CBI makes no headway in probe into Karnataka IAS officer’s death

Bengaluru, Jan 16: Senior Congress leader K J George on Thursday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate officials here in connection with a FEMA case.

The former minister is being investigated by the ED for probable violation of provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act.

The ED had recently issued summons to George.

Speaking to reporters after appearing before the ED, George said he has answered to the officials' queries and will cooperate further also.

"ED had issued me summons, as a law abiding citizen, I have answered and gave documents to whatever they asked.

Further also if they call me...I will cooperate and provide necessary documents," he said, without divulging any details.

George clarified that no summons has been issued by the ED to members of his family.

"If required they (ED officials) will call me again, and I'm ready to cooperate," the congress leader added.

Last year, the president of the Karnataka Rashtra Samithi Ravi Krishna Reddy had complained to the ED seeking a probe into the alleged money laundering and properties held by George and his family members in the United States.

Responding to a question about a defamation case filed by him against those who have levelled the allegations, George said "Just because ED has called me for questioning, I'm not proved guilty."

"Anyone can complain to agencies like the Income Tax or ED or Lokayukta, but my only objection is with going to the press to project someone as guilty," he said.

"...going to the press with an intention to do a propaganda against me..someone who is in public life-- to project me as guilty is wrong, so I have filed defamation case stating the allegations are false," he added.

George is the third senior Congress leader from Karnataka to face an ED probe after D K Shivakumar and B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan.

Shivakumar was arrested by the agency in a money laundering case and was kept in Tihar Jail, until he got bail in October, while Khan was summoned in connection with the multi-crore IMA group Ponzi scam case.

Bengaluru, Apr 1: The price of petrol and diesel will go up by Rs 1.60 and Rs 1.59 per litre, respectively, from Wednesday. This is in line with Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa’s decision to hike the rate of tax on petrol from 32% to 35% and diesel from 21% to 24%.

He had announced this in his March 5 Budget for 2020-21 fiscal. At present, a litre of petrol costs Rs 71.97 and diesel Rs 64.41 in Bengaluru.

The government decided to roll out the hike from Tuesday midnight going into Wednesday, April 1, after briefly considering a postponement in view of the COVID-19 crisis. 

Finance Secretary (Budget & Resources) Ekroop Caur confirmed to DH that the hike will be rolled out. 

The 3% hike on fuel tax was a key resource mobilisation measure that Yediyurappa announced in his Budget. The hike is expected to fetch the government Rs 1,500 crore. 

Yediyurappa had also announced a 6% additional excise duty on Indian Made Liquor (IML), which could help the government mop up Rs 1,200 crore. However, the sale of liquor has been prohibited during the lockdown period. Plus, hiking fuel prices during the lockdown will not hit citizens very hard. 

Bengaluru, Apr 30: Four ministers of Karnataka have gone into self-quarantine after they got here in touch with a video journalist of native channel who has examined optimistic for COVID-19. The listing contains state’s Deputy Chief Minister Dr Ashwath Narayan.

All 4 introduced the quarantine on Twitter.

Mr Narayan, dwelling minister Basvaraj Bommai , medical training Minister Dr. Sudhakar and tourism minister CT Ravi tweeted to say that they’ve examined detrimental for coronavirus however will likely be beneath self-quarantine.

They mentioned they got here in touch with a video journalist from a neighborhood tv channel  who was discovered COVID-19 optimistic on April 24. He had met the ministers between April 21 and April 24.

At least 40 different contacts of the video journalist, together with his household and journalists from numerous media retailers have been quarantined, reported news agency.

Earlier this month, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani put himself in quarantine after an MLA who attended a gathering with him turned out to be coronavirus-positive.

Karnataka to date had 532 circumstances of coronavirus. Of them, 215 sufferers recovered and 20 sufferers died.

Earlier immediately, the state authorities determined to chill out lockdown restrictions in plenty of districts the place the coronavirus has not had a serious affect. The authorities is permitting industries to operate in these areas with sure circumstances.

The listing contains spots in Chamarajnagar, Koppal, Chikmagaluru, Raichur, Chitradurga, Hassan, Shivamogga, Haveri, Yadgir, Kolar, Udupi, Davanagere and Kodagu districts.

Manufacturing will likely be allowed within the particular financial zones in these districts and standalone outlets exterior municipal limits will likely be allowed to operate.