The Special Task Force of Odisha Police has seized a leopard skin and arrested one person on charge of smuggling in wildlife body parts in Koraput district, an officer said on Wednesday.
Based on reliable information, a team of STF conducted a raid with the help of Ramgir Forest Officials on Tuesday near Ramgir Gupteswar Gate under Ramagiri Wildlife Range under Baipariguda police station.
The man was arrested as he could not produce any authority in support of the possession of the leopard skin, for which he has been handed over to Ramgir Forest Officials under the Jeypore Forest Division.
Since 2020, the STF has seized as many as 30 leopard skin and arrested 43 wildlife criminals, the official said
As a group of ‘Muktijoddhas’ (liberation warriors) of Bangladesh is visiting Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma recalled the contribution of the state to that war including the supreme sacrifice by soldiers.
He added that he is likely to visit the neighbouring country soon to further strengthen the age-old relations between India and Bangladesh.
A 25-member delegation of ‘Muktijoddhas’ is on a three-day visit to Guwahati and Shillong.
The visit is part of #AzadiKaAmritMahotsav and Swarnim Vijay Varsh celebrations organised by High Commission of India in Bangladesh & Act East Policy Affairs, GoA,” Sarma tweeted after meeting the delegation on Monday evening.
India is celebrating its 75 years of Independence as Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ while Swarnim Vijay Varsh’ marks the 50th year of India’s win against Pakistan in the 1971 war that led to the birth of Bangladesh.
“The Bangladesh Liberation War was a landmark event where 9 valiant soldiers from Assam made the supreme sacrifice. Some Assam Police officers trained & equipped Mukti Bahini members,” the chief minister said in a Twitter post.
The civil society of Assam also came forward to help the refugees who had come from East Bengal, he added.
The chief minister said that he has received an invitation from the Foreign minister of Bangladesh to visit the country.
I will make sincere efforts to honour the invitation to give a further push to civilisational ties between India and Bangladesh, Sarma tweeted.
Meanwhile, a delegation of 19 editors and senior journalists from various organisations in Bangladesh also arrived in Guwahati on Monday.
The team led by Chief News Editor, Independent TV of Bangladesh, Ashish Ghosh Saikat, will be meeting various organisations during their stay, an official release said.
This exercise is undertaken as part of the Familiarisation Programme organised by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, for Foreign Media, it said.
The team is accompanied by the Press Officer, High Commission of India in Dhaka, Vaibhav Sunil Gondane, and Publicity Officer, Ministry of External Affairs, Pawan Kumar.
During the two-day stay, the team will visit IIT Guwahati, Numaligarh Refinery Limited and the Centre for Development and Peace Studies, among others, the release added.
The Customs officers at the Indira Gandhi International airport, in the national capital on Wednesday seized more than one kilogram of cocaine worth Rs 15 crore from a Zimbabwean female national.
According to the information, the Zimbabwean national arrived at the Indira Gandhi International Airport by Flight No. ET – 688 from Addis Ababa and had concealed the narcotic in the soles of her sandals.
The Delhi Airport customs seized 1,015 grams of cocaine, worth Rs 15 crore, from her possession.
She has been arrested under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.
Earlier on July 13, the Customs department at the IGI airport had arrested an Indian couple who arrived from Vietnam and seized 45 guns worth more than Rs 22 lakh from their bags.
It was revealed that during the investigations, the accused persons had admitted their involvement in the previous smuggling of 25 guns worth more than Rs 12 lakh.
Meanwhile, as per Tuesday’s information from Lucknow’s Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport, the Customs officers arrested a passenger who had flown in from Dubai and seized air guns, telescopic sights and arms accessories worth Rs 20,54,000.
The materials were recovered from a passenger coming from Dubai via flight no. IX194. The passenger was intercepted on the basis of a database while attempting to pass through the green channel without any declaration to Customs.
“During the examination of his luggage 10 air Guns, telescopic sights mountable on arms and other misc. arms accessories were recovered. During the subsequent interrogation, the pax was found to be not in possession of licit documents,” read an official statement.
The goods have been seized for contravention of the Customs Act, 1962 read with Baggage Rules, 2016, Foreign Trade (D&R) Act 1992 and Arms Rules, 2016.
The passenger has been arrested and will be produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (Economic Offences) Lucknow for judicial custody.
Overnight heavy rain near the Kahara village of Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda district on Tuesday resulted in floods which have caused a lot of damage in the area.
“The village area is currently experiencing floods caused by very heavy rainfall which has destroyed many houses and caused loss of property, including the Allama Iqbal Memorial Academy and the building and grounds of Tourism,” said the local.
The people urged the District Administration and the Lieutenant Governor (LG) to deploy teams and take appropriate measures.
The India Meteorological Department on Monday had predicted scattered to fairly widespread light/moderate rainfall with isolated thunderstorms/lightning over Jammu and Kashmir for three days and a fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with isolated heavy falls over the region on Tuesday and Wednesday (i.e., July 19 and July 20).
Earlier on July 14, heavy rains and flash floods had damaged a foot-over bridge in the hilly areas of Rajouri causing much inconvenience to the people, due to which people were forced to cross the rivulet in waist-deep water for commuting.
The heavy rains in Rajouri had also damaged the crops of the local farmers. Speaking about the situation, DDC Chairman Panchayati Raj, Naseem Liqat said that he requested Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to declare it a state disaster.
A cloudburst struck the holy cave area of Amarnath on July 8 and resulted in a heavy discharge of water in the ‘Nallah’ adjoining the holy cave, claiming 16 lives.
In the tragic incident, at least 36 people were reported missing.
Amarnath Yatra was partially suspended after the said cloudburst incident, but it later resumed on July 11 from the Nunwan Pahalgam side.
A cloudburst triggered by the heavy rains blocked the Srinagar-Leh highway on July 5, after flash floods occurred in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir.
Flash floods also occurred in the Shah Mohallah Kullan area of Kangan in the Ganderbal district on July 3, inundating several houses and causing damage.
Apart from J-K, several other parts of the country are also facing flood-like situations after torrential rainfall this monsoon.
Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty recorded sharp gains in early trade on Wednesday amid positive global market trends and foreign funds inflow.
Buying in index majors Reliance Industries and Infosys also bolstered sentiment.
The 30-share BSE Sensex rallied 755.9 points to 55,523.52 in early trade. On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty climbed 224.9 points to 16,565.45.
All the Sensex constituents were trading in the green in early trade with Reliance Industries, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, IndusInd Bank and Titan emerging as the biggest gainers.
In Asia, markets in Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong traded significantly higher.
The US markets had also ended sharply higher on Tuesday.
“The sharp 8 per cent pullback in Nifty from June lows of 15,183 is all set to continue aided by a flood of good news. First, the US markets have rebounded sharply driven by impressive corporate earnings. Second, FPI selling appears to have bottomed out. FPIs have bought 5 days this month.
“Third, the relief announced by the government for the petroleum sector through the reduction in windfall tax and cuts in duties on exports will be a major boost for the sector, particularly for RIL,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
The government on Wednesday slashed the windfall tax on petrol, diesel, jet fuel and crude oil following a decline in international rates.
The BSE benchmark had advanced 246.47 points or 0.45 per cent to settle at 54,767.62 on Tuesday. The Nifty climbed 62.05 points or 0.38 per cent to 16,340.55.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.39 per cent to USD 106.93 per barrel.
Foreign institutional investors remained net buyers on Tuesday picking up shares worth Rs 976.40 crore, as per exchange data.
Mumbai Crime Branch on Monday arrested four persons for allegedly demanding Rs 100 crore for offering ministerial posts to MLAs in Maharashtra.
This news comes ahead of the likely cabinet expansion in Maharashtra. Although the final date for the exercise is still under discussion, insiders in the BJP said cabinet expansion was high on the party’s agenda and will take place, in all probability, in the fourth week of July.
In order to take advantage of the political situation, four accused tried to cheat 3 MLAs in the name of offering ministerial posts in the cabinet, Mumbai Crime Branch sources told ANI today morning.
The arrested accused have been identified as Riyaz Sheikh (41 years, Kolhapur), Yogesh Kulkarni (age 57 years, arrested from Thane), Sagar Sangwai (37) and Zafar Ahmed Usmani (who was arrested from Mumbai).
Sources said that “one accused Riyaz Sheikh tried to contact MLA Rahul Kul via his personal assistant. The next day, the PA had a talk with MLA Kul, after which he called Shaikh to meet him at a hotel in Nariman Point. MLA Kul talked about a portfolio, on which accused Shaikh said that for this you will have to pay Rs 90 crores.”
The MLA informed the police about this and the police set a trap to nab the accused.
As the accused Sheikh reached the hotel at around 1.30 pm on Monday, the police took him into custody. In the hotel, MLA Kul, his PA and another BJP MLA were present in the hotel.
During interrogation, Sheikh shared information about the role of two more accused, Kulkarni and Sangwai, following which they were also arrested from Thane late on Monday night.
Kulkarni and Sangwai told that a person named Usmani had claimed that he knew a person in Delhi who was also involved in this matter.
After this, the police laid a trap and arrested Usmani on Tuesday morning and registered a case of fraud against the four accused and presented them in the Court, where the court sent them to police custody.
The police is probing whether these people had cheated anyone else like this before.
The Enforcement Directorate has issued fresh summons to Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut to appear before it for questioning on Wednesday in a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the re-development of a Mumbai ‘chawl’ and related transactions involving his wife and ‘associates’, officials said.
The Rajya Sabha MP, who is in the Uddhav Thackeray camp, had denied any wrongdoing and alleged that he was being targeted due to political vendetta.
Raut has been asked to depose at the agency’s regional office in Mumbai.
He has been questioned once in this case on July 1 and spent about 10 hours with the investigating officer during which his statement was recorded under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
“I gave full cooperation and answered all their questions. I will appear again if they call me,” Raut had told reporters while exiting.
He said he was “fearless and undaunted” as he has “not done anything wrong in life”.
The development comes amid a rebellion in the Shiv Sena with a tussle over party symbol and control of the organisation between former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on one side and current chief minister Eknath Shinde on the other.
In April, the ED provisionally attached assets worth over Rs 11.15 crore of Raut’s wife Varsha Raut and two of his associates as part of this investigation.
The attached properties are in the form of land held by Pravin M Raut, Sanjay Raut’s aide and a former director of Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd, at Palghar, Saphale (town in Palghar) and Padgha (in Thane district).
These properties also include a flat in Mumbai’s suburb Dadar held by Varsha Raut and eight plots at Kihim beach in Alibaug jointly held by Varsha Raut and Swapna Patkar, wife of Sujit Patkar, a “close associate” of Sanjay Raut, the ED had said.
The agency wants to question Sanjay Raut to know about his “business and other links” with Pravin Raut and Patkar and also about the property deals involving his wife.
After arresting Pravin Raut in February, the ED had said he appears to be “acting as a front” or in collusion with some influential person.
The agency had said during the probe it was revealed he made payments to certain “politically exposed persons”.
In the Alibaug land deal, apart from the registered value, “cash” payments were made to the sellers, the agency had alleged.
Pravin Raut was arrested by the ED in a probe linked to a Rs 1,034 crore alleged land scam related to the re-development of the Patra ‘chawl’ in Mumbai’s Goregaon area. He is in judicial custody at present.
Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd was involved in the re-development of the ‘chawl’ which had 672 tenants in tenements on 47 acres belonging to the Maharashtra Housing Area Development Authority (MHADA), the ED had said earlier.
Reacting to the ongoing attacks on Shiv Sena and the Thackrey family, Aaditya Thackeray said relentless critical comments coming out of the rebel camp in Maharashtra have only unmasked their hatred and jealousy against the party leadership and his family.
Speaking to the media, he said “traitors” have gone away and those who feel Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray is a good human being are still with the party, which lost power last month after a section of MLAs rebelled against the leadership.
Asked about the reasons behind rebel Sena MLAs as well as other leaders making several allegations against Uddhav Thackeray, Aditya said, “This rebellion has unmasked their hatred, jealousy and anger against us. The truth is thus coming out. It also means every one of them (rebels) used to lie when they claimed to have respect towards the Thackeray family.”
While talking to Afternoon Voice the former minister said “it is not surprising but sad, they are exposing their loyalties. They were always opportunists, being with the party and now out of the party what they looked for is an opportunity for their survival’. Hitting out at the rebels, Aaditya Thackeray, the son of Uddhav Thackeray, said “The traitors have gone away from us, but original Shiv Sena workers are still with the party.” Uddhav Thackeray camp assured of support by north Indians in Mumbai at meeting
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray was assured of support by representatives of north Indian residents at a meeting held at Shiv Sena Bhavan here. The meeting is viewed as the Shiv Sena’s attempt to secure its support base among north Indians, a significant vote bank that can swing the outcome of upcoming polls to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which has been under Sena’s control for three decades. During their interaction with Thackeray, the north Indian representatives expressed their support to the Sena chief and his camp.
In what could be a positive outcome of the India-China Corps Commanders’ talks, it is emerging that both sides could possibly see disengagement of troops from Patrolling Point 15 in the near future.
Sources told ANI that during the 16th round of Corps Commander-level talks held at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point on the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control, some positive movement has been agreed upon between the two sides on the disengagement issue.
They said that it is likely that the Indian side could move from the friction point southeast towards the Karam Singh Hill feature while the Chinese could move north towards the point 5170 hill feature located on their side of the LAC.
Since May 2020, when the Chinese military tried to aggressively change the status quo on LAC in eastern Ladakh, both sides have been deployed opposite each other near Patrolling Point 15 which has emerged as a friction point.
India has been looking at complete disengagement of troops from the friction points and moving back troops to the pre-May, 2020 situation in the entire sector.
The last disengagement of troops on the LAC took place a year ago which led to the limited resolution of the standoff at Patrol Point 17A in Gogra. India and China also disengaged troops from both banks of Pangong Tso.
The Indian Army responded strongly to the Chinese aggression in 2020 and moved multiple formations toward the Ladakh sector to bolster its preparedness.
The Army has now allotted the Mathura-based 1 Strike Corps to the Northern borders while formations from all around the sector are holding their summer exercises there to keep a check on the People’s Liberation Army’s activities across the Line of Actual Control.
Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday reported 616 fresh coronavirus cases, the highest single-day spike in recent weeks, officials said. With this, the state’s COVID-19 tally climbed to 2,91,086, they added. So far, 4,129 people have died from the infection in the state since its outbreak.
The highest 184 fresh cases were recorded in Kangra district, followed by 91 in Shimla, 89 in Mandi, and 59 in Chamba, they added.
The number of active cases has now climbed to 2,939. As many as 322 more people recovered from the disease, taking the number of recoveries to 2,83,999, the officials said.
