The CBI filed its charge sheet in model-actress Jiah Khan suicide case in which actor Suraj Pancholi, the son of Bollywood couple Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab, is an accused.
The charge sheet comes a fortnight after the sessions court here sought to know the status of CBI probe in the case after the Bombay High Court transferred it to them last year.
On November 18, Special Women’s Court Judge A S Shende had noted that the probe agency (as per its earlier submission) had finished the investigations but “the charge sheet was still not filed.”
Jiah, an American citizen, was found dead at her Juhu home here on June 3, 2013. Police later arrested Suraj on the basis of a six-page letter, purportedly written by the Bollywood starlet, and booked him for ‘abetment of suicide’.
According to police, Jiah (25) was in a relationship with Suraj, who was then trying to make a foothold in Bollywood and recently made his screen debut with ‘Hero’.
The Bombay High Court had subsequently granted bail to Suraj. His bail application contended that the two were in a consensual relationship, and the letter was being misused by Jiah’s mother Rabiya.
In October 2013, Rabiya had moved the Bombay High Court alleging that her daughter had been murdered, seeking a CBI probe.
The suburban Juhu police on January 16, 2013, had filed a 447-page charge sheet in Andheri magistrate’s court before the case was transferred to CBI in July, 2014.
Meanwhile, special public prosecutor Dinesh Tiwari expressed surprise at CBI’s move.
“I was never informed about the charge sheet and the conclusion that the agency had arrived at,” Tiwari told PTI.
Tiwari, who had also appeared for Jiah’s mother Rabiya, said that he will oppose the charge sheet if CBI concludes the death as a suicide.
An association of railway station masters has opposed the Railway Board’s decision to appoint new station managers or in-charge from other departments of the national transporter.
All India Station Masters Association (AISMA) said it will hold a protest rally at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai on December 16 against the decision to appoint station in-charge from other cadre at the ‘A1’ and ‘A’ category railway stations under Central Railway (CR) and Western Railway (WR)
While ‘A1’ category station is the one which provides annual income of Rs. 50 crore or above, ‘A’ station earns a revenue between Rs. 6 crore and Rs. 50 crore every year.
“Over 700 station masters working at almost 50 ‘A’ and ‘A1’ stations under the CR and WR will assemble at Azad Maidan and protest against the Railway Board’s decision,” Mumbai divisional secretary of AISMA Shashi Jaiswal said today.
“However, there will not be any negative impact on the operations of the trains on the day of protest,” he added.
AISMA’s decision to hold a protest in this regard came at its meeting held in Nagpur recently.
“Apart from our demand not to make station in-charge from other departments, we would also press the railway administration to fill up the vacancies in station masters posts. We also want improvement in working conditions by providing designated offices, furniture, water supply and sanitation facilities at station master’s offices and control towers,” he said.
In Western Railway, the total strength of station masters is 3,039, while the vacancies are 329, whereas in Central Railway there are 2,788 station masters, while the shortfall is 402.
Listing out some other demands, Jaiswal, said, “Our other long-pending demands are providing four accident hamals (porters) in each shift in case of passenger accidents, a detailed study of all stations to assess work-load and cadre requirements, refresher course and periodical medical examination of all traffic inspectors and provisioning of rooms for porter and pointsmen at all stations and yard.
Maharashtra Legislative Assembly was adjourned for the day after opposition Congress and NCP repeatedly disrupted the proceedings for the third successive day of the winter session over their demand for complete loan waiver for farmers affected by drought-like situation.
The members of both the parties trooped in the well of the House as soon as it assembled in morning and created a din over “growing number of suicides” by farmers, and sought complete loan waiver.
Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil raised the issue under rule 57 and requested Speaker Haribhau Bagde to suspend the question hour and announce financial package for farmers who were hit by drought-like situation.
He was supported by senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar who turned down the request made by treasury benches to let the question hour function as the same could not be conducted since last two days due to protests.
Pawar said there was no point in initiating discussions and that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis or Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse, who were present in House, should announce the package for farmers.
Meanwhile, notwithstanding the notice under rule 57, the Speaker proceeded with question hour.
Replying to Pawar, Khadse said the government was ready for discussion which might provide an opportunity to opposition parties to go deeper into the issue.
However, the Congress and NCP leaders rejected his appeal and continued with protests, following which Speaker adjourned the House for 10 minutes.
However, the opposition members continued with their protests by staying put into well even after the House reassembled after 10 minutes, forcing the Speaker to adjourn the proceedings till the end of question hour.
A 33-year-old man was found murdered at his residence in suburban Malad late on Tuesday night, police said.
The alleged crime is likely to have taken place between 9 and 10 PM at Pai Mansion in Malad (West), said DCP Dhananjay Kulkarni. He added that the assailant may have been known to the victim, who was identified as one Ronald D’Souza.
The assailant is suspected to have taken the victim’s mobile phone, police added.
The victim’s mother, Cecilia D’Souza (54), who had gone out for a walk at 8.30 PM, found her son lying in a pool of blood when she returned home at around 10 PM, said Inspector Deepak Phatangare of Bangur Nagar police station.
Ronald seemed to have been hit with a chopper, he said.
The building where D’Souza lived did not have CCTV cameras, police said, adding that further inquiries are on.
Siddhivinayak temple is considering the idea of investing a portion of its gold reserves in the Gold Monetisation Scheme launched by the Centre.
The proposal will be discussed at a meeting of the temple board soon. If approved by the trustees, it would be submitted to the state government for clearance, a top temple official said.
“We have 160kg of Gold in our reserves right now, out of which 10kg is already deposited with the State Bank of India at an annual interest of 1 per cent. We are now contemplating proper utilization of these gold ornaments, for which no bidder came forward,” said Narendra Rane, Chairman of Siddhivinayak temple Trust.
The temple located at Prabhadevi in the heart of the city is visited by thousands of devotees from all over the country and abroad, many of whom make rich offerings to the shrine including gold.
Normally, we conduct three to four rounds of auction of the ornaments. But despite periodical auctioning, we are still left with some stock, he said.
“We would definitely discuss what to do with this (gold) in our next Board meeting and a suitable decision would be taken accordingly,” Rane said, adding, “its possible that we invest it in the Gold Monetization Scheme.”
According to experts, the Trust, however, will have to follow certain procedures before taking a decision as the temple is governed under the Law and Judiciary department of the Maharashtra Government.
A senior temple official, requesting anonymity said, “Before making any sort of investment under any scheme, there is a laid down procedure by the state government and we have to follow it. Currently, the process of melting the leftover ornaments is underway.”
“When this procedure is over, then there would be valuation of the reserved gold and it would be put forth before the board. Then board would forward its proposal to the state government for nod, after which the way for the investment could be cleared,” he said.
UP Singh, a former member of the Temple Trust, said if the management decides to invest its reserved gold, then it would be “the perfect way” of utilizing the temple’s wealth for the benefit of the poor and needy.
“This is the wealth donated by devotees to serve the needy and depositing the money in government scheme will be a win-win situation for all the stakeholders. It will generate cyclical money in temple’s exchequer and also popularise the scheme,” said Singh, adding that other rich temples across the country that have huge stockpile of gold at their disposal may follow suit.
Crimes like rape and molestation have witnessed almost a three-fold increase in the metropolis since 2010-11 raising questions over safety of women, children and senior citizens, according to a survey conducted by a city-based NGO.
In 2014, rape cases rose by 49 per cent compared to 2013, while molestation went up by 39 per cent, said Nitai Mehta, founder and managing trustee of Praja Foundation, quoting its survey.
In a span of four years from 2010-11 to 2014-15, rape cases jumped by 290 per cent and molestation cases were up by 247 per cent, Mehta said.
In 2010-11, only 165 rape cases were registered while in 2014-15, this number reached 643, he said.
Another matter of concern is the poor conviction rate in rape cases , he said adding “there were only 27 per cent convictions in 2014, compared to 57 per cent in UK last year.”
However, chain-snatching incidents decreased by 44 per cent in year 2014-15 as compared to previous years.
Also, cases of theft and stolen vehicles as well as rioting dropped in 2014-15 than in 2013-14, Mehta said.
Although, overall crime in the city has decreased in past four years, cases of murder in 2014-15 rose by a dozen than in year 2013-14, he said.
South Mumbai registered the highest number of crimes in 2014-15 with 9,203 cases lodged in Byculla, Colaba, Worli and Malabar Hill. Of this, majority of them were theft cases.
While in South-Central Mumbai constituency, which includes areas of Chembur, Sion-Koliwada and Mahim, the highest number of rape cases were registered.
The NGO conducted a household survey among 22,850 citizens across the city, in which 51 per cent of the respondents from South Mumbai were of the opinion that they face the maximum crimes.
Also, around 40 per cent people in South Mumbai feel that their women, children and senior citizens are unsafe.
Further, 75 per cent of the respondents approached police to register the crimes of which 53 per cent said they felt satisfied with the police work, said Mehta.
Preserve cows and bulls but do not go after someone who innocuously consumes beef, the petitioners challenging the controversial ban on slaughter of bulls and possession and consumption of the bovine meat in Maharashtra told the Bombay High Court on Wednesday.
A division bench of Justices A S Oka and S C Gupte is at present hearing a bunch of public interest litigations challenging Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act.
While the original Act banned slaughter of cows in 1976, the recent amendments prohibit slaughter of bulls and bullocks too, making it an offence punishable with five-year jail term and Rs. 10,000 fine. Possession of meat of a cow, a bull or a bullock can attract one year in jail and Rs. 2,000 fine.
Senior counsel Aspi Chinoy, for one of the petitioners, argued that prohibition of slaughter is understandable but by criminalising even possession and consumption of beef, the state government has violated the fundamental rights of the citizens.
“Preserve cows and bulls but do not go after the citizens. The state is going after someone who innocuously consumes and possesses beef. Beef possession and its consumption is not harmful. It is not like drugs or ivory where mere possession itself is harmful,” Chinoy said.
He further argued that the government has nowhere given a satisfactory explanation as to why the sections which criminalise possession and consumption of beef are included in the Act and why they are necessary for its implementation.
“This is completely intrusive and draconian,” he said.
The NIA has arrested a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative Asadullah from domestic airport on Wednesday.
The operative was apparently held in connection with criminal conspiracy to kill prominent citizens in Bengaluru.
Meanwhile, a terror plot by two confections suspected LeT operatives to carry out ‘fidayeen‘ (suicide) attacks in the national capital targeting “high profile personalities” was unearthed by the Delhi Police.
The alleged conspiracy came to light when the Special Cell of Delhi Police received an intelligence input about two suspected LeT operatives, identified as Dujana and Ukasha, who allegedly infiltrated into Jammu and Kashmir through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), following which an FIR was registered, police sources had said.
The FIR was registered on December 1 at the Special Cell office in Lodhi Colony in Delhi under Section 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC and relevant sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and doesn’t name any suspects.
It was submitted at the concerned anti-terror court, sources had said.
According to the complaint, LeT is conspiring to carry out terrorist attacks in Delhi and other places in the country, for which alleged handlers have infiltrated operatives in India through Jammu and Kashmir and other international borders, sources had said.
In July, the Special Cell had registered an FIR against unknown persons suspected to be associated with the ISIS and allegedly conspiring terror attacks in the national capital and other cities.
In a new twist in Sheena Bora murder case, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) report has said that Indrani and Peter Mukerjea laundered up to Rs. 275.5 crore by their company, INX Media.
CBDT says the Mukerjeas laundered foreign funds into INX Media via dubious investment firms based in Port Louis, Mauritius.
The money laundering took place through eight subsidiary companies between 2007 and 2008.
The report was submitted by a Government of India Deputy Secretary in the investigation wing of the CBDT to the Director-General of Income Tax on May 5, 2014.
The report reveals a complex web of ‘conduit’ business firms infusing domestic and foreign capital into the INX Group.
Noteworthy, In 2008-09, INX Media had declared a loss of Rs. 270 crore.
CBI has already arrested Peter Mukherjea along with filing chargesheets against Indrani Mukerjea, ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna and Shyamvar Rai in the Sheena Bora murder case.
Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar’s assets were auctioned by the Maharashtra government. A farmland, a restaurant and a car were auctioned, which once belonged to India’s most fugitive Mumbai underworld don. Not even Mumbai Police but Interpol also failed to trace him for decades, but for as little as Rs. 4,000 ($60), bidders snapped up a car he purportedly owned – a green Hyundai Accent Sedan now parked in a working-class Mumbai suburb. USA had traced down Osama Bin Laden but still they cannot nab Dawood Ibrahim, after 10 years of declaring him International terrorist. The properties, sequestered more than a decade ago, make up only a tiny fraction of Dawood’s assets. Already, some have been put up for sale but mostly goes unsold because buyers stay away because of don’s property. A crowd gathered outside a down-at-heel south Mumbai hotel where this auction took place, along with a tight security.
Haji Saheb (by name his group members call him) according to various intelligence reports is hiding in Pakistan. He runs D Company, a crime syndicate Indian authorities accuse of engaging in murder, extortion and weapon-smuggling. He is also accused of financing militant groups and of masterminding bomb and grenade attacks in Mumbai in March 1993 that killed 257 people and wounded more than 700. Kaskar fled India in the 1980s and has since eluded the authorities, although the arrest last month of a former partner in Indonesia – Rajendra Nikalje, known as Chhota Rajan – is thought to be part of a strategy to hunt him down.
Dawood still has strong hold on Mumbai city; he has his deep rooted connections in government and police force. The congested Bhendi Bazaar area of south Mumbai is witnessing India’s largest urban redevelopment programme, with crowded streets and dilapidated buildings giving way to a planned urban centre. The Rs. 4,000-crore project, handpicked by Modi as a showcase smart city project in July 2015, will transform a chaotic and unplanned south Mumbai community into organised modern living and shopping destination. The project, however, also captures how the Dawood Ibrahim gang continues to flourish in the city more than two decades after he carried out the 1993 serial blasts in the commercial capital and took refuge in Pakistan. In a detailed investigation, almost fully based on technical surveillance details from various agencies, concluded that the powerful criminal syndicate continues to play a crucial role in many segments of Mumbai’s economy, despite the Indian security establishment dedicating much resource and personnel to Indian state’s enemy No 1.
Intercepts show how Dawood Ibrahim and several of his family members, as well as his key aide Chhota Shakeel, through their proxies, have major interests in the project. Unknown to SBUT officials, Dawood’s associates are involved in obtaining consent of residents of Bhendi Bazaar, deploying their goons to intimidate recalcitrant residents, executing some of the projects such as demolitions through proxies, and in recent years have been dedicating a significant part of their time to their activities surrounding the massive project in the heart of South Mumbai.
The project is to come up on over 16.5 acres between Mohammed Ali Road and Nagpada. It is close to Temkar Street, where Dawood grew up. It has a few thousands housing units, over 1,250 shops and offices, and 250 buildings. It is home to over 20,000 people. Once the project started in 2009, intelligence agencies have been receiving a stream of intercepts from Pakistan, the UAE and Mumbai, between key members of the Dawood gang, detailing how they are deeply involved in the project through various proxies.
Expressively, the rare reliable inputs of Dawood’s personal dealings also show his active interest in the project. His brother Iqbal Kaskar, brother-in-law Saud who is married to Dawood’s sister Farzana, and his sister Haseena Parkar’s son Ali Shah are all involved somehow in the project. It is not clear, though, whether the involvement is with the officials involved in the project. However, it is Chhota Shakeel, Dawood’s key aide, who seems to control the operation. A stream of inputs shows that Shakeel controls most of the activities mostly through the UAE, from where the D Company controls most of its Indian operations. According to the intercepts, Shakeel is involved in the proposed demolition and redevelopment of the Musafir Khana building at 33, Pakmodia Street in Bhendi Bazaar, where Dawood and family once lived. He is also closely involved in the developments around Damarwala building, which is among the 11 properties of Dawood attached by the Income Tax Department in 2001. The I-T Department’s efforts to sell off the property have yet not succeeded, but intercepts show that the Dawood gang is actively involved in its possible demolition and redevelopment. Moreover, two close relatives of Shakeel are closely involved in the project as proxies for the underworld operative. Through at least one of these proxies, the intercepts say, Shakeel has deployed several criminals to threaten shopkeepers and residents opposed to the project. In the intercepts, the gang actively discusses people signing up for the project, the need to maintain secrecy, and the need for local political support for the project.
Anyway, all those meager properties which were in limits of Maharashtra government are auctioned but successful bidders have to put all their resources to take the possession of the property. With this auction, Dawood may not incur huge losses nor will the government make profit. However, question still remains, when will he be deported to India?
The CBI filed its charge sheet in model-actress Jiah Khan suicide case in which actor Suraj Pancholi, the son of Bollywood couple Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab, is an accused.