Page 2180 - Law Crime
'Court didn't give credence to documentary evidence in 2G case'
The special CBI court dealing with the 2G spectrum case did not pay much attention to the documentary evidence presented before it but relied more on the oral evidence of the accused, sources said.
Army chief unveils slain jawan's memorial in Raj
Army chief Gen. Bipin Rawat today unveiled a statue of soldier Dharma Ram, who was killed during an encounter with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir two years ago, in Ram's native village in Rajasthan's Barmer district. The memorial, built with the help of village residents, was inaugurated in Taratara village, 530km from Jaipur. Sepoy Dharma Ram of the 1 Rashtriya Rifles (Mahar) was killed in Kulgam district on May 25, 2015. He was awarded the Shaurya Chakra posthumously on Republic Day, 2016. Gen. Rawat expressed gratitude to the soldier for his contributions "towards the defence of the motherland". The dignitaries interacted with Ram's family and shared their concerns, according to defence spokesperson Lt. Col. Manish Ojha. The ceremony was attended by Lt. Gen. Dewan Rabindranath Soni, GOC-in-C (general officer commanding-in-chief) of the Southern Command, and GOC of the Konark Corps Lt. Gen. R K Jagga and others.
Two arrested for demanding extortion money in UP
Two persons have been arrested for allegedly demanding extortion money from a man in the district, police said today. A man, in his complaint, alleged that a gram pradhan of Akberpur village and another person had allegedly demanded extortion money from him and threatened him on November 19, they said.
SCB Med College doctor held in disproportionate wealth case
The head of Clinical Haematology Department of SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack has been arrested on charges of misappropriation of Odisha State Treatment Fund (OSTF) running into several crore, vigilance department officials said today. The anti-corruption vigilance sleuths arrested Rabindra Kumar Jena who was on the run since the vigilance department booked two cases against him. Jena was arrested near Laxmannathpur in Balasore district last night while returning to Odisha from West Bengal, they said. Jena had been sent to jail after his bail petition was rejected by a vigilance court, said M Radhakrishna, a senior officer in the vigilance directorate in Cuttack. He said the vigilance department has prayed the court for a 5-day remand of Jena. Jena was accused of obtaining pecuniary advantages from pharmaceutical companies for foreign tours and accommodation abroad and on other allegations of criminal misconduct and corruption. In the course of the enquiry, .
Court ruling on 2G spectrum case
The following are the main points flagged by Special Judge O.P. Saini as he declared all the accused in the 2G spectrum case not guilty:
Stallone denies sexual misconduct allegation
Actor Sylvester Stallone has denied sexual misconduct allegations made by a woman in a police report and now wants her prosecuted.
10-year RI to man arrested with liquor in dry Bihar
A court here today awarded 10-year rigorous imprisonment to a man arrested with nearly 100 pouches of liquor in the state. Additional District Judge Kaushalendra Kumar awarded the punishment to the man arrested two weeks ago. Sale and consumption of alcohol was banned in Bihar by the state government more than a year ago. Additional Public Prosecutor Triveni Prasad Sinha said the man was arrested on December 7 with 90 pouches of country liquor. The court yesterday passed a similar judgement against another person, who was arrested with 144 litres of liquor in May last year.
Court criticises DoT's conduct in 2G spectrum case
A special court today criticised the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) over its submission that it was cheated by promoters of Essar Group and Loop Telecom Ltd by fraudulently obtaining 2G spectrum licences, saying the DoT was playing "victim". Questioning the conduct of the DoT, it said if the department felt that the spirit of clause 8 of 2005 Unified Access Service Licence (UASL) guidelines was being violated by means of "excessive debt funding" by one licensee company to another, then it was free to amend its guidelines. According to the Clause 8 of the UASL guidelines, "No single company/legal person, either directly or through associates, shall have substantial equity holding in more than one licensee company in the same service area for Access Services namely; Basic, Cellular and Unified Access Service." Special Court Judge O P Saini said the DoT was playing victim and did not take appropriate administrative action. "There is no material on record that DoT took
Temple superintendent arrested for disproportionate assets
Telanganas Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) today arrested an official for allegedly possessing disproportionate assets worth Rs 2.42 crores. Deputy Superintendent of Police (Karimnagar ACB) T Sudarshan said that N Rajender, Superintendent of the Rajarajeshwara Temple in Vemulwada in Rajanna Sircilla district was arrested after the ACB conducted a search at his residence and other places today. Rajender is an employee of the Endowments department of the state government, police said. "During the searches, it was revealed that Rajender had acquired two houses, one lodge and two open plots at various places. Gold ornaments worth Rs 20 lakh, two cars, two two-wheelers and household articles was also found," he said. The official said that while the documented value of these assets is approximately Rs 2.42 crore, the market value is estimated to be Rs 5 crore. A case has been registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act and further investigations were underway, he said. The
Bill to hike salary of judges introduced in Lok Sabha
A bill to increase the salaries of Chief Justices and Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
2G cases: Raja, Kanimozhi, all others acquitted
Former telecom minister and DMK leader A Raja, Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi and others were today acquitted in the politically-sensitive 2G spectrum allocation cases by a special court which held that the prosecution miserably failed to prove the scam involving corruption and money laundering. The court, which held there was no scam in the 2G spectrum allocation in 2007-08 when Raja was the telecom minister in the erstwhile UPA regime headed by Manmohan Singh, also set free all accused in two offshoot cases lodged by the ED and the CBI. It said some people created a scam by "artfully arranging a few selected facts and exaggerating things beyond recognition to astronomical levels". In the main CBI case, besides Raja and Kanimozhi, the 15 other accused allowed to walk free include former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja's erstwhile private secretary R K Chandolia, Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, Unitech Ltd MD Sanjay Chandra and three top .
2G case: Mukul Rohatgi takes pot shots at Swamy
Former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi on Thursday hit back at BJP leader Subramanian Swamy saying that he is habitual of making false allegations.Rohatgi's remarks came after Swamy slammed him for welcoming the verdict in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case and said such people should not be made law officers."Subramanian Swamy is in the habit of making wild and false allegations. I had appeared for some of these people at the time of grant of bail in SC, in 2012. After, I became Attorney General, I had nothing to do with the case. To make personal allegations is meaningless," Rohatgi told ANI.Swamy, on whose public interest litigation (PIL) the CBI probe was ordered in the case, earlier in the day, snubbed the verdict in the muti-crore scam and said, "Mukul Rohatgi has welcomed this judgement. When he was appointed Attorney General, I had written to the Prime Minister opposing his appointment, as Rohatgi was the advocate of many of the accused companies, including Unitech. These ...
AIADMK 'Two-leaves' symbol case: Next hearing on Jan 12
Next hearing in the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) 'two-leaves' symbol case will take place on January 12.The Delhi court on Thursday fixed the date for hearing on Delhi Police's chargesheet after the prosecution sought more time to file documents.The court was likely to take cognizance of the chargesheet filed by Delhi Police naming sidelined All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader TTV Dinakaran, Sukesh Chandrashekhar, Mallikarjuna, Nathu Singh, Pulkit Kundra, B Kumar, Jai Vikram Haran and Narendra Jain.Dhinakaran has been charged under section 120 B (Criminal Conspiracy) and 201 IPC (Destruction of evidence) in the chargesheet filed by the Delhi police.Dhinakaran sought exemption from appearance in the wake of RK Nagar by-polls in which he is contesting.The case pertains to an alleged attempt by Dhinakaran to bribe the Election Commission for securing AIADMK's 'two leaves' symbol for the party faction led by his aunt V.K. Sasikala.The Delhi Police
CBI, ED to move HC over 2G verdict, say special court failed to note 'evidence'
The CBI and the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday said they will appeal in the High Court against the special CBI court verdict acquitting all the accused in the 2G spectrum allocation case and said the court has "failed" to take note in "proper perspective" the prosecution's evidence.
2G verdict: ED to appeal acquittal of 19 accused
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) will appeal the acquittal of the 19 accused in the 2G spectrum allocation case on the grounds that money laundering is a "standalone" crime, the agency said today. Agency sources said the overall grounds for appeal is the fact that the court cannot throw out ED's evidences, gathered through independent investigations under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), just because the scheduled offence being probed by the CBI has been found baseless and is being shut. The ED had registered money laundering cases in the 2G case based on CBI FIRs. The central probe agency, in an official statement, said the special CBI court that gave its verdict today "failed to appreciate a number of factors which, inter alia, position the offence of money laundering as standalone offence." It said the same court had "appreciated" the evidence put forth by the agency investigators at the time of framing of charges in this case. But, it said, the same ...
Mother, minor daughter killed by speeding truck in UP
A 35-year-old woman and her minor daughter were today killed after being hit by a speeding truck here, police said. The incident took place when the woman, identified as Guddi Devi (35), along with her four-year-old daughter, residents of Ratahri village, were returning home from their field, they said. Following the incident, the truck overturned and fell into a roadside ditch, the police said. They said that the truck driver has been taken into custody. The bodies have been sent for post-mortem, the police said, adding that an FIR has been registered in this connection.
Mumbai bank manager held for Rs 91-lakh Mobikwik fraud
The Cyber Crime Cell of Gurugram police has arrested a bank manager from Mumbai for his alleged involvement in a Rs 91-lakh fraud as he duped Gurugram-headquartered digital wallet company Mobikwik, police said.
Acquittal proves presumptive loss in 2G was cooked up: A Raja
Former telecom minister A Raja, who was at the centre of the allegations in India's biggest graft case, today said a trial court acquitting him of all charges proved that the presumptive loss in allocation of 2G spectrum was "cooked-up". Raja, who was the minister in the Congress-led UPA government when 122 telecom spectrum licences were issued to 8 companies in 2008 on first-come-first-serve basis, said his actions were for the benefit of masses. Bringing competition in the telecom sector had sent mobile call charges to rock-bottom levels. "My firm belief in the rightfulness of my actions as well as my faith in our nation's justice system has been validated today," he said in a statement. He said his decision for allocation of spectrum, or radiowaves that carry mobile voice signals, were in line with the National Telecom Policy and recommendations of the sectoral regulator Trai. Raja said he had, in fact, brought a "revolution" in the telecom sector. "I have felt ...
Customs seizes gold worth over Rs 1 crore at Delhi airport
Gold worth over Rs 1 crore has been seized by customs officials at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) here in two separate cases. In the first case, a passenger, whose identity is yet to established, handed over about 23 gold bars, collectively weighing about 2.6 kg, to an employee of Indigo airlines in its office at the airport on Monday, according to a press release issued by the customs today. The gold bars, which were handed over in a bathroom, were recovered from the employee when he had crossed 'green channel' (meant for declaring dutiable goods) inside the airport, it said. Another persons, who was to receive these gold bars, waiting outside the airport was also arrested, the release said. The gold bars, which have been seized, worth Rs 71.05 lakh, it said, adding that both the accused have been arrested. The accused persons had in past also smuggled gold worth Rs 37.05 lakh using the same modus operandi. "Hence, the total value of the gold smuggled in
2G: Court says ex-AG Vahanvati delibrately denied, disowned
The controversial testimony of former attorney general G E Vahanvati on draft press release of the DoT today came under severe criticism with a special court holding that the then top law officer "deliberately" denied and disowned official record. Vahanvati, who served as the solicitor general as well as the attorney general the duringthe UPA government, had appeared as a witness in the politically-sensitive case. The law officer had termed the amended press release of the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) regarding the amended policy for the allocation of 2G spectrum, as "fair and reasonable" on record but later deposed to the contrary in the court. "It is clear that G E Vahanwati deposed contrary to the record. It is also clear that Vahanwati recalls facts according to his convenience as he could not recollect if he had seen the words 'Press release appd. as amended', but he could recall that there was no deletion from the press release when he saw it. "It is not .