India

Bengaluru, Sep 7 (IANS) Karnataka Food and Civil Supplies Minister Umesh Katti died of heart attack on Tuesday late night in Bengaluru.

According to family sources, 61-year-old Umesh Katti complained of chest pain and collapsed in the bathroom at his Dollars Colony residence at 10.30 p.m.

He was immediately shifted to the M.S. Ramaiah hospital. However, Umesh Katti succumbed to heart attack at the hospital.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai rushed to the hospital immediately after getting the information. Opposition leader Siddaramaiah, who was in Mysuru, has also left for Bengaluru.

The body would be taken to his native Tilakawadi in Belagavi on Wednesday morning. It would be kept for public view at his residence in Shivabasavanagar in Tilakawadi.

Umesh Katti was the senior most elected representative in Karnataka legislature. He entered politics in 1985 after the death of his father Vishwanath Katti.

Umesh Katti batted for separate north Karnataka state and also claimed that he would become Chief Minister of the new state stirring controversy. He worked as a minister in cabinets of B.S. Yediyurappa, D.V. Sadananda Gowda, Jagadish Shettar during the tenure of BJP government.

He represented Chikkodi assembly constituency for eight times. He represented Janata Party, Janata Dal, Janata Dal (U) and BJP.

Umesh Katti also contested election as a Congress party candidate in 2004.

--IANS
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Srinagar, Sep 6 (IANS) After remaining suspended for more than 33 years, the annual Urs of Sufi saint Syed Qamar-ud-Din Bukhari will be observed in J&K's Ganderbal district from Wednesday.

The four-day long Urs has a historical background and it had to be suspended because of opposition from followers of radical Islam.

Despite the strait jacket concept of Islam advocated by the Ahle Hadis school of thought, the iconic Urs at the Sufi's shrine in Ganderbal stands out to prove that Sufism has deeper roots in Kashmir.

Till its suspension, the Urs at Ganderbal would attract hundreds of devotees who would come to pay obeisance at the saint's mausoleum.

Sweetmeat sellers, fruit sellers, garment stalls and entertainment avenues for children would be the other highlights of the Urs.

The water transport from Srinagar through Jhelum and Sindh stream would enable scores of people who would come in 'Dongas' (non-luxury houseboats) to attend the Urs.

These Dongas would remain stationed on the Sindh stream for around a week when people from Srinagar would spend sometime away from city's hustle and bustle.

Authorities have made arrangements this year to facilitate the movement of Dongas to revive this important aspect of the Urs.

People living in villages close to the shrine would invite relatives and friends on this annual Urs while family get togethers gave an important value addition to the devotees' prayers.

The Urs formally begins Wednesday evening with nightlong prayers and chanting of 'Doruds' (prayers of the Holy Prophet).

"We had to restrict the Urs for the last 33 years because of turmoil. We would, however, perform the nightlong prayers at the shrine during all those years.

"This year, the grandeur and gaiety for which Syed Qamar-Ud-Din Bukhari's Urs is known throughout the Valley is again returning to Ganderbal," said a member of the shrine's management committee.

One significant highlight of this Urs in the past used to be the participation of Kashmiri Pandits alongside their Muslim brethren.

While it is not known from where the saint came to this village, folklore has it that the entire area would get devastated because of the annual floods in the Sindh stream.

"Locals implored the saint to save them from the vagaries of annual floods and after this the saint started praying by the banks of the Sindh stream (where the shrine is located today).

"After he stationed himself by the banks of the stream, there were no annual floods. Pleased with the saint's blessings, locals decided to celebrate the Urs at the shrine each year," said the management committee member.

Whether the saint's miracle or the extensive flood protection works undertaken by the government after Independence prevented the annual floods in the Sindh stream, the fact remains that the reverence for the saint has withstood all tides of fundamentalism and radicalisation in Kashmir.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 6 (IANS) As part of its ongoing probe, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is conducting raids at multiple locations across the country in connection with the Delhi Excise policy scam case.

The raids have been going on since Tuesday morning across the country in 38 locations.

According to a source, the agency has called technical and forensic experts at the premises of Sameer Mahendru, the MD of Indospirits, here.

The source, however, said no raid was conducted at Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's house.

"We are conducting raids in Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, Gurugram in Haryana, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and at other locations. This raids started early this morning and are currently going on," the source said.

The ED's case is on the basis of the FIR of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The CBI has made Sisodia accused number one in its FIR. The CBI's FIR has been lodged under sections 120-B (Criminal Conspiracy) and 477-A (Falsification of accounts) of the IPC. The allegations against Sisodia is that liquor businessmen were allegedly given exemption of Rs 30 crore.

The licence holders were allegedly given extension according to their own will. The policy rules were made by violating excise rules.

The allegations against Sisodia are that liquor businessmen were allegedly given exemption of Rs 30 crore.

It also said that Sisodia and few liquor barrons were actively involved in managing and diverting the undue pecuniary advantage collected from liquor licensees to public servants, who have been made accused in the case.

"Manish Sisodia, Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Arva Gopi Krishna, the then Commissioner (Excise), Anand Tiwari, the then Deputy Commissioner (Excise), and Pankaj Bhatnagar, Assistant Commissioner (Excise) were instrumental in recommending and taking decisions pertaining to excise policy for the year 2021-22 without approval of competent authority with an intention to extend undue favours to the licencees post tender," read the FIR, which has been accessed by IANS.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 6 (IANS) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday met his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal at his residence on the second day of his visit to the national capital.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Janata Dal-United leader Sanjay Jha were also present in the meeting.

"Many thanks to Nitish ji for visiting my house. Many serious issues of the country including education, health, Operation Lotus, openly buying MLAs by these people and bringing down the governments elected by the people, increasing autocratic corruption of BJP governments, inflation, unemployment were discussed", Kejriwal said in a tweet.

Nitish Kumar had met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday. Before meeting Kejriwal, he met CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury.

After the meeting with Yechury, Nitish Kumar reiterated that he is not a claimant of Prime Minister's post and does not desire it.

"We have discussed that if all the parties including the Left parties, regional parties in states, and Congress come together then it will be a big political formation," he said.

Yechury said that this is positive sign and a positive political development in the country.

Nitish Kumar reached the national capital on Monday to confer with opposition leaders on taking on the BJP together.

He is also scheduled to call on the President and the Vice President.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 6 (IANS) A day after meeting Rahul Gandhi, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday met CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury here.

After the meeting, Kumar said that he "was not a claimant for the Prime Minister's post and had no desire for it."

"We have discussed that if all the parties, including the Left parties, regional parties in the states, and Congress come together, then it will be a big political formation," said the chief minister.

Yechury said that this was a positive sign and a good political development in the country.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who reached the national capital on Monday to confer with opposition leaders on making a unified front against the BJP, had a nearly one-hour-long meeting with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

Prior to reaching New Delhi, Nitish Kumar called on Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad at the official residence of his wife and former Chief Minister Rabri Devi in Patna. She along with Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav were also present in the meeting.

During his two-day Delhi visit, Nitish Kumar plans to meet various opposition leaders, including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. He is also scheduled to call on the President Droupadi Murmu and the Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar.

--IANS
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Jammu, Sep 6 (IANS) The BSF gave a befitting reply after Pakistani rangers resorted to unprovoked ceasefire violation at the International Border in the Arnia sector of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, officials said.

"Today morning the alert BSF Jammu troops gave a befitting reply to the unprovoked firing by Pak rangers on a BSF patrolling party in Arnia Sector," said officials.

The Border Security Force (BSF) said that there was no loss or injury to any of its personnel.

There has been a relative calm on the borders following a renewed ceasefire agreement between the Indian and Pakistani sides last year. Though there have been some infiltration bids which were foiled and several cases of weapons droppings for terrorists using drones.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 6 (IANS) The Centre has told the Supreme Court that some petitioners challenging the validity of the extension of tenure of the present Enforcement Directorate (ED) director Sanjay Kumar Mishra, have moved the court on behalf of the president and office-bearers of the Indian National Congress (INC), who are being investigated by the ED.

The affidavit filed by Sandeep Gehlot, under-secretary, Department of Revenue, said the petitioners failed to disclose serious cases of money laundering under investigation against several leaders of the party.

"The real motive of the petition is to question the investigation being carried out against the president and certain office-bearers of the INC party..instead of availing alternate remedies like filing an appropriate petition for quashing, etc., under the Code of Criminal Procedure..."

The affidavit added that one of the petitioners is the general secretary of the Madhya Pradesh Mahila Congress Committee, who moved the court under Article 32 espousing the cause of her political masters when there is nothing barring the concerned persons who are under investigation from approaching competent court for any appropriate relief.

"The present petition is the misuse of Article 32 of the Constitution, which is clearly being filed in a representative capacity for and on behalf of the president and the office-bearers of the INC, who are being investigated by the ED, and are fully competent to approach respective courts for appropriate statutory relief...therefore, the present petition is clearly motivated by an oblique personal interest rather than any public interest," added the affidavit.

The affidavit added that the petitions have been filed by leaders of certain recognised political parties and the apex court had held that PIL should not be used for political or personal interest, and should not become a tool at the hands of vested interests for their political or personal gain. The top court has scheduled the matter for hearing next week.

On Monday, the Supreme Court appointed senior advocate K.V. Viswanathan as amicus curiae in connection with a clutch of petitions challenging the validity of the extension given to the tenure of the present Enforcement Directorate (ED) director Sanjay Kumar Mishra.

The affidavit has been filed in response to the batch of eight petitions filed by Trinamool Congress and Congress leaders -- Dr. Jaya Thakur, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Saket Gokhale, Mahua Moitra -- and other petitions filed by advocate M.L. Sharma, Krishna Chander Singh, and Vineet Narain, challenging the extension of tenure of the ED director.

The petitioners have argued that the extension given to Mishra is a blatant violation of the top court's directions by promulgating an ordinance to amend the Central Vigilance Commission Act to allow an extension up to 5 years for the term of ED Director.

--IANS
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Prayagraj, Sep 6 (IANS) Taking serious note of frequent use of marriage certificates issued by the Arya Samaj societies, the Allahabad High Court has said that they are misusing beliefs in organising marriages without considering the genuineness of documents.

Hearing a habeas corpus petition, the court observed that Arya Samaj societies were issuing marriage certificates without proper solemnisation of marriages, and added that marriage could not be proved only on the basis of this certificate.

Justice Saurabh Shyam Shamshery said, "The court is flooded with marriage certificates issued by different Arya Samaj Societies which have been seriously questioned during different proceedings of this court as well as by other high courts. The institution has misused its beliefs in organising marriages without even considering the genuineness of documents."

The habeas corpus petition was filed by one Bhola Singh who had produced a certificate issued by Arya Samaj Mandir, Ghaziabad, to claim that he was legally married to "petitioner number 2".

"Since the marriage has not been registered, it cannot be deemed only on the basis of the said certificate that the two parties have married," the court observed in its decision.

"In the present case, the corpus is a major and an FIR has been lodged against the petitioner number 1 (husband) by the father of petitioner number 2 (wife), and investigation is undergoing. Therefore, there is no case of illegal detention," the court said.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 6 (IANS) The row over the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy has got murkier with BJP releasing a "sting video" while alleging that the AAP government is hand in glove in the corruption.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra while playing the purported video alleged that "Kulvinder Marwah, the father of accused number 13 Sunny Marwah, admits that the money is being given to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia".

"Why the commission to the dealers were increased from 2 per cent to 12 per cent, and why without cabinet approval Rs 144 crore were waived off without cabinet approval," Patra asked.

The BJP spokesperson alleged that "Kulvinder Marwah is heard saying that a commission of was fixed for liquor suppliers to be eligible for L-1 vendor category".

"Sunny Marwah is currently associated with six companies as director," Patra said.

Reacting on the "sting video", Sisodia said, "The BJP has been shouting for a long time that there has been a scam. The CBI searched and took out the transaction between the two companies. After they didn't find anything in my locker, they made a video by sitting in a car on the road. What type of sting operation is this, I too have such videos."

Sisodia claimed that a Deputy Legal advisor of the Anti-Corruption Branch of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) committed suicide two days ago because "he was pressurised to frame him in a false case".

"A CBI officer committed suicide two days earlier. It has come to know that the officer - Jitendra Kumar - was the Deputy Legal Advisor in the Anti-Corruption Branch of the CBI. He was looking after the legality of the fake FIR against me. He was being pressurised to approve the arrest by making a case against me in an illegal way," he said during the press conference.

"He could not take the mental pressure and died by suicide two days ago. This is really unfortunate, I am deeply hurt," Sisodia alleged.

The CBI in August had raided Sisodia's residence after it registered an FIR to investigate alleged irregularities in the formulation and execution of the Delhi Excise Policy.

The Deputy Chief Minister also hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he only "thinks of destabilising governments in non-BJP states by poaching MLAs".

"I want to ask the Prime Minister three questions: Why is there so much pressure being put on the officers that they are forced to commit suicide? Whether the Centre's job is to run Operation Lotus only?... How many sacrifices will it take to crush the elected governments?," Sisodia said.

"It is very regrettable, my condolences to his family. I want to tell the Prime Minister that trap me. If you want to arrest, tell me where to come, I will come, but do not put any more pressure on such officers, it is ruining their life. When would you think of starting a school?," he asked.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) came down heavily on Sisodia for levelling the allegations.

The probe agency said that this is nothing but a mischievous attempt by Sisodia.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 6 (IANS) A vehicle thief, who had been on the run for more than seven years in connection with around two hundred cases, was held by the Delhi Police.

The accused, considered as the country's biggest car thief, reportedly married three women. He was arrested twice in his 27 years of criminal history.

The accused, identified as Anil Chauhan, was reportedly involved in around 6,000 cases, however, the police have said on the record that they could find only around 200 cases against him as of now.

A senior official said that he has been stealing cars for two decades.

"Chauhan used to steal cars and would sell them in Assam and northeast India. He gave the cops a slip on many occasions. When Delhi Police started working on him, he got a whip and fled to Assam. There he started smuggling horns of rhinoceros," the official added.

The official said that the accused had acquired a lot of wealth which was seized by the ED.

In 2015, he was held by Assam Police along with a local MLA. After this, he again got indulged in vehicle stealing and also started smuggling arms.

The official said that he came to Delhi to deliver arms in a stolen car. The special staff of Central Delhi Police got a tip-off about this. They conducted a raid and held him from the Central Delhi area. The police recovered six pistols and seven live cartridges from him.

--IANS
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