Rahul Gandhi gets bail in RSS defamation case

New Delhi, Feb 23: Dreaded underworld don Ravi Pujari, operating from overseas, has been reportedly arrested in South Africa and efforts are on for his deportation to India.

Pujari, who parted ways with underworld don Chhota Rajan, had jumped bail from Senegal, last year and had escaped to South Africa, where he was involved in big-time drug trafficking and extortion racket.

Sources in Indian Intelligence said that Ravi Pujari, who was hiding with a false identity of Anthony Fernandes, a Burkina Faso passport holder, was located in a remote village in South Africa.

On a tip-off from Indian external intelligence agency, the Senegal police air dashed South Africa last week. Pujari, 52, wanted in over 200 cases of heinous crimes, including murder and extortion, was detained with the help of South African agencies.

Sources in Mumbai Police said that Pujari's arrest has not yet been confirmed officially but Ministry of External Affairs is in touch with its mission in South Africa. An official in MEA refused to speak on the issue. Embassy of Senegal in Vasant Vihar, New Delhi, also did not respond to IANS' queries in connection with Pujari's arrest.

The mafioso first came into news in early 2000 when he started extorting huge amounts from famous Bollywood personalties and builders. He was involved in an attempt to murder case, aimed at killing a prominent lawyer of Mumbai.tip-off

Pujari's wife Padma and three children also fled India and some of them hold Burkina Faso passport. His son who was recently married in Australia reportedly holds an Australian passport.

Earlier last year Ravi Pujari, living under the identity of Anthony had jumped bailed from a Senegal court through fraudulent means. IANS had accessed the don's new passport. Pujari now goes under the name of Anthony Fernandes and is a citizen of Burkina Faso, a West African country, his date of birth is shown as 25.1.1961.

Pujari, a movie junkie influenced by Amitabh Bachchan's portrayal as Anthony Gonsalves in 'Amar Akbar Anthony' was using the name, Anthony Fernandes. This passport was issued on 10.7.2013 and is valid till 8.7.2023. The passport showed his profession as Agent Commercial which means that he is designated as a businessman running a chain of restaurants Namaste India in Senegal, Burkina Faso and neighbouring countries.

Pujari's lawyers in Senegal had argued in the court citing that he is Anthony Fernandes, a businessman from Burkina Faso as mentioned in his passport and not a fugitive as claimed by the Indian Government.

Clearly indicating a collision between top government functionaries of Burkina Faso and Pujari in which an influential Indian businessman, who is his partner in a restaurant chain, may have played the role of a conduit.

May 13: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Wednesday mocked the prime minister's announcement of a Rs 20 lakh crore financial package as a "headline and blank page", and said he was looking forward to the finance minister filling the blank page.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced massive new financial incentives on top of the previously announced packages for a combined stimulus of Rs 20 lakh crore.

Chidambaram said he would count every additional rupee the government infuses into the economy and examine what the poor, hungry and devastated migrant workers get after walking hundreds of kilometres to their home states.

"Yesterday, PM gave us a headline and a blank page. Naturally, my reaction was a blank!

"Today, we look forward to the FM filling the blank page. We will carefully count every ADDITIONAL rupee that the government will actually infuse into the economy," he said on Twitter.

The former finance minister said "We will also carefully examine who gets what?".

"And the first thing we will look for is what the poor, hungry and devastated migrant workers can expect after they have walked hundreds of kilometres to their home states.

"We will also examine what the bottom half of the population (13 crore families) will get in terms of REAL MONEY," he said in a series of tweets.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also slammed the prime minister's announcement.

"Last night the Prime Minister did what comes to him best. Maximum packaging, Minimum meaning.It was a case of classic NAMO. No Action Message Only," he said on Twitter.

New Delhi, April 3: The Government on Thursday launched a mobile app developed in public-private partnership as part of efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus.

"The app, called 'AarogyaSetu' will enable people to assess themselves the risk for their catching the coronavirus infection," an official release said.

It said that the app will calculate this based on their interaction with others, using cutting edge Bluetooth technology, algorithms and artificial intelligence.

"Once installed in a smartphone through an easy and user-friendly process, the app detects other devices with AarogyaSetu installed that come in the proximity of that phone. The app can then calculate the risk of infection based on sophisticated parameters," the release said.

It said that the app will help the government take necessary timely steps for assessing risk of spread of COVID-19 infection and ensuring isolation where required.

"The app's design ensures privacy. The personal data collected by the app is encrypted using state-of-the-art technology and stays secure on the phone till it is needed for facilitating medical intervention," the release said.

It said the app is available in 11 languages and has highly scalable architecture.

"This app is a unique example of the nation's young talent coming together and pooling resources and efforts to respond to a global crisis. It is at once a bridge between public and private sectors, digital technology and health services delivery," the release said.