INX-Media case: Court sends Chidambaram to Tihar jail

Agencies
September 5, 2019

New Delhi, Sept 5: Veteran Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram was sent to Tihar jail Thursday by a Delhi court where he will spend 14 days in judicial custody in connection with the INX Media corruption case.

Special Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar sent him to judicial custody till September 19.

"The allegations against the accused were found serious therefore he was remanded to police custody. The investigation is still in progress," the judge said.

"CBI has apprehension that because of his status and his position, the investigation may be hampered by the accused. It's not a case where the accused can be 'released' at the stage of considering his extension of his remand as submitted by the counsel for accused.

"Having considered all facts and circumstances of the case, the nature of offences, stage of investigation, the accused is remanded to judicial custody," he said.

The court allowed him to carry his spectacles, prescribed medicines and providing him with western toilet facility. It also directed that he be kept in a separate cell in Tihar prison as he was a protectee under Z-security.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta assured that there will be adequate security for Chidambaram in the jail.

The court also issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate on Chidambaram's plea seeking to surrender in the money laundering case lodged by the agency in which the Supreme Court Thursday dismissed his plea against the August 20 order of the Delhi High Court denying him pre-arrest bail.

Chidambaram, 73, was produced before a Delhi court on Thursday after the expiry of his 2-day CBI custody in the case.

His 15-day CBI custody, ordered by the special court in five spells, which started after his arrest on August 21 night, ends today.

His counsel opposed the CBI plea for judicial custody, which will take him to Tihar jail, and said that the veteran Congress leader was ready to go into the ED custody for interrogation in the money laundering case arising out of the scam in which the apex court Thursday refused to grant him pre-arrest bail.

Chidambaram was brought to the special court hours after he withdrew his petition challenging the non-bailable warrant issued against him following which he was sent to the CBI custody.

He was produced before Special Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar, who had on Tuesday sent him to the CBI custody till today after taking note of the Supreme Court's order which had said that Chidambaram would be in the CBI custody till September 5.

The apex court Thursday also decided on his appeal against the Delhi High Court's August 20 order in the money laundering case lodged by ED and rejected his challenge to denial of anticipatory bail.

Hours after the apex court order, another special court granted Chidambaram and his son Karti anticipatory bail in the Aircel Maxis cases.

In the INX matter, the Solicitor General is appearing for the CBI while senior advocate Kapil Sibal is representing Chidambaram.

The CBI had registered an FIR on May 15, 2017, alleging irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance granted to the INX Media group for receiving overseas funds of Rs 305 crore in 2007 during Chidambaram's tenure as the finance minister.

Thereafter, the Enforcement Directorate lodged a money laundering case in this regard in 2017.

Chidambaram, who was Union home minister as also finance minister during the UPA rule from 2004 to 2014, was arrested by the CBI on August 21 from his Jor Bagh residence.

During the proceedings, Mehta informed the judge about the outcome of the Supreme Court's order in the ED case and also about the withdrawal of his petitions in the CBI case.

CBI told the court that Chidambaram can be sent to judicial custody as he was a powerful public person and should not be set free.

Sibal opposed the CBI saying there was no allegation that Chidambaram tried to influence or hamper probe.

He further said that Chidambaram was ready to go to the ED custody in money laundering case related to INX Media in which the apex court Thursday dismissed his plea challenging the High Court's August 20 order.

Sibal said Chidambaram will surrender and ED will take him into custody.

"Why should I (Chidambaram) be sent to jail (Tihar)?" he said and pressed that ED should take him to its custody.

"There is nothing found against me. There is no charge sheet. They say I am a powerful and influential. But they have no evidence. There is no evidence of tampering with evidence. Has a witness said anything like that?" Sibal argued.

Mehta objected to Sibal's submission saying he is arguing for bail.

However, Sibal said, "The reasons given in the application for judicial custody are non-existent. What do you need me for in judicial custody."

When the Solicitor General sought a clarification as to for what relief Sibal is arguing the latter said, "I (Chidambaram) am arguing for my release."

Mehta said the apex court has accepted his arguments in the money laundering case lodged by the ED and there is a strong chance of tampering with evidence and witnesses and response is awaited on the Letters Rogatory sent to various countries.

He alleged that Chidambaram was influencing the banks in foreign countries and he was non-cooperative in the investigation and the banks may not cooperate if he influences them.

"This is a case of serious economic offence affecting economy of the country," he said, adding that Chidambaram is influential and has pervasive control over things and may influence witnesses.

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News Network
January 19,2020

New Delhi, Jan 19: Reacting to a tweet by ace lawyer Indira Jaising urging her to forgive the four men on death row for brutally raping that finally took her life, Nirbhaya's mother said on Saturday: "Even if God asks me, I won't forgive them."

Speaking to news agency, over the phone, the mother who had been fighting for seven long years to send her daughter's killers to the gallows, said, "...even if god comes and asks me to forgive them, I will not. People like these (Jaising) are a blot on the society."

Commenting on Jaising's tweet, she said: "Who is she to tell or suggest to me to forgive them. What relation does she have with me. I have nothing to do with such people. She can be a relative of those (the convicts) that she is having a soft corner for."

"She is an insult to women. She is running a business in the name of human rights. She is a veteran, she should give a message to the society. But she instead will go against her own kind," she added.

Earlier in the day, Jaising had requested Nirbhaya's mother to follow the example of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who had moved for the clemency of a woman, Nalini Murugan convicted for the assassination of her husband and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

"While I fully identify with the pain of Nirbhaya's mother I urge her to follow the example of Sonia Gandhi who forgave Nalini and said she didn't want the death penalty for her. We are with you but against death penalty," Jaising tweeted on Friday.

A Delhi Court on Friday issued fresh death warrants against the four convicts -- Akshay, Pawan, Mukesh and Vinay in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case.

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Satish Kumar Arora fixed 1 February as the date of execution of the four death row convicts. They will be hanged at 6am.

The move came after the prosecution moved an application seeking issuance of fresh death warrants following the rejection of the mercy plea of one of the convicts Mukesh by President Ram Nath Kovind.

The 23-year-old victim was brutally gang-raped and tortured on December 16, 2012, which later led to her death.

All the six accused were arrested and charged with sexual assault and murder. One of the accused was a minor and appeared before a juvenile justice court, while another accused committed suicide in Tihar Jail.

Four of the convicts were sentenced to death by a trial court in September 2013, and the verdict was confirmed by the Delhi High Court in March 2014 and upheld by the Supreme Court in May 2017, which also dismissed their review petitions.

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News Network
June 20,2020

New Delhi, Jun 20: A rare celestial event, annular solar eclipse, which is popularly known as the "ring of fire" eclipse, will be visible this Sunday in India.

It will be the first solar eclipse of this year takes place on the summer solstice, which is the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere.

While people living along the path annular eclipse passing through Anupgarh, Suratgarh, Sirsa, Jakhal, Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar, Dehradun, Tapowan and Joshimath will be able to see the annular phase, people in rest of India can witness a partial eclipse, said the Ministry of Science and Technology.

When Moon comes between the Sun and Earth, the shadow falls on the surface of the Earth. The Sun is entirely covered by the Moon for a brief period. Those places that are engulfed by the dark, dense umbral shadow of the Moon experience the total solar eclipse. In the regions that plunge into the soft diffused penumbral shadow of the Moon experience the partial eclipse.

"Annular solar eclipse is a particular case of the total solar eclipse. Like the total solar eclipse, the Moon is aligned with the Sun. However, on that day, the apparent size of the Moon happens to be a wee smaller than the Sun. Hence the Moon covers the central part of the Sun, and the rim of the Sun appear like a 'ring of fire' in the sky for a very brief moment" explains Samir Dhurde of The Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune.

During the solar eclipse, the apparent size of the Moon is smaller than that of the Sun by 1 per cent, the expert said.

Allying rumours that the eclipse will mark the end of coronavirus, Aniket Sule, Chairperson, Public Outreach and Education Committee of the Astronomical Society of India, said: "Solar eclipse is caused when the Moon comes in front of the Sun for a short time. As seen from Earth eclipses occur somewhere in the Earth 2 to 5 times a year. Eclipses do not impact microorganisms on Earth. Likewise there no danger in eating of stepping out during an eclipse. No mysterious rays come out of the Sun during an eclipse."

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Agencies
May 26,2020

In a startling revelation, cybersecurity researchers have claimed that a hacker has posted personal details of nearly 2.9 crore Indian job seekers at one of the hacking forums on the Dark Web for free.

As part of the regular sweep over the Deep Web and Dark Web, researchers from cybersecurity firm Cyble came across an interesting item, where a threat actor posted 2.3GB (zipped) file on one of the hacking forums.

"The leak actually has a lot of personal details of millions of Indians Job seekers from different states," Cyble said in its blog on Friday.

This breach includes sensitive information such as email, phone, home address, qualification and work experience etc from job seekers spanning across states, from New Delhi to Mumbai and Bengaluru. 

Cybercriminals are always on the lookout for such personal information to conduct various nefarious activities such as identity thefts, scams, and corporate espionage.

"It appears to have originated from a resume aggregator service given the sheer volume and detailed information," it added.

Cyble indexed this information at ‘AmIbreached.com; – Cyble's data breach monitoring and notification platform.

Cyble researchers have identified a sensitive data breach on the dark web where an actor has leaked personal details of nearly 29 million Indian job seekers from various states. 

"Cyble's team is still investigating this further and will be updating their article as they bring more facts to the surface,” it said in a statement.

Cyble said it has acquired the leaked data. 

The same cyber security firm earlier exposed that Bengaluru-based edtech firm Unacademy was hacked.

According to Cyble researchers, nearly 22 million Unacademy user accounts were affected and the data was dumped and sold on Dark Web.

'We would like to assure our users that no sensitive information such as financial data or location has been breached," said Hemesh Singh, Co- Founder and CTO, Unacademy, in a statement.

In April, hackers sold personal data of a whopping 267 million Facebook users for just Rs 41,500 (approximately 500 Euros) that includes email addresses, names, Facebook IDs, dates of birth and phone numbers.

No passwords of the 267 million Facebook users were exposed by the hacker, according to Cyble.

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