The Delhi Police on Monday filed a chargesheet in the mysterious death of Sunanda Pushkar, wife of Congress leader Shashi Tharoor.

The chargesheet was filed before Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmender Singh under sections 498 A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) and 306 (abetment to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.

Tharoor has been arrayed as an accused in the case.

Pushkar was found dead in a luxury hotel room on January 17, 2014.

The CBI on Monday filed a chargesheet against some former and current bank officials and several others in the over Rs 13,000 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case allegedly perpetrated by diamantaire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi.

The agency filed the chargesheet before a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court here.

The chargesheet is based on the first FIR the agency registered on January 31 against Modi, his wife Ami, brother Nishal and uncle Choksi along with some others following January 29 complaint to it by the Deputy General Manager of the PNB’s Zonal office in Mumabi.

The CBI later registered two more FIRs in connection with the case. Most of the accused in these cases are common.

So far, 19 people have been arrested in the case while Modi and Choksi are on the run. All of them will be named in the chargesheet.

In the wake of violence surrounding the West Bengal rural polls, a CPI-M activist and his wife were burnt to death in their house allegedly by a group of miscreants backed by the Trinamool Congress in South 24 Parganas district’s Namkhana, the Left party said on Monday.

Police also confirmed that the couple died in the fire but said the cause is still to be ascertained.

“The residence of Debu Das of Budhakhali Gram Panchayat in Namkhana was allegedly torched by the Trinamool Congress workers on Sunday midnight,” a Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) member said.

Both Das and his wife were killed in the fire, a release issued by the CPI-M’s South 24 Parganas district Secretary Shamik Lahiri said.

The party also alleged that Das was threatened by Trinamool Congress candidate Amit Mondol and his associates of dire consequences earlier on Sunday.

The Left party urged the State Election Commission (SEC) to take appropriate actions against the accused.

“We are not sure how the house caught fire. It needs to be ascertained whether it was intentional or was caused by a short circuit. The bodies are being sent for autopsy,” an officer from Kakdwip police station said.

No one has been detained in the incident.

The polling, for electing 38,616 representatives across three tiers of state (rural) bodies that started at 7 a.m. and would continue till 5 p.m., was marred by sporadic violence and clashes between opposing political groups.

Department of Revenue Intelligence sleuths and Assam Rifles troopers, in a joint operation on Thursday, seized over 12 kg of gold valued at Rs 3.62 crore in Manipur, said a release.

The raid, conducted on the basis of specific intelligence developed by DRI, unearthed gold from the India-Myanmar border at Moreh.

The joint team stopped two vehicles at Khudengthabi travelling from Moreh towards Imphal for checking, and found gold biscuits hidden inside the front and rear tyre of both cars.

Two persons have been apprehended, the DRI release said.

The gold has been seized under the Customs Act.

DRI is the lead agency to combat cross border crime involving smuggling of gold, consumer goods, drugs and narcotics, wild life articles, Fake Indian Currency Notes and counterfeit goods, import-export frauds and trade based money laundering.

Northeastern region including Assam having boundaries with Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and China is particularly sensitive from the perspective of smuggling activities and cross border crime.

There have been significant seizures of gold bars of foreign origin smuggled from Myanmar through the India-Myanmar border adjacent to Moreh and also from the Zokhawthar border with Myanmar in Mizoram.

In the ongoing year, DRI with the help of Assam RifleA has made seizure of total 28 kg of foreign origin smuggled gold in two separate cases in Manipur at the same place.

Police officials have seized currency totalling around 2.17 crores near Molakalmuru in Chitradurga district in the early hours today.The seized money is said to be belonging to the BJP candidate according to the confessions of the car driver from which the money was recovered.

The incident has taken place at around 4 am near Hettala Bommanahatti village and the car in which the unaccounted money was being smuggled out is said to be of Ballari origin but coming from Andhra Pradesh.

In another episode around Rs. 17 lakhs without any tangible records has been taken into custody near the Navayug toll gate of Devanahalli on the outskirts of the city. Naveen,driver of the vehicle has been arrested in this connection.

Hindusthan Samachar/Manohar Yadavatti

The sleuths of Income Tax department conducted a raid on the residence of Mangaldas Kamath, said to be a close confidant of Satish Sail,sitting Karwar Congress MLA and party candidate this morning in Karwar district.

The raid is still on at Kamath’s residence at Avarsa in Ankola taluk and the officials are examining the documents available at his house.Prior to the current raid the income tax department officials had also visited the house of Satish Sail in Sadashivgada.

The officials are said to have come from Hubballi and Bengaluru. It’s not clear on whether any incriminating documents and money has been seized so far.

Hindusthan Samachar/Manohar Yadavatti

Congress candidate N. Munirathna Naidu from Bengaluru’s Rajarajeshwari Nagar Assembly segment has been booked in connection with the recovery of about 10,000 voter ID cards from a flat, along with over a lakh counterfoils of acknowledgement slips, police said on Thursday.

“He (Naidu) was named as an accused in the FIR registered on Thursday on the basis of a complaint over the recovery of the voter ID cards from the apartment,” Additional Commissioner of Police (West) Bijay Kumar Singh told IANS here.

Naidu is also an outgoing legislator of the ruling party from the same constituency he is contesting in the May 12 Karnataka Assembly polls.

The Congress candidate was booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Representation of People Act, 1951, for bribery and undue influence in an election.

The police had arrested two persons on Wednesday — one for committing the electoral offence of keeping a large number of voter cards there and another for breaking into the apartment where the voter cards and counterfoils were kept, without informing the Election Commission (EC) authorities, Singh told IANS earlier.

State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sanjiv Kumar told reporters here on Wednesday that a total of 9,896 voter cards and over a lakh counterfoils resembling acknowledgement slips were seized from a flat in the assembly constituency.

Preliminary investigation showed that the voter cards were genuine, but the counterfoils were yet to be verified, Kumar had said.

“All the materials have been seized and investigation is going on under the supervision of the EC. The materials indicate a planned work over a period of time to survey and locate the vulnerable electors and induce them through middlemen,” he said.

The ruling Congress blamed the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after the incident, calling it a conspiracy hatched by the party leaders in the apartment that allegedly belonged to a former BJP Corporator Manjula Nanjamari.

On the other hand, the BJP urged the EC to countermand the election in the constituency, terming the incident an attempt by the ruling Congress to rig the election.

The Assembly election across 223 constituencies of the state will be held on May 12. Votes will be counted on May 15.

Of the 225-member lower House, election in the Jayanagar seat in south Bangalore has been countermanded owing to the death of BJP candidate B.N. Vijaya Kumar on May 4, while one member is nominated.

A total of Rs 31.5 crore of unaccounted cash and gold jewellery worth Rs 5.83 crore were seized by the IT sleuths since March 27.

Addressing the meet, Income Tax Joint Commissioner G. Ramesh said,”The department has seized Rs 31.5 crore unaccounted cash and Rs 5.83-crore worth jewellery, since the model code of conduct came into force from March 27.

The valuables seized in six weeks is six fold more than what was collected back in 2013 assembly elections, he said.

“The raids are carried as per rules and after ensuring that a particular search was required. The proceedings cover the entire political spectrum and are conducted impartially, respecting the privacy of the searched person in the presence of witnesses,” said Ramesh.

The department kept a watch on bank and cash transactions, including contract payments and others deals during the period.

“Our intelligence at airports, railway stations and bus terminals has been strengthened and is functioning in coordination with other law enforcement agencies,” the IT Department said.

Ten persons were today sentenced to life imprisonment for killing of a father-son duo by a group of 32 people over a land dispute in 2014.

District and Session Judge Hemant Deshpande sentenced 10 persons in jail for life while acquitting 22 others giving benefit of doubt.

Those sentenced include Mahadev Gahininath Bahir, Sukhadev, Shahaji Raghunath Bahir, Malhari Kailas Bahir, Dada Kisan Bahir, Rajendra Mahadev Bahir, Raghunath Sahebrao Bahir, Kailas Tatya Bahir, Somnath Uddhav Bahir and Sandip Ganpat Bahir.

Asaram Yashwant Bahir (58) and his son Nitin (24) were attacked by a mob of 32 people due to land disputes in 2014. They both died in the attack. Fourteen witnesses were examined in this case.