Delhi

New Delhi, Oct 11 (PTI) Strong dusty winds lashed some some parts of the city Thursday, bringing down mercury, a MeT department said.

Weather remained pleasant in the national capital on Thursday with the maximum temperature settling at 32.3 degrees Celsius, a notch below the season's average.

Strong dusty winds lashed some parts of the city which left to a drop of mercury, the official said.

The minimum temperature was recorded at 24.5 degrees Celsius, four notches above the normal, a Met Department official said.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi has accused the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to have influenced Rafale deal to save “debt ridden” Reliance group. He said that PM Modi has behaved like “chaukidar” of Anil Ambani.

“To save his (Ambani’s) business, he took Rs 30,000 crore from IAF and put it in Ambani’s pocket,” Rahul said

New Delhi, Oct 11 (PTI) The Amrapali group Thursday informed the Supreme Court that its nine properties in Noida, Greater Noida, Rajgir and Buxar in Bihar have been sealed in compliance with the court's order.

A bench of Justices U U Lalit and D Y Chandrachud asked the Amrapali group to file an undertaking with regard to sealing of its properties by 2 PM today.

The bench also sought presence of two forensic auditors Ravi Bhatia and Pawan Kumar Aggarwal at 2 PM to ascertain their satisfaction with regard to the documents to be audited.

New Delhi, Oct 10 (PTI) Congress president Rahul Gandhi Wednesday raised questions on Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's France visit, alleging that work has begun to justify the prime minister's decision to buy Rafale fighter aircraft.

He took to Twitter to say while the Supreme Court has asked for the details of the Rafale decision-making process, the decision to buy the fighter aircraft was taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Gandhi alleged that processes to justify Modi's decision are being invented.

New Delhi, Oct 10 (PTI) The government Wednesday cut excise duty on jet fuel or ATF to 11 per cent from current 14 per cent in a bid to give relief to the aviation industry that has been hit hard by high fuel prices.

A notification issued by the Revenue Department of the Finance Ministry said the duty change would "come into force with effect from the 11th day of October, 2018.

New Delhi, Oct 10 (PTI) Gearing up for the upcoming election cycle, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi Wednesday appointed media coordinators to steer the party's communication strategy, sources said.

Party spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi has been handed the charge of media coordinator for Madhya Pradesh, Congress sources said.

Congress media panelist Jaiveer Shergill will take care of Chhattisgarh and party spokesperson Pawan Khera would be the media coordinator in Rajasthan, they said.

New Delhi, Oct 9; PTI: The government is understood to be unhappy with CBI Director Alok Verma meeting former Union minister Arun Shourie and lawyer Prashant Bhushan who demanded a probe into the alleged corruption in the Rafale aircraft deal, with a senior government functionary saying it is "rare" for the agency chief to meet politicians.

Last week, Shourie and Bhushan had met the CBI Director, submitted documents and demanded a probe into alleged corruption in the Rafale aircraft deal and offset contract.

New Delhi, Oct 10 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi should apologise to people for "constantly troubling" the Delhi government, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Wednesday said following the Income Tax Department raids on premises linked to his minister Kailash Gahlot.

The Income Tax Department (ITD) conducted searches this morning on multiple premises linked to Gahlot, the Delhi Transport minister, in connection with an alleged tax evasion case, officials said.

New Delhi, Oct 9 (PTI) Terming the exodus of migrants from Gujarat "alarming", opposition leader Sharad Yadav Tuesday demanded that the state government quit over its "failure" in protecting citizens.

"It is an alarming exodus of workers from Bihar, UP and Madhya Pradesh. They are workers who have been serving the people of Gujarat for years," he said in a statement.

New Delhi, Oct 10 (PTI) The Supreme Court Wednesday asked the Centre to provide details of the decision making process in the Rafale fighter jet deal with France in a sealed cover but clarified that it does not want information on pricing and technical particulars.

The bench, comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph, also made it clear that it was not taking into account the allegations on corruption in the deal made in the petitions.