Archives for 2022

Meerut: Two people were feared drowned when a boat with around 15 people on board capsized in river Ganga here on Tuesday morning, officials said.

The incident occurred in Hastinapur area when the boat collided with a pillar, owing to the fast current in the river, and overturned, Senior Superintendent of Police Rohit Singh Sajwan said

The boat was on its way to Bijnor, he said.

National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force personnel have undertaken the rescue work, officials said.

Eleven people were rescued by a steamer boat that was passing through the area, he said.

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Tuesday refused to cancel the bail of Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on a plea moved by the CBI in connection with the IRCTC scam.

Special Judge Geetanjali Goel, however, asked Yadav to be more careful and choose appropriate words.

The CBI had claimed that at a recent press conference, Yadav had attempted to subvert the process of law and thwart the entire investigation as well as the consequent trial, and blatantly abused the liberty granted to him.

The court passed the directions after hearing arguments during which Yadav claimed that he did not violate any condition set in the bail granted to him earlier.

I (Yadav) am in opposition parry and raising questions on wrongdoing is my duty. The CBI and ED are being ‘misused’ by the present government. All opposition parties are feeling this, Yadav’s counsel told the court.

The court said a detailed order will be passed later.

The court had in October 2018 granted bail to Yadav after he appeared before it in pursuance to summons issued against him in the matter related to alleged irregularities in granting operational contract of two Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) hotels to a private firm.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will hear on November 29 the pleas challenging the remission of sentence and release of 11 convicts in the 2002 Bilkis Bano gang-rape case and murder of her seven family members during the Gujarat riots.

A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and C T Ravikumar directed that the reply filed by the Gujarat government be made available to all parties.

The petitioners have been given time to file their reply to the affidavit filed by the Gujarat government.

“A counter has been filed by the Gujarat government. Let counter affidavit be made available to all counsels,” the bench said.

The Gujarat government on Monday had told the apex court that petitioners challenging the remission are nothing but an “interloper” and a “busybody”.

It had also said that since the investigation in the case was carried out by the CBI, it had obtained “suitable orders” for grant of remission of the convicts from the Centre.

Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and five-month pregnant when she was gang-raped while fleeing the riots that broke out after the Godhra train burning incident. Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven family members killed.

The 11 men convicted in the case walked out free from the Godhra sub-jail on August 15 after the Gujarat government allowed their release under its remission policy. They had completed more than 15 years in jail.

Sukesh Chandrashekhar

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a fresh plea by alleged ‘conman’ Sukesh Chandrashekhar seeking transfer from Mandoli jail in the city to any other jail which is not under control of the Director General of Prisons, Delhi.

 A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and C T Ravikumar declined to interfere in the matter.

“We find no reason to entertain the petition. We don’t appreciate this kind of behaviour,” the bench said.

The counsel appearing for the alleged conman submitted before the bench that in spite of several assurances Chandrashekhar was being allegedly assaulted in jail. The lawyer also alleged that Chandrashekhar is being pressured to pay 25 lakh per month in jail.

The top court on August 23 had ordered that Chandrashekhar and his wife be shifted from Tihar Jail to Mandoli Jail in the city. It had passed the order on a plea filed by Chandrashekhar and his wife alleging a threat to their lives and seeking a transfer to a prison outside Delhi.

Chandrashekhar is lodged in jail on charges of alleged money laundering and duping several people.

In an affidavit filed earlier by Director General (Prisons), Delhi Prisons, it was said that the contents of Chandrashekhar’s application that he was assaulted in jail are vehemently denied as totally and wholly false and fabricated for the ulterior motive of seeking transfer to another prison to repeat his misdemeanours and offences.

On June 20, the ED had made some startling revelations against Chandrashekhar that he indulged in money laundering, extortion, impersonation of public officials including those holding constitutional posts, and had opposed his plea for prison transfer outside Delhi.

The probe agency has sought to intervene in the plea filed by Chandrashekhar and his wife.

The probe agency named several TV and Bollywood personalities with whom the alleged conman has contacts and used to give them expensive gifts.

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday refused to grant bail to former JNU student Umar Khalid in a UAPA case related to alleged conspiracy behind the riots here in February 2020.

 “There is no merit in the bail appeal. Bail appeal is dismissed,” said a bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Rajnish Bhatnagar.

Khalid, arrested by Delhi Police in September 2020, sought bail on grounds that he neither had any criminal role in the violence in the city’s north-east area nor any conspiratorial connect with any other accused in the case.

The bail plea was opposed by the Delhi Police.

Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, and several others have been booked under the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and provisions of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly being the “masterminds” of the February 2020 riots, which had left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.

The violence had erupted during the protests against CAA and NRC.

Besides Khalid, activist Khalid Saifi, JNU students Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, Jamia Coordination Committee members Safoora Zargar, former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and several others have also been booked under the stringent law in the case.

J Jayalalithaa

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday tabled in Assembly the reports of separate Commissions of Inquiry that looked into the circumstances surrounding the death of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and the 2018 police firing at Thoothukudi in the state.

The Justice A Arumughaswamy Commission of Inquiry that probed the circumstances leading to Jayalalithaa’s death in 2016, in its concluding remarks said that V K Sasikala, the late Chief Minister’s confidante, “have to be found fault with and investigation is to be ordered.” The panel also has named others alongwith Sasikala.

The Justice Aruna Jagadeesan Commission of Inquiry, which probed the 2018 police firing at Thoothukudi on anti-Sterlite protesters –that claimed 13 lives– has blamed the police authorities.

Mumbai: World Cup winner Roger Binny was on Tuesday elected as the 36th president of the BCCI, taking over from Sourav Ganguy to run the world’s richest cricket board.

Binny, 67, was elected unopposed at its AGM (Annual general Meeting) here alongside Jay Shah, who was re-elected as the secretary for a second successive term.

The other office bearers who were elected unopposed included treasurer Ashish Shelar, vice-president Rajeev Shukla and joint secretary Devjit Saikia.

Binny, who played 27 Tests and 72 ODIs for India, takes charge ahead of the ODI World Cup in India next year.

However, there was no discussion on the chairmanship of International Cricket Council (ICC). The next ICC chairman will be elected during the board meeting in Melbourne next month.

“As far as India’s representative to the ICC is concerned, it will be decided by the office-bearers. There was no discussion on the ICC chairmanship. Only matters on the agenda were discussed,” a state unit official who attended the AGM.

It is unlikely that the BCCI will nominate its own candidate for the ICC chairman’s position, with the October 20 nomination deadline approaching.

Surathkal: The protesters including the Toll Gate Virodhi Horata Samiti leaders who were protesting and demanding the removal of the Surathkal toll gate were detained by the police on Tuesday.

The protesters who pushed through the barricade erected by police, while trying to lay siege around the toll gate were stopped by the police. The leader of the Surathkal Toll Gate Horata Samiti Muneer Kaatipalla, former MLAs Ivan D’Souza, Shakuntala Shetty, J.R Lobo, Mohiuddin Bava, leaders Mithun Rai, Shashidhar Hegde, Pratibha Kulai, and B.K Imthiyaz including other protesters were detained by police. The detained leaders and protesters were taken away from the site in a vehicle, it is learned.

Ahead of these developments, vehicular traffic on the national highway experienced complete disarray. At present, the police have made way for smoother movement of vehicles.

In the background of the protests, thorough security arrangements have been set up under the leadership of Mangaluru City Police Commissioner N. Shashikumar.

NEW DELHI: The counting of votes began on Wednesday in the Congress presidential polls in which senior leaders Mallikarjun Khargeand Shashi Tharoor faced off for the post of AICC chief.

The counting of the Votes which was scheduled to begin at 10 am at the AICC headquarters here, started around 10:20 am.

All sealed ballot boxes from the 68 polling booths set up across the country had been brought here by Tuesday evening and kept in a “strong room” at the party office.

Asked about reports of complaints related to polling in Uttar Pradesh and some other states, Tharoor campaign team member Salman Soz said they have raised certain issues with the central election authority (CEA) and have been in communication with CEA chairman Madhusudan Mistry “before polling, on polling day and after that”.

The counting agents of Kharge are Pramod Tiwari, Kodikunil Suresh, Gaurav Gogoi, Syed Nasir Hussain, Kuljit Singh Bagra and Gurdeep Singh Sappal.

Karti Chidambaram, Atul Chaturvedi and Sumedh Gaikwad are among those who are counting agents of Tharoor.

While Kharge is considered the firm favourite with his perceived proximity to the Gandhis and a large number of senior leaders backing him,Tharoor has pitched himself as the candidate of change.

Congress central election authority chairman Mistry has expressed satisfaction with the party’s presidential polls process, saying it was “free, fair and transparent”.

He has also said it was a secret ballot and no one would get to know who voted for whom.

Of the total 9,915 Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates that formed the electoral college to pick the party chief in a secret ballot, over 9,500 cast their ballot at PCC offices and the AICC headquarters, Mistry had said at a press conference after the polling ended on Monday.

The party will get its first non-Gandhi president in 24 years after more than 9,500 votes are counted.

The polls are historic as the new president would replace Sonia Gandhi, the longest-serving party president who has been at the helm since 1998, barring the two years between 2017 and 2019 when Rahul Gandhi had taken over.

Electors in the Congress presidential polls had been asked to put a tick mark against their candidate in the ballot paper after Tharoor’s team took up with the party’s top poll body the issue of its earlier directive that voters write “1” to reflect their preference.

This, the team said, might lead to confusion.

NEW DELHI: About 39% of all job card-holding households registered under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005  were not provided even a single day of work during the Covid-hit 2020-21 period in India’s four states. 

These states include Bihar (then ruled by NDA) and Karnataka (BJP-ruled now). In fact, 39% of job-card-holding households were demanding 77 days of work on average but they did not get work even for a single day.

A survey conducted on the impact of ‘The Covid-19 pandemic’ on the MGNREGA in various blocks of the country’s four states by Azim Premji University in partnership with the National Consortium of Civil Organisations and Collaborative Research and Dissemination (CORD), has made such startling revelations in its report.

The study has also found that despite all these the MGNREGA made a marked difference during the pandemic, protecting the most vulnerable households from significant loss of Income as they were able to find some work.