Vijay Mallya. Photo: Reuters

Mumbai: A special court in Mumbai has allowed the Enforcement Directorate or ED to invoke the India-UK Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) to bring back embattled liquor baron Vijay Mallya to the country to face money laundering probe.

The special court, which is entrusted with hearing cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, had last week approved the Enforcement Directorate’s request to issue an order against Mr Mallya under the India-UK treaty.

ED officials said the court approved their request on the basis of the agency’s investigation and attachment of assets in the criminal case where Mr Mallya and his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) are alleged to have defrauded IDBI Bank to the tune of about Rs. 900 crore.

The ED, they said, has now sent the court-issued request to the Union Home Ministry for further execution of the order in cooperation with its counterparts in the United Kingdom.

The order has come as a fresh blow to the beleaguered businessman as India, through the Ministry of External Affairs, has recently handed over to the UK an extradition request against Mr Mallya, based on a CBI case in the same offence.

The CBI too is probing this alleged loan default case under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.

Besides the request under MLAT, the ED has also appended the Non-Bailable Warrant (NBW) issued by the special court last year, in the official dossier sent to the Home Ministry.

The 1992 India-UK MLAT has a clause where the treaty can be invoked in a criminal probe seeking the “transfer of persons, including persons in custody, for the purpose of assisting in investigations or giving evidence” and it is understood that the ED considers this step a better legal tool than the regular extradition action to get a person under investigation by Indian probe agencies back to the country.

The ED has been wanting Mallya to join the probe in this case “in person” and had issued multiple summons to him but could not get success as Mallya, who is in the UK, never deposed before it.

The ED has virtually exhausted all legal options to bring him back to India including the issuance of NBW against him based on which it had made the requests for revocation of his passport and subsequent deportation bid, apart from seeking an Interpol warrant against him which has remained unsuccessful till now.

The central probe agency is also working to soon file its first charge sheet in the case even as it has attached assets worth Rs. 9,661 crore in this probe case.

The ED had registered a criminal case in this deal last year under the provisions of the PMLA, based on a CBI FIR.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today did not go into the debate for making singing of the National Song mandatory in schools while clarifying that it has “kept alive” such a plea only for the National Anthem without expressing any view on it.

A bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra referred to Article 51 A (a) of the Constitution and said it deals only with the National Anthem and the National Flag and not the National Song.

“Therefore, we do not intend to enter into any debate as far as the National Song is concerned,” the bench, also comprising Justices R Banumathi and Mohan M Shantanagoudar, said.

The bench, which was hearing a plea seeking a direction for framing of a policy to promote and propagate the National Anthem, the National Flag and the National Song, tagged the petition with another similar plea on the issue which is pending before it.

Regarding the prayer seeking a direction to ascertain the feasibility of singing or playing the National Anthem and the National Song in Parliament or a state Assembly, public offices, courts and schools on every working day, the apex court said it would keep alive the prayer regarding schools only.

“In the earlier writ petition, a contention was advanced by the Attorney General pertaining to schools and, therefore, as far as the prayer relating to ‘schools on every working day’ is concerned, it is kept alive,” the bench said.

“We may hasten to clarify when we have kept the prayer alive, that does not mean that we have expressed any opinion on the same,” the apex court said.

During the hearing, senior advocate Vikas Singh, who was appearing for petitioner Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, said that one of the prayers in the plea for framing of a national policy was similar to the matter which is pending before the apex court.

The bench, which persued the order passed by it in the similar matter earlier, said that its order does not relate to the National Song or the National Flag.

“Be it clearly noted, Article 51A(a) of the Constitution of India does not refer to the National Song. It only refers to the National Flag and the National Anthem,” it noted.

(PTI)

Chennai: In a tit for tat move, the O Panneerselvam camp today “removed” AIADMK General Secretary V K Sasikala and her two relatives from the party for “going against its principles and ideals”. In a statement, E Madusudanan, who was earlier removed as Presidium Chairman by Sasikala, said she had “violated” her promise to the late Jayalalithaa that she will not enter politics and that she had no inclination to be a part of the party or government.

He asked cadres not to have any association with Sasikala. The development came a day after Sasikala loyalist Edappadi K Palaniswami was sworn in as Chief Minister and he will seek a trust vote tomorrow in the Tamil Nadu Assembly. “V K Sasikala is being removed from the party’s primary membership for going against the party principles and ideals, and having violated her promise to Amma (Jayalalithaa), besides facing criminal cases. She has brought disrepute to the party,” he said in a statement.

Madusudanan, who had joined the Pannneerselvam camp last week, had been replaced with K A Sengottaiyan as the Presidium Chairman by Sasikala, a move rejected by the Panneerselvam camp. He was also removed from the party’s primary membership but insisted Sasikala had no authority to do so. Sasikala, serving a jail term in connection with the Rs 66 crore disproportionate assets case in Bengaluru, had also removed former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam from the party’s primary membership in the wake of his revolt against her.

Madusudanan also announced the “expulsion” of AIADMK Deputy General Secretary T T V Dinakaran and S Venkatesh, both relatives of Sasikala, from the party. He said Jayalalithaa had earlier (in 2011) expelled them from the party for “betraying” her. “Their re-induction, done without any authority, is being cancelled,” he said. The two were allowed to join AIADMK on Wednesday by Sasikala, after six years of expulsion by her predecessor Jayalalithaa.

Sasikala had announced that they were being allowed to join after they expressed regret for their acts in person and through letter and requested that they be allowed to join the AIADMK again. In an intra-party power struggle, Panneerselvam had revolted against Sasikala on February 7, alleging he was forced to step down to make way for her elevation as Chief Minister.

She had been elected the AIADMK Legislature Party leader on February 5 to enable her become chief minister. But the Governor, Ch Vidyasagar Rao, had apparently chosen to await the outcome of the Supreme Court verdict in the disproportionate assets case.

(PTI)

Kanpur: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has described Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Akhilesh Yadav as two sides of the same coin, saying both “failed” to stop riots in their states as chief ministers.

Owaisi, whose party is contesting only from Arya Nagar Assembly seat in the district, also accused SP and BSP of trying to fool Muslim voters.

“Riots happened in Muzaffarnagar but the chief minister failed to stop riots or provide justice to victims. How does it make him any different from Modi? Riots took place in Gujarat when Modi was the chief minister. He too failed to stop the riots or give justice to Muslims,” he said.

“Akhilesh is willing to grab Muslim votes by scaring them with the name of BJP. Muslims should make the AIMIM candidates win,” he said while addressing a public meeting in Colonelganj area here last night.

Owaisi said he wanted to come to Kanpur earlier but was allegedly stopped by the administration as one of the ADMs said in his report that the visit will affect peace in the city.

“I would advise Akhilesh to induct that ADM into his party because he is loyal to him. Akhilesh could not be even loyal to his father so now officers like these would be of benefit to him,” he said.

He said that he has held about a dozen public meetings in UP but his remarks never disturbed law and order anywhere.

“Actually the Samajwadi Party is afraid of me because they are fetching votes from Muslims by fear, but I will tell the truth to Muslims that they are being fooled by SP and BSP,” he added.

Hitting out at Akhilesh, Owaisi said the SP government in Uttar Pradesh promised to build schools and homes for Muslims but failed to fulfil them.

It was said that Muslims youths will be recruited in police and other departments of the state but that could not happen either, he said.

“There are over 55 per cent vacancies in the state police that have not been filled yet. Similarly clean drinking water was promised to Muslim colonies…. that was not fulfilled even as the lion safari in Safai got its own water treatment plant,” he added.

Asking Muslims to vote for his party, Owaisi said if 8 to 10 of his MLAs are elected in the state Assembly, they would not let anyone take what belongs to Muslims.

(PTI)

New Delhi: The second phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh today saw 65.5 per cent voting while at 68 per cent, Uttarakhand recorded its highest ever turnout, Election Commission today said.

The poll panel said the “very sensitive” second phase in Uttar Pradesh, during which polling was held in 67 Assembly constituencies, passed off peacefully and overall mood made it appear like a “festival of democracy”.

It said the figure registered till 5 PM was likely to go up in both the states, and that it may touch 70 per cent in Uttarakhand.

Enforcement agencies seized Rs 16.52 crore in cash, 3.29 lakh litres of liquor worth Rs 9 crore and drugs worth Rs 1.16 crore in Uttar Pradesh while 1.5 lakh weapons were deposited.

Vijay Dev, Deputy Election Commissioner in charge of Uttar Pradesh, told a press conference that 117 electronic voting machines (EVMs) and 24 voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines had to be replaced during the polls.

The corresponding figures were 20 and seven in case of Uttarakhand.

There was one instance of paid news in Uttarakhand, EC said, adding that polling was free from any violence and largely uneventful.

When asked about the Dainik Jagran case, Dev appealed to the media to go for “self-imposed implementaion” of the norms and refused to share any further details saying the matter was under probe.

A polling party had to trek for two days to reach a height of 10,000 feet for conducting vote at the Reeh polling station, which has only 275 electors, located in the Tehri Garhwal district.

“There were 479 polling station which were in snow-covered areas,” Deputy Election Commissioner in charge Sandeep Saxena said.

Around Rs 3.38 crore was seized in cash in the hill state along with 147 illegal weapons. Liquor worth Rs 3.1 crore was seized and drugs worth Rs 37.23 lakh.

“The voting percentage had breached all records by 5 PM when it touched 68 per cent. Around 67.22 turnout was recorded in the 2012 Assembly polls while 2014 Lok Sabha polls saw 62.15 per cent turnout,” Saxena told reporters.

In this phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh 82 women candidates were in the fray while the same was 60 in Uttarakhand. The number of third gender candidates were eight and two respectively.

(PTI)