Bengaluru, May 3 : Police have nabbed three people, including two BMTC Drivers and a Photographer and seized from them fake currency of 81 lakh from them in the outskirts of the city today.
Police said on Friday that, the trio were trying to exchange fake currency of 50 lakhs at Kogile Cross in Yelahanka Police station limits in the outskirts of the city when they were nabbed. On their information the police further recovered fake currency of 31,30,000.
The arrested were identified as Somanna Gowda (BMTC Driver cum Conductor), Kiran Kumar (Photogapher) and Nanjegowda (BMTC Driver).
Besides, Police have seized computer and other materials used for producing fake currency notes.
Police Commissioner Sunil Kumar, addressing a press conference, said that Somanagowda, who was working as Driver cum Conductor, came in contact with a passenger from Chitradurga, who was giving fake currency double the original currency. He paid Rs one lakh original currency for two lakh fake currency and used to translate them. Later he became greedy and sold his land for Rs 8 lakhs and gave it to his friend demanding double fake currency notes.
His friend instead of giving fake currency double the cash received, he gave him the technology to produce fake notes. With the technology he produced fake currency for 81.30 lakhs and with the help of his friends Nanjegowda he was trying to exchange the fake currency into original when they also developed friendship with Photographer Kiran Kumar and all the three indulged in the crime.
Congratulating the team which succeeded in nabbing the trio, the Commissioner announced cash award of Rs one lakh to the team led by DCP Kalakrishnaswamy.
Yelahanka Police have registered a case and are on the look out for the person who gave the technology for producing fake currency, he added.

Lawyer of now-defunct Gitanjali Gems’ owner Mehul Choksi on Thursday said that state-owned Punjab National Bank had intentionally “destroyed” the brand in an attempt to divert attention from their own mistakes.

Alleging missteps on the part of PNB, the lawyer said, “Gitanjali Gems was cynically destroyed by the PNB in an attempt to divert attention from their own wrong-doings.”

Citing the credentials of the brand he added, “With the revenue of over Rs 12,000 crore, the debt-to-EBITDA ratio maintained by the Gitanjali was among the best in the industry. Notwithstanding the company’s strong balance sheet and a stellar track record of loan repayments, in February 2018, prompted by allegations by Punjab National Bank, investigating agencies raided and seized Gitanjali assets.”

He further said that several entreaties on the part of the brand’s promoter Mehul Choksi fell on deaf ears.

“The one thing I want to ask everyone who has accused me is even if I were guilty, why did no one even try to save Gitanjali, a company with Rs 12000 crore of annual turnover, 6,000 employees and countless honours in its name?” promoter of the brand Mehul Choksi said.

Mehul Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are key accused in Rs 13,000-crore Punjab National Bank fraud case. They fled the country a year ago.

Choksi was granted citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda on January 15, 2018. 

Agencies
 

Indian industrialist and co-owner of IPL team Kings XI Punjab, Ness Wadia has been sentenced to a two-year jail term by a court in Japan over alleged possession of drugs.

A leading Indian daily reported that Wadia, who was on a skiing holiday was arrested in early March at New Chitose Airport in the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido after customs officials found 25 grams of “what appeared to be cannabis resin in his trouser pocket”.

Reacting to the report, a Wadia group spokesperson said Ness Wadia is in India.

“The judgement is clear. It is a suspended sentence. Hence, it will not impact Ness Wadia in the discharge of any of his responsibilities and he will continue to play the role that he has done hitherto, both within the Group and outside,” the spokesperson added.

According to the report, the Sapporo District Court handed Wadia a two-year prison sentence, which was suspended for five years.

He spent a period in detention before his indictment on March 20 and an undisclosed period of detention before a court hearing, it added.

Ness Wadia is a director in major firms of the Wadia group, including Bombay Dyeing and Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation Ltd. 

Agencies

Bengaluru, Apr 30 : The Special court for cases relating to elected representatives had ordered a 10-day judicial custody to a journalist working for a Delhi based Magazine, on the alleged creation of fake-letter case, here on Tuesday.
The CID police, had presented the Journalist, Hemanth Kumar, after a three-day police custody, which ended here today, and the Magistrate Ramachandra D Huddar had remanded the accused for the Judicial custody till May 9.
A bail application submitted by the accused, would come before the court on May 2.
The city police had arrested Hemanth Kumar, during the investigation into the complaint of the creation of the fake-letter registered by the Home minister, M B Patil.
The alleged fake-letter which was purportedly addressed to the Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, had been posted to the social media and also in a section of print media, with regard to the demand for a separate religion status to Lingayaths in Karnataka.
BJP had raised a major protest in the state against the arrest of Hemant saying that it was instigated by Home Minister M B Patil

Hazaribagh, Apr 29 : A team of the district administration conducted raids at a hotel in the city and recovered cash worth Rs 16 lakh from the rooms booked in the name of Congress nominee Gopal Sahu, who is contesting from Hazaribagh.

The district electoral officer had yesterday night received a tip off that cash was being exchanged in the hotel room, which was also functioning as the camp office of Mr Sahu.

A team led by DDC Vijaya Jadhav and SDO Megha Bhardwaj conducted the raids at hotel AK International in which sleuths of the IT department were also present.

Upon seeing the police and district administration officials,a couple of men present inside the room managed to flee, leaving behind the cash.

Surat :Self-styled godman Asaram’s son Narayan Sai, was found guilty on Friday in a rape case by a Surat sessions court. The Quantum of Sentence will be pronounced on April 30.

Furthermore, Sai’s helpers – Ganga, Jamuna and Hanuman – have also been found guilty.

Sai was arrested for allegedly raping a Surat-based woman disciple of his father between 2002 and 2005. His father, Asaram is lodged in Jodhpur Central jail in Rajasthan in two rape cases.

N arayan Sai and Asaram have been accused of rape by two sisters in Surat. While Narayan Sai has been accused of raping the younger sister after identifying the locations, the elder sister has alleged that she was raped by Asaram.

The court has produced 53 witnesses against Narayan Sai in the case, prompting him to go underground when the case was registered. He was later arrested in 2013 on the Delhi-Haryana border, two months after the FIR was registered.

Sai has also been accused of trying to bribe jail officials of Rs 13 crore, but has managed to get a bail in the bribery case.

Narayan Sai, also known as Narayan Prem Sai is the son of Asaram Bapu. He is currently imprrisoned in Lajpor jail on charges of rape of a lady in Surat and is undergoing a trail.

Bengaluru, Apr 27 : Police have arrested a 65-year-old ex-service man turned truck driver on charges of allegedly making a hoax call stating that over 19 terrorists have sneaked into the country with an intention to strike terror in many locations in South India.
According to the police the arrested was identified as Swamy Sundara Murthy. A resident of Avalahalli in the city called police control room on Friday and stated about possible terrorists strike targeting trains in South India, Maharashtra and Goa.
The accused had also claimed that a group of 19 terrorists were camping at Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu, the police said.
Following the call, Director and Inspector General of Police Neelamani N Raju immediately alerted her counterparts in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Goa.
“Presently the police are questioning the accused on the issue” the police sources added.

A UK court on Friday extended the remand till May 24 of fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi who is accused of defrauding Punjab National Bank of $2 billion.

The 48-year-old, who has been behind bars at Wandsworth prison in south-west London since his arrest last month, was produced before the judge at Westminster Magistrates’ Court via video link from jail.

The brief hearing ended with the judge extending his jail term. 

On March 29, Modi’s bail was rejected by Chief Magistrate Arbuthnot on the grounds that there was a “substantial risk he would fail to surrender”.

Nirav’s problems have been exacerbated by the fact that the US has charged him with violating Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations (RICO) Act in an American bankruptcy court.

He is believed to have been living in the UK on an Investor Visa, applied for in 2015 at a time when the so-called ‘”golden visa” route was relatively easier for super-rich individuals to acquire residency rights in the UK based on a minimum of 2-million pound investment.

He was arrested by uniformed Scotland Yard officers on March 19. Indian authorities have been trying to extradite him since then.

During his first court appearance a day later, it emerged that the diamantaire accused of defrauding PNB via fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) had been in possession of multiple passports which have since been revoked by the Indian authorities.

Kiran Shanbhag A former television journalist has been booked for blackmailing and extorting Rs 25 lakh from a doctor who runs an ayurvedic medical college and hospital in Nelamangala on the northern outskirts of Bengaluru.

The Nelamangala police opened a case against Kiran Shanbhag, who earlier worked for a leading Kannada news channel, following a complaint from Dr A V Srinivasan, the managing trustee of Sri Paripoorna Sanathana Charitable Trust.

The organisation runs Sri Paripoorna Sanathana Ayurveda Medical College, Hospital and Research Centre at Arjunabettahalli, Nelamangala. Dr Srinivasan said he had built the hospital through donations from India and abroad. 

Police said Shanbhag first met Dr Srinivasan last November when the latter was busy with the inauguration of the hospital. He told the doctor that he had some objectionable content about him and threatened to broadcast it on the news channel a day before the hospital’s inauguration if he did not pay him Rs 25 lakh. Fearing damage to his reputation, Dr Srinivasan arranged for the money and gave it to Shanbhag.

Shanbhag, however, contacted Dr Srinivasan a few days ago and demanded a “donation” for the medical treatment of the members of the press club.  Rattled by the demand, Dr Srinivasan approached the Nelamangala Rural police and filed a complaint on April 22, 2019. Police are yet to arrest Shanbhag.

Agencies

Raichur, Karnataka, Apr 19 : Police on Friday arrested a perpetrator who was allegedly behind the suspected rape and murder of a young Engineering student, whose body was found in a hanging state in the forest area in Raichur Rural Police station limits on Thursday morning.
Superintendent of Police Kishore Babu said that the arrest was made on receiving a complaint by parents of the deceased student. The arrested was identified as Sudarshan Yadav.
The decomposed body of the girl student Madhu Patar (24) was found hanging from a tree in the forest area. She was studying in fifth Semister in Engineering Degree course in a local college. She was missing from April 15 and her body was found three days later in hanging position. In her death note left behind Madhu had alleged that she was committing suicide because she could not complete backlogs, but her classmates said that she had cleared all her subjects.