Cbi Row

CM Siddaramaiah rejects BJP's demand for CBI probe into alleged MUDA scam

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday rejected the BJP's demand for a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) even as the opposition party intensified its protests against "fraudulent" allotment of sites to land losers. The BJP has alleged that alternative sites were also allotted to the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's wife Parvathi in an upmarket area in Mysuru, which had higher property value as compared to the location of her land which had been acquired by the MUDA, and sought his resignation. The MUDA had allotted plots to Parvathi under a 50:50 ratio scheme in lieu of over three acres of her land, which the authority had acquired for developing a residential layout. The controversial scheme envisages allotting 50 per cent of developed land to the land loser in lieu of undeveloped land acquired for forming layouts. The BJP has alleged that irregularities to the tune of Rs 4,000 crore had taken place in distribution of si

FCRA violation case: HC seeks CBI response on Mander's plea against FIR

The Delhi High Court on Monday sought the CBI's response on a plea by human rights activist Harsh Mander and his NGO seeking quashing of an FIR lodged against them for alleged violation of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA). Justice Vikas Mahajan issued notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the petition and asked the agency, which orally assured the court that it was not going to arrest Mander as of now, to file its status report before the next date of hearing. The high court listed the matter for further hearing on August 29. During the hearing, senior advocate Nitya Ramakrishna, appearing for former IAS officer Mander and his NGO Centre of Equity Studies (CES), urged the court to grant an interim relief of no coercive action against the petitioners. Advocate Anupam Sharma representing the CBI said no coercive action will be taken against the activist till the next date of hearing. He said till date the agency has not arrested him and it was not go

CBI announces dedicated email ID for Sandeshkhali complaints

The CBI announced a dedicated email address for registration of complaints regarding crimes against women and land grabbing in Sandeshkhali in West Bengal. The email address, sandeshkhali@cbi.gov.in, will serve as a platform for the people of Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district to lodge their complaints, officials said. "In pursuance to the order passed by the division bench of Calcutta High Court on April 10, 2024, the CBI has created a dedicated email in which complaints of persons of Sandeshkhali regarding crimes against women and forcible grabbing of land may be lodged," the CBI said in a statement on Thursday. The district magistrate has been urged to publicise the email ID extensively within the locality and issue a public notice in vernacular newspapers with wide circulation, it added. The high court on Wednesday ordered a court-monitored CBI investigation into allegations of crimes against women and land grabbing in Sandeshkhali, saying an "impartial inquiry" was ...

Sandeshkhali unrest: Court extends Shajahan Sheikh's CBI custody by 4 days

A court in West Bengal's Basirhat on Sunday extended the CBI custody of Shajahan Sheikh, key accused in a mob attack on ED officials at Sandeshkhali, by another four days on a prayer by the central agency. The Central Bureau of Investigation got custody of Sheikh on March 6 along with transfer of investigation on an order of the Calcutta High Court. Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials were attacked when they went to raid the now suspended Trinamool Congress leader's premises at Sandeshkhali. The judge of the Basirhat court in North 24 Parganas district granted extension of Sheikh's custody to CBI by four days on a prayer by the central agency. The court directed that Sheikh be produced before it again on March 14. Sheikh was produced before the Basirhat court, around 70 km away from Kolkata where he is in CBI custody, under tight security. ED officials were attacked by an around 1000-strong mob when they went to search the premises of Sheikh at Sandeshkhali on January 5 in ...

Land for job case: CBI gets 2 weeks' time to file conclusive charge sheet

During the hearing the counsel for CBI urged for granting seven to 10 days to file a conclusive charge sheet

Arrest of Chanda Kochhar, her husband amounted to abuse of power by CBI: HC

The arrest of ICICI Bank's former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a loan fraud case was "without application of mind and due regard to the law", amounting to an "abuse of power", the Bombay High Court has said. A division bench of Justices Anuja Prabhudessai and N R Borkar had on February 6 held the Kochhars' arrest as illegal and confirmed a January 2023 interim order passed by another bench granting them bail. In the order made available on Monday, the court said the CBI has been unable to demonstrate the existence of circumstances or supportive material based on which the decision to arrest was taken. The absence of such circumstances renders the arrest illegal, it said. "Such routine arrest without application of mind and due regard to the law amounts to an abuse of power," the court said. The court also refused to accept the probe agency's contention that the arre

'Cash-for-query' case: Mahua Moitra submits her response to CBI questions

TMC leader and former Lok Sabha member Mahua Moitra has sent her response to a questionnaire by the CBI on allegations of corruption in raising questions in the house, officials said Thursday. The CBI is examining the response after which it will send a report to anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal which had referred the matter to the agency, they said. The agency is conducting a preliminary inquiry into the allegations against Moitra on the reference from the Lokpal. The CBI is also understood to have spoken to lawyer Jai Dehadrai and businessman Darshan Hiranandani in connection with its inquiry, they said. Queries sent by PTI to Moitra remained unanswered and the CBI has also maintained silence on the issue. BJP Lok Sabha MP Nishikant Dubey had accused Moitra of asking questions in Lok Sabha to target the Adani group and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the behest of businessman Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for gifts. He had also accused Moitra of compromising national security

SC seeks TN's reply on ED's plea for probe transfer against its officer

The Supreme Court on Thursday sought response of the Tamil Nadu government on a plea of the Enforcement Directorate seeking transfer of the probe in a case against its officer, arrested by the Tamil Nadu Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption on charges of bribe, to the CBI. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan issued notice to the Tamil Nadu government and sought its response in two weeks. The bench asked the Tamil Nadu Police to produce before it on the next date of hearing, the materials collected in the bribery case, after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the ED, alleged that files related to investigation against ministers were taken away. Justice Kant asked senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Amit Anand Tiwari, appearing for the Tamil Nadu government, to not proceed with the investigation in the bribery case, till the next date of hearing of the matter. When the bench asked Mehta whether the ED has also booked the officer, accused of taking the ..

CBI questions two TMC councillors concerning Bengal school jobs scam

Two TMC councillors appeared before sleuths of the CBI on Thursday for questioning in connection with its probe into irregularities in recruitment in West Bengal's primary schools, a senior official said. The CBI had issued summons to the two TMC leaders Bappaditya Dasgupta and Debraj Chakraborty on Wednesday, asking them to appear before its officers for questioning. "We are trying to find out how both of them were benefited by the irregularities in school jobs," the official told PTI. The probe agency had conducted search operations at Chakraborty's residence and offices in November last year. Several leaders of the ruling TMC, including former minister Partha Chatterjee, have been arrested in connection with the scam.

Chhattisgarh govt recommends CBI probe into PSC-2021 irregularities scam

The BJP pointed out that relatives of politicians, IAS officers and bureaucrats had made it to the selection list

Ten states withdraw general consent to CBI to investigate cases: Centre

Ten states, including Tamil Nadu and Telangana, have withdrawn general consent to the CBI to investigate cases in their respective jurisdictions, the Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday. According to section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) needs consent from the respective state governments to conduct investigations in their jurisdiction. Punjab, Jharkhand, Kerala, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Mizoram, Telangana, Meghalaya, and Tamil Nadu have withdrawn the general consent, Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said in a written reply. To a question, whether the Union government proposed to amend section 6 of the DSPE Act, the minister said, "No". Asserting that withdrawal of general consent by some states has led to severe limitations in the CBI's powers to investigate crucial cases, a Parliamentary panel had recently said there was a dire need to enact a new law and give wider powers to the

CBI registers case against Universal Trading involved in multi-crore scam

There were many cases of fraud and cheating registered against Gowtham Ramesh in Tamil Nadu and Kerala

Dire need to widen CBI's powers: House panel on needing states' consent

Asserting that withdrawal of 'general consent' by some states has led to severe limitations in the CBI's powers to investigate crucial cases, a Parliamentary panel on Monday said there was a dire need to enact a new law and give wider powers to the federal agency so that it can probe cases without a "state's consent and interference". At the same time, the panel said that some safeguards should also be laid down to ensure objectivity and impartiality in the functioning of CBI so that the states also don't feel discriminated against. As per the provisions of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, which governs the functioning of the CBI, the consent of the state government is a pre-requisite for any investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Nine states have withdrawn the general consent to the CBI for investigating cases, according to a report tabled by the panel in Parliament on Monday. State governments have granted general consent to the CBI for ...

Operation Chankra-2: CBI searches 76 locations against cyber criminals

The CBI has conducted searches at 76 locations across the country under Operation Chakra-2 after registering five separate cases of cyber-enabled financial frauds, officials said on Thursday. One of the cases pertains to a racket siphoning off Rs 100 crore of Indian citizens through a cryptocurrency fraud, they said. The case was registered on the basis of inputs provided by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the officials said. Two cases were registered on a complaint from Amazon and Microsoft that the accused ran call centres and posed as technical support of the companies to target foreign nationals, they said. Nine call centres were searched by the Central Bureau Investigation (CBI) under the operation, the officials added. The details of two other cases were not shared by the agency because of the ongoing operation. The CBI has acted on inputs from FIU, FBI, Interpol and other international agencies, they said. The searches were conducted at locations in Uttar Pradesh,

CBI asks ex-CM Harish Rawat to appear before court in 2016 sting video case

The CBI has served a notice to former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat in connection with the 2016 sting operation, asking him to appear before a CBI court on July 4 to give a voice sample. Sleuths from the Central Bureau of Investigation arrived at Rawat's residence Thursday morning to serve him the notice but he was not at home. The notice was served to him later in the day when Rawat himself informed the CBI, both on phone and through a social media post, that he had returned home. Reacting to the CBI notice, the Congress leader said he and his party had already suffered all the damage the "conspiratorial sting operation could inflict on us" in 2016-17. "However, I am ready for any kind of persecution in the hope that the law will one day stand by us and truth will prevail," he said, adding, he will fight the battle in the CBI court and beyond. The sting video in question had surfaced in 2016 in the wake of nine Congress MLAs revolting against Rawat, the then chief minis

Atiq's son Umar to be produced before court of CBI special judge today

Slain gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed's son Umar Atiq Ahmed will be produced in the court of CBI Special Judge Ajay Vikram Singh on Friday

ICICI-Videocon case: Bombay HC grants CBI 3 days to reply on Dhoot's plea

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted the Central Bureau of Investigation 3 days time till Friday to file its reply in a plea filed by Videocon Group Chairman Venugopal N. Dhoot

DHFL scam: F N Souza, Raza's paintings among Rs 12-cr assets seized by CBI

The CBI has recovered paintings of Indian maestros FN Souza and SH Raza worth Rs 5.50 crore during a fresh round of searches related to India's biggest bank fraud involving DHFL, officials said. SH Raza's 1956 oil-on-canvas painting titled 'Village' worth over Rs 3.50 crore and FN Souza's 1964-untitled oil-on-linen piece valued at Rs 2 crore were among the luxurious items worth Rs 12 crore seized by the agency, they said. The central agency has also seized two uber-luxury watches of Jacob and Co and Frank Muller Geneve totalling about Rs 5 crore during searches, it said in a statement. The CBI is conducting custodial interrogation of former CMD of DHFL Kapil Wadhawan and Director Dheeraj Wadhawan for the last nine days during which it emerged that they had purchased these paintings from a noted art auction house at Fort in Mumbai, the officials said. After coming to know where these items were kept, the CBI conducted searches and seized the assets, they said. According to official

Centre misusing Constitutional institutions to harass opposition: Cong

The BJP-led central government is misusing the country's Constitutional institutions to harass opposition leaders who criticise its policies, the Rajasthan Congress said on Sunday.

Amid CBI probe, Delhi excise policy may be extended by two months

The ongoing Delhi Excise Policy, which has been shrouded with much controversy, is likely to be extended by two more months as it expires on July 31.