'Target' Sonia Gandhi, her advisers to bag VVIP chopper deal, middleman allegedly told AgustaWestland

February 2, 2014

VVIP_chopperNew Delhi, Feb 2: An alleged middleman allegedly involved in the Rs. 3600-crore VVIP chopper deal had asked Anglo-Italian defence manufacturer AgustaWestland to "target" UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and her "closest advisers" to bag the 12-helicopter contract, a document submitted in an Italian court suggests.

The alleged middleman, Christian Michel, had sent a fax in this regard to Peter Fullet, who was working with AgustaWestland's India office, official sources said quoting the document that was recovered by the Italian police and produced before a court there in early January.

Michel reportedly wanted Fullet to convey his suggestion to the High Commissioner of his country.

The document lists (Prime Minister) Manmohan Singh, (President) Pranab Mukherjee, Veerappa Moily, Oscar Fernandes, M K Narayanan and Vinay Singh as Mrs Gandhi's "closest advisers".

It reportedly also quotes Michel as saying that Mrs Gandhi "would not be flying anymore in the Mi-8 choppers" and that "she was the driving force behind the VIP". It, however, did not elaborate any further.

The note has been shared by the Italian authorities with their Indian counterparts.

Last month, the Indian government terminated the Rs. 3600-crore deal alleging that AgustaWestland, the British subsidiary of an Italian company contracted to supply the choppers for use by the President, Prime Minister and other VIPs, had breached an integrity pact by allegedly paying bribes to Indian officials.

India is also seeking repayments worth more than Rs. 5200 crore over the scrapped deal.

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News Network
June 24,2020

New Delhi, Jun 24: With the highest single-day spike of 15,968 cases and 465 deaths in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 count reached 4,56,183 on Wednesday.

According to the latest update by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), 14,476 deaths have been recorded due to the infection so far in the country.

The count includes 1,83,022 active cases, and 2,58,685 cured/discharged/migrated patients.

Maharashtra with 1,39,010 confirmed cases remains the worst-affected by the infection so far in the country. The state's count includes 62,848 active, 69,631 cured, discharged patients while 6,531 deaths have been reported due to the infection so far.

Meanwhile, the national capital's confirmed coronavirus cases reached 66,602.

2,301 deaths have been reported in Delhi due to the infection so far.

Tamil Nadu has reported 64,603 cases so far with the death toll reaching 833.

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News Network
January 13,2020

New Delhi, Jan 13: The Delhi High Court on Monday sought response of the city police, Delhi government, WhatsApp Inc, Google Inc and Apple Inc on a plea of three JNU professors to preserve data, CCTV footage and other evidence relating to the January 5 violence on the varsity campus.

The Delhi Police informed the court that it has asked the JNU administration to preserve and hand over CCTV footage of the violence.

Justice Brijesh Sethi listed the matter for further hearing on Tuesday.

The court was told by Delhi government Standing Counsel (criminal) Rahul Mehra that the police has not yet received any response from the university administration.

The counsel said police has also written to WhatsApp to preserve data of two groups "Unity Against Left" and "Friends of RSS" including messages, pictures and videos and phone numbers of members, related to JNU violence incident.

The petition was filed by JNU professors Ameet Parameswaran, Atul Sood and Shukla Vinayak Sawant seeking necessary directions to the Delhi Police Commissioner and Delhi government.

The petition also sought direction to the Delhi Police to retrieve all CCTV footage of JNU campus.

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April 22,2020

New Delhi, Apr 22: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that The Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020, manifests his government's commitment to protecting healthcare workers braving COVID-19 on the frontline.
"The Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020, manifests our commitment to protect each and every healthcare worker, who is bravely battling COVID-19 on the frontline. It will ensure the safety of our professionals. There can be no compromise on their safety!," Prime Minister Modi tweeted.
The Central government on Wednesday brought an ordinance to end the violence against health workers, making it a cognizable, non-bailable offence with the imprisonment of up to seven years for those found guilty.

"We have brought an ordinance under which any attack on health workers will be a cognizable, non-bailable offence. In the case of grievous injuries, the accused can be sentenced from 6 months to 7 years. They can be penalised from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh," Union Minister Prakash Javadekar briefed media after the meeting of the Cabinet.

"Such crime will now be cognisable and non-bailable. An investigation will be done within 30 days. Accused can be sentenced from three months to five years, and penalised from Rs 50,000 up to Rs 2 lakh," said Javadekar.

Moreover, if the damage is done to vehicles or clinics of healthcare workers, then a compensation amounting to twice the market value of the damaged property will be taken from the accused, said Javadekar.

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