A thick blanket of haze covered pockets of Delhi and its surrounding areas as mercury dipped to 6 degrees Celsius on Thursday morning. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted dense fog over Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab till December 31. The weather office issued an advisory, a day after a thick blanket of haze, which covered much of north India, delayed over 110 flights and 25 trains in Delhi.

At 5.30 am, visibility at Delhi’s Safdarjung observatory dropped to 50 metres while Palam, near Delhi airport, reported a visibility of 25 metres. In Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and UP,  the visibility ranged from 50 to 25 metres.

The Met has predicted “very dense fog” for late night and morning hours till New Year’s Eve in the northern states. Although Delhi saw improved visibility in some areas this morning, foggy weather continues to prevail in the NCR region.

“Fog likely to become more dense and very likely to extends more parts of Uttar Pradesh & north Rajasthan and some parts of extreme north Madhya Pradesh,” the IMD said in a post on X, It also advising travelers to be careful and use fog lights while driving.

As cold wave conditions continue, the minimum temperature settled at 6 degrees Celsius while the maximum is expected to not go above 21 degrees Celsius.

The air quality remained “very poor” for the second day in the city. The average AQI in Delhi reached 386 with Anand Vihar recording an AQI of 464 in the “severe” category . According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the pollution level will remain poor category for the next two days also. 

Referring to the Lok Sabha election due next year, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he wished “our friends every success” and stressed that “traditional conventional friendly ties” will persist between New Delhi and Moscow “no matter what the alignment of political forces” is.

Putin, who made the remarks during a meeting with External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, extended an invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Russia.

He also said he had spoken to the Prime Minister on the developments in Ukraine. “Many times, I advised him of how things have been going there and I know that he (PM Modi) is willing to do his utmost so that the issue is resolved by peaceful means,” he said, indicating that India will Russia will continue to discuss the issue.

The Russian President said Moscow is “gratified to note that despite all the turmoil happening worldwide, the relationship with our true friend in Asia, India has been progressing incrementally”.

“Definitely, we will be glad to see our dear friend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, paying a visit to Russia, we will be able to discuss all the relevant, current issues and talk to the prospects of the Russian and Indian relationship,” he said.

The Russian president asked Dr Jaishankar to convey his greetings to the Prime Minister. “And please, tell him that we want to see him,” he said. Putin, however, noted that India will have a “busy political schedule” next year. “The general elections in parliament are scheduled for next year. We wish our friends every success in that and we hope that… anyway, no matter what the alignment of political forces would be, the traditional conventional friendly ties will persist between our nations,” the Russian President said.

Since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict, India has maintained that the resolution needs to be found through dialogue. New Delhi has spoken to, and met, Putin as well as Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and discussed the conflict. In his meeting with the Ukraine President earlier this year, Prime Minister Modi said India will do whatever it can to resolve the conflict. During a meeting with Putin in Samarkand in 2021, the Prime Minister told him this is “not an era of war”.

India has also resisted pressure from the West to join the camp against Moscow. Despite global criticism, India continued to buy Russian oil after the West brought sanctions against Moscow for invading Ukraine. In an interview to NDTV, Dr Jaishankar had said the Prime Minister told him to “do whatever is needed for the benefit of the country”.

“We must build relations with the world. But when it comes to what benefits us, we should not back down. I should not expose our people to fuel inflation if I can find a way. The Prime Minister had said, ‘take a stand that benefits India’. We did that,” the minister said.

The External Affairs Minister has, on several occasions, questioned how Europe could prioritise its energy needs and expect India to act differently.

Every country, he had said, was trying to get the best possible deal for its citizens and to cushion the impact of high energy prices, and India was no different.

Mrinank Singh had an infatuation with living a luxury lifestyle, he wanted to dine in expensive restaurants and stay in five-star hotels. The young cricketer had different plans to fulfil his desire to live a luxurious life. Mrinank posed as an IPL cricketer who was part of the Mumbai Indians team to cheat women, international brands dealing with sports accessories. He had a backup identity too, in case he ever got caught.

Cricketer to Conman

The 25-year-old, presently a conman and formerly a U-19 cricketer for Haryana, cheated multiple luxury hotels and resorts and even India’s wicketkeeper-batsman, Rishabh Pant. The conman operated in a particular way to cheat brands, and people. 

He posed as an IPL cricketer who played for the Mumbai Indians from 2014 to 2018. He used this claim to create an impression that he was “popular”. It helped him influence women, dine in expensive restaurants and stay in five-star hotels without paying bills.

In 2022, the conman stayed at the Taj Palace Hotel in Delhi for a week. He left the luxury hotel without settling a bill of Rs 5.53 Lakh and told the staff that he was a cricketer and Adidas would be paying the amount. The hotel staff believed him and shared the bank details. He shared an ID of a transaction worth Rs 200,000 lakh, but it turned out to be fake, the police said. The hotel tried to contact him several times to pay the dues, but he gave false promises until he switched his phone off and the police were made aware of the incident.

The man knew that the police were after him, so he kept his phone off to not leave any trace of his whereabouts. He made his acquaintances believe that he was settled in Dubai. A lookout notice was issued against him and the man was detained at the immigration office of the Delhi airport while he was trying to escape to Hong Kong on December 25, almost a year after the incident.

The Backup Identity

The conman made another attempt to cheat people and this time the immigration officials, by using his backup identity as an IPS officer from Karnataka. He posed as Alok Kumar, Additional Director General of Karnataka Police, and called senior police officials to escape arrest and said “He needs help to assist his son Mrinank Singh who has been illegally detained at the Delhi airport,” the police said.

The police arrested him, though he tried to mislead the police and claimed that his father, Ashok Kumar Singh, played for the Indian Cricket Team in the late 80s and is currently working as a manager with Air India and is posted at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. 

Cheating Rishabh Pant

On several occasions, he posed as a cricketer or as a senior police officer from Karnataka. He cheated multiple people including, India’s star cricketer Rishabh Pant. The police found that he cheated Mr Pant of Rs 1.63 crore in 2020-2021. His other victims include cab drivers, young women, bars, restaurants, etc. The conman has over 40,000 followers on Instagram account, where he has shared several pictures of his “luxury lifestyle”. 

The police scanned his phone and found several objectionable photos of him with women and said there was incriminating material present on his phone, which included him being involved in purchasing drugs. The police said several cases have been registered against him in different states.

The police said he is a Commerce graduate from Delhi University’s Hindu College. He did an MBA in Human Resources from OPJS University in Rajasthan and his family has disowned him as “they have no control over him.” The accused has been sent to a two-day police custody and a probe is underway.