Vuln!! Path it now!!
The Delhi High Court Friday declined to grant interim protection from arrest to Navneet Kalra, seeking anticipatory bail in connection with alleged black marketing of oxygen concentrators, agreeing with the reasons given by the trial court while denying him the relief.
A sessions court had on Thursday dismissed Kalra’s anticipatory bail plea, saying the allegations against him were serious and his custodial interrogation was required to “unearth the entire conspiracy”.
“I am persuaded by the reasons given by the trial court which is a valid ground for me not to grant any interim protection now,” Justice Subramonium Prasad said while listing the matter for hearing on May 18.
The observation came after Kalra’s lawyers — senior advocates Abhishek M Singhvi and Vikas Pahwa — urged the court to grant some interim protection if the matter was going to be adjourned till May 18 on the request of Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S V Raju.
Singhvi told the court that the police was actively searching for Kalra and was visiting the homes of its relatives and close friends and it ought not to be done when the high court was hearing his plea for anticipatory bail.
He said he was not in a “begging game” with the authorities and was relying on the high court to protect his client’s rights as the police was out looking for him with a “fanaticism” as if he were a “trophy”.
When the hearing commenced on Friday afternoon, ASG Raju urged the high court to hear it on Tuesday, May 18, as he had a lot of material, like information with regard to shell companies, which he needed to place before it and would require some time.
Heavens would not fall if the matter is taken up on May 18, Raju said, adding that there was no need for giving such a preference, like hearing the case on a holiday, to Kalra as his plea for anticipatory bail is just like that of anyone else seeking the same relief.
Singhvi opposed the contention saying it was an attempt to embarrass the court.
He said one of the charges against his client was that he had overcharged for the concentrators and to investigate it, Kalra’s arrest was not required.
He said that under the Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) 2013, there is a provision for adjusting the overcharged amount or refunding it.
The high court said a number of concentrators were seized from his properties and price stickers, including blank ones, were found at the site.
“Therefore, the question is would it be a violation of the DPCO 2013,” the court said, adding that if so, then can the Essential Commodities Act, under which the DPCO comes, be given the go-by.
It is Kalra’s contention the Essential Commodities Act is not applicable in the instant case as no price was fixed for oxygen concentrators imported from abroad.
The high court also asked Kalra how many concentrators were sold by him prior to seizure of the 105 units from two of his restaurants.
It also said that according to the trial court, Kalra had sold spurious and inferior concentrators at a higher price.
Singhvi said he will provide data regarding sale of the concentrators on the next date.
He also told the high court that if according to the state, the concentrators his client had sold were substandard, then why were the seized units donated to COVID care centres.
The senior lawyer also told the high court that only under ideal conditions would a concentrator give an output of 80-90 per cent, otherwise in normal conditions, it gives around 60-70 per cent.
He also said that his client did not say to any of his buyers that the equipment was of German make and added that most of the concentrators in the market are of Chinese origin,
Kalra had moved the high court for anticipatory bail on May 13 late evening after a sessions court denied him the relief.
After a hearing which went up to 10.00pm, the high court had listed the matter on Friday.
During the previous day’s hearing, the high court had asked Kalra how he could hold on the concentrators or even sell them when he did not have a valid license to manufacture, store, import or sell the same.
While the sessions court denied him anticipatory bail, a magisterial court on May 13 granted bail to an employee of upscale restaurant ‘Town Hall’, owned by Kalra, in connection with the case.
Four employees of Matrix Cellular company, including its CEO and vice president, who were also arrested in the case are also out on bail.
During a recent raid, 524 oxygen concentrators were recovered from three restaurants owned by Kalra — Khan Chacha, Nega Ju and Town Hall — and he is suspected to have left Delhi along with his family. The concentrators are crucial medical equipment used for COVID-19 patients.
Kalra had bought the concentrators from Matrix Cellular which had imported them.
On May 5, a case was registered against Kalra under Section 420 (cheating), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
The FIR, also registered under Essential Commodities Act and Epidemic Diseases Act, for black marketing of oxygen cylinders prescribes maximum punishment for seven years.PTI
The water level in many dams
across Kerala showed a rising trend on Sunday even as cyclone Tauktae moved away from the state’s coast after wreaking havoc.
India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued orange alerts –a warning indicating heavy to very heavy rain– on Sunday in three districts-Ernakulam, Idukki and Malappuram.
The catchment areas of many dams in the central Kerala districts have reported heavy rains, prompting the authorities to sound alert warnings before upping their shutters.
The Thrissur district administration said spillway shutters of the Peringalkuthu dam will be opened if the water level crosses the permitted limit of 419.41 metres.
In a statement, the administration has urged the people living on the banks of Chalakudy river to be cautious.
Shutters of Malankara dam in Idukki district will be opened on Sunday, as the water level has increased, the district authorities said.
The administration has directed those people living on the banks of Thodupuzha river, Muvattupuzha river and their tributaries to be cautious.
In the coastal areas, high tidal waves continued to wreak havoc.
Hundreds of families living in coastal areas and low lying areas of the state have been shifted to relief camps.
Indian Navy on Sunday deployed its diving and quick reaction teams in the coastal village of Chellanam in Ernakulam district, which was heavily hit by tidal waves.
The teams, braving harsh weather conditions, undertook rescue and rehabilitation of people who got trapped in houses.
They were shifted to a relief camp at St Mary’s High School in Chellanam, a Navy official has said.
Besides Chellanam in Ernakulam district, rough sea and high tidal waves had wreaked havoc in Kaipamangalam, Chavakkad and Kodungallur in Thrissur, Pallithura in Thiruvananthapuram, Thrikkannapuzha in Alappuzha and Beypore and Koyilandy in Kozhikode districts.
Hundreds of houses were damaged in coastal belts across the state as sea water seeped in following high waves.
According to the state government, at least nine districts have been severely affected by the sea incursion.
A large number of people were shifted to relief camps in various districts, arranged in adherence to COVID-19 protocols.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal welcomed the decision to cancel CBSE class 10 board exams and postpone class 12 exams in view of surge in COVID-19 cases, saying it will provide a great relief to students and their parents.
“I am glad that the exams have been cancelled/postponed. This is a great relief for lakhs of students and their parents, Kejriwal tweeted.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Wednesday cancelled class 10 exams and postponed class 12 exams in view of surge in COVID-19 cases.
The decision was taken at a high level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The exams were scheduled to be held from May 4.
Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia had on Tuesday appealed to the Centre to cancel board exams, saying going ahead with it can contribute to large scale spread of coronavirus infections
Vuln!! Path it now!!
Vuln!! Path it now!!
The UP government has given an additional 10 days to the three-member SIT investigating the alleged gang rape and killing of a 19-year-old Dalit woman in Hathras as the “probe is not complete”, a senior official said Wednesday.
The special investigation team, constituted on September 30 and led by Home Secretary Bhagwan Swarup, was initially given seven days to submit its report.
But the UP government later sought a CBI probe into the case and the criminal conspiracy to spread caste conflict it has suspected. On Tuesday, it told the Supreme Court it wanted an apex court-monitored CBI inquiry into the incident to ensure “no vested interests will be able to create fake, false narrative with oblique motives”.
“Yes…the time for submitting report for the SIT has been extended by 10 days,” Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi told PTI.
Asked about the reasons for the extension, he added, “The reason is one. The probe is not complete.”
The Yogi Adityanath government is fighting severe criticism for its handling of the case, particularly after the local police burnt the woman’s body at night without the family’s approval. However, officials said the cremation was done “as per the wishes of the family”.
The government has claimed that some people were trying to foment caste tensions in the aftermath of the alleged rape of the woman by four “upper caste” men on September 14. Quoting an FSL report, it has denied the rape charge.
Referring to “recent incidents , Chief Minister Adityanath has said that anarchist elements were trying to trigger communal and caste violence in the state.
In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court in response to a PIL, the government said there have been “orchestrated efforts to malign the image of government on social media by attributing baseless comments and building up a distorted narrative on the Hathras case .
The woman died on September 29 of the
A change in the weather with winds easing and humidity rising have helped firefighters battling massive blazes in Oregon that have taken a deadly toll from one end of the state to the other.
Gov. Kate Brown said Friday that dozens of people were still missing and tens of thousands had been forced to flee their homes. The state’s emergency management director, Andrew Phelps, said officials are preparing for a mass fatality event and thousands of structures have been destroyed.
Oregon officials haven’t released an exact death count but at least eight fatalities have been reported. Marion County Sheriff Joe Kast said Friday evening that searchers had found two victims of the Beachie Creek fire near Salem. A 1-year-old boy was killed in wildfires in Washington.
Hundreds of firefighters were battling two large blazes that threatened to merge near the most populated part of Oregon, including the suburbs of Portland.
Brown said more than 40,000 Oregonians have been evacuated and about 500,000 are in different levels of evacuation zones, either having been told to leave or to prepare to do so. She dialed back a statement late Thursday by the state Office of Emergency
Management that said a half-million people had been ordered to evacuate statewide.
Scores of people were missing in Jackson County in the southern area of the state and in Marion County east of Salem, the state capital, Brown told a news conference. Authorities also announced that a man had been arrested on two counts of arson in connection with a fire in southern Oregon.
Improved weather helped efforts on the ground after days of high winds, heat and low humidity. The wind laid down quite a bit for us yesterday,” said Stefan Myers of the state’s fire information team.
Almost 500 personnel were working on the fires near Portland, which were just a few miles (kilometers) apart, with rugged terrain between them that limits boots-on-the-ground efforts to control the flames, Myers said. If the fires merge, they could generate enough heat to send embers thousands of feet into the air, potentially igniting other areas.
Authorities say more than 1,500 square miles (3,880 square kilometers) have burned in Oregon during recent days, nearly double the amount in a typical year and an area larger than Rhode Island.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee noted that the amount of land burned in just the past five days amounted to the state’s second-worst fire season, after 2015. He called the blazes climate fires rather than wildfires.
This is not an act of God, Inslee said. This has happened because we have changed the climate.” Jackson County Sheriff Nathan Sickler said a 41-year-old man was jailed on two charges of arson for a fire that started Tuesday in the Phoenix area in southern Oregon. The fire burned hundreds of homes and also had an ignition point in Ashland near a spot where a man was found dead. Authorities said the man denied starting the fire.
Sickler said authorities were working to locate missing people.
I think we’re somewhere in the neighborhood of, you know, around 50 individuals that, you know, we’re trying to locate maybe a little less, he said. “It’s going to be a process for sure. Evacuation centers were open across Oregon.
Kim Carbaugh fled her home Monday in Lyons with her husband, two children and two horses.
When we were driving away and I could see actual fire, the red and orange flames, at the time I didn’t feel scared, I had so much adrenaline we just had to leave, she said Friday from the livestock stables of an evacuation center at the State Fairgrounds in Salem.
The site was also housing hundreds of animals dogs, llamas, horses, pigs weighing hundreds of pounds, cows and chickens. Many people chose to camp or stay in RVs.
Charles Legg sat at a table with his 22-month-old son, who cooed and played with a dinosaur puzzle.
He’s OK, Legg said. He’s not eating as normal, he knows something is going on.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the government’s skill agenda is to create a workforce that matches the global demands and several efforts have been undertaken to enable a strong skill development ecosystem.
He also observed that the whole nation has come together under the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ mission and it is the need of the hour for every Indian to be self-reliant in these changing times, an official statement said.
In his address read out at a digital conclave, the Prime Minister stated that it is “the government’s skill agenda to create a workforce that matches the global demands and with this vision, several efforts have been undertaken to enable a strong skill development ecosystem.”
“There are many sectors witnessing the growing demand for skilled youth. This is an opportunity for our young workforce to convert the present challenges into opportunities and become the strong pillars of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’,” he added.
Stating that it is integral to lay emphasis on skilling, reskilling and upskilling, the Prime Minister said the role of trainers and experts is the most essential in this endeavour.
The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship organised the digital conclave for the second edition of ‘Kaushalacharya Samadar 2020’.
Trainers across different sectors were felicitated for their contribution in building the country’s skilling ecosystem and preparing a future-ready workforce.
The Prime Minister further said “it is my belief that the trainers who are awarded today will inspire many others and will continue to contribute immensely in the lives of our youth and the country’s development.”
Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Mahendra Nath Pandey said, “As the times are transforming, the role of trainers and assessors is becoming more crucial as they pave the roadmap for our young generation in meeting the industry demands of near future.”
A total of 92 trainers from diverse backgrounds and different categories such as entrepreneurship training, National Apprenticeship Promotional Scheme, Jan Shikshan Sansthan, Short Term Training under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana, among others, were felicitated at the digital conclave.
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Tuesday arrested Rhea Chakraborty after questioning her for three days in connection with drugs-related allegations in her boyfriend and actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case.
“Rhea has been arrested and due process of informing the family has been completed,” said deputy director of NCB, KPS Malhotra.
She was taken to a public hospital here for medical check-up and COVID-19 tests soon after her arrest.
Rajput, 34, was found dead at his Bandra apartment here on June 14.
Before entering the vehicle along with NCB officials, Rhea waved at the assembled media persons at the anti-drug agency’s office in south Mumbai.
Clad in black, Rhea reached the NCB office at Ballard Estate around 10.30 am on Tuesday and was also seen carrying a bag with her, while entering the office.
The 28-year-old girlfriend of Sushant Singh Rajput had in recent TV interviews denied that she consumed drugs.
Rhea was recently interrogated by the CBI probe team, camping at the DRDO guest house in Mumbai’s western suburb Santacruz and also questioned by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering case.
NCB recently arrested her brother Showik Chakraborty and Sushant’s manager Samuel Miranda on drug supply charges.
Sushant Singh Rajput’s father had filed an FIR against Rhea Chakraborty in Patna, accusing her of driving his son to suicide and misappropriating his money.
Rhea has denied the allegations on several occasions.
Recent Comments