Delhi

New Delhi, Oct 23; PTI: Referring to an internal feud in the CBI between its director and deputy director, CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury Tuesday alleged the BJP was damaging and destroying the country's institutions.

In a series of tweets, Yechury said the party's "nefarious" design needed to be defeated.

There was no comment from the BJP on the issue.

Nagpur, Oct 22 (PTI) Senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh Monday said here that the fuel pump strike in Delhi was "BJP sponsored" as the prices of petrol in Delhi are less compared to other cities.

He was replying to a query on the strike in Delhi and the AAP government's refusal to cut VAT on petrol and diesel there.

"The price of petrol in Mumbai is around Rs 87 and in Chennai it is Rs 84. Whereas, the price of petrol in Delhi is around Rs 81. This is a BJP sponsored strike," he asked.

New Delhi, Oct 23 (PTI) A five-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her school van driver in Shahbad Dairy area of Rohini, police said Tuesday.

The girl told her mother on Monday that she does not wish to go to school as the van driver does "bad things" to her, they added.

The girl's mother approached police following which a case was registered.

The 39-year-old driver was arrested on Monday.

New Delhi, Oct 23 (PTI) The CBI may soon question its Special Director Rakesh Asthana in connection with alleged bribery to give relief to a businessman who was being probed in a case involving Moin Qureshi, sources said Tuesday.

They said the directions of the Delhi High Court on the plea of Asthana to maintain status quo in the matter do not bar the agency from carrying on its investigation and questioning of the accused.

Questioning of an accused does not come in the definition of coercive action which Asthana had sought to be stopped, they said.

New Delhi, Oct 22 (PTI) Petrol pumps across the national capital were shut on Monday in protest against the Delhi government's refusal to cut sales tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel.

But for a dozen company-owned-company-operated petrol pumps in the city, all pumps refused fuel, sending motorists running low on fuel and scrambling for alternate refuels.

"All 400 petrol pumps and linked CNG pumps shut operations from 6.00 am Monday and will remain closed till 5 am tomorrow (Tuesday)," said Delhi Petrol Dealers Association (DPDA) President Nishcal Singhania.

New Delhi, Oct 22 (PTI) The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has started forming new frontal organisations ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election, party's Delhi unit convener Gopal Rai said.

In the first phase of the exercise, youth wing and senior citizen wing of the party have been formed in Delhi, he said.

Party councilor in South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) Ramesh Matiala will be head of the youth wing and Suresh Gupta will be president of the senior citizens' unit, Rai said.

New Delhi, Oct 22 (PTI) Delhi's air quality improved to 'poor' on Monday, even as authorities said it might deteriorate in the coming days with possibilities of 'severe' pollution.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) recorded the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi at 272 in the evening.

An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor', and 401 and 500 'severe'.

New Delhi, Oct 22 (PTI) As many as 542 people have died of swine flu so far this year, with Maharashtra alone accounting for almost 50 per cent of fatalities.

Maharashtra recorded 217 deaths out of 1,793 cases reported till October 14, said a government official.

It was followed by Rajasthan where 191 people succumbed to H1N1 complications out of 1,912 cases during the same period.

In Gujarat, 45 persons died out of 1,478 reported cases, the official said.

New Delhi, Oct 21; PTI:  In the long list of renamed Indian cities, Shimla could be the latest entrant as the ruling BJP government is considering a proposal to change its name to Shyamala.

A campaign has been launched by some right-wing Hindu groups demanding that the capital of Himachal Pradesh be renamed.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and state health minister Vipin Singh Parmar said many cities in different parts of the country used to have historic names but they were changed.

So, there would not be any harm in reverting to those names.

New Delhi, Octber 21; GANASHAKTI: In an interesting development, India’s premier investigating agency The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has named its Special Director Rakesh Asthana as an accused for allegedly demanding and taking bribe from a businessman who was being investigated in the Moin Qureshi corruption case by a special investigation team led by Rakesh Asthana.