Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra expressed solidarity with protesting wrestlers after meeting them at Jantar Mantar here on Saturday and accused the government of "protecting" WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who is facing allegations of sexual harassment levelled by women grapplers.
"When these girls get medals, everyone tweets, say they are our country's pride but now when they are sitting on the road and seeking to be heard, saying they have been wronged, no one is ready to listen to them. If FIRs have been filed, their copy should be shared with them," she said. While on the other hand, the WFI chief clearly denied of resigning from his post and claimed that he wasn't a criminal. "I am completely innocent and have full faith in Supreme Court and Delhi Police. I am ready to face any kind of investigation," Singh told reporters at his residence in Bishnoharpur.
The wrestlers themselves have sought support from all politicians, farmers' and women's organisations since they resumed their protest against WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
Later on, AAP convenor and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal also joins in the protest march.
Training guns on the Congress over its President M Mallikarjun Kharge's 'venomous snake' barb at him, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said till now that party and its leaders have hurled at him different types of abuses 91 times.
"The Congress hates everyone who speaks about the common man, who brings out their corruption, who attacks their politics of selfishness. Congress's hate against such people will become permanent. In this election too, the Congress once again has started abusing me," Modi said.
The Gujarat High Court will hear on Saturday Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's appeal challenging the order of the Surat sessions court declining a stay to his conviction in a criminal defamation case over his "Modi surname" remark.
Gandhi's appeal will be heard by Justice Hemant Prachchhak on April 29, the cause list published by the high court said. During the hearing Rahul's lawyer was of the opinion that, the alleged offence for which Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been convicted and sentenced to two years in jail is neither serious nor does it involve moral turpitude.
The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday said it has searched the Bengaluru-located office and residential premises of Edtech major BYJU's and its CEO and co-founder Raveendran Byju and seized "incriminating" documents and digital data as part of a foreign exchange violation probe.
A total of three premises, two business and one residential, including that of the registered company — Think & Learn Pvt Ltd — were raided under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), it said.
Amid a row over crores of rupees spent on renovating Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's official residence, LG VK Saxena has ordered officials to secure the records of expenditure and sought a report on the matter within 15 days.
The BJP has been attacking Kejriwal and AAP, claiming Rs 45 crore was spent on the renovation of the chief minister's residence 6, Flagstaff Road during 2020-22. The AAP has hit back, saying the BJP was trying to divert attention from real issues by raising this matter.
A court here on Saturday sentenced gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari and his brother and BSP MP Afzal Ansari to imprisonment for 10 years and four years, respectively in a 2007 Gangsters Act case.
"The court of Additional Sessions Judge/First MP-MLA Court Durgesh also imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on Mukhtar and Rs 1 lakh on Afzal," ADGC Criminal Neeraj Srivastava said. Afzal, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP from Ghazipur parliamentary constituency, was produced in the court, while his brother Mukhtar attended the proceedings via video conferencing.
The release of tainted politician Anand Mohan Singh from jail may help the JD(U)-RJD alliance in getting some support from the Rajput community, political experts say. Mohan, a former MP, was released from Saharsa jail on Thursday after remaining behind bars for 15 years for killing G Krishnaiah, the then district magistrate of Gopalganj, who was beaten to death by a mob in Muzaffarpur district in 1994.
Disappointed by the release of Mohan, the wife of slain IAS officer G Krishnaiah moves to the Supreme Court challenging his premature release from prison. Uma Krishnaiah, the wife of G Krishnaiah, has contended that the sentence of life imprisonment awarded to the gangster-turned- politician meant incarceration for his entire natural course of life and it cannot be mechanically interpreted to last just 14 years. “Life imprisonment, when awarded as a substitute for death penalty, has to be carried out strictly as directed by the court and would be beyond application of remission,” she said in her petition before the Supreme Court.
The situation in violence-hit Churachandpur in Manipur remained "grim", with unidentified miscreants setting fire to forest department building, even as night curfew was imposed in the district from Saturday, officials said.
Focusing on the recent commosion in Manipur, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday blamed the BJP for the violence in the Northeast region and accused the ruling party of "bulldozing" the rights of indigenous communities.
"The situation in BJP-ruled Manipur is disturbing. Violence is no solution to any issue. Law and Order has been completely derailed in the state under the double-engine government," Kharge said on Twitter.
In a daring operation, a C-130J heavy-lift aircraft of the Indian Air Force rescued 121 people from a small airstrip at Wadi Sayyidna, which is about 40 km north of the violence-hit Sudanese capital city of Khartoum, officials said.
The rescue operation was carried out on the intervening night of April 27 and 28.
Those rescued in the operation included a pregnant woman and those who had no means to reach Port Sudan, the key transit point from where India is rescuing its citizens using military aircraft and naval ships, IAF officials said Friday.
A ground-plus-two-storey godown collapsed on Saturday in Bhiwandi in Maharashtra's Thane district, trapping several people living and working on the premises, four of whom have been rescued, a civic official said.
Massive rescue and relief operations are underway at the site in Valpada in Mankoli, with one team each of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the Thane Disaster Response Force having arrived and another NDRF team on the way, District Disaster Control Cell chief Anita Jawanjal told PTI.
Earlier, Thane Municipal Corporation Regional Disaster Management Cell chief Avinash Sawant said four families resided on the upper floors and several labourers worked on the ground floor of the ground-plus-two storey building in Wardhaman Compound that collapsed at around 1.45 pm.
He said fire brigade personnel from Bhiwandi, Thane and other surrounding areas have been deployed for search and rescue operations.
Many persons are feared trapped in the debris, Sawant said.