Month: March 2023

A vehicle in Imran Khan’s convoy overturned on Saturday while the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief was on his way to Islamabad to appear in court in the Toshakhana case, ARY News reported.

Earlier today, Imran Khan departed for Islamabad from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore.
The region is reportedly placed under heavy security in advance of Imran Khan’s visit to Islamabad’s Judiciary Complex in order to maintain peace and order and prevent anything unpleasant from happening.

On Friday the Pakistan government shifted the Toshakhana case hearing venue from the additional sessions court to a comparatively safer Judicial Complex over security concerns of Imran Khan, Pakistan-based Dawn newspaper reported.

Khan will appear before Additional Session Judge Zafar Iqbal in the case after he issued the former prime minister’s non-bailable arrest warrants after he had frequently skipped court dates, alleging “security threats” from his attorney.

On March 14, when the Islamabad police travelled to Lahore to arrest Khan in accordance with the court’s instructions, they encountered resistance; as a result, more than 60 police officers from Islamabad and Punjab were hurt, and several PTI workers were also hurt, Geo News reported.

Meanwhile, Imran Khan also received protective bail in nine cases by Lahore High Court (LHC).

The protective bail was approved for five cases in Islamabad and three cases in Lahore. Imran Khan secured bail in the cases filed in Lahore till March 27, whereas, the protective bail in five cases in Islamabad was approved till March 24. (ANI)

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A sudden change of weather was seen in Delhi, as the residents of the national capital woke up to a brief spell of light rain on Saturday morning.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast, very light rainfall is expected on Sunday.
“Thunderstorms with light to moderate intensity rain would occur over and adjoining areas of Kaithal, Narwana (Haryana). Light to moderate intensity rain would occur over and adjoining areas of isolated places of Delhi (Alipur, Burari, Karawal Nagar)”

“Civil Lines, Seelampur, Vivek Vihar, IGI Airport, NCR (Loni Dehat, Hindon AF Station, Gurugram, Manesar) Deoband, Najibabad, Shamli, Bijnaur, Chandpur, Bagpat, Meerut, Khekra, Modinagar (U.P.) during next 2 hours,” tweeted Regional Met Centre New Delhi.

On Friday night, the IMD’s Chennai Regional Meteorological Centre predicted thunderstorms and lightning to lash the city.

“Light to moderate rain with thunderstorms and lightning is likely to occur at one or two places over Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Erode, Salem, Coimbatore, Thiruppur, Theni, Dindigul, Madurai, Virudhunagar, Ramanathapuram, Tenkasi, Thoothukudi, Thirunelveli and Kanyakumari districts of Tamilnadu during the next three hours,” the IMD said in a statement.

The weather department further said light to moderate rainfall is likely to occur at one or two places in various areas.

“Light to moderate rain is likely to occur at one or two places over Thiruvallur, Chennai, Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram, Ranipet, Vellore, Thirupattur, Thiruvannamalai, Villupuram, Kallakurichi, Cuddalore, Karur, Namakkal, Nilgiris and Sivagangai districts of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry during the next three hours,” the statement read further.

Earlier, on March 17, Thursday, the IMD’s Mumbai Regional Meteorological Centre had predicted thunderstorms and lighting in Maharashtra.

Further, the IMD also advised people to take necessary precautions in anticipation of wet and stormy weather. (ANI)

The mortal remains of Lieutenant Colonel Vijay Bhanu Reddy were given full military honours at Hyderabad and were moved to his residence at Malkajgiri in Hyderabad on Saturday.

“The wreath was laid on behalf of a grateful nation for the untiring service to the nation by the officer. The mortal remains have been moved to Lt Col VVB Reddy’s residence at Malkajgiri, Hyderabad”, said the officials.

Brig K Somashankar, Officiating General Officer Commanding, Telangana and Andhra Sub Area and father of Lt Col Vijay Bhanu Reddy, laid the wreath while receiving the mortal remains of the officer, said officials.

Tributes were paid with full military honours at Hyderabad to the mortal remains of Lt Col Reddy, who sacrificed his life in the line of duty on March 16 while on an operational sortie in Arunachal Pradesh.

According to officials, the Army Aviation Cheetah helicopter flying an operational sortie near Bomdila in Arunachal Pradesh crashed near the Mandala hills area of the state on Thursday.

The aircraft was reported to have lost contact with the Air Traffic Controller at around 9.15 am on Thursday. (ANI)

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Customs officials seized 85 oval-shaped capsules of cocaine worth nearly Rs 11.28 Crore at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI).

“Based on specific intelligence, it was found that one Brazil national who departed from Sao Paulo Airport (Brazil) for Dubai and arrived at T-3, IGI Airport, New Delhi was diverted to the green channel for the x-ray of his baggage by the customs officers on duty,” customs officials said.
Subsequently, on medical examination of the pax, specific material was found to be secreted inside the body, customs officials said.

“The medical procedure yielded the recovery of a total of 85 oval-shaped capsules containing a total of 752 grams of a white powdery substance, suspected to be narcotics. When this material was subjected to a diagnostic test, prima facie it appeared to contain a commercial quantity of cocaine,” officials said.

The passenger violated provisions of section 8 of the NDPS Act, 1985 and had committed an offence punishable under Section 21, Section 23 and Section 29 of the NDPS Act 1985.

According to the Customs officials, on March 14, the said passenger was arrested under section 43(b) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985 and Section 43(a) of the NDPS Act, 1985.

Further investigation into the matter is under progress. (ANI)

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After a glorious win at the Oscars, team ‘RRR’ is back in India and continues to celebrate the victory.

On Friday, one of the main leads of the magnum opus Ram Charan and his father Chiranjeevi met with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi.
Ram Charan greeted the Home Minister with a bouquet of flowers and a traditional silk stole. Amit Shah then extended his heartiest congratulatory message to Ram Charan and felicitated him with a red silk stole as well.

Check out the video here:

If reports are to be believed, Ram Charan is also scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi soon.

Ram Charan reached the capital earlier in the day to a grand welcome by his fans at the airport.

A sea of fans carried banners, and posters with his name and photos on them to welcome the actor back to his country after his film RRR’s track Naatu Naatu won Best Original song at the 95th Academy Awards in Los Angeles.

Ram Charan was all smiles and kept folding his hands and waving as he exit the airport and made his way to his car. His wife Upasana was also papped along with him.

The actor made sure to greet his fans through the sunroof of his car.

Speaking to reporters stationed outside the Indira Gandhi International Airport, Ram Charan said, “I am pleased and happy. Thank you, everyone. We are proud of M.M Keeravani, S.S. Rajamouli and Chandrabose. Because of their hard work, we went to the red carpet and brought Oscar for India.”

Ram Charan described ‘Naatu Naatu’ as the song of the people of India.

“I thank all the fans and people from North to South and East to West parts of India for watching RRR and making the ‘Naatu Naatu’ song a superhit. Naatu Naatu was not our song it was the song of the people of India. It gave us an avenue for the Oscars,” he added.

Earlier during the wee hours of Friday, RRR director SS Rajamouli and Naatu Naatu composer M.M. Keeravaani returned to Hyderbad after attending the Oscars ceremony.

‘Naatu Naatu’ was the first Telugu song to be nominated in the ‘Original Song’ category at the Oscars. It won the award trumping big names such as Rihanna and Lady Gaga. Singers Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava and composer along with director SS Rajamouli and lead actors Jr NTR and Ram Charan were also present at the big event.

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The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian official Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova for the alleged scheme to deport Ukrainian children to Russia, reported CNN.

The Hague-based ICC accused the Russian president of responsibility for war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine during the war that has been ongoing for over a year.
The Hague-based court said in a statement on Friday Putin “is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of the population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”

It also issued a warrant for the arrest of Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, the commissioner for children’s rights in the office of the president of the Russian Federation on similar allegations, reported Al Jazeera.

Russia did not immediately comment following the ICC’s move on Friday. Russia denies committing atrocities since it invaded Ukraine in February last year.

The warrants came a day after a United Nations-backed inquiry accused Russia of committing wide-ranging war crimes in Ukraine, including the forced deportations of children in areas it controls, reported Al Jazeera.

The UN genocide convention defines “forcibly transferring children of the group to another group” as one of five acts that can be prosecuted as genocide.

However, the successful extradition of President Putin could prove a far greater challenge as Russia does not recognise the jurisdiction of the international criminal court in The Hague, reported DW News.

Russia denies deliberately harming civilians but its defence ministry has claimed to have targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

Russia signed the Rome statute, which governs the ICC, in 2000 but never ratified the agreement to become a member. It formally withheld its signature from the founding statute of the ICC in 2016, a day after the court published a report classifying the Russian annexation of Crimea as an occupation.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Kremlin has severed ties with several prominent international organisations, deepening the country’s isolation from the west.

In March last year, Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe, the continent’s leading human rights watchdog, over its attack on Ukraine.

Moscow is also pulling out of the International Space Station after 2024 and has threatened to withdraw from the World Trade Organization and the World Health Organization. (ANI)

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National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday submitted the chargesheet in the case against Popular Front of India (PFI) following the nationwide raid against its cadres and members. The chargesheet was submitted in the Special NIA Court at Kochi.

According to the chargesheet, 59 people were arraigned as accused. The first accused in the case is Karamana Ashraf Maulvi, who was the state leader of PFI.
NIA alleged in the chargesheet that the PFI tried to convert India into an Islamic country by 2047 and money has been collected for this purpose.

The chargesheet further stated that “conspiracies were hatched against people of other religions by PFI. Their move was to create religious conflict among the people and destroy the peaceful atmosphere and the accused tried to destroy democracy and bring Islamic rule. They were also tried to conduct weapons training among Muslim youth. The attempt was to create insecurity in the country with the support of the terrorist organization ISIS. The PFI planned to eliminate those who obstructed their movements. Their leaders supported ISIS, a banned organization with the same aim.”

The PFI case was registered in September 2022 by the NIA to probe the criminal conspiracy hatched by the PFI and its leaders and cadres to create a wedge and between people of different communities through the radicalisation of impressionable Muslim youth, training them in handling of weapons and raising funds for carrying out acts of terror and violence with the ultimate objective of establishing an Islamic Rule in India by 2047.

In addition to the above-mentioned criminal conspiracy, the NIA has, in its chargesheet, also included the connected case of the brutal killing of a Palakkad resident, Sreenivasan, who was hacked to death by armed PFI cadres.

NIA investigations had shown some of the accused in the PFI criminal conspiracy case (September 2022) to have been involved in the Sreenivasan killing too, according to an agency spokesperson.

The accused in the two chargesheets filed today have been charged under various sections of IPC, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, and the Arms Act, 1959.

The Kerala chargesheet has been filed after searches conducted by the NIA at more than 100 locations across the state. The NIA has also attached 17 properties as they were identified as ‘proceeds of terrorism’ and frozen 18 bank accounts of the accused during the course of its investigations.

Investigations in the case revealed that the accused had been conspiring to drive a wedge between different communities and groups living in India, spread the concept of violent extremism and Jihad in India with the objective of dismembering the country and taking it over by establishing Islamic Rule in India by 2047. (ANI)

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It’s a big moment for actor Alaya F as her “favourite actor” and global superstar Priyanka Chopra has praised her for being unique and called her the next Bollywood superstar in one of her recent interviews.

During a recent interview, Priyanka was asked about her opinion on Bollywood’s next superstar from the current lot.
Priyanka Chopra took Alaya F’s name and said, “I really like Alaya. She is Pooja Bedi’s daughter. I have told her when I met her. I think she is cool, has a unique perspective. She is not trying to be like everyone else. But I think, I don’t know. We will find that in a few years”.

After the video went viral on social media, Alaya took to her Instagram stories to express her gratitude and excitement. Alaya mentioned how Priyanka’s words mean the world to her. She shared the video on her Instagram stories and wrote, “I can’t even begin to describe how overwhelmed and grateful I’m feeling!! When your most most most favourite actor picks you when asked who they think deserves to be the next Bollywood superstar, there is LITERALLY no better feeling in the world!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you @priyankachopra. Going to be smiling and dancing all day.”

Priyanka mentioned this in an interview she gave in Texas recently while promoting her upcoming Amazon series ‘Citadel’.

As mentioned, Priyanka will be next seen in ‘Citadel’ which is an upcoming spy-thriller web series.

The show will stream on the OTT platform Amazon Prime Video from April 28, 2023, with two adrenaline-fueled episodes, followed by a new episode released weekly every Friday through May 26.

‘Citadel’ is a fictional story wherein Priyanka Chopra and Richard Madden play elite spies who work for an organisation called Citadel.

The series is also getting an Indian adaptation. Raj and DK are creating the Indian version of Citadel featuring Varun Dhawan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu in the lead roles.

Talking about Alaya F, she is gearing up to enthral the audience with the moving story of Indian visionary Srikanth Bolla, titled ‘SRI’.He was an industrialist who didn’t let his visual impairment come in the way of his vision and founded Bollant Industries.

In the upcoming film, Alaya will be sharing the screen space with Rajkummar Rao.

Helmed by ‘Saand Ki Aankh’ director Tushar Hiranandani, the biopic also stars Sharad Kelkar and south actor Jyothika in pivotal roles.

She will also be seen in the upcoming film ‘U-Turn’. (ANI)

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The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday filed two chargesheets against a total of 68 Popular Front of India (PFI) leaders, cadres and members in two separate cases in Kochi (Kerala) and Chennai (Tamil Nadu).

With these, the total number of chargesheets filed by NIA against PFI cadres this month has gone up to four. The first such chargesheet was filed in Jaipur on March 13 and the second in Hyderabad on March 16.
The chargesheets filed on Friday in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the two states where PFI is the most active, relate to separate criminal conspiracies hatched by the PFI to create a wedge between people of different communities through the radicalisation of impressionable Muslim youth, providing them with training in handling of weapons, and raising funds for carrying out acts of terror and violence with the ultimate objective of establishing an Islamic Rule in India by 2047, said the NIA statement.

Kerala PFI case was registered in September 2022 by the NIA to probe the criminal conspiracy hatched by the PFI and its leaders and cadres to create a wedge and between people of different communities through the radicalisation of impressionable Muslim youth, training them in handling of weapons and raising funds for carrying out acts of terror and violence with the ultimate objective of establishing an Islamic Rule in India by 2047.

In addition to the above mentioned criminal conspiracy, the NIA has, in its Kerala chargesheet, also included the connected case of the brutal killing of a Palakkad resident, Sreenivasan, who was hacked to death by armed PFI cadres.

NIA investigations had shown some of the accused in the PFI criminal conspiracy case (September 2022) to have been involved in the Sreenivasan killing too, according to an agency spokesperson.

The accused in the two chargesheets filed today have been charged under various sections of IPC, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, and the Arms Act, 1959.

In the Kerala case, registered in September 2022, the chargesheet has been filed in the Special Court for NIA Cases, Ernakulam, against the PFI as an organisation and 58 other accused persons. NIA had arrested 16 of the accused after taking over the case in 2022, while the others were arrested earlier by Kerala Police.

The Kerala chargesheet has been filed after searches conducted by the NIA at more than 100 locations across the state. The NIA has also attached 17 properties as they were identified as ‘proceeds of terrorism’ and frozen 18 bank accounts of the accused during the course of its investigations.

Investigations in the case revealed that the accused had been conspiring to drive a wedge between different communities and groups living in India, spread the concept of violent extremism and Jihad in India with the objective of dismembering the country and taking it over by establishing Islamic Rule in India by 2047.

To achieve these objectives, PFI established various wings and units, such as ‘Reporters Wing’, ‘Physical and Arms Training Wing’ and ‘Service Teams’, said the NIA statement.

Investigations by the NIA revealed that PFI was using its various campuses, facilities and infrastructure to impart arms training to selected cadres in the guise of physical education, yoga training etc. They also established a ‘Reporters Wing’ and ‘Service Teams or Hit Teams’ to eliminate their ‘targets’. Whenever required, PFI pressed into service its loyal and highly trained cadres of their ‘Service Teams’, as ‘executioners’ of the Orders pronounced by their parallel Courts, called ‘Dar-ul-Qaza’.

In a separate case registered and investigated by NIA Branch Office in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, NIA has also filed a chargesheet against 10 accused on Thursday. This case was also registered in September 2022 to probe the criminal conspiracy, hatched by the PFI and its leaders to divide people based on religious affiliations through radicalization and weapons training.

Some of the prominent PFI leaders and office bearers chargesheeted in this case on Friday include Abdul Sathar state general secretary, Yahiya Koya Thangal state executive member, Shihas MH Ernakulam zonal secretary, alongwith district secretaries/president sainudhen TS, Sadik AP, CT Sulaiman and PK Usman state general secretary Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) Kerala.

In the Tamil Nadu case, the chargesheet filed before the NIA Special Court Chennai has named 10 accused, including Khalid Mohammed, the state vice president of PFI. This case was also registered in September 2022, when nine of the accused were arrested by NIA. The 10th accused was taken into custody a few months later.

NIA investigations in the case had shown that the accused had conducted radicalization programmes to motivate, instigate and recruit gullible Muslim youth, who were then provided weapons training in training camps. PFI cadres used to carry out instructions of PFI office bearers and leaders to conduct recce and attack adversaries and commit unlawful and violent activities. (ANI)

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The Rouse Avenue Court on Friday extended former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) remand by five more days in a money laundering case pertaining to alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy of GNCTD.

While seeking further remand of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader in connection with the excise policy case, ED told the court that various crucial information is revealed during the custody of Manish Sisodia.
The agency further said, in view of the findings, it has summons to the then Excise Commissioner Rahul Singh for March 20 (who was first issued summons for March 15) but had taken adjournment of at least four days as he is suffering from viral infection and fever). Further summons to C Aravind, the then Secretary of Deputy CM for March 21, Dinesh Arora for March 17; and Amit Arora for March 20 have already been issued, said ED.

The above findings and persons need to be confronted with Manish Sisodia, said ED.

Special Judge MK Nagpal on Friday extended the ED remand period of Sisodia till March 22, 2023.

Appearing for Sisodia, Senior Advocate Mohit Mathur had opposed the remand application of ED and submitted that personal liberty is paramount. “The court is the custodian of our liberty. My liberty is at your hand. During seven days custody, they had only four people to be confronted. Confrontation need not custody,” the lawyer added.

Appearing for ED, Advocate Zohaib Hossain submitted that huge mail data, mobile data all of that are being forensically analyzed. The mobile phone was changed the day when LG wrote to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which was used by Sisodia for a long time.

Counsel for ED further submitted that the statements were confirmed by the recovery of the data received from the computer of the arrestee. Mobile data, email data, cloud data was also received during the interpretation, ED said.

Earlier, ED said, the act of pro-active destruction of evidence leads to only one inference that Manish Sisodia made conscious efforts to destroy evidence of offence of money laundering, said Enforcement Directorate while seeking remand of Manish Sisodia in connection with the excise policy case.

Appearing for ED, Advocates Zohaib Hossain and Naveen Kumar Matta had earlier submitted that even in the statement given by Manish Sisodia on March 7 and 9, he has been untrue. “On being asked about his association with Dinesh Arora, who handled the transfer of kickbacks from the South Group to Vijay Nair, he gave an answer contrary to what has been revealed by independent persons/stakeholders,” ED said.

Sisodia was on Friday presented before the court after the end of his remand period in the case, granted earlier by the same court

The ED earlier also told the court that Manish Sisodia had purchased SIM cards and mobile phones in other people’s names.

There was a conspiracy behind framing the excise policy. The conspiracy was coordinated by Vijay Nair, along with others and the Excise policy was brought out for extraordinary profit margin for wholesalers, ED argued in the court.

ED told the court that the margin of 12 per cent of wholesale profit margin to private entities was never discussed in the GoM meeting.

The probe agency had also apprised the court about the meeting between Vijay Nair and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC K Kavitha.

ED stated that accused Hyderabad-based chartered accountant Butchibabu Gorantla disclosed a political understanding between then Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and K Kavitha who also met Vijay Nair. Butchibabu is the former auditor of K Kavitha and is presently on bail.

Countering Sisodia’s lawyer’s arguements, the ED lawyer told the court that if the policy is a matter of executive then there would not be a coal scam or a 2G scam.

Earlier, Sisodia was arrested last week by ED in money laundering in connection with the excise policy case.

He was arrested during his Judicial custody in Tihar Jail, where he was lodged in.

ED on March 9 arrested former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in the liquor policy case, after hours of questioning at Tihar Jail.

Sisodia was arrested by the CBI in the liquor policy case on February 26 and was sent to 14-day judicial custody on March 6.

The ED also made another arrest in the case earlier, as it took Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandra Pillai into its custody.

The ED, on Thursday, summoned BRS MLC and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao’s daughter K Kavitha for questioning in the liquor policy case.

Sisodia was arrested by the CBI earlier in its ongoing investigation of a case related to alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD). Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court sent him to Judicial Custody till March 20. (ANI)

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