Your Daily Wrap: Adhir apologises to President over ‘rashtrapatni’ remark, NIA to probe Karnataka BJP murder case; and more

The trouble for Congress, however, doesn’t seem to end. While the BJP hit out at Gandhi and Chowdhury, the Delhi High Court today issued summons to Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Pawan Khera and Netta D’Souza over a defamation suit filed by Union Minister Smriti Irani. The court also asked the Congress leaders to take down tweets and other social media posts related to Irani’s daughter, accusing her of running an illegal bar in Goa. Reacting to the court order, Ramesh tweeted: “The Delhi High Court has issued notice asking us to formally reply to the case filed by Smriti Irani. We look forward to presenting the facts before the court. We will challenge and disprove the spin being put out by Ms. Irani.”

Moving to Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district, which has seen three murders in the last eight days. On Thursday night, a 23-year-old man was hacked to death by a group of four masked men at a clothing store in the Surathkal region of the district. The police identified the victim as Mohammed Fazil, a local businessman. The attack comes three days after BJP youth wing worker Praveen Nettaru was hacked to death. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai announced an NIA probe into the murder of Nettaru, adding that the murder was “part of an organised crime and have inter-state links”.

A day after he was stripped of all posts in the Trinamool Congress and relieved of ministerial duties, following his arrest in connection with a school recruitment scam, Partha Chatterjee today said he was a victim of a conspiracy hatched against him. The 69-year-old TMC leader is under the custody of the Enforcement Directorate.  Chatterjee’s close aide, Arpita Mukherjee, was also arrested by the ED after crores of rupees in cash were seized from her residences in parts of the city. During the Thursday raid, the ED recovered cash worth Rs 27.9 crore (Rs 2,000 notes packed into bundles of Rs 50 lakh each, and Rs 500 notes packed into bundles of Rs 20 lakh each), gold and jewellery worth Rs 4.31 crore (3 gold bricks of 1 kg each, 6 bangles of 500 gram each among other jewellery and one gold pen). The Bengal raid, however, is just one among many. A look at some raids that made news in the past.

Friday Reviews: This week we reviewed Jahnvi Kapoor’s Good Luck Jerry, Arjun Kapoor-John Abraham starrer Ek Villain Returns, Naseeruddin Shah’s A Holy Conspiracy, Season 2 of the Netflix show Masaba Masaba, and Nithya Menen-starrer 19(1)(a).

Political Pulse

In Uttar Pradesh political circles, rife recently with allegations around transfers and disgruntled ministers, it was a meeting that raised eyebrows for more than one. Governor Anandiben Patel on Wednesday evening held a four-hour meeting with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s Cabinet where ministers gave feedback about their work, and she gave advice to them from her time as the CM of Gujarat and now in Raj Bhavan. The surprise meeting followed recent episodes where Adityanath’s ministers directly approached the central leadership with their grievances. The meeting was called soon after both the Governor and CM had made trips to Delhi. Read Maulshree Seth’s report.

There have been indications in recent months about former Telangana Director General of Police (DGP) T Krishna Prasad shifting towards the BJP and now the 1986-batch IPS officer looks all set to join the party. Prasad has been praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and has also tweeted in support of President Droupadi Murmu. He recently lauded Telangana Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan when she put on her doctor hat and saved the life of U Kripananad Tripathi — who is currently posted as Additional DGP (Road Safety) — on board a flight from Delhi to Hyderabad. Sources say the former DGP had met senior policymakers, and expressed interest in working with them. Sreenivas Janyala reports.

Express Explained

Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), the rebranded version of PUBG Mobile from Korean game publisher Krafton, has been removed from both Apple and Google app stores in India following a government order, according to sources aware of the development. A Krafton spokesperson said: “We are clarifying how BGMI was removed from Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store and will let you know once we get specific information”. But why has BGMI been delisted on Apple, Google app stores, and why was PUBG banned in India earlier? Read here.

A MiG-21 Bison aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed in Barmer, Rajasthan, on Thursday night, killing the two pilots aboard the trainer version of the fighter aircraft. A look at India’s MiG-21 Bison fleet, the vintage of these aircraft, and the future of their service.