INX media case: Delhi High Court dismisses Chidambaram's bail plea

Agencies
September 30, 2019

New Delhi, Sept 30: The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed the bail petition filed by former Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram in the INX Media case.

Justice Suresh Kumar Kait dismissed the bail on the grounds that after being a member of the Bar and of Parliament, "there is a chance that he may influence the witnesses".

However, the court observed that Chidambaram is not at flight risk and is not likely to tamper with the evidence.

Kait dismissed the order after hearing the arguments from both the sides.

During the course of hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta stated, "We are at a stage where we have exposed our evidence to him as we have confronted the accused and hence, the risk of tampering and influencing is much higher."

He submitted, "Some people are in so powerful position that their mere presence can influence the witnesses."

"To say that I am a responsible and respected citizen is not an argument altogether. Those who have fleeced the country are the ones who are respected and responsible and having business empire and what not," the Solicitor General observed.

Sibal opposed the claims of the prosecution and said that Chidambaram is not at flight risk, there is no evidence of him tampering with evidence. 

"After spending 40 days in prison, he will flee? They have to justify each day of incarceration. What is it that you cannot do outside jail but can do inside it," said Singhvi on behalf of Chidambaram. 

Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram were named in the case by Peter and Indrani Mukerjea, who are currently in jail in Mumbai in connection with the murder of Indrani's daughter Sheena Bora.

The ED too had filed a money laundering case against Chidambaram in this regard in 2017.

Chidambaram has been lodged in Jail No 7 of the Tihar jail, which is meant for economic offenders.

He was sent to judicial custody by a Delhi court after his arrest on August 21 by the Central Bureau of Investigation for alleged irregularities in granting FIPB clearance of Rs 305 crore to INX Media, now known as 9x news, during his tenure as Finance Minister. Chidambaram is also being probed by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case relating to INX Media.

Several senior leaders of the Congress including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi, leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel visited Chidamabaram in jail.

Earlier, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday also accused the government of planning a conspiracy to "defame and character assassinate" Chidambaram in the case. 

The Congress has termed the charges against Chidambaram a "paramount example of political vendetta".

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Agencies
January 11,2020

New Delhi, Jan 11: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the curative petition of two death row convicts in 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape case on January 14.

A five-judge Bench of Justices N V Ramana, Arun Mishra, R F Nariman, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan will hear the petition filed by Vinay Sharma and Mukesh.

The duo had moved a curative petition in the top court after a Delhi court issued a death warrant in their name and announced January 22 as the date of their execution.

Besides them, two other convicts named Pawan and Akshay are also slated to be executed on the same day at 7 am in Delhi's Tihar Jail premises.

They were convicted and sentenced to death for raping a 23-year-old woman on a moving bus in the national capital on the night of December 16, 2012.

The victim, who was later given the name Nirbhaya, died at a hospital in Singapore where she had been airlifted for medical treatment.

A curative petition is the last judicial resort available for redressal of grievances. It is decided by the judges in-chamber.

If it is rejected, they are legally bound to move a mercy petition. It is filed before the President who has the power to commute it to life imprisonment.

The court after issuing a black warrant in their name gave them two weeks' time to file both the curative and mercy petition.

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Agencies
January 6,2020

Lucknow, Jan 6: Undeterred by the large scale protests that claimed as many as 20 lives in the state, Uttar Pradesh government has started the process of implementing the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

According to sources in the government, the district magistrates have been directed to identify the migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, who have been living in their districts.

Sources said that the state home department has given oral instructions to the district magistrates. ''No written orders have been issued,'' said a senior official here preferring anonymity.

The official said that the district magistrates would be preparing a list containing names of those minorities, who had migrated from these countries following their persecution and had been living without obtaining the citizenship of India.

According to sources, the government expected that the migrants, who could be eligible for the Indian citizenship in accordance with the CAA, could be more in number in the districts, including Rampur, Ghaziabad, Shahjahanpur, Lucknow and some others.

''The list will be sent to the union home ministry,'' the official added.

Sources said that the state government will also inform the centre about the ''illegal Muslim migrants'' for their ultimate deportation to their countries of origin.

Different parts of UP had witnessed large scale violence last month during the protests against the CAA. At least 20 people, mostly youngsters, were killed allegedly in police firing and many others were injured. The state government had denied the charge. 

Alleged police excesses during and after the protests triggered a nationwide outrage with several rights organisations and activists slamming the BJP government and demanding a high-level probe into the allegations.

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News Network
June 10,2020

Chennai, Jun 10: DMK MLA J Anbazhagan who had tested positive for coronavirus and was on ventilator support from June 3 passed away at a hospital in Chennai on Wednesday.

Coincidently, today is the 62nd birthday of the MLA.

"Anbazhagan J, who has been fighting for his life with severe COVID 19 pneumonia rapidly deteriorated early this morning. In spite of full medical support including mechanical ventilation at our COVID facility, he succumbed to his illness. He was declared dead at 08:05 hours on the 10th of June 2020," the hospital said in a statement.

In 2001, Anbazhagan was elected from T Nagar Assembly constituency. He served for five years.

Later in 2011, he was elected to Tamil Nadu Assembly from Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni seat. The DMK leader was re-elected from the same constituency in 2016.

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