Tejpal not my nephew, says Sibal

November 27, 2013

New Delhi, Nov 27: Stung by BJP's attack in the Tehelka case, Law Minister Kapil Sibal today hit back at the principal Opposition and the RSS, accusing them of vilifying his name and said magazine's editor Tarun Tejpal was not related to him and he does not hold shares in the entity.

Hours after Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj tweeted that a "Union Cabinet Minister who is the founder and patron of Tehelka is shielding Tarun Tejpal," Sibal said leaders who are "tangentially talking about me should name me if they have the courage."

Swaraj had not named anyone in the tweet.Tehelka_founder

The Congress leader also referred to a message in circulation in the social media which said that Tejpal is the son of Sibal's real sister and that the Union minister held 80 per cent shares in Tehelka.

"There is a message going around in the social media which says that Tarun Tejpal is the son of a Punjab Congress Committee member and an MLA. I don't know...

"Then it says his mother is the real sister of Kapil Sibal. Now, I am sorry, I did not expect the RSS and the BJP to stoop to this level. They can attack me politically, but they should not bring my family into it," he told reporters here.

Sibal said he has only one sister, Asha Nanda, who lives in Maharani Bagh here. "I have no other sister," he said.

"...because I have been attacking (Narendra) Modi and attacking the BJP, obviously for them this is the only way to spread lie and to vilify my name. And if they have the courage they should name me. These political leaders who are tangentially talking about me should name me if they have the courage," he said.

Referring to claims that he held 80 per cent shares in Tehelka magazine till 2011, he said, "I don't even have a single share. No share has ever been alloted to me."

Sibal said he does not believe in "this kind of political discourse" ahead of Lok Sabha elections.

"What if I were to say, remember that image of the Leader of the Opposition with her head on shielding the Reddy brothers. But this is not the kind of political discourse we want in this country. We are going into a general election, let's talk about issues," he said.

Sibal said opposition parties should "not reduce the general election as if you have applied for a life-long patent for lies. Maybe the RSS has that life-long pattern, but at least the Leader of the Opposition should not apply for the licence of that patent."

Referring to the message in circulation in the social media which claims that under such circumstances, justice could not be given to the junior journalist who was allegedly sexually assaulted by Tejpal, he said it was unfair to drag him in the issue.

"Now, in such a sensitive matter, when courts are dealing with it, these people are trying to politicise the issue and bring my fair name into the picture merely because they know that I state facts about their leader," he said.

On Swaraj's tweet, Sibal said "there is someone in BJP who has said that I am shielding Tejpal. That person should have the courage to name me."

"I think that at least the leaders of opposition of political parties, those who claim to have been in the law should be a little more sensitive in a matter which involves a young girl and not politicise these matters," he said.

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News Network
March 16,2020

New Delhi, Mar 16: Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani has been summoned by the ED in connection with its money laundering probe against Yes Bank promoter Rana Kapoor and others, officials said on Monday.

They said Ambani was asked to depose at the Enforcement Directorate office in Mumbai on Monday as his group companies are among the big entities whose loans went bad after borrowing from the crisis-hit bank.

The officials said Ambani, 60, has sought exemption from appearance on some personal grounds and he may be issued a new date.

Ambani's group companies are stated to have taken loans of about Rs 12,800 crore from the bank that turned NPAs.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said in a March 6 press conference that the Anil Ambani Group, Essel, ILFS, DHFL and Vodafone were among the stressed corporates Yes Bank had exposure to.

Officials said promoters of all the big companies who had taken large loans from the beleaguered bank which later turned bad are being summoned for questioning in the case to take investigation forward.

Ambani's statement will be recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) upon deposition, they said.

Kapoor, 62, is at present in ED custody after he was arrested by the central probe agency early this month.

The ED has accused Kapoor, his family members and others of laundering "proceeds of crime" worth Rs 4,300 crore by receiving alleged kickbacks in lieu of extending big loans through their bank that later turned NPA.

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News Network
August 3,2020

Aug 3: Iqbal Ansari, who was a litigant in the Ayodhya land dispute case, has decided to gift a 'Ram nami' stole and a copy of the Ramcharitmanas to Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he attends the bhoomi pujan ceremony for the Ram temple here on Wednesday.

"Yes, I have received the invitation from Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust for the bhoomi pujan ceremony. I will certainly attend it. The dispute is over now after the court's verdict," Ansari, 69, told .

"Our Prime Minister is coming. I will meet him and give him a 'Ramnami' stole (with Ram's name written on it) and Ramcharitmanas as a present," Ansari said.

His father Hashim Ansari, the oldest litigant in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi land dispute case, died at the age of 95 in 2016 after which the son started pursuing the case in the court.

Talking about Wednesday's ground-breaking ceremony to mark the beginning of the construction of a grand Ram temple here, Ansari said, "I belong to Ayodhya. All this (temple's construction) will change the fate of Ayodhya. We all want our child to get better opportunities".

He further said, "I respect sadhus and saints. I am happy to have received the invitation for the ceremony. I think it is Lord Ram's will that I attend it".

When asked what he would have done had the court decided the case in his favour, Ansari said he had wanted the construction of a school and a hospital on the disputed land.

"I feel the city needs development. The future of our children should be safe and secure and they should get employment. Dispute in the name of religion should end now and we should let the city witness a new beginning," he said.

The Supreme Court had in November last year paved the way for the construction of a Ram temple by a Trust at the disputed site of the Babri Masjid's demolition in Ayodhya, and directed the Centre to allot an alternative 5-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board for building a new mosque at a "prominent" place in the holy town in Uttar Pradesh.

The state government has allotted a five-acre land in Dhannipur village in Sohaval Tehsil of Ayodhya for the mosque's construction.

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Agencies
August 1,2020

Chandigarh, Aug 1: The death toll in the Punjab spurious liquor tragedy rose to 86 on Saturday even as Chief Minister Amarinder Singh suspended seven excise officials and six policemen, officials said.

The government also announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for each of the families of the deceased, they said.

Tarn Taran alone accounted for 63 deaths, followed by 12 in Amritsar and 11 in Gurdaspur’s Batala. Till Friday night, the state had reported 39 deaths in the tragedy unfolding since Wednesday night.

According to an official statement, the CM ordered the suspension of seven excise officials, along with six policemen.

Among the suspended officials are two deputy superintendents of police and four station house officers.

Strict action will be taken against any public servant or others found complicit in the case, said the chief minister, describing the police and excise department failure to check the manufacturing and sale of spurious liquor as shameful.

Nobody will be allowed to get away with feeding poison to our people, he added.

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