India

New Delhi, Oct 7 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday chargesheeted 16 persons, including Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi, in connection with a job scam that took place during Lalu Prasad's tenure as Railway Minister in the UPA government.

The CBI said that during investigation, it has been found that the accused persons in conspiracy with then General Manager and Chief Personnel Officer of Central Railway engaged persons in lieu of land either in their name, or in the name of their close relatives.

It has been alleged that more than 1 lakh square feet of land belonging to job aspirants' families in Patna was reportedly transferred to Lalu Prasad's family in return for jobs.

This land was acquired at prices lower than the prevailing circle rate and much lower than the market rate.

"The candidates used false TC and submitted false attested documents to the Ministry of Railways," the CBI alleged in the chargesheet.

The CBI has learnt that Lalu Prasad's wife Rabri Devi and daughter Hema Yadav were gifted land by job seekers who were later appointed in Railways.

Haridayanand Chaudhary, a Railway employee, and Bhola Yadav, then OSD to Lalu Prasad, were earlier arrested by the CBI. Bhola was Lalu's OSD between 2004 and 2009.

The CBI had registered the case against Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi, their two daughters -- Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav -- and 15 others, including unknown public servants and private persons.

"During 2004-2009, Lalu Prasad had obtained pecuniary advantages in the form of transfer of landed property in the name of his family members in lieu of appointment of substitutes in Group D Post in different zones of Railways," a CBI official said.

A number of residents of Patna, either themselves or through their family members, sold or gifted land to the family members of Lalu Prasad and a private company controlled by him and his family. They were also involved in transfer of such immovable properties.

"No advertisement or any public notice was issued for the appointment of substitutes in Railways, yet the candidates, who were residents of Patna, were appointed as substitutes in different Railway zones in Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur and Hazipur.

Through this modus operandi, about 1,05,292 sq feet land in Patna was allegedly acquired by Lalu Prasad and his family members through five sales deeds and two gift deeds, showing the payment made to seller in cash in most of the land transfer, the CBI official said.

--IANS
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Ahmedabad, Oct 7 (IANS) Senior Congress leader and party presidential post candidate Mallikarjun Kharge, who is campaining in Gujarat, on Friday appealed the party delegates in the state to extend their support in the election.

Earlier in the day, he visited Gandhi Ashram to pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi.

Kharge addressed the party delegates and sought their support in the election.

Later speaking to media persons, he said, "I never intended to contest the presidential election, but senior party leaders and workers insisted that I should contest the election, (thus) I am contesting."

In another development, BJP leader Kuldipsinh Raulji from Savli taluka of Vadodara district joined Congress in presence of the state unit president Jagdish Thakor and other leaders.

Vadodara district Congress president Sagar Brahmbhatt told IANS this will help the party in long term as Raulji is a cooperative leader and grass root network in the district that will benefit the party.

However, BJP's Vadodara unit office bearer Natwarsinh Solanki told IANS, "Raulji has little influence on voters in the rural area... the BJP vote bank is very strong and committed, it does not get divided with one or two leaders quitting the party."

--IANS
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New Delhi, Oct 7 (IANS) The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has received Rs 57.90 crore as donations during the year 2021-22.

Contribution report of the NCP submitted to the Election Commission disclosed that a total of Rs 57,90,50,001 was received through 245 donations.

The report also disclosed that most of the donations were from Maharashtra.

Representation of the People Act says that the treasurer of a political party or any other person authorised by it will prepare a report about the contribution in excess of Rs 20,000 received by the political party from any person or other entities in a financial year.

Aiming for reforms and transparency in donations received by political parties, the poll panel has proposed reducing anonymous political donations from Rs 20,000 to Rs 2,000.

The Election Commission recently wrote a letter to the Union Law Ministry recommending various amendments in the Representation of the People (RP) Act.

Currently, political parties have to disclose all donations above Rs 20,000 through their contribution report that is submitted to the EC.

The sources said that the Commission has proposed lowering the threshold limit for cash donations made to political parties from Rs 20,000 to Rs 2,000.

In case the proposal gets approved, all donations above Rs 2,000 will be part of the contribution report which is submitted to the Commission.

A recent contribution report by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the ruling party in Jharkhand disclosed that the party received only Rs 1 lakh during the year 2021-22.

JMM is not the only party which has recorded minimum contributions in the excess of Rs 20,000.

Earlier, the Bahujan Samaj party (BSP) informed the Election Commission that it did not receive any donation in excess of Rs 20,000 from individual donors and entities during the financial year 2021-22.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Oct 7 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Friday that it has attached Rs 1.54 crore lying in bank accounts of Indians for Amnesty International Trust (IAIT) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The ED had initiated the money laundering probe on the basis of an FIR registered by the CBI against Amnesty International India Pvt Ltd (AIIPL) and others under Section 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and Sections 11, 35 and 39 of Foreign Contributions Regulatory Act (FCRA).

The Amnesty International India Foundation Trust (AIIFT) had been granted permission under the FCRA in 2011-12 for receiving foreign contributions from Amnesty International. However, the same was cancelled later. The IAIT and AIIPL were formed in 2012-13 and 2013-14, respectively, to 'escape' the FCRA route and carried out NGO activities in the guise of service export and FDI.

The ED learnt during the investigation that upon cancellation of FCRA licence of Amnesty International India Foundation Trust, a new method was adopted by Amnesty entities to receive money from abroad, and Amnesty International (UK), sent Rs 51.72 crore to AIIPL in the guise of export of services and foreign direct investment. However, no documentary proof for the alleged exports, such as invoices and copies of agreements, were submitted during the investigation.

"It is prima facie found that Amnesty International (UK) invested in Amnesty International India Pvt Ltd in the form of 'compulsory convertible debentures'," an ED official said.

Subsequently, IAIT established an overdraft facility for Rs 14.25 crore, keeping Rs 10 crore FD of AIIPL as collateral. The overdraft facility was used by IAIT for Amnesty India's NGO activities, including paying salary and other administrative and operational expenses.

The total attachment in the case now stands at Rs 21.08 crore.

--IANS
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Mumbai, Oct 7 (IANS) The protruding front portion of the new Mumbai-Gandhinagar Vande Bharat Express train -- which was damaged due to a cattle hit on Thursday -- got a new 'nose' at the Coach Care Centre of the Western Railway, here on Friday, an official said.

The nose, made of FRP (fibre reinforced plastic) suffered an ugly rip-off as three-four buffaloes were run over between Vatva-Maninagar, near Ahmedabad, around 11.15 a.m., delaying the train by 10 minutes.

However, even on Friday, the train with the new nose on the way to Gujarat suffered another similar accident with the front portion suffering a dent near Anand.

After the accident on Thursday, the train travelled between the two cities without the frontal portion and was sent to the repair workshop on Friday.

"The nose cone cover of the train's driver coach along with its mounting brackets was damaged in the cattle-hit incident.... The vital parts of the train remained unaffected. The damaged nose cone was replaced at Mumbai Central," said Western Railway chief spokesperson Sumit Thakur.

He explained that the nose cover is designed to absorb the impact without transmitting the same to the functional parts of the train, so it is sacrificial by design and replaceable.

The damaged nose cone -- of which the Western Railway has sufficient spares -- was quickly replaced during the maintenance and the train deployed back into service without delays.

It departed from Mumbai Central for Gandhinagar but en route suffered another minor mishap which dented the newly-installed nose, which will be set right, said Thakur.

It may be recalled that the indigenously-designed and manufactured semi-high speed train was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 30 and is the third service under the Vande Bharat series, with a capacity to attain up to 200 kmph speeds in future.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Oct 7 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a charge sheet against an IAS officer Kankipati Rajesh and others before a Special PMLA court in Ahmedabad, officials said on Friday.

As per the official, the court took cognisance of the Prosecution complaint on October 4.

The ED had initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by CBI against Rajesh and others under various sections of IPC, Section 43 read with 66 of IT act, and section 7 of PC Act.

During investigation, it was learnt that Rajesh used to demand and accept illegal gratifications from the general public in lieu of discharging his official duties.

In this way, he generated proceeds of crime and further utilised part of the proceeds of crime in the acquisition of immovable properties.

Rajesh was arrested by the ED on August 6 under the provisions of PMLA and was given its remand till August 12.

Presently, he is in judicial custody. The ED has also attached assets worth Rs 1.55 crore in the form of two immovable properties situated at Surat, bank balance and fixed deposits of accused in the case on October 3 under the provisions of PMLA.

Further investigation in the matter is still on.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Oct 7 (IANS) The Special Cell of the Delhi Police has apprehended two key members of an international terror module, including a juvenile, who were wanted in a number of terror cases -- the RPG attack incident at the Intelligence Headquarters in Punjab's Mohali, plotting to kill Bollywood actor Salman Khan & others.

Special Commissioner Police, Special Cell, H.G.S. Dhaliwal, said the apprehended accused were important nodes of the joint terror network of Pakistan-based Khalistani terrorist Harvinder Singh alias Rinda and Canada-based gangster turned terrorist, Lakhbir Singh Landa.

The arrested accused, Arshdeep, was wanted in the IED recovery case of Shahabad, Kurukshetra and IED recovery case of police station Sirhali in Punjab's Tarn Taran.

The official said the juvenile was also wanted in the murder of a builder, Sanjay Biyani, which took place on April 5 in Nanded city of Maharashtra, and in the murder of gangster Rana Kandowalia, outside a private hospital in Amritsar on August 4.

"The apprehended JCL has also disclosed the task given to him along with absconding Deepak Surakhpur and Monu Dagar (in jail) by Lawrence Bishnoi regarding the elimination of film actor Salman Khan. While the JCL was being handled by Rinda, Arshdeep was being handled by Landa Harike," the official said.

How they were caught

Dhaliwal said that they had been working to nab the culprits for a long time. They identified people who were providing logistics support to the accused. Finally, both the accused, Arshdeep and the juvenile, were arrested from Jamnagar in Gujarat.

Rocket Launcher attack

On May 9, a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at Punjab Police's Intelligence Headquarters in Mohali. During the course of the investigation, it was established that the attack was a conspiracy of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), backed by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and local gangsters.

The juvenile held by the Special Cell was also involved in the conspiracy. The police has learnt that the attack was conspired by gangster turned ISI stooge Harvinder Singh alias Rinda.

Another fugitive gangster, Lakhbir Singh Landa had joined hands with Harvinder Singh alias Rinda. They were sharing manpower, logistics and resources. Rinda's name had already cropped up in the grenade attack at the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) office in Nawanshahr and in the arrest of four suspected Pakistan-linked terrorists in Haryana's Karnal earlier this year.

Salman Khan murder plot

The official said that the juvenile was involved in the conspiracy along with other accused to carry out an attack on Salman Khan. They couldn't conduct a recce due to some reasons. Later, the juvenile was asked to kill Rana Kandowalia, a businessman.

Dhaliwal said that they will move a plea before the court with a request to try the juvenile as an adult. The official said that when the juvenile is over 16, the court can decide whether to try him as an adult or not.

--IANS
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Itanagar, Oct 6 (IANS) The army on Thursday paid tribute with full military honours to the mortal remains of Lt Col Saurabh Yadav, who was killed when a Cheetah helicopter of Army Aviation crashed in a forward area near Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang.

Defence spokesman Lt Col A.S. Walia said that a wreath was laid on behalf of a grateful nation for the officer's untiring service to the country.

The mortal remains of the 37-years-old pilot have been dispatched to Delhi in a special military plane.

Lt Col Walia said that the other injured pilot in Wednesday's incident was air evacuated to 151 base hospital in Guwahati and he is being treated by the best medical staff. The pilot is out of critical danger and is recovering well, he added.

--IANS
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Guwahati, Oct 6 (IANS) Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J.P. Nadda will visit Assam on Friday to take part in a mega party workers' meet here, a senior party leader said on Thursday.

Bhabesh Kalita, BJP's Assam unit president said the two senior party leaders will also inaugurate the newly-built Assam state BJP headquarters on Saturday followed by a booth-level workers' meeting.

The BJP has formed a new core committee along with a few others including an election management committee for upcoming elections. Shah and Nadda will meet core committee members on Friday evening to discuss various issues related to the state.

Speaking to mediapersons here, Kalita said that at least 40,000 booth-level party workers across the state will take part in the meeting.

All Ministers, MPs, MLAs, and district-level office bearers will also attend the meeting. A few veteran party workers will be felicitated during the occasion.

It is believed that the programme is scheduled to kick-start the Lok Sabha poll preparation in Assam and other northeastern states.

Three north-eastern states -- Meghalaya, Tripura, and Nagaland are going for poll early next year. In Mizoram, elections will be held in the last part of 2023.

BJP is facing a sweet and sour relation with Conrad Sangma-led National People's Party (NPP) with Sangma announcing for going to elections without any pre-poll tie with the BJP in Meghalaya, while in Nagaland, the BJP has been enjoying a more favourable alliance with the ruling NDPP (National Democratic Progressive Party).

In Mizoram, though the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) is a part of the NDA, there were some clear discomforts between the allies.

Party sources said Shah and Nadda may discuss these issues with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is the chairman of Northeast Democratic Alliance (NEDA) -- launched in 2016 with the objective of uniting the non-Congress parties in the region.

--IANS
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Chandigarh, Oct 6 (IANS) After a WHO product alert, authorities in Haryana have taken samples of cough syrup from Sonepat-based factory of Maiden Pharmaceuticals, and sent to the Central Drug lLboratory in Kolkata for analysis, state Health Minister Anil Vij said on Thursday.

He said if samples failed to meet the standards, strict action will be taken against the company and its owners.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that Maiden cough syrup could be linked to the deaths of 66 children in the west African nation of The Gambia.

--IANS
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