India

Kochi, Sep 24 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate, investigating the Masala bonds case involving former Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac, on Saturday told the High Court that he is running away from the probe.

The ED had served two notices to Isaac to appear before them with regards to the masala bonds taken by the Kerala government when he was the Minister (2016-21).

Isaac, however, failed to appear before it and approached the court which asked the ED to go slow on it and file its affidavit.

In the affidavit, the ED said that he is duty bound to appear before them as this forms part of the probe and his response was "immature".

It further stated that the probe is in its preliminary stage and it is to find out if there were any violation in the FEMA guidelines and the ED has every right to ask questions.

The ED said that Isaac is running away from the probe and requested the court not to consider his plea that he will not appear before them.

Isaac's petition was that the ED had send two summons asking him to appear before it with numerous documents, including personal ones.

He had then contested the probe as one where the ED has now become a tool for the BJP to target political rivals.

The former minister pointed out that the apex court has clearly said ED is to tackle cases under Public Money Laundering Act and not under FEMA. It is the RBI which deals with FEMA.

Now, all eyes are on what position the court will take as the ED is insisting on Isaac appearing before it.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 24 (IANS) In a bid to prevent antisocial elements or terrorists from using cyber cafes to create disturbance, the Delhi Police has issued certain guidelines for the cyber cafe owners, asking them to maintain a register for vistors' identity.

"It has come to notice that certain criminal antisocial elements or terrorists are using these facilities to mislead the security/ investigating agencies, create panic in the public, endanger the security of VVIPs and Govt. Institutions, help in the terrorist activities directly affecting the security of the state," an official order by ACP (Lajpat Nagar) Jai Narayan Bhardwaj read.

The official said that it is necessary to take speedy measures in this behalf to prevent danger to human life and safety, to thwart and prevent terrorist activities which may affect the security of the state and disturb public order and tranquility. In view of this, the police asked the owners of Cyber Cafes in the entire area of Sub-Division Lajpat Nagar to maintain a register for the identity of the visitor.

"Make an entry in the handwriting of the visitor mentioning name, address, telephone number and identity proof. The user shall also sign the register kept for this purpose. The identity of the visitor shall be established through identity card, voter card, ration card, driving license, passport and photo credit card (any one of them)," the official order, accessed by IANS, read.

It further asked the Cyber Cafe owners to preserve the activity server log for a period of six months. "The users of Cyber Cafe are photographed on a continuous basis and records of the same will be kept properly. Scan the copies of Identity Cards of their customers while they visited the cyber cafe," the order read.

According to police, the order shall remain into force for a period of 60 days till November 15.

--IANS
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By Zubair Qureshi
Srinagar, Sep 24 (IANS) Union Home Minister Amit Shah is visiting Jammu and Kashmir for two days on October 1-2. As per BJP sources, he will address a public rally on October 1 in Rajouri of Jammu division and the next day Kashmir's in Kupwara district, and will spend a day each in the two divisions of the union territory. During his visit, the Home Minister will also announce the inclusion of the 'Pahari' language speaking tribe in the Scheduled Tribes (SC) category.


As soon as this news came to light, hope has awakened among the hill people living in Jammu and Kashmir of the fulfilment of something that they longed for so many years. Ever since Jammu and Kashmir got the status of a Union Territory, the Central and UT administrations have been taking historic measures for the people of the lower, settled and especially the nomadic classes.

In 1991, when the Centre granted ST status to 7 tribes of the then state of Jammu and Kashmir, including the Gujjar Bakarwals, the 'hill' community was left out despite being on the first place in the recommendation.

Since then, the people of the hill tribe have been pleading with Central governments to include them in the ST category, but to no avail.

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned the demands of hill tribes from the ramparts of the Red Fort and Shah assured the hill community during a rally in Jammu that they would give their rights, his much-anticipated visit has now brought the hill tribes to the fore.

According to the All Jammu and Kashmir Pahari Cultural and Welfare Forum, governments from time to time assured them that their legitimate right to include the Pahari tribe, but the reality is that their voice is heard in the desert. It was proven.

Zafar Iqbal Minhas, the leading leader of the hill tribe and former MLC Zafar Iqbal Minhas, says that the youth of the tribe are facing a dark future due to the fact that the hill tribe is deprived of their rightful rights.

He said that the hill youths are also suffering from mental retardation due to this misbehaviour.

Talking to Milap News Network, the leading "Pahari" leader Abdul Majeed Zindadil said that by not including the tribe in this category, this tribe will lose their right to vote in the rural areas as the ST category is a political reservation.

After being given, the graph of injustices meted out to the "hill" tribe will increase manifold. He said that after the nomination of Ghulam Ali from the Gujjar tribe to the upper house, he is fully convinced that the BACHPA government will fulfil the promise made to the "Pahari" tribe.

In view of this, there is ample justification for giving ST status to the hill people as the data shows that neither industries have been introduced in the hill populated areas nor any other means of gainful employment has been provided. Can be done. Due to lack of financial resources, hill people are often left behind in giving proper education to their children. And so this class has been suffering from economic, social, educational even from the same point of view. In the mountainous areas, there is no arrangement for mobile schools, so most of the children belonging to this class are only able to see the face of the school.

It is also an alarming fact that as a result of giving the status of tribals to the Gujjar Bakarwal class, the hill people are now losing jobs even in the lower categories. And in spite of having the same lifestyle in the same region, these people who suffer from insomnia are seen to be different from mental retardation.

In such a situation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emerged as a new ray of hope for them.

--IANS
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Kolkata, Sep 24 (IANS) Amir Khan, the prime accused in duping several people through a mobile gaming app and from whose residence the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had recovered Rs 17.32 crore of cash on September 10, has been finally arrested from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh by a team of Kolkata Police.

A city police official informed on Saturday morning that Amir Khan was absconding when the ED sleuths were recovering cash from his residence at Shahi Astabal Lane in Garden Reach area in Kolkata.

However, the police started tracing him by tracking the tower locations but faced difficulties in the process as the accused constantly changed his hideout from one city to another.

However, he has been arrested from Ghaziabad and the arresting team of city police has started the process of bringing him back to Kolkata through transit remand. However, Kolkata Police is yet to specify the exact time of his arrest.

Kolkata Police said that the residence from where ED sleuths recovered huge cash was actually owned by Amir Khan's father Naser Khan, who is a transport trader by profession.

Besides the huge amount of cash, the ED sleuths had also recovered certain documents and a diary from the room where the cash was stashed on September 10.

The ED conducted raids on September 10 under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at six premises in Kolkata.

A case was registered at the Park Street police station in Kolkata based on a complaint filed by Federal Bank authorities against Amir Khan and others.

Amir Khan had launched a mobile gaming application named E-Nuggets, which was designed for the purpose of defrauding the public.

During the initial period, the users were rewarded with commission and the balance in the wallet could be withdrawn in a hassle-free manner which provided initial confidence to the users, who started investing bigger amounts for greater percentage of commission and a greater number of purchase orders.

After collecting handsome amounts from the public, all of a sudden withdrawal from the said app was stopped on one pretext or the other. Thereafter, all data, including profile information, was wiped out from the said app server.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 24 (IANS) India on Saturday reported 4,912 fresh Covid infections in the past 24 hours against the previous day's 5,383 count, as per the Union Health Ministry data.

In the same period, 38 more Covid-related deaths took the toll figure to 5,28,487.

Meanwhile, the active caseload of the country presently stands at 44,436 cases, accounting for 0.10 per cent of the total positive cases.

The recovery of 5,719 patients in the last 24 hours took the cumulative tally to 4,39,90,414. Consequently, the recovery rate stands at 98.71 per cent.

Meanwhile, the Daily Positivity rate has been reported to be 1.62 per cent and the Weekly Positivity Rate also stands at 1.69 per cent.

Also in the same period, a total of 3,03,888 tests were conducted across the country, increasing the overall tally to over 89.33 crore.

As of this morning, the Covid-19 vaccination coverage exceeded 217.41 crore.

Over 4.09 crore adolescents have been administered with a first dose of Covid-19 jab since the beginning of vaccination drive for this age bracket.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 24 (IANS) Sources in the National Investigation Agency (NIA) have said that the raids at the premises of the Popular Front of India (PFI) conducted earlier this week was named as 'Operation Octopus'.

The sources said that all the 300 officials who were pressed into service were asked to keep quiet during the raids as the agencies wanted to uproot the entire network of the PFI.

More than 100 PFI members were arrested and around 200 were detained under 'Operation Octopus'.

The ED and NIA has found that the PFI members were involved in anti-national activities.

These raids were conducted at the houses and offices of top PFI leaders and members in connection with five cases registered by the NIA following continued inputs and evidence that the organisation members were involved in terror funding, organising training camps and radicalising people.

The NIA has claimed that the accused were organising camps for imparting training to commit violent and terrorist acts with the objective of promoting enmity between different groups on the basis of religion.

The probe agency said that crminal violent acts carried out by PFI such as chopping off the hand of a college professor, cold blooded killings of persons associated with organisations espousing the other faiths, collection of explosives to target prominent people and places, support to the Islamic State terror group and destruction of public property have had a demonstrative effect of striking terror in the minds of the citizens.

--IANS
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Bhopal, Sep 24 (IANS) The Madhya Pradesh BJP is making all-out efforts to dent MPCC chief Kamal Nath's bastion Chhindwara by campaining vigorously for the upcoming nagariya nikay (urban body) elections.

As part of the campaigning, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan held a road show besides addressing rallies to woo the voters.

While addressing a poll gathering in Damuha town in Chhindwara on Thursday, Shivaraj urged people of the area to support BJP supported candidates contesting for councillors post in urban polls. "You neither gave an MLA nor MP for BJP, despite our government doing such of development works in Chhindwara district. I would urge you to elect at least BJP's councillors in nagariya nikay elections," Shivraj had said.

Notably, Chhindwara has eight Assembly seats, all of which were won by the Congress in the 2018 polls. This was the only district in Madhya Pradesh, where the grand-old-party had won all the Assembly and Lok Sabha seats. Kamal Nath's son Nakul Nath is MP (Member of Parliament) from Chhindwara.

In a back to back setback, the ruling BJP has also lost its mayoral post in Chhindwara Municipal Corporation, held a couple of months ago. Of total 48 municipal wards, the BJP could managed to bag only 18 seats, while the Congress won 26, while four wards were won by independent candidates.

After Shivraj Singh Chouhan, now BJP's state president Vishnu Dutt Sharma would be visiting to Chhindwara to strengthen the saffron cadre in the district. During a day-long campaign on Saturday, Sharma would be participating in several poll gatherings.

He will be meeting with BJP's district party workers to review to poll preparations and will give necessary instructions to register win in nagariye nikay elections. "A massive road show will be held in Junnardev area. He will also meet BJP's candidates and will address the gathering," said a BJP leader.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 23 (IANS) A fire broke out at a footwear manufacturing factory in the Narela area of the national capital on Friday, a fire department official said, adding that there were injuries or casualties.

The official informed that they received a call about the fire incident at 8.37 a.m. in the said factory at C 358, Narela Industrial Area, near MSC mall in northern Delhi after which as many as 10 fire tenders were immediately pressed into the service."

The fire has been brought under control," Delhi Fire Service chief Atul Garg said. He further informed that so far no injury or casualty has been reported in the incident.

As per the visuals from the spot, thick clouds of smoke could be seen billowing out of the ill-fated building as the firemen tried to extinguish the blaze.

The local police also reached the spot and cordoned off the people from the site of the incident.

--IANS
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By Santosh Kumar Pathak
New Delhi, Sep 22 (IANS) The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which is the key driving force behind the country's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is a prominent organisation which has ardent followers and staunch critics in equal proportion.


However, the recent meeting of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat with Muslim intellectuals and his Tursday's meeting with the head of All India Imam Organisation at a mosque in Delhi, which was followed by a visit to a madrasa here, have drawn everyone's attention -- in the political as well as apolitical circles.

Bhagwat on Thursday visited a madrasa in the old Delhi area where he interacted with the teachers and students. Earlier, he met the chief of the All India Imam Organisation, Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, at a mosque in Kasturba Gandhi Marg.

On August 22, the RSS chief had met a group of Muslim intellectuals.

The recent developments are being termed as RSS' attempt to strengthen the communal harmony in the country.

Also, the meetings, interactions and the deliberations have been happening in the backdrop of allegations by the Opposition leaders, including former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, that the BJP and the RSS are trying to fan communal tension in the country.

Several questions have been popping up of late following Bhagwat's hobnobbing with the key personalities of the Muslim community. The prominent among them are:

* Is RSS' stance towards Muslims changing?

* What could be the agenda of RSS behind these meeting?

* What exactly Mohan Bhagwat is trying to achieve?

To get a deeper insight into the recent developments, IANS reached out to RSS Prachar Pramukh Sunil Ambekar, who maintained that the Sangh has always opposed terrorism and separatism.

He said: "Everyone should strive to create a spirit and environment of cordiality by opposing extremism. This is everyone's collective responsibility."

"RSS never had any problems with anyone's ways of worship or offering prayers," he added.

Responding to questions doing the rounds around Bhagwat's meeting with the Muslim intellectuals, Ambekar said: "The RSS is always ready for holding discussions for the betterment of the society and the nation. The Sangh has always kept its doors open for this purpose. Even on the Ayodhya issue, we had held discussions with everyone."

"To promote cordiality, we always insist on holding discussions with various sections of the society. There is nothing new in this. It's part of a routine process," he said.

RSS leader and patron of Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM), Indresh Kumar, said that right from former RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan's tenure, the members of Muslim and Christian communities have been trying to understand the Sangh not through any religious or political leaders, but on their own.

"That is why an organisation like MRM came into existence," he said.

Meanwhile, sources in the know of things also said that in the coming days, the RSS chief may hold deliberations with the Christian religious leaders as well as intellectuals of the minority community.

It is being said that to communicate seamlessly with the religious leaders and intellectuals of both Muslim and Christian communities, the RSS has set up a committee of four senior Sangh leaders. Besides Indresh Kumar, the panel comprises senior leaders Krishn Gopal, Manmohan Vaidya and Ram Lal.

In fact, the RSS had initiated an effort to bring a change in the mindset of the Muslim community since the era of former Prime Minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee. However, the overall scenario was much different then as key issues such as Ram Janmabhoomi was yet to see any solution.

Also, several matters were pushed into the cold storage since the government was functioning on the back-up of alliance parties.

In fact, the MRM has held several functions wherein communications were established with the members of Muslim as well as Christian community. Sources said that those programmes have been mostly successful.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 22 (IANS) The Defence Ministry on Thursday signed a Rs 1,700 crore deal for acquisition of additional dual-role capable surface to surface BrahMos missiles.

"Providing further impetus to Aatmanirbharta in defence production, the Ministry of Defence signed a contract today with BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd (BAPL) for acquisition of additional dual-role capable surface to curface BrahMos missiles at an overall approximate cost of Rs 1,700 crore under Buy-Indian Category," the ministry said in a statement.

The induction of these dual-role capable missiles is supposed to significantly enhance the operational capability of Indian Navy.

The BAPL is a joint venture between India and Russia making crucial contribution to augment the new generation surface-to-surface Missiles (SSMs) with enhanced range and dual role capability for land as well as anti-ship attacks.

This contract is going to give further boost to indigenous production of critical weapon system and ammunition with active participation of indigenous industry, said the ministry.

--IANS
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