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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided more than a dozen locations in Karnataka on Saturday as part of a money-laundering investigation against Congress MLA Nara Bharath Reddy and some others, official sources said. The premises of the 34-year-old legislator from Bellary and some other locations in Karnataka and Telangana are being searched, they said. Officials of the central agency searched Reddy's locations in Bellary and Bengaluru. The money-laundering case against Reddy stems from an FIR lodged by the Karnataka Police and allegations of land deals that are under the ED's scanner. Some mining and quarrying businesses allegedly linked to the MLA are also being investigated by the agency.
Enforcement Directorate sleuths on Thursday collected voice samples of Sujay Krishna Bhadra, one of the arrested accused in the school jobs scam, an ED official said. Bhadra, popularly known as 'Kalighat er Kaku' (uncle from Kalighat), is said to be close to the top leaders of the ruling TMC and was allegedly a key official in a couple of companies linked to them. The recording will be sent to Central Forensic Laboratory. Along with the recorded voice samples of Bhadra, the ED will also send the recordings they had collected as evidence while investigating the scam for the purpose of "matching", the official told PTI. His voice was recorded at the ESI Hospital at Joka here after being taken from the SSKM Hospital on Wednesday night. "The accused's voice was recorded at night at the ESI Joka Hospital. The samples were collected by our officers in the presence of two independent witnesses," he told PTI. About eight ED officers, one forensic expert and one technician were present in
The amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act will give more room to public servants, including banks officials, to take decisions confidently, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday.The law, which deals with accountability of public servants, is in the final stages of its amending process. It's before the standing committee and hope in the next session it comes up.The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, which constrains a lot of public servants, and also banking, he said. It will help them (PSBs executives) take prompt action, especially on resolving stressed loans without fear of being punished for bona-fide decisions, Jaitley said,addressing SBI's Banking and Economics Conclave in Mumbai. Lack of decision making and consensus is hampering banks. The oversight committee to vet non-performing assets (NPAs) sale decision would also aid banks in decision making.Flagging security of country as top priority, Jaitley indicated their will be no constraints on resources for