Here are the top 5 news updates of September 9, 2021:
A special court today allowed the discharge applications of Maharashtra minister and senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal and seven others in the Maharashtra Sadan scam case. Besides Bhujbal, the special court hearing cases related to Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), discharged his son Pankaj, nephew Sameer and five others in the case. They had sought discharge, claiming that there was no evidence to prosecute them in the case. The Bhujbhals were represented by counsel Prasad Dhakephalkar along with advocate Sajal Yadava and Sudarshan Khawase. They submitted that all the allegations against them were false and based on wrong calculations assumptions and presumptions. Despite the voluminous charge sheet running into thousands pages filed in 2016 there is no sufficient evidence to proceed the trial, they argued.
Afghanistan's acting Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund has appealed to former officials of past governments to return to the country and assured them "full protection", saying the period of bloodbath is over and they face a humongous task to rebuild the war-ravaged nation. "We paid a heavy price for seeing this historic moment in Afghanistan," Mullah Hasan said, a day after the hardline Islamic insurgents unveiled an interim Cabinet after seizing power in Kabul. "We appeal to the officials of past governments to return to their country as we will give them full protection of their lives. We are faced with the huge task of rebuilding and reconstruction of war-ravaged Afghanistan," he said.
The Election Commission (EC) today announced dates for bypolls to seven Rajya Sabha seats that have fallen vacant due to various reasons like resignations, death and end of tenure of members. According to a notification issued by the EC, there are two such seats in Tamil Nadu and one each in West Bengal, Assam, Maharashtra, Puducherry and Madhya Pradesh. The polls to all these seven seats will take place on October 4, the EC said. The EC said in its order that all "broad guidelines of COVID-19" have to be followed during the election process, that is from the time of issue of notification to the counting of votes.
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari promised the Indian Air Force (IAF) today that the emergency landing strips for the armed force's planes will be developed within 15 days instead of 1.5 years. Gadkari and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today inaugurated a 3-km-long emergency landing strip in Barmer, Rajasthan on National Highway 925 for the IAF aircraft. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) took about 19 months to construct the emergency landing strip on Satta-Gandhav stretch on NH-925 in Barmer. NH-925 is India's first national highway to be used for emergency landing by the IAF planes.
Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty ended marginally higher today led by gains in Bharti Airtel, Nestle India and TCS despite negative cues from global markets. After trading in a range through the day, the 30-share Sensex ended 54.81 points or 0.09 per cent higher at 58,305.07 -- its all-time closing high. The NSE Nifty rose 15.75 points or 0.09 per cent to settle at 17,369.25. Bharti Airtel was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, jumping around 3 per cent, followed by Nestle India, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, HCL Tech and ITC. On the other hand, Titan, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Auto, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank were among the laggards.
