Rajat Sharma

With the Supreme Court ordering a CBI probe into the mysterious death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, the stage is now set for the nation’s premier investigation agency to begin its probe. 

Let us all hope the investigation by CBI will now take a correct course.  For the last two months, the slipshod manner in which the case was being handled by Mumbai Police raised several questions.  

Social media outlets like Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter have nowadays become easy tools for some people to carry out conspiracies. Some become detectives, some have become self-appointed guardians of Hindus, some project themselves as protectors of Muslims.

In his seventh consecutive Independence Day address from Red Fort, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday sent clear messages to both China and Pakistan saying that “our armed forces have replied in the same language to those who dared to challenge our sovereignty either on LoC (Line of Control) or LAC (Line of Actual Control)”.

The situation in East Bengaluru continues to remain tense and on Thursday, paramilitary forces had to stage flag march in the riot-hit areas. Curfew and prohibitory orders will continue for the next two days.

Denigrating Prophet Mohammed is highly objectionable and must not be condoned. It is a crime to hurt the religious feelings of a community by insulting the Prophet who has given the message of peace and brotherhood to the world. But, setting fire to homes, vehicles, and police stations cannot be the work of true followers of the Prophet. 

In India, three vaccines are in the clinical trial stage. Bharat Biotech and Cadila Healthcare are conducting Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials on locally developed vaccine candidates, while Pune-based Serum Institute is doing Phase 3 trialsfor Oxford University’s vaccine candidate developed in UK.

Fortunately, the plane did not catch fire because of torrential rain, and the lives of most of the passengers were saved. The pilots tried twice to make a safe landing on the runway in heavy rain, but at the third attempt, it overshot the runway resulting in the mishap.

Let me reveal. Few people know that Modi, in private life, is a religious person, both with his mind and his work. When he was a teenager, he left his home in Gujarat for the Himalayas in search of ‘nirvana’, stayed with sadhus at Belur Math, he did not run away from worldly life, nor did he turn away from the problems of day-to-day life. 

This is a big victory for Indian brotherhood and its centuries-old tradition of people of all communities and religions living in harmony. It is a victory for Indian culture that has seeped into our national sub-consciousness over many centuries despite foreign invasions. This, in essence, is the message of today’s historic event. 

On Monday, in my prime time show ‘Aaj Ki Baat’, I asked Bihar director-general of Police Gupteshwar Pandey, why Bihar police were not transferring the probe to Mumbai police. He replied that the partial cause of action lies in Bihar, because the entire properties of Sushant, who was unmarried, belongs to his father KK Singh, who is unwilling to trust the Mumbai Police. 

On Friday, his ex-girlfriend Ankita Lokhande, who had a six-year-long relationship with him, told India TV that despite the break-up, Sushant used to send her WhatsApp messages about Rhea’s family, which she has passed on to Bihar police.

From an overall viewpoint, the entire controversy now seems to be limited to Sushant’s and Rhea’s families. Allegations of nepotism and favouritism by Bollywood biggies and about Sushant being thrown out from movies were making the rounds, but these seem to hold no water after Sushant’s father filed his FIR in Patna.

I personally feel that the time has come for Congress to close the Rafale chapter and raise the morale of our air force. The party should welcome the induction of Rafale jets in the IAF. Congress should also learn lessons from past mistakes. 

Sushant’s father alleged that when his son decided to start organic farming in Coorg, Karnataka, Rhea blackmailed him, threatening to make his medical reports public if he went to Coorg. She threatened Sushant that she would tell the world that he was a lunatic.

With the arrival of the first five Rafale jet fighters at Ambala airbase in India, the Indian Air Force has got what it described as a ‘game changer’, after a long delay of twenty years. This has come at a time when India has launched a multi-pronged strategy to counter Chinese aggression on the Ladakh border. 

The need of the hour is to maintain communal peace. However, there are nefarious elements who are trying to disturb the peace by carrying out cow slaughter during Bakrid on the sly. Their efforts must be nipped in the bud.

On Thursday, India TV telecast a video from Rohtas district, which showed healthcare workers wearing PPE kits taking a dead COVID patient to a crematorium in Bikramganj block. The body was duly wrapped in sheet. After laying the body on the pyre, they set it on fire, but even before the body was fully burnt, the workers walked out. 

For the first time, the Indian Prime Minister was inviting US companies to invest in India’s agriculture sector, which has been traditionally kept away from foreign investment since independence. He pointed out how over half a billion Indians are now digitally connected to the internet, with rural users outpacing urban users for the first time. 

  The number of COVID cases has reached 28,504 in Bihar alone. On Tuesday, 1109 new cases were reported and so far 198 people have died. Patna is the worst affected where the number of COVID patients is nearly 4,000.