New Delhi, Aug 22: India on Monday logged 9,531 fresh coronavirus infections that pushed its tally to 4,43,48,960, while the number of active cases came down to 97648, according to Union Health ministry data.
The toll due to COVID-19 climbed to 5,27,368 with 26 more fatalities, including 10 deaths reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated.
The active cases comprise 0.22 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 98.59 per cent, the ministry said.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 4.15 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 3.59 per cent, the ministry said.
A total of 88.27 crore tests have been conducted so far with 2,29,546 tests conducted in the last 24 hours.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,37,23,944, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.19 per cent, it said.
So far, 210.02 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the country under the nationwide vaccination drive, it added.
India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.
India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4, three crore on June 23 last year and four crore on January 25 this year. (AGENCIES)

A day after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raided his residence and other locations in connection with alleged irregularities in the recently withdrawn Delhi Excise Policy, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, on Saturday, alleged that the raids against him were politically motivated and hence had nothing to do with the alleged violations in Delhi’ Excise Policy and also claimed that the 2024 Lok Sabha polls will see a direct contest between the BJP and AAP.

Addressing a press conference here, Sisodia claimed that the election will be held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Delhi Chief Minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal.

After the Punjab assembly election, Kejriwal has emerged as an alternative at national level and that is their (BJP’s) main concern, Sisodia said.

The Delhi Deputy Chief Minister said he might be arrested soon stating that the liquor issue or the excise policy was just an excuse to target him since he was a minister under the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. “Maybe within the next 3-4 days, CBI-ED will arrest me… we won’t be scared, you won’t be able to break us… Elections of 2024 will be AAP Vs BJP,” he anticipated.

“Their issue is not liquor/excise scam. Their problem is Arvind Kejriwal… whole proceedings against me, raids at my residence and office, are to stop Arvind Kejriwal… I haven’t done any corruption. I’m just Arvind Kejriwal’s Education Minister,” the Delhi Deputy Chief Minister added.

Pointing out that Delhi’s excise policy was the best policy, Sisodia said,” Excise policy due to which whole controversy is created is the country’s best policy. We were applying it with transparency and sincerity. Had Delhi LG not changed his decision conspiring to fail the policy, Delhi government would’ve been getting at least Rs 10,000 crore every year.”

“Around Rs 10 thousand crore were misappropriated through excise policy in Gujarat. If they have any concern about the excise irregularities or any loopholes, the whole CBI and ED office should have shifted to Gujarat,” the Delhi Deputy Chief Minister said.

“If they were really against corruption, then today, ED and CBI should have probed the Bundelkhand Expressway which developed deep potholes due to heavy rainfall, shortly after Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the expressway,” he claimed.

“While Kejriwal thinks how to develop the nation on all parameters, Prime Minister Modi thinks how to topple the non-BJP governments in the states and form their government,” Sisodia alleged.

“CBI FIR, quoting sources, mentions Rs one crore scam, what about the highest claim of Rs 8,000 crore made by BJP leaders, he asked.

The Delhi Deputy Chief Minister further said that “America’s biggest newspaper The New York Times covered Delhi’s education model on its front page on August 18. It is a pride moment for India. Another story showing thousands of bodies being cremated along the Ganges was published around one and half years ago. However, that was shameful for all of us”.

“This is the difference between PM Modi and Arvind Kejriwal is that if Kejriwal sees anyone working honestly, he encourages them to do more, but they conspire to obstruct the way. I would like to say that this does not suit PM Modi who has got such a massive victory,” Sisodia added.

Earlier on Friday, the Delhi Deputy Chief Minister said that he and his family had cooperated with the CBI, which he claimed was “being misused” by the Centre, on a day when the investigative agency carried out raids at multiple locations in connection with a case linked to the AAP government now withdrawn excise policy.

Speaking to the reporters after the CBI officials left after a 14-hour-long raid on Friday, Sisodia said, “CBI team came this morning. They searched my house and seized my computer and phone. My family cooperated with them and will continue to cooperate. We have not done any corruption or wrong. We are not afraid. We know that CBI is being misused.”

The CBI conducted raids at 31 locations including various big cities in connection with the recently withdrawn Delhi Excise Policy and registered a case against Sisodia among 15 persons.

Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) suspended the license of a pilot of Spicejet for six months after he ignored the suggestion of the co-pilot.

The decision took place in response to an incident that happened on May 1 in which a flight from Mumbai to Durgapur encountered severe turbulence during landing. The severe turbulence had caused injuries to nearly 14 passengers along with three crew members.

The co-pilot had suggested not to fly the Boeing 737 plane through the clouds ahead and skirt them which he PIC ignored. Further, he decided to pass through the green patch of the clouds believing that they could make it through them which resulted in severe turbulence, said a DGCA official.

As soon as the incident occured the Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia had shown concern and taken the matter seriously. He had tweeted, “The turbulence encountered by a flight while landing in Durgapur, and the damage caused to the passengers is unfortunate. The @DGCAIndia has deputed a team to investigate the incident. The matter is being dealt with utmost seriousness & deftness.”Taking immediate action following the incident, the DGCA ordered the airline to take the two pilots off the roster and subsequently issued a show cause notice, seeking an explanation about the incident in the flight carrying nearly 195

Rajasthan Legislative Assembly Speaker Dr. CP Joshi will attend the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) meeting in Canada and visit four nations to study the parliamentary functioning from August 22-26. Assembly Secretary Mahavir Prasad Sharma will also accompany him.

Dr Joshi, who is the president of CPA-Rajasthan, will also visit the US, Netherlands and Switzerland on a study visit on Parliamentary Practice after attending the CPA conference. Dr. Joshi will also participate in the meetings to be held there with various public representatives including MPs and mayors.

Four persons, who were running the biggest international fake passport and visa rackets, have been arrested by the IGI airport police.

The DCP of IGI airport, Tanu Sharma, said that 325 fake passports, 175 fake visas and other related things were recovered from them.

“The mastermind of the gang is Zakir Yusuf Shaikh. IGI unit got tip-off about the gang following which it was busted,” said the police official.

Earlier, a case of PP Act was registered at Police Station of IGI Airport in which passenger Ravi Rameshbhai Chaudhary, a resident of Gandhinagar, Gujarat was deported from Kuwait on the allegations of fake and fabricated passport.

During course of investigation, it was found that the fake and fabricated passport was arranged by agents namely Zakir Yusuf Shaikh and Mushtaq alias Jamil Picturewala, both residents of Mumbai, who were introduced to Ravi Rameshbhai Chaudhary through a local agent namely Narayanbhai Chaudhary of Gujarat.

During the course of investigation, both the agents Sheikh and Picturewala were arrested from Mumbai along with their counterparts Imtiaz ali Sheikh alias Raju Bhai and Sanjay Dattaram Chavan from Mumbai.

“325 Indian passports, 175 visas (Canada, Singapore, US and other countries), more than 1200 stamps (immigration stamps of different countries and airport, embassies, banks etc), 11 international driving permits, issued from Republic of India), 75 passport jackets, 17 Aadhaar cards, 12 colour printers, dyes for making forged Indian passports, two lamination machines, one paper cutter machine, two UV machines, photo polymer stamp making machine and other incriminating evidence were recovered,” the police said.

Efforts are being made to arrest absconding agent Narayan Bhai who is on the run.