Hello listener, this is your daily dose of news from Onmanorama. Tune in to get updated about the major news stories of the day.
Hello listeners, this is your daily dose of news from Onmanorama. I'm your host, Ajish Jimmy George.
1) The growing hostility between the Left-affiliated KSEB unions and the KSEB Chairman and Managing Director, B Ashok, ever since Janata Dal's K Krishnankutty took over as power minister from CPM's M M Mani has finally resulted in a politically damning outburst by the CMD.
In a long and scathing Facebook post on February 14, the KSEB CMD spoke of the stranglehold of the unions and gave examples of decisions, loaded with heavy financial implications, taken without the approval of the full board, mostly during the first Pinarayi ministry.
Former power minister M M Mani was quick to take offense and wanted to know whether the CMD had made such remarks with the knowledge of the incumbent minister. Krishnankutty said the CMD's post did not have his sanction, and Ashok, too, in an attempt to mollify Mani, said he had no intention of accusing the former minister.
Nonetheless, the CMD's post was a searing critique of the functioning of the Left unions. What Ashok left unsaid, but had made amply clear, was the political patronage these union leaders enjoyed.
2) The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday summoned Swapna Suresh, a key accused in the diplomatic gold smuggling case, for seeking more clarity on her latest revelations. Swapna however, left the ED office without giving the statement citing health issues.
The ED officials has granted the accused more time when she cited health issues. Swapna reached the ED office after meeting her lawyer.
Swapna had recently come out with public statements blaming IAS officer M Sivasankar for his role in the hawala transactions related to the smuggling of gold through diplomatic channels.
3) The survivor in the 2017 actor assault case on Tuesday urged the Kerala High Court to hear her also in connection with actor Dileep's plea opposing the further probe being carried out by the police in the matter.
In view of the impleadment plea on behalf of the survivor, the high court adjourned the matter to February 21.
4) A special CBI court on Tuesday convicted Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad in the Rs 139.5 crore Doranda treasury embezzlement case.
The quantum of punishment will be pronounced on February 18.
The court had on January 29 completed hearing arguments in case and reserved its verdict. Prasad had earlier been sentenced to 14 years in jail in four other fodder scam cases.
5) A travelling ticket examiner was injured when a group of guest workers allegedly attacked him in Kerala on board the Ernakulam-Howrah Antyodaya Express on Monday evening for penalizing ticket-less travel.
The 33-year old TTE, Ansal, hailing from Perumbavoor, was admitted to the Ernakulam General Hospital.
Apart from suffering injuries, the TTE lost his mobile as the labourers threw it out of the running train.
Railway Protection Force officers later arrested two persons named Aniqul Sheikh and Shoukath Ali in connection with the incident.
6) New COVID-19 cases in India were recorded below 30,000 after 44 days, taking the virus tally to 4,26,92,943, while the active cases dipped to 4,23,127, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated at 8am on Tuesday.
The death toll climbed to 5,09,358 with 347 fresh fatalities.
The daily positivity rate was recorded as 2.23 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was 3.63 per cent.
That brings us to the end of this episode! Be sure to come back tomorrow. As always, thanks for listening to Daily News Dose.