All India Mahila Empowerment Party’s (MEP) President Dr. Nowhera Shaik paid tributes to Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev on Martyrs Day, with a vow to empower women of this country, and carry forward their legacy.

Paying her tributes, Dr. Nowhera Shaik said that it was people like these, who relinquished everything for the freedom of our country.

She praised the soldiers at the borders, who she compared to the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the country.

The Kerala opposition slammed the Pinarayi Vijayan government in the Assembly on Monday over “losing control” over the state police as they have “become a bunch of unruly hooligans and turned rabid”.

Seeking leave for an adjournment motion on this topic, former Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan presented cases that took place in the past two weeks involving unruly police officer.

“Earlier this month, in Alappuzha, two civilians were killed by a police vehicle when officers were chasing a traffic violator. In another incident, a police officer punched a retired railway official when he had stopped his car for the Kerala Governor to pass through. Then, a video went viral on social media which showed a police officer hurling abuses,” said Radhakrishnan.

He added that Vijayan and the state police chief Loknath Behera were purposely absent from the House proceedings so that Minister for Culture A.K. Balan was saddled with the responsibility for replying on behalf of the government.

Balan said: “Yes we know of what has happened and it will take time as some officials are still under the hangover of the Congress-led UDF rule.

“While we have suspended five police officers, it will not end with that… No erring officials will get any protection.”

Unhappy with the reply, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala pointed out that the people’s police have now turned to be people’s tormentors.

“Vijayan appears to have lost control of the police… For the minister to reply, just reading out the version of the police won’t help,” Chennithala said before leading the opposition out of the House.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the “Big Boss who likes to spy” and accused him of recording audio, video and tracking user location through GPS from his mobile app.

“Modi’s NaMo App secretly records audio, video, contacts of your friends and family and even tracks your location via GPS (Geo-positioning System). He’s the Big Boss who likes to spy on Indians,” Gandhi tweeted.

“Now he wants data on our children. 13 lakh NCC (National Cadet Core) cadets are being forced to download the app,” he said, urging the people to delete the Namo App from their smartphones.

The Congress chief’s remarks comes after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) earlier on Monday accused him of sharing users data with a Singapore-based firm.

Earlier, the BJP had accused the Congress of compromising national security by roping in London-based political data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica to run its 2019 election campaign. The firm is allegedly involved in social media data manipulation.

National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Kochi on Saturday sentenced woman ISIS recruiter, Yasmin Mohammed Zahid, to seven years rigorous imprisonment in Kerala’s ISIS case of missing persons who travelled to Afghanistan.

Zahid was arrested from the New Delhi International Airport on July 30, 2016 when she was trying to leave for Kabul along with her minor child.

According to NIA, she was planning to join her co-conspirator and the first accused Abdul Rashid in the territory under the control of ISIS in Afghanistan.

In a major revelation in 2016, Yasmin had informed that 22 Keralites, including six women and three children had left India and had reached the bastion of ISIS terror operations in Afghanistan.

Yasmin told interrogators that she had got married to one Abdul Rashid (30) in May in a nikah-ceremony solemnised over phone in which co-accused Shihas acted as the ‘wali’ (guardian) of the bride, while other co-accused Ashfak and Yahya acted as witnesses.

She also claimed that Rashid had radicalised nearly 40 youths from Kerala.

Last year, the NIA had told an Ernakulam court that Zahid had participated in religious classes conducted by Abdul Rashid and his wife Ayisha in which the main topic was ‘Hijra’, ‘Jihad’ and ISIS.

First accused Abdul Rashid used to send money to the account of Zahid and she used to collect the money using the ATM card. Using that fund Zahid arranged visa and air tickets for Kabul.

Hailing from Saudi Arabia, Yasmin came to Kerala five years ago with her husband Syed Ahmad. She took a job at Peace International School in Malappuram.

A special CBI court in Ranchi today sentenced RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav to 7 years in prison in Dumka treasury case. The case is related to fraudulent withdrawals of Rs 3.13 crore from December 1995 to January 1996 from the Dumka treasury, was completed on March 5.

Lalu Prasad Yadav has been serving a jail term in Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Central Jail since December last year after his conviction in two other fodder scam cases. He was shifted to Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences
(RIMS)on Wednesday after he complained of chest pain.

Earlier in the week, Lalu Prasad Yadav’s wife Rabri Devi, said,” We will follow Court’s order & won’t leave Bihar & go anywhere else however we are also going to appeal in the Court.”

Lalu Yadav was first convicted in a fodder scam case in 2013 and was awarded five years’ imprisonment while the conviction in the second case came in December last year.

The BJP has made a significant gain of 11 additional seats while the Congress made an overall loss of four in the biennial elections to 58 Rajya Sabha seats, consolidating the saffron party’s position in the House and leaving its main rival far behind.

Its 28 candidates emerged victorious in the polls held yesterday against 17 retiring members, while the Congress won only 10 seats while 14 of its members will retire next week.

A calculation of tallies shows that the BJP’s strength in the 245-member House will go from the existing 58 to 69 and that of the Congress will fall from 54 to 50 when the new MPs take oath next week.

However, a majority in the Council of States will continue to elude the BJP-led NDA.

It recently suffered a setback when the Telugu Desam Party, its ally of four years, decided to break ties. The TDP has six members in the House.

However, NDA managers are upbeat following the loss in numbers of most vocal opposition parties like the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, which won only one seat while its six members are retiring.

BJP sources said treasury benches will now be more comfortably placed in the House as regional parties like the AIADMK, TRS, which has gained three more seats, YSR Congress and the BJD, all of whom are outside the NDA, have been more open to supporting the government’s legislative agenda.

The Modi government’s bills have often been stalled in the House, where it has lacked a majority, by a united opposition after it managed to pass them in the Lok Sabha, where it enjoys a strong majority.

BJP’s winning spree in state Assembly polls has resulted in a steady rise in its numbers in the House, whose members are elected by assemblies, while the loss of power of the Congress in many states has led to a fall in its numerical strength.

The CBI has filed a case against Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd (DCHL)and its Chairman T. Venkatram Reddy for allegedly causing a wrongful loss of Rs 30.54 crore to United India Insurance Co Ltd (UIIC), an official said on Friday.

The FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday also named Mumbai-based private firms CARE Rating Ltd and Infrastructure Development Finance Co Ltd and two former officials of UIIC.

The UIIC officials — Deputy General Manager A. Balasubramanian and Chief Manager K.L. Kunjilwar — made suspicious investments in the “privately placed short term unsecured redeemable non-convertible debentures issued by DCHL in 2011 in violation of the regulations”.

Balasubramanian and Kunjilwar entered into a criminal conspiracy at Chennai and other places to cheat UIIC and abused their official position as public servants by making the investments which was not repaid by DCHL, causing loss of Rs 30,54,25,350, said the CBI FIR.

“It is revealed that UIIC was investing the premium collected from the policy holders during the ordinary course of business in the form of shares, debentures, commercial papers, term loan etc in the public and private sector companies as per the investment policy guidelines based on the rules of Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA),” the FIR said.

These investments are based on the rating made by Security and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) approved rating agency CARE Rating Ltd, it said.

The FIR said the overall borrowing powers of DCHL was increased from Rs 700 crore to Rs 1,000 crore on the Board of Directors’ annual general meeting held on September 29, 2007 and from Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 5,000 crore in a similar meeting on February 28, 2013.

“As on the date of issue of debentures, DCHL’s total borrowings was Rs 3,755.70 crore.”

According to the FIR, in the pursuance of the criminal conspiracy between July to October 2011, three office notes were put up by Kunjilwar for investment of Rs 10 crore each in 11.25 per cent unsecured non convertible debentures issued by DCHL for purchase of short term unsecured debentures with 364 days maturity without analyzing the proposal in detail and the same was approved by Balasubramanian.

“The investments were made in three different occasions deliberately in order to by-pass the investment committee of UIIC. Thus UIIC invested Rs 30 crore in DCHL. UIIC relied on the rating awarded by CARE Ratings Ltd.

“At the time of investment in 2011, the rating awarded by CARE Rating Ltd was PR1+ and at the time of redemption in 2012, the rating was drastically downgraded to D within a short span of one year.

“On the date of maturity in 2012, the principal amount with interest was not repaid by DCHL. DCHL had issued three cheques of Rs 10 crore each but when presented through encashment, they were dishonoured. Regarding which UIIC lodged a complaint against DCHL which is peding before court,” the FIR said.

(IANS)