Black money: SIT asks agencies to share data on ongoing case

June 29, 2014

New Delhi, Jun 29: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money has sought details of all major cases of tax evasion and criminal financial fraud being probed by various investigative agencies which are mandated to keep a check on such instances.

Black moneySources said that the SIT headed by retired Supreme Court Justice M B Shah has asked the 11 departments on its panel to furnish fine details of these cases and the status of their probes, including any problems being faced by investigators in taking the cases forward for prosecution or penalty.

The member departments/agencies of SIT are the Department of Revenue (under the Ministry of Finance), RBI, Intelligence Bureau, Enforcement Directorate, CBI, Income Tax department, Narcotics Control Bureau, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Financial Intelligence Unit, Research and Analysis Wing and the Foreign Tax and Tax Research wing under the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).

The sources said the SIT has asked for the data in order to understand the trends and magnitude of the menace of black money and generation of illegal funds in the country, which is done through a variety of ways like evasion of taxes and duties, flouting of foreign exchange laws, creation of disproportionate assets, creation of 'benami' properties within the country and outside and laundering of wealth obtained through illegal and corrupt means.

The departments, they said, are in the process of submitting these details in the stipulated format to SIT and these will be taken up during the next meeting of the panel, expected to take place some time next month.

RBI has recently directed all banks and financial institutions to provide the information and documents sought by the high-profile panel.

The SIT, formed upon the directions of Supreme Court, had its first meeting earlier this month here at the North Block office of the Finance Ministry.

The high-level team has also decided to look into the contentious issue of secrecy clauses in India's tax treaties with Switzerland and other countries.

Retired apex court judge Arijit Pasayat is the Vice Chairman of the SIT while top officials of the 11 high-profile agencies and departments are its members.

After the first meeting of the SIT, the government had said the detailed modalities of proceeding further with the Supreme Court mandate were discussed and the road map decided.

The SIT's mandate, as notified, requires it to go into "all issues relating to matters concerning and arising from unaccounted monies of Hasan Ali Khan and Kashinath Tapariah".

Pune-based Khan, a stud farm owner, was arrested by Enforcement Directorate in connection with money laundering and tax evasion cases. Tapariah is his aide.

The other tasks of SIT include all investigations already started and pending or awaiting to be initiated with respect to any other known instances of the stashing away of unaccounted cash in foreign bank accounts by Indians or other entities operating in India.

The panel has also been empowered "to further investigate even where charge-sheets have been previously filed and SIT may register further cases and conduct appropriate investigations and initiate proceedings for the purpose of bringing back unaccounted monies unlawfully kept in bank accounts abroad."

The SIT will also keep the apex court informed about all major developments by filing periodic status reports in this regard, the government notification had said.

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News Network
April 24,2020

New Delhi, Apr 24: The death toll due to the novel coronavirus rose to 723 with 37 fatalities reported since Thursday evening, while the number of cases saw a record jump of 1,752 to go up to 23,452 cases on Friday, according to the Union health ministry.

The previous highest single day increase was on April 20 when 1,540 cases were reported.

The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 17,915 as 4,813 people were cured and discharged, and one patient migrated, the ministry said.

Thus, about 20.52 per cent of the cases have recovered so far, an official of the ministry said. 

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said that 23,502 samples have been confirmed positive as on April 24 at 9 am.

The health ministry's figure of 23,452 cases include 77 foreign nationals.

A total of 37 deaths were reported since Thursday evening of which 14 fatalities were reported from Maharashtra, nine from Gujarat, three from Uttar Pradesh, two each from Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana and one from Karnataka, the ministry's data stated.

Of the 723 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 283 fatalities, followed by Gujarat at 112, Madhya Pradesh at 83, Delhi at 50, Andhra Pradesh at 29, Rajasthan at 27 and Telengana at 26.

The death toll reached 24 in Uttar Pradesh, 20 in Tamil Nadu while Karantaka has reported 18 deaths.

Punjab has registered 16 deaths while West Bengal has reported 15 fatalities.

The disease has claimed five lives in Jammu and Kashmir, while Kerala, Jharkhand and Haryana have recorded three COVID-19 deaths each.

Bihar has reported two deaths, while Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Assam have reported one fatality each, according to the ministry data.

However, a news agency tally of the figures reported by various states as on Friday showed 23,577 cases and 743 deaths in the country.

There has been a lag in the Union health ministry figures, compared to the number of deaths announced by different states, which officials attribute to procedural delays in assigning the cases to individual states.

According to the ministry's data updated in the evening, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 6,430 followed by Gujarat at 2,624, Delhi at 2,376, Rajasthan at 1,964, Madhya Pradesh at 1,852 and Tamil Nadu at 1,683.

The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 1,604 in Uttar Pradesh, 984  in Telangana and 955 in Andhra Pradesh. The number of cases has risen to 514 in West Bengal, 448 in Kerala, 463 in Karnataka, 427 in Jammu and Kashmir,  277 in Punjab and 272 in Haryana.

Bihar has reported 176 coronavirus cases, while Odisha has 90 cases. Fifty-five people have been infected with the virus in Jharkhand and 47 in Uttarakhand. Himachal Pradesh has 40 cases, Chhattisgarh and Assam have registered 36 infections each so far.

Chandigarh has 27 COVID-19 cases, Andaman and Nicobar Islands 22 while  18 cases have been reported from Ladakh.

Meghalaya has reported 12 cases, and Goa and Puducherry have seven COVID-19 cases each.

Manipur and Tripura have two cases each, while Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh have reported a case each.

"Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR," the ministry said on its website.

States wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it said.

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News Network
April 5,2020

New Delhi, Apr 5: Joining efforts to fight COVID-19, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has designed a full-body disinfection chamber and a special face protection mask for healthcare professionals, officials said.

The special chamber called 'PSE' has been designed by Vehicle Research Development Establishment (VRDE), Ahmednagar, a DRDO Laboratory.

The walk through enclosure is designed for personnel decontamination, one person at a time. It is a portable system equipped with sanitiser and soap dispenser, officials said.

The decontamination is started using a foot pedal at the entry. On entering the chamber, electrically-operated pump creates a disinfectant mist of hypo sodium chloride for disinfecting, the DRDO said in a statement.

The mist spray is calibrated for an operation of 25 seconds and stops automatically indicating completion of operation. As per procedure, personnel undergoing disinfection will need to keep their eyes closed while inside the chamber, it said.

The system consists of roof mounted and bottom tanks with a total of 700 litres capacity. Approximately 650 personnel can pass through the chamber for disinfection until the refill is required, the DRDO said.

The system has see-through glass panels on side walls for monitoring purpose and is fitted with lights for illumination during night-time operations, it added.

This system can be used for disinfection of personnel at the areas of controlled ingress and egress such as entry and exit to hospitals, malls, office buildings and critical installations, officials said.

Also, Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad, and Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL), Chandigarh, have developed face protection mask for healthcare professionals handling COVID-19 patients, the DRDO added.

Its light weight construction makes it convenient for comfortable wear for long duration. This design uses commonly available A4 size Over-Head Projection (OHP) film for face protection, it said.

One thousand face shields are being produced daily in TBRL and provided to Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, it said.

Similarly, 100 are produced at RCI and these have been handed over to Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), Hyderabad. A demand of 10,000 shields has been received from PGIMER and ESIC hospitals based on successful user trials, the DRDO added.

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News Network
May 23,2020

New Delhi, May 23: India witnessed the biggest ever spike of 6,654 positive cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases to 1,25,101, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

As many as 137 deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 3,720.
Out of the total number of cases, 69,597 are active and 51,784 have been cured/discharged or have migrated.

Maharashtra continues to remain the worst-affected state with 44,582 COVID-19 cases. It is followed by Tamil Nadu (14,753), Gujarat (13,268), and Delhi (12,319).

The nationwide lockdown imposed as a precautionary measure to contain the spread of COVID-19 has been extended till May 31.

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