Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy will continue to remain in Tihar jail as the Supreme Court rejected his plea that he be put under house arrest to enable him negotiate deals for arranging money to repay investors.

“We have said that you are in judicial custody. You are under our custody. We have not sent you in civil imprisonment. In case of civil imprisonment, it would have amounted to awarding punishment,” a bench of justices K S Radhakrishnan and J S Khehar said.

It rejected the plea of senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, appearing for the Sahara chief, that instead of keeping him in Tihar jail, he could be put under “house or office arrest” as it is difficult to raise money while being in jail.

“I submit that there is no jurisdiction to send this person to a criminal jail. Vacations are coming. Our difficulty is how do we ask anybody to go and negotiate in jail,” Jethmalani said.

“My client is in Tihar jail and it makes it impossible for anybody to approach him,” he said at the outset.

He also said Sahara was trying to strike a deal with international buyers and the problem is that it would be difficult to do so when Roy is in jail.

“We will take note of it. That is exactly we are hearing,” the bench said.

Jethmalani said Tihar jail can accommodate 500 prisoners, but, at present, there are 1300 inmates are there.

“I would suggest keep all other matters aside to consider whether this court has jurisdiction to put my client in such a place,” he said, adding the court lacked the jurisdiction.

“If we agree with you then it is the end of the matter,” the bench said at the end of the hearing and asked the lawyers to file short written submissions on April 16, the next date of hearing.

The apex court had earlier imposed a condition that Roy will be freed on bail only if he pays Rs 10,000 crore out of which Rs 5,000 crore has to be in bank guarantee and rest Rs 5,000 crore in cash.

However, Sahara Group, on April 3, had expressed its inability in immediately paying Rs 10,000 crore for securing bail for Roy and its two directors Ravi Shankar Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudhary, who are in jail since March 4.

Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s close aide Amit Shah approached the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday seeking stay on his arrest in the wake of FIRs being lodged against him in connection with the ‘revenge’ remark.

The next hearing in the case is expected to take place on Thursday.

A notice was issued by the Election Commission which took cognizance of the alleged hate speech made by Amit Shah where he had asked the voters in Muzaffarnagar to take revenge from those who had insulted them during the communal riots.

The Commission issued notice after examining the CDs of Shah’s hate speech and the report sent to it by state election officials for violating the model code of conduct.

Shah had courted controversy by appealing to voters in Muzaffarnagar to take revenge for the communal riots.

Shah was booked under Section 153 of the IPC (inciting people) and Section 125 of the Representation of the People Act (promoting enmity between different classes).

The Communist Party of India (CPI) accused the BJP, Congress and local Catholic church, of sowing seeds of communal hatred by using terms like “secular” in the run-up to parliamentary polls.

“The BJP and Congress are accusing each other as communal. In addition, Goa’s Catholic church has appealed to the people to vote for a secular party,” CPI’s North Goa candidate Suhas Naik told reporters today during a press conference.

In the entire bargain, seeds of hatred are being sown by these organisations including the church, which is detrimental for the people of Goa, he said.

“This will be harmful for the future of Goa whose secular fabric has been left untouched by any kind of developments nationally,” Naik said.

The CPI leader, who is also spearheading the agitation for resumption of mining, accused the RSS of masterminding the ban on iron ore extraction industry in the state.

“The RSS never wanted economically weaker people to be uplifted. The mining industry gave economic strength to this class which did not go well with the Sangh,” Naik alleged.

Naik also alleged that religious institutions also opposed mining in the state.

“Religious institutions had issued a circular appealing to the BJP to oppose mining, if they wanted support to come to power,” the CPI leader alleged.

He said if the CPI forms a government at the Centre, it would form a Goa Mineral Ore Development Corporation (GMODC) which would distribute shares of profits from the mining industry among all stakeholders.

“If the GMODC is formed, we can present a tax free budget, since the money collected from mining is enough to run the state,” Naik said.

In a major pre-poll operation against Hawala funds in the national capital, sleuths of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have seized Rs 5.4 crore cash and over 100 kg imported silver from a dealer here.

The ED raided the premises of a suspected Hawala dealer in the narrow bylanes of Chandni Chowk during the last two days and authorities today seized the cash, 1.7 quintals of imported silver and foreign currency.

The agency, sources in the election expenditure monitoring wing appointed by the Election Commission (EC) said, conducted the operation just before the capital goes to polls tomorrow and the seized cash could have been used during the polls.

The agency has also issued ‘challans’ under provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), against the trader identified as Anuj Bansal, who operates from the ‘Kuttcha Mahajani’ area of the busy market.

The ED order, sources said, sought explanation from the trader as the agency suspects that the firm was allegedly dealing in import of gold and silver through illegal Hawala channels and “without proper documents”.

This is after a long time that the agencies have cracked down on Hawala trade in Delhi which essentially involves movement of huge sums of cash by bypassing the legal banking routes in order to evade tax and enforcement scanner.

The CRPF on Wednesday indicated that there could have been a “mistake” by its officials in crippling an IED in Bihar’s Aurangabad district which left three of its personnel dead and seven others injured.

However, CRPF chief Dilip Trivedi dismissed any shortcomings in the evacuation of one of its jawan whose heart wrenching appeal to save him was flashed across TV channels and social media platforms.

“Our officers have come back (from Bihar) after investigations in this case. The information that I have got is that there is no such lapse (in evacuating the injured personnel). Also, may be, it can be said that there could have been a slight mistake or lapse in handling the IED but it can be a human error.

“Even experts commit mistakes but it is important to see that our men went on a mission of national security and we should not be doubtful about someone who has sacrificed his life,” CRPF Director General Dilip Trivedi told reporters on the sidelines of the ‘valour day’ and passing out of new officers event here.

He also defended his injured Jawan Dilip Kumar, who was seen making a fervent appeal to save his life in a video clip.

“When someone has seen a blast he could be disturbed. He is not careful about the timing and other things…The helicopter cannot fly immediately and in Gaya there was no landing facility but even then the chopper landed to pick the injured trooper. The incident happened at about 1:20 PM and the chopper was there by 2:30 PM,” Trivedi said.

The jawan, who is admitted in a critical state in Ranchi’s Apollo hospital, was seen appealing to the Prime Minister, President and his DG (Trivedi) to save his life.

“I have no doctor with me…I will die…I am losing blood…I have small kids… It has been two hours but there has been no helicopter for me. I have been hit in an IED blast,” he was seen stating in the video.

A day before voting in Delhi for the national election, Arvind Kejriwal, the top man of the Aam Aadmi Party or AAP, reached out to two men who have attacked him during his campaign.

Mr. Kejriwal first called on Lali, an auto-rickshaw driver who slapped him in Sultanpuri in northwest Delhi.

Lali was a picture of contrition as he spoke to the AAP leader with folded hands, and tried to touch his feet. “I committed a huge mistake. He is god for me. I did it because he left the government after some days,” he said, referring to Mr. Kejriwal’s resignation in February, after 49 days in power, over the Jan Lokpal bill.

The AAP leader was in an open jeep when Lali garlanded him and then struck him hard on his left cheek, leaving him with a swollen eye. The 38-year-old was immediately tackled to the ground by AAP supporters and beaten. He was taken to a hospital later.

Lali had called Mr. Kejriwal a “liar” and accused him of “betraying auto-drivers.”

Mr. Kejriwal, who called off his roadshow and meditated at Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial Rajghat after the attack, today said the Delhi Police should track down the “mastermind” of these attacks.

“I don’t want security. What’s the use if everyday someone comes and slaps me. The attacks will stop only if the mastermind is caught. The police commissioner said he will trace the mastermind in the next few days,” Mr. Kejriwal said after meeting Delhi Police chief BS Bassi today.

Mr. Kejriwal has blamed political rivals for attacks on him in the past few weeks. He was punched in Delhi’s Dakshinpuri area on Friday and has earlier had ink, mobil oil and even an egg hurled at him in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, where he is contesting against BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.

Sixty-plus energetic youngsters. That is how Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu described himself and Narendra Modi, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate. “I am not old. I am senior. I and Modi are 60 plus energetic youngsters,” Mr. Naidu quipped after his name was announced as his party’s candidate from Kuppam, an assembly constituency in Chittoor district which he has been representing without a break since 1989.

Both Mr. Naidu and Mr. Modi are 63. On Sunday, the TDP stitched an alliance with the BJP for the Lok Sabha and assembly polls, which will be held simultaneously, hoping to capitalize on the surge in Mr Modi’s popularity.

The TDP has returned to the NDA fold after a gap of 10 years last week. “We have taken this decision for the people of this state…The BJP will contest five Lok Sabha seats and 15 Assembly seats in Andhra; in Telangana it will contest eight Lok Sabha seats and 47 Assembly seats,” Mr Naidu announced.

In Telangana, the Congress and K Chandrasekhar Rao of the TRS will get seven each, the poll forecasts. The TDP lands two.

In 2009, the TDP could only win six of the 42 seats in the Lok Sabha, and 92 of the 294 seats in the Andhra Pradesh assembly.

While the constituencies falling in the newly-carved state of Telangana will go to polls on April 30, the residual region of Seemandhra, or Andhra Pradesh as it will be formally called after June 2, will vote on May 7.

Telangana accounts for 17 seats in the Lok Sabha, and 119 seats in the assembly. Seemandhra will, post-bifurcation, be left with 25 constituencies in the Lok Sabha, and 175 seats in the assembly.

With the Lok Sabha elections on, there is no end to the war of words between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party. The Congress has now accused the BJP of spending crores of black money on its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s poll campaign.

“According to our sources, the BJP has spent Rs 10,000 crores on Narendra Modi’s publicity campaign. Only 10 per cent of this money can be accounted as white money,” Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said.

Sharma also hit back at the BJP’s PM candidate for blaming Congress for using black money. “Modi has frequently alleged the Congress of using black money, but all the black money seems to be in their camp,” the Congress leader said.