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The Goa Police has approached the CBI for issuance of an Interpol Blue Notice against Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra, the main accused and owners of the Goa nightclub where a massive blaze claimed 25 lives, after they fled the country, officials said Tuesday. Saurabh Luthra and Gaurav Luthra, the owners of the Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub in Arpora where the incident happened on Saturday, are believed to have fled to Phuket, Thailand, hours after the tragedy, the Goa Police said on Monday. The Interpol Blue Notice is issued to collect additional information about a person's identity, location or activities in relation to a criminal investigation. The agency is in touch with the Interpol regarding the request of the Goa Police to track the fugitives. The Red Notice which calls for detention of the fugitive can only be issued after a charge sheet is filed and a Non Bailable Warrant is issued against the wanted person. "Goa Police have taken further steps to coordinate with the Interpol
A Delhi court on Wednesday sought a response from the CBI on a plea filed by former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi seeking transfer of the IRCTC hotel scam case to a different judge. Principal and Sessions Judge Dinesh Bhatt was hearing the plea of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and issued the notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The court, however, refused to stay the ongoing trial proceedings in the CBI case. Earlier on Monday, she moved a plea seeking transfer of the CBI and ED cases registered against her to another court, saying she had a reasonable apprehension that fair and impartial justice would not be rendered. The former Bihar chief minister is named as an accused in four cases, including the land-for-jobs and IRCTC scam case, which are being heard by Special Judge Vishal Gogne. The plea, submitted by Rabri Devi before the Principal District and Sessions Judge submitted, The applicant (Devi) is having a bonafide and reasonable apprehension that f
CBI Director Praveen Sood on Friday urged law enforcement agencies of the country to bring more synergy in efforts to bring fugitives from abroad by coming together and sharing their database. The CBI chief was addressing the state police chiefs and senior officers of the central agencies during the two-day conference on 'Extradition of Fugitives-Challenges and Strategies' organised by the agency. Sood stressed the need for different agencies to come together and share their databases to bring more synergy in efforts against wanted criminals, the agency's spokesperson said Friday, sharing details of the events. Chairing the valedictory session of the conference on Friday, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan emphasised that the deliberations of the two-day conference would lay the road map for future strategy. He said that there is a need to improve the documentation so that the country's requests for assistance can withstand international legal scrutiny. "He also elaborated on the s
The Supreme Court will later this week hear the CBI's plea challenging the anticipatory bail granted to West Bengal cadre senior IPS officer Rajeev Kumar in the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam case. A bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran on Monday took note of the vehement submissions of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, and posted the matter on October 17 (Friday). The solicitor general submitted that the probe agency's plea be listed along with other pending petitions, including a contempt plea for broader understanding and consideration of the entire case. The bench posted the CBI's plea along with other pending cases on Friday. The senior IPS officer was granted anticipatory bail on October 1, 2019 and has not been called by the CBI for investigation even once during the last six years by the CBI, according to his counsel. Why should we keep this matter pending? You have done nothing during all these years, the CJI said.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the CBI to register six more regular cases into the "unholy nexus" between banks and developers to dupe homebuyers in real estate projects in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mohali and Prayagraj. A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan and N Kotiswar Singh allowed the CBI to proceed as per law after Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the agency, mentioned that it has completed preliminary inquiry in projects of the various builders except Supertech Ltd, falling outside Delhi-NCR in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mohali and Prayagraj. The bench noted the submission of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that, after preliminary inquiry, it has found a cognisable offence being made out and allowed the agency to register regular cases and proceed according to law. Bhati said the agency is willing to register six regular cases for speedy investigation and conduct a search and seizure in the matter. The top court directed
The CBI has succeeded in facilitating the return of 134 fugitives from abroad in the last five years -- nearly twice the number of repatriated persons over an entire decade between 2010 and 2019, officials said. Coordinating closely with Interpol as well as state and central enforcement agencies, the CBI was able to secure the extradition or deportation of these 134 fugitives since 2020. Of these, 23 were brought back this year alone. In contrast, only 74 fugitives were brought back during the decade between 2010 and 2019. The uptick in the success rate can easily be attributed to enhanced diplomatic engagements by the government, India's outreach through VVIP visits, bilateral ties, technological advancements, and improved coordination with Interpol, the officials said. The process of extradition has three stages: issuance of a Red Notice by Interpol, geolocation of the fugitive, and third, extradition after legal and diplomatic manoeuvres, all of which are time-consuming ...
The Central Bureau of Investigation has filed a case against former officials of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) and Tata Consulting Engineers (TCE), and two dredging companies over alleged irregularities worth over Rs 800 crore in the Capital Dredging Project to deepen ship navigational channels near Mumbai, officials said. The agency took the action after a three-year-long preliminary inquiry to look into the allegations of inflated estimates, throttling of competition to favour international bidders, extension of undue favours to contractors, and suppression of reports of independent expert organisations. In its FIR, the CBI has booked the then chief engineer of JNPT Sunil Kumar Madabhavi, then project director of TCE, Devdutt Bose, Boskalis Smit India LLP, Jan De Nul Dredging India Pvt Ltd and other unidentified public servants under IPC Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating) and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. After the FIR was registered on ...
The CBI arrested six people and dismantled two illegal call centres for allegedly cheating Japanese citizens using tech support scams, officials said Thursday. After registering the case as part of its crackdown on cybercriminals in Operation Chakra V, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) worked closely with the Japan National Police Agency and Microsoft to identify the syndicate members and their locations. "This collaborative international engagement proved critical in identifying the perpetrators and tracing the operational structure of the syndicates, ultimately leading to the successful crackdown in India," the CBI said in a statement. Once the locations were identified, the CBI teams swooped down on 19 locations in Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday during which six alleged gang members were arrested and two illegal call centres were dismantled. The arrested were identified as Ashu Singh from Delhi, Kapil Ghakhar from Panipat, Rohit Maurya from Ayodhya, Shubha
A court here has issued a non-bailable warrant against diamantaire Mehul Choksi in the Canara Bank-led consortium loan fraud case involving about Rs 55 crore. Choksi, a prime accused in the multi-million dollar Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud, was arrested in Belgium on April 12 following an extradition request by Indian probe agencies. The non-bailable warrant against him was issued recently by Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (Esplanade Court) R B Thakur. The matter has been adjourned to June 2 for a report on the warrant. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has alleged that the Canara Bank and the Bank of Maharashtra had sanctioned Rs 30 crore and Rs 25 crore, respectively, as working capital facilities under a consortium agreement to Bezel Jewellery. The loan was granted for the manufacturing and sale of gold and diamond-studded jewellery, but the company allegedly did not use it for the intended purposes, according to the CBI. The company did not repay the loan, .