1. PC Loses Bid to Avoid Tihar, to Be Kept There Till 19 Sept
In a setback to former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, a special CBI court on Thursday sent him to Tihar Jail in judicial custody till 19 September in the INX Media corruption case.
“The allegations against the accused were found serious. Therefore, he was remanded in police custody. The investigation is still in progress. The CBI has apprehension that because of his status and position, the investigation may be hampered by the accused. It is not a case where the accused can be ‘released’ at the stage of considering his extension of remand,” special CBI court judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar said.
(Source: The Times of India)
2. US Backs India’s Terror Tag for Fugitives in Pakistan
The United States on Wednesday offered a resounding endorsement of the designation of four Pakistan-based terrorists by India in a move that should give pause to Islamabad, which has sought to reset ties with Washington by leveraging its role in the Afghanistan peace process.
“We stand w/ #India & commend it for utilizing new legal authorities to designate 4 notorious terrorists: Maulana Masood Azhar, Hafiz Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi & Dawood Ibrahim,” Alice G Wells, the top US diplomat for South and Central Asia, wrote on Twitter.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
3. Chandrayaan-2: 15 ‘Terrifying’ Minutes to History Tonight
A month-and-half after it took off from the launch pad at Sriharikota, traversing a distance of over 3,84,000 km on a pre-defined path, Chandrayaan-2 is ready to face its moment of truth.
Later tonight, its lander module, called Vikram, which has already detached itself from the main spacecraft and has been moving independently for the last three days, will begin what ISRO Chairman K Sivan has been repeatedly describing as “the most terrifying 15 minutes” of its journey — the final descent to the moon’s surface from the nearest point in its current orbit, which is just 35 km in vertical distance.
(Source: The Indian Express)
4. Noted Writer Kiran Nagarkar Dies Aged 77
Celebrated bilingual writer Kiran Nagarkar passed away in a south Mumbai hospital on Thursday. He was 77 and had suffered a brain haemorrhage earlier this week. His debut novel, Saat Sakkam Trechaalis, in Marathi, was hailed as a genre breaker.
His English epics Cuckold and the Ravan and Eddie trilogy marked him out as one of India’s finest writers in English. Last year, he was named in the #MeToo movement, a charge he vehemently denied.
(Source: The Times of India)
5. ‘No Ban on Diesel, Petrol Cars, Will Consider GST Cut’:
Nitin Gadkari
Acknowledging a crisis in the automobile industry after 13 consecutive months of decline in sales, minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday that the government would consider a demand for lowering the goods and services tax (GST) on vehicles.
He also announced that the government would award a raft of highway projects entailing an investment of ~5 lakh crore in the coming months to boost demand for commercial vehicles.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
6. Mehbooba Daughter Free to Meet Her, Not so Free to Move Around: SC
The Supreme Court on Thursday said PDP leader and former J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iltija was “free to meet her mother in private” in Srinagar, where she is under detention for over a month now following the Centre’s decision to scrap the state’s special status.
The bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S A Bobde and S Abdul Nazeer, however, said that “so far as moving around in other parts of Srinagar is concerned, the petitioner would be free to do so subject to requisite permission from the district authorities as and when necessary.”
(Source: The Indian Express)
7. AP’s 74-Yr-Old Is World’s Oldest Ever to Give Birth
A 74-year-old woman from a village in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh has become perhaps the oldest mother ever. Mangayamma gave birth to twin girls via in vitro fertilisation (IVF) at a private hospital in Guntur on Thursday, 57 years after she married her farmer husband. A team of four doctors performed a cesarean section on her.
Mangayamma says not bearing a child had been a huge burden that she carried. “People looked at me as if I had committed a sin,” she told TOI. “Neighbours would call me ‘godralu’ (childless woman). But my husband stood by me like a rock.” she said. “We are the happiest couple on earth. We have our own children,” new dad Y S Rajarao said.
(Source: The Times of India)
8. Modi Takes up Islamic Preacher Naik’s Extradition With Malaysia
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday raised the issue of the extradition of controversial preacher Zakir Naik, wanted in India on charges of money laundering and hate speech, with his Malaysian counterpart, Mahathir Mohamad.
Malaysia is yet to respond to India’s formal request for the extradition of Naik, who has lived in that country for about three years after he was granted permanent residency. Mahathir said last month that Naik can’t be sent back to India because of fears for his safety.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
9. No Sedition in JNU Case, Says Delhi Govt, Set to Reject Sanction Request
The Delhi government has decided to turn down the Delhi Police request for sanction to prosecute former JNU Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar and other students who have been accused of sedition, sources told The Indian Express.
The Home Department is of the view that the activities of the accused, during an event on campus on 9 February 2016, “do not amount to sedition against the State”. The case is scheduled to come up in a city court on 18 September.
(Source: The Indian Express)
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