The Suluvadi prasadam poisoning case that killed 17 persons has brought the heat on other non-Muzrai profitable temples in the region.

  The Suluvadi prasadam poisoning case that killed 17 persons has brought the heat on other non-Muzrai profitable temples in the region. These temples have a large following of devotees and are rich in resources. Hitherto, Chamarajanagar district administration and authorities had stayed away from temple affairs considering the sensitivity of the matter. 

In the Suluvadi case at the Kichuguthu Maaramma Temple, differences arose between temple trustees over the construction of a gopuram, and the desire to take control of its resources said to be worth Rs 1.5 crore. The administration is hence now gathering information on the tussle and the goings-on in the temple. Chamarajanagar Deputy Commissioner B B Cauvery said that the tahsildars have been told to keep a watch and gather information of resources of rich non-Muzari temples.

Revenue officials are focusing on Chikkalur where lakhs of devotees of saint Siddappaji congregate for five days during a jatra (fair). It attracts devotees around the year. According to sources, they will keep a watch and gather information on Kurubana Kattee that follows the Neelaragar tradition. Doddammatheye, Mariyamma, Kannikaparameshwari, Maradi Gudda, Lord Ganesha (MM Hills Road) temples and many others are also under the scanner.

The district administration is likely to collect information of  “inside” stories of trustees of temples, its resources and expenditure. Any kind of confrontation will be avoided, so as to avoid harming innocent devotees or the general public. The DC said that a list of such temples will be prepared and a watch kept on them. Admitting that there are disputes among temple committees, the DC said a “good number” of cases are pending over taking control of temple administrations.

Minister to visit temple
Muzrai Minister Rajshekar Patil will visit the Maaramma temple in Suluvadi on Saturday. The government has decided to take over the temple as poisoning of prasadam here and the death of 17 persons echoed in the winter session of the Legislative Assembly as also in the Parliament. There is also demand from the public to take over the temple.  Chamarajanagar police have arrested for persons, including Sallur mutt junior pontiff Immadi Mahadevaswamy. Ambika, Madesha and Doddaiah are the others in judicial custody.

Agencies

Nasheman News : A Delhi court on Saturday sent British national Christian James Michel, the middleman in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case, to judicial custody.

Michel, who was with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) since December 22, was produced before Special Judge Arvind Kumar around 2 p.m. who sent him to judicial custody. 

The ED sought his judicial custody in connection with its probe into a money laundering case.

In the court, ED counsel D.P. Singh said the audit reports submitted during the trial of the Italian court appeared to be “factually incorrect” and hence it was required to to be seen whether the Italian court had based its decision on the same audit report.

Singh also informed the court that the investigation into Michel’s role had been fruitful. 

“We have investigated how hawala cash circulated through multiple bank accounts,” he said, adding that the agency had identified Michel’s properties purchased out of the proceeds of crime. 

“During questioning, Michel has given contradictory answers to various questions and he was not able to explain the contradictions,” Singh said. 

The ED counsel also said that Michel had received euro 24.25 million and pound 16,096,245 from the AgustaWestland deal. 

“During his interrogation, it was observed that he received money for other defence deals,” Singh said. 

Michel was extradited to India on December 4 from the United Arab Emirates and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) got his custody till December 19. 

Michel was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on December 22 and sent to a seven-day ED custody over money laundering charges by a court here. The court on December 29 again sent him to another seven-day ED custody. 

Michel was earlier lodged in the Tihar Jail here in a related CBI case after the expiry of his custody with the CBI. He was questioned by the CBI till December 19. 

Michel is one of the three middlemen being investigated by the CBI and the ED in the VVIP chopper deal.

In January last year, the ED lodged a request with the UAE authorities seeking extradition of Michel. Both the ED and the CBI had filed charge-sheets in bribery cases in Indian courts and non-bailable warrants were issued against the accused.

In its chargesheet, the CBI named former Indian Air Force chief S.P. Tyagi, his cousin Sanjeev Tyagi alias Julie, then IAF Vice Chief J.S. Gujral and advocate Gautam Khaitan as the four Indians involved in the scam.

Others named in the chargesheet included Giuseppe Orsi, the former chief of Italian defence and aerospace major Finmeccanica, and Bruno Spagnolini, former CEO of AgustaWestland, apart from middlemen Michel, Haschke and Gerosa.

Nashean News : Following sexual harassment allegations in November 2018 and an indefinite period of leave, Sotheby’s Managing Director for India Gaurav Bhatia has stepped down from the post, an official statement said on Saturday.

Confirming the news, Bhatia in a statement said he has decided to move on from Sotheby’s and wished the company luck for their future endeavours. 

“After two enriching years and the stellar opportunity to launch Sotheby’s inaugural auction in Mumbai, I have decided to move on. It has been a pleasure working with the great team we have built, and I will enjoy watching them continue to build Sotheby’s future in India. I wish them the very best,” he said. 

Thanking and appreciating Bhatia, the auction house in a statement said: “Sotheby’s Managing Director of India, Gaurav Bhatia, resigned on December 20, 2018, after two years with the company, during which time he launched the inaugural Mumbai auction. We appreciate and thank him for his service.”

According to complaints posted on Instagram in November 2018, Bhatia touched the victims inappropriately and forcibly tried to kiss them. 

Following the complaints, Bhatia went on an indefinite leave from his position ahead of the auction house’s inaugural sale in Mumbai.

 State Congress leaders on Friday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for calling the farm loan waiver a “joke” and claiming that it has only benefited 800 farmers. KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao accused the PM of making false statements. 

Rao told reporters that Modi has not taken any pro-farmer initiatives and has no moral right to question the Karnataka government’s scheme. The PM should visit the state for two hours to get correct information about the farm loan waiver scheme being implemented in Karnataka, instead of trying to mislead people with false statements, he said.

Asked about differences among coalition partners over appointments to boards and corporations, the KPCC president said there are minor issues which will be resolved through discussions. The KPCC president advised senior JD(S) leader and PWD Minister H D Revanna not to discuss these intra-coalition issues in public.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on Friday vented his anger at a group of BJP workers after they blocked his convoy to protest his comments against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Mr Naidu was in East Godavari district for the ‘Janmabhoomi maa vooru’ event in Kakinada when BJP leaders, including some corporators, raised slogans against the chief minister saying ‘CM go back’.

“You will get beaten up. Don’t invite unnecessary trouble. You will be finished. Do you support the injustice meted out to AP? If you go on the streets, people will teach you a lesson,” he said.

Mr Naidu has been constantly criticising PM Modi and the BJP, accusing them of betraying the people of Andhra Pradesh by not granting special status to the state.

On Tuesday, Mr Naidu had claimed that he bowed down to satisfy the ego of Prime Minister Modi for getting things done for his state, yet the central government did not cooperate in the last four years.

Chandrababu Naidu’s party, TDP, walked out of the NDA alliance in March last year, claiming that the promises made by the centre during the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh were not kept. 

Since then he has constantly flayed the central government over denial of Special Category Status or SCS to the state and ‘failure’ to implement provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 and accused the Prime Minister of seeking to create a wedge between the two Telugu states

PM Modi was scheduled to visit the state on January 6 but subsequently postponed his visit to later this month.

Nasheman News : Six persons, including five students, were killed on Saturday when a school bus skidded off the road and rolled into a gorge in Himachal Pradesh’s Sirmaur district, an official said.

The victims were going to DAV Public School when the accident happened near Renukaji, a famous Hindu shrine about 40 km from district headquarter Nahan and 150 km from the state capital.

The bus driver was also killed while seven-eight students were injured and are hospitalised, Deputy Commissioner Lalit Jain told IANS over phone.

Eyewitnesses said the administration had a tough time extricating the victims from the badly-mangled bus.

Prima facie the accident happened due to negligence of the bus driver, the police said.

Nasheman News : The BJP on Saturday warned the Kerala government to be ready to face the “constitutional consequences” for the violence unleashed against its workers and leaders in the state over the Sabarimala issue.

“We advise, warn and caution the Chief Minister to stop this violence. failing which the CPI-M government will have to face constitutional consequences,” Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesman G.V.L. Narasimha Rao said here.

Alleging that BJP activists and leaders were being targeted by the Kerala government under the garb of implementing the Supreme Court judgment permitting entry of all women to the Sabarimala temple, Rao accused Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of giving a free hand to CPI-M workers to perpetuate violence against BJP supporters.

Rao contested the Chief Minister’s claim that a BJP worker at the Sabarimala temple died of cardiac failure, insisting that he passed away due to injuries caused by stones pelted by CPI-M activists.