The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought the stand of a chartered accountant and close associate of MP Karti Chidambaram on a plea by the Central Bureau of Investigation challenging the bail granted to him by the trial court in an alleged bribery case concerning visa clearance of 263 Chinese nationals.
Justice Poonam A Bamba issued notice to S Bhaskararaman, the chartered accountant, and listed the plea for further hearing on September 27. Bhaskararaman, who was arrested by the investigating agency on May 18, was granted bail by the trial court on June 9.
The bribery incident in the case is alleged to have taken place in 2011 when Karti Chidambaram’s father P Chidambaram was the Union home minister. The agency has alleged that the CA was approached by Vikas Makharia, the then associate vice president of Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd (TSPL), for the reissue of project visas for 263 Chinese workers working at the Mansa-based power plant which was in the process of being set up.
The CBI FIR has alleged that Makharia approached Karti through his “close associate/frontman” Bhaskararaman, the officials have said.
Project visas were a special type of visa introduced in 2010 for the power and steel sector for which detailed guidelines were issued during P Chidambaram’s tenure as the home minister but there was no provision for the reissue of project visas, the FIR has alleged.
It has alleged that the payment of Rs 50 lakh bribe was routed from TSPL to Karti and Bhaskararaman through Mumbai-based Bell Tools Ltd with payments camouflaged under two invoices raised for consultancy and out of pocket expenses for Chinese visas related works.
Makharia had later thanked Karti and Bhaskararaman on email, it has added.
Pilgrims have left Jammu city to reach Amarnath base camp 3
The 11th batch of over 6,000 Amarnath pilgrims left the Jammu city on Saturday for the twin base camps in Kashmir even as the annual pilgrimage to the cave shine in south Kashmir was halted because of the flash floods triggered by heavy rainfall that killed at least 16 people.
The 43-day Yatra began on June 30 from the twin routes — the traditional 48-km from Nunwan in Pahalgam in south Kashmir’s Anantnag, and the 14-km shorter but steep Baltal route in Ganderbal district of central Kashmir.
However, the pilgrimage has been suspended after the flash flood near the cave shrine on Friday evening swept away scores of people, swamping tents and community kitchens with mud and rocks hurtling down a hillside.
A decision on the resumption of the pilgrimage will be taken after rescue operations get over, a senior administration official said.
A total of 6,048 pilgrims left the Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas in Jammu city in a convoy of 279 vehicles amid heavy CRPF security, officials said.
They said 1,404 pilgrims, heading for Baltal, were the first to leave the Bhagwati Nagar camp in 115 vehicles around 3.30 am followed by the second convoy of 164 vehicles carrying 4,014 pilgrims for Pahalgam.
With this, 69,535 pilgrims have left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp for the Valley since June 29, the day the first batch of pilgrims was flagged off by Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha.
Till Saturday, over one lakh pilgrims have offered their prayers at the cave shrine, the officials said.
The yatra is scheduled to end on August 11 on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan.
Two persons drowned in a river and as many others were rescued from different water bodies in three incidents in Maharashtra’s Thane district, officials said on Tuesday.
On Monday, 12 students went on a picnic to Malanggad fort in Ambernath area.
Two of the students went for a swim in the Ambe river nearby and one of them started drowning.
Two others from the group jumped into the river to save them but they drowned, an official from Hill Line police station said.
The student who was drowning was later rescued, he said.
The deceased, Nikhil Kanojia and Ankit Jaiswal, both aged 17, were students of a college in Dombivli town, he added.
Besides, a 17-year-old boy fell into a creek from a bridge near Saket in the city on Monday night, Thane Municipal Corporation’s regional disaster management cell (RDMC) chief Avinash Sawant said.
A team of local firemen and RDMC personnel rescued him with the help of a boat, the official said.
In another incident, a car fell into the Fadkepada lake in Diva area on Monday night following flooding there after heavy rains.
Some locals rushed to the spot and rescued the 28-year-old one car occupant, the official
Social activist Medha Patkar has been booked for allegedly misusing the donation funds, informed the police on Monday.
“An FIR has been registered against activist Medha Patkar in Barwani district for allegedly misusing the money collected in the name of education of tribal children. FIR was filed under section 420 IPC in the Barwani district,” said Superintendent of Police (Barwani), Deepak Kumar Shukla. The FIR has been registered against Patkar and 11 others in Madhya Pradesh.
A complainant named Pritam Raj Badole has registered the First Information Report (FIR) with the Barwani police alleging that she misled people by impersonating herself as a social worker who works to provide primary-level education to the tribal children of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, while also providing hostels for schools students.
During the preliminary investigation, the police discovered that the Narmada Navnirman Abhiyan trust had collected Rs 13 crores in the last 14 years, whose source and expenditure are unknown. As per the complaint, cash worth more than Rs 1.5 crore, whose audit for withdrawal and expenditure remained unclear, has been recovered during the probe.
“More than Rs 4 crore have been recovered from the 10 bank accounts of the Trust,” the complainant alleged. The FIR also accused Patkar of misleading the Court by presenting her annual income as Rs 6,000 while an amount of Rs 19 lakh was recovered from her savings account. Meanwhile, the activist refuted all the allegations against her and said that while she has not obtained any official notice from the police’s end, she was ready with an answer to every allegation.
Asserting that the complainant has connections with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and is connected with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Patkar said, “We have the audit report available for every question regarding the financial status. We, in fact, won the case against the Delhi Lieutenant Governor as we do not accept foreign money and always audit our bank accounts. Even in the future, we will keep answering and putting forth the evidence. The complainant is a member of ABVP and is connected with RSS.”
“We have used the money to help people generate livelihood and will keep doing it. We have been charged with such allegations in history as well. We do not accept CSR funds, however, it was only once when we accepted it from a Nandurbar collector and we have already registered the audit for the same,” she added
"This decision will cost govt an additional burden of Rs 1000 cr", says Imtiaz Jaleel on Aurangabad name change 8
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MP Imtiaz Jaleel on Monday alleged that the name change plan of Maharashtra’s Aurangabad district to Sambhaji Nagar was only intended to change the documents of the government department and will put a burden of Rs 1,000 crore.
“Changing the name of Aurangabad will put a burden of around Rs 1,000 crores on the government. This is only to change the documents of the government department. Common people have to go through a burden of several thousand crores,” Jaleel, a Lok Sabha MP from Aurangabad said during a press meet.
The decision to change the name of Aurangabad to Sambhaji Nagar and another district Osmanabad to Dharashiv was approved by the state cabinet on June 29, a day before the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government fell following the rebellion of Eknath Shinde who later take over as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
However, condemning the former CM Uddhav Thackeray’s government’s decision to change the name, Samajwadi Party Maharashtra president and MLA Abu Asim Azmi had said that “Be it BJP or MVA – that is walking on crutches – they want to sideline Muslims.” Azmi, on the day of big-decision, reminded the big names of the western state (Sharad Pawar and Sonia Gandhi) of his party’s support and said that the ruling party sidelined the minorities.
“I would like to tell Sharad Pawar and Sonia Gandhi that the government is existing with our support. If Government takes such a step, where will we go?. I would like to tell Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar, Ashok Chavan, and Balasaheb Thorat, what do we do? It’s that Muslims are being sidelined. I condemn,” he had said. Eknath Shinde’s 10-day rebellion against Shiv Sena brought down the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. The political crisis in Maharashtra ended with Shinde taking over as Chief Minister and BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis as deputy chief minister.
Basil Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s former finance minister and younger brother of embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, was turned back at Colombo airport on Tuesday as he attempted to leave the country through the VIP terminal, an immigration officer said, amid mounting anger against the powerful family for mishandling the worst economic crisis.
Basil Rajapaksa, 71, tried to leave the crisis-hit island nation, a day before Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena is expected publicly announce to the nation President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation.
President Rajapaksa signed on Monday his resignation letter, dated July 1, and it was later handed over to a senior government official who will hand it over to the Parliament Speaker.
Basil, a US passport holder, resigned as finance minister in early April as street protests intensified against shortages of fuel, food, and other necessities and quit his seat in parliament in June.
The Sri Lanka Immigration and Emigration Officers Association said its members declined to serve Basil at the VIP terminal of Colombo airport.
”Due to the crisis in the country, it has been decided to withdraw from activities at the Silk Route/CIP passenger clearance activities until further notice,” the trade union said in a statement, according to the Economy Next website.
”We decided to withdraw from serving the silk route passenger clearance terminal from midnight yesterday,” said K.A.S Kanugala, the chairman of the association.
He said the corrupt people were trying to leave the country using the service.
The immigration officials objected to serving him at the VIP clearance line and even the passengers of the Emirates flight to Dubai objected to his leaving.
Basil is being widely held responsible for the country’s worst economic crisis which has heaped misery on the people.
The political uncertainty prevails in Sri Lanka where the distribution of cooking gas has resumed alongside the delivery of fuel to retailers by the Indian Oil Company after a stoppage on Sunday. Long queues are still seen at fuel pumps.
The protesters continue to occupy the three main buildings in the capital, the President’s House, the presidential secretariat, and the prime minister’s official residence, Temple Trees.
Police near the Temple Trees said a clash had erupted between two groups of protesters, injuring 6 people.
With President Rajapaksa’s resignation due on Wednesday, Sri Lanka’s political parties on Monday initiated steps to form an all-party government and subsequently elect a new President on July 20 to prevent the bankrupt nation from sliding further into anarchy.
President Rajapaksa has officially conveyed to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that he will resign on July 13 as previously announced, the PM Office said on Monday, days after protesters stormed both leaders’ homes in rage over the government’s mishandling of the country’s worst economic crisis.
Parties have begun campaigning for the support of possible candidates. The main opposition SJB said they will campaign for the appointment of Sajith Premadasa as the interim President.
Premadasa said on Monday that Sri Lanka’s main opposition the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) was ready to lead the country at the presidential and prime ministerial level and develop the economy.
Premadasa said his party is ready to lead a program aimed at bringing stability to the country.
“We will appoint a government headed by a president and a prime minister. There is no other alternative. If anyone opposes this or tries to sabotage it in parliament we will see it as a treacherous act,” he said.
The Sri Lankan Parliament will elect the new president to succeed Rajapaksa on July 20, Speaker Abeywardena announced on Monday.
Under the Sri Lankan Constitution, if both the president and prime minister resign, the Speaker of parliament will serve as acting president for a maximum of 30 days.
The Parliament will elect a new president within 30 days from one of its members, who will hold the office for the remaining two years of the current term.
Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, is under the grip of unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine, fuel, and other essentials.
Schools have been suspended and fuel has been limited to essential services. Patients are unable to travel to hospitals due to the fuel shortage and food prices are soaring.
Trains have reduced in frequency, forcing travelers to squeeze into compartments and even sit precariously on top of them as they commute to work.
In several major cities, including Colombo, hundreds are forced to stand in line for hours to buy fuel, sometimes clashing with police and the military as they wait.
The country, with an acute foreign currency crisis that resulted in foreign debt default, had announced in April that it is suspending nearly USD 7 billion foreign debt repayment due for this year out of about USD 25 billion due through 2026. Sri Lanka’s total foreign debt stands at USD 51 billion.
AltNews co-founder Zubair's bail plea deffered by a Delhi court 11
Delhi’s Patiala House Court deferred the hearing on Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair for July 14. This came after the Delhi Police counsel sought time to make argueargumentsments in the matter and requested the court to take up the matter day after tomorrow.
Advocate Vrinda Grover opposed saying postponing the matter for two days is unfair. “Postponing the matter for 2 days is unfair. The matter may be taken up tomorrow, if possible,” said Grover. Additional session Judge Devender Kumar Jangala of Patiala House Court on Tuesday deferred the hearing for July 14, 2022. Zubair was booked by Delhi Police under sections 153A (promotion of enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language) and 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Delhi Police said.
Earlier on Monday, Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair moved a bail petition in Sessions Court seeking bail in the Delhi FIR registered against him in a case related to an alleged objectionable tweet.
On July 2, 2022, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) refused to grant bail while sending him to 14-days of judicial custody. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Snigdha Sarvaria dismissed the bail petition after hearing the submission of the defence counsel and special public prosecutor (SPP) Atul Srivastava for Delhi. The court observed in the order that since the investigation is at the initial stage and in view of the circumstances and gravity of the offence, no ground is made out for bail.
Application dismissed and the accused is remanded to judicial custody till July 16, 2022. Delhi Police had also added three new Sections – 201 (for the destruction of evidence – formatted phone and deleted tweets), 120-(B) (for criminal conspiracy) of IPC and 35 of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, in the matter.
The FIR against Zubair was lodged on June 20 based on the complaint filed by the Duty Officer of the IFSO unit of the Delhi Police Special Cell which tackles cyber crimes. Zubair was arrested and sent to one day of police custody after a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against him based on a Twitter posting, which another Twitter handle alleged “hurt Hindu sentiments.”
The Amarnath Yatra resumed on the Baltal route in Ganderbal district on Tuesday after a four-day suspension following flash floods that claimed 15 lives and left several injured, officials said.
They said a fresh batch of the pilgrims left the Baltal base camp early morning for the cave shrine.
Flash floods near the shrine on July 8 left at least 15 people dead and over 30 missing, forcing the temporary suspension of the pilgrimage.
The pilgrimage had resumed on Monday via the Pahalgam route.
The much-awaited expansion of the Maharashtra cabinet led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde may take place after the July 18 presidential polls, the Shinde-led camp of Shiv Sena MLAs has indicated.
Currently, CM Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP are the only members of the cabinet. They had taken oath on June 30.
“There is no difficulty in cabinet expansion,” the Shinde faction’s spokesperson, Deepak Kesarkar, told reporters here on Monday.
He was responding to a question on whether the cabinet expansion was being delayed due to the ongoing legal battle between the Shinde camp and the Sena faction led by former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.
Kesarkar said there is an important meeting on July 13 in New Delhi related to the election of the next President and a representative from their group will be attending it.
On July 14, BJP-led NDA’s presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu will visit Mumbai to seek support.
Preparations for the presidential polls will take place on July 16 and 17 before voting on July 18. Electors for the top constitutional post consist of Members of Parliament and MLAs.
“The MLAs will be busy in the presidential polls…so who will have the time to prepare for taking the oath? They are not in a hurry,” Kesarkar said.
Shinde and Fadnavis last week visited New Delhi and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda.
Deliberations on cabinet expansion in Maharashtra were believed to have taken place with the BJP’s top brass during the visit.
Heavy rains along with strong winds lashed Mumbai and its suburbs on Tuesday morning amid an ‘orange’ alert issued by the India Meteorological Department, civic officials said.
There was no report of any major water-logging anywhere in the city so far, they said.
The local train services on the Central Railway and Western Railway corridors were running normally, a civic official said.
Bus services of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) were not diverted anywhere as of now, he said.
After light showers for a couple of days, heavy rains made a comeback to the metropolis on Monday night. The city and suburbs witnessed incessant showers since Tuesday morning.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted moderate to heavy rain in the city and suburbs with a possibility of a very heavy downpour at isolated places and occasional gusty winds reaching 40-50 kmph over the next 24 hours.
On Monday, the IMD issued an ‘orange’ alert for Mumbai, predicting heavy to very heavy rainfall in the city for the next three days.
The island city (south Mumbai) received 42.42 mm of rainfall in the 24-hour period till 8 am on Tuesday as against 12.04 mm the day before.
The eastern and western suburbs recorded 63.90 mm and 52.43 mm showers, respectively, compared to 22.12 mm and 12.76 mm the previous day, a civic official said.
The MeT department issues four colour-coded predictions based on the prevailing weather systems. The green colour indicates no warning, yellow is to keep a watch, orange is to stay alert, while red means a warning and that action needs to be taken.
