Nasheman News :  Robert Vadra, brother-in-law of Congress President Rahul Gandhi, was on Wednesday questioned for over three hours by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering case.

A senior ED official said: “We could question Vadra for only three-and-a-half hours as he complained of poor health. 

“We have asked him to appear before us again on February 22 at 10.30 a.m.,” the official told media.

Vadra arrived at the ED office in central Delhi at 10.30 a.m. and was questioned till 2 p.m.

Outside, hundreds of Youth Congress workers raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ED. 

On February 16, a Delhi court had extended Vadra’s interim bail till March 2. 

This was the fourth time that Vadra, husband of Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has been questioned in connection with the money laundering case. 

The earlier quizzing took place on February 6, 7 and 9. 

The case relates to the ownership of undisclosed assets abroad worth 1.9 million pounds, allegedly belonging to Vadra.

Vadra was also questioned on February 12 and 13 by the ED in Jaipur in connection with a land deal case in Bikaner, Rajasthan. 

The ED on February 15 attached Vadra’s Sukhdev Vihar house in Delhi, a property worth Rs 4.43 crore. The house was in the name of Vadra’s company Sky Light Hospitality Pvt Ltd. 

On February 2, the court granted Vadra interim bail till February 16 and asked him to join the investigation on February 6.

The ED also lodged a money laundering case against Vadra’s employee Manoj Arora after his role came up during an Income Tax Department probe in a 2015 anti-black money case involving absconding arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari.

The ED had alleged that Arora was aware of Vadra’s overseas undeclared assets and was instrumental in arranging funds.

Nasheman News : The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed Reliance Communications to pay Rs 453 crore to Ericsson India within four weeks failing which its chairman will have to undergo a three-month sentence.

A bench of Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman and Justice Vineet Saran directed the court’s Registry to give Ericsson Rs 118 crore that were earlier deposited by RCOM. 

The court said that the entire amount that RCOM has to pay to Ericsson is Rs 550 crore plus the interest that was generated. 

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore each on RCOM, Reliance Telecommunication and Reliance Infratel that would be deposited with the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee (SCLSC). 

In case of default the Chairman of all three companies would have to undergo sentence of one month each. 

The bench ordered this as it did not accept the “unconditional apology” tendered to the court by the RCOM Chairman.

RCOM Chairman Anil Ambani was present in the court when the order was announced. 

Nasheman News :  Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday flagged off the world’s first diesel to electric converted locomotive here.

Modi was received at the Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport by Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Mahendra Nath Pandey and other senior officials.

After the flag-off from the Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW) campus, he also interacted with differently abled persons.

The Prime Minister is scheduled to spend around six hours in Varanasi, his parliamentary constituency, during which he will launch projects worth Rs 3,300 crore.

He will also visit the Sant Ravidas temple.

This is Modi’s 17th visit to the temple town after becoming its representative in 2014. 

Nasheman News : The Government on Monday said that a sum of Rs 46 crore has been collected and dispersed as part of the “Bharat Ke Veer” initiative for CRPF troopers who lost their lives in the February 14 Pulwama attack.

Over 80,000 people came forward in the last few days since Thursday to contribute over Rs 20 crore, a statement said.

Nasheman News : Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and balloons have been banned in the city for security reasons during the five-day Aero India show, starting on February 20, police said here on Sunday.

“In view of the aerospace expo at the Yelahanka Air Force Station from Wednesday, flying of aerial platforms like UAVs or drones, UAS and balloons are banned over the city to maintain law and order under the prevailing security scenario,” said city Police Commissioner T. Suneel Kumar in a statement.

The police also banned parking of vehicles on both sides of the highway around the air base from Monday to Sunday to prevent congestion.

“Vehicular traffic from Mekhri Circle in the city centre to the international airport via Hebbal flyover and the Yelahanka air base will be regulated or diverted during the air show from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to prevent gridlock and ensure vehicular movement on the main thoroughfare leading to National Highway 7 and the airport,” said Kumar.

The airport operator (Bangalore International Airport Ltd — BIAL) has rescheduled departures and arrivals of domestic and international flights since February 14 to facilitate flying display of military and civil aircraft at the air show.

“Arrival and departure of passenger flights will be affected for five hours (10 a.m.-12 noon and 2 p.m.-5 p.m.) on February 18-19; six hours (9 a.m.-12 noon and 2 p.m.-5 p.m.) on February 20; and five hours (10 a.m.-12 noon and 2 p.m.-5 p.m.) from February 21-24,” said BIAL in a statement earlier.

The tech hub’s airport is the third largest in the country after Delhi and Mumbai.

Nasheman News :  A Karnataka-based businessman has been jailed for six months for allegedly not filing his income tax arrears and interest of around Rs 7.35 crore despite reminders, an official said on Saturday.

“The defaulter was arrested on Friday for failing to pay his tax arrears and produced before the Tax Recovery Officer (TRO) from where he was sent to jail for a tenure of six months,” said the department in a statement here.

The official, however, did not disclose the defaulter’s identity and nature of his business, except that he is from Tumakuru, 70 km northwest from here.

Though the defaulter was given many opportunities to pay the arrears, he missed them and failed to appear before the TRO on 17 occasions to explain reasons for defaulting.

“The defaulter appeared before the TRO in response to a notice on October 3, 2018, as to why a warrant to arrest him should not be issued. But he did not explain why he could not pay the dues,” said the statement.

The defaulter again appeared before the TRO on January 3 in response to a second notice issued on December 19 and assured the latter that he would remit the dues on receiving money from an unnamed debtor.

“Inquiry by the TRO revealed that although the defaulter received Rs 1 crore from his debtor before January 3, he did not pay the dues even partly. Instead, he dishonestly utilised it for other purposes,” said the statement.

The defaulter on February 14 admitted to the TRO in a statement that he did not pay taxes despite receiving Rs 1 crore from his debtor.

“The businessman violated provisions of Section 222 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, and Rule 73(a) and 73(b) of the Schedule II,” said the statement.

As the TRO considered no more inquiry was necessary under Rule 75 of the Second Schedule, the defaulter was arrested and produced before the TRO-7.

“The TRO-7 committed the defaulter to civil prison on Friday for six months after he failed to arrange for paying the tax arrears,” added the statement.

In a similar case, the department arrested a Bengaluru businessman on February 12 at the Mumbai airport and jailed him for six months for failing to pay tax arrears, including penalty to the tune of Rs 11.94 crore.

Section 222 of the Income Tax Act provides for attachment and sale of moveable/immovable property and arrest and detention of tax evaders.

Nasheman News :  Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) would showcase its prowess at the five-day 12th edition of ‘Aero India 2019’ expo, starting here on February 20, to hard sell its military aircraft and helicopters, a top official said on Thursday.

“HAL will explore opportunities at the Aero India by showcasing its fixed-wing and rotary-wing platforms and technologies as an industry player in the domestic and global defence market,” said HAL Chairman and Managing Director R. Madhavan in a statement.

The statement was issued ahead of the biennial air show at the Yelahanka base of the Indian Air Force on the city’s northern outskirts near the Bengaluru International Airport.

The aerospace major is also organising the present edition of the air show, where 31 aircraft will be part of the flying display and 22, static display.

HAL’s Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, HTT-40 (Basic Trainer Aircraft), upgraded Hawk Mk132 named Hawk-i, Civil Do-228 (civil version of Dornier 228 aircraft), Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Rudra, Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) and Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) will also be part of the flying display.

The fixed and rotary wing aerobatic teams Suryakiran (Hawk aircraft) and Sarang (ALH-Dhruv) will enthrall about six lakh visitors likley to attend the carnival of aircraft.

The defence behemoth will also showcase its LUH (PT-1), LCH (TD-2), ALH Rudra and ALH Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) as part of static display, HAL said.

At the expo, 360 exhibitors — 196 from India and 164 from foreign countries — will showcase their products.

HAL’s pavilion will include technological demonstration of the tail boom folding and main rotor folding of the Naval Utility Helicopter (NUH), which is ALH customised for the Navy.

“For the first time, HAL’s Supersonic Omni Role Trainer Aircraft (SPORT) simulator will be at the pavilion,” the statement added.

The SPORT aircraft will be used for fighter training after advanced jet training stage and before the induction of pilots into the frontline fighter squadron.

The exhibition space will also have a Jaguar aircraft simulator, HAL said.

As part of the air show’s ‘Innovate’ theme, the aerospace major will also display the technologies of Hindustan Turbo Fan Engine (HTFE-25) and Hindustan Turbo Shaft Engine (HTSE-1200) along with rotary unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), models of avionics and mechanical system line replacement units and complex manufacturing capabilities.

Global aerospace majors, including Boeing (US), Lockheed Martin Corp (US), Dassault (France), Russian Aircraft Corp MiG, Saab (Sweden) and European aerospace firm Airbus, will also take part in the exhibition.

Nasheman News :  NASA has announced the end of its Opportunity rover’s mission, 15 years after its arrival on Mars.

The announcement was made on Wednesday at a press conference at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, following NASA’s last attempt to communicate with the rover on Tuesday night which got no response, Xinhua reported.

The rover last communicated with Earth on June 10, 2018, as a planet-wide dust storm blanketed the solar-powered rover’s location on Mars. It has not been heard from for eight months since then.

Opportunity likely experienced a low-power fault, a mission clock fault and an up-loss timer fault, according to the mission team.

Team members have tried to rouse the rover ever since, and radiated more than a thousand commands to restore contact. However, no signal was heard from again.

“Saying goodbye is hard, but it comes the time,” said John Callas, project manager for Opportunity.

“It is because of trailblazing missions such as Opportunity that there will come a day when our brave astronauts walk on the surface of Mars,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.



“When that day arrives, some portion of that first footprint will be owned by the men and women of Opportunity, and a little rover that defied the odds and did so much in the name of exploration,” he said.



The golf-cart-sized rover far exceeded its planned 90-day mission lifetimes. It has worked for nearly 15 years and travelled over 45 km by the time it reached its most appropriate final resting spot on Mars — Perseverance Valley.



Opportunity landed on Mars on January 24, 2004. First among the mission’s scientific goals was to search for and characterise a wide range of rocks and soils for clues to past water activity on Mars.

Nasheman News : The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has found that there was an improvement of one month in the delivery schedule of the 2016 contract for 36 Rafale fighter jets in flyaway condition than the one negotiated by the UPA government.

The CAG report on Capital Acquisition in Indian Air Force tabled in Parliament on Wednesday said one of the objectives of the Indian Negotiation Team (INT), which was derived from the Indo-French Joint Statement, was to expedite the delivery of the aircraft and weapons compared to the delivery period offered by Dassault Aviation in 2007.

According to the original delivery schedule offered by Dassault in 2007, first 18 flyaway aircraft were to be delivered between 37 and 50 months of the signing of the contract. The next 18, which were to be license produced in HAL, were to be delivered from 49th to 72nd months of the signing of the contract.

During negotiations, INT conveyed to the French side that it expected the delivery of the first batch of 18 Rafale aircraft in 24 months after the signing of the Inter Government Agreement (IGA); and next batch of 18 aircraft in 36 months after the signing of the IGA.

However, the delivery schedule finally offered by the French side was 18 aircraft by 36 to 53 months after the signing of the IGA and the remaining 18 to be delivered by 67 months of the signing of IGA. This was better than the delivery schedule of 2007 by five months.

“However, Audit noted that as against the delivery period of 72 months in the earlier offer, the contracted delivery schedule for 36 Rafale aircraft was actually 71 months. The Indian Specific Enhancements (ISE) on the first aircraft would be completed by T0 plus 63 months and integration on the next 35 aircraft would be completed in eight months. Thus, there was an improvement of one month in the delivery schedule of the 2016 contract,” the CAG report said.

Further, it said, audit noted that INT had apprehensions about the achievement of even this delivery schedule, because at the timing of the signing of the contract Dassault had an order backlog of 83 aircraft.

“Considering its production rate of 11 aircraft a year, clearing this backlog itself would take more than seven years. Ministry in its response stated that the Project was currently on schedule and the progress was being closely monitored by the resident Project Management Team and also through the Inter-Governmental Bilateral High Level Group,” it said.

On commercial advantage of Non-firm and Fixed Price bids, the CAG said any savings which accrues would be due to the difference between the escalation cap and actual escalation rates, between 2016 and 2021.

These would have also been available in the 2007 commercial offer depending upon escalation rates but after the mid delivery period as calculated by a sub-committee of the Contract Negotiation Committee in 2011-12.

Nasheman News : The Committee of Creditors (CoC) for Bhushan Power and Steel has issued a Letter of Intent (LoI) to Sajjan Jindal owned JSW Steel, thereby declaring it a winning bidder for the bankrupt power company, sources said.

The development comes after the National Company Law Apellate Tribunal (NCLAT) last week turned down Tata Steel’s plea to consider its bid as the “most legitimate”.

People with knowledge of the developments said that JSW Steel has accepted the bid and the resolution professional would now approach the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for the final approval on Wednesday and the procedure might conclude next month.

As per the protocol, NCLT will now have to give the stamp of approval for JSW Steel to acquire Bhushan Power and Steel.

JSW Steel’s revised bid of Rs 19,300 crore for Bhushan Power and Steel made it the top suitor ahead of Rs 19,000 crore bid by Liberty House UK and Tata Steel’s bid of nearly Rs 17,000 crore. The bankrupt company owes Rs 47,000 crore to the financial creditors.

For JSW, acquisition of Bhushan Power would allow it to retain the numero uno position in the Indian market for a long time to come with targeted capacity of 40 million tonnes by 2030.

Bhushan Power and Steel was one of the 12 biggest defaulters identified by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for insolvency proceedings in June 2017. Punjab National Bank (PNB) had dragged the bankrupt steelmaker for resolution under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).