What to Watch Out For Supreme Court to deliberate on CBI application against Kolkata Police Commissioner and more developments in Mamata vs CBI showdown
The apex court will be taking up the CBI application about the alleged destruction of electronic evidence in the Sarada chit fund scam case by the Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar today.
On Monday night, the West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee who has been on a ‘Save the Constitution’ sit-in protest, was joined by DMK leader Kanimozhi and Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Tejaswi Yadav.What happened: The CM took to a dharna on Sunday evening against what she called was a the imposition of a ‘President’s Rule’ after row broke out between the CBI officials and the Kolkata police who refused to let the former enter the Commissioner Rajeev Kumar’s house.
CBI officials on Sunday paid an unexpected and, according to some, unwarranted visit to Kumar's house in lieu with a ponzi cheme investigation from 2013.
Kolkata Police officers rushed to the Commissioner's house and denied the CBI officials entry. 15 CBI officials were briefly detained in the police station.Top court adjudicates: On Monday, the CBI approached the Supreme Court alleging that law and order had broken down in Bengal. However, a bench led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi was not convinced.
It told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to submit evidence in support of the CBI’s allegation that Kumar has tampered with and destroyed crucial evidence. “There’s no evidence of what you are saying right now," the chief justice had said.You’ve been served: Meanwhile, in a counter attack, the Kolkata Police served the CBI agency’s joint director and head of zone Pankaj Kumar Srivastava a notice in connection with a ‘wrongful restraint’ and ‘wrongful confinement’ of two businessmen in August 2018.
The investigation into the bank fraud was led by Srivastava and a counter case had then been filed by the businessmen over the charges. In solidarity: Several opposition party leaders including Karnataka CM and JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy, Congress’ Rahul Gandhi, AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal, JD(S)’ HD Devegowda, J-K National Conference’s Omar Abdullah, J-K Peoples Democratic Party’s Mehbooba Mufti, JMM’s Hemant Soren, SP’s Akhilesh Yadav, INC’s Sharad Pawar, disgrunt BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s Raj Thackeray extended their support to the West Bengal CM.
Many of these party leaders are members of the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) which was announced in the ‘United India Rally’ which had been organized by Mamata Banerjee on January 19.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Part leader Chandrababu Naidu in a Teleconference with the party leader also condemned the situation in Bengal and expressed his support.
Most of the leaders have called the CBI move undemocratic and said that it was an attack on the Constitution.Counterpoint: In a press conference on Monday HRD Minister and BJP leader Prakash Javadekar said, “Why is Mamata Banerjee on dharna? What is it that she is trying to hide?..... This mahagathbandhan is divided by region, united by corruption."
Home Minister Rajnath Singh in Lok Sabha also said, “There may be constitutional breakdown in West Bengal. The Kolkata Police-CBI face-off was "unfortunate" and stopping CBI from performing duty was "unprecedented."Special Report: Meet Rajeev Kumar, the tech-savvy Kolkata top cop for whom Mamata Banerjee launched a dharna. Read Aniruddha Ghosal’s report here.On the campaign trail: Priyanka to meet Congress leaders and the AIADMK-BJP seat sharing talks to take place
Newly appointed All India Congress Committee Gen Sec of Uttar Pradesh East, Priyanka Gandhi has returned to Delhi from her trip abroad and will be meeting senior Congress leaders. Gandhi is expected to take charge later this week. A meeting of the UP team is expected to take place tomorrow at Rahul Gandhi's residence which will be attended by Priyanka Gandhi, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Raj Babbar and KC Venugopal. PTI quoted sources have also said that a meeting of AICC general secretaries and in-charge of various states will be taking place on Thursday evening to plan the strategy for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The All India Kisan Congress, the farmer front of the Congress will start bombarding the PM’s office with demand drafts of Rs 17 from Tuesday in protest against the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme announced by FM Piyush Goyal in the Budget presentation on Friday. The scheme will provide direct income support of Rs 6,000 a year, paid out in three equal installments of Rs 2,000 each to small and marginal farmers holding cultivable land up to 2 hectares. “PM Modi has betrayed farmers by announcing this scheme," said Surender Solanki, vice president of the Kisan Congress. “The amount translates to a per day income of Rs 17. A farmer can’t even buy tea for his family in that amount. A cup of tea would cost Rs 10."What You May Have MissedUK Home secretary approves fugitive Vijay Mallya’s extradition order
Only 2 women entered the Lord Ayyappa shrine in Sabrimala, the Kerala government said in contradiction to their previously quoted figure of 51. The revision was made by Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran in light of the list which the state government had submitted on January 18 after the Supreme Court struck down the ‘ban’ on entry for women of menstruating age. At the time when the list was submitted, the apex court was hearing the petitions of Bindu and Kanakadurga, two women in their 40s who made headlines by visiting the shrine in the wee hours of January 2, a day after the Left Democratic Party held the ‘Women’s Wall’ protest. Both women had approached the court seeking security.Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and other opposition party leaders approach Election Commission over VVPAT demand
Congress president Rahul Gandhi and several opposition party leaders on Monday approached the Election Commission to put forward their demand that atleast 50 percent Electronic Voting Machines results are matched with voter verifiable paper audit trails (VVPATs) in the upcoming general elections. The delegation urged the EC that in the case that the counting yields only a 5 percent difference between the winning candidate and the runner-up, then the results should be matched with a VVPATs. The EC will soon deliberate on the matter. This move by the opposition party leaders comes days after a self-proclaimed cyber expert Syed Shuja in a press conference in London alleged that EVMs used in the 2014 general elections had been hacked. 19-year-old woman arrested for raping another woman under Section 377
Delhi Police on Monday arrested a 19-year-old woman on charges of raping another woman under Section 377, a first-of-its-kind case since the Supreme Court decriminalised same-sex relations in September last year. According to the survivor, the woman had forcefully committed anal sex on her using an artificial male genitalia. The accused Shivani, was produced before the Karkardooma Court where the police was granted a day to interrogate her and thereafter she was sent for judicial custody in Tihar jail.Supposed middleman in Rakesh Asthana bribery case refuses polygraph test
Alleged middleman Manoj Prasad in the bribery case against former deputy Rakesh Asthana on Monday refused to undergo a lie detector test after the CBI filed a plea in a Delhi court. The CBI application was seeking permission to conduct lie detector test and take a voice sample of Prasad and the complainant, Hyderabad-based businessman Satish Sana. It has been alleged that Prasad, a Dubai-based investment banker, took a bribe on behalf of the former special director Rakesh Asthana. Satish Sana, who is the complainant in the Rakesh Asthana case, had claimed that Prasad had assured him of help from a certain CBI officer in the Moin Qureshi case if he paid an amount of Rs 5 crore.On Reel
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