分类： bharat

Novel coronavirus cases in India breached the 20-lakh mark on Thursday with various states such as Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu recording massive spikes in new confirmed cases of Covid-19.

As per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s Covid-19 bulletin, last updated at 8 am on August 6, India’s tally of confirmed cases stood at 19,64,536. This was inclusive of 5,95,501 active cases, 13,28,336 patients discharged after recovery and 40,699 deaths.

The official number of total Covid-19 cases, however, remains at 19.64 lakhs as the Ministry of Health’s Covid dashboard is updated at 8 AM each morning.

Maharashtra, the state with the most number of Covid-19 cases in all of India, recorded 11,514 fresh cases on Thursday. This takes Maharashtra’s tally of confirmed cases to 4,79,779. A total of 3,16,375 patients have recovered from the infection in the state, 10,854 in the last 24 hours. There are 1,46,305 active cases in the state as on August 6, as per Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope.

Andhra Pradesh followed Maharashtra to report the second-most fresh cases on Thursday. With 10,328 new cases, Andhra’s tally of confirmed Covid-19 cases now stands at 1,96,789. This includes 82,166 active cases, 1,12,870 patients discharged after recovery and 1753 who succumbed to the infection to date.

Similarly, the state of Karnataka reported 6805 fresh cases, Tamil Nadu 5684 new cases and Uttar Pradesh 4589 fresh cases followed by West Bengal with 2954 new cases. As many as 1699 more cases were recorded in Odisha, 1299 in Delhi, 1298 in Kerala and 1034 in Gujarat along with 830 fresh cases in Madhya Pradesh.

On Thursday, the global tally of Covid-19 cases exceeded 1,88,51,834 with US and Brazil with the most cases followed by India, Russia and South Africa. The infection has claimed 7,08,540 lives across the globe with the US leading in casualties followed by Brazil, Mexico and the United Kingdom.

As the death toll in the Punjab spurious liquor tragedy continues to rise, the case has picked up the pace with action now being taken against some senior officials in the state. Majority of the deaths have taken place in Tarn Taran, Batala and Amritsar districts of the state since Wednesday.

While the toll in the hooch tragedy mounted to 86 on Saturday — 63 deaths in Tarn Taran, 12 in Amritsar Rural at 12 and 11 in Gurdaspur (Batala) — seven excise officials, six policemen were suspended in connection with the incident. The total number of arrests in the case has also gone up to 25. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh also announced Rs 2 lakh ex-gratia compensation to each of the families of the deceased.

1. As the death toll in the Punjab hooch tragedy rose to 86, the Punjab police on Saturday arrested 17 more persons in a massive crackdown. More than 100 raids were conducted in the three affected districts — Amritsar Rural, Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran — along with several other places in and around the Rajpura and Shambhu border. The total number of arrests in the case has gone up to 25.

2. Govinderbir Singh alias Gobinda, the mafia mastermind accused of bringing spurious liquor from Tarn Taran to the Amritsar Rural area; kingpin Darshan Rani alias Faujan; transport owner Prem Singh; Bhinda, who is a wanted criminal by Tarn Taran police; and owners/managers of various dhabas from where the illicit liquor was being supplied are among the arrested accused, DGP Dinkar Gupta said. The dhabas, identified as Zilmil Dhaba, Green Dhaba, Chhinda Dhaba on Shambhu, and Banur and Rajpura in Patiala, have been sealed.

3. As much as 750 litres of Lahan had been seized from village Baghaura from where two persons, Satnam and Rashem, were arrested while another, identified as Lakhwinder, was also identified as a culprit.

4. According to the DGP: In the raid at Jhilmil dhaba, whose manager Narinder Singh was arrested, 200 litres of Lahan ( a type of illicit liquor) was seized. The dhaba owner Harjit Singh has also been named in the FIR. At Green Dhaba near Rajpura Chandigarh Road, approximately 200 litres of Diesel like liquid was recovered, which truck drivers were selling to the dhaba owner. The dhaba has also been sealed and its owner Gurjant Singh has been arrested. One Narinder Singh, the owner of Multani Dhaba, has also been arrested in the case, said the DGP. Another 150 litres of Lahan was recovered from one Parminder Singh and 200 litres from Baljit Singh. Both these men have also been arrested. Raids were also conducted at the house of Rupinder Singh alias Bittu, who is a friend of Hardeep Singh alias Goldy who was arrested earlier by the CIA Jalandhar Rural.

5. Describing the modus operandi of the accused, the DGP said the trucks carrying spirit would be stopped at 6-7 identified Dhaba and the Dhaba owners collected the hooch from truck drivers and sold it to one Bhinda and Bittu of a village near Banur. Bhinda was also an accused in the Rajpura factory case. The spirit was being supplied to Amritsar and surrounding areas by these people.

6. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had already ordered a magisterial probe into the tragedy, unfolding since Wednesday night. He even announced Rs 2 lakh ex-gratia compensation to each of the families of the deceased on Saturday.

7. On Saturday, seven excise officials, six policemen were also suspended over Punjab hooch tragedy. During the 13th edition of his Facebook Live #AskCaptain, Amarinder Singh announced the suspension of ETOs Lovejinder Brar from Gurdaspur, BS Chahal from Amritsar and Madhur Bhatia from Tarn Taran. Excise and Taxation Inspectors (ETIs) who have been suspended with immediate effect are Ravi Kumar (Gurdaspur), Gurdeep Singh (Amritsar), Pukhraj (Fatehabad) and Hitesh Prabhakar (Tarn Taran). He also suspended Jandiala (Amritsar) and Tarn Taran DSPs. The SHOs of Amritsar’s Tarsikka, Batala City, Tarn Taran Sadar and Tarn Taran City were also suspended.

Earlier, Bikramjit Singh, the station house officer at the Amritsar’s Tarsikka police station, was also suspended.

The Supreme Court today dismissed a PIL filed requesting for a CBI probe into actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. The court asked Alka Priya, the lawyer who filed the plea to let the police do their job instead. The lawyer further added that Sushant Singh Rajput had done a lot of work for children by facilitating their training at NASA, and therefore, his death needs to be looked at. To which, Chief Justice S Bodbe said that that has nothing to do with if he was good or bad person. Sushant Singh Rajput died by suicide on June 14.

There’s been a growing demand for a CBI probe into Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case with several political figures and film personalities weighing in. Amid all this, yesterday, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh also said that there is no need for the case to be transferred to CBI, and that the Mumbai Police is capable of handling the investigation. The Mumbai Police has been investigating the case since June 14. They have recorded statements of over 40 people in connection with Sushant’s death, including that of Rhea Chakraborty, Sushant’s family, filmmakers Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Shekhar Kapur, and Yash Raj Films head, Aditya Chopra, among others.

Rhea Chakraborty, Sushant Singh Rajput’s girlfriend, also recently wrote to Home Minister Amit Shah requesting him to sanction a CBI enquiry into the actor’s death. In a long Instagram post, she had written, “Respected @amitshahofficial sir , I’m sushant Singh Rajputs girlfriend Rhea chakraborty, it is now over a month since his sudden demise . I have complete faith in the government , however in the interest of justice , I request you with folded hands to initiate a CBI enquiry into this matter . I only want to understand what pressures prompted Sushant to take this step. Yours sincerely, Rhea Chakraborty (sic).”