in suburban Mumbai, when she was working at a call centre at Malad.

Madhuri Sangita Patil, on seeing photographs of the murder victim splashed in the media, was shocked beyond words and felt numb and speechless for some time. “I just couldn’t believe what had happened or what I was reading,” she told this reporter.

“She had volunteered in one of my camps jointly organised with activist Shreha Dhargalkar for cleaning up Mumbai’s beaches. I have organized nearly 20 cleanup drives on a small scale in the last two years. Shraddha worked in two camps, but we did not interact much. She said she loved Mumbai and wanted to do something for the city, particularly to clean up the place,” Madhuri told this website.

The beach clean up drives in Mumbai were organised with help from NGOs and activist Shreha Dhargalkar and others, Madhuri said.

Madhuri Sangita Patil who is also an environmental activist had organized several small local-level beach cleaning drives and it was during one of these drives that the deceased had volunteered and participated,” she said. Watch video here

NEW DELHI, (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended Bharatiya Janata Party’s Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting held on Wednesday at party headquarters in New Delhi.

According to sources, the meeting is being held in a bid to finalise the entire list of candidates for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly polls.

Besides PM Modi, BJP national president JP Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and BJP state president CR Patil and other members of the CEC and the state unit are present in the meeting.

Another source told ANI, “Since all the central and state leadership are present during this meeting, it is likely that a separate discussion will take place with the top brass on planning the campaigning for the upcoming polls, especially with PM Narendra Modi having instructed them to target the highest poll numbers ever.”

Gujarat has been a BJP bastion for decades. BJP is seeking its seventh term in office. Before becoming Prime Minister, Narendra Modi was Gujarat’s longest-serving Chief Minister from 2001 to 2014.

On November 3, the Election Commission of India announced the election dates for Gujarat. Polling will take place in two phases on December 1 and December 5 respectively.

In the first phase, polling will be held for 89 seats while the second phase will see voting for 93 seats. The term of the 182-member state Assembly ends on February 18, 2023. The state of Gujarat has seen a traditional face-off between the ruling BJP and its traditional rival Congress.

However, in the upcoming elections, a new entrant, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), is being keenly watched in the poll fray. (ANI)

WEST BENGAL, (PTI): A day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee ordered the police to throw a dragnet to unearth bombs and illegal firearms from across the state, the police on Friday recovered a huge cache of arms and explosives from various districts of the state.

Banerjee, who on Thursday visited Bagtui village in Birbhum, where eight people were burnt alive after petrol bombs were thrown at their houses earlier this week, ordered the police to throw a dragnet to unearth bombs and illegal firearms from across the state.

“We have recovered caches of illegal weapons from various districts of the state, including Birbhum, West Midnapore. The weapons have been seized, and the crude bombs have been defused by the CID and police bomb disposal squad. Several people have also been arrested,” a senior police official said.

The official, however, said they are yet to compile the arrest figures across the state.

“Such dragnet activities are regular procedures and are nothing new. We keep on recovering such weapons regularly,” said a police official.

However, the opposition BJP cautioned its cadres that the police might plant a few bombs at saffron party offices to implicate them in false cases.

“We want our party cadres across the state to be extra cautious as there can be an attempt by the police and ruling party to plant these bombs in our party offices and implicate us in false cases. We don’t trust this state government,” BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said.

The ruling TMC, however, dubbed the allegations baseless.

“The TMC and the state administration never indulge in such cheap politics. The BJP can go to any extent to malign others,” TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said. (PTI)

Chandigarh, (PTI): The Congress announced on Sunday that Charanjit Singh Channi has been elected as the leader of the Punjab Congress Legislative Party (CLP), paving the way for his appointment as the chief minister.

The development comes a day after Congress veteran Amarinder Singh resigned as chief minister amid a bitter power tussle with state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu with less than five months to go for the Assembly polls.

“It gives me immense pleasure to announce that Sh. #CharanjitSinghChanni has been unanimously elected as the Leader of the Congress Legislature Party of Punjab,” AICC general secretary Harish Rawat said in a tweet. (PTI)

Panaji (Goa): Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi’s nephew Abu Aslam Azmi was summoned by the Goa unit of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Wednesday in connection with a matter related to drug peddler Sufran Lakdawala.

In a statement, the NCB said that Abu Aslam Azmi’s name cropped up during the interrogation of Lakdawala who was arrested on July 8.

“In Sufran Lakdawala drugs case, Goa NCB team has summoned a person named Abu Aslam Azmi for questioning today. Abu Aslam Azmi is close to a big leader of the Samajwadi Party. On July 8, Lakdawala was arrested from Mira Road with cocaine and other drugs,” NCB said in the statement.

It further informed that Lakdawala is said to have supplied drugs to some big industrialists and people connected to the film industry in Mumbai.

“Aslam Azmi’s name cropped up during the interrogation of Sufran Lakdawala, after which he was called for questioning at NCB’s Goa office today,” NCB added.

In 2017, Abu Aslam Azmi was arrested for alleged involvement in drugs smuggling.

New Delhi: There are 48 cases of the ‘delta plus’ variant of COVID-19 spread across 11 states the government said Friday, adding that the maximum number of cases had been reported from Maharashtra (20).

Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh have nine and seven cases. Kerala has three. Punjab and Gujarat have two each, and Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Jammu have one each.

Two days ago the government said 40 ‘delta plus’ cases had been registered so far.

The government, however, said that at this time the spread is still “very localised”.

The virus strain had been isolated and is being cultured by the ICMR-National Institute of Virology, and tests to check its resistance to existing Covid vaccines were ongoing, the government added.

The government also said ‘delta plus’ variant cases had been reported from 12 other countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Portugal, China, Japan Russia and Switzerland.

On Wednesday the government said the ‘delta plus’ variant had been listed as a ‘variant of concern’. States reporting cases were urged to take “immediate containment steps”. The Maharashtra government has urged district officials to be cautious while re-emerging from lockdowns.

The government earlier said the ‘delta plus’ variant has possible increased transmissibility, higher binding capacity to the lung cells and resistance to monoclonal antibody treatment.

Given the cases of the Delta plus variant of COVID-19 emerging in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led state government, on Friday, issued new orders concerning the levels of restrictions.

The state’s health minister Rajesh Tope also revealed that out of 21 Delta Plus variant cases of COVID-19 in Maharashtra, one 80-year-old woman with co-morbidities passed away.

The 21 cases of Delta Plus variant include nine in Ratnagiri, seven in Jalgaon, two in Mumbai, and one case each in Palghar, Thane, and Sindhudurg districts.

The Maharashtra government has placed the entire state in Level-3.

The ‘delta plus’ variant is a mutated version of the more aggressive B.1.617.2, or ‘delta’, strain that drove the second wave of infections in India and has already been listed as a ‘variant of concern’. Identified as B.1.617.2.1, it is characterised by the K417N mutation in the spike protein of the virus.

The spike protein is what helps the virus infect human cells, and K417N has been associated with immune escape, or evasion, that leaves the virus more immune to vaccines or drugs.

The Health Ministry, however, has said the variant’s immune escape capabilities and its ability to cause a more severe infections or transmit more aggressively “is under continued surveillance”.

News agency ANI reported ICMR-NIV had decided to conduct a study to determine the ‘delta plus’ resistance to Covishield and Covaxin – the two Covid vaccines currently in use in India.

Amid growing concern about the spread of variants like ‘delta plus’ – which may be more infectious and more resistant to drugs, IGIB Director Dr Anurag Agarwal told NDTV “… at this point there is no evidence to suggest ‘delta plus’ has anything to do with a possible third wave.”

“My institute (the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology) has sequenced more than 3,500 samples from Maharashtra – covering samples from April and May. We can see these (‘delta plus’ variants) are very much there. But these constitute less than one per cent,” he said.

Even in areas where the numbers look worrying they are not “very high”, he said, “Things look stable.”

Dr Agarwal, however, clarified that any ‘delta’ COVID-19 remains a ‘variant of concern’.

A study conducted by Oxford University and published in the journal Cell said COVID-19 vaccines made by AstraZeneca (which is used in India as Covishield) and Pfizer-BioNTech remain broadly effective against ‘delta’ and ‘kappa’ (B.1.617.1) variants.

However, the concentration of neutralising antibodies in the blood was somewhat reduced, which may lead to some breakthrough infections, they cautioned.

Source: NDTV & Agencies

Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday announced a hike in the ‘Shagun’ amount for the marriage of daughters of construction workers in Punjab from Rs 31,000 to Rs 51,000.

As per a statement, the CM also approved Rs 1,500 in financial aid to construction workers who test positive for the coronavirus.

“To ease the process of availing the Shagun benefit, the Chief Minister has approved modification in the existing conditions to make valid marriage certificates issued by any religious body – Gurdwaras, Temples, and Churches – acceptable for the purpose,” the statement said.

Capt Amarinder Singh made these decisions while chairing the 27th meeting of the Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW) Welfare Board through Video Conference.

He also announced compensation worth Rs 2 lakh in case of the death of a worker in an accident while working in construction activity. In light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, an extension in the time-frame for submission of applications for benefits under various welfare schemes was also announced – from the existing six months to one year.

“Construction workers can now submit any two of the four Government documents, namely Aadhaar card, Pan card, Voter card, and Ration card. Many workers could not avail benefits earlier for lack of a birth certificate, which was the only acceptable proof prior to this amendment,” the statement said. (ANI)

MUMBAI: The alleged rape-accused Air India pilot Akshat Sethi who has been accused of raping a Tv actress on the pretext of marriage, had boasted to the victim that he knew Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally and had even flown the PM several times.

According to the complainant/victim Tv actress who has registered an FIR at the Oshiwara Police Station (FIR No. 24/2021) u/s 376 and 417, the accused had boasted on several occasions that he had flown several dignitaries including the former President of India Abdul Kalam, several Central Cabinet Ministers, PM Narendra Modi, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and other VVIPs and knew them personally.

The victim told the police that Sethi said “you have absolutely no idea who I am. You do not know my contacts and connections and what I can do to you.” The accused allegedly threatened the victim with dire consequences if she pursued the matter or went to the cops.

The victim has admitted that initially she was impressed by looking at the photographs the accused had on his Instagram and Facebook timelines. “But then he tried to threaten me, using those photos as reference to show his connections,” she has alleged.

The accused met the victim on a matrimonial website and the victim claims he agreed to marry her. They used to speak on phone for several hours everyday and she was ‘sure’ the accused would marry her, she stated. “I did not know that his only intention was to have sex with me on the pretext of marriage and then dump me,” the complaint states.

He had also claimed that he had worked directly under the PM and the same can be seen on his Instagram post.

The pilot who is now absconding had threatened the victim that he had “very big connections” and he could ‘finish her’ if she tried to complain against him or even come to his house again. This incident allegedly took place about three days after the victim was raped at her own residence. She went to his home to accost him because after the ‘rape’ the accused pilot who had promised to marry the Tv actress victim began to ignore her.

On Thursday, the lawyer for the rape victim/complainant Adv A K Chauhan while speaking to media persons in Mumbai, alleged that the Oshiwara Police were going slow and were not keen on arresting the rape-accused Air India pilot Akshat Sethi.

An FIR was registered against the pilot after a popular Mumbai-based Tv actress and model filed a complaint against him.

There is no effort being made by the cops to track down the accused. It seems that the cops were only doing their job and registered the FIR as a matter of protocol. But now they are not interested in arresting the pilot.

ALSO READ | Victim’s Lawyer Alleges Cops Going Slow, Not Arresting Accused

The pilot is roaming around freely without any fear of the law, Chauhan alleged.

As reported earlier, the rape-accused Air India pilot Akshat Sethi has given the Mumbai police a slip and has gone underground.

The pilot is absconding and the police are not able to trace him. I am going to submit a written complaint to the Zonal DCP and the Mumbai Police Commissioner, Chauhan told the press in Mumbai on Thursday.

He said he will meet the zonal DCP and the police commissioner on Friday in the case to request them to ensure that the victim gets justice.

The victim’s lawyer Adv A K Chauhan has demanded that the police issue a lookout notice against the accused Air India pilot Akshat Sethi who is absconding and untraceable.

The police registered FIR No 24 of 2021 for rape and cheating u/s 376 and 417, besides other sections of the IPC against the pilot.

When a police team visited his residence at Veera Desai Road at Andheri West, the pilot’s door was locked. Neighbors told the cops the pilot was not home since Sunday night.

The cops suspect he must have left Mumbai and gone to Bhopal where he has family and many friends.

The Air India pilot Akshat Sethi, a resident of Mumbai and native of Bhopal against whom a rape case has been registered in Mumbai, had promised the Tv actress (name cannot be disclosed in case of rape victims) to take her to Goa for their marriage.

According to sources, the pilot had told the actress that he has purchased a house on the outskirts of Panaji and was going to settle down for good in the coastal state.

It is rumored that the absconding pilot is close to several ruling right wing politicians at the Centre and the Mumbai police are under pressure from these right wing politicians not to arrest him.

He had told the victim/complainant model that he owns a sprawling bungalow near Panaji in Goa worth Rs 3 crore and also promised her that they will get married in Goa. Read the full story here.

During his earlier days, before joining Air India he had flown several top politicians from the ruling party at the Centre and is allegedly well-connected in right-wing political circles.