Archives for June 2019

Tabrej’s family alleged that the attack was communal and that he was made to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Jai Hanuman’.

JAMSHEDPUR: A 22-year-old man died on Sunday after he was beaten up by locals and later arrested on suspicion of theft here in Saraikela Kharsawanand.

The deceased has been identified as Tabrej.

He was admitted to Sadar hospital yesterday morning and then referred to Tata Main Hospital, Jamshedpur.

Tabrej’s family has, however, alleged that the attack was communal and that he was made to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Jai Hanuman’.

“Some locals thrashed Tabrej and later gave him over to the police. He was suspected of theft but it was a communal attack. He was beaten because he had a Muslim name. They made him chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Jai Hanuman’ again and again. We were not allowed to meet him at the hospital. We have the video of the incident. I demand the culprits be arrested,” Tabrej’s relative Maqsood Alam said while speaking to ANI.

“We want action against the police personnel who were on duty at that time,” another relative said.

An FIR has been registered and further investigation is underway, police said.

HYDERABAD: In an unexpected development,  RBI deputy governor Viral Acharya quit, nearly six months ahead of the end of his three-year term.

Confirming the same, the central bank in a statement on Monday said, “A few weeks ago, Dr Acharya submitted a letter to the RBI informing that due to unavoidable personal circumstances, he is unable to continue his term as a Deputy Governor of the RBI beyond July 23, 2019. Consequential action arising from his letter is under consideration of the Competent Authority.” 

Acharya, a Professor at the New York University’s Stern School of Business joined the banking regulator in January 2017 and his term was to expire next February. 

RBI sources told Express that ‘the issue was very much on the table, though the timing was unexpected.  “The government should act quick and appoint a deputy governor soon. It cannot be an internal replacement,” he added.  

It may be noted that Acharya was in the government’s cross-hairs last October opposing the centre’s demand for transfer of RBI’s excess reserves. 

In a sensational speech, he stressed the need for RBI’s independence and the importance of a central bank’s autonomy.  Invoking Argentina’s precedent, he warned that the governments that don’t pay heed to their central banks would certainly attract ‘the wrath of the markets.’ 

The speech was in response to the government’s insistence on getting its way on a host of issues including management of bad loans, credit to MSMEs and liquidity. Board members were at loggerheads in a stormy meeting in October that stretched for hours but ended inconclusively. 

This prompted Acharya to go public, expressing his disappointment through a public speech, which rattled the government.

Though officials in the Ministry of Finance initially tried to smoke the peace pipe at the central bank’s meeting last November, eventually, it led to the exit of the then RBI Governor Dr Urjit Patel the following month. 

Acharya was one of the outspoken deputy governor’s and had used public speeches as a medium to convey his ideas and proposals including setting up a bad bank or the need to pursue privatisation and banking consolidation.

delay due to CM’s Grama Vastavya; Shankar likely to get municipal administration, Nagesh primary and secondary education

BENGALURU: Exactly ten days after they took oath as ministers in the JDS-Congress coalition cabinet, H Nagesh and R Shankar are likely to get their portfolios on Monday.The duo that was supposed to take charge of their ministries before Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy set out on this ‘Grama Vastavya’ had to wait for his return.

Shankar, who was dropped from the cabinet only to make a comeback months later after withdrawing support to the coalition, is likely to get municipal administration portfolio.Interestingly, Ramesh Jarkiholi held the ministry before he was dropped from the cabinet to make way for late C S Shivalli. Following Shivalli’s death, the ministry had been lying vacant and is likely to be given to Shankar. After all his hobnobbing with Ramesh Jarkiholi despite his open dissent against the Congress, it is ironic that Shankar is likely to get the same portfolio earlier held by Jarkiholi. Another ministry – primary and secondary education – that was left vacant after the lone BSP MLA N Mahesh quit from the cabinet, is likely to be given to Nagesh.

In his bid to ensure the stability of the coalition government, Kumaraswamy decided to give away one of the two cabinet berths under the JDS quota to an independent MLA. Mahesh had been accommodated in the cabinet under the JDS quota in keeping with the party’s pre-poll alliance with BSP. While any shift of portfolios is unlikely, sources in the JDS suggest that senior leader and higher education minister G T Devegowda is hoping for a change of portfolios.

While no assurance has come in from the Chief Minister yet, the Congress is not too keen on disturbing the delicate balance it has achieved.

District in-charge minister Venkatrao Nadagouda has asked officials to ensure arrangements of each person who arrives at the village stay program to get access to the Chief Minister.

BENGALURU: After meeting more than 4,000 people on his first ‘Grama Vastavya’ outing, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy is all set for the second leg of his pet project. On June 26 Kumaraswamy will visit Karegudda village in Raichur’s Manvi taluk. Preparations however are in full swing already with District Commissioner personally overlooking works required for the ‘Grama Vastavya’. Kumaraswamy will stay at a government school that is being given a fresh coat of paint. A whopping Rs 1 crore was spent on the first village stay outing including food, facilities and public rallies addressed by the Chief Minister. A similar plan is being put in place at Raichur.

DC Sharath has been visiting the Karegudda village once every day to oversee preparations while a team of police officers have identified locations for security posts. Makeshift offices to receive petitions by citizens, basic infrastructure, including water and toilers, to those who visit the Chief Minister are being set up. A team of officials from the Chief Minister’s office have been camping in Raichur to ensure timely completion of preparedness. In the first leg of his village visit HD Kumaraswamy, who returned to Bengaluru on Sunday, met about 4,000 people personally and received over 1,800 petitions online.
District in-charge minister Venkatrao Nadagouda has asked officials to ensure arrangements of each person who arrives at the village stay program to get access to the Chief Minister.

Food will be prepared for everybody who visits the venue, apart from students, teachers and staff of the government school that Kumaraswamy will stay at. The Chief Minister’s office has asked officials to spend judiciously on the arrangement, in-keeping with Kumaraswamy’s idea of keeping it a low key affair.

He said that he cannot speak about BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa becoming CM, and that the former CM will speak about it himself.

BELAGAVI: “The Congress and JDS are not working in the interest of the state. They have joined hands just to keep the BJP from coming to power,” said MoS (Railways) Suresh Angadi. He said that the people voted for the BJP to ensure development in the state, however the Congress and JDS are not governing well.

Angadi added, “All those opposing us are Congress products. The party is in its last leg, and interim elections are not important for the BJP. We want to work for the people instead of thinking about elections – we don’t want to waste our time and energy on it.”

He said that he cannot speak about BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa becoming CM, and that the former CM will speak about it himself. He spoke to reporters after inspecting development works being undertaken by the railways department on Sunday morning. “Track doubling work in Pune-Miraj, Miraj-Hubballi, Hubballi-Davangere are underway. Once they are complete, people of these regions can reach their destinations faster,” said the minister.

He also repeatedly alleges that there is a threat to his life.

BENGALURU: Two weeks after he fled the country, leaving thousands of people cheated of their investments running into several hundred crores, IMA Jewels founder and managing director Mohammed Mansoor Khan has released a video clip, supposedly from Dubai, on Sunday. He has accused a host of people, including JDS MLC Saravana, of causing the “collapse” of the company.

However, the JDS leader has denied any links with Khan.In the video, Khan refuses to accept that his was a ponzi scheme, saying that they were into “legal and proper business”. He claims that he wishes to return to Bengaluru, but that has got delayed. “I went to the airport on June 14 but was deplaned. Being a Friday, the immigration department was shut, so I could not fly that day. As soon as all formalities are taken care of, I shall return to my homeland,” he says.

He also repeatedly alleges that there is a threat to his life. “I am dealing with very dangerous people who are out to kill me. They know that the information I am going to reveal to the judiciary will get them into a lot of trouble, so they want to silence me. An IAS officer demanded Rs 10 crore when we applied for loan to bail out IMA. Since there was a little delay in arranging the money, he refused to process the papers and our company suffered closure,” he claims. 

Reacting to this, SIT investigating officer DCP S Girish said Khan’s allegations cannot be taken at face value and only a full investigation will bring out the truth.

In the video, Khan says: “I congratulate Ubaidullah Sharief (Congress worker), Mohammed Khalik Ahmed (editor, Pasban), Mukhtiyar Ahmed (named in a TADA case and discharged later), Feroz Abdullah Sait of Feroz Real Estate, Prestige Group’s Irfan and Saravana (JDS member and president of Jewellers’ Association), for their success in causing harm to IMA; also those from my group of directors who swindled money and those who spread hate messages that hastened the collapse of IMA.”

He goes on to say that in a previous audio clip, he had told the City Police Commissioner how he had to flee from the country to save himself and his family. He adds that he felt “demotivated” then and hence contemplated suicide. “Also, mine was not a planned exit, like some people are alleging. IMA had been facing financial issues since October, which we managed to protect the investors from, for long,” he says.
“My acquaintances and people within the management have betrayed me. I had no one to seek help from, and I had to leave. Out of thousands who made lots of money from the company in its 13 years of existence, no one stood by me during difficult times. Yet, I want to return. I request Alok Kumar to contact me on my earlier phone number. My passport has been impounded, delaying my return.”

‘Khan’s allegations baseless’

Reacting to allegations made against him by Mansoor Khan, Saravana told reporters, “There is no connection between me and him. The way his business functioned was damaging, and he doesn’t follow the association. Let him prove his allegations with evidence. I will file a defamation case against him after discussing with my lawyer.”

Both the deaths took place at the S K Medical College and Hospital, where 431 children, including two in the past 12 hours, have been admitted for AES treatment

PATNA/MUZAFFARPUR: Two more children died in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district on Sunday due to acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) even as officials asserted that afflictions and casualties had begun to dwindle with the onset of rains.

Both the deaths took place at the S K Medical College and Hospital, where 431 children, including two in the past 12 hours, have been admitted for AES treatment since June 1, according to figures released by the district administration.

The total number of AES patients who have died at the SKMCH is 110.

“There is a perceptible decline in the number of children who are being admitted with brain fever as also the number of deaths,” hospital superintendent Sunil Kumar Shahi said.

“It has always been observed that AES strikes at the peak of summer and the outbreak halts with the onset of rains.”

Two fresh cases have been registered, one on Saturday and another on Sunday, Shahi said.

Besides the SKMCH, the Kejriwal hospital in the Muzaffarpur town has so far registered 162 AES cases and 20 casualties.

The Health Department put the total number of AES casualties across 20 districts at 152.

These include the 130 deaths reported at the two Muzaffarpur-based hospitals, which have been admitting AES patients from nearly half a dozen districts in its proximity.

It also suspended Bhimsen Kumar, a senior resident doctor posted at the Patna Medical College Hospital, for allegedly failing to comply with the direction to report for emergency duty at the SKMCH.

Meanwhile, a huge chunk of plaster fell off the ceiling at the SKMCH in the afternoon and came crashing down on the ground, barely a few feet away from a patients’ ward.

Nobody was injured in the incident, which took place a day after human skeletal remains were found strewn near a garbage dump close to the hospital building.

Experts attribute the deaths to hypoglycemia which typically affects malnourished children below the age of 15 years and said to be triggered by consumption of unripe lychees — a fruit grown in abundance in Bihar.

The fruit contains a high concentration of a toxin that causes blood-sugar levels to fall sharply.

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Sources said that the top brass of the Congress, as well as the Gandhi family, is said to be in favour of Ashok Gehlot taking over as the party chief.

NEW DELHI: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is likely to be appointed as the next Congress president as Rahul Gandhi is adamant on his stand that he does not want to continue as the party chief, sources told Zee News. Sources in the Delhi unit of the party say that a large chunk of Congress is in favour of Gehlot’s elevation as the party chief.

It is also likely that Gehlot will continue to serve as the Chief Minister of Rajasthan. Leaders are believed to have given arguments in favour of Gehlot stating that many party presidents have served as chief ministers of states. The names of West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, former Uttar Pradesh CMs Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati and former Tamil Nadu CM late J Jayalalithaa are said to have been cited as examples in favour of Gehlot continuing as Rajasthan CM.

Sources added that the top brass of the Congress, as well as the Gandhi family, is said to be in favour of Gehlot taking over as the party chief.

Hectic parleys are on within the Congress over who will be the next party president as Rahul, who is currently the chief, had offered his resignation after the Lok Sabha results were announced last month. Rahul had taken responsibility for the party’s debacle in the election and despite the party urging him to continue on the post, he has remained firm that he wants to step down from his position.

The Congress had won 52 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, which is just eight more than what the Congress won in 2014. The National Democratic Alliance, on the other hand, registered a massive victory, winning 352 seats to retain power at the Centre. The Bharatiya Janata Party alone won 303 seats, its highest ever tally.