Arrested Jet Airways crew part of global hawala racket: DRI

Agencies
January 9, 2018

New Delhi, Jan 9: A woman flight attendant of Jet Airways has been arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) for allegedly trying to smuggle out forex worth more than Rs 3 crore, with the agency today saying that the accused was part of a major global hawala syndicate.

The DRI officials intercepted the woman when she was on a flight to Hong Kong yesterday, the agency said in a statement.

"During examination of her checked in and hand baggage, USD 4,80,200 wrapped in aluminium foil having a market value of Rs 3.25 crore, has been recovered," it said.

During interrogation, it came to light that the woman was a carrier of a major international hawala syndicate and has carried foreign currencies many times for a Delhi-based hawala operator, it said.

The operator, identified as Amit Malhotra, is a resident of Vivek Vihar area in Delhi, a senior DRI official said.

He said Malhotra used crew members for smuggling forex.

"Malhotra would collect money from some bullion dealers in Delhi and send it via some air hostess to select foreign destinations. The money was being used for purchasing gold abroad. The gold would then be sent to India illegally," the official said.

Malhotra had befriended the Jet Airways crew six months ago during a flight to India, he said.

The DRI suspected the role of some other crew members of Jet Airways in smuggling out forex, the official said.

"Malhotra has been illegally smuggling forex for the past over one year. There are some other crew members involved in the case. We are also trying to find out the details of bullion dealers involved in this syndicate," he said.

Both Malhotra and the Jet Airways crew member have been arrested, the official said.

A Delhi court sent the two to two-day judicial custody.

The DRI has recovered Rs 3.3 lakh in cash, and foreign currencies of different countries worth USD 2,500, besides several incriminating materials from Malhtora, he said.

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Well Wisher, Riyadh
 - 
Wednesday, 10 Jan 2018

Well done DRI. A thorough investigation is required. He & individuals like him might be funding terrorist activities in India. Should be given life term.

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News Network
April 28,2020

New Delhi, Apr 28: Nafisa Ali took to Instagram to share the inspiring story of her niece, Diya Naidu, who donated her plasma to help patients suffering from Covid-19 after recovering from the disease. The veteran actress shared a photo of her niece from the hospital bed and asked fans to read Diya's post to get a detailed account of her experience.

Nafisa wrote, "Diya Naidu my niece - a COVID19 hero - is back home after donating her plasma - looks like liquid gold - it’s value is priceless as it will save lives. So please read her COVID19 story and share the information that is first hand. It is the need of the hour. Help save lives. #diyanise. #diyanaidu #covid_19 #india (sic)."

Diya Naidu, who is a dancer and choreographer based in Bengaluru, revealed in her Instagram post that she has donated her plasma for other Covid-19 patients. She said that the method has been super effective wherever it's been tried.

Earlier, Nafisa Ali gave a shout-out to her niece on Instagram and penned a heartfelt note for her. She wrote, "I am so grateful to you brave child - a COVID19 warrior (living in Bangalore) has agreed to donate her plasma to help cure other COVID19 serious patients (sic)."

Explaining the process of plasma therapy to treat Covid-19 patients, she wrote, "The process of donating plasma to treat COVID-19 is not very complex and can be done in just two hours. One of the most discussed methods of treatment of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus is plasma therapy, which involves the transfusion of plasma from a convalescent coronavirus patient to a critical patient. The blood of a recovering patient is rich in antibodies produced by the body to fight the virus, which are expected to help the critical patient recover (sic)."

Plasma therapy has been suggested to treat people suffering from Covid-19. People, who have recovered from the disease, are donating plasma as it contains antibodies to fight the disease. Earlier, Kanika Kapoor, who was the first Bollywood celebrity to be diagnosed with the disease, also offered to donate her plasma. She has recovered from Covid-19 and is currently living with her family in Lucknow.

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News Network
June 24,2020

New Delhi, Jun 24: Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday said that nearly 1,25,000 Indians have returned from different countries under the Vande Bharat Mission.

He informed that 6,037 people returned to India from overseas on June 23.

"Vande Bharat continues to be a mission of hope and happiness for stranded and distressed Indians around the world. So far, nearly 125K Indians have come back on these evacuation flights and nearly 43K have flown out of India. Today (on Tuesday) 6,037 people returned from different countries," Puri said in a tweet.

As many as 2,50,087 Indian nationals stranded abroad have been repatriated since the beginning of Vande Bharat Mission last month, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said last week.

The Vande Bharat Mission, which started from May 7 to evacuate Indians stranded abroad due to coronavirus pandemic, is in its third phase.
The recent phase commenced on June 11.

Under the third phase, India would have 550 flights including 191 feeder flights.

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Agencies
January 24,2020

New Delhi, Jan 24: The Election Commission of India on Friday told the Supreme Court that its 2018 direction asking poll candidates to declare their criminal antecedents in electronic and print media has not helped curb criminalisation of politics. The poll panel suggested that instead of asking candidates to declare criminal antecedents in the media, political parties should be asked not to give tickets to candidates with criminal background.

A bench of Justices R F Nariman and S Ravindra Bhat asked the ECI to come up with a framework within one week which can help curb criminalisation of politics in nation's interest.

The top court asked the petitioner BJP leader and advocate Ashiwini Upadhyay and the poll panel to sit together and come up with suggestions which would help him in curbing criminalisation of politics.

In September 2018, a five-judge Constitution bench had unanimously held that all candidates will have to declare their criminal antecedents to the Election Commission before contesting polls and had called for a wider publicity, through print and electronic media about antecedents of candidates.

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Satya Vishwasi
 - 
Saturday, 25 Jan 2020

What about those criminals who were already in parliament and vidahan sabhas? shall the ECI cancel their positions?

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