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Never met Peter or Indrani Mukherjea: Karti Chidambaram

Agencies
August 22, 2019

New Delhi, Aug 22: Karti Chidambaram on Thursday termed the arrest of his father P Chidambaram as a "political vendetta" and vehemently denied any association with either Peter Mukherjea or his wife Indrani Mukherjea, the promoters of INX Media.

Karti arrived here this morning from Chennai, hours after his father was arrested on Wednesday night after high drama at his residence here in the INX Media case.

"This is not merely targeting of my father but the targeting of the Congress party. I will go to Jantar Mantar to protest," said Karti as he stepped out of the Delhi airport.

Karti said there was no legal necessity for Chidambaram to appear before the CBI and denied that his father had been in hiding.

He said despite several efforts by the CBI, the agency didn't have a case against them.

"First and foremost we are being targeted. There is no legal requirement for my father to be available to anybody...My father is a vehement, vocal and articulate critic of this government. Case has no legal basis, charges trumped-up," said Karti, who said that he knew the processes agencies use and never has the CBI given two hours notice to anyone.

"I have been summoned 20 times and raided four times. Nobody has ever been raided as many times but they still don't have a case....each time I (was summoned) was given a week's notice," he said.

When asked about his association with Peter and Indrani Mukherjea, Karti said he neither knew them nor has he met them.

"I have never met Peter Mukherjea. Have never met Indrani Mukherjea, only time I met her was during the CBI interrogation in Byculla jail. Never met anyone in FIPB (Foreign Investment Promotion Board), don’t know the process of FIPB", he said.

Chidambaram, who spent the night in a CBI guest house will be questioned in the alleged corruption in Rs 305 crore clearance given to INX media when he was the Union finance minister..

The firm once promoted by Peter and Indrani Mukerjea, both in jail for murdering the latter's daughter Sheena Bora, had allegedly made payments to a firm linked to the former finance minister's son Karti Chidambaram, the CBI has said in the FIR.

Chidambaram has strongly denied the allegations, saying the payments were for consultancy and his son was in no way associated with that company.

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News Network
March 4,2020

New Delhi, Mar 4: The government on Wednesday permitted NRIs to own up to 100 per cent stake in disinvestment-bound Air India.

The decision comes at a time when the government is looking to sell 100 per cent stake sale in the national carrier.

Union minister Prakash Javadekar said the Cabinet has approved allowing Non-Residents Indians (NRIs) to hold up to 100 per cent stake in Air India.

Allowing 100 per cent investment by Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) in the carrier would also not be in violation of SOEC norms. NRI investments would be treated as domestic investments.

Under the Substantial Ownership and Effective Control (SOEC) framework, which is followed in the airline industry globally, a carrier that flies overseas from a particular country should be substantially owned by that country's government or its nationals.

Currently, NRIs can acquire only 49 per cent in Air India. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the airline is also 49 per cent through the government approval route.

As per the existing norms, 100 per cent FDI is permitted in scheduled domestic carriers, subject to certain conditions, including that it would not be applicable for overseas airlines.

In the case of scheduled airlines, 49 per cent FDI is permitted through automatic approval route and any such investment beyond that level requires government nod.

On January 27, the government came out witha Preliminary Information Memorandum (PIM) for Air India disinvestment. It has proposed selling 100 per cent stake in Air India along with budget airline Air India Express and the national carrier's 50 per cent stake in AISATS, an equal joint venture with Singapore Airlines.

Under the latest disinvestment plan, the successful bidder would have to take over only debt worth Rs 23,286.5 crore while the liabilities would be decided depending on current assets at the time of closing of the transaction.

This is the second attempt by the government in as many years to divest Air India, which has been in the red for long.

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Agencies
August 9,2020

New Delhi, Aug 9: Indian on Sunday achieved a grim milestone after recording the highest single-day spike of 64,399 coronavirus cases, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

As many as 861 deaths were reported in the country in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative toll to 43,379.

With the new cases, the country's coronavirus count has reached 21,53,011 including 6,28,747 active cases and 14,80,885 cured/discharged/migrated.

Maharashtra has 1,47,355 active coronavirus cases, the highest in the country.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 7,19,364 samples were tested on August 8 while over 2.41 crores samples so far have been tested in the country.

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Agencies
August 6,2020

The Indian Defence Ministry, which had in its document that China intruded into the Indian territory in eastern Ladakh in early May, on August 6 took down the page which it had uploaded on its website.

According to a report by news channel NDTV, the ministry, in its document, had said the Chinese aggression has been "increasing along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and more particularly in Galwan valley since May 5."

"The Chinese side has transgressed in the areas of Kungrang Nala, Gogra and north bank of Pangong Tso Lake on May 17-18," the document, titled 'Chinese Aggression on LAC' stated.

The document revealed that "... a violent face-off incident took place between the two sides on June 15, resulting in casualties on both sides."

After the clash, a second corps commander level meeting took place on June 22 to discuss the modalities of de-escalation. "While engagement and dialogue at military and diplomatic level is continuing to arrive at mutually acceptable consensus, the present standoff is likely to be prolonged," it said.

A defence ministry spokesperson told the news channel that the document "did not go through him".

The opposition Congress, meanwhile, asked the government why the report was taken down with party leader Rahul Gandhi alleging that removal of the document from websites would not change facts.

"Forget standing up to China, India's PM lacks the courage even to name them. Denying China is in our territory and removing documents from websites won't change the facts," Gandhi tweeted.

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