Delhi police today collected documents and questioned BJP MP Brij Bhushan’s associates in Uttar Pradesh’s Gonda district in connection with the wrestlers’ case, said the police. No one was detained.

In other news, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal is scheduled to meet Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow tomorrow to seek support on the matter of the Centre’s ordinance.

The Delhi High Court rejected former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia’s interim bail plea for six weeks in connection with the alleged Delhi excise policy case. The court has permitted Sisodia to meet his wife for one day while in “custody”, at her convenience, either at the residence or at the hospital between 10am to 5pm. Sisodia sought release on a temporary basis on the ground of being the sole caretaker of his ailing wife. During a High Court-permitted visit on Saturday, Sisodia could not meet his ailing wife as she was hospitalised right before his arrival.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday said it has seized Rs 2.74 crore worth of assets of a Kolkata-based business family which allegedly held a Swiss bank account and whose name figured in the Panama Papers leak.

“The properties, seized under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), include fixed deposits, bank balance and land at Kolkata belonging to Shyama Prasad Murarka (deceased) and Sanjay Murarka,” an ED spokesperson said.

“Panama Leaks stated that Shyama Prasad Murarka and Sanjay Murarka were “directors and shareholders in a company called Billipack Limited that was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands,” the spokesperson said. (Read more)

The new convention centre at the redeveloped Pragati Maidan that is scheduled to host the G20 leaders’ summit in September will not have a helipad on the roof as proposed– instead, solar panels will be installed in the future.

The elliptical building was supposed to have a helipad on the roof as per the original design. In a promotional video released by the government in 2017, the planned helipad on the roof was described as a “fast and secure route for heads of states”.

However, on May 24, the Delhi Urban Arts Commission while considering the application for completion certificate of the convention centre noted that the original design had changed since it approved the layout of the Pragati Maidan project on June 14, 2017.

Delhi police said today that one of their teams had gone to Uttar Pradesh’s Gonda district in connection with the wrestlers’ case.

The team collected a few documents and questioned employees/associates of BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused of sexual misconduct. Nobody was detained and the team has returned.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal to meet Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow tomorrow to seek support on the matter of the Centre’s ordinance.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, on the occasion of World Environment Day, called upon citizens to transform the fight against pollution into a “Jan Andolan”, underlining that the national capital had witnessed a marked improvement in its overall condition in terms of the environment.

The PM 2.5 and 10 levels had dipped, there were more days which had recorded better air quality year after year and more efforts were being put in place to make the city’s pollution control measure more effective, Kejriwal said at the Delhi government’s ‘Paryavaran Sammelan’ organised at Thyagaraj Stadium Monday.

“When we speak about development in any urban area, it is assumed that the steps taken for development will certainly increase pollution in the area… In the last eight years, the pace at which developmental activities have taken place in Delhi has only increased, however, this has not caused the pollution levels to rise,” the CM said.

While Jawaharlal Nehru University stood second among universities in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) Rankings 2023, Jamia Millia Islamia stood third — both retaining their places for the second consecutive year.

JNU came 10th in the overall category of institutions.

Minister of State for Education and External Affairs Rajkumar Ranjan Singh Monday released the rankings in 13 categories which include an overall rank, ranks amongst universities, colleges, research institutes and subject-wise.

The ranking framework evaluates institutions on five broad generic parameters – Teaching Learning and Resources (TLR ); Research and Professional Practice (RP); Graduation Outcome (GO); Outreach and Inclusivity (OI); and Perception (PR).

Read what the Vice-Chancellors of JNU and Jamia have to say.

Delhi BJP leader Vijay Goel, accused of assaulting a woman over discussion on stray dogs, released a video on Twitter vehemently denying the allegations, and portraying the “real side.” 

“A fake video is being spread against me on social media. You also see, I neither killed the woman nor snatched anyone’s phone,” Goel tweeted.

Earlier, in a video of his interaction at a park in North Delhi’s Model Town on Sunday, Goel was seen sitting across from a group of people who are speaking to him about his views on feeding stray dogs. As soon as he noticed that the interaction is being filmed, he got up from his chair and lunged towards the woman making the video, asking her why she was recording him.

Denying the allegations, he said that the video had been presented in a way to make him look like the aggressor.

The Delhi High Court Monday granted bail to a Nepalese national arrested in an espionage case for allegedly leaking sensitive information to Chinese intelligence officers.

Justice Vikas Mahajan said no useful purpose would be served in keeping petitioner Sher Singh, who was neither named in the FIR nor was any confidential document recovered from him, behind bars after completion of investigation, and granted him bail subject to conditions.

“The investigation is complete and no further recovery has to be made from the petitioner. It is also not the case of the prosecution that the petitioner is a habitual offender or he is involved in any other case,” said the court.

After a video of former BJP MP Vijay Goel seemingly trying to snatch the mobile phone of a person recording a video of their interaction over the issue of stray dogs emerged, he has been accused of assaulting the woman.

In a video of his interaction at a park in North Delhi’s Model Town on Sunday, Goel can be seen sitting across from a group of people who are speaking to him about his views on feeding stray dogs. As soon as he notices the interaction is being filmed, he gets up from his chair and lunges towards the woman making the video, asking her why she was recording him.

Goel, however, vehemently denied the allegations of assault and said that the video had been presented in a way to make him look like the aggressor.

The Delhi High Court rejected former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia’s interim bail plea for six weeks in connection with the alleged Delhi excise policy case.

The court has permitted Sisodia to meet his wife for one day, at her convenience, either at the residence or at the hospital between 10am to 5pm.

Delhi University’s Miranda House continued to retain the first rank for the seventh year in a row in the college-wise NIRF rankings 2022 released Monday, followed by Hindu College which secured rank 2.

During his address at ‘Paryavaran Sammelan’, Chief Minister Arving Kejriwal said Delhi is only city where pollution levels have got better without slowing down the speed of development and developmental activities. “Compared to 2016, in 2022, there has been a reduction of 30% in PM 10 and PM 2.5 levels in the city over the last 7 years,” he said.

“In 2016 there were 26 days when Delhi had become a gas chamber; in 2022 there were just 6 such days…I’m sure this will be reduced to zero soon. In the year 2016, there were 109 days which were ‘very good’ in terms of AQI); in 2022, we had 163 very good days; we have to make this the case year-round,” Kejriwal said.

Speaking about the measures to protect the environment, he added, “We will plant 52 lakh trees this year, among other measures; hotspots for air pollution have been identified across the city as well which we are in the process of addressing in a focussed manner. As many as 380 lakes are in the process of being created in Delhi of which 26 have come up so far. The government will not be able to tackle the problem alone; we all have to come together to address issues confronting Delhi’s environment.”

An analysis done by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) revealed that parts of New Delhi and South Delhi were worst affected this summer by ground-level ozone pollution. Data analysed from 58 stations across Delhi-NCR found that Nehru Nagar in South Delhi was the most “chronically affected,” having exceeded the National Ambient Air Quality Standard of 100 µg/m3 for eight hours, on 75 days from March to May this summer. This was followed by the station at Sri Aurobindo Marg, which exceeded the standard on 65 days, and the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range and Mandir Marg which exceeded the standard on 60 days each. Read the full story here

As the train pulls into the Karol Bagh Metro station, a young man inside one of the coaches jokes to his friend, “Come on, brother. Let’s become IAS officers.”

The quip aptly sums up what the locality has come to represent over the last few decades. Starting from the name of the Metro station — Drishti IAS-Karol Bagh station, named after a popular coaching institute sponsoring it — to numerous hoardings promising “best UPSC preparation” and hordes of aspirants milling about, the area has become synonymous with the country’s fixation with the ultimate government job: The Indian Administrative Service. One Metro station away is Rajinder Nagar, another hub of UPSC coaching institutes. Rishika Singh reports

A murder plan christened “Mission Maalamal”, a WhatsApp group with the same name — the two men arrested for allegedly killing a retired All India Radio employee and her daughter at their home had been planning the crime for over two weeks.

Police said the accused, Ankit Singh (25) and Kishan (28), are cousins hailing from Bihar’s Siwan district. While Kishan was working as a tutor, Singh was composing music for an OTT film and worked with bands. Read more

Former Delhi Jal Board CEO Udit Prakash Rai, for whose official residence a 15th-Century monument was allegedly demolished, has filed a complaint against Special Secretary, Vigilance, YVVJ Rajasekhar, alleging “harassment” and “mental torture”. This comes days after the vigilance department asked Rai to furnish a reply to the show cause notice issued to him “without fail”.

The Indian Express had reported in April that the 2007-batch IAS officer and DJB officials were sent a show cause notice by the vigilance department for allegedly demolishing a monument dating back to 1418 and building a government accommodation in its place. Read more

The Delhi High Court will pronounce its order on jailed AAP leader Manish Sisodia’s plea seeking interim bail for six weeks in connection with the alleged Delhi excise policy scam today. Sisodia sought release on a temporary basis on the ground of being the sole caretaker of his ailing wife.

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