From The Newsroom: 15-year-old girl kidnapped, raped in UP; Bihar's Oppn Grand Alliance hammers seat-sharing deal

In your evening news brief, From the Newsroom, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the strategically important all-weather Atal Tunnel; A 15-year-old girl was allegedly kidnapped and raped in Uttar Pradesh's Ballia; Bihar's opposition Grand Alliance has hammered a seat-sharing deal for the upcoming assembly elections in the state and a formal announcement on the allotment of seats among the partners is expected to be made.

Hi, this is Akash Sriram and you are listening to From The Newsroom, your daily evening news catch up show from Deccan Herald.

Here are the top stories of the day, October 3, 2020:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the strategically important all-weather Atal Tunnel and lashed out at the Congress-led previous governments, saying strategic projects were neglected and defence interests were compromised for years.

Atal Tunnel, built by the Border Roads Organisation, is the longest highway tunnel in the world above 10,000 ft and reduces the distance between Manali and Leh by 46 km. It also reduces travel time by four to five hours.

A 15-year-old girl was allegedly kidnapped and raped in Sikandarpur Police Station area here, police said on Saturday.

The girl was rescued from Rasra bus stand and the accused identified as 23-year-old Asif has been arrested, SHO, Sikandarpur Amarjeet Yadav said.

The girl was allegedly kidnapped on Wednesday by Asif and raped, the SHO said.

Bihar's opposition Grand Alliance has hammered a seat-sharing deal for the upcoming assembly elections in the state and a formal announcement on the allotment of seats among the partners is expected to be made here on Saturday evening, sources said.

The seat-sharing exercise gained pace after RJD supremo Lalu Prasad's emissary Bhola Yadav returned to Patna from Ranchi on Thursday with his message on the distribution of seats among different partners, they said.

The Modi government has told the Supreme Court it will waive certain interest levies on loans up to Rs 2 crore ($272,888) under a Covid-19 support plan, a legal filing showed, in a move that will bring relief to millions of borrowers.

In a filing on October 2 with the Supreme Court, the government said it had decided to waive the compounding interest component on small-business and some other loans related to education and housing, and credit card dues.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) said Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and global private equity firm TPG Capital invested a combined Rs 7,350 crore in its retail unit, Reliance Retail.

GIC will invest Rs 5,512.5 crore in Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL) for a 1.22 per cent equity stake, while TPG will inject Rs 1,837.5 crore in the retail division of RIL for a 0.41 per cent stake.

The latest investment values Reliance Retail at a pre-money equity value of Rs 4.285 lakh crore, RIL said in a late-night statement.

That is it today, From the Newsroom. Tune in tomorrow morning for our feature show, The Lead.

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