News Analysis India

Tag: CBI

  • Nithari killings: Special CBI court awards death sentence to accused Surinder Koli

    By PTI

    GHAZIABAD: A special CBI court here has awarded death sentence to the prime accused in the Nithari murders Surinder Koli for raping and murdering a woman.

    Judge Rakesh Tripathi awarded seven years imprisonment to Koli’s employer — businessman Moninder Singh Pandher — in the case.

    The court imposed a fine of Rs 62 thousand on Koli and Rs 4 thousand on Pandher.

    Special CBI public prosecutor Darshan Lal said the agency has produced 83 witnesses before the court and their statements have been recorded.

    On the basis of evidence, Koli was held guilty of killing, raping, hatching a conspiracy and destroying proof of crime while Pandher was accused of immoral trafficking on Tuesday.

    The court had reserved its order on sentencing for Thursday Prior to this, the court had awarded death sentence to Koli in 13 cases while he was acquitted in three.

    Pandher too was sentenced to death in three cases.

    Lal said the court observed that the offense which Koli committed falls in the “rarest category” of crimes as it shows his cruelty towards the victim who was strangled to death after being raped.

    Her body was sliced into pieces and the parts were stuffed in polythene bags and dumped in a drain behind Pandher’s house in Nithari.

    Meanwhile, Pandher urged the court to decrease his punishment as he is unwell and undergoing treatment in the jail hospital.

    The sensational killings came to light with the discovery of eight skeletal remains of children from the drain behind Pandher’s house on December 29, 2006.

    Pandher and Koli were subsequently arrested by the Noida Police.

    With further digging and searching of drains and the area around Pandher’s house, more skeletal remains were found.

    Most of these remains proved to be that of poor children and young women who had gone missing from the area.

    Within 10 days, the CBI took over case and its search resulted in the recovery of more bones.

    During the interrogation, Koli had accepted rape, murder and cannibalism, according to the CBI.

    A total 19 cases were lodged but in three cases the CBI had filed closure reports due to lack of evidence, he said.

  • After TMC leader grilled by CBI, Mamata threatens to expose ‘job scam’ during Left regime

    By Express News Service

    KOLKATA: A day after her party’s secretary general Partha Chatterjee was grilled by the CBI in connection with an alleged recruitment scam in schools, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee threatened to expose alleged irregularities in state government jobs during the Left Front regime.

    “The CPI(M) would issue hand-written chits which used to be enough to get government jobs. I have not disclosed it till date showing my political courtesy. From now on, I will unfold the chapters one after another,” Mamata said on Thursday while addressing a rally in Jhargram, which once became the epicentre of the Maoist movement in Jungle Mahal.

    Political observers in the state noted that Mamata’s threat about the alleged scam in government jobs during the Left Front’s tenure which ended 11 years ago comes on the heels of the ongoing controversy related to alleged irregularities in recruitment in schools which the CPI(M) is trying to use as a political tool against the ruling Trinamool Congress.

    Without mentioning the CBI probe into the alleged recruitment scam, which is said to have embarrassed the ruling party, the Bengal CM hit out at the BJP-led Centre alleging it is using the central agencies after failing to win the 2021 Assembly elections. “Now they are eyeing the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. They are using the central agencies vindictively. It is because the BJP failed to win the Assembly elections in Bengal. Now they are trying to achieve their political goals by using the agencies. The mandate given by the electorate in Bengal in the Assembly polls made it clear that they (BJP) have no hope in 2024,” she said.  

    Launching a blistering attack on both the CPI(M) and BJP, Mamata accused the two parties of being allies in Bengal politics. “They are two brothers in West Bengal’s politics and Bengal’s electorate is aware of it. These two parties are trying to prevent us from doing development work. But the TMC cannot be stopped. We will give a befitting reply in the coming elections,” she said.

    The rise of the BJP in Bengal is said to be at the expense of the CPI(M)’s vote-bank. A considerable chunk of the electorate, who had been loyal to the communist party, decided to support the BJP aiming to derail Mamata’s government in the 2021 Assembly elections. The saffron camp took its tally from three to 77 in the 294-seat Assembly but the target was left unachieved.

  • TMC’s Anubrata Mondal quizzed by CBI in cattle smuggling case

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal was interrogated by the CBI on Thursday in connection with its investigation into a cattle smuggling case in West Bengal, an official said.

    Mondal, the TMC’s Birbhum district president, reached the CBI office at Nizam Palace here around 9.45 am, he said.

    “The investigating officer in the case is interrogating him. He will be asked around 24 questions set by our detectives in connection with his alleged involvement in the scam,” the officer told PTI.

    Mondal is cooperating, he said.

    The TMC leader has earlier been summoned by the investigating agency for questioning several times, but he did not appear once citing ill-health.

    The CBI had on September 21, 2020 filed a case against BSF commandant Satish Kumar and several others in connection with illegal cattle trade along the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal, which was taking place allegedly in connivance with public servants.

    Mohammad Enamul Haque, the alleged kingpin of the racket, was arrested from New Delhi in November 2020.

  • SSC recruitment scam: After Bengal minister’s interrogation, petitioner move HC

    By Express News Service

    KOLKATA: Shortly after CBI interrogated Trinamool Congress’s secretary general and former education minister Partha Chatterjee for four hours in connection with the alleged irregularities in recruitment of teachers and non-teaching staffs in the state-run schools through the School Service Commission (SSC), the Kolkata High Court on Wednesday decided to open a late night session after petitioners sought protection of evidences by the CRPF which they believe to be crucial.

    The petitioners said the evidences are important as it convinced the high court to engage the CBI to conduct a probe giving liberty the central agency to interrogate the TMC heavyweight. They also said in their petition that the evidences should be protected by the CRPF as there might be attempts to tamper it.

    Chatterjee turned up at the CBI office shortly after the division bench upheld the single-bench judge’s order asking CBI to probe into the irregularities.

    Though Chatterjee moved a division bench on Wednesday afternoon but his petition was not entertained.

    Four members of the recommendation committee, which was formed by Chatterjee to facilitate the alleged irregularities.

    On April 12 this year, Justice Gangopadhyay had ordered Chatterjee to face the CBI probe on the same day but a division bench had put a stay on it.

    “The single bench mentioned in its order gave liberty to the CBI to arrest Chatterjee, if needed,” said advocate Sudipta Sengupta.

    Upholding the previous order, in which a CBI probe was ordered in the elleged recruitment scam, the division bench comprising Justice Subrata Talukdar and Ananda Kumar Mukherjee said on Wednesday that there was no infirmity in the orders of the single bench. The division bench said in its order that the scam and the money trail involved would be investigated according to the orders of the single bench.

    Earlier the high court had set up a committee headed by retired HC justice Ranjit Kumar Bag to probe into the alleged irregularities. The committee found massive discrepancies and recommended criminal proceedings along with disciplinary proceedings some former officials of the SSC.

    The committee recommended criminal proceedings against four former SSC officials and the incumbent president of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education. It also sought disciplinary proceedings against six other former senior SSC officials. 

    Welcoming the court’s order, BJP’s state president Sukanta Majumdar alleged the government and its ministers are shameless. ‘’We know there has been huge corruption. If the CBI starts investigation, the entire illegal trader surface,’’ he said.

    “This is a court matter and the issue is subjudice. If anyone did anything wrong, the party will not take responsibility,” said TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh.

    Kolkata High Court ordered no one would be allowed to enter SSC office till 1 pm as the CRPF will guard the establishment.The order in response to petition to protect documents related to irregularities in recruitment in schools through SSC.

  • SSC recruitment scam: West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee appears before CBI

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee on Wednesday evening appeared before the CBI sleuths for questioning in connection with their probe into the SSC recruitment scam.

    Chatterjee, currently the state’s industry minister, would be questioned about the alleged irregularities in the appointments given by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education on recommendations by the School Service Commission (SSC), a CBI officer said.

    “He will be questioned by three CBI sleuths. We have arranged a set of specific questions for him,” the CBI officer told PTI. Chatterjee was the education minister when the alleged illegal recruitments were made.

    Earlier in the day, a division bench of the Calcutta High Court upheld orders of a single bench that directed the CBI to inquire into alleged illegal appointments.

    Immediately after the division bench order, a single bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay directed Chatterjee to appear before the CBI at its office here before 6 pm on Wednesday in connection with the scam.

  • Calcutta HC upholds single bench orders of CBI probe into ‘illegal’ appointments in aided schools

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: A division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday upheld orders of a single bench that directed CBI to inquire into alleged illegal appointments given by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education on recommendations by the School Service Commission (SSC).

    Immediately after the division bench order, a single bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay directed state minister Partha Chatterjee to appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation at its office here before 6pm of Wednesday in connection with the SSC appointments scam.

    The judge said that he expects Chatterjee to step down as minister in the interest of justice. Terming “irregularities” in recommending appointments of teaching and non-teaching staff by SSC as a “public scam”, the division bench, comprising justices Subrata Talukder and AK Mukherjee, said that the single bench of Justice Gangopadhyay was not wrong in ordering a probe into the alleged money trail involved.

    The division bench said the orders of the single bench require no intervention.

    Holding that a five-member committee to oversee the appointment process for a 2016 panel for recruitment of teachers for classes 9 and 10 and group C and D staff in government-aided schools was illegal, the single bench had ordered then state education minister to appear before the CBI.

    Chatterjee was the state education minister when the alleged appointments were made. He is now the industry, commerce and parliamentary affairs minister of the Mamata Banerjee cabinet.

    Earlier, the minister was directed by Justice Gangopadhyay to appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation at its office in Nizam Palace here on April 12, but he got a stay from a division bench on the order.

    Seven orders were passed by the single bench directing CBI to enquire into the alleged irregularities in the appointments of teaching and non-teaching staff. Of these, one was in group C, two in group D appointments and four in teachers’ recruitment for classes 9 and 10.

    All these orders had earlier been stayed by the division bench on a series of appeals.

    Passing judgment on the appeals, the division bench accepted recommendations of Justice RK Bag committee, instituted by the court earlie calling for prosecution of the then senior officials connected to the scam.

  • CBI arrests S Bhaskararaman, close associate of Karti Chidambaram, in Rs 50 lakh bribery case

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The CBI on Wednesday arrested S Bhaskararaman, a close associate of Lok Sabha MP Karti Chidambaram, in connection with a Rs 50 lakh alleged bribery case for clearing visas of 263 Chinese nationals working at Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd in Punjab, officials said.

    The bribery incident is reported to have taken place in 2011 when Karti Chidambaram’s father P Chidambaram was the Union home minister.

    The CBI took Bhaskararaman for questioning late Tuesday night and he was placed under arrest in the early hours of Wednesday, the officials said.

    The agency has alleged that Bhaskaraman was approached by Vikas Makharia, the then associate vice president of Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd (TSPL), for the reissue of project visas for 263 Chinese workers working at the Mansa-based power plant which was in the process of being set up.

    The CBI FIR, which contains a findings of the investigating officer who probed the PE, has alleged that Makharia approached Karti through his “close associate/front man” Bhaskararaman, the officials said.

    “They devised a back-door way to defeat the purpose of ceiling (maximum of project visas permissible to the company’s plant) by granting permission to reuse 263 project visas allotted to the said Chinese company’s officials,” they said.

    Project visas were a special type of visa introduced in 2010 for the power and steel sector for which detailed guidelines were issued during P Chidambaram’s tenure as the home minister but there was no provision of reissue of project visas, the FIR alleged.

    “As per prevalent guidelines, deviation in rare and exceptional cases could be considered and granted only with the approval of the Home Secretary. However, in view of the above circumstances, the deviation in terms of reuse of project visas is likely to be approved by the then Home Minister,” it further alleged.

    Makharia allegedly submitted a letter to the Home Ministry on July 30, 2011, seeking approval to reuse the project visas allotted to his company, which was approved within a month and permission was issued, the officials said.

    “On August 17, 2011, Makharia, on being directed by Bhaskararaman, sent a copy of the above letter dated July 30, 2011 to him through e-mail which was forwarded to Karti. Bhakaskararaman after discussion with P Chidambaram, the then Home Minister, demanded an illegal gratification of Rs 50 lakh for ensuring the approval,” the FIR alleged.

    It alleged that the payment of the said bribe was routed from TSPL to Karti and Bhaskararaman through Mumbai-based Bell Tools Ltd with payments camouflaged under two invoices raised for consultancy and out of pocket expenses for Chinese visas related works.

    Makharia had later thanked Karti and Bhaskararaman on email, it added.

  • HC directs CBI to interrogate Bengal minister over appointment of daughter as teacher

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed West Bengal Minister of State for Education Paresh Chandra Adhikari to appear before the CBI here over alleged appointment of his daughter as a teacher in a state government-aided school in Cooch Behar district.

    The order was passed on a petition by a candidate who claimed that she was deprived of the job despite having secured higher marks than the minister’s daughter in the recruitment examination for teachers.

    Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay directed the minister to appear before the CBI authorities in Kolkata by Tuesday evening.

    Adhikari, who was in Cooch Behar, told reporters that he has left for Kolkata along with his daughter following the high court order.

    The minister is an MLA from Mekhliganj constituency in Cooch Behar.

    The court directed the CBI to file a report on the matter on May 7, when it will be taken up for hearing again.

    The petitioner’s lawyer Firdous Shamim claimed that she had secured 77 marks in the examination while the minister’s daughter got 61, and that her name did not figure in the merit list, but had been given appointment as a teacher depriving the petitioner Babita Sarkar.

    Justice Gangopadhyay had earlier on four occasions ordered CBI inquiry in connection with alleged irregularities in appointments of teaching and non-teaching staff in state government-aided schools.

  • CBI to probe paper leak of police constables’ recruitment test: Himachal Pradesh CM Jai Ram Thakur

    By PTI

    SHIMLA: The Himachal Pradesh government on Tuesday decided to hand over to the CBI a case of the leakage of question papers of the recruitment test for constables. In a hurriedly called press conference at his official residence Oakover here, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said the state government has decided to hand over the probe into the case to the CBI.

    The first reason for entrusting the task to the central investigative agency is to ensure fairness and impartiality in the probe, he said. The case was currently being investigated by a special investigating team of the state police which itself was conducting the written test for the recruitment of constables, he added.

  • CBI conducts multiple raids at P Chidambaram, son Karti residential, official premises

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted searches at multiple residential and official premises of the Lok Sabha MP of Congress Karti Chidambaram and his father and former Union Minister P Chidambaram across Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Sivagangai in Tamil Nadu.

    In Delhi, the CBI searched the 80 Lodhi Estate residence of Karti Chidambaram on Tuesday morning.

    “The CBI is conducting searches at multiple locations (residence and office) of Karti Chidambaram, in connection with an ongoing case”, said his office.

    There were total seven members in the CBI team. Karti Chidambaram was not at his residence during the raid at 7.30 am, said Birbal Singh, the security guard posted at Karti Chidambaram’s house.

    ALSO READ: CBI books Karti Chidambaram for facilitating visa of Chinese nationals for illegal gratification

    The CBI team questioned the staff present at Karti Chidambaram’s Delhi house and took some papers with them.

    Meanwhile, searches are being conducted in multiple residential and official premises of Chidambaram across Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Sivagangai in Tamil Nadu.

    “I have lost count,” tweeted Congress leader Karti Chidambaram while reacting to CBI searches at his premises.

    According to sources, three places are being raided in Mumbai while two each in Chennai and Sivaganga, his Parliamentary constituency.

    Karti Chidambaram is being probed in cases registered by the CBI, including the case lodged on May 15, 2017 over irregularities in a Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance granted to INX Media group for receiving overseas funds of Rs 305 crore in 2007 during P Chidambaram’s tenure as the Union Finance Minister.

    Thereafter, the ED had also lodged a money laundering case. The economic offences watchdog had registered a PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) case based on FIR by the CBI and alleged that irregularities took place in the FIPB clearance to INX media. (ANI)