Dharmasthala horror: Karnataka government sets up SIT to probe the case
The SIT, headed by top police officer P. Mohanty, will now investigate these decades-old allegations. This move comes amid calls for a court-monitored probe to ensure a fair investigation and prevent witness intimidation. Additionally, a political storm is brewing in Andhra Pradesh, where former Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy has been named in the CID's remand report concerning an alleged ₹3,200 crore liquor scam. In other news, the Enforcement Directorate has summoned Tollywood stars including Rana Daggubati and Vijay Devrakonda for promoting illegal betting apps, and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has been hospitalised after experiencing mild giddiness.
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Indian Express
5 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Gurugram digital arrest scam: Court rejects bail plea of key accused, points to bank chairman role
A court in Gurugram has rejected the second bail application of a former cooperative bank director from Hyderabad in a Rs 5.8-crore digital arrest scam case while noting that 'the chairman of the bank is also involved' according to the accused's disclosure statement and has 'to be joined into the (police) investigation'. In the order rejecting bail on July 21, Judicial Magistrate Arun Dabla found the allegations in the case to be 'grave and serious' and stated that the accused, Samudrala Venkateswarlu, committed a 'socio economic offence which has deep rooted impact on the society'. The scam, which targeted a top advertising executive, was at the heart of a series of investigative reports published by The Indian Express last month on how digital scamsters moved crores in minutes across banks and state borders using and reusing 'mule' accounts. In the Gurugram case — just one of the 1.23 lakh such crimes that were reported in 2024 involving Rs 1,935 crore — this newspaper reported that scamsters routed the Rs 5.8 crore from the victim's HDFC Bank account through three layers: an ICICI Bank account of a college student in Haryana's Jhajjar; 25 other accounts in 10 banks across the country; and, onward to 141 more accounts. The second layer of 25 accounts included at least 11 in Sreenivasa Padmavathi Co-operative Urban Bank of Hyderabad where Samudrala was a director. At the time, The Indian Express spoke to the bank chairman P Srinivas Kumar who blamed officials at ICICI Bank for not raising the alarm. On Friday, Kumar told The Indian Express that he was 'unaware' of the latest court order and Samudrala's allegations. 'If someone approaches me officially, I will see what is to be done,' Kumar, who is also a lawyer, said. The court's order also mirrors the other findings of this newspaper: a bulk of the stolen money (Rs 4.87 crore) was 'transferred' to accounts in the Hyderabad bank; the account-holders included Royya Sharadha (a tailor) and N Ravinder (a carpenter) who told police that Samudrala allegedly made them sign blank cheque books and withdrawal forms on the pretext of getting them jobs. Samudrala was arrested on April 29 by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Gurugram police, which is probing the case. During interrogation, Samudrala allegedly told police that he had been lodged in the Sabarmati Jail from September 2024 to January this year and then till February in the Rajkot Central Jail in similar cases. In its latest order, the Gurugram court said, 'The court must be proactive in such cases where the accused dupe innocent and poor people and mercilessly take away all their hard earned money and deprived them of their life time savings… if such accused are dealt with leniency and they are granted bail in a casual manner then it would certainly send a wrong message in the society…' It noted that Rs 18.5 lakh has so far been recovered. The Indian Express had also reported that the SIT was alerted by the Union Home Ministry's cyber fraud unit, Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), that the 11 accounts in Hyderabad are also allegedly at the heart of 181 other such complaints. According to one complaint, Rs 21 crore had allegedly passed through these accounts in just three months. The order rejecting Samudrala's bail stated: 'Investigation is still pending and the other co-accused are yet to be arrested…' Ritu Sarin is Executive Editor (News and Investigations) at The Indian Express group. Her areas of specialisation include internal security, money laundering and corruption. Sarin is one of India's most renowned reporters and has a career in journalism of over four decades. She is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) since 1999 and since early 2023, a member of its Board of Directors. She has also been a founder member of the ICIJ Network Committee (INC). She has, to begin with, alone, and later led teams which have worked on ICIJ's Offshore Leaks, Swiss Leaks, the Pulitzer Prize winning Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, Implant Files, Fincen Files, Pandora Papers, the Uber Files and Deforestation Inc. She has conducted investigative journalism workshops and addressed investigative journalism conferences with a specialisation on collaborative journalism in several countries. ... Read More
Hindustan Times
5 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Expeditiously decide appeals in anti-Sikh riots cases: SC tells Allahabad HC
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday told the Allahabad high court to expeditiously decide 'out of turn' the appeals in the 1984 ant-Sikh riots cases, emphasising that the four-decades-old tragedy was investigated only upon the court's intervention and any further delay would result in evidence of vital witnesses being lost. A view of Supreme Court building (Sonu Mehta/HT FILE PHOTO) The court order came on a public interest litigation filed by the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee that complained about the slow progress of anti-Sikh riots cases in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh and sought the court's intervention to expedite the appeals pending before the high court seeking re-investigation. 'Keeping that in view, and most importantly the fact that with the passage of time, production of vital witnesses has become a difficult task, we request the high court to take up these matters on an out-of-turn basis and expeditiously,' a bench of justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said, The court reviewed the UP government's status report, which indicated that the trial had been stayed in three of the 11 appeals pending in the high court. 'What bothers us is that in the 11 cases where the trials commenced pursuant to the charge sheets filed by the SIT, the high court has stayed the proceedings in three cases,' the bench said. The court stated that it did not wish to comment on the issue, as it might impact the accused's rights, but requested the high court to bear in mind that the investigation into these cases was initiated at the top court's intervention. '..all that we request is that the high court may take up these matters out of turn for their adjudication in accordance with law. We say so for the reason the unfortunate tragedy took place way back in the year 1984 and it is only because of repeated efforts made by this court that the investigations were revived, SIT was constituted and on completion of investigation, the chargesheet has now been filed,' the top court said. The UP government informed the bench that in most cases, the high court has condoned the delay in admitting appeals after a gap of more than 8,000 days. The court directed the state's Advocate General to deploy its best law officers having expertise in criminal law to assist in the hearing of the pending appeals. It further directed its order to be placed before the high court bench for necessary action. The petitioner, represented by advocate Jagjit Singh Chabra, requested the court to monitor further progress of the cases. SImilar monitoring is being done by the top court of appeals pending in the anti-Sikh riots cases pursued before the Delhi high court. The top court's attempts to bring justice to the victims of the 1984 riots had led to the constitution of a special investigation team (SIT) headed by former Delhi high court judge, justice (retd) SN Dhingra who analysed the riot cases that were closed. In a petition by S Gurlad Singh Kahlon, a former DSGMC member, the top court was informed of the shoddy probe conducted by the Delhi police which clubbed multiple murder cases into a single FIR and failed to register separate offences involving sexual assault, murder, etc.
Time of India
6 hours ago
- Time of India
Teacher recruitment scandal: Koppal DDPI moved from post following probe
Pic: Srishail Biradar Koppal: DDPI Srishail Biradar, the main accused in the teachers' recruitment scandal in Bidar, was removed from his position as DDPI of Koppal on July 24 evening. The state govt ministry's notification dated July 24 cited Rule 5 Sub-rule (6) of the Karnataka State Civil Service Rules, 2015, which states: "If any officer is serving in an executive post and a departmental inquiry or criminal case is initiated against him or if a penalty is imposed, he shall be transferred to a non-executive post." The notification highlighted that under Rule 2(a), a case was registered against Srishail Shantappa Biradar, DDPI (administration), Koppal, regarding irregularities in primary school teacher recruitment in Bidar district. According to the govt order, dated Sept 5, 2022, a criminal case was filed at the Vidhana Soudha Police Station, Bengaluru, with instructions for CID investigation. Due to ongoing departmental inquiry and criminal proceedings, DDPI Biradar was ordered to report to the govt for immediate reassignment, considering public and administrative interests. Biradar faced additional accusations in Koppal district, including involvement in unauthorised teacher deputations and smart class irregularities. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Beyond Text Generation: An AI Tool That Helps You Write Better Grammarly Install Now Undo Education department sources indicate that the enhanced CID investigation might uncover additional misconduct. In response to this situation, ZP CEO Varnit Negi informed TOI: "Yelburga BEO Somashekaragouda Patil has been assigned the charge. Given the urgent need to enhance the educational conditions in the district, steps will be taken to appoint a new DDPI shortly."
