Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Assembly witnessed a dramatic start to the budget session as the opposition AIADMK staged a walkout while the BJP boycotted the proceedings.

AIADMK General Secretary and Leader of Opposition, Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS), accused the ruling DMK government of failing to take responsibility for a liquor scam that allegedly involved corruption worth over Rs 1,000 crore.

Speaking to the media outside the Assembly, EPS demanded the resignation of the DMK government, citing moral responsibility over the scam.

He criticised the government for its lack of transparency, stating that despite an ongoing investigation, no substantial action had been taken.

EPS also claimed that the opposition had submitted a no-confidence motion against the Speaker, but it was ignored and not taken up for discussion.

Meanwhile, BJP leader and Coimbatore MLA Vanathi Srinivasan addressed reporters outside the Assembly, explaining the party’s decision to boycott the session. She accused the Tamil Nadu government of insulting the Constitution by removing the Devanagari rupee symbol from the state budget logo and replacing it with the Tamil rupee symbol.

She argued that while the Tamil rupee symbol is commonly used in private and personal writings, the official removal of the nationally accepted rupee symbol was a deliberate move.

According to her, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and his cabinet had taken an oath under the Constitution, yet their actions undermined constitutional principles.

Vanathi Srinivasan also accused the DMK government of diverting public attention from real issues, such as the Rs 1,000 crore liquor scam that was flagged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

She alleged that instead of addressing corruption, the government was engaging in symbolic changes to shift focus.

The presentation of this year’s budget has been overshadowed by controversy following Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s decision to remove the Indian rupee symbol (₹) from the state budget’s official logo. Instead, the Tamil alphabet ‘Roo’ (‘ரூ’) has been used to represent ‘Roobai,’ the Tamil word for rupee.

Thursday (March 13), CM Stalin unveiled the promotional logo for the budget, featuring the new symbol along with the slogan “Ellarkum Ellam” (Everything for Everyone), emphasising inclusiveness. However, the move has drawn sharp criticism from opposition leaders and Union Ministers, who have accused the DMK government of promoting linguistic and regional chauvinism.

The Tamil Nadu budget session commenced with Finance Minister Thangam Thenarasu presenting the budget. However, the AIADMK’s walkout and the BJP’s boycott signal a stormy and contentious session ahead.

IANS

Kochi: Former Congress legislator Anil Akkara, who played a key role in exposing the Rs 324-crore Karuvannur Cooperative Bank scam, has claimed that if the ongoing Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe proceeds in the right direction in this case, top CPI-M leaders will be named as accused in the final charge sheet.

Akkara’s remarks come in response to news that the ED has summoned Alathur Lok Sabha MP K. Radhakrishnan for questioning.

He alleged that Radhakrishnan, along with former minister and current CPI-M legislator A.C. Moideen and former Thrissur CPI-M district secretary M.M. Varghese, would be named as accused if the investigation is conducted thoroughly.

“So far, these leaders have been shielded due to a secret deal struck during the 2024 Thrissur Lok Sabha election. However, the ED has already recovered Rs 60 lakh from CPI-M party bank accounts and Rs 40 lakh from Moideen under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). This scam occurred during their tenure as Thrissur district CPI-M secretaries,” Akkara said.

The ED’s latest notice to Radhakrishnan comes after a gap of more than six months in the investigation. Radhakrishnan, a former two-time state minister and ex-Speaker, is a prominent CPI-M leader from Thrissur. The notice has put the ruling party on the defensive as it prepares for the 24th Party Congress in Madurai this April.

Radhakrishnan, a member of the CPI-M Central Committee, was served the notice upon his recent arrival in Thrissur. The party is reportedly seeking to delay his appearance, citing the ongoing Parliament session.

This is the first time Radhakrishnan has been summoned since the scam surfaced, sending shockwaves through the party. The ED has already questioned several senior CPI-M leaders, including Moideen, former Lok Sabha member P.K. Biju, former CPI-M legislator M.K. Kannan, and M.M. Varghese.

Several local CPI-M leaders and employees of the Karuvannur Cooperative Bank were arrested and jailed in connection with the scam, although many have since secured bail.

The Thrissur Lok Sabha seat holds particular significance as it was the only constituency in Kerala where the BJP emerged victorious in 2024, with actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi clinching the win.

IANS

New Delhi: The CBI has launched a probe into the alleged role of public servants in facilitating gold smuggling from Dubai following a complaint by the DRI, which recently made two arrests, including that of actor Rabya Rao from Bengaluru, officials said Thursday.

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) arrested Ranya Rao from the Kempe Gowda International Airport in Bengaluru March 3 for allegedly trying to smuggle over 14 kg of gold from Dubai.

The action was followed by the arrests of two foreigners (Omani and UAE nationals), also coming from Dubai, from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai, while attempting to smuggle 21.28 kg of gold into India valued at Rs 18.92 crore March 6.

“These two foreign nationals previously arrived at the Mumbai airport multiple times,” the DRI complaint to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said.

Searches at Rao’s residence led to the recovery of gold jewellery worth Rs 2.06 crore and Indian currency amounting to Rs 2.67 crore. She also made multiple international travels, including to and from Dubai, officials said.

These arrests in “quick succession” involving alleged smugglers with large quantities of gold coming from Dubai and the high frequency of these visits involving Indian and foreign nationals sent the alarm bells ringing about a “coordinated smuggling syndicate”, possibly operating from Dubai, the officials said.

The DRI roped in the CBI because of the larger national and international ramifications.

“The possibility of the involvement of unknown public servants of the government of India and unknown others, with such coordinated network, needs to be investigated,” the DRI said.

Following the letter from the DRI, the CBI swung into action and registered an FIR against unidentified public servants and private individuals.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also registered a case of money laundering against Rao and conducted searches.

PTI

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate Thursday raided multiple locations in Bengaluru and some other places as part of a money laundering probe linked to an alleged gold smuggling racket in which an actor was arrested by the DRI in Karnataka, official sources said.

A case has been field under the Prevention of Money laundering Act, taking cognisance of a recent Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR and a Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) case in which actor Ranya Rao was arrested, the sources said.

Multiple locations in Karnataka, including Bengaluru, are being searched, they said.

PTI

Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials have started probing the influential links of a racket involved in massive irregularities in admission to private medical colleges in West Bengal under the Non-Resident Indian (NRI) quota.

The probe was started after specific clues were sourced by the agency.

Sources said the new line of investigation on the influential links is based on two factors, the first being some communication between the kingpins of the racket with some local politically influential persons and the second being certain fictitious bank transactions in this connection, clues on which are already available with the investigating officials.

Apart from that, sources added, the investigating officials have also been able to trace politically influential family links of those candidates who allegedly secured admissions under this particular quota despite not being NRIs.

A total of eight private medical colleges & hospitals operating from the state are currently under the scanner of ED officials. The investigation is being carried out based on specific information that such irregularities were done against hefty cash payments.

The investigation into the matter started in December last year based on a specific complaint filed at a local police station in the northern outskirts of Kolkata.

Since then there had been two rounds of marathon raid and search operations by the ED sleuths, the latest of which was Thursday. In December last year, ED officials conducted similar raid and search operations at multiple locations in the state, including the premises of two politically influential persons.

Then, at the industrial township of Haldia in East Midnapore district, the raid and search operations were conducted at the residence of the former CPI(M) Lok Sabha member from Tamluk Lakshman Seth, who runs an NGO that operates private medical and dental colleges at Haldia.

At Birbhum, the private medical college, where the ED raid and search operations are going on, is owned by businessman Malay Pith, whose name first surfaced in connection with the multi-crore cattle smuggling case in West Bengal.

The matter of irregularities in the medical admissions under the NRI quota was first highlighted by Suvendu Adhikari, the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, in September last year.

He alleged that in many such admissions, there were severe irregularities against hefty cash transactions which even included admission through the production of fake certificates. Adhikari also accused some senior officials attached to the state health department of being involved in the case.

IANS

Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials investigating the case for financial irregularities in state-run R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata have got some initial clues of a part of the ill-gotten proceeds being invested illegally in the real estate business in neighbouring Bangladesh through the hawala route.

Sources said that from the different documents seized during the investigation, the probe officials have come across the names of two Bangladesh-based businessmen having an interest in the real estate business, who had been frequenting Kolkata in the recent past and interacting with Sandip Ghosh, the former and controversial principal of R.G. Kar.

At the same time, sources added, last week the ED officials seized gold worth Rs 7 crore from the residence of a city-based businessman Swapan Saha, again a confidant of Ghosh, at Salt Lake in the northern outskirts of Kolkata.

Since the said businessman could not give any satisfactory information about the source of this gold or the funds used to purchase the same, the ED officials confiscated the entire consignment of yellow metal on suspicion that this consignment was smuggled to the city from Dubai via Bangladesh.

At the same time, the source added, since ED made a suo motu entry in the matter by filing an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), they have tracked the existence of several shell business entities playing key roles for Ghosh-confidant businessmen in bagging contracts for medical equipment or maintenance work-orders for R.G Kar.

The ED officials, who are also looking into the angle of Ghosh’s assets disproportionate to his income, have tracked multiple properties, including a twin flat in Kolkata and a high-end resort-type bungalow in the suburbs, whose market value is a few crores of rupees.

The ED officials, sources said, are currently examining the details of the bank accounts and property-related documents of Ghosh and his family members to get further clues on this count.

Besides ED, the officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are also conducting a parallel probe into the case of financial irregularities at R.G. Kar.

Sundargarh: A team of Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials conducted raids at several houses in Bonai area of Sundargarh district Friday in connection with alleged money laundering through an online gaming app. As per preliminary information, raids were conducted on at least six houses at Bada Gogua, Jangala and Ruguda villages in Bonai amid reports that some people have received huge amounts of money after participating in online gaming activities.

A team of around 40 officials of the Central investigating agency from Kolkata and Bhubaneswar have been engaged in the special operation along with Central forces to ascertain the alleged flow of huge amounts of money.

Sources said the ED sleuths are thoroughly examining several documents, including bank account details, of several people during the raids. Declining to share details of the searches, the ED officials said that the operation is still in progress and a clear picture will emerge after a thorough investigation.

New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: Supreme Court (SC) will hear a plea filed by Odisha Administrative Service officer, Bijaya Ketan Sahoo, seeking anticipatory bail in connection with a money laundering case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for possession of assets disproportionate to the known source of income.

As per the cause list published on the website of the apex court, a vacation bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Rajesh Bindal will hear the matter June 24.

Earlier, the Orissa High Court, in its May 10 order, refused to grant anticipatory bail, saying a prima facie case stands against the OAS officer since he was involved in the acquisition of the properties in dealing with the “proceeds with crime”.

However, a bench of Justice Chittaranjan Das of the High Court had directed that in the event Sahoo appears before the Special Court and moves for grant of regular bail, the same shall be considered on its own merits.

The ED initiated a probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after an FIR was registered with Cuttack’s Vigilance Police Station against Odisha Financial Official Nalini Prusty, her husband Sahoo, and other family members for possession of disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 5 crore.

The enquiry further revealed that the bureaucrat couple had acquired six plots and flats and had constructed a triple-storied building at Bhubaneswar’s Chandrasekharpur in the name of their relative who had no independent source of income.

On the basis of the ED’s complaint, the PMLA court in Bhubaneswar issued summons to Sahoo for his appearance.

IANS 

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate is working as BJP’s political weapon and it wants to get details of AAP’s Lok Sabha election strategy by accessing Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s phone, senior AAP leader Atishi alleged Friday.

Kejriwal, who is the national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), was arrested by the central probe agency March 21 in the Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case and is in its custody till April 1.

The insistence of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to look into Kejriwal’s mobile-phone, which is a few months old and did not exist when the policy was formed and implemented, proves that the agency is working as a “political weapon” of the BJP, Atishi alleged at a press conference here.

The AAP leader, who is a minister in the Kejriwal government, said that “actually it is the BJP and not the ED that wants to know what is there on Kejriwal’s phone”.

The excise policy was implemented in 2021-22 and the chief minister’s current phone is just a few months old, she claimed.

The ED has said that Kejriwal’s phone of that period is not available, and now, it wants the password of his new phone, Atishi said.

“They want it because they will find in it details of AAP’s Lok Sabha poll strategy, campaign plans, talks with INDIA bloc leaders and information regarding media and social media strategy,” she said.

The bloc has been formed by some opposition parties, including the AAP, the TMC, the Congress, the DMK and the SP, to counter the BJP in the parliamentary polls.

The 2021-22 policy was scrapped following allegations corruption.

PTI

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has taken cognisance of Delhi minister Atishi’s statement that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal sent her directions from the agency’s custody to initiate public welfare works related to water and sewerage, official sources said on Sunday.

The federal agency will conduct an investigation to ascertain if these directions from the arrested chief minister were in line with the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court’s order issued to the ED and Kejriwal during his custody period, the sources said.

While remanding Kejriwal in ED custody till March 28, the court had allowed his wife Sunita Kejriwal and personal assistant Bibhav Kumar to meet him every day for half hour between 6 and 7 pm, apart from his lawyers for another half hour.

Earlier on Sunday, Water Minister Atishi said at a press conference that Kejriwal sent her a document from ED custody on Saturday with “his directions” to resolve public issues related to water and sewerage.

She said the chief minister directed that a sufficient number of water tankers be deployed in areas facing a water shortage to strengthen supply ahead of the summer months.

Kejriwal also directed her to issue instructions to the chief secretary and other officers in this regard, she added.

Kejriwal, 55, was arrested by the ED on March 21 following raids at his official residence in connection with the Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case.

The ED, the sources said, will investigate if due processes were followed during these meetings. If any aberrations are found, the designated special court will be duly informed, they said.

The meeting area where the arrestee meets his lawyers and family members at the ED headquarters on A P J Abdul Kalam Road in central Delhi is monitored via a CCTV video link, according to the sources.

Kejriwal, who is also the national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), is understood to have been questioned over the last few days about the formulation of the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22, his meetings with various government officials and private stakeholders and the statements made by other accused and witnesses in the case till now.

The ED is also investigating if mobile phones handled by the chief minister’s aides and staff were formatted or reported missing soon after the policy was scrapped and the agency and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered separate criminal cases to investigate the alleged irregularities.

While the ED has alleged that Kejriwal is the “kingpin and key conspirator” of the Delhi excise policy “scam”, the chief minister and his party have termed the agency’s action against him “political vendetta” by the BJP-led central government.

PTI 

New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Saturday moved the Delhi High Court challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in the money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam but the court is unlikely to grant an urgent hearing.

According to highly placed court sources, the plea is unlikely to be heard before March 27 as the court is closed for Holi.

Sources in his Aam Aadmi Party had said his legal team would request the high court to hear the matter urgently, preferably Sunday.

On Friday, a trial court had remanded him in ED’s custody till March 28 “for his detailed and sustained interrogation”.

In his plea, Kejriwal, who was apprehended by the ED on Friday night, contended that his arrest and remand were illegal and that he was entitled to be released from custody immediately.

The ED had arrested Kejriwal hours after the high court refused to grant him protection from coercive action by the central anti-money laundering agency.

Kejriwal had approached the high court for quashing and setting aside all proceedings including the summonses issued against him.

In that petition, Kejriwal said he is a “vocal critic” of the ruling party, an opposition leader and a partner in the INDIA bloc, and the ED, being under the Centre’s control, has been “weaponised”.

The case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22 which was later scrapped.

Top AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh are in judicial custody in the case.

Kejriwal’s name has been mentioned multiple times in the charge sheets filed by the ED.

The agency has alleged that the accused were in touch with Kejriwal for formulating the excise policy that resulted in undue benefits to them in return for which they paid kickbacks to the AAP.

PTI 

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has issued fresh summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for questioning March 21 in the excise policy-linked money laundering case, official sources said Sunday.

The 55-year-old national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been asked to depose at the central agency’s office in central Delhi.

The ninth summons have been issued so that Kejriwal’s statement can be recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the sources said.

The CM has repeatedly refused to appear in response to these summons, calling them illegal.

A Delhi court Saturday had granted bail to Kejriwal on two complaints filed by the agency against him for skipping six of the previous eight summons in this case.

The agency arrested BRS leader K Kavitha in this case two days back.

PTI

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Friday denied any link between the functioning of investigative agencies, including ED raids, and electoral funding to the ruling party, saying these allegations are just assumptions.

“What if the companies gave the money, and after that, we still went and knocked at their doors through ED (Enforcement Directorate). Is that a probability or not…It is an assumption that the ED went and knocked at their doors, and to save themselves they came up with funds. The second assumption is that are you sure that they have given (electoral bonds) to BJP. What if they probably gave to regional parties,” she said while speaking at India Today Conclave.

The finance minister’s comments came a day after the Election Commission of India published a list of subscribers of the electoral bonds and funds mobilised by various political parties.

The list provided by State Bank of India, the issuer of electoral bonds, was published after the order of the Supreme Court.

Sitharaman said a political funding mechanism scrapped by the Supreme Court as ‘unconstitutional’ was an improvement on the past but a more transparent system should be put in place.

“It should be our effort to learn from this. If at all, whenever something comes (law regarding political funds), we have to introduce elements of lessons that we have taken from this to make sure there is transparency and that transparency will have to be progressively better than each earlier system,” she said.

Recalling her predecessor Arun Jaitley during whose regime the electoral bond scheme was introduced, she said even he was of the view that it is not a perfect system but it is one bit better.

Whatever money reaches to a party through this mechanism was white money, she said, adding that it was not a perfect system, but you moved from almost wild to something not perfect but one bit better.

On the way forward, Sitharaman wondered “if we are going back to the same old wild system of cash or cheque etc in the absence of electoral bond scheme”.

“If corporates can fund…Under which scheme of things or which law — all that will have to be worked out. Nobody is saying parties cannot be funded. There are issues on those sorts of things which of course will have to be looked into. You can’t afford to have shell companies or loss-making companies (funding political parties),” she said.

In its landmark verdict February 15, the apex court had scrapped the Centre’s electoral bonds scheme that allowed anonymous political funding, calling it “unconstitutional” and ordered their disclosure.

The electoral bonds scheme was introduced January 2, 2018. Electoral bonds were pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties as part of efforts to bring transparency to political funding.

The first sale of electoral bonds took place in March 2018.

PTI

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate Monday said it has attached a demand draft worth Rs10.29 crore of the Trinamool Congress as part of a money laundering investigation against the Alchemist Group promoted by the party’s former MP KD Singh.

This is the first time that the assets of a political party have been attached under the anti-money laundering law.

The TMC is headed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who has been at loggerheads with the Union government. She and her party have maintained that the actions of central agencies against its leaders have been politically motivated. The BJP has said agencies like ED, CBI and the Income Tax Department were acting against the corrupt.

In a statement, the agency said, “This fund (Rs10.29 crore demand draft) was used by the company (Alchemist) to make payments for various aviation/ helicopter companies for the aviation services availed by All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) party during the campaigning for 2014 Lok Sabha elections.”

The aircraft were used by the party for its star campaigners like West Bengal CM Banerjee, party MLA and former railway minister Mukul Roy, actor Moon Moon Sen and MP Nussrat Jahan among others, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said.

K D or Kanwar Deep Singh is a former MP of the party in Rajya Sabha.

The money laundering case stems from multiple FIRs filed by the CBI, Kolkata Police and the Uttar Pradesh Police against various individuals and companies of the Alchemist Group.

The case pertains to the charges that the Alchemist Group collected funds of more than Rs 1,800 crore from investors (victims) in its companies like Alchemist Holdings Limited and Alchemist Township India Limited on the false promise of providing high returns and giving flats, villas, plots and high-rate of interest on the investments to the depositors.

“However, the investors/public were never returned their money and the funds were siphoned off and diverted to various group companies of Alchemist Group,” the ED claimed.

The probe found that “a part of the money collected by cheating the public was used by Alchemist Group for making payments to aviation companies on behalf of the All India Trinamool Congress”, it said.

PTI

Kolkata: A team of CBI officials Wednesday evening reached the CID headquarters to take custody of Sandeshkhali ED official attack case accused Shajahan Sheikh, after a fresh directive by the Calcutta High Court this morning.

A team of CBI officials reached Bhawani Bhawan before 4pm. But till 5pm, he was not handed over by the CID despite the Calcutta High Court setting a deadline of 4:15pm.

“This is really shameful. Despite the Calcutta High Court setting a 4:15pm deadline, Shajahan Sheikh has not been handed over. This only proves that the TMC government has the least regard for the judiciary,“ BJP MLA Shankar Ghosh said.

The CBI Tuesday failed to get the custody of suspended TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh from the West Bengal CID even after waiting for more than two hours.

The CID said the leader of Sandeshkhali was not handed over to the central agency as the state government has moved the Supreme Court against an order of the Calcutta High Court.

In a fresh directive Wednesday, the Calcutta High Court ordered the West Bengal government to hand over the Sandeshkhali ED official attack case accused Shajahan Sheikh to the CBI by 4:15pm.

The high court directed the state government to “immediately implement” its Tuesday’s judgement to transfer a case on the attack on Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials at Sandeshkhali to the CBI and hand over custody of the main accused Sheikh to the central agency.

PTI

New Delhi: A Delhi court will hear March 2 the bail application of AAP leader Manish Sisodia, arrested in the money laundering case linked to the alleged excise scam.

Special judge M K Nagpal, who had recently granted three-day interim bail to the politician, adjourned the matter after noting that an application related to the case was pending before the Supreme Court.

“I will take up the matter on March 2,” the judge said.

The judge had Feb 21 granted interim bail to Sisodia to attend his niece’s wedding.

The CBI had February 26 last year arrested Sisodia for alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) subsequently arrested him March 9 in the connected money laundering case while he was in judicial custody in Tihar jail.

PTI

Chennai: The Madras High Court Wednesday reserved orders on a bail petition filed by former Tamil Nadu Minister V Senthil Balaji, who was arrested by the ED last year in a money laundering case.

Justice N Anand Venkatesh reserved orders without specifying any date, after hearing elaborate arguments from Senior Counsel C Aryama Sundaram, appearing for Balaji and Additional Solicitor General A R L Sundaresan, representing the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Balaji’s earlier bail plea was dismissed by the HC October 19, 2023.

The DMK leader, whose resignation from the MK Stalin-led state Cabinet was accepted last week by the Governor, was arrested in June 2023 by the central agency in the money laundering case linked to a cash-for-jobs scam when he was Transport minister in an earlier AIADMK regime.

Balaji is currently lodged in the Puzhal Central prison.

Separately, a local court in the city is hearing his plea for discharge from the case.

PTI

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has issued fresh summons to TMC leader and expelled Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra for questioning in a FEMA contravention case after she did not depose Monday, sources said.

The 49-year-old politician has been given a week’s time to appear after she sent a communication to the agency expressing her inability to depose, they said.

A response from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) politician was not available immediately.

The ED wants to question Moitra and record her statement under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) once she deposes.

Transactions linked to a non-resident external (NRE) account are under the scanner of the agency in the case apart from a few other foreign remittances and transfer of funds, the sources said.

Moitra is being probed by the CBI too which is conducting a preliminary inquiry into the allegations against Moitra on the reference from the Lokpal.

BJP MP Nishikant Dubey had accused Moitra of asking questions in Lok Sabha to target the Adani group and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the behest of businessman Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for gifts.

He had also accused Moitra of compromising the national security for monetary gains.

Moitra has denied any wrongdoing and claimed she was being targeted as she had raised questions on the deals of the Adani group.

“Neither has Lok Pal uploaded any referral order on website as per Lokpal Act & nor has CBI put out anything official. “Sources” telling journos as per usual media circus. Hope Rs 13,000 crore Adani coal scam merits CBI PE before my witchhunt,” Moitra had said on X in November.

PTI

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) may issue seventh summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in connection with the excise policy case, said an agency source.

This comes after Kejriwal Monday again skipped the Enforcement Directorate summons while party sources said that the validity of appearing before the ED is under the scrutiny of the court.

The ED had lodged a complaint in local court pursuant to Section 174 of the IPC against Kejriwal, accusing him of deliberately disregarding the initial three summons.

“The court has acknowledged this complaint, indicating a prima facie acceptance of Kejriwal’s alleged offence, subjecting him to prosecution,” said the ED sources.

“The court’s focus lies not on the summons’ validity but on Kejriwal’s purported intentional disobedience of these three summonses,” the ED sources added.

February 7, the Rouse Avenue court had issued summons to Kejriwal to appear February 17 on ED’s complaint for not complying with summons sent to him in connection with its probe into the money laundering case related to the now-scrapped excise policy matter.

The ED on January 31 had issued summons to Kejriwal, and was told to appear before it February 2. That was the fifth summons issued to the AAP Convenor. Before that ED had issued summons January 18, January 3, December 22, 2023 and November 2, 2023.

The financial probe agency’s complaint alleged that Kejriwal intentionally did not want to obey the summons and kept on giving “lame excuses”.

“If a high-ranking public functionary like him disobeyed the law, it would set a wrong example for the common man, i.e., the Aam Aadmi,” the agency had said.

IANS

New Delhi: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear Monday a PIL seeking a court-monitored CBI or SIT probe into the violence in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali village.

A bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Augustine George Masih will hear the PIL filed by advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava. February 16, the top court agreed to hear the plea after it was mentioned for urgent listing by Srivastava.

The plea, filed by Srivastava in his personal capacity, also seeks compensation for the victims of the Sandeshkhali violence and action against officials of the West Bengal Police for alleged dereliction of duty.

Srivastava, a practising Supreme Court lawyer, has been filing PILs in the top court to raise socio-political issues.

The plea also seeks transfer of the probe and subsequent trial outside West Bengal. Besides, it seeks an inquiry by a three-judge committee as done in the Manipur violence case.

Sandeshkhali, a village in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, has been witnessing protests over allegations of sexual abuse of women by a local TMC leader. Several local women have accused the local Trinamool Congress strongman Shajahan Sheikh and his supporters of land-grab and sexually assaulting them under coercion.

Shajahan has been absconding after a mob, allegedly affiliated to him, attacked Enforcement Directorate officials who had gone to search his premises in connection with a corruption case.

PTI