Mumbai Police arrested three people on Monday for defrauding gangster Chhota Shakeel’s close aide Salim Fruit of Rs 50 lakh by pretending to save him from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) investigation.
The arrested accused have been identified as Vishal Devraj Singh, Jafar Usmani and Pawan Durijeja, the police said.
This came after the arrest of Mohd Salim Mohd Iqbal Qureshi aka Salim Fruit who is associated with gangster Chota Shakeel.
On Thursday, NIA arrested one Mohd Salim Mohd Iqbal Qureshi alias Salim Fruit, brother-in-law of gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s close aide Chhota Shakeel, said the officials.
The arrest was made in a case relating to the activities of D Company. The case was filed suo moto on February 3 pertaining to terrorist or criminal activities.
“Salim Fruit, a close aide of D Company, played an active role in extorting huge amounts of money in the name of Chhota Shakeel via property dealings and dispute settlements for raising terror funds in furtherance of terrorist activities of D company,” NIA said.
The Election Commission on Sunday issued a certificate announcing the election of NDA candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar as the 14th vice president of India.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey signed the “Certification of the Election” of Dhankar.
A signed copy of the certificate was handed over to the Union Home Secretary by senior Deputy Election Commissioner Dharmendra Sharma and Narendra N Butolia, senior Principal Secretary in the EC, the poll panel said.
The signed copy will be read out at the time of oath taking ceremony of the new vice president on August 11.
The term of incumbent M Venkaiah Naidu ends on August 10.
Dhankhar won with a huge vote share of 74.36 per cent, the highest in the last six vice-presidential elections, with 528 votes against Alva’s 182 votes.
The Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena has sought four weeks to submit documents in support of its claim on the election symbol, a party leader said on Monday.
Last month, the Election Commission had asked the rival factions of the Shiv Sena, led by Thackeray and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, to submit documents by August 8 in support of their claims on the election symbol of Shiv Sena- a “bow and arrow”.
“We have sought four weeks from the Election Commission as the plea to disqualify the rebel MLAs is heard by the Supreme Court. So let the pleas be decided first and this can be decided later,” Anil Desai, a Thackeray loyalist, told agencies On August 4, the Supreme Court asked the EC not to take any precipitate action for now on the Eknath Shinde faction’s plea that it be considered the real Shiv Sena and granted the party’s poll symbol- bow and arrow.
The poll body had asked to submit documents, including letters of support from the legislative and organizational wings of the Sena, and the written statements of the rival factions.
The requirements were made in line with Paragraph 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.
Earlier this week, the Shinde faction had written to the EC seeking allocation of the party’s ‘bow and arrow’ election symbol to it, citing the recognition granted to them in the Lok Sabha and the Maharashtra Assembly.
The Shiv Sena split last month when more than two-thirds of the party’s 55 MLAs led by Shinde withdrew their support from the Maharashtra government led by Uddhav Thackeray.
Shinde was sworn in as the Chief Minister on June 30 with the support of the BJP.
Last month, at least 12 of the 18 Shiv Sena members in the Lok Sabha had expressed ‘no confidence’ in floor leader Vinayak Raut and declared Rahul Shewale as their floor leader. Subsequently, Lok Sabha Speaker recognized Shewale as the leader.
Several Shiv Sena office-bearers in Nanded in Maharashtra on Monday joined the faction of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde during his visit.
These include district presidents Umesh Bonde and Anand Bondharkar and twelve taluka heads of the party, functionaries of the Shinde faction said.
Shinde, who carried out the ground-breaking ceremonies of some developmental works in Nanded, also addressed a public meeting.
नांदेड दौऱ्यांतर्गत आज गोदावरी अर्बन मल्टीस्टेट कॉ.ऑ. क्रेडिट सोसायटच्या कॉर्पोरेट ऑफिसला भेट देऊन त्यांच्या ' सहकारस्पर्श ' या नुतन कार्यालयाचे लोकार्पण केले. तसेच भक्ती लॉन येथील मेळाव्यात नांदेड शहरातील विविध विकासकामांचे भूमीपूजन केले. pic.twitter.com/mF5UziDDaw
— Eknath Shinde – एकनाथ शिंदे (@mieknathshinde) August 8, 2022
The state has allotted Rs 192 crore for the development of roads in Parbhani, Nanded and Hingoli, while works of bridges and roads will be taken up in Purna and other areas of Nanded, an official said.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday inaugurated an exhibition on the theme ‘Horrors of Partition’ at the Parliament Library Building.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi and Union Culture Minister G. Kishan Reddy were among the leaders present.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last year announced that August 14 will be observed as ‘Partition Horrors Remembrance Day’ to remind the nation of the sufferings and sacrifices of Indians during the partition in 1947.
“Partition’s pains can never be forgotten. Millions of our sisters and brothers were displaced and many lost their lives due to mindless hate and violence. In memory of the struggles and sacrifices of our people, August 14 will be observed as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day,” PM Modi had said.
An official release said that Ministry of Culture is organizing various events and activities across India in remembrance of tragedy of partition and it set up the exhibition in Parliament House Complex.
Over 47 hours of productive time was wasted due to interruptions and protests in the monsoon session of the Rajya Sabha that concluded on Monday even as business was conducted for more than 35 hours in its 16 sittings.
Taking note of the disruptions, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, in a statement, said the interruptions were a sad reflection on the functioning of the Upper House of Parliament.
Naidu, in his last speech in the Rajya Sabha as its Chairman, said the session was characterised by regular and continuous disruptions, which deprived Members of the opportunity to discuss matters of urgent public importance and seek the accountability of the executive through questions.
The Vice President, who completes his term on August 10, made these remarks while announcing the end of the session, which commenced on July 18. Out of the 235 Starred Questions admitted, only 61 could be answered orally and Question Hour could not be taken up on seven days, Naidu further said.
“Only 25 matters could be raised by Members with the permission of the Chair and only 60 special mentions could be made, during the entire Session,” said the Chairman.
The House discussed the issue of rising prices of essential items in the form of a Short Duration Discussion which lasted for over four hours in which 33 Members participated in the debate, he said.
Only four government Bills were considered and passed during the Session, said Singh adding 27 Private Members’ Bills were also introduced and only one regarding ‘Right to Health’ could be partly discussed during the entire Session.
“No Private Members’ Resolutions could be taken up.” Naidu thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh, Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the House Piyush Goyal and leaders of various parties and groups and some members for offering their good wishes on completion of his tenure as the chairman of the House.
He also thanked the Leader of the Opposition, the Leaders of various parties and groups and the Members for the cooperation extended by them in the overall conduct of proceedings functioning of the House.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has worked to usher in politics of performance in a scenario where politics of nepotism used to be the dominant practice, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Sunday at a book launch event here.
At the launch of a book: ‘Modi@20: Dreams Meet Delivery’, Shah said “Modi @ 20 means whatever Modi ji did to strengthen the democracy of this country for 20 years, from the time Modi ji became the Chief Minister of Gujarat (to the present).” “As soon as Modi ji took over as the Prime Minister of the country, he worked to find solutions to country’s problems and successfully established the country’s pride in the whole world, that saga is Modi @ 20,” Shah added. He further said, “I have been working with Modi ji for a long time.
Many a times I have seen Modi ji come out of the worst of times and staying hopeful even in adversity” Lauding the Prime Minister’s leadership skills, he said that PM Modi does not worry about anything except the goal, apart from the country, the pride and well-being of the country, thus he is an ideal leader.
PM Modi has worked to strengthen the roots of democracy in the country, he stated. “The politics of the country was afflicted by three factors.
Because of nepotism, no matter how much capacity someone had, he never got a chance.
Due to appeasement, a gap started to arise between many sections of society. Due to corruption, the economy of the society and the campaigns for social welfare were becoming hollow,” he stated.
“In these 20 years, Modi ji has done the work of ending nepotism from within democracy. Modi Ji has done the work of bringing politics of equality, politics of results and politics of performance in place of nepotism,” he further stated.
It may be noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi completed 20 years in 2021 as the head of government from becoming Chief Minister to Prime Minister of India.
First, he became Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2001 and remained in that post till he became the Prime Minister of India in 2014 and was re-elected in 2019.
Published by Rupa Publications India, the book is written by eminent intellectuals and writers like Nandan Nilekani, Sudha Murty, Sadguru, P.V. Sindhu, Amish Tripathi among others, the statement added.
The book is an anthology of chapters written by eminent writers elaborating and depicting the fundamental transformation that the country has gone through under the leadership of Narendra Modi as the head of the government in the last 20 years.
The book also elaborates on Modi’s model of governance which has touched the lives of a cross-section of the people of the society.
Dominant performance by Australia ended India’s Gold medal dream in hockey at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Australia won the match 7-0. Goals were scored by Blake Govers (9′), Nathan Ephraums (14′, 42′), Jacob Anderson (22′, 27′), Tom Wickham (26′) and Flynn Ogilvie (46′).
India came into the Final on the back of some fine performances in the group stage as they beat Ghana 11-0, drew against England 4-4, beat Canada 8-0 and Wales 4-1 followed by a 3-2 win against South Africa in the semifinal.
In the much-awaited final, Australia got off the blocks at a rampaging pace, pushing the Indian defenders from the word go.
Though India survived the onslaught in the initial few minutes, Australia was quick to snatch a 1-0 lead when they earned the third PC of the game in the ninth minute.
Blake Govers was on target this time, beating Sreejesh to the goal. The defending Champions extended the lead in the 14th minute when Nathan Ephraums scored a field goal.
While the Australian attackers displayed sublime form and coordination, their defence ensured India found no space in the circle to create any scoring opportunity.
Even as Indian attackers struggled to find a breakthrough, Australia went on to pump three more goals in the second quarter through Jacob Anderson (22′, 27′) and Tom Wickham (26′). Going into the half-time break, the Indian team were left staring at a massive 0-5 lead and had their task cut out for the third quarter when Australia returned with similar gumption as the first two quarters. Although India did not concede a goal in this quarter, they were denied any chance of scoring even though India forward Mandeep Singh and Abhishek worked some good variations but nothing came of it.
India also lost their Captain Manpreet Singh midway into the game, as he walked out of the pitch having dealt with a massive blow on his right shoulder.
With Manpreet back in the dugout retired hurt, the onus was on Hardik and Nilakanta who had to free up space in the midfield to help forwards surge ahead. But tactical defence by Australia put immense pressure on the youngsters.
Meanwhile, Australia pumped two more goals in the final quarter. It was Ephraums who scored in the 42nd minute followed by Flynn Ogilvie’s goal in the 46th minute. This is Australia’s seventh Gold medal at the Commonwealth Games.
Chinese military has said it will continue drills near Taiwan focused on anti-submarine and air-to-ship strikes, state media reported on Monday.
This comes as the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is conducting joint drills in at least six areas around the island from Aug 4 to 7.
China is conducting a number of military exercises in the wake of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan which angered the Asian powerhouse. Beijing regards Taiwan as its breakaway province, which it intends to overtake if needed by force.
More than 100 Chinese warplanes and 10 warships have taken part in the live-fire military drills surrounding Taiwan over the last few days.
Multiple Chinese planes and ships were detected around Taiwan Strait, simulating an attack on its main island
