Here are the top 5 news updates of February 18, 2021:
Climate activist Disha Ravi, arrested for alleged involvement in sharing a toolkit backing the farmers' protest, today moved the Delhi High Court seeking to restrain police from leaking to the media any probe material in relation to the FIR lodged against her. Advocate Abhinav Sekhri, one of the lawyers representing Ravi, said he is waiting for the matter to be listed for hearing in the high court and then only he can comment about it. The petition also seeks to restrain the media from publishing the content or extract of any alleged private chats, including those on WhatsApp, between her and third parties.
Two girls of the same family were found dead in their agriculture field in Unnao district on Wednesday evening, while one other is in critical condition, said Uttar Pradesh police. "The family members of the three girls took them to the common health clinic in the district in an unconscious state. Two of the girls were declared brought dead by the doctors, and one was referred to a higher center for treatment. Prima facie they show symptoms of poisoning," said Anand Kulkarni, Superintendent of Police, Unnao. The SP said there were no injury marks on bodies of the girls, and police is waiting for the post-mortem reports to determine their cause of death.
Slamming Bollywood celebrities, including actors Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar for keeping mum over the current fuel price hike, Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole today said that they will not allow shooting of Akshay and Big B's films in the state. Stars such as Bachchan and Kumar had tweeted when the price of petrol rose to Rs 70 per litre, Patole said. "But now the price is nearly Rs 100 per litre. Why are they quiet?" he added.
In a surprise move, the Kerala state unit of the BJP appears to have managed a prized catch with its state president K.Surendran today announcing that 'Metroman' E. Sreedharan will be joining the party. "Metroman has informed that he will be joining the BJP by taking the party membership when the state-wide yatra reaches Malappuram district," said Surendran. "It's our desire that Metroman contests the upcoming assembly polls and we have proposed it to him," added Surendran.
Equity benchmark Sensex tumbled 379 points today, tracking losses in index heavyweights HDFC twins, ICICI Bank and Reliance Industries amid a weak trend in global markets. The 30-share BSE index ended 379.14 points or 0.73 per cent lower at 51,324.69. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty dropped 89.95 points or 0.59 per cent to 15,118.95. Bajaj Finance was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, skidding over 2 per cent, followed by Kotak Bank, Nestle India, HDFC, M&M and ICICI Bank.
(With inputs from agencies)
