India News
New way found to improve efficacy of TB treatment

By Bhavya Khullar
At a time when a global report on tuberculosis treatment found India’s plans inadequate, there is some welcome news from home.
Indian scientists have found a new way to improve efficacy of existing TB treatment in patients reporting relapse of the disease after treatment.
The new add-on therapy consists of injecting ‘heat-killed’ bacteria of a species called Mycobacterium indicuspranii (MIP) into patients along with standard TB drugs. The approach has been tested incategory II pulmonary TB patients, and found effective in clearing TB bacteria faster. MIP had earlier shown immunotherapeutic effects in multibacillary leprosy patients.
Standard TB treatment consists of antibiotics, but in some cases the infection reappears due to failed treatment or lack of compliance. Such cases are called category II pulmonary TB patients, and they are more likely to develop multi drug resistance.
A group of patients were given the adjuvant therapy along with DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment, Short course), while the other received only DOTS and a placebo. All the 890 patients were followed up for two years. In four weeks, 67% patients with the adjuvant therapy converted to sputum culture negative compared to 57% in the placebo group. By the end of the treatment, adjuvant therapy helped 94.2% patients recover compared to 89% in the placebo group.
“This demonstrates superiority of MIP (adjuvant) in inducing early culture negativity and improving the cure rate of Category II Pulmonary TB patients with parameters that would include them in ‘difficult-to-treat’ category,” said Dr. Rajni Rani of Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology in New Delhi, who led the research team.
“Our study has implications in eradicating TB in the longer run,” she added. “The study now has to be done on a larger group of category II patients and in multi-drug resistant patients to evaluate its efficacy.” The study results have appeared in journal Scientific Reports.
The team included Surendra K Sharma, Kiran Katoch, Rohit Sarin, Raman Balambal, Nirmal Kumar Jain, Naresh Patel, Kolluri J R Murthy, Neeta Singla, P K Saha, Ashwani Khanna, Urvashi Singh, Sanjiv Kumar, A Sengupta, J N Banavaliker, D S Chauhan, ShailendraSachan, Mohammad Wasim, Sanjay Tripathi, Nilesh Dutt, Nitin Jain, Nalin Joshi, Sita Ram Raju Penmesta, Sumanlatha Gaddam, Sanjay Gupta, Bakulesh Khamar, Bindu Dey, Dipendra K Mitra, Sunil K Arora, Sangeeta Bhaskar, and Rajni Rani.
The study was jointly done by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi; National JALMA Institute of Leprosy and Other Mycobacterial Diseases, Agra; National Institute of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases, New Delhi; National Institute of Research in Tuberculosis, Chennai; SMS Medical College in Jaipur, Rajasthan;NHL Municipal Medical College in Ahmadabad; Mahavir Hospital and Research Centre, Hyderabad; RBTB Hospital, New Delhi;Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh; Chest Clinic and Hospital, New Delhi; and National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi. (India Science Wire)
India News
Amritpal Singh case: Fugitive Khalistani leader’s gunman Gorkha Baba arrested by Punjab Police
Tejinder Singh aka Gorkha Baba, a notorious associate and former gunman of fugitive Khalistani leader Amritpal Singh was arrested by the Punjab Police on Thursday, officials said.

Tejinder Singh aka Gorkha Baba, a notorious associate and former gunman of fugitive Khalistani leader Amritpal Singh was arrested by the Punjab Police on Thursday, officials said.
A report quoted DSP Payal Harsimrat Singh of the Punjab Police as saying that Tejinder Singh, a resident of Punjab’s Mangewal village, was nabbed by the Khanna police.
DSP Harsimrat said Tejinder, who was a gunman for Amritpal Singh for a long period and often lived with the Waris Punjab De chief, is also involved in the Ajnala case. The officer said that Tejinder, also known as Gorkha Baba, was very active on social media and often posts pictures of himself brandishing different weapons due to which he’s wanted in a separate case registered against him at Malaud police station.
The official further said that Tejinder has been booked under sections 107/151 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and two other aides who accompanied him, have also been taken into custody and are being questioned.
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She said that Tejinder had several cases, including liquor smuggling and assault, registered against him prior to this and he had already served time for those.
Earlier in the day, seven aides of Amritpal Singh brought to Amritsar’s Baba Bakala court amid heavy police presence where they were remanded to police custody till tomorrow.
In a statement, Senior Superintendent of Police Rural Amritsar Zone, Satinder Singh said the seven accused were nabbed along with six illegal 12-bore weapons and were booked under the Arms Act along with their leader Amritpal Singh, who is still at large.
Earlier today, the Punjab Police said that Amritpal Singh—the notorious pro-Khalistani separatist leader—changed five vehicles in 12 hours to stay a step ahead of law enforcement agencies and evade arrest.
Last month, Amritpal Singh and his supporters armed with swords and guns, stormed a police station in Ajnala on the outskirts of Amritsar city and clashed with police for the release of one of his aides Lovepreet Singh.
Jharkhand: Policeman steps on 4-day-old baby while searching a house, baby dies
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India News
Tamil Nadu man throws acid at wife inside Coimbatore court complex
In a shocking incident, a man allegedly hurled a bottle of acid on his wife and her lawyers at court complex in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu on Thursday, officials said.

In a shocking incident, a man allegedly hurled a bottle of acid on his wife and her lawyers at court complex in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu on Thursday, officials said.
According to the police, the victim, Kavitha had reached the district court complex in Coimbatore in connection with a hearing of a case when her husband, Sivakumar, brazenly threw a bottle of acid at her face, injuring her and at least three others in the attack.
The victims, Kavitha and her lawyers, sustained burn injuries in the acid attack and were rushed to a nearby government hospital for medical attention.
An official said Sivakumar was overpowered and pinned down by some lawyers who witnessed the incident and later handed over to the police.
Giving details he said that police saved Sivakumar from a mob that gathered after the attack and wanted to thrash him, adding that the accused had carried the acid in a water bottle.
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The official further said that the accused has been arrested and a case registered against him under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), adding that further investigation is underway to determine Sivakumar’s motive behind the attack.
In a similar incident, a shocking video emerged back in January, where a man from the Cooperganj area of UP’s Kanpur claimed that his wife threw acid on his face.
As per reports at the time, a heated argument broke out between the couple, where the husband asked her why she came so late home, and the agitated lady lost her temper and threw acid from the bottle on his face.
A video of the incident had gone viral on social media platforms.
With an injured face, the victim went to the police station and registered his complaint about the incident. After investigating and questioning him, police arrested the woman for the offense.
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India News
Jharkhand: Policeman steps on 4-day-old baby while searching a house, baby dies
Bhushan’s family members allege that the child was trampled to death by the policemen.

A horrific incident has come to light from Jharkhand’s Giridh district where a policeman allegedly stepped on a 4-day-old baby while searching a house to nab the accused. The incident took place in Kosogondodighi village in the district on Wednesday.
The reports state that while searching a house for the accused, who is also the child’s grandfather, the police allegedly stepped on a newborn who was asleep in one of the rooms.
State Health Minister Banna Gupta said, Such kinds of incidents will be criticized and strict action will be taken. This country runs according to the Constitution thus action will be taken against the police officials as well.
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The locals claim that a team headed by Sangam Pathak, in charge of the Deori police station, reached the accused, Bhushan Pandey’s, house to catch him after a non-bailable warrant was issued against him. However, seeing the police, all the family members of Bhushan’s family left the house, leaving the infant alone.
The mother of the deceased newborn Neha Devi alleged that the baby was sleeping inside the house when the police were searching the nook and corner of the house. Upon reaching the house, after the police team had gone, she found her child dead.
Bhushan’s family members allege that the child was trampled to death by the policemen.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Sanjay Rana said that an investigation into this matter is underway and the body has been sent for postmortem. Action will be taken after the proper investigation.
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