Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], March 8 (ANI): Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) has formed an alliance with TTV Dhinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnettra Kazhagam (AMMK) on Monday for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.
AIMIM will contest three Assembly constituencies including Vaniyambadi, Krishnagiri and Sankarapuram.

Elections to the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly will be held on April 6 and the counting of votes will take place on May 2. (ANI)

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], March 8 (ANI): In a significant development ahead of West Bengal Assembly polls, five sitting Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLAs and a party candidate who was allotted a seat from Habibpur for upcoming polls joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday.
TMC MLAs Sonali Guha, Dipendu Biswas, Rabindranath Bhattacharya, Sital Kumar Sardar and Jatu Lahiri joined the BJP here in the presence of West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh, party vice president Mukul Roy and party leader Suvendu Adhikari.
Sarala Murmu, TMC leader who was allotted a party ticket to contest from Habibpur, has joined the BJP despite making the fact that her name was mentioned in the candidate list in West Bengal this election season.
There has been an exodus of leaders from TMC to BJP in the last few months in the poll-bound West Bengal.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday released the list of 291 candidates for the forthcoming Assembly polls.
Following this, BJP on Saturday released its first list of 57 candidates for the polls and fielded Adhikari from Nandigram against TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, setting the stage for a high-profile contest from the seat in the state Assembly elections.
West Bengal Assembly elections will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2. (ANI)

New Delhi [India], March 8 (ANI): India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has rated Yamuna International Airport Private Limited’s (YIAPL) proposed term loan as Provisional IND A- and stable.
The rating reflects the moderate construction risk, significant traffic growth potential in the Delhi-National Capital Region, the stable regulatory regime of the sector, the strong financial profile and long-standing experience of the sponsor Zurich Airport International AG (ZAIA) in the airport sector as well as a suitable debt structure of the project.
The YIAPL considers that this credit rating testifies ZAIA’s commitment to support the India growth story, and the importance of experienced and financially sustainable investors for the strategically important aviation sector in a very challenging market environment. (ANI)

Pune (Maharashtra) [India], March 8 (ANI): Four persons were arrested on Monday for defrauding the Shivaji Bhosle Co-operative Bank Ltd, Pune to the tune of over Rs 71.78 crores, said the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The Enforcement Directorate’s Mumbai Zonal Office-II arrested four persons identified as Anil Shivajirao Bhosale, Suryaji Pandurang Jadhav, Tanaji Dattu Padwal and Shailesh Bhosale in a case relating to the Pune Co-operative Bank on March 6, 2021 after taking custody of the said accused persons from Yervada Jail.
According to the ED, an investigation into the money laundering case was initiated on the basis of a first information report (FIR) registered by the Maharashtra Police against Anil Shivajirao Bhosale, Suryaji Pandurang Jadhav, Tanaji Dattu Padwal and Shailesh Bhosale and others.
As per a statement released by the ED, the FIR alleged that a team of the Reserve bank of India (RBI) during their periodical visit to the head office of Shivajirao Bhosale Co-operative Bank Ltd, Pune on April 26, 2019, noticed various discrepancies in the records/ books of accounts of the bank.
Further as per RBI directions to the statutory auditor of the bank for verification of cash record, it was noticed that the entry of cash of Rs 71.78 crores was kept pending at bank’s head office in their cash book, said the ED.
The ED further stated that during the investigation it was gathered that Anil Shivajirao Bhosale who was the Director of Shivajirao Bhosale Co-op. Bank Ltd had misused his position and conspired with the co-accused and siphoned off the amount from Shivajirao Bhosale Co-operative Bank Ltd and its branches for personal gains. Anil Bhosale and his associates were arrested by the Crime Branch, Pune and were placed in judicial custody at Yerwada Central Jail, Pune.
The ED during investigation, unearthed the connivance of all accused in the said report submitted by the bank auditor in the offence of money laundering by cheating, defrauding and siphoning off the public funds available in the M/s Shivajirao Bhosale Co-operative Bank Ltd, which was deposited by the small investors.
According to the ED, it was further revealed that the said deposits had been sanctioned as a loan to different companies as well as entities comparatively more than their repayment capacity resulting in the most of the loan account becoming non-performing assets, creating loss to the said bank and corresponding gains to themselves.
Based on the said investigations all the accused were brought to ED office Mumbai under Production Warrant from Pune and were placed under arrest on March 6, 2021.
The ED also stated that the accused persons were produced before the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Court, Mumbai for obtaining ED’s custody.
The PMLA Court has granted five days custody of the accused persons to the ED till March 11, 2021 and further investigation is under process, it added. (ANI)

New Delhi [India], March 8 (ANI): Delhi reported 239 new COVID-19 cases, 309 recoveries and three deaths in the last 24 hours.
The total count of cases in the national capital has risen to 6,41,340 including 1,730 active cases and 6,28,686 recoveries.
The death toll has gone up to 10,924.
India has reported a total of 1,12,29,398 cases, including 1,88,747 active cases and 1,08,82,798 recoveries.
With 99,205 active cases, Maharashtra continues to remain the most-affected state followed by Kerala with 41,162 active cases. (ANI)

New Delhi [India], March 8 (ANI): A Delhi court on Monday convicted Ariz Khan, who was arrested in February 2018 in connection with the 2008 Batla House encounter case.
Additional Sessions Judge Sandeep Yadav convicted Ariz Khan under Section 186, Section 333, Section 353, Section 302, Section 307 and Section 174 A IPC and provision of arms act.
The court said that Khan and others had intentionally murdered Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma, an encounter expert, and caused hurt to Head Constable Balwant Singh and Rajbir Singh.
Khan is allegedly associated with the terror outfit Indian Mujahideen. He was arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi Police after a decade of allegedly being on the run.
According to Delhi Police, Khan was at the spot during the Batla encounter but managed to escape. (ANI)