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Hello Jammu News at 11:41:00 PM 0


Bengaluru, June 15 : The Karnataka BJP Saturday RPT Saturday demanded a CBI probe into the alleged financial fraud perpetrated by an investment firm here, leaving thousands of investors in the lurch.

The owner of city-based IMA Jewels, Mohammed Mansoor Khan, had disappeared few days ago after allegedly threatening to commit suicide while police have formed teams to trace him.

State BJP chief B S Yedyurappa put forth the demand for a probe by the central agency after a group of people belonging to the minority community, most of them investors in IMA Jewels, met him and submitted a petition.

Yeddyurappa assured them that BJP MPs from Karnataka would ensure the central governments intervention and steps to ensure the Enforcement Directorate probe into the case.

"We (BJP) feel that it is our responsibility to ensure that innocents who have lost their money get it back," Yeddyurappa was quoted as saying by BJP in a release.

Only a CBI inquiry can ensure justice to the affected investors, he said, as he held the state government responsible for the "injustice" to the IMA investors.

The BJP leader also promised those who met him that the centre would take all steps to find out the wherebaouts of IMA jewels owner Mohammed Mansoor Khan.

Earlier, speaking to reporters, Yeddyurappa raised questions about Minority welfare minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan's alleged links with Mohammed Mansoor Khan.

"While asking him (Mansoor) to come back, Zameer, who is a Minister, has said that government is with you (Mansoor), dont fear- what does this mean? Chief Minister has to answer this," he said.

Hitting back at Yeddyurappa, Zameer Ahmed Khan pointed out that it was he who took initiative after the incident came to light and sought a SIT probe.

"It was not Yeddyurappa. Making speeches sitting somewhere is not enough. We are doing whatever we can.

SIT is probing...," he said.

Nearly 30,000 complaints have so far been received by police in connection with the case, relating to which seven directors of the firm were apprehended on June 12 .

Mohammed Mansoor Khan went absconding after allegedly threatening to commit suicide in an audio clip.

As the audio went viral, panicked investors, most of them Muslims, had swarmed the firm's office at Shivajinagar in thousands, demanding action against the owner and directors.

Khan in an audio clip had purportedly said he was committing suicide as he was fed up with corruption.

He had also alleged the Shivajinagar Congress MLA Roshan Baig took Rs 400 crore from him and was not returning it.

Baig had rubbished the charge, alleging that his political adversaries had orchestrated the "series of events" to tarnish his character.

On June 12, The Karnataka government had formed a 11-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case.

As reports emerged that Khan had fled to Dubai, the SIT had said they were investigating his whereabouts.

The Enforcement Directorate also filed a case of money laundering in the alleged ponzi scheme.

The agency's zonal office here filed an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), equivalent to an FIR, and has pressed criminal charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), officials had said.                                        [Agencies]
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Hello Jammu News at 5:11:00 PM 0



New Delhi, Jun 13 :  The CBI has booked former MP Ateeq Ahmad and others for allegedly orchestrating the abduction of a businessman from jail.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case against Ahmad, former Samajwadi Party (SP) MP from Uttar Pradesh, on the charges of abduction and assault of real estate dealer Mohit Jaiswal in December 2018, officials said on Thursday.

According to the officials, Jaiswal was abducted from Lucknow and taken to Deoria Jail, where he was allegedly assaulted by Ahmad and his aides, who were lodged there, and forced to transfer his business to them.

Ahmad was an SP member in the 14th Lok Sabha from Phulpur in Uttar Pradesh from 2004 to 2009.
[Agencies]
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Hello Jammu News at 6:13:00 PM 0



New Delhi, Jan 16 :  The high-powered Selection Committee is likely to meet on January 24 to appoint the new CBI Director, sources said here.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi heads the committee, in which the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge are the other members.

The sources said the government had proposed the meeting on January 21 earlier while Kharge wanted the meeting on January 24 or 25.

After mutual consultations, the government has finalised January 24 as the date for the meeting to select the new CBI Director, a post which is lying vacant ever since the government removed Alok Verma and appointed him as Director General Fire Service.

IPS officer M Nageswara Rao was named the interim director of the CBI.

The Congress has been attacking the prime minister for not appointing a regular CBI Director.

Kharge had also written to the prime minister demanding early holding of the meeting of the high powered committee to appoint a regular CBI Director.                                    PTI
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Hello Jammu News at 4:42:00 PM 0


New Delhi, Jan 16 :  The Supreme Court Wednesday agreed to hear next week a plea by an NGO challenging the January 10 order of the government appointing IPS officer M Nageswara Rao as interim director of the CBI.

The matter was mentioned for urgent listing before a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for petitioner NGO Common Cause and RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj, appealed to the bench, also comprising Justices L N Rao and and S K Kaul, to hear the plea this Friday.

The CJI told Bhushan that it was "definitely not possible" to hear the matter on Friday and the plea would be heard next week.

CBI's Additional Director Rao was given the charge of interim chief on January 10 till the appointment of a new director after a high-powered committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi removed Alok Kumar Verma as the chief of the probe agency on charges of corruption and dereliction of duty. 

The petition has sought laying down of specific mechanisms to ensure transparency in the process of appointment of CBI director.

It has alleged that Rao's appointment was not made on the basis of recommendations of the high-powered selection committee, comprising prime minister, leader of the single largest opposition party and chief justice of India or a judge of the apex court nominated by him.

The plea stated that the order of October 23 last year appointing Rao as the interim CBI director was quashed by the top court on January 8 but the government has "acted in a completely mala fide, arbitrary and illegal manner" to appoint him again in "complete contravention" of the DSPE Act.

The plea has also sought a direction to the Centre to appoint a regular CBI director forthwith by following the procedure laid down in accordance with the provisions of the DSPE Act, as amended by the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013.

Besides this, the petition has sought a direction to the government to ensure that "all records of deliberations and rational criteria related to short-listing and selection of the director, CBI, be properly recorded and made available to citizens in consonance with the provisions of the RTI Act".

The plea said that the government should ensure transparency in short-listing, election and appointment process of CBI director by publicly disclosing, including through the website, the procedure and rational criteria for short-listing candidates, if it is done.

The plea has sought a direction to the Centre that the process of selecting CBI director, including composition, mandate and minutes of the meetings of the search committee, should be disclosed publicly along with names of short-listed candidates so that people can inform the panel of any significant adverse information they may have about any such candidate.

The plea has claimed that lack of transparency in appointment of CBI director prevents any public scrutiny of the process and allows the "government to exercise undue influence" in the appointment process especially at the stage of short-listing of candidates.

Detailing the sequence of events relating to the appointment of Rao as the interim CBI director, the plea alleged that the entire process was "mala fide" as the government wanted to "appoint its own choice as CBI Director in the interim".

The apex court had on January 8 allowed Alok Kumar Verma to return as the CBI director, albeit with his wings clipped, by setting aside the Centre and the CVC's orders divesting him of his powers and sending him on leave.

However, the top court had said it was "still open" for the high-powered committee, which selects the CBI chief, to consider the matter within a week since the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) was probing the charges of corruption against Verma.

It had set aside the October 23, 2018, orders of the CVC and the Department of Personnel and Training divesting Verma of his powers and asking Rao to look after the duties and functions of the agency's director.

On January 10, the high-powered committee removed Verma as the CBI Director. The same day, an order was issued by the government giving Rao the charge of interim CBI director.                  PTI
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Hello Jammu News at 2:27:00 PM 0


Mumbai, Jan 12 : The Shiv Sena Saturday termed the ouster of reinstated CBI Director Alok Verma, who resigned from police service Friday, as a panic reaction of the Narendra Modi government which is battling allegations over the purchase of Rafale fighter aircraft.

In an editorial in the party mouthpiece "Saamana", the Sena said the government has set "wrong precedents" by denying Verma an opportunity to defend himself, and took aim at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Verma resigned a day after he was transferred from the position of CBI chief to Director General, Fire Service, Civil Defence and Home Guards under the home ministry by a high powered committee headed by the prime minister.

He was reinstated as CBI director by the supreme court only on January 8, nearly three months after he and special director Rakesh Asthana were divested of their powers and sent on administrative leave by the government over allegations and counter-allegations of corruption.

"If the prime minister can use every platform to defend himself amid allegations over the Rafale deal then why such an opportunity was not given to the ousted CBI chief?" asked Sena.

Referring to the entire episode, the Sena questionned, "Did the fear in the mind of some (people) that many secrets would tumble out of the CBI's closet in case of Verma heading the agency even for a day led to his immediate ouster?

"What about the allegations that he was shunted out because he may have made the government an accused in the Rafale deal and would have registered an offence?" it asked.

Sena further said Asthana, who enjoyed the "backing" of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), had tried to turn the CBI into a "slave" of the government.

The government has set "wrong precedents" by removing Verma as the CBI director, it said.

Sena said BJP MP Subramanian Swamy had said that Verma cannot be removed solely on the basis of the CVC (Central Vigilance Commission) report.

"If Verma was indeed indulged in corruption, why no action was taken against him or a case filed? Why was he transferred to a side posting like the DG of fire services and home guards? The government needs to answer these questions," the edit said.

The CVC itself is not free of corruption, it said.

Taking aim at Modi over the Rafale deal, Sena said the "lawyers" of the PM do not have answers to the questions being raised by Congress chief Rahul Gandhi.

"Modi should have intervened when the crisis between Verma and Asthana started simmering," it said.

Nothing else can be expected of a "scared government" surrounding by the Rafale deal allegations, the Sena said.             PTI
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Hello Jammu News at 4:15:00 PM 0



Panchkula, Jan 11 : A CBI court Friday held Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and three others guilty of murdering journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati in 2002.

All the four accused have been convicted, CBI counsel HPS Verma told PTI after special CBI Judge Jagdeep Singh pronounced the verdict here.

The sentence will be pronounced on January 17.

The three others accused are Kuldeep Singh, Nirmal Singh and Krishan Lal.

The 51-year-old sect head appeared before the court through video conferencing from Rohtak's Sunaria jail.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is currently serving a 20-year prison term in jail for raping two of his followers.

Chhatrapati was shot in October 2002 outside his house after his newspaper 'Poora Sach' published an anonymous letter narrating how women were being sexually exploited by Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh at the Dera headquarters in Sirsa.

The case was registered in 2003 and handed over to the CBI in 2006.

Ram Rahim was named the main conspirator in the case.                PTI
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Hello Jammu News at 3:21:00 PM 0



New Delhi, Jan 11 : The Delhi High Court Friday refused to quash the FIR lodged against CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana on bribery allegations.

Justice Najmi Waziri also refused to quash the FIR lodged against CBI Deputy Superintendent Devender Kumar and alleged middleman Manoj Prasad.

The high court directed the CBI to complete investigation in case against Asthana and others within 10 weeks.

The high court further said that the allegation of "mala fide" raised against then CBI Director Alok Verma is not made out.

It also vacated its interim order granting protection to Asthana against criminal proceedings.

Justice Waziri said that permission for prior sanction to prosecute Asthana and Kumar was not required considering the facts of the case.

The high court dismissed the petitions filed by Asthana, Kumar and Prasad challenging the FIR lodged against them. Asthana was booked on charges of criminal conspiracy, corruption and criminal misconduct under sections of Prevention of Corruption Act.

Hyderabad-based businessman Sathish Babu Sana, on whose complaint the FIR was lodged, had alleged having paid bribe to get relief in a case.

Sana had also made allegations of corruption, extortion, high-handedness and serious malpractice against Asthana.

Justice Waziri had reserved the judgement on December 20, 2018 on various petitions after hearing submissions of the counsel for CBI, the Centre, Asthana, Kumar, Verma and Joint Director A K Sharma.              PTI
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Hello Jammu News at 8:30:00 AM 0



New Delhi, Jan 10 : Alok Verma was shunted out as the CBI chief after a marathon meeting of high-powered selection committee led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday, officials said.

Verma, a 1979-batch AGMUT cadre IPS officer, has been removed from the high-profile post on the charges of corruption and dereliction of duty making him the first chief in the history of the agency to face such action, they said.

He is likely to be moved to the National Human Rights Commission, they said.

There were eight counts of charges against him in the CVC report presented before the Committee also comprising Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and Justice A K Sikri, appointed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi as his nominee.

The decision for the removal was taken by a majority with Kharge opposing the move, they said.                PTI
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Hello Jammu News at 1:29:00 PM 0


New Delhi, Jan 9 : CBI Director Alok Verma joined office Wednesday, 77 days after he was sent on forced leave by the central government through a much-criticised late-night order on October 23, 2018, which was set aside by the Supreme Court.

The October order sent Verma and his deputy Special Director Rakesh Asthana, booked by the agency on corruption charges, into exile in a first-of-its-kind move by the government in the agency's history.

In sending Verma on leave, the government overlooked the immunity given to the CBI director by the Supreme Court ensuring a two-year minimum tenure to protect the incumbent from any political interference.

The government tried to justify its decision, saying it became necessary amid an unprecedented feud between the two senior-most officials of the agency who had levelled charges of corruption on each other, an argument rejected by the apex court Tuesday.

The government had given charge to then Joint Director M Nageswara Rao who was later promoted as additional director in the agency.

Verma had challenged the move in the Supreme Court which clipped the powers of Rao as director in-charge and barred him from taking any major policy decision till a final order comes from it.

In its order Tuesday, the Supreme Court set aside Verma's forced leave but restrained him from taking any major policy decision till the CVC probe into corruption charges against him is over.

In the absence of any clear definition of "major policy" decisions, the grey area exists as to what extent Verma's powers will be limited.

The apex court said any further decision against Verma, who retires on January 31, would be taken by the high-powered committee which selects and appoints the CBI director.

The Supreme Court in Vineet Narayan judgment had fixed a minimum tenure of two years for the CBI director to give him immunity from any political interference. Later, through Lokpal Act, the process of selecting the CBI director was handed over to a selection committee.

The selection committee comprises the prime minister, the leader of opposition and the chief justice of India.        PTI
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Hello Jammu News at 12:22:00 PM 0

The Interpol has issued a Red Corner Notice against absconding billionaire Mehul Choksi, who is accused of cheating state-run Punjab National Bank to the tune of Rs 13,000 crore in alleged collusion with his nephew Nirav Modi, officials said Thursday.


New Delhi, Dec 13 (PTI) The Interpol has issued a Red Corner Notice against absconding billionaire Mehul Choksi, who is accused of cheating state-run Punjab National Bank to the tune of Rs 13,000 crore in alleged collusion with his nephew Nirav Modi, officials said Thursday.

"The Interpol has issued a Red Corner Notice against Mehul Choksi on the request of CBI," CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal said.

Choksi, who escaped in the first week of January this year after he and his companies cheated the bank of Rs 7,000 crore, has taken citizenship of Antigua.


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Hello Jammu News at 1:36:00 PM 0

New Delhi, Oct 8: A Delhi Court Monday extended till November 1 the interim protection from arrest granted to former Union Minister P Chidambaram and his son Karti in the Aircel-Maxis case filed by the CBI and the ED.

Special CBI Judge O P Saini put up the matter for November 1 after the counsel appearing for agencies sought an adjournment in the matter.

Advocates appearing for the CBI and the ED, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Nitesh Rana, told the court that the agencies required time to file a detailed reply and argue on the application filed through Chidambaram's lawyers P K Dubey and Arshdeep Singh.

Chidambaram and his son were named in the chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the case on July 19.

The agency filed a supplementary charge sheet before the special judge, who will consider it on next date.

The CBI is probing how Chidambaram, who was the Union finance minister in 2006, granted a Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval to a foreign firm, when only the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) was empowered to do it.

The senior Congress leader's role has come under the scanner of investigating agencies in the Rs 3,500-crore Aircel-Maxis deal and the INX Media case involving Rs 305 crore.

In its charge sheet filed earlier in the case against former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanithi Maran and others, the agency had alleged that Chidambaram had granted an FIPB approval in March, 2006 to Mauritius-based Global Communication Services Holdings Ltd, a subsidiary of Maxis.

The Maran brothers and the other accused named in the CBI chargesheet were discharged by the special court, which had said the agency had failed to produce any material against them to proceed with the trial.

The Enforcement Directorate is also probing a separate money-laundering case in the Aircel-Maxis matter, in which Chidambaram and Karti have been questioned by the agency.

Both Chidambaram and Karti have denied the allegations levelled against them by the CBI and the ED. (PTI)
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Hello Jammu News at 1:33:00 PM 0

New Delhi, Oct 8:The Delhi High Court Monday allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file a closure report in the case related to missing JNU student Najeeb Ahmed.

The bench of justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel said Ahmed's mother, who had moved the court for a direction to the police to trace her son, could raise her grievances before the trial court where the report was filed.

The court said if Najeeb's mother wanted the status report of the probe, she would have to move the trial court.

Ahmed had gone missing from the Mahi-Mandvi hostel of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) here on October 15, 2016, following a scuffle with some students allegedly affiliated to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) the previous night. (PTI)
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Hello Jammu News at 6:01:00 PM 0

Bengaluru, Sep 18: It was a verdict he had been longing for with anguish after nearly two and half decades of wait in the ISRO espionage case.

But it was not to be. Former space scientist K Chandrasekhar slipped into coma hours before the Supreme Court delivered its judgement on Friday, dismissing the espionage case as a frame-up.

In its verdict, the apex court held that former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientist Nambi Narayanan was "arrested unnecessarily, harassed and subjected to mental cruelty" in a 1994 espionage case.

It also awarded Rs 50 lakh compensation to 76-year-old Narayanan for being subjected to mental cruelty in the case, in which Chandrasekhar was also one of the six accused but was exonerated along with others in 1998.

Even as the much waited ruling came at 11 am, Chandrasekhar's final journey from the world had begun.

"He fell into coma on Friday at 7.15 am and passed away at the Columbia Asia Hospital on Sunday at 8.40 pm. He was anxiously waiting for the verdict from early hours of Friday," said Chandrasekhar's wife K J Vijayamma as tears welled up in her eyes.

Vijayamma recalled the final hours of the scientist who underwent untold agony and misery in the false case that shattered him and his family.

Chandrasekhar had undergone a surgery to remove gall bladder stone. On Friday at 3.15 am, he asked for coffee and spoke about the case too saying that the verdict would be pronounced today, she said.

"He knew that the verdict will come on Friday and he was confident that they all will win. But he wasn't there to listen to the news he had been waiting for more than two decades," Vijayamma told PTI here today.

Chandrasekhar had worked as India's Representative to Russian space agency Glavkosmos since 1992.

It was her job in the public sector undertaking HMT as General Manager that saved the couple from the financial travails after the false case cost Chandrasekhar his job.

"We were leading a royal life and after this case we suddenly became penniless. We could manage to survive because of my job, said Vijayamma.

She claimed that there were attempts to dismiss her from the service for her husband's background.

Even today Vijayamma is anxious to know what made the intelligence agencies cook up a story and frame the six.

The espionage case, which hit the headlines in 1994, pertained to allegations of transfer of certain confidential documents on India's space programme to foreign countries by two scientists and four others, including two Maldivian women.

The case was first investigated by the Kerala police and later handed over to the CBI, which found no espionage as was alleged to have taken place.

The case also had its political fallout with a section in the Congress targeting then chief minister late K Karunakaran over the issue, that eventually led to his resignation.

In 1998, the top court granted a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to Narayanan and others, who were discharged in the case, and directed the state government to pay the amount.

Narayanan later approached the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) claiming compensation from the state government for the mental agony and torture he suffered.

The NHRC, after hearing both sides and taking into account the apex court judgement of April 29, 1998, awarded him a compensation of Rs 10 lakh in March 2001. (PTI)
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Hello Jammu News at 5:00:00 PM 0

New Delhi, Sep 18: The Supreme Court Tuesday stayed a Patna High Court order asking the CBI special director to set up a fresh team to probe Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual abuse case.

Patna High Court had on August 29 ordered that a fresh team of investigators be constituted by the Special Director of CBI in the case in which incidents of alleged rape and sexual assault of women inmates over a period of time had come to light in an NGO-run shelter home at Muzaffarpur.

A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta said changing the CBI team at this stage will be detrimental to the ongoing investigation.

Attorney General K K Venugopal told the court that the existing probe team carrying out investigation was set up by the CBI director on July 30.

"We don't see any reason why the existing CBI team, probing the Muzaffarpur shelter home case, should be changed at this stage," the apex court said.

Over 30 girls were allegedly raped at the shelter home run by Brajesh Thakur, the chief of a state-funded NGO. The alleged sexual exploitation of the girls was first highlighted in an audit report submitted by TISS to the state's social welfare department.

The top court also asked the probe agency to place before it the two status reports of probe in the case which were filed earlier before the Patna High Court and listed the matter for further hearing on September 20.

An FIR was lodged against 11 people, including Thakur, on May 31. The probe has been taken over by the CBI.

The incidents of alleged rape and sexual assault of the women inmates had come to light after a social audit was conducted by the Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). (PTI)
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Hello Jammu News at 1:25:00 PM 0


Chennai, Sep 12 :  The CBI has informed the Madras High Court that it has not taken any decision so far on the Tamil Nadu government order transferring all idol theft cases to the agency.
When the plea by Advocate Elephant Rajendran came up yesterday before a division bench of Justices R Mahadevan and P D Audikesavalu, the counsel for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said the agency has not taken any decision so far in this connection.

Meanwhile, the state government filed a miscellaneous petition seeking the court's permission to provide the details of the cases to the Prime Minister's Office as requested by it.

"We wanted the permission of the court to send the details since the court has stayed the operation of the GO transferring the probe to CBI," additional advocate general P H Arvind Pandian said.

Declining to grant any relief, the court said it will decide after the CBI informs its decision.

The petitioner intervened and said though the court had directed the state government to furnish all documents relating to the order, it has not filed any till now.

Recording the submission, the court posted the matter to September 24 for further hearing.

Last month, the High Court had stayed the August 1 order issued by the government to transfer all idol theft cases in the state to the CBI from idol wing police, and lambasted it for its "hurried" action when the matter was already pending before the court.

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Hello Jammu News at 1:48:00 PM 0

New Delhi, Sep 10: The Enforcement Directorate moved Monday a Delhi court seeking to cancel the interim relief from arrest granted to former Union minister P Chidambaram's son Karti Chidambaram in a Aircel-Maxis money laundering case.

Special CBI Judge O P Saini agreed to hear the plea at 2 pm Monday after the probe agency told the court that custodial interrogation of Karti Chidambaram was required in the matter.

Earlier, on August 7, the Delhi court had extended till October 8 the interim protection from arrest granted to senior Congress leader P Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram in the Aircel-Maxis cases filed by the CBI and the ED for the alleged offences of corruption and money laundering respectively.

P Chidambaram and his son were named in the charge sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the case on July 19.

The ED is also probing a separate money-laundering case in the Aircel-Maxis matter and a charge sheet was filed against Karti Chidambaram by the agency on July 13.

The CBI is probing how P Chidambaram, who was the finance minister in 2006, granted a Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval to a foreign firm, when only the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) was empowered to do it.

The senior Congress leader's role has come under the scanner of investigating agencies in the Rs 3,500-crore Aircel-Maxis deal and the INX Media case involving Rs 305 crore.

Taking a cue from the CBI FIR, the ED is probing the money laundering in the matter.

P Chidambaram and Karti Chidambaram have been questioned by the ED on various occasions, even though the politician has not been arrayed as an accused.

Both Chidambaram and Karti Chidambaram have denied the allegations levelled against them by the CBI and the ED. (PTI)
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Hello Jammu News at 5:53:00 PM 0

New Delhi, Sep 6: The CBI has arrested two promoters and directors of Annamalai Industries allegedly involved in Gutka scam in Tamil Nadu, officials said Thursday.

Along with its promoters A V Madhava Rao and Uma Shankar Gupta, the CBI has also taken into custody, Dr P Senthil Murugan of Food Safety and Drug Administration department of Tamil Nadu and N K Pandian, a superintendent of Central Excise department, they said.

The agency had carried out searches at 35 locations in the state Wednesday including the residence of state police chief T K Rajendran, a probable first in the country, and state health minister C Vijayabaskar.

The case pertains to illegal sale of gutka, a concoction of tobacco and 'pan masala' which was banned in Tamil Nadu in 2013, by Jayam Industries.

"The places searched were residential premises of the promoters/directors of the company and other public servants including officials of Sales Tax Department, Customs and Central Excise, Food Safety and Drug Administration Department and jurisdictional police officials," the CBI spokesperson had said.

The promoter-directors of Jayam Industries -- A V Madhav Rao, Uma Shankar Gupta and Srinivas Rao -- continued selling MDM brand gutka in the state even after the ban by allegedly influencing officials, politicians and regulatory authorities, the agency officials said.

Jayam Industries was rechristened into Annamalai Industries to continue the sale, they said.

The scam came to light on July 8, 2017, when income tax sleuths raided the godown, offices and residences of the company in Tamil Nadu, which had been facing charges of tax evasion to the tune of Rs 250 crore.

During the raids, the income tax department had seized a diary containing names of those who had been allegedly paid by the gutka manufacturers.

The case was sent to the CBI by the Madras High Court in April this year on the plea of a DMK leader.

It is alleged by the petitioner in the Madras High Court while demanding a CBI probe that monthly payments worth over Rs 14 lakh were made to health minister Vijayabaskar while payments in lakhs of rupees were made to officials of Central Excise, Food Safety and Sales Tax department of the state, senior police officials and politicians among others.

This was challenged in the Supreme Court by a Tamil Nadu health official but the apex court sided with the Madras High Court order and asked the CBI to register a case.

The agency had registered the FIR against unidentified officials of the Tamil Nadu government, Central Excise Department and the Food Safety Department in May. (PTI)
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Hello Jammu News at 4:06:00 PM 0

Mumbai, Sep 6: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has taken Amol Kale, the prime accused in journalist Gauri Lankesh murder case, in its custody in connection with its probe in rationalist Narendra Dabholkar's murder case, an official said Thursday.

The CBI suspects that Kale is also the mastermind of Dabholkar's killing, he said.

Kale, who was arrested in May this year by the Karnataka Police's Special Investigation Team (SIT) in connection with Lankesh's killing.

will be produce before a court in Maharashtra's Pune district Thursday, he said.

Dabholkar was killed in Pune on August 20, 2013, while Lankesh was shot dead outside her residence at Bengaluru in Karnataka on September 5, 2017.

The official claimed that during Kale's interrogation, his alleged role in Dabholkar's killing also came to light.

Kale and Sachin Andure, the alleged main shooter in Dabholkar's killing, had met in Maharashtra's Aurangabad district and also stayed there in a lodge, he said.

During his stay in Aurangabad, Kale gave a pistol to Andure and it was passed to the latter's brother-in-law Shubham Surale, the official said.

The pistol was found last month at Surale's friend Rohit Rege's residence in Aurangabad during raids by the CBI and the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).

The seized pistol was sent to a forensic science lab for analysis and the ballistic report is yet to be known, he said.

The CBI wants to interrogate Kale to find out about his alleged role in the Dabholkar case and in this connection, the probe agency Wednesday took his custody from a prison in Bengaluru, he said.

During the course of investigation, the CBI is likely to confront Sharad Kalaskar, the other alleged shooter in the Dabholkar case, with Kale, and two others arrested in Lankesh's murder case -- Amit Digvekar and Rajesh Bangera, another official said.

The agency had claimed earlier that Digvekar and Bangera were also involved in the Dabholkar murder conspiracy.

It had arrested the duo in the Dabholkar case last week.

Kalaskar was arrested last month by the Maharashtra ATS in connection with an alleged conspiracy to carry out blasts in the state.

The ATS had claimed that during interrogation, Kalaskar revealed that he and Sachin Andure were involved in the Dabholkar murder, following which it tipped off the CBI which then arrested Andure.

The CBI took Kalaskar's custody from the ATS on Monday. (PTI)
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Hello Jammu News at 3:55:00 PM 0

Nainital, Sept 5: The Uttarakhand High Court has ordered a CBI probe into the death of tigers at the Corbett Tiger Reserve over the past five years and alleged involvement of forest department officials in the poaching of big cats.

A division bench of the the high court comprising Acting Chief Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Lokpal Singh Tuesday ordered inquiry into the death of tigers in the park.

The court also asked the CBI to find out the involvement of forest officers in the poaching of tigers. The matter shall be inquired into and investigated by the CBI and the preliminary report shall be submitted to this court, in sealed cover, within three months, it said.

The CBI is free to take the services of its Wildlife Wing for the probe.

The direction came after the court was told that out of nine tiger deaths in the past only six were natural deaths.

The court does not order for investigation by the CBI but the present case is the rarest of rare cases where the expertise of the CBI is solicited, the court said.

The court further observed that in a period of two and a half years 40 tigers and 272 leopards have died in the state.

As per a newspaper report poachers active in Uttarakhand belong to the Bawariya gang hailing from Haryana.

The Director General of Police is directed to constitute a Special Investigation Team headed by Senior Superintendents of Police to nab these poachers, the court said.

The court further took cognisance of the fact that an area measuring 318.80 hectares falling in Dhulwa and Dhumanda has not been formally included in the Corbett Tiger Reserve.

The State is directed to include this area in Corbett Tiger Reserve within one month.

Issuing various directions to preserve wildlife the court banned the entry of private or commercial gypsies to ply in Dhikala Zone of the reserve thereby modifying previous order of permitting 32 vehicles each to ply in Jhirna as well as in Birjani Zones. (PTI)
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Hello Jammu News at 3:39:00 PM 0

New Delhi, Sep 5: The CBI today carried out searches at around 40 locations in Tamil Nadu, including at the residences of state's health minister and the director general of police, in connection with the Gutka scam, officials said.

They said the searches are spread across the state but did not reveal exact locations at this stage, saying it may hamper the ongoing operations.

The residences of Health Minister C Vijayabaskar and DGP TK Rajendran, besides that of a former senior police official, among others are being searched, they said.

The scam came to light on July 8, 2017, when income tax sleuths raided the godown, offices and residences of a pan masala and gutka (a concoction of tobacco and pan masala) manufacturer in Tamil Nadu, who had been facing charges of tax evasion to the tune of Rs 250 crore.

The manufacture, storage and sale of the chewable forms of tobacco, including gutka and pan masala were banned by the Tamil Nadu government in 2013.

During the raids, the department had seized a diary containing names of those who had been allegedly paid by the gutka manufacturers.

The case was sent to the CBI by the Madras High Court in April this year on the plea of a DMK leader.

The agency had registered an FIR against unidentified officials of the Tamil Nadu government, Central Excise Department and the Food Safety Department in May. (PTI)
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