Parmesh jain

IMA Multi-Crore Fraud Case:Karnataka SIT arrests,Senior IAS Officer,Bengaluru Urban DC,BM Vijay Shankar on bribery charges in IMA Ponzi Scam Case :
In a major development in the IMA Ponzi scheme,the Special Investigative team (SIT) headed by DIG,DR.BR.Ravikanthe Gowda under the supervision of DCP Crime,Girish S with his 11 Member team on Monday has arrested Deputy Commissioner,(Urban)BM Vijayshankar in Bengaluru in connection with the scam that has duped over 40,000 people of their money.”
The special investigation team,probing  into the IMA Multi-Crore Fraud scam,has  arrested Senior IAS officer BM Vijay Shankar who is Bengaluru Deputy Commissioner (Urban) and District Magistrate,Bengaluru Urban,for his alleged role in the scam.
Deputy Commissioner of Bengaluru urban district BM Vijay Shankar was arrested on Monday in connection with the I Monetary Advisory case on the charges of receiving bribe of Rs.1.5 crore from Mansoor Khan the founder of the IMA company.
The Indian Administrative Services officer allegedly took a bribe in exchange of a favourable report after the Reserve Bank of India had asked the state government to investigate the firm’s business.So far,Five people which includes two government officials,a nominated corporator,BDA Executive Engineer,and a village accountant along with 13 IMA Directors so till now in last 25 days the SIT sleuths have arrested more than eighteen people involved in this Multi-Crore Fraud IMA Ponzi Scam and has seized IMA properties gold and other valuables worth more than 250 Crores after conducting continuously search on IMA companies and its other Establishments as Frontline Pharmas in various places across city and has seized medicines and other items in the raid.
BM Vijayshankar took charge as the Bengaluru DC Urban in July last year and he is the second senior government official and bureaucrat being arrested in connection with the involvement in the IMA Ponzi Scam case.The earlier arrested government official was assistant commissioner bengaluru north LC Nagaraj. 
Senior SIT officer said,On Monday morning, the SIT sleuths brought Deputy commissioner BM Vijay Shankar in for questioning and arrested him later in the evening.The investigators also searched his home.During investigation,it was revealed that Vijay Shankar obtained Rs 1.5 Crore through a village accountant named Manjunath.Vijay Shankar was given the money in exchange for a clearance certificate to IMA,we have arrested him for his involvement in the scam and being a part of the Conspiracy to help IMA.We will produced the accused tomorrow to the court before the magistrate and we will take him into custody for further investigation he said.
On July 6th, the investigating team had arrested Bengaluru North Assistant Commissioner LC Nagaraj and the village accountant, Manjunath, for allegedly taking a bribe of about Rs.4.5 Crore from IMA’s founder Mohammed Mansoor Khan.Nagaraj was reportedly looking into the company after Reserve Bank of India highlighted irregularities.
Nagaraj had issued a public notice against IMA in March this year,However,without probing the irregularities,a clearance certificate was given to RBI allegedly stating that no complaints were received against IMA.Shankar signed off on the clearance certificate.Nagaraj had taken Rs 4.5 crore bribe from Mansoor Khan and 1.5 Crore was given to Shankar.
The Enforcement Directorate,which is also looking into the case,on June 28,issued a notice to Karnataka Minister, BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan to appear before it.The agency also questioned Khan as he had sold his property to the IMA founder.
The Enforcement Directorate had recently lodged a criminal case of money laundering against the IMA Group of Companies and its promoter and managing director Mohammed Mansoor Khan.He has been accused of running a ponzi scheme in Karnataka that has allegedly duped more than 40,000 people of about Rs 2,000 crore.People from Bengaluru,Mysuru,Hyderabad,New Delhi, and Tamil Nadu are said to have invested into the company.
A nominated corporator Syed Mujahid and a Bangalore Development Authority officer identified as Kumar were earlier arrested in connection with the fraud. 
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is probing the case simultaneously, had recently questioned Karnataka minority welfare minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan as he had sold his property in the city to Mansoor Khan.
The ED which has registered a money laundering case in the scam in which thousands of depositors are said to have been duped, had attached assets worth Rs 209 crore,including 20 immovable properties and bank deposits, in connection with the case.
The BJP has demanded a CBI inquiry into the case. The ED had filed the money laundering case against the IMA group of companies and Mohammed Mansoor Khan after reports emerged that he has gone underground fearing investments worth crores of about 40,000 investors have tanked.

Karnataka crisis While BJP claimed that the resignations were the result of an ongoing “power struggle” between former chief minister Siddaramaiah and incumbent HD Kumaraswamy, the grand old party alleged BJP’s hand behind the developments.

The rebel Congress MLAs, who have been camping in Mumbai’s Sofitel Hotel, on Sunday refused to withdraw their resignations and said they won’t attend the Congress Legislature Party meeting on Tuesday. Addressing the media outside the hotel, Congress legislator S T Somashekar said, “We all 13 legislators have resigned and ten are here. We all are together. There is no question of taking back the resignations. We will not attend the CLP meeting on Tuesday.”

Earlier on Sunday, Congress had issued a circular to all party MLAs in Karnataka calling CLP meeting on Tuesday. The circular also mentioned that strict action will be taken against MLAs on failing to attend the meeting.

After reaching Bengaluru airport, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy headed to Taj West End hotel where he held a meeting with top JD(S) and Congress leaders.

Meanwhile, the chartered plane that had flown 10 dissident MLAs of the Congress and the JD(S) flew from Karnataka to Mumbai Saturday night belongs to a company associated with Rajeev Chandrasekhar, a Rajya Sabha member of the BJP, company sources said on Sunday. “It is a charter operation and the aircraft is chartered regularly by various people,” a top official of the company told PTI requesting anonymity.

Mumbai Rains, Weather Forecast Today Live News Updates: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has also predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall in Konkan, Goa and north Madhya Maharashtra regions, including Mumbai, this week.

Mumbai received heavy rainfall this morning resulting in traffic jams across the city and suburbs while flight operations came to a brief halt at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. However, no flights were cancelled. The services were stopped at 9.12 am and later resumed at 9.31 am.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has also predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall in Konkan, Goa and north Madhya Maharashtra regions, including Mumbai, this week. The heavy downpour has been attributed to the cyclonic circulation persisting over south Gujarat and Maharashtra.

“Along with the cyclonic circulation, there is plenty of moisture that is getting pumped-in from the Arabian Sea. Collectively, this is causing heavy to very heavy rainfall over the region. This will continue over Konkan and Goa, north Madhya Maharashtra till July 11,” said Anupam Kashypai, head, weather department, IMD, Pune.

BJP preparing to form alternative govt, say leaders

Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy returned to Bengaluru Sunday night after a 10-day US trip and began holding a series of meetings from the airport itself with leaders of his party JD(S) and its ally Congress in a bid to rescue the coalition government.

The coalition was pushed to the brink Saturday after 13 Congress and JD(S) MLAs submitted their resignations to bring its number to 105, on par with the BJP, in the 224-member Assembly even as several other rebels are reported to be waiting to exit. The resignations of the 13 MLAs, at least 10 of whom have moved to a Mumbai hotel, are yet to be accepted by the Speaker.

In Delhi, BJP sources told that the party is prepared to form an alternative government but will wait for the decision of the Speaker on the resignations, after which it would make a formal move.

“We, in the BJP, are prepared for any eventuality. But we don’t want to rush, we want to watch things closely. We are waiting for decisions of the Speaker and the Governor,” BJP general secretary P Muralidhar Rao told The Indian Express. “Let things become clear, let there be no ambiguity,” he said.

In Bengaluru, among those who received Kumaraswamy at the airport was the chief of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Bengaluru Police, which is probing a ponzi scheme allegedly run by the IMA (I Monetary Advisory) Group of companies in which two government officials are among those arrested.

According to sources, one of the triggers for six Bengaluru MLAs of the JD(S) and Congress to feature among the rebels is a move by the SIT to arrest Assistant Commissioner for Revenue (Bangalore North), L C Nagaraj on July 5 for allegedly receiving a bribe of Rs 4.5 crore from the IMA Group.

The SIT’s preliminary investigations have revealed that at least 40,000 investors lost funds to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore through investments in the IMA Group, whose founder Mohammed Mansoor Khan is absconding.

Meanwhile, amid speculation that the Congress is likely to seek the appointment of veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge or Siddaramaiah as chief minister, Kumaraswamy’s brother H D Revanna and Congress leaders expressed hope of saving the coalition.

“We have held discussions and there has been nothing on a change of leadership,’’ Revanna said. Congress leader D K Shivakumar said he is not willing to consider a change of leader. “I am not willing to backstab Kumaraswamy by saying make someone else the CM — it is left to the party. I am willing to sacrifice my post to save the government,’’ he said.

“We are hopeful of resolving the situation, just wait and watch after the CM returns,’’ state Congress working president Eshwar Khandre said after meetings of Congress leaders with central observer K C Venugopal.

“Only 5-6 of the 13 rebel MLAs are keen to defect to the BJP. The others have other demands and are not keen to give up their seats if their demands can be met. The problem is that all the different interest groups have united now,” JD(S) sources said.

The coalition slipped into crisis after 12 MLAs went to Karnataka Speaker Ramesh Kumar’s office Saturday to submit their resignations. The Speaker, who was not present, has asked the MLAs to come back on Tuesday. “A total of 14 MLAs have resigned. They are from the Congress and JD(S). There is unhappiness about the coalition,’’ JD(S) leader H Vishwanath said after meeting the Governor later.

Vishwanath seemed to have accounted for the 12 MLAs, Soumya Reddy, who is the MLA-daughter of Congress MLA Ramalinga Reddy, and MLA Anand Singh who quit on July 1. Soumya was not among those who went to the Speaker’s office although her father was part of the 12-member group.

Congress leader in the Assembly Siddaramaiah, meanwhile, called for a meeting of the state legislature party Tuesday. A session of the Assembly is scheduled to begin on July 12, when the BJP is likely to seek a floor test.

In Delhi, the BJP leadership maintained that the party, which is the single-largest in the 224-member Assembly with 105 MLAs, is not responsible for the crisis. “It’s the Congress leaders’ foolishness that they blame the BJP for the current crisis. Ramalinga Reddy, one of the MLAs who resigned, is a senior party leader and a former Home Minister. Even Ramesh Jarkiholi is a multi-term legislator. If they have resigned from the party, it cannot be because of the BJP,” Muralidhar Rao said.

“It’s the failure of the Congress leadership, its move to go for an opportunistic alliance, and the internal crisis that have led to this situation,” he said.

According to the senior BJP leader, the current government “is going to fall, for sure”. “But we don’t want to rush to take other steps,” Rao said.

Yamuna Expressway accident: While the cause of the accident is unknown, it is alleged that the driver fell asleep on the wheel causing the bus to steer away from the highway.

Twenty-nine people died and 17 were injured after a bus fell into a drain on Yamuna Expressway in Agra early Monday morning. The bus was travelling from Lucknow to Delhi and was registered to Awadh depot. While the cause of the accident is unknown, it is alleged that the driver fell asleep on the wheel causing the bus to steer away from the highway.

The accident occurred at around 4.15 am near Etmadpur in Agra. It is alleged that the bus drifted from the road, crossed a barricade and fell into the drain approximately 40 feet below.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed condolences and has ordered a 3 member probe including the Transport Commissioner, IG Agra and Divisional Commissioner to prove the incident and submit a report in 24 hours. He also directed the authorities to provide all possible medical attention to the injured. Uttar Pradesh Roadways has also announced an ex-gratia amount of Rs 5 lakh to the kin of the deceased.

Karnataka MLAs Resign, Karnataka Political Crises Today Live News Updates: Fourteen MLAs have resigned from the Assembly till now. Karnataka Minister and Bidar North MLA Rahim Mahmood Khan has also threatened to quit.

In a fresh jolt to the Karnataka government, independent MLA Nagesh on Monday withdrew support to the wobbly Congress-JD(S) coalition in the state. Congress MLA from Bidar North, Rahim Mahmood Khan, on the other hand, threatened to resign from the Assembly, PTI reported. Meanwhile, Deputy CM Parameshwara is holding a meeting of the Congress leaders at his residence.

The coalition was pushed to the brink Saturday after 13 Congress and JD(S) MLAs submitted their resignations to bring its number to 105, on par with the BJP, in the 224-member Assembly even as several other rebels are reported to be waiting to exit. The resignations of the 13 MLAs, at least 10 of whom have moved to a Mumbai hotel, are yet to be accepted by the Speaker.

The JD(S)-Congress coalition’s total strength after Nagesh withdrawing his support, is 117 (Congress-78, JD(S)-37, BSP-1 and Independents-1), besides the Speaker. The BJP has 105 MLAs in the House, where the half-way mark is 113. If the resignations of the MLAs are accepted, the coalition’s tally will be reduced to 104. The Speaker also has a vote.

The rebel Congress MLAs, who have been camping in Mumbai’s Sofitel Hotel, on Sunday refused to withdraw their resignations and said they won’t attend the Congress Legislature Party meeting on Tuesday. Addressing the media outside the hotel, Congress legislator S T Somashekar said, “We all 13 legislators have resigned and ten are here. We all are together. There is no question of taking back the resignations. We will not attend the CLP meeting on Tuesday.”

Earlier on Sunday, Congress had issued a circular to all party MLAs in Karnataka calling CLP meeting on Tuesday. The circular also mentioned that strict action will be taken against MLAs on failing to attend the meeting.

After reaching Bengaluru airport, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy headed to Taj West End hotel where he held a meeting with top JD(S) and Congress leaders.

India received 6 per cent less rainfall than the 50-year average in the week ended on July 3, data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) showed

India monsoon: Monsoon rains are crucial for farm output and economic growth
NEW DELHI: 

The country’s monsoon rains in the week ending on Wednesday were below average for the fifth time in a row, although the deficit was the lowest since the start of the season, after it revived in central and western regions.

Monsoon rains are crucial for farm output and economic growth, as about 55 per cent of India’s arable land is rain-fed, and agriculture forms about 15 per cent of a $2.5-trillion economy that is the third biggest in Asia.

India received 6 per cent less rainfall than the 50-year average in the week ended on July 3, data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) showed.

Soybean – and cotton-growing central regions received 43 per cent more rainfall in the week, while the rubber- and tea-growing areas in Kerala got 87 per cent lower rainfall.

India has received rain that is 28 per cent less than average since the monsoon season began on June 1.

Madhya Pradesh was one of the poorest-performing big states in a NITI Aayog report on medical infrastructure and facilities. The state ranked 18, with only Odisha, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh faring worse

One of the patients was Sangeeta who had suffered a fracture in her right leg
INDORE, MADHYA PRADESH: 

In a shocking case of apathy, a male and female patient were forced to share a stretcher while being wheeled to the X-Ray room at the Maharaja Yeshwantrao Hospital in Indore, the largest state-run hospital in Madhya Pradesh.

One of the patients was Sangeeta, who had suffered a fracture in her right leg and had been admitted 12 days ago.

“My wife Sangeeta was admitted to orthopedic ward. Citing shortage of stretcher, she was taken for some medical examination with a male patient. We were helpless as we wanted to get our patient treated due to which we became ready to allow her and the male patient on the same bed,” her husband, Dharmendra, said.

When asked why there were two patients on one stretcher, Sangeeta said it was the doctor’s order. She also admitted that the crowded stretcher is inconvenient.

After a video of the incident went viral, the Hospital’s medical superintendent Dr PS Thakur served show cause notice to on-duty staff, including doctors, nurses and ward boys, and promised strict action. Dr Thakur also admitted there was a shortage of stretchers and other facilities.

Sangeeta’s husband also claimed that the doctor on the duty demanded they visit him only during a given time, as he would not examine patients after close of business hours.

Madhya Pradesh was one of the poorest-performing big states in a report on medical infrastructure and facilities recently released by the NITI Aayog. The state ranked 18, with only Odisha, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh faring worse.

Last week an attendant at a government medical college in Jabalpur dragged a patient to the X-ray room on a bedsheet.

On June 15, an elderly man spent a whole night inside the mortuary of a government hospital in the town of Bina after being declared dead. When his body was taken out the following day for a post-mortem, he was found to be alive and breathing. He died later the same day.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s tweet comes a day after Rahul Gandhi posted a long letter making public a decision he had conveyed to Congress leaders last month

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted to her brother Rahul Gandhi on his move to resign
NEW DELHI: 

HIGHLIGHTS

1. Rahul Gandhi announced his resignation in a public letter
2. He called for a “radical transformation” in the Congress
3. “Deepest respect for your decision,” Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted today

A day after Rahul Gandhi announced his resignation as Congress president in a public letter owning responsibility for the party’s national election defeat, his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted: “Few have the courage that you do”.

Rahul Gandhi, 49, posted a long letter on Wednesday making public a decision he had conveyed to Congress leaders last month and asserting that he had resigned as “accountability is critical” for the future growth of the Congress.

“Few have the courage that you do @rahulgandhi. Deepest respect for your decision,” wrote Priyanka Gandhi, who is two years younger to her brother and a Congress leader.

In his letter, Rahul Gandhi had said: “It is a habit in India that the powerful cling to power, no one sacrifices power. But we will not defeat our opponents without sacrificing the desire for power and fighting a deeper ideological battle.”

Calling for “radical transformation” in the Congress, he added: “Rebuilding the party requires hard decisions and numerous people will have to be made accountable for the failure of 2019. It would be unjust to hold others accountable but ignore my own responsibility as president of the party.”

His words indicated he was determined to relinquish his family’s hold on the Congress, which has been mostly headed by generations of leaders from the Nehru-Gandhi family in its 133-year-old history. “Most of my colleagues suggested that I nominate the next Congress president. While it is important for someone new to lead the party, it would not be correct for me to select that person,” wrote Rahul Gandhi.

Rahul Gandhi, who took over the top post from his mother Sonia Gandhi in 2017, had first told party leaders about his decision to quit at a meeting of the Congress Working Committee on May 25, just days after the second straight election rout for the party compared to a spectacular haul for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP.

Priyanka Gandhi as well as Sonia Gandhi had supported him; Priyanka Gandhi, who joined politics in January as Congress general secretary, had even questioned how strongly other leaders had supported her brother’s campaign.

The Congress chief’s defeat in his traditional constituency of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, which reduced the party to just one in the 80-seat state, also cut deep. Rahul Gandhi made it to parliament only because of his win in the second constituency he contested this time, Kerala’s Wayanad. Priyanka Gandhi had campaigned in Amethi while her brother focused on rallies in other parts of the country.

As the Congress stares at the task of choosing a new leader, several leaders have urged Rahul Gandhi to reconsider his decision, insisting that he would always be their chief.