Daily News Dose: Vismaya's husband found guilty, Dileep's friend Sharath named accused in actress assault case and more

Hello, this is your daily dose of news from Onmanorama. I'm your host, Deepa, and these are the major news stories of the day:

1. Vismaya case: Husband Kiran Kumar found guilty

2. Actor Dileep's friend Sharath named accused in actress assault case, bribe glare on ex cop

3. RBI Governor hints at rate hike in June

4. 40 injured as tourist buses collide on Kozhikode bypass

5. Three more arrested in connection with the murder of Agali-based expat Abdul Jaleel

6. Active COVID-19 cases in India dip to 14,832

Let's get into the details:

Former Assistant Motor Vehicle Inspector Kiran Kumar, who was dismissed from Kerala Government Service last year, has been found guilty in dowry harassment charges that drove his 22-year-old wife Vismaya to kill herself. The Additional Sessions Court at Kollam pronounced its verdict soon after convening on Monday morning. The quantum of punishment will be announced on Tuesday. The court cancelled Kiran's bail following the verdict. Vismaya was found hanging in the bathroom of Kiran Kumar's house at Sasthamkotta in Kollam district on June 21, last year. Kumar was arrested on June 22. He was granted bail by the Supreme Court in March 2022. He was booked under Indian Penal Code Sections 498 A for subjecting a woman to cruelty for dowry, and 304 B for dowry death.

A former top Kerala cop allegedly took Rs 50 crore as bribe to save popular film actor Dileep in the 2017 actress assault case and a clique linked to him is reportedly trying to intervene in the probe. Meanwhile, an additional chargesheet has been filed at the Angamaly court in the five-year-old case. Aactor Dileep's friend Sharath G Nair has been made an accused with the Crime Branch stating in the probe report that the latter is in possession of the visuals of the chilling crime. The case has acquired a new dimension with bribe allegations. The bribe was reportedly paid to the then senior police officer to avoid the arrest of Dileep. But that bid failed and the actor was named the accused number 8 in the sensational case.

RBI Governor Shakti kanta Das said that the central bank is mulling further rate hikes. He said the repo rate will be increased, but declined to say, by what percentage. Repo rate is the rate at which the Reserve Bank of India  lends money to commercial banks. The RBI will not allow the rupee to depreciate and prevent volatility in the currency market, said the governor. In an interview to a TV channel, Das also said the RBI will release the new forecast for inflation, next month. Early this month, the Monetary Policy Committee hiked the benchmark rates by 40 bps to 4.4 per cent owing to the inflation at six per cent upper range, for four months. Das said it was done to avoid a steep hike in June. He said the measures taken by RBI will have a sobering effect on retail prices.

A leisure trip by scores of people was spoiled as two tourist buses collided in the wee hours of Monday at Chevarambalam in Kozhikode. The accident occurred on the bypass of the national highway at about 3.40 am. A bus carrying Solidarity Youth Movement activists, returning to Kuttikatoor from Kochi after attending an organisational meeting, crashed with a bus with

Perumbavoor-based pilgrims to Tirunelli. The injured have been admitted to the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital. Both the buses were proceeding at a high speed, stated Kozhikode SP P K Sudarshan.

Three more people were arrested in connection with the abduction and murder of 42-year-old Abdul Jaleel, an Agali-based expat from Saudi Arabia. Police identified the arrested men as 34-year-old Nabeel of Karuvarakundu, 40-year-old Palapra Marakkar of Pandikkad, and 23-year-old Pilakkal Ajmal alias Roshan of Angadippuram. The trio had harboured the key suspect, Yahiya, and also helped him in fleeing. Five others were arrested on Saturday, taking the total number of arrested accused to eight.

India added 2,022 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 4 crore 31 lakh 38 thousand 393. The active cases have dipped to 14,832, according to the Union Health Ministry data today. The death toll climbed to 5,24,459 with 46 fresh fatalities, stated the data. The active cases comprise 0.03% of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.75 per cent, the Ministry said. A decrease of 123 cases has been recorded in the active. COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.69% and the weekly positivity rate at 0.49%, according to the Ministry.

That brings us to the end of this episode. Be sure to come back tomorrow. As always, thanks for listening to Daily News Dose.