Latest news with #Savant
Indian Express
08-07-2025
- Indian Express
Karnataka Lokayukta extortion case: HC allows state anti-corruption agency to summon IPS officer Joshi again
The Karnataka High Court Tuesday allowed the Lokayukta police to issue a fresh notice to IPS officer Srinath Mahadev Joshi to appear in connection with an investigation into a case pertaining to alleged extortion by a dismissed police constable, Ningappa Savant, by posing as an official of the state anti-corruption agency and a middleman. The high court allowed the Lokayukta police to summon the Indian Police Service officer again as it noted that the earlier date for Joshi's appearance in the previous notice had expired. The court also stated that a notice can be issued to Joshi to appear before the Lokayukta police within 10 days and allowed him to seek anticipatory bail. On June 18, the HC stayed the summons issued by the Lokayukta police for questioning Joshi, who was a superintendent of police in the Karnataka Lokayukta, until June 12, about his association with Savant. On Tuesday, the Karnataka High Court also reserved its order in a plea filed by Savant to quash the FIR registered by the Lokayukta police against him in the alleged extortion case. On June 17, the high court bench of Justice S R Krishna Kumar had stayed the FIR filed against Savant. Joshi had earlier sought anticipatory bail from a Lokayukta court, but his plea was dismissed on June 24 by the special court as being 'devoid of merits'. He obtained a media gag order on June 20 from a civil court against defamatory reporting regarding the case. In a statement last week, the Lokayukta said, 'Joshi was in touch with Ningappa and was involved in threatening government officials to extort money. They used the code word 'kg' (for money), the preliminary probe has revealed. The money was converted by investing in cryptocurrency'. The extortion activities linked to the Karnataka Lokayukta emerged following an extortion attempt on a regional transport officer (RTO) in Tumkur on May 23, 2025. The Tumkur RTO filed a complaint with the police, saying he had received a call from an unidentified number from a person claiming to be Vamsi Krishna, the SP of the Bengaluru City Lokayukta unit, demanding money to prevent a Lokayukta raid on him. The probe in the case by the Lokayukta police led to the arrest on June 2 of Savant, who was identified as the alleged person who called the Tumkur RTO impersonating a Lokayukta police officer. Savant was granted bail on June 19 by the Karnataka High Court after his wife G K Chandrakala filed a plea saying the Lokayukta police did not follow the procedures mandated by the Supreme Court while arresting her husband on June 2. The Lokayukta police retrieved data from the phone they seized from Savant and found that the dismissed police constable was closely associated with Joshi through multiple messages and calls. They also found that Savant had 23 cryptocurrency wallets with around Rs 4.92 crore in 13 of them. The Lokayukta police searched Joshi's residence on June 15. They approached the Karnataka High Court on June 30 to allow the continuation of the investigations against Savant and Joshi, citing public concern over the credibility of the anti-corruption institution in the wake of the case.
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Fantasy Baseball OF Rankings Tiers: We don't want to jinx it but a certain Twin is finally putting it together
We just nudged past the halfway point of the fantasy baseball season. It's a fun and useful time to recalibrate the market. Today, we'll look at the biggest chunk of the offensive landscape, the outfield. What has happened to this point is merely an audition. The goal with this project is to set up a cheat sheet or depth chart at a given position. You could use it for a fresh draft, or for trade and pickup ideas. You can use it to consider the strengths and weaknesses of your own teams. Advertisement [Smarter waivers, better trades, optimized lineups — Yahoo Fantasy Plus unlocks it all] The salaries are a combination of data, observation and special sauce. Players at the same number are considered even. The goal is to figure out where the clusters of talent lie. Injured players are at the bottom, courtesy ranks. Those are not for debate, but I welcome your reasonable disagreement on anything else. Catch me on Twitter or Bluesky, and away we go. The Big Tickets $44 Aaron Judge $41 Juan Soto $41 Ronald Acuña $41 Kyle Tucker $38 Pete Crow-Armstrong $35 James Wood $33 Jackson Chourio $33 Mookie Betts $32 Fernando Tatis Jr $31 Kyle Schwarber $30 Byron Buxton You almost don't want to walk about it, don't want to jinx it. It's like talking during a no-hitter. Buxton is finally having that career year we've long dreamt about. He's made it through 67 games in the first half, on pace for his busiest season since 2017. He's a dominant base-stealer again (15-for-15). Everything in the slash line (.281/.347/.566) is well above career norms. And while his batting average is 27 points ahead of what he's earned in the batted-ball metrics, he nonetheless is mostly validated on his Savant page. It's always been about staying on the field with Buxton — we knew his upside in a full season was "MVP candidate." Advertisement Usually the idea is to get the best player in a blockbuster trade, not the collection of maybes going the other way. But the Nationals probably won the Juan Soto trade from three years ago. Wood arrived quickly as a star, MacKenzie Gore has the potential to be a legitimate No. 1 arm, and CJ Abrams is a plus-regular. Imagine where the Padres might be if they'd never done this deal — they'd still have control of all of these guys. San Diego didn't do as well when it shipped Soto to New York, though Michael King was mowing batters down before his shoulder injury. Legitimate Building Blocks $27 Christian Yelich $26 Riley Greene $25 Jackson Merrill $24 Cody Bellinger $24 Julio Rodríguez $23 Seiya Suzuki $23 Oneil Cruz $22 Lawrence Butler $21 Jazz Chisholm $18 Maikel Garcia $18 Brent Rooker $17 Teoscar Hernández Yelich was having an under-the-radar season before that quirky 6-0-4-8 line from mid-June — it's hard to drive in eight runs without a homer or a run scored yourself. Yelich should end the year around 30 homers and 15 steals, making do despite an elevated strikeout rate. He generally has mild home-road splits but this year he's oddly slashing a paltry .205/.297/.377 at home. That should start to correct in the second half. Advertisement Rodriguez arrived in the majors as a fully-fledged offensive weapon, so his mediocre trajectory since has been frustrating. Consider that he had a juicy 147 OPS+ in his Rookie of the Year season, and it's been 130, 116 and 110 since. Obviously the Seattle ballpark is part of the story — his OPS jumps 157 points for road games. But Rodriguez still gets himself out too often — he's had a messy chase rate his entire career, something he needs to iron out. Talk Them Up, Talk Them Down $16 Brandon Nimmo $16 Randy Arozarena $15 Jarren Duran $15 Jose Altuve $15 Wilyer Abreu $14 Alec Burleson $14 Ian Happ $13 Evan Carter $13 Nick Castellanos $13 Brendan Donovan $12 Ramón Laureano $12 Andy Pages $12 Jo Adell $12 Lourdes Gurriel $12 Bryan Reynolds $11 Spencer Steer $11 Adolis García $11 Tyler Freeman $11 Addison Barger $11 Jordan Beck $11 Steven Kwan $11 Brenton Doyle $10 Ceddanne Rafaela $10 Sal Frelick $10 George Springer $10 Kerry Carpenter $10 Cam Smith $10 Colton Cowser $10 Mike Trout Pages turned in an interesting June, slashing .324/.333/.578 with six homers despite just one walk (he walked nine times in April, four times in May). Despite the tiny walk rate, Pages has a strikeout rate better than average (19.8%), showing what a craftsman he is with the bat. Excellent defense also marks his spot in the order. He doesn't have as much power against lefties, but his average is stable. In a town that's all about buzzy stars, Pages is an under-appreciated asset. Advertisement Nimmo has been a plus-offensive player his entire career, offering a mix of power and speed and getting on base at a decent clip, though his OBP is at an all-time low this season. Category juice (15 homers, seven steals) is breaking the fall for fantasy managers; Nimmo pretty much can swipe a bag whenever he wants (22-for-23 since the start of 2024). Nimmo was a middle-order hitter when the season started but he's settled into the No. 2 slot for the past month or so; his run production should be outstanding moving forward. A winning ballplayer. Some Plausible Upside $8 Wenceel Perez $8 Jake Meyers $8 Jesús Sánchez $8 Heliot Ramos $8 Kyle Stowers $8 Tyler Soderstrom $8 Gavin Sheets $7 Isaac Collins $7 Josh Lowe $7 Chandler Simpson $6 Roman Anthony $6 Trevor Larnach $6 Jonathan India $6 Michael Harris $5 Andrew McCutchen $5 Javier Báez $5 Victor Scott $5 Eric Wagaman $5 Ryan O'Hearn $4 Mickey Moniak $4 Jake Mangum $4 Taylor Ward $4 T.J. Friedl $4 Miguel Vargas $4 Jasson Domínguez $4 Tommy Edman $4 Trent Grisham $4 Cedric Mullins $4 Austin Hays $4 Jung Hoo Lee $4 Jac Caglianone Prospects are fun but baseball is awfully hard and even the most talented kids often need time to figure things out. That's been the story with Anthony (.210/.329/.339) and Caglianone (.157/.202/.258), underwhelming in their first laps around MLB. Anthony at least is maintaining his elite batting eye and has produced more thump on batted-ball events. The Red Sox likely will leave Anthony alone for the balance of the year; Caglianone might not get that luxury. Advertisement Harris has been one of the wrong answers of the year, falling completely apart. Anyone have a good theory on the why? Writer Lindsay Crosby had some interesting ideas back in the spring; let's summarize that excellent piece. Harris has always had a horrible chase rate but he beat it in earlier seasons. Atlanta fans are afraid this might be another case like Jeff Francoeur or Jason Heyward, young stars who hit the ground running but fell into problems soon thereafter. Pitch recognition has been a problem with Harris, with Crosby suggesting that he's letting too many hittable offerings sail past him in the strike zone. You never want to write off someone who's just 24, but Harris can't be trusted for fantasy managers the balance of the year. Bargain Bin $3 Alek Thomas $3 José Caballero $3 Pavin Smith $3 Andrew Benintendi $3 Lars Nootbaar $3 Giancarlo Stanton $2 Dane Myers $2 Brandon Marsh $2 Thomas Pham $2 Lane Thomas $2 Jacob Young $2 Gavin Lux $2 Mike Yastrzemski $2 Matt Wallner $2 Mike Toglia $2 Michael Conforto $1 Mike Tauchman $1 Starling Marte $1 Parker Meadows $1 Nolan Jones $1 Will Benson $1 Luke Raley $1 Jake McCarthy $1 Isiah Kiner-Falefa $1 Harrison Bader $1 JJ Bleday $1 Jordan Walker $1 Dylan Moore Advertisement Courtesy Injury Ranks — Not For Debate $30 Corbin Carroll $17 Wyatt Langford $11 Luis Robert $5 Jorge Soler
Time of India
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Lokayukta police seek permission to continue probe into extortion case
Bengaluru: Lokayukta police Monday requested Karnataka high court to allow them to proceed with the investigation into a case wherein certain persons allegedly used the name of Lokayukta to extort govt officials. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Counsel representing Lokayukta police submitted that it's now a case affecting the credibility of the institution and hence, the investigation needs to be allowed to its logical end. On the other hand, counsel for Ningappa Savant, a dismissed head constable, submitted that there's no case against the petitioner either under Section 7A or 7(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act as he isn't a public servant. He further submitted that Lokayukta police have no jurisdiction to investigate extortion charges. After a brief hearing, Justice SR Krishna Kumar adjourned the hearing to Thursday for further consideration. The judge also extended the interim order of stay with regards to the notice issued to IPS officer Shrinath M Joshi until the next date of hearing, and also the interim order passed in the case of Savant. While Joshi had challenged the June 15 notice calling upon him to appear for questioning, Savant's wife Chandrakala filed a petition contending that her husband was illegally arrested. On the last occasion, the court granted interim bail to Savant.
Hindustan Times
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
HC calls out sarpanch for fake caste certificate, imposes ₹5 lakh penalty
Jun 24, 2025 08:28 AM IST MUMBAI: The Bombay high court imposed a ₹ 5 lakh penalty on Ashish Savant, sarpanch of a Nandgaon village in Raigad, for having a fraudulent caste certificate, which came to light after a complaint filed against him during the gram panchayat elections in 2024. The court said that using a fraudulent caste certificate was a constitutional fraud. The court said that such actions went against the purpose of affirmative action and dismissed Sawant's plea and asked him to pay ₹ 5 lakh (Shutterstock) Savant's opponent in the election, Jalindar Khaire, had filed a complaint with the Raigad District Caste Scrutiny Committee questioning Savant's Kunbi caste status after losing the election to him. The scrutiny committee, after a detailed inquiry, passed an order calling his caste certificate fraudulent and invalidating his caste claim. Savant then approached the high court claiming he hadn't been heard and his documents hadn't been properly checked. Advocate Ramesh Dube Patil, representing the scrutiny committee, said that Sawant had used a fake school leaving certificate issued in the name of his father in June 1982, to claim that he belonged to the Kunbi caste, a sub-caste in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category . However, a report from the headmaster of the Raigad Zilla Parishad School in Vithalwadi, confirmed by the police vigilance cell, said the certificate was not issued by them, and Sawant's father did not appear in their records. Patil added that Sawant had tried to hide an admission register and a report by the Raigad Zilla Parishad School in Nandgaon in November 2023 which recorded Sawant's caste as a Hindu Maratha. Patil added that Sawant had three opportunities to be heard but failed to appear before the scrutiny committee. A division bench of justices Ajey Gadkari and Kamal Khata said that Sawant had attempted to take undue advantage of a caste certificate obtained through fraudulent means. They said that such actions went against the purpose of affirmative action and dismissed Sawant's plea and asked him to pay ₹ 5 lakh.
Hindustan Times
23-06-2025
- Hindustan Times
Probe into Karnataka ACB over ‘leaks' before raids
The raids by Karnataka's anti-corruption body was likely compromised from within as the investigators probing an extortion racket run by a dismissed police constable are examining whether raid information was deliberately leaked ahead of time, said officials familiar with the matter. Probe into Karnataka ACB over 'leaks' before raids The widening investigation comes in the wake of the arrest of Ningappa Savant, a 45-year-old former constable, who allegedly posed as senior Lokayukta officials to extort crores from government officers across departments, including transport, excise and the BBMP. The case initially emerged in May when a call was made to a Tumakuru RTO officer demanding bribes to avoid a Lokayukta raid. According to an official, the Lokayukta is probing a series of suspicious incidents where officials vacated their offices just before scheduled raids in 2024 and 2025. 'Details of several raids conducted by the Lokayukta in 2024 and 2025 were leaked on the day of the raids. The officials concerned fled the offices where the raids took place. On the same day, details of a phone call between some Lokayukta officials and Ningappan were found,' said an Lokayukta official on condition of anonymity. The official further said that investigators have traced calls from five different SIM cards, one of which was issued in Savant's name using his credentials. These numbers were used to impersonate senior Lokayukta personnel, calling government staff to extract money under the threat of imminent raids. 'Calls were made from different numbers to officials of other government departments in the name of Lokayukta, deputy Lokayukta, Lokayukta SP. Including the SIM card that Ningappa purchased using his Aadhaar number, such calls were made from a total of five SIM cards. This fact was discovered when the call details of all those numbers were collated,' said the official. Some of these SIM cards, investigators said, were fraudulently registered in the names of actual Lokayukta officers. Their photos were misused to create fake profiles on platforms such as Truecaller and Google, adding a layer of credibility to the scam. 'Some of these SIM cards were purchased in the names of Lokayukta officials. The pictures of Lokayukta officials were used in Truecaller and Google profiles. It is known that Ningappa also used one such SIM card,' the officer said. Savant, who was dismissed from service years ago for unauthorised absence, allegedly used WhatsApp groups and internal-looking Lokayukta updates to bolster his credibility and lure victims. According to the FIR, he contacted officials pretending to be senior Lokayukta officers and demanded money to suppress corruption allegations. In some instances, officials paid thousands and even lakhs of rupees through platforms such as Google Pay and PhonePe. The official quoted above said that Savant might have operated with insider support and Joshi Srinath Mahadev, a 2012 batch promotee IPS officer and former Lokayukta SP in Bengaluru, might have been involved in the matter. Another official said that Mahadev was seen spending hours at a hotel in an area linked to Savant. 'Information has been received that Srinath M Joshi, who was the Lokayukta SP, was in the lobby of a hotel in Ningappa Nagar for a few hours. In addition, the personal secretary of a state government minister was also in the same hotel with him. It has been reported that all three went out at the same time,' the official said. The official further said that Savant likely named Mahadev during police interrogation, claiming the IPS officer had a stake in cryptocurrency wallets into which the extorted money was allegedly diverted. The Lokayukta confirmed that nearly 13 crypto wallets have been frozen as part of the investigation. 'He admitted that he has invested the money he extorted in cryptocurrency in his own name and that of his relatives. His mobile was checked, and it was found that he had invested the money in about 13 crypto wallets. To trace the source of the money, the said wallets have been frozen and the investigation is continuing,' it said. Mahadev, relieved of duties on June 12, has approached a sessions court seeking anticipatory bail, arguing that the charges against him are false and that he had no association with Savant beyond their past service in Chitradurga. The Karnataka high court has temporarily stayed proceedings against Mahadev, but the broader investigation continues into 35 other officials whose names surfaced during Savant's interrogation. HT tried to get response from the DG and IGP but no one responded.
