Month: January 2020

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), on Friday has attached Rs.78.15 crore worth movable and immovable assets in possession of ICICI Bank’s former Managing Director and CEO, Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and the companies owned/controlled by him.   A provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 (PMLA) has been issued for the attachment of properties like flat, plant, and machinery of wind farm project based in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, totaling Rs 78.15 crore.   The ED said its probe had revealed that loans were refinanced and new…

A Russian warship aggressively approached a US Navy destroyer in North Arabian Sea on Thursday causing a collision, the US Navy said on Friday.   The video obtained shows the Russian warship rapidly approaching the USS Farragut, coming close as 180 feet to the US warship, before changing course according to two defence officials.   The incident is the latest example of a close encounter between US and Russian military forces that American officials have described as unsafe or provocative.   “On Thursday, Jan. 9, while conducting routine operations in…

State minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Nawab Malik has said that Central Bureau of Investigation Judge Brijgopal Harkishan Loya’s death case may reopen, if there is substantial evidence. In 2014, at the time of his death, Justice Loya was handling Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case fake encounter case, in which the current Home minister, Amit Shah was an accused.   “The government will consider reopening of judge BH Loya death case if any complaint is received with substantial evidence,” Malik told reporters in Mumbai after a three-hour meeting of NCP…

Samajwadi Party leader and Rampur MP Azam Khan and his family have been declared as absconders by the Court.   The UP police have put notices on the house of Azam Khan declaring them absconders in three cases. The Police officer said that the next step would be attachment of their properties.   On Thursday morning munadi (drum beat) notice was carried out against the three – Azam Khan, his wife Tanzeen Fatimah and his son Abdullah Azam. A man travelling in an auto rickshaw was making the announcement while…

The Central government has issued a gazette notification on Friday night announcing that the provisions of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) came into effect on January 10.   The CAA, which has led to widespread protests in the country, grants citizenship to individuals who are Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Jain, or Parsi and who entered India from Pakistan, Bangladesh, or Afghanistan by the cut-off date of December 31, 2014.   As the two houses of parliament passed the controversial Act mid-December, India saw weeks of protests by thousands of citizens…

Sultan Qaboos Said, who revamped the poverty stricken country torn by dissent into a prosperous state and an internationally trusted mediator for some of the region’s thorniest issues, passed away on late Friday.   With an aim to end the country’s isolation and use its oil revenue for modernisation and development, he became the Sultan after deposing his father in a palace coup.   Qaboos healed the old rifts in a country long divided between conservative tribal interior and seafaring coastal region. He became known to his countrymen as “the…

In an open letter issued by as many as 106 retired bureaucrats said that both NPR and NRC were “unnecessary and wasteful exercises” that will cause hardships to public. The letter also cites reservations about the constitutional validity of the new citizenship law.   Delhi Lt Governor Najeeb Jung, former Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar and former Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah were among the signatories. The retired bureaucrats urged citizens to insist the government repeal relevant sections of Citizenship Act, 1955, pertaining to the issue of national identity cards.…

As a part of its outreach program to touch the masses ahead of the Delhi assembly elections, and also to dispel the misinformation spread by vested interests on the CAA, BJP volunteers took out a massive motorbike rally from the Delhi BJP headquarters at Pandit Pant Marg, and were joined by bikers and general public along the route touching Central, East and West Delhi.   Led by BJP state President and MP, North East Delhi Manoj Tiwari, along with more than 4200 bikers, the riders rode the roads of Delhi and sought support…

A Ukraine airliner that crashed in Iran killing all 176 passengers on board, was most likely brought down accidentally by Iranian air defences, US officials said on Thursday, a conclusion Iran dismissed as impossible.   The Ukrainian International airliner bound for Ukraine capital, Kyiv crashed minutes after its take off from the Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran on Wednesday, amid escalating tensions between the United States and Iran.   One US official told that the US Satellite had detected the launch of two missiles shortly before the plane crashed, followed by…