India

Chandigarh, Sep 14 (IANS) Following the complaint filed by AAP MLAs, Punjab Police on Wednesday registered an FIR under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Police Station State Crime in Mohali near here for threats and money offers to the legislators to switch loyalties.

A police spokesperson said they have registered an FIR based on prima facie basis and investigation has been transferred to the Vigilance Bureau as per standard guidelines.

Earlier in the day amid allegations of the BJP attempting to bring down the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab, the AAP said it has filed a formal complaint, along with all proof, with Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav for a fair probe into threats and money offers to its legislators.

It lashed out at the saffron party, calling it a "serial killer" of democracy and condemned "Operation Lotus" for the "dubious manner" in which elected governments in the country are being brought down.

Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema told media here that the BJP has "murdered democracy" by toppling elected governments in various states after "using" central investigation agencies and through money lures.

It tried the same in Punjab, but the staunch soldiers of AAP foiled the BJP's "nefarious agenda".

He alleged BJP agents and workers from Delhi and Punjab have "tried to break" 35 MLAs of the AAP to topple the government in Punjab.

Cheema said a complaint against BJP leaders and agents has been submitted before the DGP for "offering Rs 25 crore each to at least 10 MLAs in the state and also giving life threat to Jalandhar West MLA Sheetal Angural and others for exposing their wicked agendas before the public".

Stating that the BJP is baffled with "growing popularity" of the AAP and its supremo Arvind Kejriwal, he said the BJP is now afraid of Kejriwal and is trying to stop him by any means.

"The work of horse-trading adopted by the BJP has been going on in different states of the country. The BJP under its Operation Lotus had earlier changed governments in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Arunachal Pradesh.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS) In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) plea in connection with the amendments proposed to its constitution to relax the cooling-off period requirement.

Accordingly, the cooling-off period for office-bearers will kick in after two consecutive terms at either the BCCI or at the state association level. So the office-bearers can now have a maximum of 12 years at one go: Two three-year terms at the state association level and two three-year terms at the BCCI, and after this, the cooling-off period will be applicable.

The decision will allow the current set of office-bearers led by BCCI President Sourav Ganguly and Secretary Jay Shah to be in office until 2025. Ganguly and Shah had already served one term each at the state and BCCI level and would have been disqualified under the existing rule.

However, they can now serve an additional term at the BCCI.

The whole conflict between the BCCI and Supreme Court had started long ago and has seen a lot of twists and turns.


Here is a timeline of how things unfolded over the last nine years:

2013 - Spot Fixing

In May, three Rajasthan Royals players -- S. Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila -- were arrested on spot-fixing charges, which revealed a nexus between franchise members, players and bookies. A follow-up probe then led to the arrest of Gurunath Meiyappan, team principal of Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

Thereafter in October, the Supreme Court appointed a committee headed by Justice Mukul Mudgal to look into the spot-fixing scandal.

2014 - Mudgal Committee Findings

In November, the Mudgal Committee found IPL chief operating officer Sundar Raman, Meiyappan and Rajasthan Royals owner Raj Kundra guilty of betting. The Committee's report also pointed fingers at then BCCI chief N. Srinivasan, the father-in-law of Meiyappan.

2015 - Lodha Panel

In January, the apex court appointed a panel headed by retired justice R.M. Lodha to suggest reforms for BCCI as well as determine punishments for those guilty in the IPL spot-fixing case.

After six months, the Lodha panel suspended CSK and Rajasthan Royals for two years and handed a lifetime ban to their owners. However, the players of the two franchises were allowed to be auctioned/played for other franchises.

2016 - Complete Overhaul

In January, the Lodha panel recommended a complete overhaul of the BCCI structure. Apart from that, other major recommendations included one-vote-one-state criteria, limiting tenure of office-bearers, separate players' association for men and women, and barring ministers over 70 from holding any position in the board or state associations.

The panel also gave BCCI time till January 31 to come back with suggestions. But no response from the board forced the panel to approach the Supreme Court. In the very next month, the apex court gave BCCI the deadline of March 3 to respond to Lodha panel's suggestions and the BCCI filed its response and objections to the report in a 55-page counter-affidavit.

In April, the Supreme Court questioned BCCI's method of disbursing funds to state associations and later called the board's constitution non-transparent.

In a plea to the Supreme Court, the panel then asked for replacing BCCI top bosses and a bench headed by then Chief Justice T.S. Thakur also slammed the board's attitude. In a special general meeting in October, BCCI deliberated on the Lodha panel recommendations but made no mention of key reforms such as age and tenure of office-bearers or the one-state-one-vote policy in its statement.

The Supreme Court then decided to pass an order on the issue of implementation of directions of the Lodha panel after BCCI declined to give an unconditional undertaking. However, the BCCI remained defiant on implementing the key reforms.

On December 15, 2016, the top court said there is, on first impression, a charge of perjury that can be laid against then BCCI President Anurag Thakur and the board's General Manager for game development, Ratnakar Shetty, for lying under oath.

2017 - Anurag Thakur's Removal

On January 2, the Supreme Court removed BCCI President Anurag Thakur and Secretary Ajay Shirke from their posts.

On January 30, the court appointed four eminent personalities from varying backgrounds to oversee the running of the BCCI until the board can hold fresh elections for office-bearers as per the Lodha committee's recommendations.

The panel consisted of historian and cricket writer Ramachandra Guha, former Indian women's team captain Diana Edulji, EX-CAG of India Vinod Rai, and Vikram Lamaye, CEO and Managing Director of IDFC (Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation).

2018 - Newly-drafted Constitution (Cooling-off)

The BCCI adopted a newly-drafted constitution, which was finalised post the court's judgement by Justice Chandrachud that an office-bearer who has held any post for two consecutive terms (six years) either at a state association or in the BCCI, or a combination of both, shall not be eligible to contest any further election without completing a cooling-off period of three years.

During the cooling-off period, the person cannot serve in any capacity at both the BCCI or state level.

2019 - Ganguly, Jay Shah Get Top Posts

In October, former India captain Sourav Ganguly was elected as BCCI President and Jay Shah as Secretary, ending the 33-month reign of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators. Arun Dhumal was elected as Treasurer while Jayesh George took charge as Joint Secretary.

The BCCI administration approached the court seeking several significant amendments to the board's constitution, which would roll back the sweeping reforms passed by the court in 2016 on the basis of the Lodha panel's recommendations.

The changes sought by the BCCI included tweaking the cooling-off period of office-bearers, modifying the disqualification criteria, giving unprecedented power to the BCCI Secretary, and stopping the court from having any say if the board wants to alter the constitution.

As per BCCI, the existing cooling-off period was a "restriction", which was "proving to be a big blow to selecting talented and experienced hands". The BCCI said the cooling-off period must be applied only after the individual has finished six years at one place - the BCCI or the state association - separately.

2020-21 - Case pending in Supreme Court for hearing

2022 - Ganguly, Jay Shah get extension

A two-judge bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Hima Kohli passed orders to this effect on Wednesday, modifying its 2018 judgement.

The court agreed to tweak the existing rule on the cooling-off period by allowing an office-bearer to hold office for two terms at one place - the state association or BCCI - while removing the clause of combination of both.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS) Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez left the office of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police after being grilled by the cops for over eight hours in connection with the Rs 200 crore extortion-cum-cheating case involving multimillionaire conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar, who is presently lodged in jail.

Jacqueline had reached the EOW office at around 11 am, but she didn't speak to the media and went straight inside. She was accompanied by her counsels.

The actress was confronted with Pinky Irani, her associate in the matter. The EOW unit had prepared a long list of questions.

"She was asked about her relationship with Chandrashekar, and about the gifts and money she received from the conman. Irani and Fernandez both were confronted together," a source in the EOW said.

She was also asked how much money she and her family members received from Chandrashekar.

"We asked why she was in touch with him even after knowing that Chandrashekar was a conman. Why did she take his help to take her family out of a financial soup," the source said.

Jacqueline reportedly confessed that Chandrashekar did help her family. She also said that a few gifts were returned by her.

Earlier in the first week of September, the EOW officials had recorded the testimony of another Bollywood personality, Nora Fatehi, in connection with the same case.

Chandrashekhar was arrested for allegedly cheating and extorting money from some high-profile people, including former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh's wife Aditi Singh.

Many Bollywood actors and models have been questioned by the Enforcement Directorate for their alleged links to Chandrashekhar.

In April last year, Chandrashekhar was arrested in a money laundering case linked to the 2017 Election Commission bribery case, which allegedly involved a former AIADMK leader, among others.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) after conducting raids at multiple locations belonging to payment gateways i.e Paytm and PayU in connection with a case of Chinese Loan apps, asked Paytm to freeze certain amounts from a few Merchant IDs (MIDs).

Sources said the raids were conducted in Mumbai, Delhi, Gurugram, Lucknow and Kolkata.

The ED has not given any official comment on the matter.

On September 3, raids were conducted at the premises belonging to online payments gateways including Razorpay Pvt Ltd, Cashfree Payments and Paytm Payment Services Ltd.

A Paytm spokesperson said that as part of the ongoing investigations of a specific set of merchants, the ED has sought information regarding such merchants to whom we provide payment processing solutions.

"These merchants are independent entities, and none of them are our group entities. We are, and will continue to, fully cooperate with the authorities, and all the directive actions are being duly complied with," said the Paytm spokesperson.

The ED has instructed Paytm to freeze certain amounts from the Merchant IDs of a specific set of merchant entities (as mentioned by the ED in its press release).

"None of the funds which have been instructed to be frozen belong to Paytm or any of our group companies. As we have mentioned before, ED continues to seek information about certain merchants from various payment service providers, and we have shared the required information," the Paytm spokesperson said.

What is the case?

The case is based on 18 FIRs registered by the Cyber Crime Police Station, Bengaluru City, against numerous persons for their involvement in extortion and harassment of the public who had availed small loans through the mobile apps being run by those entities.

"During enquiries, it had emerged that these entities are operated by Chinese persons. The modus operandi of these entities is that by using forged documents of Indians and making them dummy directors of those entities, they are generating proceeds of crime," the ED said.

The ED had said that it has come to its notice that the entities were conducting their suspected business through various Merchant IDs/Accounts held with Payment Gateways/banks.

The premises of Razorpay Pvt Ltd, Cashfree Payments, Paytm Payment Services Ltd and entities controlled/operated by Chinese persons were covered in the search operations.

"During the search operations, it was noticed that the said entities were generating proceeds of crime through various Merchant IDs/Accounts held with Payment Gateways/banks and they are also not operating from the addresses given on the MCA website/registered address and having fake addresses. An amount of Rs 17 crore has been seized in merchant IDs and bank accounts of these Chinese persons-controlled entities," the ED official had said.

Meanwhile, a Razorpay spokesperson had said "Some of our merchants were being investigated by law enforcement about a year and a half back. As part of the ongoing investigation, the authorities requested additional information to help with the investigation. We have fully cooperated and shared KYC and other details. The authorities were satisfied by our due diligence process."

The search operations are in progress.

--IANS
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Chandigarh, Sep 14 (IANS) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal said on Wednesday that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab is raking up the Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan cases purely to divert people's attention from its 'scandals'.

The SAD chief, who was questioned by the SIT regarding the Kotkapura firing case which occurred in 2015, said all police actions are part of a laid down procedure.

"The decisions are taken by the administration. I am repeatedly being asked questions about the firing incident even though it is clear that this action was taken by the authorised officer," he said.

Asking the SIT to be fair and objective, Sukhbir Badal, who was questioned for the second time this month for nearly five hours, told the media, "I am ready to face questioning 100 times, but this issue should not be politicised."

He said it is shocking that despite the high court direction that there would not be any interference in the functioning of the SIT, which is to report directly to it, AAP minister Kuldeep Dhaliwal is issuing statements that the SIT is likely to arrest him any time.

"Under what authority is he making such statements," Badal asked, adding that the minister is liable to be prosecuted for contempt of court.

Asserting that the AAP government is also following in the footsteps of the previous Congress government, Badal said, "I am being summoned repeatedly to divert attention from the scandals of this government, the latest one being the extortion scam of minister Fauja Singh Sarari."

Stating that there were three cases which were being investigated, Badal said while investigation into the main case of sacrilege at Bargari was over with the AAP government submitting the final challan in the case, the two cases of firing at Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura are being probed now.

"People want the culprits in all these cases to be brought to book and punished for their deeds, but this government is only playing politics on this issue," he said.

Speaking about the role of former IG-turned AAP legislator Kunwar Vijay Pratap, the SAD President said the former IG had fabricated evidence to embroil the senior SAD leadership in false cases.

Rejecting the "blemished and manufactured" investigation carried by him, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had held that his "political theatrics" during the probe were clearly established, said the SAD president, adding, "I am hopeful that he will get the punishment for his wrongdoings."

Badal added that similarly, a false case has also been registered against former minister Bikram Majithia.

When questioned about 'Operation Lotus', Badal said, "There is smoke only where there is fire. It is clear that the AAP legislators are up for grabs. That is why a value is being put on them. They should not become ready partners to switch sides. Then no one will solicit their support or offer to purchase it."

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS) The Delhi High Court on Wednesday granted four more weeks to the Delhi government and the Home Ministry to clear their stand on a plea in relation to the linking of Aadhaar with property documents.

A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramoniam Prasad also issued notice to the Ministries of Law, Finance, Rural Development, and Housing and Urban Development in the matter.

The matter will be further heard on November 30.

The court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay seeking direction to link movable-immovable properties with the owner's Aadhaar number.

Upadhyay contended that linking property with Aadhaar will lead to an "increment of two per cent in annual growth".

"It will clean our electoral process, which is dominated by black money and benami transaction and thrives on a cycle of large black investments, capture of power through foul means, use of political strength to amass private wealth, all with disdain of the citizen," the plea said.

It claimed there may be some inconvenience for a short period and political leaders who have fostered corruption and have benami property may focus on the distress to common man, but no honest citizen will lose his savings and nothing will get confiscated.

"In several addresses to the nation (Mann Ki Baat), the Prime Minister has repeated his plans to root out black money by cracking down on benami properties. This is because a major part of black money is held in the form of benami properties (gold and cash are other forms). Demonetisation, announced on November 8, 2016, was fight against black money held in form of cash," it added.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is conducting raids at multiple locations belonging to payment gateway i.e Paytm and PayU in connection with a case pertaining to Chinese Loan apps.

Sources said that raids were going on in Mumbai, Delhi, Gurugram, Lucknow and Kolkata.

The ED has not given any official comment on the matter.

On September 3 raids were conducted at the premises belonging to online payments gateway including Razorpay Pvt Ltd, Cashfree Payments and Paytm Payment Services Ltd.

The case is based on 18 FIRs registered by Cyber Crime Police Station, Bengaluru City, against numerous persons for their involvement in extortion and harassment of the public who had availed small loans through the mobile apps being run by those entities.

"During enquiries, it had emerged that these entities are operated by Chinese persons. The modus operandi of these entities is that by using forged documents of Indians and making them dummy directors of those entities, they are generating proceeds of crime," the ED had said.

The ED had said that it has come to their notice that the entities were conducting their suspected business through various Merchant IDs/Accounts held with Payment Gateways/banks.

The premises of Razorpay Pvt Ltd, Cashfree Payments, Paytm Payment Services Ltd and entities controlled/operated by Chinese persons were covered in the search operation.

"During the search operations, it was noticed that the said entities were generating proceeds of crime through various Merchant IDs/Accounts held with Payment Gateways/banks and they are also not operating from the addresses given on the MCA website/registered address and having fake addresses. An amount of Rs 17 cr has been seized in merchant IDs and bank accounts of these Chinese persons-controlled entities," the ED official had said.

Meanwhile, a Razorpay spokesperson had said "Some of our merchants were being investigated by law enforcement about a year and a half back. As part of the ongoing investigation, the authorities requested additional information to help with the investigation. We have fully cooperated and shared KYC and other details. The authorities were satisfied by our due diligence process."

The search operations are still in progress.

--IANS
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Chandigarh, Sep 14 (IANS) Amid allegations of BJP attempting to bring down the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab, the AAP on Wednesday said it has filed a formal complaint along with all proofs to Director General of Punjab Gaurav Yadav for a fair probe into threats and money offers to its legislators.

It lashed out at the saffron party, calling it a "serial killer" of democracy and condemned "Operation Lotus" for the "dubious manner" in which elected governments in the country are being brought down.

State Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema told media that the BJP has "murdered democracy" by toppling elected governments in various states after "using" central investigation agencies and through money lures.

It tried the same in Punjab, but the staunch soldiers of AAP foiled the BJP's "nefarious agenda".

He alleged BJP agents and workers from Delhi and Punjab have "tried to break" 35 MLAs of AAP to topple the government in Punjab.

Cheema said a complaint against BJP leaders and agents has been submitted before the DGP for "offering Rs 25 crore each to at least 10 MLAs in the state and also giving life threat to Jalandhar West MLA Sheetal Angural and others for exposing their wicked agendas before the public".

Stating that the BJP is baffled with "growing popularity" of AAP and its supremo Arvind Kejriwal, he said the BJP is now afraid of Kejriwal and is trying to stop him by any means.

"The work of horse-trading adopted by the BJP has been going on in different states of the country. The BJP under its Operation Lotus had earlier changed governments in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Arunachal Pradesh.

"In latest target under Operation Lotus, eight MLAs of Congress have shifted to the BJP in Goa today. It is a testament that BJP is killing democracy and forming their government in non-BJP ruled states by breaking MLAs with help of the CBI and the ED," Cheema said.

He said the BJP will never succeed in its "wicked" plans in Punjab even if they offer Rs 2,200 crore because the loyal soldiers of AAP under the leadership of Kejriwal and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann are standing like a rock.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS) Hearing a plea on the plight of Hindu migrants from Pakistan living in a slum in the national capital sans even electricity for the last five to six years, the Delhi High Court has said that it hopes and trusts the government to look into the matter sympathetically.

"There are small children and women in the area. In the absence of electricity, it has become very difficult for these families to survive, and they are living in extremely harsh conditions," noted a division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad in the recent order.

The court also asked for the Centre's reply within two weeks on a no objection certificate (NOC) that can solve the electricity supply issue, which has not been issued to the migrants yet.

Power distributor Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (Tata Power-DDL) apprised that it is not able to provide electricity connections as the land in question belongs to the Central government or Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), emphasising the need for the NOC to erect electric poles for power supply.

As per the PIL filed on behalf of the Hindu migrants living in Adarsh Nagar near the Majlis Park Metro Station, all of them have been issued Aadhaar cards and are here on long-term Visa issued by the government.

They are poor people who do not have a permanent place or shelter and they are living in a cluster of jhuggis, the plea read.

The petitioners' counsel said they will not claim any right over the land in question on account of the fact that electricity has been provided to them and are ready to pay for the electricity, and a prepaid meter can be installed in their premises.

He also apprised the court that the other migrants from Pakistan living in the Majnu-Ka-Tila have been provided electricity connection.

The matter will be next heard on October 6.

--IANS
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Panaji, Sep 14 (IANS) Former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat on Wednesday said it was under God's guidance that he decided to quit Congress and join BJP.

"God told me 'you take the decision, I am with you'. Hence I decided to join BJP," the senior politician said.

He was responding to a question on the oath taken before God that he will never leave the Congress and will remain loyal. Kamat said that God has supported his current decision.

"I have faith in God. I again went before God and shared the entire situation and sought his guidance. He then told me to take a decision saying 'I am there with you'," Kamat told reporters here.

Notably, ahead of the February 2022 Assembly polls, the Congress party candidates had taken oath before temples, church and dargah that they will not leave the party after getting elected and will always remain loyal. Kamat had taken the lead to give this oath to the candidates, video of which is going viral after eight Congress MLAs switched over to BJP.

Earlier, on July 10, 2019, during the last term of BJP government, 10 MLAs of Congress along with Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavalekar had switched to BJP. Hence to dilute that issue and to reassure people that their MLAs will not defect, Congress had organised 'oath' taking programs before election.

"I went back to the temple and I asked God and goddess what I should do. We have a system of taking Prasada. The God said go ahead don't worry," Kamat further said.

'Prasad' is traditionally practiced in Goa from ancient times, asking Gods and Goddess about different problems and their solutions through Priest. This is practiced in many temples of Goa. Devotees take this 'prasad' before doing any good work and also seek solutions to their problems.

Digambar Kamat, Michael Lobo, Delilah Lobo, Kedar Naik, Sankalp Amonkar, Rajesh Faldesai, Aleixo Sequeira and Rudolf Fernandes are the eight legislators who have switched parties.

--IANS
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