NEWS

Criminal proceedings against an accused cannot be quashed merely because some of the persons who might have committed the offences are not charge sheeted, the Supreme Court has said.

A bench of Justices M R Shah and B V Nagarathna said during the trial if it is found that other accused persons are not charge sheeted, the court may array them as accused in exercise of powers under Section 319 CrPC.

“Merely because some of the persons who might have committed the offences are not charge sheeted, cannot be a ground to quash the proceedings against the accused charge sheeted after having found prima facie case against him after investigation,” the bench said in a recent order.

Maharashtra, the worst COVID-19 affected state in India, reported 2,172 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday (December 28, 2021), up by 50 per cent from 1,426 infections recorded a day before. 

The state also recorded 22 new fatalities, which took its death toll to 1,41,476. 

Maharashtra's COVID-19 tally has now risen to 66,61,486, of which, 11,492 are active cases. 

Out of the 2,172 fresh infections, Mumbai recorded 1,377 cases, a steep rise of 70 per cent from a day ago. 

Petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged for over a month on Wednesday, December 29.According to the latest price notification by state-owned fuel retailers, petrol-diesel prices remained unchanged on Wednesday after the Union government implemented the highest-ever excise duty cut to bring down retail pump prices from all-time record highs. In order to give relief to consumers, who were battered by sky rocketing fuel prices, the government had cut the price of petrol by Rs 5 and that of diesel by Rs 10. Following the decision, several states, mostly ruled by National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and allies, have also cut the Value Added Tax (VAT) on both key auto fuels.

Kanpur businessman Piyush Jain, who had hidden about Rs 200 crores in his home, became the focus of political wrangling on Tuesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi targeted Samajwadi Party (SP) and its president Akhilesh Yadav after seizure of huge cash, gold and silver from Piyush Jain. Akhilesh Yadav snapped back at him saying Piyush Jain was a "BJP businessman".

At the inauguration of a metro rail project in Kanpur, PM Modi linked jailed perfume trader Piyush Jain to the Samajwadi Party and mocked Akhilesh Yadav's frequent complaints that the BJP takes credit for his work.

PM Modi said, "Boxes filled with notes have come out. I was thinking they [Samajwadi Party] will say that this was also done by us."