No relief for Katta in KIADB scam, wife's plea dismissed

January 29, 2016

Bengaluru, Jan 29: The High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition filed by former minister Katta Subramanya Naidu’s wife K Sowbhagya questioning the constitutional validity of some sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, and subsequent amendments made to the law in 2005, 2009 and 2012.

kattasJustice Anand Byrareddy also dismissed her petition for quashing of an order issued by the Enforcement Directorate on September 25, 2012, pertaining to seizure of 141 documents related to the assets of Naidu’s family, Itasca Software Development Pvt Ltd and 23 others in connection with the multi-crore compensation scam in the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) land acquisition.

Sowbhagya had challenged several sections of the Act, contending that an accused can be tried under this law if they had harmed national security or were involved in terrorist activity.

As the petitioner and the family were not involved in any such activities, they must not be tried under the said Act and the High Court must quash the action taken by the directorate in seizing their property documents and transactions, she argued.

The bench in its order stated that the power of search, seize and arrest were important aspects of investigation and the matter related to economic offences was not unusual.

Similar procedures are followed with regard to the Customs Act, 1962, the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, and the Railway Property (Unlawful Possession) Act, 1966.

As a Lokayukta enquiry is pending against the Naidu family, Katta’s wife also sought the court’s direction for a joint hearing.

Request rejected

But the bench rejected her prayer, saying the Lokayukta conducted the enquiry under a different law whereas the directorate was trying them under the Money Laundering Act, hence the two matters could not be heard together.

The bench dismissed the petitioner stating that it was not maintainable and the said sections of the Act were constitutionally valid.

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News Network
May 8,2020

Kochi, May 8: Five people, who were among 181 individuals evacuated from Abu Dhabi, have been sent to the isolation ward of the district hospital after they displayed symptoms of coronavirus during thermal screening.

The first repatriation Air India Express flight with 181 individuals from Abu Dhabi landed at Cochin International Airport here on Thursday.

Among the returnees, 49 women were pregnant and four were children. They have been home-quarantine.

Meanwhile, the rest have been taken to quarantine centres in their respective districts.

The Air India Express flight IX452 to Kochi with 177 passengers and four infants took off from Abu Dhabi International Airport and touched down at Kochi post 10 pm.

The government has made it mandatory for foreign returnees to be quarantined for 14 days, either in a hospital or in an institutional quarantine on payment-basis, by the concerned state government.

A COVID-19 test would be done after 14 days and further action would be taken according to health protocols.

India on Monday began phased repatriation of its citizens stranded abroad due to coronavirus lockdown.

The government said that Air India will operate 64 flights from May 7 to May 13 to bring back around 15,000 Indian nationals stranded abroad amid the COVID-19-induced lockdown.

Starting from 7 May, 64 flights will take off for 12 countries including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Maldives, Singapore and the US.

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News Network
March 25,2020

Kalaburagi, Mar 25: Three coronavirus suspect persons who did not stay home during their mandatory 14-day quarantine period had first information report (FIRs) booked against them in police stations in Kalaburagi town in Karnataka.   

The district administration took this action after it came to know that the three pesons were mingling in the public despite being told to stay home to avoid passing on the coronavirus.

Cases have been booked against them under IPC sections 188 and 271, deputy commissioner B Sharath said.

Stringent action would be taken against them, he said, for not only threatening the health of their family members but society at large.

“The administration will stop at nothing to safeguard public health in this time of emergency,” Sharath said.

People moving around on motorbikes without a proper reason will have their bikes seized. Prohibitory order under Section 144 of CrPC will remain in force until further orders, he said.  

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June 24,2020

Udupi, Jun 24: Nearly four years after he was arrested in the murder case of NRI entrepreneur Bhaskar Shetty, the District Sessions court has granted conditional interim bail to Niranjan Bhat, one of the three prime accused in the case.

The development comes two days after the death of Niranjan’s father Srinivas Bhat(65). Though Srinivas and his driver Raghavendra were also arrested in the case on the accusation of destruction of evidence, they were released within a month.

Through his lawyer Niranjan had appealed to the court seeking bail to perform his father’s post-death rituals. 

After hearing the arguments, the court granted conditional interim bail till July 7 on furnishing a bond of Rs 5 lakh. The judge directed the accused to report to the court on or before July 7 to be taken into judicial custody.

Bhaskar Shetty, who owned a chain of supermarkets in Saudi Arabia, went missing from his house in Udupi on 28 July 2016. His mother Gulabi Shetty lodged a missing person complaint on July 29. The police arrested his wife Rajeshwari, her son Navaneeth and astrologer Niranjan Bhat on the charge of murdering Bhaskar Shetty and destroying the evidence, in Udupi on August 7, 2016. Rajeshwari is already out on bail. Navneet is still in prison.

Shetty was murdered at his house in Indrali and later his body was taken to Belman. It is alleged Niranjan Bhat had put the body of deceased Bhaskar Shetty in the pit used for Homa rituals and burnt it.

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