Four security personnel deployed at former Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker and BJP Khuti MP Karia Munda’s house, who were kidnapped by tribals in Jharkhand on Wednesday, were rescued on Friday, police said.

According to the police, at 4 a.m., information was received that the abducted personnel have been kept at Putigarha village in Khuti.

They were taken hostage by villagers supporting the Pathalgadi movement, a rebellion against the government.

When security forces early on Friday entered the village, the abductors fled and the rescue operation was successful.

The four were abducted on June 27, by hundreds of villagers. A massive search operation was launched immediately. More than 2,000 personnel of the police and paramilitary forces were conducting combing operations.

Pathalgadi is an age-old tradition of tribals wherein they erect monoliths in the name of their ancestors on the borders of villages.

From September 2017, the tribals in Khuti had started using Pathalgadi as a form of protest against the Government of India by setting up a parallel administration.

The state government had failed to contain the parallel government run by the tribal Gram Sabha in parts of Khuti.

 

 

Superstar Mohanlal, who leads the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes, came under fire from the Kerala Women’s Commission on Thursday over the decision to reinstate accused actor Dileep into the artists’ body.

Dileep is an accused in the February 2017 actress kidnapping case which took place in Kochi, that landed him in a Kerala jail for 85 days.

Breathing fire on Mohanlal, Commission Chairperson M.C. Josephine reminded that AMMA’s Sunday decision led by the superstar was flawed. “No doubt, Mohanlal’s stocks have definitely fallen,” said Josephine to the media.

This was the first decision taken by the new committee under Mohanlal.

Her statement came a day after four leading actresses, including the kidnap victim, resigned from AMMA.

“After this decision, the name of the organisation AMMA (mother) does not suit it anymore. The ruling Left government and the CPI-M party should look into this,” added Josephine.

Dileep’s reinstatment has become the centre of a row following the newly formed Women in Cinema Collective’s (WCC) Facebook post on Monday and the subsequent resignation by four leading actresses from AMMA on Wednesday.

Even, Kerala Fisheries Minister J. Mercykutty on Thursday expressed surprise in the manner in which AMMA had revoked Dileep’s suspension.

“It should not be forgotten that actors are icons and they should be perfect role models, but this decision that they took is baffling and not tenable.

“It’s surprising that the two legislators — Mukesh of the CPI-M and K.B. Ganesh Kumar, supporting the ruling Left government — were also party to the decision,” said Mercykutty .

PWD Minister G. Sudhakaran said that he never had a good opinion about Dileep. “He is an arrogant person. I fully support the four actress who quit AMMA, as none with any self respect can continue in the same organisation,” said Sudhakaran.

Everyone is now awaiting superstar Mammootty’s decision. It was Mammootty, who had announced the decision to remove Dileep from AMMA to the media, then.

However, Mammootty for the first time in several years, is not an office bearer anymore.

Claiming that he had honestly tried to repay bank loans since 2016, beleaguered tycoon Vijay Mallya on Wednesday denied his offer to settle the dues was linked to the Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance.

“It is incorrect that my settlement offer before the Karnataka HC was motivated by the latest charge sheet under the media reported Fugitive Ordinance. I always had honest intentions to settle and there is ample proof,” tweeted Mallya, a day after he broke silence on defaulting bank loans.

The May 27 Ordinance gives the law enforcing agencies powers to attach and confiscate the proceeds of crime and properties of economic offenders like bank defaulters or bank fraudsters fleeing the country, and is aimed at deterring economic offenders from evading the process of law by remaining outside the jurisdiction of Indian courts, a probe agency official told IANS here.

The 62-year-old liquor baron, who fled the country on March 2, 2016, has been living in London since then despite summons from Indian courts and law enforcement agencies to appear before them for trial in various related cases.

“I am asked for comment on being labeled a fugitive economic offender. When I have placed assets on the table before the Karnataka High Court in excess of the bank claims, how can I be an economic offender? The fugitive part falls away,” said Mallya in another tweet.

Referring to some people asking him why he chose to make a statement at this time, he said he did so because he and his United Breweries Holding Ltd (UBHL) have filed an application before the high court on June 22, setting out assets worth Rs 13,900 crore.

“I made my media statement concurrent with my settlement offer now and was unable to make such an offer before due to various circumstantial changes about the value of my assets available,” he tweeted.

He stressed the chargesheets of the Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate allege criminality with no intention to repay banks although he had been making efforts to settle since 2016.

“As I have placed everything before the high court, where is the malafide? Are banks interested in repayment?” he asked.

Admitting that the government, courts and banks were rightfully concerned about public money loaned to his now defunct Kingfisher Airline by the state-run banks, Mallya said he showed to the high court having assets in excess of the banks’ claims and requested their sale under its supervision.

“The government wants to recover money loaned by the state-run banks. It used CBI and ED to attach and recover. I have placed all assets before the high court and submitted for sale. Banks should be very happy. But if the same CBI and ED object, what do I do?” he asked.

Regretting that the official narrative seemed to question his intentions, Mallya also denied delaying tactics or any agenda to score brownie points.

“What needs to be appreciated is a bona fide offer and commitment placed before the high court. Let Justice play its part,” he pointed out.

Responding to the comment of Minister of State for External Affairs M. J. Akbar that he had years to repay the loans, Mallya said his settlement initiatives date back to 2016

A man was arrested for allegedly assaulting a Canadian woman here, police said on Wednesday.

The incident was reported from south Delhi where the woman had gone to a pub in Hauz Khas village on Tuesday evening.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, South, Romil Baaniya said that the accused identified as Abhishek befriended the victim there, and after spending some time, invited her to his place where he assaulted her.

The woman, however, managed to escape and reached the AIIMS Trauma Centre, where she borrowed a phone from a passer-by and informed the police about the incident.

“The victim has given a written complaint. We have booked Abhishek under relevant IPC sections and arrested him. He was produced before a magistrate,” Baaniya said, adding that the Canadian High Commission here was informed of the incident.

Police officials said that Abhishek had taken the Canadian woman to a guest house and tried to rape her.

“Prima facie, the woman was molested by the accused in a bid to rape her and as he failed in his attempt, he beat her,” the official said.

“We have conducted medical examination of the victim and are waiting for the medical report. Relevant IPC sections will be added accordingly,” he added.

A three-member gang of burglars, among them a woman, tried to break into a house in Jayanagar last Friday but aborted the mission after spotting the  CCTV cameras.

The miscreants were caught in action on CCTV cameras.  In a complaint to the Jayanagar police, Muralikrishna, who owns a silk textile store, said the well-dressed gang members tried to smash the door lock and break into his house in Jayanagar 5th Block on June 22 when he was out of town.

The CCTV footage shows the woman arriving in a high-end car, wearing sunglasses and her head covered with a scarf. She walks into the compound, presses the calling bell and peeps through the windows to confirm there is no one in the house. She later sits on a bench talking on the phone while her accomplices wearing caps and hand gloves enter the compound and try to break open the door.
But the trio fleed on seeing the cameras. A case has been registered and the cops are on the lookout to nab the accused.

 

Police in Malaysia said on Wednesday they have seized cash amounting to $226 million and luxury items worth $273 million from former Prime Minister Najib Razak’ premises in connection with the 1MDB probe.

Cash in 26 currencies was confiscated, besides 25 bags of gold, 12,000 items of jewelry, 567 luxury handbags, 423 watches and 234 sunglasses in the largest seizure in the probe so far, Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Amar Singh told the media.

The items were seized from six premises — the Prime Minister’s official residence and office in Putrajaya, three luxury condominiums in downtown Kuala Lumpur and Najib’s private house, Xinhua news agency reported.

1Malaysia Development Berhad is a Malaysian strategic development company wholly owned by the finance ministry.

Fugitive tycoon Vijaya Mallya has sought the Karnataka High Court’s permission to let him and his holding firm UBHL sell their assets under judicial supervision and repay creditors, including state-run banks.

“UBHL (United Breweries Holding Ltd) and myself have filed an application before the Karnataka High Court on June 22, setting out available assets of about Rs 13,900 crore,” said Mallya from London in a statement released by his office here on Tuesday.

Mallya has requested the court’s permission to allow him to sell the assets under judicial supervision and repay creditors, including the state-run bank’s such amounts as may be directed and determined by the court.

The 62-year-old liquor baron, who fled India on March 2, 2016, has been living in London since then despite summons from Indian courts and law enforcement agencies to appear before them for trial in various related cases.

Asserting that recovery of loans was a civil matter, Mallya said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) had, however, criminalized it in his case by moving against him aggressively despite his intentions to settle the dues with the banks.

“The CBI and ED seem determined to frame criminal charges against me on the pretext of non-payment to the banks. The motivation, however, seems to be to secure my presence in India to face charges than to determine if the evidence collected by the investigative agencies demonstrates criminal charges against me or to permit me to sell assets and repay creditors,” he said.

Claiming that the bulk of the dues were on account of interest, Mallya said owing to injunctions, attachments and refusal to grant permission to sell the assets, it (interest) had kept mounting.

“Consequently, the bloated figure of outstanding dues to the banks is largely on account of these mala fide actions. If CBI or ED object to my proposal and sale of assets, it will demonstrate that there is an agenda against me beyond recovery of dues to the banks,” the statement pointed out.

Reiterating that he made efforts to settle the dues, Mallya said if politically motivated and extraneous factors interfere, there was nothing he could do.

A consortium of 17 banks, led by the State Bank of India (SBI), gave Rs 5,500 crore loans to Mallya’s now defunct Kingfisher Airlines since over a decade.

“Over Rs 600 crore has been recovered through sale of pledged assets and Rs 1,280 crore was deposited with the Karnataka High Court since 2013,” recalled Mallya.

Referring to the charges allegedly made by politicians and the media that he ran away from the country after “stealing” Rs 9,000 crore loaned to his airline, Mallya said some of the lending banks had also declared him a wilful defaulter.

“The CBI and ED have filed charge-sheets against me with untenable and false allegations acting at the behest of the government and lending banks. The ED also attached assets belonging to me, my group companies and owned and/or controlled by my family under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) currently valued at Rs 13,900 crore,” said Mallya.

Observing that he became the “Poster Boy” of bank default and a lightning rod of public anger, Mallya said though he wrote letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely on April 15, 2016 clarifying his position and seeking their intervention to settle the dues, there was no response from either of them.

Twelve police personnel, including officers-in-charge of two police stations here, were suspended on Monday over the arrest of a 14-year-old vegetable seller who was detained, thrashed and sent to jail for his refusal to give them jackfruit for free in March this year.

Inspector General (Patna Zone) N.H. Khan suspended the 12 police personnel — among whom are officers-in-charge of state capital-located Bypass Police Station and Agamkuan Police Station — on finding them guilty.

“Action has been taken against a dozen police officials for illegally arresting a minor vegetable seller for his alleged refusal to give jackfruit to police constables of the two police stations,” Khan said.

Khan conducted a detailed investigation and submited the report to the police headquarters on Monday. Last Thursday, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had ordered a probe into the case.

According to police officials, the probe found lapses in investigation by the police officers posted at Bypass and Agamkuan police stations. The chargesheet was submitted in the court without their supervision.

The police personnel also declared that the victim was above 18 years of age. As a result, the minor was produced in the court and later sent to Beur Central Jail.

Five Kerala priests of the Kottayam-headquartered Malankara Orthodox Church have been suspended over allegations of sexually exploiting a woman from the same church, an official said.

Speaking to IANS, Secretary of the Church Biju Oommen said as soon as they received complaint from the husband of the victim, they took immediate action.

“The Church has acted in the utmost responsible manner … Today as things stand, the five are suspects.

Commission has been appointed to probe the episode.

“The probe is on and when the report comes, the Church will again act on it,” said Oommen.

The husband has said one of the priest who first exploited his wife was blackmailing her. When she sought help on this from another priest, he too, threatened her and shared her contact with another fellow priest and in the end she came under the duress from at least five priests.

The Orthodox Church was shocked as the episode was criticized heavily on the social media which dented its image.

“We are certainly worried about the huge publicity that the incident has generated and we suspect that there are vested interests who are out to malign our Church in the social media,” added Oommen.

The victim has not yet filed a police complaint.

The CBI on Monday moved the Supreme Court challenging a Delhi High Court order granting bail to Karti Chidambaram in a case of alleged graft for facilitating FIPB clearance to INX Media in 2007.

Senior Congress leader and Karti’s father P. Chidambaram was the Union Finance Minister then.

Karti Chidambaram was granted bail by the Delhi High Court on March 23, 2018.

Pointing to the errors in the order granting bail to Karti Chidambaram, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) contended that the high court erred in exercising its concurrent jurisdiction in entertaining the bail plea when the same was already pending before the lower court with a pre-fixed date of hearing.

“It was impermissible in law for the high court in the exercise of concurrent jurisdiction to entertain the bail application when the same was already pending with the lower court with a pre-fixed date,” the CBI said in its petition challenging the high court order.

Contending that the high court could have entertained the plea-taking recourse to its concurrent jurisdiction “only and only when there exist special and exceptional circumstances” and where the very filing of the bail application before the court of special judge is “likely to result in miscarriage of justice and brazen and illegal abridgment of personal liberty of the accused”.

Asserting that the concurrent jurisdiction can be exercised in “rare and exceptional circumstance and not in routine manner”, the CBI contended that the high court had to record adequate reasons for entertaining such a bail plea.

Referring to Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), the probe agency said that it does not give right to the accused to bypass the remedies before the court of first instance and directly approach the high court.

It asserted that no special or exceptional circumstances existed which warranted the exercise of concurrent jurisdiction by the high court.

It also assailed the high court order for erroneously conducting the detailed examination of evidence on merits at the stage of grant of bail and thereby seriously prejudicing its case.

Karti was arrested on February 28 for allegedly taking money to facilitate Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media in 2007.