Latest news with #Atul
Indian Express
4 days ago
- Indian Express
‘Tilak took his last breath in my arms': Delhi cop bids farewell to beloved stallion on his 31st birthday
On the morning of June 14, Constable Atul received a call from a colleague at Delhi's Mounted Police Unit. His seven-year-old stallion, Tilak — who had won a medal at a national sports meet earlier this year — was unwell. Atul, who was at home at the time, rushed to the unit — and found Tilak in pain, kicking his legs. These were signs of an abdominal condition called colic, usually caused by problems in the gastrointestinal tract. Atul and other officials from the unit rushed Tilak to a veterinary hospital near Tis Hazari Court for immediate medical attention. The next day, following an initial round of treatment, doctors referred the stallion to the District Veterinary Hospital in Hisar. Tilak underwent surgery there, but did not survive. It was in the early hours of Tuesday (June 17) when Tilak took his last breath. 'The doctors had asked me to help him walk a few steps, but he soon collapsed. A few minutes later, the doctors said Tilak was dead,' Atul told The Indian Express. June 17 was also Atul's 31st birthday. 'I lost him the same day in my arms,' he said. 'I will always miss him.' Tilak was one of the most active horses in the Delhi Police and was always eager to play sports, according to Atul. 'His nickname was Rocket. He ran very fast and was always excited to play jumping games.' In December 2021, Tilak was brought from the Remount and Veterinary Corps (RVC) farm of the Indian Army in Hempur. He was just a four-year-old, then. 'He was purchased for Rs 6 lakh, along with a group of 15 horses, from the Army,' an officer at the unit said. Following training and practice sessions, Tilak was assigned to sports activities, the officer said. He added that the horses in the Mounted Police unit are often used for ceremonial duties, patrolling, and even sporting events. Tilak had won a silver medal in the All India Police Equestrian Championship and Mounted Police Duty Meet 2024-25 held this March in Panchkula, Haryana. 'Tilak successfully qualified in the 'Police Horse Test' category, where he crossed six jump hurdles, a water pond, and a crowd of people and vehicles. This is considered one of the most difficult tests for a horse to pass,' another officer said. With Tilak's death, the number of horses in the Mounted Unit has dropped to 24; the sanctioned strength of the unit is 95. The horses are lodged in the stable yard at the Provisioning and Logistics unit in North Delhi's Civil Lines. They are looked after by 50 staff members, including riders ranging from constables to sub-inspectors. The horses retire upon reaching the official retirement age of 16. They are then handed over to NGOs for further care. Tilak's post-mortem was conducted at the veterinary hospital in Hisar, and the report is awaited. According to a veterinary doctor, colic is a very common condition in horses. It occurs when the animal overeats and is unable to digest the food properly. Sometimes, food or other indigestible material get stuck in the intestines, which can also lead to colic. 'In these conditions, the horse's behaviour changes, and it often starts kicking its legs,' the doctor said.
Time of India
5 days ago
- Time of India
Dramatic Rain Chase Nets Two Gun Runners, Kingpin Gives Slip
Nagpur: In a high-stakes operation on June 26, Kalamna Police led by senior inspector Praveen Kale executed a daring chase through torrential rain and flooded roads to apprehend two key aides of a notorious gun runner, Atul, while recovering a mauser firearm and two live cartridges on Wednesday. The dramatic pursuit unfolded in the gritty lanes of Nagpur's Dipty Signal slums, but the mastermind, Atul, a hardened criminal with multiple offenses, managed to slip away. The operation began around 2:40 pm when the Kalamna investigation team, including assistant police inspector Santoshkumar Ramlod, received a tip-off about an arms deal near the new RTO office in Chikhali. Acting swiftly, they laid a trap at the location. Around 3:40 pm, a white moped carrying three suspects — Atul and his aides Sagar Trivedi and Sahadev Shahu — approached the spot. "The three had received the firearms and two cartridges from another arms dealer and were supposed to reach the place where we were waiting, laying a trap," said a police source. Sensing danger, Atul, who is likely to have recognised familiar faces in the police team, leapt off the moped and fled into the rain-soaked slums. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like local network access control Esseps Learn More Undo Police gave chase, navigating dingy lanes and flooded roads near an overflowing nullah, but Atul vanished into the chaos. Undeterred, police pounced on Trivedi and Shahu, apprehending them on the spot, fighting on flooded roads in heavy rain. A search conducted in the presence of witnesses uncovered a country-made pistol and two live cartridges in Trivedi's possession. The moped, bearing registration MH 31 GC 5398, was also seized, with the total value of confiscated items estimated at ₹1,34,000. The arrested duo was charged under Section 3/25 of IPC and Section 135 of Maharashtra Police Act for violating a prohibition order and carrying firearms with intent to commit a cognisable offence. Sources revealed Trivedi, a former right-wing activist, was gaining notoriety in Kalamna's slums, emerging as a local terror. Trivedi reportedly procured the firearm through Atul, a known mediator in arms smuggling deals, from an unidentified supplier.
Daily Maverick
24-06-2025
- Daily Maverick
‘Respiratory failure' and illness in India — how wanted Gupta brothers have skirted SA enforcement
South Africa has confirmed it is still trying to extradite Gupta brothers Rajesh and Atul and that it is not finished with the UAE in this regard. Daily Maverick, meanwhile, has established they've been in India and issues, including illness, indicate they have wanted to stay put. Wanted Gupta brothers Rajesh and Atul have probably been in India for at least six months, while South Africa has been devising plans to try to get them back into this country for State Capture crimes. Daily Maverick has established their recent – possibly current – location through piecing together court documents lodged over several months last year in India, where the brothers are originally from. The documents show that members of the Gupta family have apparently experienced ill health; this includes Atul, who had swine flu and respiratory issues. These health matters contributed to the brothers wanting to remain in India following a visit to their ageing mother last year. 'Embezzlement and money laundering' Aside from their whereabouts, the documents also refer to concerns about a potentially 'fabricated' letter that a captain in the South African Police Service (SAPS) signed and that says Rajesh and Atul do not have criminal records. It was not clear what exactly the nature of this potential fabrication was – the entire document, the full contents or an aspect of it. The Gupta brothers have disputed the fabrication issue. This week, the national office of the SAPS was unable to respond ahead of publication to Daily Maverick questions about this, sent on Monday, 23 June 2025. We will update this story, should they comment. An Indian court finding from late last year said that based on South Africa's stance, Rajesh and Atul were 'fugitives wanted for prosecution in a case arising in Pretoria, South Africa, relating to certain allegations of embezzlement and money laundering'. Rajesh and Atul have previously, via court documents submitted in India, countered that they were innocent, and that South Africa was unfairly targeting them – effectively because of a change in government. Despite their prominence and the accusations that the brothers face – of corrupting South Africa's Zuma-led government – it is unclear if authorities here have officially located them. If authorities have, they are simply not saying so publicly. 'Busy with extradition processes' In Parliament last week, Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac) head Andrea Johnson referred to previous attempts to get the UAE, where the Guptas brothers were once based, to extradite them, or explain why it chose not to do so. 'Twelve note[s] verbales later, we still do not have any response from the UAE about why the extradition failed. Safe to say that they have asked us to resubmit… 'We have now, however, taken a decision to submit new applications with additional matters,' Johnson had said. This week, Daily Maverick asked Idac spokesperson Henry Mamothame if the Gupta brothers' location was known and what it meant if they were not in the UAE, but their extraditions were again requested from there. He replied: 'The Investigating Directorate Against Corruption… is busy with the extradition process but cannot comment on the questions raised.' Daily Maverick sent questions about whether the brothers were still in India and if they intended returning to South Africa, to an advocate, Vivek Sood, listed as representing Rajesh and Atul in India. On Tuesday, 24 June 2025, he said: 'I will not be able to respond… due to client-attorney privileged communication and confidentiality. 'Moreover, I only appeared as a Senior Counsel for a few hearings and am not aware of subsequent events post my appearances in the Delhi High Court.' Questions via WhatsApp and email to another lawyer also listed as representing the Gupta brothers in India were not responded to. SA, US, Dubai, Vanuatu The Guptas have a history with South Africa dating back decades. They arrived in the country in the 1990s and set up shop here. South Africa's political arena shifted over the following years, and in 2016, when Jacob Zuma was president, it was reported that Gupta family members left South Africa. This coincided with the year former public protector Thuli Madonsela released a report titled State of Capture. The report implicated Zuma and the Guptas. A section says: 'This… relates to an investigation into complaints of alleged improper and unethical conduct by the president and other state functionaries relating to alleged improper relationships and involvement of the Gupta family'. In 2019, the saga took on another international angle when the US sanctioned individuals, including Rajesh and Atul. 'Due in large part to their generous donations to a political party and their reportedly close relationship with former South African President Jacob Zuma, their business interests expanded,' a US Treasury statement said at the time. 'The family has been implicated in several corrupt schemes in South Africa, allegedly stealing hundreds of millions of dollars through illegal deals with the South African government, obfuscated by a shadowy network of shell companies and associates linked to the family.' Rajesh and Atul Gupta were arrested in Dubai in the UAE in 2022. The following year, they managed to avoid being extradited from there to South Africa. (This is what South Africa is still trying to iron out with the UAE.) And around that time, it emerged that they had Vanuatu citizenship. Daily Maverick subsequently established that the Gupta brothers wanted to be in India – they turned to the Delhi High Court, which permitted them a two-month stay from around the end of May 2024. Illness in India It had been put to the court that their 77-year-old mother 'is a resident of Saharanpur, Uttarakhand, [and] is suffering from various health problems due to old age'. The brothers had wanted the court 'to suspend the operation' of a Look Out Circular (LOC), which is effectively an alert that India uses to monitor travellers wanted by police. It was argued on their behalf that the LOC could be 'quashed on grounds of applicants being innocent, [and] witch-hunting by the law enforcement agencies in Pretoria, South Africa, against the applicant and his family members due to change in regime in the said country'. They were granted the two-month stay in India. Daily Maverick can now reveal that this was probably extended. Papers filed at the Delhi High Court dated July 2024 show that Atul wanted to stay in India for another two months. And a court order from two months later, September 2024, on which both Atul and Rajesh are listed as petitioners, shows that they wanted the LOC suspended for 'a further' four months, which would have been until around January this year. Lung infection and 'respiratory failure' It said the grounds on which this was sought was that Rajesh's wife was 'diagnosed with Lumbar Disc Disease, Carpel (sic) Tunnel Syndrome and post viral Myalgia'. She was undergoing treatment at a hospital in Gurugram. As for Atul, it said he was 'suffering from severe lung infection and is diagnosed with Viral Fever (H1N1 Positive) with Type 1 Respiratory Failure, Chronic Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis and Type II Diabetes Mellitus'. Their request to remain in India was granted until October 2024, when another court hearing was set. During those proceedings in the Delhi High Court, it was found they could remain in India and that if they wanted to leave, they would have to provide at least one week's notice to authorities there. 'Since the medical documents of the concerned persons have been verified, [Rajesh and Atul Gupta] can continue to stay in India, however, if any investigation request is received along with any provisional arrest request, the same shall be given effect to in accordance with law by the concerned agencies,' the October 2024 finding said. 'If any request for extradition is made, the same shall also proceed in accordance with law.' 'Fabricated document' concern That court finding also touched on the issue of the potentially dodgy document. 'There is also an allegation on behalf of the concerned investigating agency that … a letter issued by the South African Police Service … stating that the Petitioners do not have a criminal record, is a fabricated document,' it said. 'This position is disputed by the Petitioners… 'The Court is of the view that it cannot deal with the said allegation in the present proceedings, since it relates to a certificate issued by the South African Authority, the forgery and fabrication, if any, may be looked into by the appropriate countries' agencies.' This is what the SAPS was unable to respond to Daily Maverick about before publication. Meanwhile, other members of the Gupta family have also found themselves at the centre of legal proceedings in India. Builder's suicide Last year Ajay Gupta – the brother of Rajesh and Atul – and his brother-in-law Anil Gupta were arrested in a case involving a builder who died by suicide. The builder was Satinder Singh Sawhney (also spelled Sahni). Daily Maverick previously reported that court papers in that matter explained the prosecution's case was that Sawhney felt so distressed because of the Guptas that he took his own life. '[Ajay and Anil Gupta] had made the life of the deceased miserable; they had pressured the deceased so that (he) was left with no other option but to end his life,' the papers said. The court papers had also referred to Sawhney's suicide note. A part of that note said: 'In a few days Ajay Gupta created too much pressure on me and my partner… 'Because of his background and his angry behaviour of threatening, we were not able to say anything in front of him as he had a very dangerous past, as he himself told us to check on Google what he has done in South Africa. 'He is a very big fraud. Sir we are too much afraid of both Anil Gupta and Ajay Gupta in this project. Public money is involved. We cannot work with him. I have to prove my innocence, I have not done anything wrong.' It was not immediately clear what had since happened. DM
The Citizen
12-06-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
SCA overturns Nulane accused's acquittal and orders a retrial
The Nulane scam case was one of two matters in which the state tried and failed to seek the extradition of Atul and Rajesh Gupta from the UAE. Limakatso Moorosi, Seipati Dlamini, Iqbal Sharma, Ronica Ragavan and Dinesh Patel appear at the Bloemfontein High Court on 23 January 2023. Picture: Gallo Images/Volksblad/Mlungisi Louw The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has overturned Bloemfontein Judge Nompumelelo Gusha's decision to summarily acquit all the accused in the R24.9 million Nulane Investments fraud, money laundering and corruption scam, saying she committed 'numerous errors of law'. SCA Judge Cagney John Musi handed down judgment on Thursday, saying the leave to appeal has been granted. 'It is ordered that the respondents may be retried for the same offences in respect of which they were acquitted by the Free State High Court on 21 April 2023, as if they had not previously been arraigned, tried and acquitted: provided that a different Judge shall preside over the trial'. Nulane scam The Nulane scam case was one of two matters in which the state tried and failed to seek the extradition of Atul and Rajesh Gupta from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The case is based on allegations that R24.9 million was paid to Nulane Investment – a company owned by Sharma – to conduct a feasibility study for the Free State province's flagship Mohoma Mobung project, which paved the way for the controversial Estina/Vrede dairy project. Nulane was contracted by the provincial government on the basis that it had unique skills to perform the work. The state alleged that Nulane, however, had no employees on its books and in fact subcontracted Deloitte to produce the report, for which Deloitte was paid R1.5 million. It's alleged that the only change made to the Deloitte report was to identify Paras Dairy as a suitable implementing partner for the development of a milk processing plant in Vrede. ALSO READ: SCA asked to dismiss state's appeal on Nulane case amid questions about witness's testimony Acquittal In April 2023, seven of the eight accused, including former Free State government officials Peter Thabethe and Seipati Dhlamini, along with Nulane Investments director and Gupta associate Iqbal Sharma, successfully applied to be discharged under section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA) in the Free State High Court in Bloemfontein. High Court Acting Judge Nompumelelo Gusha also found former head of the Free State Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Limakatso Moorosi, not guilty, and she was acquitted. Gusha, in her judgment, criticised the state's investigation and concluded that the testimony of the state's sole witness, Shadrack Cezula, who had been the acting supply chain manager at the Free State Department of Agriculture, was 'evasive'. She concluded that the state had failed to prove its case against the accused before the court. 'Errors of law' However, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) appealed the matter. The NPA's Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) maintained that Gusha erred on several key legal questions, which the SCA on Thursday concurred with. 'The High Court made numerous errors of law that resulted in the acquittal of the respondents. This is unfortunate, particularly in a case such as this, where it was prima facie established that scarce public funds were unlawfully extracted from the Department and channelled to the UAE, by fraud and the misuse of power. 'This subverted the aims of the Project to generate income through farming and alleviate poverty, undermines the functionality of democratic institutions, and endangers the rule of law. The trial in the High Court can be summed up in a single sentence: This was a failure of justice. Regrettably, this erodes public confidence in the criminal justice system.' Musi ruled. ALSO READ: Court hears how nearly R1 million was spent fixing welding at Estina Dairy Farm NPA welcomes judgment The NPA welcomed the SCA ruling, saying the judgment paves the way for IDAC to reinstate the case within a reasonable period. NPA spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga said the prosecution body remains resolute in its stance of effectively prosecuting and holding accountable those responsible for state capture-related corruption. 'Beyond this important case, IDAC has made significant progress in its efforts to ensure accountability for serious and complex corruption and related crimes stemming from the state capture era. 'It has enrolled 50 cases, declared 133 investigations and partnered with the Asset Forfeiture Unit to obtain freezing and preservation orders amounting to R14.3 billion with R8.2 billion in confiscation orders deposited to the Criminal Asset Recovery Account (CARA),' Mhaga said. Mhaga said convictions in complex corruption cases take time, and not just in South Africa. 'The NPA is making steady and important progress in this endeavour and will continue to execute its mandate without fear, favour or prejudice'. ALSO READ: NPA says it will reinstate Estina dairy farm case after it was struck off court roll
India.com
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- India.com
Salman Khan's sister Alvira Khan-Atul Agnihotri's love story started on the sets of this film, this was Salim Khan's reaction
Most of the people in the family of Bollywood's Bhaijaan and Dabangg Khan, Salman Khan, are associated with the film industry and are often in the limelight. His sister Alvira is also professionally associated with Bollywood, but despite this, she maintains a distance from the glamorous world. She has been seen very rarely in front of the camera, while Alvira is also a costume designer and producer. She is married to actor and producer Atul Agnihotri and their love story has also been very filmy. Very few people know that Salman Khan's sister, Alvira Khan, is also associated with films. Alvira and Atul's love story started with the 1992 film Jagriti. Salman Khan was the lead hero in this film. Atul was working as an assistant director in this film. Alvira often came to meet her brother on the sets of the film. As soon as the shooting of the film Jagriti was over, Alvira and Atul realized that they were in love with each other. Both were serious about their relationship and wanted to get married by involving the family. Atul's family had no problem, but Salman and Salim Khan's consent was necessary for this relationship. Alvira took a stand for her love and first told Salman about their relationship. Initially it seemed that Salman might get angry. But that did not happen. He behaved normally and accepted Atul. In one of his interviews, Salman was happy that his sister Alvira had gotten married. These siblings of the Khan family used to share their room. After Alvira's marriage, she got herself a personal room. After Salman's consent, Alvira introduced Atul to her father, Salim Khan. She said that she was in love with Atul and she liked him. In response to this, Salim Khan said, 'I also like him.' With the consent of the family, Alvira married Atul in 1995. After marriage, they have a son Ayan and a daughter Alizeh, who has already made her debut in films. Alizeh can be seen in a new project soon.
