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Actress Bhavana abducted and molested in her car

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Bhavana

Kochi: South Indian Actress Bhavana was travelling home after a shoot while she was kidnapped by her former driver and his friends.

A group of men in a tempo traveller followed the actress as she was returning to Kochi from Thrissur on Friday night in her car. The tempo hit the car and pushed aside the driver, and got into the car.

The gang harassed and clicked pictures of the young actress. The gang got off at Palarivattom and fled in another car.

Bhavana, then took refuge at a director’s house in Kakkannad. After being informed by the director, the police arrived at his home and recorded the actress’ statements.

The actress reportedly told the police that her former driver Martin was among those who forcefully entered her car. Police have taken Martin into custody.

Police have reportedly got a lead on the culprits.

(Agencies)

Enforcement Directorate to invoke treaty with UK to bring Vijay Mallya back

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Vijay Mallya. Photo: Reuters

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)

Note ban impacts PepsiCo’s India business: Indra Nooyi

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indra nooyi

New York: The demonetisation drive in India had a “significant impact” on PepsiCo’s business in the country in the last quarter of 2016 and there are still “lingering effects” of it, according to the food-and-beverage giant’s India-born CEO Indra Nooyi.

“On demonetisation, across the board for pretty much all of industry, and CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) in particular because it hit the individual retailer significantly, demonetisation had a significant impact on our India business in Q4,” Nooyi said during an earnings call for Pepsi’s fourth quarter that ended on December 2016.

Responding to a question during the call on February 15 on whether demonetisation had any impact on Pepsi’s beverage or snack business, Nooyi said there are still some “lingering effects” from the Indian government’s decision to withdraw high-value banknotes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 from circulation, noting that she is “not sure we are totally out of the woods”.

Nooyi, 61, said demonetisation was a “massive change” since about 80% of the currency in circulation in India was no longer legal tender. She added that implementation of the policy too had its “share of challenges” but hoped that things will return to normal by the second quarter that will end in June this year.

“So our hope was that by the time Q2 rolls by we would be through the bulk of the demonetisation challenges and the new currency and the digital currency will be back in circulation and we will be back to retail activity coming back to normal,” Nooyi said.

PepsiCo reported net revenues of $19.51 billion in the last quarter of 2016, up 5% from $18.58 billion in the same quarter in 2015.

Its net income, however, fell 18% to $1.40 billion in the quarter ended December 2016, when compared with $1.71 billion in the year-ago period.

(PTI)

Drugs worth Rs 50 cr seized; athlete who won medals for India among 3 held

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Harpreet Singh

New Delhi: An International-level discus thrower, who had bagged two medals for the country, was among three persons arrested from New Delhi railway station with more than 25 kilos of Mephedrone drug (popularly known as meow-meow in party circles), police said on Friday.

The estimated worth of the drugs seized from the accused is around Rs 50 crore.

The discus thrower, identified as Harpreet Singh, won a silver medal at the 2004 Commonwealth Youth Games in Australia and a bronze at the 2006 South Asian Games, before a foot injury cut his career short. “Harpreet’s career was marred with doping charges that had once also fetched him a six-month long ban,” Sanjeev Yadav, DCP (special cell) said.

The other two arrested men were identified as athlete Amandeep Singh, who was pursuing a diploma in hospitality and tourism in London, and Hanish Sarpal who had enrolled in a management course at a university in London, but later dropped out.

Harpreet and Amandeep were nabbed by a special cell team from New Delhi station on Wednesday evening, after the police were informed that the duo would be smuggling meow-meow drugs from Mumbai to the capital.

Police said 25 kilos of Mephedrone was seized from the possession of the accused. Mephedrone is popular in parties and is used as a substitute for cocaine. Wednesday’s recovery was possibly the biggest seizure of the drugs from the national capital, police said.

An officer said the interrogation of the duo led the police to Hanish, who was nabbed from west Delhi’s Janakpuri with another 650 grams of the same drug.

Police claimed that their probe has revealed the drugs as smuggled from the African subcontinent to Mumbai and from there pushed into various Indian cities and even exported to other countries. The arrested trio was allegedly working as the Delhi-based agents of an international drug syndicate.

Police said the men had been lured into joining the racket with promises of large sums of money after their careers failed.

Harpreet had allegedly entered the drug trade after trying his hand in the real estate business which crashed because of a slump in the market.

Harpreet was the All India Inter University Champion for three years from 2006 to 2008, but failed to make it to the Indian squad for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. A foot injury that he picked up before the Commonwealth squad selection ensured that he didn’t make the cut, said the officer.

The other two suspects had allegedly met in the United Kingdom while studying. The duo tried to find work there, but had failed and returned to India and got sucked in the drug trade.

(Agencies)

There’s no concept of National Song: Supreme Court

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Supreme Court

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)

Pakistan mourns attack victims as security stepped up

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Two border crossings with Afghanistan closed and at least 39 ‘terrorists’ killed after attack at Sehwan shrine kills 88.

Thursday's attack was the deadliest in Pakistan since 2014 [Wali Muhammed/Al Jazeera]

Thursday’s attack was the deadliest in Pakistan since 2014 [Wali Muhammed/Al Jazeera]

by Asad Hashim, Al Jazeera

Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan has closed two of its border crossings with Afghanistan and demanded that Kabul takes action against 76 “terrorists” it says are hiding in Afghan territory in response to the worst attack on Pakistani soil since 2014.

At least 88 people were killed and hundreds more wounded when a suicide attacker targeted a gathering of worshippers at a shrine in the southern town of Sehwan on Thursday.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group claimed responsibility for the blast.

The shrine, built in 1356, is by the tomb of Syed Muhammad Usman Marwandi, the Sufi philosopher poet better known as Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, one of Pakistan’s most venerated saints.

On Friday, Pakistan’s military said Afghanistan must take “immediate action” against the 76 people identified to them.

Security officials told Al Jazeera that at least 39 suspected fighters had been killed in security raids carried out overnight in response to the attack.

Thursday’s attack came after one of the bloodiest weeks in recent memory in Pakistan, with at least 99 people killed in a series of attacks since Monday, most claimed by the Pakistani Taliban or one of its factions.

On Monday, 13 people were killed in a suicide bombing at a rally in the eastern city of Lahore.

That attack was followed on Wednesday by a suicide bombing at a government office in the Mohmand tribal area and a suicide attack on government employees in Peshawar, killing six people.

Two police officers were killed on Tuesday while trying to defuse a bomb in the Balochistan provincial capital of Quetta.

Border closure

Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder said the second major border crossing at Chaman, which leads to Kandahar in Afghanistan from the Pakistani city of Quetta, was closed on Friday after the Torkham border was sealed off late on Thursday.

In Sehwan, meanwhile, police cordoned off the shrine early on Friday as forensic investigators arrived.

The floor of the shrine was still stained with blood on Friday morning as dozens of protesters pushed past police pickets demanding to be allowed to continue to worship there.

At least 20 children are believed to be among the dead, the head of Sehwan’s medical facility, Moeen Uddin Siddiqui, said.

At 3.30am, the shrine’s caretaker stood among the carnage and defiantly rang its bell, a daily ritual that he vowed to continue.

The Sindh provincial government announced three days of mourning as Pakistanis vented their grief and fury on social media, bemoaning the lack of medical facilities to help the wounded, with the nearest hospital around 70km from the shrine.

All shrines in the province have been closed, a decision that prompted furious reaction from protesters in Sehwan.

“Give us the charge of the mazaar [shrine], we will take care of it rather than the police,” a shopkeeper said.

“Keeping it closed is unfair to the people of Sehwan. We can take care of our own place. We can do everything to protect it.”

‘Afghan role’

Pakistan’s military has long blamed the Afghan government for allowing sanctuary on its soil to fighters targeting Pakistan since a 2014 Pakistani military operation to drive out armed groups from the country’s restive tribal areas.

“Recent Ts acts are being exec on directions from hostile powers and from sanctuaries in Afghanistan. We shall defend and respond,” tweeted Pakistan military spokesman Asif Ghafoor.

Afghanistan denies the charge, accusing Pakistan in turn of allowing leaders of the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network armed groups to roam freely on Pakistani soil.

Pakistan denies this, but several high-profile Afghan Taliban leaders have been killed or captured on its soil, including former chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour in a US drone strike last year.

Pakistan Taliban leaders have similarly been captured or killed on Afghan soil.

Following the attack in Lahore, the Pakistani Foreign Office summoned senior Afghan embassy official Syed Abdul Nasir Yousafi.

“Afghanistan was urged to take urgent measures to eliminate the terrorists and their sanctuaries, financiers and handlers operating from its territory,” according to a Foreign Office statement.

Analysts, however, warn that in this “war of sanctuaries”, space is being left open for armed groups to continue to launch attacks.

Since the launch in 2014 of a military operation in the tribal area of North Waziristan – then-headquarters of the Pakistani Taliban and its allies – the Pakistani military says it has killed more than 3,500 fighters and destroyed Taliban infrastructure.

At least 583 soldiers have also been killed.

Since then, violence had decreased markedly, but sporadic high-casualty attacks continued to occur, notably a hospital bombing killing 74 in Quetta and an Easter Day park bombing that killed more than 70 last year.

Thursday’s attack was the deadliest in Pakistan since December 2014, when fighters assaulted a school in Peshawar, killing 154 people, mostly schoolchildren.

Fire, smoke engulfs Bellandur lake

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bellandur lake

Bengaluru: Thick smoke enveloped Bellandur lake after a fire broke out when garbage strewn around it was set ablaze, a fire department official said today.

The incident triggered panic among motorists on the busy Sarjapur main road.

“Usually, a pile of garbage strewn around the lake is set on fire, but yesterday it caused a scare among residents and motorists as the smoke started billowing and surrounding the lake in the evening,” K U Ramesh, Deputy Director at Karnataka Fire Department, said.

The fire was doused in half an hour, he said.

The area, for a while, was enveloped by huge clouds of smoke, he said.

Residents hit out at the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials for their “lackadaisical” attitude to stop dumping of garbage.

Karnataka State Pollution Control Board Chairman Lakshman said notices have been issued to the BBMP, Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewage Board and other agencies to stop the dumping. He also said the board is in the process of inspecting sewage treatment plants in the area.

The lake has been in news for the last one year for spillover of froth and toxic fumes.

(Agencies)

OPS camp ‘removes’ Sasikala

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sasikala

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)

Modi, Akhilesh two sides of same coin: Owaisi

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Asaduddin Owaisi

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)

UP 2nd phase turnout betters first, highest ever in U’khand: EC

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bihar-polls

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)

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