LIVE News Updates: We are ensuring that no action is taken against any innocent person, says Amit Shah

Home Minister Amit Shah: We are ensuring that no action is taken against any innocent person. 49 cases of Arms Act have been registered & 153 arms have been recovered. Over 650 meeting of peace committee have taken place since February 25.

HM Amit Shah on Delhi violence: I did not go there myself as I didn't want the police to divert resources towards my security arrangements.

HM Amit Shah: US Pres's program was pre-scheduled, it was in my constituency, my visit there was also pre-scheduled. The next day, when US Pres visited Delhi, I wasn't present at any event. The whole time I was sitting with Police officials. I only requested NSA to visit the area.

Questions have been asked about what the Delhi Police was doing. Police were on the ground then, police will also probe and submit a report in coming days. I would like to praise the Delhi Police for not allowing the riots to spread to other areas.

"What is my dignity when I see a saffron flag is hoisted on a masjid? What is my dignity when children have become orphaned? Do you have any humanity left in you? This is not a question of Hindu or Muslim, but if you will rise up to constitutionality. What kind of god is my PM if he cannot cry over the violence in Delhi? I pray to you, save the soul of this country", says Asaduddin Owaisi on Delhi Violence

Uttar Pradesh Adv General Raghvendra Singh: Uttar Pradesh Govt has knocked the doors of Supreme Court challenging the Allahabad High Court’s order to immediately remove the posters of those accused persons allegedly involved in vandalism during the CAA protests in the State.

BJP announces the names of party's candidates for the upcoming election to the Rajya Sabha.

Maharashtra: A PMLA court in Mumbai extends till 16th March the ED custody of Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor.

He is the only chap in Congress who could walk into my house anytime, said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on reports that Jyotiraditya Scindia tried to reach out to Sonia Gandhi & him before leaving the party but wasn’t given time

BJP now in serious business of poaching, abducting MLAs; has fine-tuned art of stealing govts, says Congress on Madhya Pradesh developments

Three associates of suspended AAP councillor Tahir Hussain have been arrested in connection with the communal riots in northeast Delhi which claimed 53 lives and injured over 200, police said on Wednesday.

Abid, a resident of Dayalpur, and Mohd Shahdab and Rashid Saifi, both from Nehru Vihar, were arrested by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police on Tuesday, they said.

They were with Hussain on February 24 during the violence in the district, the police said.

The Crime Branch on Monday arrested Hussain's brother Shah Alam in connection with the riots. Three other people, who were sheltering Alam, were also arrested.

Hussain was arrested by Delhi Police last week after a court here dismissed his plea seeking to surrender before it in connection with the killing of Intelligence Bureau (IB) official Ankit Sharma during the violence over the new citizenship law.

A rally in equities and oil ran out of steam Wednesday as the deadly coronavirus outbreak continues its rapid global spread and investors nervously await a US relief plan.

Markets showed signs of some much-needed stability at the start of trade following two days of wild gyrations, thanks to a pledge by US President Donald Trump to unveil measures to counter the effects of the disease on the world's biggest economy and key driver of global growth.

An F-16 fighter jet belonging to the Pakistan Air Force crashed in Islamabad on Wednesday while carrying out rehearsals for the country's Republic Day parade to be held on March 23.

The plane crashed in a jungle near Shakarparian area of the capital, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) said in a statement.

The plane was carrying out routine exercises for the Pakistan Day parade when it crashed, it said, adding that the PAF has ordered an inquiry into the cause of the crash.

There was no immediate word on the fate of the pilot or co-pilot. Security forces have cordoned off the crash site.

Smoke was rising from the crash site and rescue efforts were going on to contain the fire, the statement said.

Pakistan Day or Pakistan Resolution Day, also known as Republic Day commemorates the Lahore Resolution passed on March 23, 1940 and the adoption of the first Constitution of Pakistan.

Congress MP Nakul Nath (son of Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath): MLAs who have gone to Karnataka will soon return to the Congress fold. I am very confident the government will survive.

A grenade was Wednesday recovered here in the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir and later diffused without any loss of life or property, police said.

Police detected an old hand grenade lying near a CRPF bunker near Barbarshah bridge in the city's Kralkhud police station area on Wednesday morning, a police official said.

He said a bomb disposal squad was called to the spot which collected it.

The grenade was later destroyed on the bund area in Rambagh without causing any kind of loss, the official said.

Sri Lanka on Wednesday announced its first coronavirus case, a 52-year-old tour guide who had come in contact with a group of Italian tourists.

The man has been kept at the isolation ward of the Infectious Diseases Hospital in North Colombo, Director General of Health Services Anil Jasinghe said in a statement.

The man, a tour guide by profession, had worked with a group of Italian tourists and contracted the virus, according to a statement released by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's office.

COVID-19 has so far killed 631 people and infected over 10,000 in Italy.

Hey Prime Minister , while you were busy destabilising an elected Congress Govt, you may have missed noticing the 35% crash in global oil prices. Could you please pass on the benefit to Indians by slashing petrol prices to under 60₹ per litre? Will help boost the stalled economy.

The Congress will raise the issue of defection in Madhya Pradesh in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday after 20 of its MLAs resigned from the party which has pushed the Kamal Nath government in minority in the state.

The Congress has alleged that it's a clear case of manufacturing a majority after the BJP experimented with the same in Manipur, Goa, Arunachal Pradesh and Karnataka.

Congress sources say that they will raise the matter in the upper house, the party will also demand for a discussion on the Delhi riots as Lok Sabha is expected to take the matter for discussion on Wednesday. The party has pressed for discussion on Delhi riots in both the houses.

Over 600 challans were issued for drunken driving in the national capital on Holi, the Delhi Police said on Wednesday.

A total of 647 challans were issued for drunken driving, 181 for triple riding, 1,192 for not wearing helmets and 156 for dangerous driving on Tuesday, they said.

According to the police, elaborate traffic arrangements were made to ensure safety of motorists and check incidents of drunken driving on the occasion of Holi.

Over 170 traffic pickets and district police personnel were deployed to ensure a peaceful and safe Holi, with the Delhi Traffic Police alone deploying around 1,600 staff.

Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja on Wednesday said that not revealing their travel history of coming back from affected areas and countries will be considered a crime under the Public Health Act, reported ANI.

Panama's health minister on Tuesday confirmed eight cases of the new coronavirus in the country, including one death, the first virus-linked death in Central America.

"Of the eight patients we are reporting, one person is in intensive care, another unfortunately died," Minister Rosario Turner said during a press conference in Panama City.

According to the ministry, a 64-year-old man who was already suffering from diabetes complications associated with bacterial pneumonia died of the COVID-19 virus on Sunday.

A 85-year-old man in Jaipur, who had returned from Dubai on February 28, has tested positive for coronavirus, a state government official said on Wednesday.

He was found presumptive positive in the first test on Tuesday and hence, a second test was conducted with fresh samples, the reports of which arrived late Tuesday night, Additional Chief Secretary, Medical and Health, Rohit Kumar Singh, said.

"The man who travelled to Dubai has been tested positive for coronavirus. It has been confirmed now," Singh said.

"We have also got the manifest of the Spicejet flight he took from Dubai to Jaipur and are doing due diligence on that," the official said, adding that intense contact tracing was underway.

The man has been kept in isolation at the SMS Hospital here.

"The man came to the hospital on Monday with symptoms of the virus. After the first test, his wife and son too have been kept in isolation at the hospital. The two, however, do not have coronavirus affliction symptoms," Singh said.

A total of 235 people who came in contact with the octogenarian and his family have already been traced and are being monitored, he said.

Other contacts are also being traced, Singh added.

An Italian couple, who tested positive for COVID-19 last week, are also admitted in the hospital but their condition is improving, he said.

Amid the rising cases of coronavirus affliction, India on Tuesday barred entry of the nationals of three more countries, France, Germany and Spain, suspending the regular as well as e-Visas granted to them till date, if they have not yet entered the country.

"All regular (sticker) Visas/e-Visas granted to nationals of France, Germany and Spain and issued on or before March 11 and who have not yet entered India stand suspended with immediate effect," said a Bureau of Immigration notification issued late Tuesday night.

Regular visas, including e visas, granted to all foreign nationals who have travel history to these countries on or after February 1 and who have not yet entered India also stands suspended, it said.

The notification also strongly urged Indian citizens to refrain from travelling to France, Spain and Germany, besides the other countries they were advised earlier to avoid.