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An Indian naval Chetak helicopter crashed at the INS Rajali Naval Air Base at Arakkonam in Tamil Nadu on Monday morning, officials said.
According to police and naval officials, three persons who were on board were safe.
The helicopter was carrying out a dry winching dual sortie when the incident happened about 70 km from here.
The helicopter suffered damage to its rotors. A probe has been ordered.
IANS
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday promised all help to Kalpana Tiwari, the widow of Apple executive Vivek Tiwari who was shot dead by a police constable for allegedly not stopping when asked to do so on Saturday.
At the meeting, the Chief Minister assured all help to the bereaved family and said that justice will be done at all costs.
He also told the family that the conduct of the killer police constable, Prashant Chowdhary, was unacceptable and he had been sacked and booked for murder.
At the meeting, which took place in a sombre atmosphere, an official told IANS that the distraught widow broke down many times and wondered aloud how she would bring up her daughters in the absence of her husband.
Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma had taken Kalpana Tiwari and her two daughters – Shanu and Shivi. She was also accompanied by her brother Vishnu Tiwari.
The Chief Minister also spoke briefly to the two daughters of Vivek Tiwari.
Dinesh Sharma met Kalpana Tiwari and other family members of the deceased late on Sunday and coordinated a teleconference between them and the Chief Minister.
Clearly cornered by the horrific incident, senior officials and political leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party swung into action late at night on Sunday and ensured that the Chief Minister met the family the first thing on Monday.
Adityanath has already announced Rs 25 lakh in financial assistance to the family and a government job for Kalpana Tiwari with the Lucknow Municipal Corporation.
A CCTV footage that surfaced on Monday also punctured the claims of the accused policemen that they opened fire at the 38-year-old when he refused to stop the car, drove away at high speed and tried to run them over.
The footage, a police official privy to the probe ordered by the government said, showed the SUV being driven at normal speed and halting about 500 meters from where the man on the wheel was shot and then bumping into a pillar of the under pass.
IANS
New Delhi The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Monday it has attached foreign properties of fugitive diamond jeweller Nirav Modi worth Rs 637 crore in its ongoing investigation into the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud.
A senior ED official said that the financial probe agency has been working in close coordination with other foreign agencies in order to identify and attach foreign properties of Nirav Modi kept secret at various international locations.
The attached properties were in the form of jewellery, bank accounts and immovable properties.
The official also said that it has brought diamond jewellery worth Rs 22.69 crore back to India from Hong Kong.
According to the ED, a stock of jewellery was exported to Hong Kong after a case was registered against Nirav Modi by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in January.
This was kept in a vault of a private company in Hong Kong on behalf of Nirav Modi.
“The agency contacted the company and its London headquarters and after much persuasion and follow up, it successfully brought back the jewellery to India,” the official said.
He also said that the stock value of the jewellery was around Rs 85 crore and the jewellery was sent to Hong Kong by Firestar Group of Companies. On independent valuation, the value of jewellery came to Rs 22.69 crore.
The ED has also attached a flat in south Mumbai worth Rs 19.5 crore which was on the name of Nirav Modi’s sister Purvi, who is a Belgian national.
The official said that the flat was purchased by Purvi in 2017 and the deed was signed by Nirav Nodi’s brother Neeshal, who is also a Belgian national and who held a power of attorney.
“But the consideration of the flat was paid by Purvi through her Barclays Bank account maintained in Singapore,” the official said.
Meanwhile, the agency also attached five bank accounts containing over Rs 278 crore, belonging to Nirav Modi, Purvi and others in the case.
Interpol has issued an RCN against Nirav Modi, Neeshal, Purvi and his executive Subhash Parab.
Interpol on Monday on the request of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and ED issued a Red Corner Notice (RCN) against Nirav Modi’s trusted official Aditya Nanavati in the PNB fraud.
According to CBI sources, Nanavati’s links with Neeshal have been found.
Nanavati used to head the operations of the Firestar Diamond’s business in Hong Kong. It is learnt that he was also in Belgium.
Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi of Gitanjali Group are under probe by both the CBI and ED. The ED had on May 24 and 26 filed the charge-sheets against both.
Non-bailable warrants have been issued against them.
Nirav Modi left India along with his family in the first week of January, before the scam was reported to the CBI.
(IANS)
New Delhi Chinese smartphone maker OPPO on Monday said it was planning to set up its first India research and development (R&D) centre in Hyderabad.
In line with its objectives, the company has hired Tasleem Arif as its R&D Head in India, OPPO said in a statement.
“We are focused towards offering unique experiences to our consumers in India through our innovations and technological capabilities. The opening of our first R&D Centre in Hyderabad is a step in that direction and strengthens our commitment to the Indian consumers,” said Charles Wong, OPPO India President.
As the Vice President and Head R&D, OPPO India, Arif will be leading the team which will focus on software localisation for Indian consumers as well as device quality.
Prior to joining OPPO, Arif was working at Samsung as Head – Samsung Make for India Innovations (R&D) and India Hardware-Software Product Planning.
He brings to the new role almost 15 years of experience in mobile software, design and development.
“We are excited to have Tasleem on board and believe that with his expertise we will be able to build a strong R&D team and make this centre second largest after China,” Wong said.
The Hyderabad R&D Centre will be OPPO’s seventh facility globally with the other six being located in China, Japan and the US.
(IANS)
The Syrian Ministry of Transportation on Saturday announced the re-opening of the Nasib border crossing with Jordan, which has been closed since 2015.
A ministry statement cited by the state news agency SANA said the border crossing was opened and the movement of trucks and transit to and from Syria resumed.
The border crossing was closed in 2015 when the rebels took over the Nasib area and the crossing in the countryside of Daraa province in Syria.
The Syrian Army captured Daraa and the border crossing in July after the rebels in the province surrendered and agreed to evacuate to rebel-held areas in northern Syria, mainly the northwestern province of Idlib.
Last week, the Transportation Ministry declared raising the transit crossing fees that should be paid by trucks passing in and out of Syria whether they were loaded or empty.
The Nasib crossing is the busiest border crossing in Syria as it is situated on the Damascus-Amman international highway.
The crossing is also considered one of the most important land crossings in the Middle East as it is the main crossing for Syrian exports to Jordan and the Gulf countries.
Lebanon would also benefit from the re-opening of the Nasib crossing as the small Mediterranean country has crossings with Syria only and through Nasib it can do business with Arab markets.
The crossing is important for Jordan which is suffering from economic problems. Since it was closed in 2015, the kingdom suffered heavy losses as 70 per cent of its exports and imports went through Syria, according to Nabil Ruman, head of the investor’s board of the Jordanian Free Zone.
Reports said the losses of the Jordanian transport sector from the border closure was estimated at around half a billion US dollars.
IANS
Expressing concern over the increase of cyber crimes in today’s internet era, Deputy Chief Minister Dr G. Parameshwar emphasised that police officers have to keep themselves updated with the latest technology to detect such crimes.
He was speaking at the Southern Region Coordination Committee meeting of the Director General and Inspector General of Police (DG & IGs) here on Friday.
Stating that officers need to be a step ahead of the offenders Parameshwara stressed on the need for adoption of new technologies to detect cyber crimes. He observed that frequent meeting between top police officials of Southern states, to exchange of vital information and discuss methods to improve the system will aid in curbing criminal activities.
DGs of Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh along with IGPs attended the meeting.
PTI
Congress MLA and KPCC Women’s Morcha President Lakshmi Hebbalkar on Friday revealed that the BJP had allegedly lured her to join their party by offering her Rs 30 crore and a ministerial berth.
Speaking to reporters in Belagavi here Hebbalkar informed that a woman BJP leader had made this offer to her over the phone in the month of May when she was in Hyderabad. However, Hebbalkar refused to quit the Congress party and turned down the offer.
“I told them ‘Operation Lotus’ was an unnatural way to come to power and refused their offer,” she stated adding that another BJP leader had even contacted her family member asking them to persuade her to join BJP.
She, however, refused to divulge the names of the BJP leaders who had called her and said that she had handed over the record of phone calls, messages to senior party leaders.
PTI
Attacking the Congress for its offensive against the Modi government on the Rafale deal, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said that the party was “restless” because it could not make money.
She accused the previous Congress government of negotiating with “brokers” and not buying important equipment required for the defence forces.
“… and with brokers and dalal they were still buying time, not buying important equipment. But we are buying now and that’s where I think the Congress is being restless. Restless because they couldn’t make money. …(they) couldn’t perform, left the Air Force where it was,”
she told reporters.
The minister was replying to the Congress attack on the government that has been accused of being involved in a scam in the purchase of Rafale jet fighters from France.
She said the Congress was desperate and its desperation showed.
“That this government could run without any allegation of corruption. For them it’s just not going down the throat. They are just not able to digest the fact. Search for corruption. You can’t find, so throw an allegation and let them keep giving explanations. I’m finished with it, I’ll go to the next allegation. That is their approach,” she said about the Congress offensive.
(IANS)
Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday criticised activists of the right-wing student body Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for insulting a senior professor of in Madhya Pradesh.
“A teacher was insulted by student leaders of ruling party in Mandsaur. A professor is touching the feet of the students who are threatening them. What kind of sacraments is being followed in the country where teachers are regarded as God. What kind of treatment is this…,” Gandhi tweeted.
According to news reports, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) affiliated student organisation ABVP activists called the government college professor in Mandsaur “anti-national” when he asked them not to raise slogans outside his classroom.
A video that emerged on Thursday showed the professor, apparently upset, running after ABVP activists to touch their feet even as they tried to stop him.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has turned the diplomatic snub by Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj at the Saarc meeting into a personal vendetta, making a unprofessional remarks in public about her to the accompaniment of derisive laughter.
“I was quite concerned when I saw the Minister for External Affairs, when I was in the room she looked pale to me,” Qureshi said while laughing. “She looked very worried. I wish, I wish we could have smiled at each other.”
He made the remarks at the Asia Society here on Friday, a day after Sushma Swaraj had refused to interact with him at the South Asian Association Regional Cooperation (Saarc) ministerial meeting and left after delivering her speech without staying on for his address.
Most people in the audience, which included a large number of people of Pakistani descent, did not join his laughter.
With exaggerated gestures, Qureshi added: “I could see the immense strain and when she left, she wasn’t even willing to engage with the media. I had no problem, but I could see the pressure, but I could see the political pressure on her, politics, nothing else, politics, domestic politics.”
After the Saarc meeting on Thursday he had insinuated to the Pakistani media that may be she was feeling unwell, according to Samaa TV.
Sushma Swaraj, however, went on to have her scheduled meetings with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono and Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Walid al Muallem.
India had initially agreed last week to recently-elected Prime Minister Imran Khan’s request for holding talks between Sushma Swaraj and Qureshi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting.
However, New Delhi cancelled the talks a day later after three Indian police personnel were killed in Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan issued a stamp honouring a terrorist leader.
In keeping with India’s resolve not to engage diplomatically with Pakistan while the terrorism issue persisted, Sushma Swaraj has steadfastly refused to engage with Qureshi even informally while in New York for the UN General Assembly meeting.
Asked by a Pakistani journalist about why the talks didn’t take place, Qureshi replied alluding to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party, but without naming them.
“Why are they reluctant? Simply, sir, politics, elections, elections, the scare of the electorate. They have taken the pendulum, they have swung the pendulum to such an extreme, now they are finding it difficult to bring it back.”
“And with elections around the corner and they felt it could boomerang, that’s why they were shy,” he added.
But recalling Khan’s offer in his first speech after the election to take two steps for every step India took, Qureshi reiterated Islamabad’s keenness for talks.
“Whenever you are ready, our message is loud and clear, Pakistan will never shy away because we want to move on, we want the region to develop,” he said.
Qureshi said the Pakistan election that brought Khan to power was a turning point for the nation.
“People of Pakistan are clear that extremism has to be reversed, militancy is not what we need. Terrorism has hit us more than anyone else.”
About the growing ties between New Delhi and Washington, Qureshi said: “Today India is a strategic partner of the US, (but) we have no problem with that.”
However, displaying a sense of insecurity, he added: “… But why lose old friends? Have new ones, why lose old friends.”
In return for continued help to the US in Afghanistan, he wanted Washington to pressure India on relations with Pakistan.
“If the US wants us to help (in Afghanistan) and we want to help in our own interest, because we want peace in the region, then they have to tell their new strategic partner to give us ease on the eastern side so we can concentrate on areas of mutual interest,” he said.