After days of intense speculation and three days of tough grilling, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Tuesday arrested Bollywood actress Rhea Chakraborty in connection with its ongoing probe into drugs angle linked to Sushant Singh Rajput's death.
Rhea has been charged under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act for her alleged role in the drugs angle that has emerged during an investigation into the June 14 death of Sushant.
Ever since the death of Sushant became news in June, his death and the subsequent probe has dominated the news cycle in India with much of the focus on the alleged role of his girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty. All this while, India crossed 40 lakh coronavirus cases, the GDP growth of the first quarter of 2020-21 dropped to negative 23.9 and tension continues between Indian and Chinese troops along the border.
However, most of the air time on TV news has been given to Sushant-Rhea case, with most channels ignoring the triple whammy of COVID-GDP-China.
With the arrest of Rhea Chakraborty on Tuesday, Twitterati hoped that focus will now shift to one of three important issues affecting India at the moment.
Here are some of the tweets:
India COVID-19 update: Total cases touch 42.8 lakh, death toll crosses 72,000
India's COVID-19 caseload rose to 42,80,422 on Tuesday with 75,809 instances of the viral infection recorded in the last 24 hours, while a record 1,133 fatalities took the death toll to 72,775, the Union health ministry data showed.
India's single-day rise in cases dipped on Tuesday, after recording over 80,000 cases daily for five days in a row. India recorded a spike of over 90,000 cases on Sunday and Monday.
According to the data, there are 8,83,697 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 20.65 per cent of the total caseload.
India's tally of coronavirus infection crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, reached 30 lakh on August 23 and went past 40 lakh on September 5.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, the number of tests conducted for detection of COVID-19 in India has reached 5,06,50,128 with 10,98,621 samples being tested on Monday.
Economy update: GDP to contract by 10.5% in FY21, says Fitch Ratings
India's economy is expected to contract 10.5% in the current fiscal before bouncing back in the next financial year, Fitch Ratings said on Tuesday.
India's gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by a massive 23.9 per cent in April-June and some agencies have predicted negative growth even during the July-September quarter of the current fiscal (April 2020 to March 2021).
"GDP should rebound strongly in 3Q20 (October-December) amid a re-opening of the economy, but there are signs that the recovery has been sluggish and uneven," Fitch said in its Global Economic Outlook (GEO).
It slashed its GDP forecast for the current fiscal to 10.5 per cent, a huge revision of (-) 5 percentage points compared to the June GEO.
The economy, it said, will recover to 11 per cent in 2021-22 largely owing to base effect and grow by 6 per cent in the following year.
Fresh tension at LAC: Shots fired in Ladakh
The Indian Army said Chinese troops fired shots in the air and attempted to close in on an Indian position in eastern Ladakh on Monday as it rejected charges by China''s People''s Liberation Army (PLA) that it transgressed across the LAC.
The remarks by the Army came after the PLA late on Monday night alleged that the Indian troops crossed the LAC and "outrageously fired" warning shots near the Pangong lake.
The use of firearms along the LAC marks a serious escalation in border tensions as the previous instance of shots being fired at the de-facto border was in 1975.
