NEWS TODAY 24-26.10.2024

 

ED misused power: HC; grants relief to edu society dir’s son

ED misused power: HC; grants relief to edu society dir’s son

Swati.Deshpande@timesofindia.com 26.10.2024 

Mumbai : Non-cooperation cannot be a ground for arrest, said the Bombay High Court on Friday, as it granted interim bail to Deepak Deshmukh, son of the Shri Chhatrapati Shivaji Education Society’s director Appasaheb Deshmukh, in an alleged money laundering case under PMLA for which the Enforcement Directorate had arrested him last month. The HC stated that his arrest was ‘sans application of mind’ and that, prima facie, the ED “misused its power of arrest.” “Prima facie, it appears that the powers have been exercised based on the whims, caprice, or fancy of the investigating officer,” said the HC division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan, who granted Deshmukh interim bail pending the final disposal of his bail application. 

Deshmukh is lodged in a Mumbai Central Jail. His liberty was set for a PR bond of Rs 50,000. The HC permitted his release on cash bail for six weeks, during which he would have to furnish the bond. The HC found some merit in Deshmukh’s senior counsel, Sudeep Pasbola, who argued that the arrest eight years later was a “counter blast” to a criminal petition that Deshmukh filed this year for a direction for registration of an FIR against one Jaykumar Gore and his colleagues in an alleged Covid scam. The ED case against Deshmukh, as argued by the agency’s counsel Sandesh Patil, was based on a 2016 FIR registered by the Satara police in Maharashtra. Patil said Deshmukh was arrested as he failed to cooperate with probe. The ED stated that the education society allegedly sought up to Rs 40 lakh each from students for admissions between the years 2011 and 2016, but never granted admission. The total amount collected was around Rs 69 crore, the ED alleged. The money was deposited in the Society’s account but projected as income of a hospital, the ED probe said. The ED case was also that an amount of Rs 49 lakh was transferred allegedly to Deshmukh’s  account, which the agency claimed was part of the ‘proceeds of crime’. 

The HC said, “We are, prima facie, of the opinion” that Deshmukh’s arrest and consequent orders of remands dated Sep 5, 2024 and Sep 12, 2024 “are illegal, passed in sheer ignorance of the ratio laid down by the Supreme Court in the case of Arvind Kejriwal.” The HC also said it found no reason why and how the petitioner, who has neither been named in the FIR nor has been charge-sheeted in the scheduled offence, came to be arrested after eight years.

‘Chinese national behind digital arrest racket’

‘Chinese national behind digital arrest racket’ 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 26.10.2024 LUCKNOW 

Lucknow : Following the arrest of two Nepalese nationals in connection with a digital fraud case in the city, the UP special task force (STF) said that a Chinese national could be the mastermind of the gang. The STF had arrested two persons, Saroj Khanal and Shivram Rimal, and found during preliminary investigation that the duo worked under a Chinese national, identified as Ben. According to DySP, STF, Deepak Kumar Singh, the arrested Nepalese suspects confessed that Ben lured them into financial fraud. He added that Khanal and Rimal had been executing digital arrest frauds throughout India for the last one years. Sources in the STF said that preliminary findings indicated that Ben created a network of operatives to expand his illegal operations across multiple states in India. During interrogation, Khanal and Rimal revealed that Ben operated alongside Chakre Milan, a prominent gangster from Nepal. Milan and his associates are known for involvement in illegal activities across Nepal and India

Pending inquiry no bar to travel abroad, says HC

Pending inquiry no bar to travel abroad, says HC 

Ashish.Mehta@timesofindia.com 26.10.2024 

Jaipur : A 59-year-old electrical engineer posted at Rajasthan Electronics and Instruments Limited was granted permission to travel to Singapore to visit his son by a single bench of the Rajasthan High Court on Wednesday. The petitioner approached the HC early this month when he was denied permission to travel. The court emphasised that the term “personal liberty” under Article 21 of the Constitution encompasses a broader scope, which includes the right to travel abroad. Petitioner, Neeraj Saxena, wrote to higher authorities at REIL on Sept 26 and sought permission to travel to Singapore for a period of six days. However, when he received no response until Oct 16, he approached the HC. “He wrote an application seeking permission to travel to Singapore from Oct 30 to Nov 4 to meet his son.

Until Oct 16, when he did not get a reply and his application was not decided by the authorities, we moved a petition at the high court. The court earlier issued notices to the respondents, including REIL. It was submitted by REIL that a departmental enquiry is pending against the accused, thus he can’t be allowed to travel abroad,” said Akhil Simlote, counsel for the petitioner, on Friday. “It was also submitted that in 2019 the petitioner was part of a recruitment board in which irregularities were alleged in two recruitments. But as soon as we moved an applica tion, REIL in its reply stated that a departmental chargesheet was given to the petitioner,” said Akhil. 

The bench comprising Justice Anoop Dhand, while allowing the petitioner, said the term “personal liberty” under Article 21 of the Constitution encompasses a broader scope, which also includes the right to travel abroad. “He should make his personal appearance before the department on his arrival. He shall not visit other countries except Singapore. And if the petitioner does not return to India within the time period, the department shall be at liberty to proceed against the petitioner in accordance with the law,” said Justice Dhand while allowing the petitioner to travel abroad

7 Aus varsities join hands, keen to open joint campus in India

7 Aus varsities join hands, keen to open joint campus in India

26.10.2024

New Delhi : Innovative Research Universities (IRU), a consortium of seven Australian universities has expressed interest in opening a joint campus in India. Discussions on the same took place between education ministry and IRS officials on Thursday and Friday, reports Manash Gohain. Deakin University welcomed its inaugural batch of students to its GIFT City campus in Gujarat in July 2024, thus becoming the first foreign university to start its India operations. 

University of Wollongong (UOW India) is the second Australian university which started offering programmes from its GIFT City campus. As per IRU website, it is “a coalition of public universities across Australia committed to inclusive education and innovative research that advances our communities”, established in July 2003. It comprises of Flinders University, Griffith University, James Cook University, La Trobe University, Murdoch University, University of Canberra, and Western Sydney University. According to govt sources, it expressed interest in an India campus during Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s visit. 

Apart from attending 2nd Australia-India Education and Skills Council (AIESC) meeting in Sydney Thursday, Pradhan interacted with high level administrators from IRU. He was apprised of collaborative approaches to education delivery and efforts to facilitate impactful research for society. “The deliberation which started on Thursday during interaction with Pradhan, extended to Friday with officials discussing details of possible research and other academic collaboration. Post further meetings, an announcement is likely to be made later this year,” said the source. “India-Australia have a strong bilateral connection, especially in education sector and with the minister’s (Pradhan) second visit, more engagements are likely to happen, which include more Australian universities looking at option of setting up campuses, and offering joint/dual/twinning degrees,” said the source.

Fake ED team raids businessman’s house, tries to extort ₹5 cr

Fake ED team raids businessman’s house, tries to extort ₹5 cr 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 26.10.2024 

New Delhi : In real life imitating reel, a team of seven imposters masquerading as ED officers seemed to have taken a cue from Akshay Kumar starrer ‘Special 26’ as they ‘raided’ a businessman’s house in tony DLF Farms in Chhattarpur, Delhi on an Oct evening, ‘questioned’ him on huge cash withdrawals from his bank and pressurising him to ‘settle’ the matter with a payment of Rs 5 crore. Since cash was not available, the imposters waited all night at the victim’s house and took him to the bank the next morning to withdraw the money. While the accused and the victim were at the bank, the ED was alerted by the businessman’s lawyer who received a message from the victim about the “ED raids”. 

However, before the enforcement team and the local police officials, who were alerted by the ED, could reach the bank, the imposters fled when they got suspicious after the victim's lawyer wanted to see the identity cards of the raiding party. Some accused still at the house of the victim also ran away leaving behind their cars as the gates were locked. A hunt is on for the culprits.

 “The lawyer of the victim had reached the bank and had questioned the fake ED officers, and sought to see their ID cards. The imposters grew suspicious of being caught and ran away before they could be apprehended,” the ED said in a statement. An FIR has been registered by the Delhi Police and two vehicles belonging to the accused have also been seized from the victim’s house. Later, in his statement to the police, the victim said that seven people had come to his house on Oct 21 night in two cars claiming to be ED officers. Four of them were masked while three interacted with him unmasked. “They questioned the victim as to why he was withdrawing huge cash regularly from his bank account. They also carried with them some cheques of his old bank account and threatened arrest unless he agreed to pay them Rs 5 crore,” the ED has said.  So confident was the fake ED team, that when the businessman told the ‘raiding party’ that the money could be taken out only from the bank the next morning, the imposters decided to stay at his house the entire night. The next day, he was taken to the Kotak Mahindra Bank at Hauz Khas to withdraw the money

Germany ups visas for skilled Indian workers 4.5x to 90k

Germany ups visas for skilled Indian workers 4.5x to 90k 

26.10.2024 

New Delhi : Germany has decided to increase the number of visas for skilled Indians from 20,000 to 90,000 per year, PM Narendra Modi announced on Friday. “I am confident this will further boost Germany’s economic growth,” he said, speaking at the Asia-Pacific Conference of German Business. Participating in the conference along with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Modi said Germany’s holistic approach and commitment to pursuing the strategic partnership are clearly evident. “Especially noteworthy is the trust that Germany has expressed in the skilled workforce of India,” he said.