The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday raided 30 places in Tamil Nadu, including the residences of Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar and Director General Police T.K. Rajendran in connection with a gutka scam, a CBI official told IANS.

The mayor of Ronda, a city in central Philippines, was shot dead on Wednesday morning when several men broke into his office, marking the 16th elected local official to be assassinated under the current administration.

Ronda mayor Mariano Blanco III was pronounced dead at 2.25 a.m local time (18.25 GMT on Tuesday) upon arriving at a nearby hospital in Barili town, police senior inspector JR Palcon said, Efe reported.

According to Palcon, several men who are yet to be identified arrived at the Town Hall in a van at around 1.30 a.m and opened fire inside the municipal office of Ronda in Cebu province where Blanco was said to be sleeping.

Blanco was on the blacklist of public officials allegedly involved in the illegal drugs trade that was ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte as part of his war on drugs campaign. Blanco was stripped of his authority over police in 2017, although he denied involvement in illegal drugs.

In February, lawyer Jonah John Ungab, Blanco’s nephew and deputy mayor of Ronda, was also shot dead after attending a court hearing with his client Kerwin Espinosa.

In July, the League of Municipalities of the Philippines – which comprises 68 mayors from the main cities in the country – requested a meeting with the President to address the assassinations of local officials and their involvement with the government’s so-called “narco list.”

Started by Duterte in 2016, the war on drugs has unleashed violence in the country, with more than 4,500 suspects killed in police raids and more than 23,500 unsolved murder cases.

(IANS)

The CBI on Wednesday conducted raids at 40 locations in Tamil Nadu in connection with the multi-crore gutka scam in which involvement of state Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar and Director General of Police T.K. Rajendran is suspected.

“Separate CBI teams conducted simultaneous raids at 40 locations in Tamil Nadu early in the morning in Gutkha scam. The raid is still on,” Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) spokesperson Abhishek Dayal told IANS at around 11 am.

CBI officials in Chennai said the raids were at 30 places, officials in New Delhi put the number at 40.

The raids were conducted at the godowns, offices and residences of pan masala and gutkha manufacturers in Tamil Nadu.

The CBI in May-end had registered a case in the scam against unknown officials of Central Excise, Tamil Nadu government, Food Safety Department, public servants and private persons under charges of criminal conspiracy of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act following the direction of the Madras High Court on April 26.

The agency has been investigating into all aspects of the offence of illegal manufacture, import, supply, distribution and sale of gutkha and other forms of chewable tobacco which are banned in Tamil Nadu and Union Territory of Puducherry, including detection of and action against those involved in the offence whether directly or indirectly by aiding or abetting the offence or interfering with attempts to curb the offence.

The scam came to light on July 8, 2017 after Income-Tax officers raided a pan masala and gutkha manufacturer in Tamil Nadu, who has been facing charges of evading tax to the tune of Rs 250 crore.

The manufacture, storage and sale of the chewable forms of tobacco, including gutkha and pan masala were banned by the Tamil Nadu government in 2013.

Militants attacked a patrol party of the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Wednesday, police said.

The 55 Rashtriya Rifles’ (RR) patrol party was fired upon by the militants in Haji Darpora village.

“The fire was returned by the RR troops. There was a brief exchange of gunfire after which the area was cordoned off for searches.

A non-local labourer sustained a bullet injury in the incident. He has been sent to hospital, the police said.

(IANS)

A CPI-M woman youth leader has accused a party MLA in Kerala of sexual abuse. The Communist Party of India-Marxist said it is looking into the allegation.

The woman complained to the party’s Central Committee against Shornur legislator P.K. Sasi, after her complaint to the state leadership was not taken up with seriousness.

Party General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Tuesday directed the state unit to look into the matter.

Yechury told the media in New Delhi that he got the complaint on Monday and it has been forwarded to the state unit. “The state unit will look into it,” said Yechury.

The youth leader from Palghat had brought the instance of Sasi’s behaviour to the notice of the state leadership besides politburo member Brinda Karat.

However, no action was taken. So, on Monday she sent an email to Yechury.

She has attached audio clips in her complaint that she had given to the leaders.

Sasi told the media in Palghat on Tuesday he was not aware of anything and only after this news surfaced in the media he came to know about it.

“This is nothing but a political conspiracy hatched against me. I am in public life for so long and all those who know me, know me well. These are gossips. Well planned out move to tarnish me. I have nothing to be worried about,” said Sasi.

Party Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said the media reports were “baseless”.

“Who said we have not done anything? We are looking into the issue and what we do in the committee is not discussed outside. We have not swept anything under the carpet,” said Balakrishnan.

He said since it was not a complaint to be given to the police, it was given to the party.

(IANS)

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) who is investigating on Gauri Lankesh murder confirmed that the person who shot Gauri was Parashuram Vagmore.

As per the sources, the SIT used the gait analysis to find out who fired at Gauri near her house at the Rajarajeshwarinagar.

The Gait report confirmed that Parashuram Vagmore shot Gauri.

Gait is clinically useful with videotape slow-motion replay and freeze-frame, offering significant improvement over unaided visual observation.

However the Gait report will be presented to the court to strengthen the proof against Vagmore.

(PTI)

The founder of the Haqqani militant network has died after several years of illness, the Afghan Taliban has announced.

Jalaluddin Haqqani was a significant militant figure in Afghanistan and had close ties to both the Taliban and Al Qaeda, the BBC reported.

“Just as he endured great hardships for the religion of Allah during his youth and health, he also endured long illness during his later years,” a statement from the Afghan Taliban said.

There were no details in the statement about the date or place of his death.

The Haqqani network has been behind many of the co-ordinated attacks on Afghan and Nato forces over the years.

His son Sirajuddin Haqqani is believed to have taken over control of the group in 2001.

Rumours about Haqqani’s death have circulated for years. In 2015, sources close to the group told the BBC that the leader had died at least a year before. This was never confirmed.

A 65-year-old woman was sexually assaulted and killed on Sunday, September 2, under Mandi police station limits.

The deceased has been identified as Saliamma, a native of Tamil Nadu was working as a daily-wager at APMC vegetable market at Tilak Naga of Mysuru District. The accused is identified as Murthy, also a daily-wager.

The accused is suspected to have assaulted Saliamma under the influence of liquor. He is said to have tried to rape her and in this bid Saliamma was severely injured. She succumbed to the injuries later.

When neighbours went to check Saliamma on Sunday evening, they saw Murthy come out of the house. When the neighbours went inside, they saw her dead body.

Soon after the incident came to light, the woman’s neighbours caught the accused and thrashed him. However, he succeeded in fleeing away from the spot.

A 16-year-old boy was beaten to death by six men here on Tuesday after he allegedly entered a house to steal valuables, police said. Three men have been held.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Aslam Khan said the boy was thrashed in Mukundpur area. She said a case of culpable homicide had been registered against the accused.

“Three accused have been arrested while three others are absconding,” the officer said.

A Class 11 student was shot dead by bike-borne assailants in Shamli district in Uttar Pradesh when he was on way to school on Tuesday morning, police said.

The gunmen first stopped him. Before the teenager could understand what was happening, he was shot from close range on the temple.

The deceased has been identified as Priyanshu, a student of the National Inter College at Kandhla. He was shot near the Hindu Inter College.

As a crowd gathered at the crime scene, the assailants sped away but dropped their country-made murder weapon.

The student was rushed to a private medical facility where doctors pronounced him dead.

The police are probing what led to the murder.