Feb 24 News Live |Andhra Pradesh milk adulteration: Coolant leak led to deaths?

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Tuesday (February 24) informed the State Assembly that the state government had recovered nearly Rs 556 crore owed to it in the IDFC First Bank case. "Nearly Rs 556 crore, including nearly Rs 22 crore in interest, came back within 24 hours," Saini said in the House.

On Sunday (February 22), the bank disclosed a Rs 590-crore fraud committed by its employees and others in accounts held by the Haryana government.

"I want to clarify before the House that the money concerning Haryana government departments, (the) entire amount has been deposited back into our accounts...The recovery has been made within 24 hours," Saini said.

He said the bank had apprised the government that the incident primarily involved a particular branch of the bank in Chandigarh, involving four to five bank employees of middle and lower rung who colluded in the whole thing.

The Union Cabinet is understood to have approved on Tuesday (February 24) the Kerala government's proposal to change the state’s name to Keralam, sources privy to the development said.

The move came ahead of the Kerala assembly elections expected to be held in April-May.

The Kerala Assembly on June 24, 2024, had unanimously adopted a resolution urging the Centre to officially change the state's name to Keralam.

Following the assembly resolution, the Union cabinet, in a meeting held on Tuesday, is believed to have approved the state's name change from Kerala to Keralam, sources said.

Moving the resolution, the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had said the state was called 'Keralam' in Malayalam and that the demand to form a united Kerala for the Malayalam-speaking communities had strongly emerged since the time of the national freedom struggle.

LAT Aerospace, founded by Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal and its former COO Surobhi Das, has acquired Sharang Shakti, an early-stage defence robotics startup based in Gurugram, to build shared technology for sensing, navigation and control systems.

In a post on X on Tuesday (February 24), Goyal stated that the intent is to build in-house capabilities and deploy them across both defence and civil programmes over time.

Goyal resigned as the Managing Director and Group CEO of Eternal -- parent entity of Zomato and Blinkit -- last month to pursue what he termed "new ideas that involve significantly higher-risk exploration and experimentation". He was appointed as the Vice Chairman of Eternal.

A woman allegedly beat her husband to death in connivance with her daughter over a domestic dispute on Sunday (February 22).

The accused, Rekha (46) and her daughter Pinky (30), were arrested and sent to jail custody on Tuesday, Station House Officer (SHO) of Izzatnagar Police Station, Bijendra Singh, told reporters.

SHO Singh said the incident occurred in the Izzatnagar area on Sunday when Balkaram (48) had gone to attend his nephew’s pre-wedding function, and consumed alcohol there.

After returning home, he got into an argument with his wife and daughter, who then allegedly beat him to death using sticks. The two accused then tried to conceal the crime and did not inform anyone, the officer said.

Rekha and Pinky were taken into custody on Monday and an FIR was registered based on a complaint lodged by the man’s relative.

CPI(M) leader and former Sangaria MLA Hetram Beniwal passed away at a private hospital in Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar on Monday (February 23) night. He was 92.

Beniwal was a prominent face of farmers' and labourers' movements in Rajasthan. He was a member of the ninth Rajasthan Legislative Assembly.

Assembly Speaker Vasudev Devnani, former chief minister Ashok Gehlot and leaders from CPI(M) and other parties condoled his death. Devnani said his demise was extremely sad.

In a message, Gehlot said Beniwal had dedicated his life to the struggle for the rights of farmers, labourers and the common people.

His simple and committed personality would continue to inspire all, Gehlot added.

A Delhi court on Tuesday (February 24) sent Indian Youth Congress (IYC) president Uday Bhanu Chib to four-day police custody in connection with the ‘shirtless’ protest at the India AI Impact Summit.

Judicial Magistrate Ravi allowed four days of custody to the police to question Chib over his role in the AI Summit protest, during which IYC members took off their shirts to reveal anti-Modi and anti-Centre slogans on t-shirts beneath.

The accused opposed the prosecution's remand plea, denying no "riot-like situation" was created and calling the allegations an attempt to "insert riots everywhere." They said those present were unarmed and beaten, questioning the need to recover t-shirts through custody.

The counsel for the IYC president submitted that his client was not present at the spot and had already been interrogated, calling the remand plea "frivolous and irrelevant" as he asked the prosecution to show any prima facie conspiracy.

Public Prosecutor Atul Kumar Srivastava countered that the accused, though not physically present, was "communicating and monitoring each and everything" and was the "mastermind." He said the knowledge that the act could lead to a riot-like situation was sufficient and that as IYC president, he bore "additional responsibility."

A helicopter carrying seven people, including the crew members, crashed into the sea after it took off from Mayabunder in North and Middle Andaman district on Tuesday (February 24) morning, and all of them were rescued, officials said.

The accident occurred around 9.30 am, they said.

All the passengers and the crew members, rescued from the mid-sea, have been admitted to a hospital, one of the officials said.

“The helicopter took off from Sri Vijaya Puram around 8.45 am, and it crashed into the sea around 9.30 am. A preliminary inquiry revealed that there was some technical snag, and the pilot made a crash-landing on the sea,” a senior Civil Aviation official said.

An inquiry has been initiated, another official said.

The Congress-led UDF opposition again disrupted and boycotted the Kerala assembly proceedings on Tuesday (February 24), raising the issue of alleged gold misappropriation from Sabarimala.

After squatting in the well of the House, shouting slogans against the government over the Sabarimala issue, the opposition boycotted the House and walked out.

Earlier, accusing Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of "interfering" in the probe by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the Sabarimala gold loss cases and demanding the resignation of state Devaswom Minister V N Vasavan, the UDF members held up placards and banners in the House and shouted slogans against the ruling Left government.

Senior Congress legislator K Babu conveyed the UDF's stance to the House as Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan is away on his ongoing 'Navayuga Yatra'.

The ruling LDF hit back at the opposition with its ministers P Rajeev and M B Rajesh pointing out that the UDF could not move even a single no-confidence motion against the government in the last five years.