QBullet: Chanda Kochhar Booked; Meet on CBI Chief ‘Inconclusive’
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1. Mrs and Mr Chanda Kochhar Booked
Almost 10 months after The Indian Express first reported the alleged nexus between Venugopal Dhoot-promoted Videocon Group and Nupower Renewables Pvt Ltd of Deepak Kochhar, husband of then ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar, the CBI has filed an FIR against the Kochhars, Dhoot and firms including Nupower Renewables and Videocon Industries for allegedly cheating ICICI Bank of Rs 1,730 crore until March 2012.
The CBI has also named Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd, Videocon International Electronics Ltd (VIEL) and unknown public servants as accused in the case. It has alleged “the accused (Chanda Kochhar) sanctioned certain loans to private companies in a criminal conspiracy with other accused to cheat ICICI Bank”.
The case has been filed under sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
(Source: The Indian Express)
2. Panel Meets, No Decision on Next CBI Director
The PM-led selection panel met on Thursday to consider the appointment of a new CBI director but did not reach a final decision, with other members, particularly Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, seeking time to study details of the eligible IPS officers to assess competence.
“No candidate was finalised for the CBI chief ’s post today. The eligible names were circulated among the members of the selection committee. The panel will meet again soon to take a final decision on the next CBI director,” a government functionary told TOI. The panel comprises Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Kharge, besides PM Narendra Modi.
(Source: The Times of India)
3. After 43 Days, First Body Pulled Out of Meghalaya Mine
A joint team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the Navy, engaged in rescuing 15 miners trapped inside an illegal coal mine in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district, made the first breakthrough on Thursday when it retrieved the body of one miner from the main shaft of the mine at 3 pm.
“The team retrieved one body from the main shaft from about 210 feet in the horizontal passage (rat-hole) at about a depth of 355 feet, where the water level was about 170 feet. The body was carefully pulled out and handed over to the OC of Saipung police station in the presence of East Jaintia Hills civil administration officials today,” an NDRF spokesman said. He added that two NDRF rescuers, three Navy personnel and civil hospital staff went deep down into the main shaft to recover the body which has been dispatched to the civil hospital at Khliehriat for a post-mortem.
(Source: The Times of India)
4. Ashok Chakra for Militant Turned Soldier Killed in Valley Firefight
Two months after he was killed in a firefight at Batagund in South Kashmir’s Shopian, Lance Naik Nazir Ahmad Wani has been awarded the Ashok Chakra, the country’s highest peacetime gallantry award.
Wani was once part of the Ikhwan, the government-backed counter-insurgency militia of the 1990s, and is the first Kashmiri soldier to be awarded the Ashok Chakra, according to the Army. President Ram Nath Kovind will present the award to his wife Mahjabeen Wani on Republic Day.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Mahjabeen said, “I have lost my husband and no award will bring him back. We have not received any formal letter informing us of the award. I’m told he is being honoured but I don’t know what to tell my sons.” She is currently in Kota with her sons Shahid (18) and Athar (20).
(Source: The Indian Express)
5. No Chance of Going Back to Era of Ballot Papers: CEC
Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora on Thursday ruled out reverting to the paper ballot system for conducting polls and said there is no way the country will be “intimidated, bullied or coerced” into giving up electronic voting machines (EVMs).
EVMs have been the subject a political slugfest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which supports their use, and Opposition parties led by the Congress, which alleges they can be tampered with to rig poll results.
“I would like to make it very clear that we are not going back to the era of ballot papers,” Arora said, speaking at an international conference on making elections inclusive and accessible.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
6. Cong Sees Red at Mahajan's Rahul Remark
Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said on Thursday that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s formal entry in Congress implies an acknowledgement on the part of Rahul Gandhi that he cannot handle his responsibilities, inviting a strong riposte from Congress that the BJP leader should not poke her nose in its affairs.
With Priyanka joining Congress as AICC General Secretary, Mahajan told reporters, “She is a good woman. Rahul has accepted that he can’t do politics all alone and, therefore, he is taking help from Priyanka. It’s a big matter for me that Rahul has finally understood that he can’t handle (the responsibilities).”
(Source: The Times of India)
7. Illegally Extended Building Collapses in Gurugram, Kills 7
Seven people were buried under debris after a building in Ullawas village of Gurugram along Southern Peripheral Road (SPR) collapsed on Thursday while it was being illegally extended by constructing a second and a third floor. The building collapsed within 12 hours after the roof of the third floor was cast in concrete, killing all seven people who lived in the building, all on the first floor.
The plot owner and the contractor were booked in an FIR, while the district administration has initiated a magisterial probe, after the chief minister announced Rs 3 lakh ex-gratia for the victims.
(Source: The Times of India)
8. SC Refuses to Shift Deadline for NRC Beyond 31 July
The Supreme Court said on Thursday that the 31 July deadline to finalise the National Register of Citizens (NRC) for Assam cannot be extended and asked the state government, the NRC coordinator and the Election Commission to ensure that the upcoming general elections do not hamper the process.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi asked Assam chief secretary, state NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela, and Election Commission to conduct a meeting within a week to ensure that the NRC finalisation process and the upcoming parliamentary elections go “hand-in-hand”.
The court’s order came after the Assam government asked it to extend the deadline.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
9. 15 Out, 485 More to Go: Crocodiles Removed for Seaplane to the Statue of Unity
Amid confusion over where the reptiles would be released, the Gujarat Forest Department has started evacuating crocodiles from two ponds on the Sardar Sarovar Dam premises on the Narmada, to make way for the seaplane service planned to promote tourism at the Statue of Unity.
Until last Tuesday, 15 crocodiles had been evacuated. There are roughly 500 of them in the two ponds located adjacent to each other on the dam premises. The mugger crocodiles (Crocodylus palustris) in the Narmada fall under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act, which covers the most endangered species.
A multi-level committee comprising officials of the Civil Aviation Department and Gujarat government had cleared Pond 3, locally called ‘Magar talav (Crocodile pond)’, for setting up the seaplane terminal, to connect cities of Gujarat to the Sardar Patel statue site.
(Source: The Indian Express)
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