Energy supply disruptions due to the war in West Asia have hit the common man as State-run oil marketing companies on Saturday raised cooking gas prices across the country by ₹60 per 14.2 kg cylinder, taking the price of domestic liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders in Delhi to ₹913 — the highest retail price since August 2023.. Photo for representation (AFP). According to industry executives, the current rate hike reflects a partial transmission of the impact caused by an energy supply crunch in West Asia after the war in the region disrupted tanker movement through the Strait of Hormuz. This triggered a surge in benchmark Brent crude prices to $94.64 a barrel in Friday’s session before settling at $93.32, a nearly 27% jump in just one week. Similarly, halting of liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies from Qatar saw Asian spot LNG prices surging more than double from about $10 per metric million British thermal unit (mmBtu) to about $25 mmBtu.. Also read: Over 52,000 Indians returned home from crisis-hit Middle East since March 1, says MEA. People aware of the matter, requesting anonymity, said that State-run companies are unlikely to raise petrol and diesel prices immediately as they have significant cushion to shield the consumer from the price shock. HT on March 6 reported that State-run refiners’ combined net profit exceeded ₹57,810 crore in the first nine months of FY26, a 192% increase from the ₹19,768 crore they earned in the same period in FY25.. The firms, however, decided to raise kitchen fuel rates for Indian households –– the first hike in 11 months. Cooking gas price in India was last raised by ₹50 a cylinder to ₹853 per cylinder on April 8, 2025.. City-wise retail prices vary because of transportation costs and local levies. The cost of a cylinder jumped to ₹939 in Kolkata from ₹879 on Saturday. Similarly, it cost ₹912.50 a cylinder in Mumbai (from ₹852.50) and ₹928.50 in Chennai (from ₹868.50).. Price of 19 kg commercial LPG cylinders, used for industrial purposes, also jumped by ₹114.50 to ₹1,883 per cylinder in Delhi.. Also read: Delhi heads into summers with hottest March week in 50 yrs, mercury up in north India. Three state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) –– Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) –– dominate the retail LPG sector in the country. Poor households will also pay a higher price for gas, but they will continue to get the ₹300 per cylinder subsidy under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY). 

 Energy supply disruptions due to the war in West Asia have hit the common man as State-run oil marketing companies on Saturday raised cooking gas prices across the country by ₹60 per 14.2 kg cylinder, taking the price of domestic liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders in Delhi to ₹913 — the highest retail price since August 2023.. Photo for representation (AFP). According to industry executives, the current rate hike reflects a partial transmission of the impact caused by an energy supply crunch in West Asia after the war in the region disrupted tanker movement through the Strait of Hormuz. This triggered a surge in benchmark Brent crude prices to $94.64 a barrel in Friday’s session before settling at $93.32, a nearly 27% jump in just one week. Similarly, halting of liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies from Qatar saw Asian spot LNG prices surging more than double from about $10 per metric million British thermal unit (mmBtu) to about $25 mmBtu.. Also read: Over 52,000 Indians returned home from crisis-hit Middle East since March 1, says MEA. People aware of the matter, requesting anonymity, said that State-run companies are unlikely to raise petrol and diesel prices immediately as they have significant cushion to shield the consumer from the price shock. HT on March 6 reported that State-run refiners’ combined net profit exceeded ₹57,810 crore in the first nine months of FY26, a 192% increase from the ₹19,768 crore they earned in the same period in FY25.. The firms, however, decided to raise kitchen fuel rates for Indian households –– the first hike in 11 months. Cooking gas price in India was last raised by ₹50 a cylinder to ₹853 per cylinder on April 8, 2025.. City-wise retail prices vary because of transportation costs and local levies. The cost of a cylinder jumped to ₹939 in Kolkata from ₹879 on Saturday. Similarly, it cost ₹912.50 a cylinder in Mumbai (from ₹852.50) and ₹928.50 in Chennai (from ₹868.50).. Price of 19 kg commercial LPG cylinders, used for industrial purposes, also jumped by ₹114.50 to ₹1,883 per cylinder in Delhi.. Also read: Delhi heads into summers with hottest March week in 50 yrs, mercury up in north India. Three state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) –– Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) –– dominate the retail LPG sector in the country. Poor households will also pay a higher price for gas, but they will continue to get the ₹300 per cylinder subsidy under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY). 

 The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Saturday acquitted Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS) chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the 2002 murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati.. File photo of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh during an event, in New Delhi. (PTI). The dera head, along with three others, was convicted in the case and sentenced to life imprisonment by a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Panchkula in January 2019.. Also read: Over 52,000 Indians returned home from crisis-hit Middle East since March 1, says MEA. On Saturday, the high court bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Vikram Aggarwal set aside the CBI court’s verdict against Ram Rahim, even as it upheld the conviction of the three others –– Krishan Lal, Nirmal Singh and Kuldeep Singh alias Kala –– in the case.. “The high court division bench headed by chief justice Sheel Nagu on Saturday acquitted him (Ram Rahim) in the murder case of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati. The bench, however, has upheld the conviction of three others in the case,” dera spokesperson Jitender Khurana said.. A detailed order is awaited.. Also read: Delhi heads into summers with hottest March day in 50 yrs, mercury up in north India. To be sure, Ram Rahim will continue to remain behind bars in Rohtak’s Sunaria jail where he is serving a 20-year sentence, awarded in 2017, for the rape of two disciples. While serving his sentence, the Dera chief has been granted parole 15 times since his conviction in 2017, the latest being a 40-day furlough he received on January 5, 2026.. Chhatrapati was shot from point-blank range outside his house in Haryana’s Sirsa district on October 24, 2002. The attack came months after his newspaper published an anonymous letter detailing the alleged systematic sexual exploitation of sadhvis (female disciples) by Ram Rahim at the Dera headquarters in Sirsa.. Also read: ‘Feels like a noose’: As Pakistan increases fuel prices by nearly 20%, here’s why US-Iran conflict is hitting it hard. A year after his death, Chhatrapati’s family approached the high court seeking a transfer of the case to the CBI. After the probe was taken over by CBI, the agency filed a charge in July 2007, naming Ram Rahim as co-conspirator. The CBI, in its charge sheet, said that dera manager Krishan Lal had given the revolver used in the attack and a walkie-talkie to the two shooters –– Nirmal Singh and Kuldeep Singh alias Kala –– in the presence of the Dera chief.. Dera spokesperson Khurana hailed the high court verdict, saying: “We have consistently maintained that Guruji (Gurmeet Ram Rahim) had no involvement in this matter. We welcome and respect the decision of the high court. He has always had the highest respect and unwavering faith in the judicial system of the country…”. The victim’s son Anshul Chhatrapati, meanwhile, said the family will challenge the ruling. “The high court judgment is a blow to us, but we respect the decisio 

 The transition in Delhi from freezing winters to hot summers has been rather abrupt this year as the national capital on Saturday recorded a maximum temperature of 35.7 degrees Celsius, which is the highest reading logged for the first week of March in the last 50 years.. People seen out during hot day at Central Park in Connaught Place in New Delhi, India, on Saturday, March 7, 2026. (RAJ K RAJ /HT PHOTO). Safdarjung, Delhi’s primary weather station, recorded a maximum temperature of 35.7 degrees Celsius on Saturday, which is 7.3 degrees above normal, and a minimum of 17.4 degrees Celsius, 3.4 notches above normal.. With the mercury touching 35.7 degrees Celsius on Saturday, it is now the hottest day in the first week of March during the 50-year period, news agency PTI quoted an official of the Indian Met Department as saying.. Abnormally high temperatures in parts of north India. Parts of Himachal Pradesh such as Sundernagar, Bhuntar Solan and Dharamshala, reeled under a heatwave, according to the Met deprtament while the maximum temperature in the himalyan state and other states such as Jammu &Kashmir and Punjab were above normal by 8 to 12° degrees Celsius.. Similarly, the mercury was above normal by 4 to 7 degrees Celsius over Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Rajasthan and western parts of Uttar Pradesh.. The IMD said the night temperature were markedly above normal by over 5 degrees Celsius in over Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh and were above normal by 2-5°C over Uttarakhand, Haryana and Delhi.. Forecast for north India. The mercury will hover above the normal temperatures during the next three days, accoridng to IMD press release of March 7. However, people can expect a reprieve as the temperatures are expected to come down by by 5 to 7 degrees Celsius in the subsequent four days.. While most parts of Jammu and Kashmir continued to reel under above-normal temperatures on Saturday, there was an appreciable drop in day temperatures compared to the previous day, PTI reported quoting an official of the Meteorological department.. However, the conditions are likely to change in the coming days with the meteorological department predicting a spell of wet weather from March 10 to 12 under the influence of an approaching western disturbance. 

 The transition in Delhi from freezing winters to hot summers has been rather abrupt this year as the national capital on Saturday recorded a maximum temperature of 35.7 degrees Celsius, which is the highest reading logged for the first week of March in the last 50 years.. People seen out during hot day at Central Park in Connaught Place in New Delhi, India, on Saturday, March 7, 2026. (RAJ K RAJ /HT PHOTO). Safdarjung, Delhi’s primary weather station, recorded a maximum temperature of 35.7 degrees Celsius on Saturday, which is 7.3 degrees above normal, and a minimum of 17.4 degrees Celsius, 3.4 notches above normal.. With the mercury touching 35.7 degrees Celsius on Saturday, it is now the hottest day in the first week of March during the 50-year period, news agency PTI quoted an official of the Indian Met Department as saying.. Abnormally high temperatures in parts of north India. Parts of Himachal Pradesh such as Sundernagar, Bhuntar Solan and Dharamshala, reeled under a heatwave, according to the Met deprtament while the maximum temperature in the himalyan state and other states such as Jammu &Kashmir and Punjab were above normal by 8 to 12° degrees Celsius.. Similarly, the mercury was above normal by 4 to 7 degrees Celsius over Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Rajasthan and western parts of Uttar Pradesh.. The IMD said the night temperature were markedly above normal by over 5 degrees Celsius in over Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh and were above normal by 2-5°C over Uttarakhand, Haryana and Delhi.. Forecast for north India. The mercury will hover above the normal temperatures during the next three days, accoridng to IMD press release of March 7. However, people can expect a reprieve as the temperatures are expected to come down by by 5 to 7 degrees Celsius in the subsequent four days.. While most parts of Jammu and Kashmir continued to reel under above-normal temperatures on Saturday, there was an appreciable drop in day temperatures compared to the previous day, PTI reported quoting an official of the Meteorological department.. However, the conditions are likely to change in the coming days with the meteorological department predicting a spell of wet weather from March 10 to 12 under the influence of an approaching western disturbance.