The Catch Up: 1 April

This is the Catch Up on 3 Things for the Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.
It’s the 1st of April and here are the top stories of the week.

A Delhi court today sent Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to judicial custody till 15th of April in the excise policy case. Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, representing the Enforcement Directorate, sought the Aam Aadmi Party chief’s judicial custody for 15 days stating that Kejriwal had not been cooperative and had not shared his passwords with the agency. Kejriwal’s wife Sunita and party colleagues and AAP MLAs Atishi, Saurabh Bharadwaj and Gopal Rai were in the courtroom today.

In his latest tweet on Katchatheevu Island, Prime Minister Narendra Modi targeted the DMK, saying that the Congress and the MK Stalin-led party were “family units”, who don’t care for anyone else. PM Modi cited a news report based on a reply to an RTI reportedly filed by Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai, which states that then-CM and DMK leader M Karunanidhi was taken into confidence by then-PM Indira Gandhi when the island was ceded to Sri Lanka in 1974. The Congress has accused PM Modi of raking up the issue now with an eye on the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The Income Tax Department assured the Supreme Court today that it will not take any coercive steps to recover approximately Rs 3,500 demanded from the Indian National Congress before the end of Lok Sabha elections 2024. The Supreme Court was hearing the appeals filed by the Congress challenging the demands made by the I-T Department. The court recorded the I-T Department’s assurance and posted the matter for the next hearing on 24th of July.

Indian stock markets today started the first day of the financial year 2024-25 on a bullish note with key indices, Sensex and NSE Nifty, hitting all-time highs on strong buying in intra-day trades. The Sensex opened at 73,968.62 against the previous close of 73,651.35 and rose about 0.82 per cent to hit its fresh all-time high of 74,254.62 within the first two hours of trade. The Nifty Index, on the similar lines, opened at 22,455 against the previous close of 22,326.90 and jumped 0.90 per cent to hit its new record high of 22,529.95.

Israeli forces have withdrawn from Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City after a two-week operation, leaving behind devastation with destroyed buildings and scattered bodies. Following intense clashes with the Palestinian Hamas group, hundreds of residents rushed to assess damage to nearby residential areas. The Israeli military claims to have targeted and neutralized numerous gunmen, seizing weaponry and intelligence documents. However, Hamas officials and medical staff deny any armed presence within the hospital premises.

This was the Catch-Up on the 3 Things by The Indian Express.