Mumbai: A court here has granted bail to Indian Navy officer Braham Sharma, arrested for alleged involvement in trafficking people to South Korea on forged documents, noting that he has been under detention since June 2024 and the trial is yet to commence.

Police had claimed that Lieutenant Commander Sharma was the mastermind of a gang that allegedly sent 8 to 10 people to the East Asian country using bogus papers and charged Rs 10 lakh per case.

Sharma’s bail was allowed by additional sessions judge V M Pathade on December 13. A detailed order was available on Tuesday.

Sharma, in his bail application, had claimed he was innocent and was falsely implicated in the crime.

The accused stated that he was not a beneficiary of the crime money.

The investigation culminated in filing a charge-sheet and hence his further detention is unwarranted, Sharma’s plea said and pointed out that a co-accused has been granted bail.

The prosecution opposed the bail contending that Sharma played a major role in committing the crime, unbecoming of a Naval officer.

Police have alleged that Sharma’s associate and co-accused Vipin Dagar, also a Navy officer, was found in possession of 14 Indian passports in the name of different persons, a stamp machine (purchased from Vishakhapatnam to make fake stamps), 108 rubber stamps of distinct establishments, and a rubber sheet used for creating forged and fabricated documents to be used as genuine for obtaining passport/visa.

Sharma had collected such documents through another co-accused and sent them to Dagar.

He used to receive money in bank accounts operated by his mother and grandmother, the police said.

The prosecution argued that sufficient material was collected by the investigating agency, disclosing Sharma’s active participation in the entire activities leading to the commission of the offences.

The court stated that the charge sheet in the case was filed by police.

Sharma has been under detention since June 29, 2024, and the other co-accused persons were granted bail, the court stated.

“The trial is yet to commence, there is no likelihood of the trial being concluded in the near future, ” the court observed while allowing bail for Sharma.

Police had said earlier that Vipin Dagar prepared forged documents and forwarded them to the Korean consulate. He was taking instructions from the mastermind Braham Sharma, who was arrested from Lonavala.

The MRA police station in Mumbai had registered a case against five persons for cheating and forgery under the Indian Penal Code, and the Passport Act.

New Delhi: The BJP is inquiring into the absence of its nearly 20 MPs from the Lok Sabha during the voting on Tuesday on the introduction of the bill for simultaneous elections.

As the party had issued a whip asking all its members to be present in the House, the absence of so many MPs has irked its leadership, sources said. However, they added that a number of MPs had informed in advance about their absence due to various personal and work-related reasons.

“We are definitely looking into the reasons behind their absence. Quite a few had genuine reasons,” a senior leader said.

Some MPs, including Union minister C R Patil, were engaged with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public event in Rajasthan, the sources said.

Four to five MPs from BJP allies were also not present during the voting, they said, adding that this is also being looked into.

Two bills that lay down the mechanism to hold simultaneous elections were introduced in the Lok Sabha after a fiery 90-minute debate on Tuesday.

The opposition alleged that the move was “dictatorial” and impinged on states’ powers even as Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal refuted such concerns.

The Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Meghwal after a division of votes. As many as 269 members voted in favour of the Bill and 198 against it.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra

New Delhi: In a swipe at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday said throwing youths into the war zone in Israel for “employment” is not an achievement but a matter of shame.

Her remarks came after Adityanath took a veiled jibe at Priyanka Gandhi for carrying a handbag to Parliament that had ‘Palestine’ emblazoned on it.

“Yesterday, a Congress leader was seen walking around Parliament carrying a Palestine bag, while we are sending our youth to Israel for opportunities.

“So far, more than 5,600 youth from Uttar Pradesh have gone to Israel for construction work. Every youth gets free food and accommodation besides a monthly salary of Rs 1.5 lakh there. There is also full guarantee of safety,” Adityanath said on the second day of the Winter Session of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.

Hitting back at Adityanath, Priyanka Gandhi said those who sent Uttar Pradesh’s youths to war-torn Israel instead of providing them employment are calling it their achievement.

“They are neither aware of the unemployment situation in the state nor do they understand the pain of those youths and their families,” she said.

According to reports, the youths who have gone to work in Israel are saving their lives by hiding in bunkers and the companies are exploiting them, she said in a post in Hindi.

“Their families are always scared. Our promising youths are forced to risk their lives for employment because you cannot provide employment,” Priyanka Gandhi said. “Throwing our youths into the war zone for employment is not something to pat on the back but a matter of shame.”

In his remarks, Adityanath said, “Recently, the ambassador of Israel visited Uttar Pradesh and said they want more youths from the state, as they are doing good work there. The world is now acknowledging the skills of our youths. When these youths send money home, they contribute to the development of the state. We should congratulate them.”

On Tuesday, Congress’ Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi was seen carrying a cream-coloured handbag to Parliament on which it was written “Bangladesh Ke Hindu Aur Isaiyon Ke Saath Khade Ho” (stand with the Hindus and Christians of Bangladesh).

Several Congress MPs led by Priyanka Gandhi also staged a protest on the Parliament premises demanding justice for Hindus and Christians facing atrocities in Bangladesh.

This came a day after she expressed solidarity with the people of Palestine by carrying a handbag with ‘Palestine’ emblazoned on it.

Belagavi (Karnataka): The Karnataka Assembly on Tuesday passed the second Instalment of supplementary estimate for the current fiscal aggregating to Rs 5,317.83 crore.

The supplementary estimate includes Rs16.28 crore of ‘charged expenditure and voted expenditure of Rs 5,301.55 crore’.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who holds the finance portfolio, had moved the bill.

The government said this amount will be met from revenue receipts of state and if necessary through reprioritisation of expenditure and probable savings in expenditure and borrowings.

This estimates relates to additional, supplementary grants and appropriation required during the year and Accounting adjustments.

BSP chief Mayawati

Lucknow : BSP chief Mayawati on Wednesday said the Uttar Pradesh government should start some schemes which can provide relief to people suffering from poverty, unemployment and inflation.

The schemes can be announced in the Winter session of the state assembly which started on Tuesday, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said.

“In the interest of the people suffering from poverty, unemployment and inflation in UP, the government should also start some schemes in the ongoing assembly session here which can provide some relief to them

The BSP has only one member in the 403-member assembly.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi (PTI)

New Delhi : Slamming the Modi government, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said prioritising crony businesses over play-fair ones leads to weakened manufacturing sector, depreciating currency, record high trade deficits, high interest rates, falling consumption and soaring inflation.

Tagging a media report which said that trade deficit and imports are at an all-time high, Gandhi hit out at the government.

“What happens when a government prioritises crony businesses over play-fair businesses?” Gandhi said.

“Result: Weakened manufacturing sector, depreciating currency, record high trade deficits, high interest rates, falling consumption and soaring inflation,” he said in a post on X.

After recording double-digit growth in October, India’s exports in November contracted by 4.85 per cent year-on-year to USD 32.11 billion, while the trade deficit widened to an all-time high of USD 37.84 billion due to record surge in gold imports.

According to the commerce ministry data, imports rose by 27 per cent year-on-year to a record USD 69.95 billion in November due to high inbound shipments of vegetable oil, fertiliser, and silver.

Gold imports during the month under review soared to an all-time high of USD 14.8 billion as against USD 3.5 billion in November 2023.

Cumulatively, during April-November this fiscal, exports increased by 2.17 per cent to USD 284.31 billion and imports by 8.35 per cent to USD 486.73 billion.

Trade deficit, the difference between imports and exports, during April-November widened to USD 202.42 billion from USD 170.98 billion during April-November 2023.