India

New Delhi, May 16 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday said that they have attached assets worth Rs 9.77 crore in a money laundering investigation against Ravi Ayyaswamy Ramasubramanian and Rajiv Deepak Mata for siphoning funds from Iced Desserts and Food Parlours India Pvt Ltd (IDFPL) where they were both directors.

It said that the provisionally attached assets include six immovable properties at Pune and movable assets including FDs and investments in equity market/mutual funds worth Rs 4.06 crore.

The ED initiated the money laundering investigation based on the FIR and charge sheet filed by the EOW Pune against Ramasubramanian and Mata for siphoning of Rs 38.68 crore from the IDFPL.

The ED investigation has established that a criminal conspiracy was hatched by Ramasubramanian and Mata, former Directors of IDFPL, to fraudulently siphon off funds from bank accounts of the IDFPL to entities controlled by them, namely VRR Trading Co Pvt Ltd, Sri Venkateshwara Traders, and RM Associates.

"These two persons had been working in IDFPL from a long time and they misused the trust reposed in them. They had authority to operate bank accounts and even prepare and maintain its books of accounts. The books of accounts of IDFPL were manipulated and fudged to hide the actual transactions undertaken with the entities controlled by them," the ED said.

The ED investigation has established that a total of Rs 42.63 crore was siphoned off from IDFPL during period ranging from year 2003 to 2016.

The siphoned off funds was utilised by the accused for investments in purchase of fixed assets, insurance policies, cash withdrawals, and business expenditure.

"Majority of the siphoned off amount was withdrawn in cash and has been exhausted without creating any tangible asset. The ED has identified assets created from the proceeds of crime and equivalent assets and a Provisional attachment order has been issued to preserve the proceeds of crime," the ED said.

--IANS
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Kolkata, May 16 (IANS) The death toll in the explosion at an 'illegal' fire-cracker factory at Egra in East Midnapore district on Tuesday has risen to nine.

Thirteen other critically injured persons are currently undergoing treatment at a local hospital.

Meanwhile, the local people staged a protest after some senior police officers of the district reached the spot on Tuesday evening. There were heated exchange of words and even scuffles between the protesters and the cops.

The protesters alleged that it was because of the indulgence of the local police that such illegal fire-cracker factories were mushrooming in the area, which is close to the Bengal-Odisha border.

However, the large police contingent present there quickly brought the situation under control.

Meanwhile, West Bengal BJP President Sukanta Majumdar has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking a probe into the matter by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has also said that she has no objections to an NIA probe into the matter.

Majumdar has claimed that the impact of the blast shows that it was not an explosion of ordinary fire-crackers.

"We suspect that crude bombs were being manufactured in the factory," he said.

As the police suspect that the owner of the illegal fire-cracker factory, Krishnapada Bag, might have escaped to adjacent Odisha, the officers of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of West Bengal police have contacted their counterparts in Odisha, alerting them about the absconding suspect.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Chief Minister said that Bag was arrested on charges of running an illegal fire-cracker factory in October last year.

"The police even filed a charge sheet against him. But the court granted him bail. After that he again started this illegal fire-cracker factory in the area which is close to Bengal-Odisha border," Banerjee said.

--IANS
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Hyderabad, May 16 (IANS) Young actor Nikhil Siddhartha, whose much awaited movie 'Spy' is set to be released next month, said on Tuesday that he received an invitation to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah but he did not meet him as he wanted to stay away from politics ahead of the film's release.

He, however, thanked Amit Shah for inviting him.

'Spy' teaser released on Monday has created an excitement in the industry amid reports that the movie is about the mystery behind death of freedom fighter Netaji Subhash Chandrase Bose.

The teaser was launched by Nikhil and other members of the movie on Monday at the iconic Subhash Chandrase Bose statue at India Gate in New Delhi.

Ishwarya Menon, who has paired with Nikhil as the female lead, and other members of the cast of pan-India movie were present during the launch.

Nikhil clarified that the stories of Kalyan Ram's upcoming movie Devil and Spy are different. He revealed that only after the release of Spy teaser, they came to know that Kalyam Ram's film is also about Subhash Chandra Bose.

"We did not speak to them. There is no relation between the two movies," he said. Nikhil also clarified that he does not have links with any political party.

"I have no flag or agenda. This movie has been made with honesty. I took training like a real RAW agent. I have not made this movie in support of any party. I am doing this movie as an Indian," he said, adding that he will arrange screening of Spy for both the central ministers and the opposition leaders.

Director Garry revealed that Spy has been made based on the papers released by the central government on Subhash Chandra Bose. Only 10 per cent is fiction. The remaining is based on the information given by the government.

The teaser of the much-awaited movie was released on Monday evening. Nikhil took to Twitter to reveal that the teaser has garnered 10 million real views on YouTube in less than 24 hours. "We are incredibly grateful for all the overwhelming love and support. It means the world to us," he said.

'Spy' is scheduled to be released in all southern languages and also in Hindi on June 29.

Coming after 'Karthikeya 2', the biggest blockbusters of 2022, 'Spy' has generated a lot of excitement among Nikhil's fans.

'Karthikeya 2' gave Nikhil the popularity in Bollywood. He recently received the best actor people's choice award at the Bollywood Life Awards in Hindi.

K Rajashekar Reddy is the producer of 'Spy' being made with a huge budget by Ed Entertainment.

Editor Garry BH is making his debut as the director with this film, which features Aryan Rajesh in a special role.

Rajesh, brother of Allari Naresh, is making his comeback in Tollywood in an important role in this film after a gap of four years.

--IANS
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New Delhi, May 12 (IANS) A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed at the Delhi High Court urging the court to direct the Law Commission of India to create a thorough report to prevent "fake cases" and reduce the police investigation time as well as time of the judiciary.

The PIL, filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, has sought directions to the police to ask the complainant about her willingness to undergo scientific tests such as narco analysis, polygraphy, and brain mapping during the investigation to prove her allegation and record her statement in the FIR.

In order to establish the accused's innocence and include her statement in the chargesheet, it also seeks direction to the police to inquire about the accused's willingness to submit to narcotics analysis, polygraph testing, and brain mapping tests.

According to the plea, this will serve as a deterrence and drastically cut down on false cases, which will also save time for both police and judicial investigations.

"It will also secure the right to life, liberty, and dignity of thousands of innocent citizens who are under tremendous physical mental trauma and financial stress due to fake cases", the plea read.

The plea states that the courts in many instances, have permitted the use of different scientific tests for further investigation.

--IANS
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New Delhi, May 12 (IANS) A woman was caught on CCTV setting fire to a bike in the Jaitpur police station area in southeast Delhi.

The incident occurred late on Thursday night when the woman was seen taking out petrol from a parked bike and using it to ignite the same before fleeing from the scene.

The entire incident was captured on the CCTV installed in the area.

Police sources said that after setting fire to the bike, the woman attempted to set another two-wheeler on fire.

A senior police officer said that a case has been registered and the police are scanning the CCTV footage to identify the woman and trace her.

--IANS
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New Delhi, May 12 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said that they have registered a case against the then Mumbai zonal chief of NCB, Sameer Wankhede, and four others for allegedly demanding Rs 25 crore bribe from the family of Aryan Khan, the son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, in the alleged drugs-on-cruise case.

The case has also been lodged against Vishwa Vijay Singh, the then Superintendent, NCB; Ashish Ranjan, the then Intelligence Officer; two private persons KP Gosavi and Sanbile D'Souza and unknown others.

The CBI officials on condition of anonymity said that Rs 50 lakh was even paid by Khan's family to save him in the drug case. He said that in coming days, they will summon Wankhede to join the probe and get his statement recorded.

The CBI said that the instant case was registered under Prevention of Corruption Act and relevant Sections of the IPC following a complaint from Narcotics Control Bureau's Vigilance Department.

The CBI official said that the officials of the NCB (Mumbai Zone), in order to obtain undue advantage from few persons in a drug case entered into criminal conspiracy and had allegedly obtained undue advantage in the form of bribes from the alleged accused.

An information was received in the Mumbai Zone of NCB during October, 2021 related to consumption and possession of narcotics substances by various individuals on Cordelia cruise.

Aryan Khan was on board Cordelia cruise, when the NCB officials conducted raids.

The NCB officials allegedly entered into conspiracy in order to extort an amount of Rs 25 crore from the family members of Aryan Khan by threatening them of the accusation of offences of possession of narcotics substances, as per the alleged directions of Wankhede.

The CBI official said that a token amount of Rs 50 lakh as bribe was allegedly obtained in furtherance of this conspiracy by the said persons.

The official said that searches were being conducted at 29 locations across Mumbai, Delhi, Ranchi, Lucknow, Chennai and Guwahati. During the searches, a number of incriminating documents, cash have been seized. In Mumbai, raids are on in Andheri and others premises of Wankhede.

IANS made several attempts to reach out to Wankhede, who is currently posted in Chennai's Income Tax department, for his comments on the matter, but he was not available.

Further investigation in the matter is on.

--IANS
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New Delhi, May 12 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the promotion of Gujarat judge Harish Hasmukhbhai Verma, who had convicted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a criminal defamation case, along with 67 other judicial officers.

A bench comprising Justices M.R. Shah and C.T. Ravikumar said: "We are more than satisfied that the impugned select list dated March 10, 2023 issued by the high court and the subsequent notification dated April 18, 2023 issued by the state government granting promotion to the cadre of district judge are illegal and contrary to the relevant rules and regulations, and even to the decision of this court in the case of 'All India Judges' Association and Others'... Therefore, we are more than prima facie satisfied that the same as such are not sustainable."

The bench said that taking into consideration the fact that the state government had issued a notification on April 18, during the pendency of the present writ petition and after the receipt of the notice issued by this court in the present proceedings, the state government could have waited till the next date of hearing by this court on April 28.

The bench said: "The respective promotees be sent to their original posts which they were holding prior to their promotion vide the select list dated 10.03.2023 and notification dated 18.04.2023. However, it is clarified that the present stay order shall be confined with respect to those promotees whose names do not figure within the first 68 candidates in the merit list on the basis of the merits, the copy of which is produced by the high court along with the counter."

The top court said the high court has adopted the wrong method and "merely because a wrong method is being adopted, it cannot be a ground to perpetuate the same, if it is found to be illegal and/or contrary to the directions issued by this court, more particularly, in the case of All India Judges' Association and Others".

The bench said at present, the respective promotees have not assumed their posting on the promotional post and as such are sent for training.

"We stay the further implementation and operation of the select list dated March 10 issued by the High Court of Gujarat and the subsequent notification dated April 18, issued by the state government," it said.

The bench passed the interim order staying the promotions, and said that the matter be heard by an appropriate bench since Justice Shah is scheduled to retire on May 15.

The top court order came on a plea filed by senior civil judge cadre officers, Ravikumar Maheta and Sachin Pratapraya Mehta, challenging the selection of 68 judicial officers to the higher cadre of district judges. The bench directed the matter to be placed before a bench led by Chief Justice of India, D.Y. Chandrachud, subject to orders on the administrative side.

The top court observed that in the present case, in conducting the written test, the high court has considered the merits only for the purpose of achieving benchmark and thereafter switched to the principle of seniority-cum-merit and thereby has given a go-by to the principle of merit-cum-seniority.

The bench said, "We do not find anything in the Recruitment Rules, 2005 and/or even the Recruitment Notice to consider the merit only for the purpose of achieving a benchmark of 50 per cent."

The petitioners had challenged the promotion of senior civil judges to the cadre of district judge (65 per cent quota) as being violative of Article 14 of the Constitution as well as Rule 5 of the Gujarat State Judicial Service Rules, 2005.

Verma, the CJM of Surat, is presently working as under secretary in the legal department of the Gujarat government and as the assistant director in the state legal services authority.

The top court had issued notices to the state government and the Registrar General of the Gujarat High Court on April 13 on the plea of the two judicial officers.

--IANS
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New Delhi, May 12 (IANS) NCB's Vigilance Department had forwarded a report to the CBI, which led to the registration of an FIR against former NCB's Mumbai zonal chief Sameer Wankhede and four others, for allegedly demanding Rs 25 crore from Shah Rukh Khan's family to save his son Aryan Khan in the alleged drugs-on-cruise case.

Aryan Khan was on board, Cordelia cruise, when the NCB officials conducted raids.

Name of dismissed NCB official VV Singh has also been mentioned in the FIR as an accused among others. The FIR has been lodged against Wankhede and four others including two public and two private persons.

A top CBI source told IANS that during the raid on the Cordelia cruise, the NCB officials led by Wankhede allegedly threatened the individuals, who were on board, and demanded Rs 25 crore from Aryan Khan's family for not lodging any case against him.

The source said that the case was lodged against Wankhede and four others under corruption and other Acts.

"Out of Rs 25 crore, Khan family paid Rs 50 lakh to the NCB officials. Khan family claimed that they paid Rs 50 lakh to save Aryan Khan," said the source.

IANS made several attempts to reach out to Wankhede for his comments on the matter, but he was not available. Wankhede is currently posted in Chennai.

The raids by CBI are currently going on at 29 locations in Mumbai, Delhi, Ranchi (Jharkhand) and Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh). In Mumbai, raids are on in Andheri and other premises of Wankhede.

The sources have claimed that a few documents were seized by them.

--IANS
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By Praveen Dwivedi
Bhopal, May 12 (IANS) The first woman mountaineer from Madhya Pradesh, Megha Parmar, has been dropped as the brand ambassador of the 'Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao' campaign of the state government, a day after she joined the Congress at an event in Chhindwara.


The 28-year-old, who hails from Ichhawar town in Sehor -- home district of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan -- will now be pursuing a career in politics and will be campaigning for the Congress on the poll promise for women -"Nari Samman Yojna".

Sharing her experience as brand ambassador of the government-run scheme "Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao", Parmar claimed the ground reality for women in the rural areas was very different from what the government presents. She alleged that the government wants only positive things to come out and not pays much attention to women's poor condition.

"I have visited all 52 districts of Madhya Pradesh and I found that even after 75 years of Independence, the women in Madhya Pradesh are surviving in a worst situation. Officials would do nothing, they would follow only political instructions. The government should work on the ground instead of expending huge amounts on image building publicity, and then the situation of women would change," Parmar told IANS.

Parmar said she had no political inclination and she joined the Congress because of ex-CM Kamal Nath. "I was made a brand ambassador during the Kamal Nath government, however, after 2020 things were very different," she stated.

When asked what made her join politics, Parmar said she had no intention to join politics, but Kamal Nath's office approached her. "I know Kamal Nath personally since 2019 and I knew that he is a man of commitment. He does what he promises. This is what made me join the Congress," Parmar added.

When asked about her role in the Congress, Parmar said she is familiar with the ground reality across the state and whatever task will be assigned to her, she would be ready to accept it. On whether she will contest the assembly election, Parmar said "Yes, if the party finds me a suitable candidate from Ichhawar assembly, I would be ready to grab this opportunity. But I have joined the Congress as a worker because of Kamal Nath."

The Ichhawar and Budhni assembly seats of Sehore district have been won by the BJP for the last several years and the Congress this time has planned to make a dent in Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's home district Sehore.

--IANS
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New Delhi, May 12 (IANS) The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Friday declared the Class 10 exam results in which 93.12 per cent of students passed.

Girls have once again performed better than boys, with a pass percentage of 94.25 per cent compared to boys' 92.27.

Besides, around 90 per cent of transgender students have passed the Class 10 exam.

This year, 21,65,805 students from across the country appeared for the CBSE Class 10 board examinations, of which 20,16,779 have passed.

The CBSE said that 1,95,799 students have scored more than 90 per cent marks. A total of 2 per cent of students (44,297) have secured more than 95 per cent marks.

According to CBSE, Thiruvananthapuram region stood first in the country with 99.91 pass percentage, while Bengaluru came second at 99.18 per cent. Chennai division was in the third place with a pass percentage of 99.14.

This year, 278 students in 'Children with Special Needs' secured more than 90 per cent marks, while 58 students from this category scored over 95 per cent marks.

Besides, a total of 1,34,774 students have passed the compartment exam.

--IANS
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