Archives for October 2022

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday refused to grant bail to former JNU student Umar Khalid in a UAPA case related to alleged conspiracy behind the riots here in February 2020.

 “There is no merit in the bail appeal. Bail appeal is dismissed,” said a bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Rajnish Bhatnagar.

Khalid, arrested by Delhi Police in September 2020, sought bail on grounds that he neither had any criminal role in the violence in the city’s north-east area nor any conspiratorial connect with any other accused in the case.

The bail plea was opposed by the Delhi Police.

Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, and several others have been booked under the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and provisions of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly being the “masterminds” of the February 2020 riots, which had left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.

The violence had erupted during the protests against CAA and NRC.

Besides Khalid, activist Khalid Saifi, JNU students Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, Jamia Coordination Committee members Safoora Zargar, former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and several others have also been booked under the stringent law in the case.

J Jayalalithaa

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday tabled in Assembly the reports of separate Commissions of Inquiry that looked into the circumstances surrounding the death of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and the 2018 police firing at Thoothukudi in the state.

The Justice A Arumughaswamy Commission of Inquiry that probed the circumstances leading to Jayalalithaa’s death in 2016, in its concluding remarks said that V K Sasikala, the late Chief Minister’s confidante, “have to be found fault with and investigation is to be ordered.” The panel also has named others alongwith Sasikala.

The Justice Aruna Jagadeesan Commission of Inquiry, which probed the 2018 police firing at Thoothukudi on anti-Sterlite protesters –that claimed 13 lives– has blamed the police authorities.

Mumbai: World Cup winner Roger Binny was on Tuesday elected as the 36th president of the BCCI, taking over from Sourav Ganguy to run the world’s richest cricket board.

Binny, 67, was elected unopposed at its AGM (Annual general Meeting) here alongside Jay Shah, who was re-elected as the secretary for a second successive term.

The other office bearers who were elected unopposed included treasurer Ashish Shelar, vice-president Rajeev Shukla and joint secretary Devjit Saikia.

Binny, who played 27 Tests and 72 ODIs for India, takes charge ahead of the ODI World Cup in India next year.

However, there was no discussion on the chairmanship of International Cricket Council (ICC). The next ICC chairman will be elected during the board meeting in Melbourne next month.

“As far as India’s representative to the ICC is concerned, it will be decided by the office-bearers. There was no discussion on the ICC chairmanship. Only matters on the agenda were discussed,” a state unit official who attended the AGM.

It is unlikely that the BCCI will nominate its own candidate for the ICC chairman’s position, with the October 20 nomination deadline approaching.

Surathkal: The protesters including the Toll Gate Virodhi Horata Samiti leaders who were protesting and demanding the removal of the Surathkal toll gate were detained by the police on Tuesday.

The protesters who pushed through the barricade erected by police, while trying to lay siege around the toll gate were stopped by the police. The leader of the Surathkal Toll Gate Horata Samiti Muneer Kaatipalla, former MLAs Ivan D’Souza, Shakuntala Shetty, J.R Lobo, Mohiuddin Bava, leaders Mithun Rai, Shashidhar Hegde, Pratibha Kulai, and B.K Imthiyaz including other protesters were detained by police. The detained leaders and protesters were taken away from the site in a vehicle, it is learned.

Ahead of these developments, vehicular traffic on the national highway experienced complete disarray. At present, the police have made way for smoother movement of vehicles.

In the background of the protests, thorough security arrangements have been set up under the leadership of Mangaluru City Police Commissioner N. Shashikumar.

NEW DELHI: The counting of votes began on Wednesday in the Congress presidential polls in which senior leaders Mallikarjun Khargeand Shashi Tharoor faced off for the post of AICC chief.

The counting of the Votes which was scheduled to begin at 10 am at the AICC headquarters here, started around 10:20 am.

All sealed ballot boxes from the 68 polling booths set up across the country had been brought here by Tuesday evening and kept in a “strong room” at the party office.

Asked about reports of complaints related to polling in Uttar Pradesh and some other states, Tharoor campaign team member Salman Soz said they have raised certain issues with the central election authority (CEA) and have been in communication with CEA chairman Madhusudan Mistry “before polling, on polling day and after that”.

The counting agents of Kharge are Pramod Tiwari, Kodikunil Suresh, Gaurav Gogoi, Syed Nasir Hussain, Kuljit Singh Bagra and Gurdeep Singh Sappal.

Karti Chidambaram, Atul Chaturvedi and Sumedh Gaikwad are among those who are counting agents of Tharoor.

While Kharge is considered the firm favourite with his perceived proximity to the Gandhis and a large number of senior leaders backing him,Tharoor has pitched himself as the candidate of change.

Congress central election authority chairman Mistry has expressed satisfaction with the party’s presidential polls process, saying it was “free, fair and transparent”.

He has also said it was a secret ballot and no one would get to know who voted for whom.

Of the total 9,915 Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates that formed the electoral college to pick the party chief in a secret ballot, over 9,500 cast their ballot at PCC offices and the AICC headquarters, Mistry had said at a press conference after the polling ended on Monday.

The party will get its first non-Gandhi president in 24 years after more than 9,500 votes are counted.

The polls are historic as the new president would replace Sonia Gandhi, the longest-serving party president who has been at the helm since 1998, barring the two years between 2017 and 2019 when Rahul Gandhi had taken over.

Electors in the Congress presidential polls had been asked to put a tick mark against their candidate in the ballot paper after Tharoor’s team took up with the party’s top poll body the issue of its earlier directive that voters write “1” to reflect their preference.

This, the team said, might lead to confusion.

NEW DELHI: About 39% of all job card-holding households registered under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005  were not provided even a single day of work during the Covid-hit 2020-21 period in India’s four states. 

These states include Bihar (then ruled by NDA) and Karnataka (BJP-ruled now). In fact, 39% of job-card-holding households were demanding 77 days of work on average but they did not get work even for a single day.

A survey conducted on the impact of ‘The Covid-19 pandemic’ on the MGNREGA in various blocks of the country’s four states by Azim Premji University in partnership with the National Consortium of Civil Organisations and Collaborative Research and Dissemination (CORD), has made such startling revelations in its report.

The study has also found that despite all these the MGNREGA made a marked difference during the pandemic, protecting the most vulnerable households from significant loss of Income as they were able to find some work. 

Cuttack: A 22-year-old man was tied to a two-wheeler and made to run for about two kilometres on a busy road in Odisha’s Cuttack city allegedly by two others as he failed to repay Rs 1500 to them on time, police said on Monday.

The two were arrested during the day after the matter was reported to the police.

“The accused were charged with wrongful confinement, kidnapping and attempt to murder,” Cuttack city Deputy Commissioner of Police Pinak Mishra said here.

The hands of Jagannath Behera were tied with a 12 feet long rope, the other end of which was attached to the two-wheeler. He was forced to run behind it from Stuartpatna Square to Sutahat Square, a distance of more than two kilometres, for around 20 minutes on Sunday.

A video of the incident went viral on social media.

Some locals intervened at Sutahat Square and rescued the 22-year-old who had borrowed Rs 1500 from one of the two accused last month for performing his grandfather’s last rites, police sources said.

Behera promised to repay the money in 30 days but failed, leading to this ‘punishment’.

After Behera reported the matter to the police on Monday, the two accused were arrested. Police have also seized the two-wheeler and the rope used by the two.

The police are also questioning traffic constables on duty between the two-kilometre stretch on why they did not intervene to stop them.

New Delhi,: After his questioning by the CBI in the Delhi excise scam case, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday claimed that he was pressured to leave Aam Aadmi Party and was offered Delhi CM’s post.

Sisodia was quizzed by the CBI for over nine hours in connection with the case.

“BJP says there is a Rs 10,000 crore excise scam. I found at CBI office that there is no scam and the case is fake. The fake case against me is a conspiracy to make BJP’s ‘Operation Lotus’ a success in Delhi,” Sisodia told reporters after the questioning.

He alleged that he was pressurised to quit AAP.

“Pressure was put on me to quit AAP. I was offered Delhi CM’s post or face jail term,” he said.

National Conference president Farooq Abdullah

Jammu,: National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Monday lashed out at BJP over its claims of normalcy post abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and said the killings will never stop until “justice” is served.

Abdullah, who is a Member of Parliament from Srinagar, said had the situation been improved on the ground, another innocent Kashmiri pandit would not have been killed.

“It (killings) will never stop as long as there is be no justice,” he told reporters in a brief interaction when asked about his reaction to the latest target killing of a Kashmiri pandit by militants in Shopian.

Puran Krishan Bhat was gunned down by militants on Saturday outside his ancestral house in the Chowdhary Gund area of the south Kashmir’s district, where he had gone to look after his orchards.

Abdullah did not elaborate what “justice” he was talking about, but he was apparently referring to the restoration of Article 370 abrogated by the Centre.

The National Conference chief had gone to Reasi to express condolences with his party colleague and former minister Jagjeevan Lal on the demise of his sister, and the family of former bureaucrat Babu Lal who had recently passed away.

“They were making noises that this (terrorism) was the result of Article 370. Today, there is no Article 370 but why such killings are then taking place and who is responsible?” Abdullah, a former J-K chief minister, said.

The BJP-led government at the centre abrogated Article 370, providing special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and bifurcated the erstwhile state into Union Territories on August 5, 2019.

The National Conference, along with four other parties including the PDP, are fighting for the restoration of the special status under the banner of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD).

“If the situation had improved (as claimed by the BJP), this innocent pandit would not have been killed. Where is the improved situation as I don’t see it,” he said.

Vaishali Thakkar |

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Police have registered a case of abetting suicide against a couple after noted TV actor Vaishali Thakkar allegedly killed herself at her house in Indore even as the preliminary investigation suggested she was depressed due to some “unknown” reason.

Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra on Monday said the case was registered against Thakkar’s neighbour Rahul Navlani and his wife Disha.

The accused couple lives in the neighbourhood of the actor (29), known for her role in serials like ‘Sasural Simar Ka’. She was found hanging from a ceiling fan with a stole in her house in Saibag Colony on Sunday, police said.

Prima facie, Thakkar had been under depression for the last few months for unknown reasons, a police official said citing the diary of the late actor.

“A case was registered under Indian Penal Code Section 306 (abetment of suicide) against Thakkar’s neighbour Rahul Navlani and his wife Disha and further investigation is underway,” Mishra told reporters in Bhopal.

A five-page suicide note was found at the spot in which Vaishali Thakkar named Rahul Navlani for harassing her, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Moti-ur-Rehman told PTI in Indore.

He said the actor’s family members alleged Rahul Navlani was troubling her since he came to know about her plans to get married.

The accused couple was not found at their Indore home. They have gone away somewhere after locking their house, the ACP said.

Thakkar and Navlani’s fathers are business partners and they have known each other for a long time, he said.

A case of abetment and instigation to commit suicide was registered against the couple, he said.

Indore commissioner of police Harinarayan Chari Mishra said the probe team has collected all personal belongings of Vaishali Thakkar, including her diary, laptop, IPad, IPhone and one other mobile phone.

Police officer RD Kanwa said Thakkar’s diary revealed that she was under “a state of depression for the last few months”.

“More information on the reason for her depression could be received only after the statements of her family members and close friends are recorded. This will be done in a day or two,” Kanwa added.

Thakkar’s friend on the condition of anonymity told PTI that she was engaged to a Kenya-based businessman last year.

“She posted about her engagement on her social media handle and a month later posted that she had broken ties with him,” the friend claimed.

A social media post of hers recently also dropped ominous hints with a reel of a revolving ceiling fan that had the comment ‘what do you do on Sundays?”

Thakkar started her career with the TV serial ‘Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai’. She became a star while acting in ‘Sasural Simar Ka’ and went on to work in more than a dozen serials.

The actor was a native of Mahidpur town in the Ujjain district. She had been living in Indore for the last three years.