Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday conducted raids at residences of businessmen associated with absconding Trinamool Congress leader Shajahan Sheikh in connection with an old case of fraudulent land grab, a senior officer said.

Raids and search operations were started by the ED early Friday morning at five different places in and around the city including Howrah, Bijoygarh and Birati, he said.

“These raids are in connection with an old case of fraudulent land grab against Shajahan Sheikh and his associates. These people were involved in fish businesses with Shajahan. We are looking for a few specific documents”, the officer said.

The ECIR is generally filed by the ED as the case Information report. It is similar to a First Information Report (FIR) in criminal cases, he explained.

On January 5, a team of ED officers were assaulted by a mob when they tried to enter the residence of Shajahan at Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal.

Three officers were injured in the attack. The district police and Sheikh’s family members had lodged a complaint against the ED officers.

Shajahan has been absconding since then.

Sandeshkhali has been in the national news after local women alleged of being gang raped and forcible land grabs by Shajahan and his men, who are involved in fish business.

Police have till date arrested 18 people including two TMC leaders and a close aide of Shajahan.

Returning officer of the Chandigarh mayoral polls Anil Masih

New Delhi: Returning officer of the Chandigarh mayoral polls Anil Masih on Tuesday faced the wrath of the Supreme Court which ordered his criminal prosecution for allegedly giving false statement before it and his “misdemeanour” during the counting of votes.

The apex court, which declared defeated AAP-Congress alliance candidate Kuldeep Kumar as the new mayor of the union territory by setting aside the January 30 poll result, said Masih had put marks on eight ballot papers to create a ground for treating them as invalidly cast.

“That apart, it is evident that the presiding officer (Masih) is guilty of serious misdemeanour in doing what he did in his role and capacity as a presiding officer,” a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said.

The bench, also comprising Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra, directed the registrar (judicial) of the apex court to issue a notice to Masih to show cause as to why proceedings should not be initiated against him under section 340 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for allegedly making false statement before the court.

It said he can file his response to the notice and the matter would be taken up after three weeks.

In its verdict, the Supreme Court bench said Masih’s conduct as the presiding officer has to be deprecated at two levels.

“Firstly, by his conduct he has unlawfully altered the course of the mayoral election… Secondly, in making a solemn statement before this court on February 19, the presiding officer expressed falsehood for which he must be held accountable,” the bench said.

It said as a returning officer, Masih could not have been unmindful of the consequences of making such a statement before the court. The bench noted that before recording Masih’s statement during the hearing on Monday, the court had placed him on notice about the serious consequences if he was found to have made an incorrect statement.

The BJP had won the Chandigarh mayoral polls on January 30 defeating the comfortably placed AAP-Congress alliance candidate after the returning officer declared as invalid eight votes of the coalition partners, drawing accusations of tampering with ballots.

Manoj Sonkar of the BJP defeated Kuldeep Kumar after polling 16 votes against his rival’s 12 to bag the mayor’s post. Sonkar, however, resigned subsequently, while three AAP councillors defected to the BJP.

In its verdict, the bench observed that Masih had made a deliberate effort to deface eight ballots which were cast in favour of Kumar to secure a result in which Sonkar would be declared as an elected candidate.

“During the course of these proceedings, for the above reasons, we have come to the conclusion that the result which was declared by the presiding officer is clearly contrary to law and will have to be set aside. We order accordingly,” it said.

The bench observed that votes in the eight ballot papers, which were invalidated by Masih, were duly cast in favour of Kumar.

It said that as the returning officer, Masih had clearly acted beyond the term of his remit under the statutory regulations.

“We accordingly order and direct that the result of the election as declared by the presiding officer stands quashed and set aside. The petitioner (Kumar) is declared to be the validly elected candidate for election as mayor of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation,” the bench said.

It referred to Masih’s statement made before the court on Monday in which he had stated that besides signing the ballot papers, he had put ‘X’ mark at eight ballot papers during the course of counting of votes to identify them as defaced.

The bench, which perused the ballot papers during the hearing and also saw the video recording of counting process, said none of these ballot papers were defaced as claimed by Masih.

Masih, a nominated municipal councillor, is a member of the BJP’s minority wing and has been associated with the party since 2015 and has been seen attending party events. He was nominated as a councillor in the Chandigarh civic body in October 2022.

Masih, who acted as the returning officer on January 30 mayoral polls, studied at a government school in the union territory and did his graduation from the DAV college there.

Srinagar: Passengers travelling from Delhi to Srinagar on an IndiGo flight had a horrifying experience as the plane faced a severe turbulence due to inclement weather condition, officials said on Tuesday.

The incident took place on Monday.

A video, recorded by someone on board the flight 6E 6125, shows anxious faces of the passengers. Several travellers could be heard chanting religious hymns.

A spokesperson of the airline said the flight from Delhi to Srinagar faced severe turbulent due to “inclement weather”.

“The crew followed all operational protocols and the flight landed safely in Srinagar. We regret the inconvenience caused to passengers due to the inclement weather,” the spokesperson added.

Mumbai: The Maharashtra legislative assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed a bill providing 10 per cent reservation for the Maratha community in education and government jobs.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde tabled the Maharashtra State Socially and Educationally Backward Bill 2024 in the House during the day-long special session of the legislature on Maratha quota.

The bill also proposed that once the reservation comes into effect, its review could be taken after 10 years.
Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange, who is sitting on a hunger strike since February 10, had demanded that a special session be called over the issue.

The government recently issued a draft notification which said if a Maratha person has documentary proof to show that he or she belongs to the agrarian Kunbi community, the person’s ‘sage soyre’ or blood relatives too would get Kunbi caste certificates.

The Kunbi community falls in the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) category, and Jarange has been demanding that Kunbi certificates be issued to all Marathas.

Maharashtra cabinet minister Chhagan Bhujbal has been opposing the “backdoor entry” of Marathas into the OBC quota, but is in favour of a separate reservation for the community.

Notably, the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission on Friday submitted a report on its survey on the social, economic, and educational backwardness of the Maratha community. The massive exercise covered nearly 2.5 crore families.

One of the key findings in the bill tabled by CM Shinde underscores that the population of the Maratha community in the state is 28 per cent.

Out of the total Maratha families that are below poverty line, 21.22 per cent hold the yellow ration cards. It is higher than the state’s average of 17.4 per cent.

The state government’s survey undertaken between January and February this year also found that 84 per cent of the Maratha community families do not fall under the progressed category, hence they are eligible for reservation as per the Indra Sawhney case, as per the bill Out of total farmers’ suicides in Maharashtra, 94 per cent are from Maratha families, the bill noted.

New Delhi: The NHRC has sent a notice to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) over reports that an 80-year-old man died at the Mumbai airport after he was allegedly not provided a wheelchair despite prior request to an airline and forced to walk.

Reportedly, the US-based Indian-origin man collapsed after walking for about 1.5 km on the way to the immigration area, the National Human Rights Commission said in a statement. He was walking alongside his wife, who was in a wheelchair.

The elderly couple was travelling from New York to India, the rights panel said, quoting the report.

The NHRC said it “has taken suo motu cognisance of a media report that an 80-year-old man died at the Mumbai airport as he had to walk when not provided with a wheelchair despite prior request to the airline.”

The Commission observed that the content of the media report, if true, raises a serious issue of violation of human rights of the victim.

It has asked the DGCA for a detail report in four weeks.

It should include the status of compensation if any, provided to the next of kin of the deceased, the statement said.

The Commission said it would also like to know the steps taken or proposed to be taken to ensure that such incidents do not recur.

“There has been a significant increase in the number of air passengers as well as the airfare, but the standard of facilities doesn’t seem to have improved proportionately resulting in several complaints reported in the media and posted on social media,” the Commission observed.

“According to the media report, there were 32 wheelchair passengers on the particular flight but there were only 15 available with accompanying staff on the ground to help them. The wife sat in the wheelchair while the husband followed her on foot and collapsed after some time. The elderly couple was travelling from New York to India,” it said.