With 86,508 new coronavirus cases and 1,129 deaths in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 count reached 57,32,519 on Thursday.

According to the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry, this includes 9,66,382 active cases, and 46,74,988 cured, discharged or migrated patients. The death toll in the country due to the infection has reached 91,149.

Even as actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui faces a police complaint filed by his estranged wife Anjana, accusing him of rape and cheating, his brother Shamas Nawab Siddiqui has come out in his defence. Shamas has claimed that the charges are false, adding that he would approach Bombay High Court over the matter.

Shamas made his assertion over a couple of tweets after Anjana had filed her complaint at Versova Police Station.

Former Bihar DGP Gupteshwar Pandey, who voluntarily retired from service on Tuesday, has announced that he will enter politics and leave his future to the people of Buxar.

Taking to social media, Pandey said the situation has become such that it is time for him to enter politics now.

With over 5 lakh infected persons having recovered from COVID-19, Tamil Nadu has posted a high recovery rate of around 90%, among the badly hit states. As per the government medical bulletin, there are a little over 46,000 active cases in the state, which has recorded nearly 5.58 lakh Covid-19 cases in total.

In a video interaction with the Chief Ministers of states that are badly hit by the pandemic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seen appreciating Tamil Nadu’s efforts in mass testing, tracing, and isolation.

Toyota Kirloskar plans to continue selling diesel models of large utility vehicles in the country. However, it doesn’t see much opportunity for diesel products in the smaller, mass market segment.

Diesel is not going anywhere. Diesel will be a mainstay, said Naveen Soni, senior vice-president, sales and service, Toyota Kirloskar Motors. The Japanese automaker operates in India through a joint-venture with the Kirloskar Group.

Shares of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) dipped 3 per cent to Rs 65.45 on the BSE on Thursday after a massive fire broke out at the state-owned exploration & production company‘s plant in Surat, Gujarat. No one has been injured in the accident so far, the company said.

The reason for the massive fire is being attributed to three consecutive blasts that took place at two terminals of the Hazira-based ONGC plant in Surat at around 3:30 am. The sound could be heard at a distance of over 10 km, ANI reported.

The Gujarat assembly passed the Gunda and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Bill, 2020 on the basis of majority during the ongoing five-day Monsoon session.

The proposed bill will facilitate for setting up of Special Courts for the purpose, but these courts won't be able to take cognizance of any offence without the prior sanction of the state government.

Gold prices today fell to Rs 54,000 from Rs 54,7600 per 10 gm, while silver was trending at Rs 60,600 per kg, according to the Good Returns website.

Gold jewellery prices vary across India, the second-largest consumer of the metal, due to excise duty, state taxes, and making charges.

Shares of Tata Group companies were trading mixed in the morning deals on Wednesday, a day after Shapoorji Pallonji Group, owned by the billionaire Mistry family, told the Supreme Court (SC) that it would exit Tata Sons, provided an early, fair, and equitable solution was reached.

At 09:25 AM, Tata Motors was trading over 1 per cent higher at Rs 134.55, Tata Consumer Products was up over 0.5 per cent at Rs 507, Tata Communications traded nearly 2 per cent higher while Tata Metaliks quoted around 1.4 per cent higher at Rs 512 on the BSE. Tata Elxsi was up 1.5 per cent and Tata Coffee traded around 1 per cent higher.

Global investment firm KKR will invest Rs 5,500 crore in Reliance Retail for 1.28 per cent equity share, Reliance Industries Limited said in a BSE filing on Wednesday. This marks the second investment by KKR in a Reliance subsidiary, following a Rs 11,367 crore investment in Jio Platforms announced earlier this year.

KKR's investment values Reliance Retail at a pre-money equity value of Rs 4.21 trillion.

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