Hindustan Times News | 8th March 2022 | 6 PM

HT Daily News Wrap

IC-814 victim Rupin Katyal gets justice, hijacker Ibrahim killed in Karachi, Ukraine wants one-on-one talks between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Russia's relentless attacks enter a 13th consecutive day, HC rejects Malayalam star Dileep's plea against fresh probe in actor sexual assault case & other top news in this bulletin.
As Russian forces inched closer to the capital city of Kyiv, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday (local time) gave details of the location from where he has been working since the military onslaught began about two weeks ago. In an eight-minute video, Zelenskyy said he is staying in Kyiv and working with his team to defend his country. “On Bankova Street. I am not hiding. And I am not afraid of anyone. As much as it takes to win this Patriotic War of ours,” he wrote in the caption along with the video. “We are all on the ground. We are all working. Everyone is where they should be. I am in Kyiv. My team is with me. The territorial defence is on the ground. The servicemen are in positions. Doctors, rescuers, transporters, diplomats, journalists.. everyone. We are all at war. We all contribute to our victory, which will definitely be achieved,” the Ukrainian President said in the video. More than two decades after the infamous hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC-814, family of victim Rupin Katyal finally got justice after hijacker Mistry Zahoor Ibrahim aka Jamali was gunned down in Karachi in Pakistan by unidentified gunmen on March 1. With the killing of Ibrahim, only two out of five Jaish-e-Mohammed hijackers are alive in Pakistan including Ibrahim Azhar, elder brother of Masood Azhar and Rauf Asghar, the two king-pins of the globally designated terrorist group. Twenty-five-year old Rupin Katyal was brutally murdered by Zahoor Mistry on December 25, 1999 using a sharp instrument and his body was retrieved from the hijacked plane in UAE. He along with his wife were returning to Delhi after their honeymoon in Kathmandu on that fateful day. According to counter-terrorism experts, only Ibrahim Azhar and Shahid Akhtar Sayed are alive in Pakistan with the latter moving away from Karachi to relative protection of lawless Khyber Paktunkhwa area of Pakistan. It is understood that while one of the hijackers died due to natural causes, another was killed by Indian security forces during the December 13, 2001, attack on Parliament by the same Sunni jihadist group with Deobandi ideology. Ukraine wants one-on-one talks between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the war-torn country’s foreign minister said Tuesday, as Russia’s relentless attacks enter a 13th consecutive day after Russian forces bombed major cities, including capital Kyiv, overnight. In a televised broadcast, Dmytro Kuleba threw down the gauntlet to Putin, declaring Zelenskyy – who has emerged as an inspiring war-time leader for his country – ‘is not scared of anything’. “We have long wanted a direct conversation between the president of Ukraine and Vladimir Putin, because we all understand that it is he who makes the final decisions, especially now… Our president is not scared of anything, including a direct meeting with Putin. If Putin is also not scared, let him come to the meeting, let them sit and talk.” Zelenskyy has been more direct in his condemnation, calling Putin a ‘beast’ who would not be satisfied with subjugating Ukraine. Searches were currently underway by the investigation wing of the Income Tax department on more than 20 premises across Maharashtra. Of these, 12 of the sites were in Mumbai. The raided premises belonged to businessmen and individuals believed to be closely associated with Shiv Sena ministers Aaditya Thackeray and Anil Parab. Aaditya is also the son of chief minister and Sena president Uddhav Thackeray. Agency sources said the action was meant to look into suspected tax evasion. When asked about the raids, Aaditya, who heads the environment and tourism departments, said central agencies were being used as a publicity machinery of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and misused in other parts of the country too.  The Sena and BJP severed their decades-old ties in 2019 over power-sharing issues, following which the former allied with the NCP and Congress to come to power in Maharashtra. The Kerala high court on Tuesday turned down Malayalam star Dileep’s plea to quash fresh investigation against him in the 2017 sexual assault case of an actor. Ruling that the second case can go ahead, the court asked officials to complete the probe by April 15. The order was passed by Justice Kauser Edappagath. A fresh case was registered against the actor following a disclosure from director Balachandra Kumar. The court had reserved its verdict on the plea on February 24. Dileep, represented by senior advocate B Raman Pillai and advocates Philip T Varghese and Thomas T Varghese, had contended that further investigation was a “sham” and an attempt to further delay the trial of the case. Days ago, the actor came out in the open to reveal her identity, seven years after she was allegedly abducted and sexually assaulted by Dileep. She said she now identified herself as a survivor and not a victim.

That’s all from us for now. We will be back with the morning news bulletin.