New Delhi : Following a protest call by the INDIA bloc, security measures have been intensified on the routes leading to BJP headquarters in Central Delhi.
Multiple layers of barricades and a significant contingent of paramilitary forces have been deployed along the DDU Marg, ITO, and other routes.
A senior police official said, “Barricades have been strategically placed, and security personnel are prepared to intercept any attempt by protesters to access DDU Marg.”
Delhi Police have enforced section 144 in the vicinity of DDU Marg and surrounding areas, prohibiting any form of assembly or gathering.
The traffic police also advised commuters to avoid these routes.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday had said that the opposition INDIA bloc will stage a protest outside the BJP headquarters in the national capital on Friday against the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the electoral bond issue.
The INDIA bloc has also announced that it will hold a joint rally at the Ramlila Maidan in protest against CM Kejriwal’s arrest on March 31.
New Delhi: Jailed gangster and politician Mukhtar Ansari died in UP’s Banda on Thursday, following a heart attack.
Amsari, 60, suffered a massive heart attack in Banda jail on Thursday evening during a medical check-up and he fell unconscious. He was immediately taken to the Banda Medical College where he died.
The hospital administration has confirmed his demise.
Earlier on Tuesday, Ansari’s health had deteriorated and he was admitted to the ICU at Banda Medical College. However, he was discharged the same evening after doctors declared him fit.
Ansari had earlier told the court that he was being given food laced with poison in jail, after which the court had sought a report on the same. He had alleged that he was also given food laced with poison 40 days ago.
Ansari, a five-time former MLA from Mau Sadar seat, had been behind bars in UP and Punjab since 2005. He has over 60 criminal cases pending against him.
Ansari was sentenced in eight cases since September 2022 by different courts of UP and was lodged in the Banda jail.
His name was on the list of 66 gangsters issued by Uttar Pradesh Police in 2023.
His family members had earlier expressed apprehension that he could be killed in a fake encounter.
On March 13, Ansari was sentenced to life imprisonment in a three-decade-old fake gun licence case. The MP-MLA court also slapped a fine totalling Rs 2 lakh on Ansari under various penal provisions.
Born in 1963, Ansari was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly from the Mau constituency five times, including twice as a Bahujan Samaj Party candidate. He last contested the Assembly polls in 2017.
Meanwhile, huge crowds have started collecting outside his ancestral house in Ghazipur. His family has already left for Banda. Additional forces have been put on alert and police deployment is being increased in Ghazipur. Prohibitory orders have also been imposed.
Jammu and Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Wednesday that the Centre is contemplating the withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) in Jammu and Kashmir. Speaking in an interview with Gulistan News, Shah unveiled plans to retract troops from the region, entrusting law and order responsibilities solely to the Jammu and Kashmir Police.
“We have plans to pull back troops and leave law and order to the Jammu and Kashmir Police alone,” Shah stated. Recognizing the growing trust in the local police force, Shah emphasized the potential revocation of AFSPA, which grants extensive powers to armed forces personnel in disturbed areas.
Acknowledging the contrast between its application in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast, where it has been lifted from 70% of areas, Shah stressed the need for a reassessment.
Shah criticized opposition leaders Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, asserting they lack credibility on terrorism issues. He pointed out a decrease in fake encounters under the current administration and pledged dialogue with Kashmiri youths, distinguishing them from organizations with alleged ties to Pakistan.
“We will have a dialogue with the youths of Kashmir and not with the organizations that have roots in Pakistan,” Shah affirmed.
Highlighting the government’s counterterrorism measures, Shah mentioned the ban on 12 organizations, designation of 36 individuals as terrorists, and enforcement actions against terror financing. These efforts included the seizure of properties worth ₹150 crore, attachment of 90 properties, and freezing of 134 bank accounts.
New Delhi : In a major political setback to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab, the party’s lone MP in the Lok Sabha, Sushil Kumar Rinku (48), joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here on Wednesday.
In the bypoll to the Jalandhar Lok Sabha constituency held in May last year, Rinku trounced Congress’ Karamjit Kaur by a thumping margin of 58, 691 votes, as the grand old party faced defeat in the seat for the first time since 1999.
Rinku, a former Congress leader, joined the BJP in the presence of the party’s National General Secretary Vinod Tawde and Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar at the party headquarters here.
AAP MLA from Jalandhar (West), Sheetal Angural, also joined the saffron party along with Rinku.
After joining the BJP, Rinku told the media, “I have taken this decision for the development of Jalandhar. We will take Jalandhar forward. We will bring all the projects of the Central government to Jalandhar.”
Rinku had switched to the AAP from the Congress on April 27, 2023, and a day later he was declared the party candidate for the bypoll to the Jalandhar parliamentary constituency.
His victory marked the re-entry of AAP Punjab to the Lok Sabha. Earlier, Bhagwant Mann was the AAP’s first and lone Lok Sabha MP. He resigned from the Parliament on being elected as an MLA in the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections. His party could not retain the seat vacated by him in the bypoll.
The Jalandhar parliamentary seat is a reserved constituency that falls in the state’s Dalit-dominated Doaba region.
Rinku enjoys a good support base among the Dalit community, which forms 42 per cent of the total electorate in the constituency.
Last week, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann held a closed-door meeting with Rinku to gather feedback about the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
In the 2022 Assembly elections, the Congress had won in five out of the nine segments in the Jalandhar parliamentary seat, while the AAP bagged the remaining seats.
The 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab will go to the polls on June 1.
Commenting on Rinku joining the BJP, state BJP chief Jakhar said, “He (Rinku) took a longer route (to come to the BJP). We Punjabis are known to be pioneers, we experiment.”
New Delhi : The BJP on Tuesday submitted to the Election Commission a list of 40 leaders who will campaign for party candidates in Bihar in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party chief J.P. Nadda, Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, and Smriti Irani, and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath are among the star campaigners for the party.
The list also includes Union Ministers Giriraj Singh, and Nityanand Rai, former Union Minister Ashwini Kumar Chaubey, Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari, state in-charge Vinod Tawde, Deputy CMs Samrat Choudhary, and Vijay Kumar Sinha, former Deputy CMs Sushil Kumar Modi, and Renu Devi, former state chief Sanjay Jaiswal, former state minister Shahnawaz Hussain, and Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav.
The BJP is contesting 17 of the state’s 40 seats and the rest have been allocated to its NDA partners.
INDIA bloc on Tuesday protested in Panaji over the arrest of the AAP National Convener Arvind Kejriwal by the Enforcement Directorate.
The opposition party leaders including MLAs, who tried to enter Azad Maidan in Panaji, were initially restrained by the huge police force. However, later they were allowed to address the media.
Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao, AAP President Amit Palekar, Goa Forward President and MLA Vijai Sardesai, NCP (sharad Pawar group) President Jose Philip, Shivsena (UBT) President Jitesh Kamat and others were present.
Yuri Alemao slammed the BJP government for not allowing them to enter the Azad Maidan.
“This place is (known) to mark protest, but BJP did ‘gundagardi’ and showed its dictatorship by restraining us from entering by using police force, ” Alemao alleged.
“This is a murder of democracy by the BJP. Whenever we expose them, they try to silence us. Kejriwal, who is a Chief Minister, has been arrested at the time of the election. This is the first time that such a thing has happened, ” Alemao said.
“It is not only the arrest of Kejriwal, but of every individual. If you raise a voice against the government they put people in jail, ” Alemao said.
Amit Palekar said that the BJP is afraid of opposition and hence they didn’t allow even MLAs to enter Azad Maidan.
“Officers tried to stop us. We all have come together to fight against such practices, ” he said.
He said that the BJP has been exposed through electoral bonds and hence to divert issues they are arresting opposition leaders.
Vijai Sardesai said that this is an unprecedented arrest at a time when the code of conduct is in force. “Kejriwal has been arrested in an old case, if they wanted to arrest him, then it should have been done earlier, why did they wait till the code of conduct? They can arrest opposition or anyone who speaks against the government, ” Sardesai said.
“Do they (BJP) give guarantees that democracy will remain alive? Are they trying to make opposition ‘mukt Bharat’. Our country should not become like Pakistan, it should not become a ‘Banana Republic, ” Sardesaid said.
Jaipur : Various enforcement agencies in Rajasthan have seized drugs, liquor, precious metals, freebies and illegal cash worth Rs 271 crore since the beginning of March.
The value of the items seized by the agencies since March 16, after the implementation of the Model Code of Conduct, is more than Rs 181 crore.
There has been a record seizure worth more than Rs 173 crore after the implementation of the code of conduct, officials said.
Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta said that different agencies in the state are keeping a strict vigil on suspicious items and illegal use of money for the purpose of influencing the elections.
Gupta said that suspicious items or cash worth more than Rs 10 crore each have been recovered in nine districts of Jodhpur, Pali, Jaipur, Udaipur, Bhilwara, Ganganagar, Jhunjhunu, Alwar and Barmer.
According to district-wise data, the maximum seizure of items worth Rs 33.36 crore has taken place in Jodhpur.
Pali is in second place with a seizure of around Rs 19.48 crore. Goods worth Rs 19.01 crore have been seized in Jaipur, Rs 14.19 crore in Udaipur, Rs 14.02 crore in Bhilwara, Rs 13.44 crore in Ganganagar, Rs 11.87 crore in Jhunjhunu, Rs 11.17 crore in Barmer and Rs 10.37 crore in Alwar.
New Delhi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday spoke to Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and discussed ways to further strengthen bilateral ties while congratulating him on the successful hosting of the First Nuclear Energy Summit.
In a telephone conversation, the two leaders affirmed their commitment to further bolster the India–EU Strategic Partnership under the ongoing Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
“Spoke to Belgium PM @alexanderdecroo. Congratulated him on the success of the First Nuclear Energy Summit in Brussels. Exchanged views on strengthening bilateral ties; advancing India-EU Partnership under Belgian Presidency; and cooperation on regional and global issues, ” Prime Minister Modi wrote in a post on X on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Modi and his Belgian counterpart reviewed the “excellent relations” between India and Belgium and discussed ways to further strengthen the bilateral partnership in diverse sectors.
These included trade, investment, clean technologies, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, green hydrogen, IT, defence, and ports, among others.
They agreed upon the need to enhance cooperation and support for the early restoration of peace and security in the West Asia region and the Russia-Ukraine war, a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said.
Exchanging views on regional and global developments, the two leaders agreed to remain in touch.
The first-ever Nuclear Energy Summit, held in Brussels last week, was jointly organised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Belgium.
For the summit, global leaders came together to reaffirm their commitment to nuclear energy as a way to reduce carbon emissions and meet development goals.
In a statement delivered at the summit, India said that as a responsible nuclear power with advanced technology, it remains committed to expanding peaceful applications of nuclear technology, both in the power and non-power sectors, while ensuring the security of nuclear and radiological materials.
“India has a robust nuclear safety culture and impeccable safety record. India will continue to support the Agency in its efforts to provide a robust, sustainable and visible global nuclear safety and security framework, ” Ajit Kumar Mohanty, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, said.
“Our aim is for nuclear energy to have significant share in electricity mix of India by the year 2047 when India celebrates 100 years of independence.”
Mohanty added that as a medium-term target, India aims to achieve tripling nuclear power generation capacity by 2030 from around 7.5 GW at present.
Speaking of India’s three-stage nuclear power programme, India in a statement at the summit said that the country is committed to full international civil nuclear cooperation for the development needs of the nation, and is engaged in discussions with foreign companies to further expand the nuclear energy programme.
New Delhi: A court on Friday sent Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to the Enforcement Directorate’s custody till March 28, a day after his arrest in the excise policy-linked money laundering case.
Special Judge Kaveri Baweja at the Rouse Avenue court said Kejriwal will be produced before the court on March 28 at 2 pm.
The court passed the order on the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) application seeking a 10-day custody in the case.
During the hearing for remand, the ED said that Kejriwal — the AAP’s national convener — was a “key conspirator” in the excise policy scam case along with other ministers and party leaders.
Kejriwal was produced in the trial court shortly after he withdrew from the Supreme Court his plea against his arrest by the agency.
The ED told Judge Baweja that Kejriwal received several crores of rupees as kickbacks from the ‘South group’ for formulating and implementing the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.
He demanded Rs 100 crore from some accused from the ‘South group’ for contesting the Punjab elections, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, who appeared for the agency, told the court.
The law officer said the money trail showed that Rs 45 crore “kickback” used in the Goa elections came from four hawala routes.
He said the statements of the accused and witnesses have been corroborated through Call Detail Records (CDR).
The AAP chief was produced before the court around 2 pm amid tight security on and around the court premises.
“We have given an application for 10 days’ remand,” ASG Raju told the court.
He said the AAP is not an individual but a company, and every person responsible for the conduct of the company will be held responsible.
Senior Advocate Abhishek Singhvi, who was representing Kejriwal, said this is the first time in the history of India that a sitting chief minister has been arrested.
The power of arrest is not equal to the need of arrest and there was no necessity of arresting this man, he said.
“Please don’t look at remand as a routine exercise… it requires application of significant judicial mind… larger issues of democracy involved,” Singhvi said.
Lawyer Vikram Chaudhari, who was also representing the Delhi chief minister, told the court that the “ED has become judge, jury and executioner”.
New Delhi : Reacting to the court’s order sending Arvind Kejriwal to six-day ED custody, AAP leader Atishi Marlena said that they disagree with the decision, and added that the AAP supremo will remain the Delhi chief minister.
Speaking to a news agency, the Delhi education minister said that the party will take all the legal routes possible.
“Arvind Kejriwal is and will remain the chief minister of Delhi. There is no constitutional or legal bar on him not being the CM. He can step down only when he is convicted and serves jail sentence of two years.”
She further claimed that the witnesses in the case are being forced into giving false testimants against Kejriwal.
“We, very respectfully and humbly disagree with the decision of the court. ED has no proof even after 2 years of investigation… ED forced their witnesses to give statements against Arvind Kejriwal… We will explore all possible legal routes… One by one opposition parties are being targetted in front of the judiciary.”
Meanwhile, arrested Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s lawyer on Friday told a Delhi court that there was “no material” or “evidence” to show any wrongdoing in excise policy formulation or receipt of any proceeds by the AAP supremo, reports PTI news agency.
The 55-year-old Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday under the anti-money laundering law from his official residence in the Civil Lines area of Delhi. He was produced on Friday before the Rouse Avenue court, which sent him to the ED’s custody till March 28.
While opposing the ED’s demand for his custody, Kejriwal’s lawyer told the court “that the present case is stitched together only on the basis of statements of co-accused and statement of officers who are working under the control of the complainant herein i.e. LG of Delhi”.
“There is no material or evidence to show any wrongdoing in policy formulation or any receipt of any proceeds by the arrestee. That despite investigating the matter for over the year and despite conducting more than 200 raids, no incriminating material showing involvement of arrestee in any crime or involvement in any process/ activity was found,” he contended.
He said that to “unleash political vendetta” and for extraneous reasons, powers under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money laundering Act (PMLA) are “misused in malicious manner and people are coerced, forced and pressurised to give unsubstantiated statements” in the case.
