Archives for February 2017

New Delhi: Mohit Goel, the Director of Noida-based company Ringing Bells which had announced Freedom 251 smartphones at an astonishingly low price of Rs 251 apiece, was detained in Ghaziabad on Thursday on allegations of fraud, police said.

Goel has been detained after owner of Ghaziabad-based Ayam Enterprises filed an FIR on Wednesday alleging that Ringing Bells “defrauded” it of Rs 16 lakh.

Ghaziabad Deputy SP Manish Mishra said Goel has been detained for interrogation in the matter.

In the FIR, Ayam Enterprises has claimed it was persuaded by Goel and others from Ringing Bells to take up the distributorship of the Freedom 251 phones in November 2015.

“We paid Rs 30 lakh to Ringing Bells through RTGS on different occasions. But it delivered us product worth Rs 13 lakh only. Upon follow-up, we could get products plus money totaling Rs 14 lakh,” it claimed in the FIR.

The owners of Ayam Enterprises claim that they were threatened with life if they asked for the rest Rs 16 lakh “again and again”.

Ringing Bells had begun the sale of Freedom 251 handsets, touted as the world’s cheapest, via its website in February last year.

It landed in a controversy, however, with some alleging it was like ponzi scheme. The firm had claimed that around 30,000 customers had booked the phone despite some glitch and seven crore people registered for it.

(PTI)

Washington: An Indian engineer was killed and two others injured when an American man opened fire on them after allegedly yelling “get out of my country”, with the local police calling it as a “possible hate crime”.

Srinivas Kuchibhotla, 32, working at the Garmin headquarters in Olathe, was killed in the shooting on Wednesday night, while another Indian and his colleague Alok Madasani was critically injured and is battling for life at a local hospital.

One other identified as Ian Grillot was also injured in the shooting. The accused, Adam Purinton, 51, was arrested on Thursday morning, five hours after the incident. “It was a tragic and senseless act of violence,” Olathe Police Chief Steven Menke told reporters.

According to local media reports, he yelled “get out of my country” at the Indians.Purinton, a navy veteran, later reportedly told a bartender in Clinton, Missouri, where he was hiding that he killed two Middle Eastern persons, the Kansas City Star said.

The Indian Embassy has swung into action and two senior officials of the Indian Consulate in Houston have been sent to Kansas to assist the victims’ families.

“Consul Ravindra Joshi and Vice Consul Harpal Singh rushed to Kansas to assist shooting victim. They are on their way and will reach by evening,” the consulate said in a tweet.

The accused has been charged with premeditated first-degree murder and his bond has been set at USD 2 million. According to Garmin, Kuchibhotla and Madasani worked in the company’s aviation systems.

“We’re saddened that two Garmin associates were involved in last night’s (Wednesday night) incident, and we express our condolences to the family and friends of our co-workers involved. Garmin will have grievance counsellors on-site and available for its associates today and tomorrow,” Garmin said in a statement.

The alleged hate crime has sent shocked waves among Indian-American and the Indian community across the United States. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Srinivas Kuchibhotla,” said Jay Kansara, director of Government Relations at Hindu American Foundation.

“We are also praying for a speedy recovery for the injured. We call upon the US Department of Justice and local law enforcement to investigate this murder as what it is, a hate crime.

“Anything less will be an injustice to the victims and their families,” he said.Kansara said that the HAF thanks those who put themselves at risk to stop this attack or to bring the perpetrator to justice.

“It is these acts of heroism in our communities that make America great,” he said.A GoFundMe page has also been set up to help raise funds for sending Kuchibhotla’s remains to India.

The shooting incident comes at a time when hate crimes and acts of bigotry have risen notably during the recent months in America. A Jewish cemetery was vandalised in St Louis, Missouri last week and the offices of Jewish civil society organisations have received bomb threats.

A man was removed from a Chicago-Houston flight after levelling racist taunts at Pakistani and Indian passengers.

(Agencies)

Bengaluru: Breaking the mystery of murder of retired Indian Air Force (IAF) Air Commodore Parvez Khokhar, Suryanagar police have arrested 12 including 5 who are allegedly involved in the murder of retire IAF officer. Speaking to the media reporters in the state capital on Thursday, Central IGP Seemant Kumar Singh has informed that the arrested have involved in 20 criminal cases including murder, robbery, theft and others. Rs 1.5 crore worth jewelry including precious stones and land records stating land their land ownership worth in 61 crore have been seized by the police from the accused.

A much decorated 71-year-old IAF officer Parvez who retired in 2003, was found murdered on November 23, 2014 morning in his residence near Huskur Gate near Electronics City in Bengaluru, under mysterious circumstances.His murder case turned into sensational at national and international level as investigators failed to get any clue on the murderers who strangled him to death at midnight. The accused had robbed IAF officer’s residence after the act and took away jewelry, cash and others.

(Agencies)

Bengaluru: Over one lakh drivers attached to two cab aggregators began an indefinite strike here on Wednesday, demanding better incentives and stopping attachment of new cabs which they said affects their bookings, even as some of them ransacked a Uber office here.

“Over one lakh drivers attached to Ola and Uber have gone on an indefinite strike, demanding better incentives and stopping of attachment of new cabs, which affects their bookings,” Uber, TaxiForSure and Ola (UTO) Drivers and Owners Association President Tanveer Pasha told PTI here.

He said the decision was taken at a meeting called by the drivers’ association after talks with the state transport commissioner and aggregators failed last night.

Police said the protesters ransacked the Uber office at HSR Layout here. Furniture and some office eqipment at the office were damaged, they said.

Asked about the incident, Pasha said government has been silent over the issue, “resulting in the drivers losing their patience, reflected in the ransacking of the Uber office.”

To a query, Pasha said both the government and aggregators were responsible for the present dilemma.

“The government should prevail over the aggregators in asking them to adhere to the provisions under Karnataka On-Demand Transportation Technology Aggregators Rules, 2016.”

As per rules,rates for AC and non-AC taxis are fixed at Rs 19.50 per km and 14.50 per km for non-AC cabs, but drivers are given between Rs 4 to Rs 5, which amounts to exploitation, Pasha said.

The drivers also want Ola and Uber to stop attachment of new cabs as it affects their bookings, as also immediate stoppage of penalising drivers, based on customer ratings.

“The cab aggregator penalises drivers for bad behaviour after the rider had given a low rating for them on the app,” Tanveer said.

On February 19, hundreds of drivers had staged a protest here against the Transport Department, asking for enforcement of the rules.

The pricing strategies adopted by Ola and Uber have not only affected their drivers, but also those from other unions, Pasha said.

“A driver used to earn up to Rs 80,000, but is now able to earn Rs 15,000 only due to increasing number of cabs, which is causing traffic hazards, resulting in cut down of trips,” Pasha said.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: India is among the top five countries globally which saw the maximum number of millionaire outflows with as many as 6,000 ultra-rich people shifting overseas in 2016, 50 per cent more than the previous year.

According to a report by New World Wealth, around 6,000 uber-rich Indians have changed their domicile in 2016, while in 2015 as many as 4,000 millionaires had shifted base. The total wealth held in the country amounts to $6.2 trillion (as of December 2016) and the country is home to 264,000 millionaires and 95 billionaires in total.

“Over the next decade, India is expected to benefit from strong growth in the local financial services, IT, real estate, healthcare and media sectors. In particular, the local hospital services and health insurance sectors are expected to grow strongly. Hyderabad, Pune and Bangalore are expected to lead the pack in terms of wealth growth,” the report said. Meanwhile, global wealth migration is also accelerating as around 82,000 ultra rich people shifted overseas in 2016, compared to 64,000 in 2015.

Millionaires or High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) refer to individuals with net assets of $1 million or more.

According to the report, France saw the maximum outflow of millionaires, with as many as 12,000 super rich leaving the country. Some of the other countries that witnessed significant ouflow of millionaires include China (9,000), Brazil (8,000) and Turkey (6,000). France is heavily impacted by rising religious tensions between Christians and Muslims, especially in urban areas, the report said.

“We expect that millionaire migration away from France will accelerate over the next decade as these tensions escalate,” it added.

The report further noted that other European countries where religious tensions are starting to emerge such as Belgium, Germany, Austria, the UK, Holland and Sweden will also be negatively affected in the near future.

Meanwhile, in terms of millionaire inflows, Australia topped the chart as it saw as many as 11,000 uber rich people shifting base there, followed by the US (10,000) and Canada (8,000) in the second and third place respectively.

The reasons behind HNWIs preferring Australia to the US and the UK is that Australia has one of the best healthcare systems in the world and its location makes it a good base for doing business in emerging Asian countries such as China, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, Vietnam and India.

Moreover, Australia is relatively immune to the turmoil in the Middle East and the related refugee crisis in Europe and it has lower inheritance taxes than the US and much lower inheritance taxes than the UK. Other countries that experienced large inflows of HNWIs in 2016 include Canada, UAE, New Zealand and Israel.

(PTI)

PTI Photo.

Mumbai: The Shiv Sena is set to emerge as the largest party in Mumbai, while the BJP is ahead in other cities across Maharashtra in civic polls as trends today showed the Congress and the NCP trailing far behind them.

The Sena is leading in 93 seats and the BJP in 61 as trends of counting of votes for the 227-member Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, where the saffron allies are locked in a battle, poured in.

The Congress and the NCP are trailing way behind the Sena and the BJP, leading in 22 and 7 seats, respectively. The MNS is leading in 10 seats, a State Election Commission official said. In the adjoining Thane civic body also, the Sena is maintaining its supremacy.

The Sena has been controlling the BMC for the last two decades with the backing of the BJP, but this time the two parties parted ways and decided to go it alone, leading to a high-voltage campaign for the civic election.

Meanwhile, in Pune, Nashik and Nagpur civic bodies, the BJP is ahead of its rivals. In Pune, the BJP is set to make decisive gains at the cost of Sharad Pawar-led NCP. In Nagpur, the hometown of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, it is ahead of its rivals.

As per trends coming in from the other city corporations, zilla parishads and panchayat samitis, the BJP has won 15 seats and Shiv Sena 9 in the 122-member Nashik Municipal Corporation. Besides, the Shiv Sena was leading in 18 seats, BJP in 14, and MNS, NCP and Congress in 2 seats each in the Nashik civic body.

The ruling MNS appeared to be in for a severe drubbing in Nashik. The civic polls, especially in the country’s financial hub Mumbai, have generated much political heat on account of the fierce fight between the BJP and the Sena, despite they sharing power in the state and at the Centre.

The battle of the estranged allies has put a question mark on the stability of the BJP-led ministry in the state as the Sena had been tenacious in its attack on the senior partner and the Centre’s demonetisation policy.

The stakes are high for Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, who led their parties from the front and were involved in a high decibel and no-holds-barred campaign.

Apart from Mumbai, the municipal corporations which went to the polls were Thane, Ulhasnagar, Nashik, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Akola, Amravati and Nagpur.

The big poll focus is on the BMC, retaining control of which is vital for the Sena as the city has remained its prime political space ever since the party’s formation in 1966. It has been in power in the BMC for over two decades.

(PTI)

New Delhi: Delhi Police today admitted a few of its personnel acted “unprofessionally” in tackling the clashes between ABVP and AISA members at North Campus.

Addressing Left-backed AISA activists protesting in front of police headquarters here, special commissioner (Southwest) Dependra Pathak promised action against the “errant cops”, saying a DCP-rank official is conducting a probe in the issue.

“During yesterday’s protest in North Campus it has come to notice that a few cops had indulged in inappropriate and unprofessional action. An inquiry has been instituted and strict action will be taken,” Pathak, who is also the Delhi Police spokesperson, said.

When the protesters asked him about ABVP activists allegedly seen standing atop police vans during the violence yesterday, Pathak said, “If this has happened it is wrong”.

Special Commissioner (Law and Order) SBK Singh also came out to meet the students and assured a fair investigation into the matter.

He said several complaints have been received from both the sides and an FIR was registered yesterday.

“We want you to take part in the investigation. We will record your statement and assure you that we will take legal action. If there are 10 complaints on the same incident, we don’t register 10 FIRs but record all statements,” he told the students.

Meanwhile, Additional Commissioner of Police, Crime, KK Vyas, said the Crime Branch will investigate yesterday’s incidents at the North Campus.

(PTI)