Archives for 2024

Special corespondent

“Another corrupted police Head constable named Shivakumara is currently working in the women and narcotics wing of CCB. 
He has worked with many departments and was a writer at Ashok Nagar police station,where he solicited bribes from different people. 

Later,he worked at another police station and was suspended due to his involvement in a betting scam., 
Our investigative team has found that he has made many youths to involve in betting and gambling,He amassed a significant amount of money through illegal dealings and is now collecting money from individuals involved in various crimes,forcing them to pay or face torture. 

He blackmails people for money,claiming he can manipulate different cases.Many suspect that he shares the money with Anti social elements,raising questions about why he is still in service despite numerous allegations against him.
Recently,he constructed a house worth Rs.1.5 crore. Our reporter enquired him about it,and he claimed to have 250 crores worth of assets,with a portion pledged in the bank for loans. 
It is imperative to conduct an inquiry into his assets,the source of his wealth,and whether he has disclosed all his assets. 

Mangaluru: Expressing concern over a recent incident of a priest in Bantwal taluk allegedly assaulting a senior couple, the Diocese of Mangalore has stated in a press release that the priest would be removed from the religious ministry of the church immediately.

The CCTV footage of Fr. Nelson Olivera, Parish priest of the Christ The King Church at Periyalthadka village of Manila near Vitla, Bantwal taluk, has gone viral on social media. The video clip shows the priest, who had reportedly visited the household for blessings on Thursday, arguing with the senior couple, Gregory and Philomena, and also assaulting them. The senior couple and the priest are learned to have developed a difference of opinion on the occasion and, as the couple reportedly told the priest not to visit them again, the matter aggravated into an argument and a physical assault of the couple by the priest.

While no case has been registered on the matter yet, the Diocese of Mangalore has said in its press release that, in immediate response to the incident, Fr. Olivera would be removed from the religious ministry at the Christ The King Church.

Fr. JB Saldanha and Ronald Castelino, who are the Diocese public relation officers, have said in the press release that the Diocese would fully cooperate with the law enforcing authorities. They added that, apart from the government enquiry, the Diocese itself would undertake canonical enquiries on the incident to establish the truth to take adequate future action in a just and fair manner.

Ludhiana (Punjab}: The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), which spearheaded a farmers’ agitation in 2020-21, said on Saturday that more than 400 farmer outfits will participate in a “Kisan Mahapanchayat” in Delhi on March 14 to press the BJP-led Centre to accept their demands, including a law on the minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

Thirty-seven farmer bodies, which are part of the SKM, held a meeting on Saturday regarding their proposed “mahapanchayat” at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan.

Talking to reporters, Bharti Kisan Union (Lakhowal) general secretary Harinder Singh Lakhowal said farmers are continuously struggling for their demands.

In continuation of their struggle, it was decided that a “mahapanchayat” will be organised in the national capital on March 14, he added.

More than 400 farmer organisations from across the country will take part in the “mahapanchayat”, farmer leaders said.

They said they will not travel to Delhi by tractor trolleys, but through buses and trains.

They said they are continuously raising their voice against the Centre regarding their demands, including a legal guarantee on the MSP for all crops and cancellation of the FIRs registered against farmers during the 2020-21 agitation.

On February 22, the SKM announced that it would hold the “mahapanchayat” in Delhi.

Meanwhile, the farmer leaders also rejected the “zero” FIR registered by the Punjab Police in the Shubhkaran Singh death case.

Singh was killed and around 12 police personnel were injured in clashes at the Khanauri border between Punjab and Haryana on February 21.

The SKM (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) are spearheading a “Delhi Chalo” march of farmers to press the Centre to accept their demands.

However, the SKM was not part of the “Delhi Chalo” call.

The march was put on hold for two days after Singh was killed on February 21. Two days later, the farmer leaders said the protesters would continue to camp at Khanauri and Shambhu on Punjab’s border with Haryana till February 29.

Previously, the farmer leaders rejected the Centre’s proposal for procuring pulses, maize and cotton at the MSP by government agencies for five years, saying it was not in their favour.

In the fourth round of talks with the farmer leaders on February 18, a panel of three Union ministers proposed that government agencies would buy pulses, maize and cotton at the MSP for five years after entering into an agreement with farmers.

The farmers are also demanding the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations, pension for farmers and farm labourers, no hike in the electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases and “justice” for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence in Uttar Pradesh, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013 and compensation to the families of the farmers who died during the 2020-21 agitation against three farm laws that have since been repealed.

New Delhi: Two of the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case have moved the Supreme Court contending that its January 8 verdict cancelling remission of their sentence was “in teeth of” a 2002 constitution bench order and sought the issue to be referred to a larger bench for “final” adjudication.

Radheyshaym Bhagwandas Shah and Rajubhai Babulal Soni, both lodged in Godhra sub-jail after the apex court verdict, said an “anomalous” situation has arisen wherein two different coordinate benches (benches of same strength) have taken diametrically opposite view on the same issue of premature release as well as on which policy of the state government would be applicable to the petitioners for remission.

The plea, filed through advocate Rishi Malhotra, said while one bench on May 13, 2022 categorically ordered the Gujarat government to consider the application of Radheyshaym Shah for premature release in terms of the state government’s remission policy of July 9, 1992, the bench that pronounced the verdict on January 8, 2024 concluded that it was Maharashtra and not the Gujarat government that was competent to grant remission.

“That with greatest respect the judgement rendered on January 8, 2024 is directly in teeth of the constitution bench decision in Rupa Ashok Hurra’s case of 2002 and the same needs to be set aside, as if the same is permitted then it would lead to not only judicial impropriety but to uncertainty and chaos as to which precedence (sic) of law has to be applied in future. In other words, if any party being not satisfied with the Supreme Court Judgment on an issue, he would be entitled to file a Writ Petition challenging the said Judgement by taking recourse to law laid down in Bilkis Bano case,” the plea said.

Shah has also filed an application for bail.

“In another words, a fundamental issue arises for consideration as to whether a subsequent Co-ordinate Bench can set aside its earlier Judgement rendered by its earlier Co-ordinate Bench and pass contradictory orders/judgments overruling its earlier view or the proper course would have been to refer the matter to a larger bench in case it felt that the earlier Judgment was passed in wrong appreciation of law and facts,” the plea said.

The plea sought a direction to the Centre to consider the case of the petitioners for premature release and clarify which judgement of its coordinate benches- of May 13, 2022 or January 8, 2024- would be applicable to them.

It said since two benches of the apex court of same strength have passed conflicting orders, the matter should be referred to a larger bench for final adjudication.

On Janaury 8, in a massive setback to the Gujarat government, the top court quashed the remission it had granted to 11 convicts in the high-profile gang-rape case of Bilkis Bano and the killing of her seven family members, while slamming the state for being “complicit” with the accused and abusing its discretion.

It ordered all the convicts, who were released prematurely on Independence Day in 2022, back to jail within two weeks.

Excoriating the Gujarat government, the apex court said it “usurped” the power of the Maharashtra government to grant remission to the convicts.

It held as nullity the May 13, 2022 judgement of another bench of the apex court, which had directed the Gujarat government to consider the remission applications of the 11 convicts in the case, saying it was obtained by “playing fraud on court”.

Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was raped while fleeing the horror of the communal riots that broke out after the Godhra train burning incident in February 2002. Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven family members killed.

Uppinangady: A private bus operator reportedly lost control of the vehicle while reversing at the Uppinangady bus stand on Saturday evening, damaging two shops and several vehicles parked in the parking lot. There were no reported casualties from the incident.

Meanwhile, locals alleged the driver of recklessly reversing, causing damage to shops owned by Nagaraj Bhat and Anil Kumar and vehicles and resulting in the bus entering the Uppinangady Grama Panchayat Commercial Complex.

The bus stand, which is crowded on most days, had only a lesser amount of crowd on Saturday preventing a major mishap from happening.

A complaint in connection with the incident has been registered at the Uppinangady Police Station.

Mumbai: Security agencies at Mumbai’s Nhava Sheva port intercepted and seized the consignment of a Karachi-bound ship from China after it was found carrying a dual-use consignment with implications for Pakistan’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, officials said on Saturday.

Customs officials, acting on intelligence, halted the Malta-flagged merchant ship — CMA CGM Attila — en route to Karachi on January 23 and, during its inspection, found that the consignment had a Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine, manufactured by an Italian company, known for its precision and efficiency controlled by a computer system.

A Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) team examined the consignment and confirmed its potential usage in Pakistan’s nuclear initiatives, notably in manufacturing crucial components for missile development, the officials said.

CNC machines fall under the Wassenaar Arrangement, an international arms control regime aimed at curbing the spread of items with dual civilian and military applications, in which India is an active participant. The CNC machine was used by North Korea in its nuclear programme.

Further investigations showed many discrepancies in the shipping details, indicating potential evasion tactics to conceal the true recipients. This incident follows past seizures of dual-use military-grade items being transhipped from China to Pakistan, raising concerns over illicit procurement activities.

The ongoing probe aims to ascertain if the suspected Pakistani entities receiving these items are linked to the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DESTO), responsible for Pakistan’s defence research and development.

The port officials, with specific intelligence, had alerted the Indian defence authorities who inspected the heavy cargo and reported their suspicions, after which the consignment was seized, the officials said and added that the seizure falls under the prevention of possible proliferation by Pakistan and China.

According to documents such as bills of loading and other details of the consignment, the consigner was mentioned as “Shanghai JXE Global Logistics Co Ltd” and the consignee as “Pakistan Wings Pvt Ltd” of Sialkot.

However, further investigation by the security agencies indicated that the consignment, weighing 22,180 kilogrammes, was shipped by Taiyuan Mining Import and Export Co Ltd and meant for Cosmos Engineering in Pakistan, the officials said.

This is not the first instance that Indian port officials have seized such dual-use military-grade items being shipped from China to Pakistan.

Cosmos Engineering, a Pakistani defence supplier, has been on a watchlist since March 12, 2022, when Indian authorities intercepted a shipment of Italian-made thermoelectric instruments, once again at the Nhava Sheva port.

Despite international conventions, the interception highlights persistent cooperation between Pakistan and China in activities that contravene global agreements, raising alarms about potential proliferation activities.

In February 2020, China was supplying autoclaves to Pakistan under the cover of an “industrial dryer”.

The autoclave was seized from a Chinese ship — Dai Cui Yun — that carried a Hong Kong flag and had left Jiangyin port on the Yangtze river in Jiangsu province of China, bound for Pakistan’s Port Qasim.

The seizure of the autoclave, possibly meant to be used in the missile programme of Pakistan, strengthened apprehensions that Pakistan is unabashedly indulging in illegal trade of missiles and violating the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).

The cooperation between China and Pakistan in acquiring sensitive items and equipment, coupled with China’s support in constructing nuclear power plants for Pakistan, has drawn scrutiny from international bodies, challenging established guidelines and control regimes.

The officials said China’s assistance to Pakistan has come in two ways — supplying sensitive materials or equipment of proliferation concern clandestinely and acting as a conduit in facilitating the country to procure dual-use military-grade items from overseas, especially Europe and the US.

Additionally, China has assisted Pakistan in constructing civil nuclear power plants. China has constructed four 300 MWe nuclear power plants in Chashma and two 1,000 MWe plants in Karachi, violating Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) guidelines. China has plans to construct another 1,000 MWe nuclear power plant in Chashma, they said.

The recent sanctions imposed by the US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) on Chinese companies involved in supplying missile-relevant items to Pakistan highlight the gravity of the situation and the necessity for heightened oversight in curbing potential proliferation activities.