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Tag: CBI

  • SC rejects plea seeking CBI probe into alleged massacre of tribals in Dantewada in 2009

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Thursday dismissed with an “exemplary” cost of Rs five lakh a plea seeking a CBI probe into the purported massacre of some tribals, allegedly by security forces, in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district in 2009.

    The apex court, while noting that the power to transfer an investigation must be used “sparingly” and only “in exceptional circumstances”, said that filing of charge sheets at the conclusion of the probe into the various FIRs referred to in the matter would indicate that the alleged massacre was at the end of the Naxalites.

    It said the cost shall be paid by social activist Himanshu Kumar, who was the petitioner number one in the plea, within four weeks failing which it would be open for the authority concerned to take appropriate steps in accordance with law for recovery of the requisite amount.

    The top court said it is “really taken by surprise” that the counsel appearing for the petitioners was absolutely oblivious of the fact that all the FIRs were probed by the concerned investigating agencies and charge sheets were filed in different courts of the state for the offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including that of murder and dacoity.

    “In the overall view of the matter, we have reached the conclusion that no case, worth the name, has been made out by the writ petitioners for any further investigation much less through an independent agency to be appointed by this court,” a bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and J B Pardiwala said.

    The bench delivered its verdict on the plea, filed by Kumar and others, relating to the alleged massacre that took place on September 17, 2009, and October 1, 2009, in the villages of Gachhanpalli, Gompad, and Belpocha in the Dantewada district.

    The apex court noted in its 94-page verdict that it was the case of the petitioners that security forces, including the Chhattisgarh Police, the Special Police Officers, and the paramilitary forces, were allegedly responsible for the massacre.

    It noted that Kumar claims to be running an NGO for the welfare and development of tribals residing in the Bastar region of the state.

    The bench also noted that the other petitioners in the matter were the kith and kin of the victims of the alleged massacre.

    “The materials collected in the form of the charge sheets substantiate the case put up by the respondents that the villagers were attacked and killed by the Naxalites. There is not an iota of material figuring in the investigation on the basis of which even a finger can be pointed towards the members of the police force,” the bench said.

    “The writ petition accordingly fails and is hereby rejected with exemplary costs of Rs five lakh. The requisite amount towards the costs shall be paid by petitioner no.1 viz. Himanshu Kumar,” the bench said.

    It also dealt with an application filed by the Centre which had urged the court to hold the petitioners guilty of levelling false charges and of giving false and fabricated evidence in the court with an intention to procure conviction against the personnel of security forces and to screen off the actual offenders of Left Wing (Naxal) terrorism.

    The Centre, in its application, had also sought appropriate action against the petitioners and others responsible for the alleged acts of perjury.

    The bench, while referring to section 211 of the IPC which relates to a false charge of offence made with intent to injure, noted that the first information reports lodged by the petitioners at different police stations were probed and the investigating agency had reached the conclusion that police force had no role to play, rather Naxals were responsible for the massacre.

    “Prima facie, it could be said that false information was given by the first informants to the police as regards the alleged massacre by the police force,” it said.

    “Thus, we leave it to the state of Chhattisgarh/CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) to take appropriate steps in accordance with law as discussed above in reference to the assertions made in the interim application. We clarify that it shall not be limited only to the offence under section 211 of the IPC. A case of the criminal conspiracy or any other offence under the IPC may also surface,” the apex court said.

    The bench said it may not be understood of having expressed any final opinion on such action/proceedings.

    “We leave it to the better discretion of the state of Chhattisgarh/CBI to act accordingly keeping in mind the seriousness of the entire issue,” it said while disposing of the interlocutory application filed by the Centre.

    The bench said if it goes by the tenor of the writ petition, it gives an impression that proper investigation is not being done and therefore, the same should be handed over to the CBI.

    “Unfortunately, neither the senior counsel appearing for the writ petitioners nor any of the writ petitioners, more particularly, the writ petitioner no.1 (Kumar), the protagonist behind the filing of the present writ petition, running an NGO, has any idea about the charge sheets and the materials collected in the course of the investigation,” it said.

    Advocate Sumeer Sodhi, appearing for the Chhattisgarh government, opposed the petition and highlighted the manner in which the state police had carried out the investigation of these incidents and also the details regarding the registration of FIRs.

    Sodhi had also argued that there was no merit in the petition and the same may be rejected with exemplary costs.

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Thursday dismissed with an “exemplary” cost of Rs five lakh a plea seeking a CBI probe into the purported massacre of some tribals, allegedly by security forces, in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district in 2009.

    The apex court, while noting that the power to transfer an investigation must be used “sparingly” and only “in exceptional circumstances”, said that filing of charge sheets at the conclusion of the probe into the various FIRs referred to in the matter would indicate that the alleged massacre was at the end of the Naxalites.

    It said the cost shall be paid by social activist Himanshu Kumar, who was the petitioner number one in the plea, within four weeks failing which it would be open for the authority concerned to take appropriate steps in accordance with law for recovery of the requisite amount.

    The top court said it is “really taken by surprise” that the counsel appearing for the petitioners was absolutely oblivious of the fact that all the FIRs were probed by the concerned investigating agencies and charge sheets were filed in different courts of the state for the offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including that of murder and dacoity.

    “In the overall view of the matter, we have reached the conclusion that no case, worth the name, has been made out by the writ petitioners for any further investigation much less through an independent agency to be appointed by this court,” a bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and J B Pardiwala said.

    The bench delivered its verdict on the plea, filed by Kumar and others, relating to the alleged massacre that took place on September 17, 2009, and October 1, 2009, in the villages of Gachhanpalli, Gompad, and Belpocha in the Dantewada district.

    The apex court noted in its 94-page verdict that it was the case of the petitioners that security forces, including the Chhattisgarh Police, the Special Police Officers, and the paramilitary forces, were allegedly responsible for the massacre.

    It noted that Kumar claims to be running an NGO for the welfare and development of tribals residing in the Bastar region of the state.

    The bench also noted that the other petitioners in the matter were the kith and kin of the victims of the alleged massacre.

    “The materials collected in the form of the charge sheets substantiate the case put up by the respondents that the villagers were attacked and killed by the Naxalites. There is not an iota of material figuring in the investigation on the basis of which even a finger can be pointed towards the members of the police force,” the bench said.

    “The writ petition accordingly fails and is hereby rejected with exemplary costs of Rs five lakh. The requisite amount towards the costs shall be paid by petitioner no.1 viz. Himanshu Kumar,” the bench said.

    It also dealt with an application filed by the Centre which had urged the court to hold the petitioners guilty of levelling false charges and of giving false and fabricated evidence in the court with an intention to procure conviction against the personnel of security forces and to screen off the actual offenders of Left Wing (Naxal) terrorism.

    The Centre, in its application, had also sought appropriate action against the petitioners and others responsible for the alleged acts of perjury.

    The bench, while referring to section 211 of the IPC which relates to a false charge of offence made with intent to injure, noted that the first information reports lodged by the petitioners at different police stations were probed and the investigating agency had reached the conclusion that police force had no role to play, rather Naxals were responsible for the massacre.

    “Prima facie, it could be said that false information was given by the first informants to the police as regards the alleged massacre by the police force,” it said.

    “Thus, we leave it to the state of Chhattisgarh/CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) to take appropriate steps in accordance with law as discussed above in reference to the assertions made in the interim application. We clarify that it shall not be limited only to the offence under section 211 of the IPC. A case of the criminal conspiracy or any other offence under the IPC may also surface,” the apex court said.

    The bench said it may not be understood of having expressed any final opinion on such action/proceedings.

    “We leave it to the better discretion of the state of Chhattisgarh/CBI to act accordingly keeping in mind the seriousness of the entire issue,” it said while disposing of the interlocutory application filed by the Centre.

    The bench said if it goes by the tenor of the writ petition, it gives an impression that proper investigation is not being done and therefore, the same should be handed over to the CBI.

    “Unfortunately, neither the senior counsel appearing for the writ petitioners nor any of the writ petitioners, more particularly, the writ petitioner no.1 (Kumar), the protagonist behind the filing of the present writ petition, running an NGO, has any idea about the charge sheets and the materials collected in the course of the investigation,” it said.

    Advocate Sumeer Sodhi, appearing for the Chhattisgarh government, opposed the petition and highlighted the manner in which the state police had carried out the investigation of these incidents and also the details regarding the registration of FIRs.

    Sodhi had also argued that there was no merit in the petition and the same may be rejected with exemplary costs.

  • CBI arrests Gujarat-cadre IAS officer in arms licence bribery case

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The CBI arrested Gujarat-cadre IAS officer K Rajesh on Wednesday for alleged bribery in sanctioning weapon licences to ineligible people, officials said.

    Rajesh, a 2011-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, was called to the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) Ahmedabad office for questioning, but he allegedly did not cooperate and was taken into custody, they added.

    It is alleged that when he was the collector of Surendranagar district, Rajesh had taken bribes for land deals and sanctioning weapon licences to ineligible people, the officials said.

    In May, the agency had arrested Mohammad Rafiq Menon, who allegedly used to work as a conduit for the officer.

    In addition to granting arms licences to ineligible people, it is also alleged that Rakesh had taken bribes for the allotment of government land and regularisation of encroached government land in the name of ineligible beneficiaries.

    “A preliminary enquiry was earlier registered on a request of the Gujarat government in the matter. The instant case is the outcome of the PE,” the CBI had said after the registration of the case.

    After lodging the case, the agency had conducted searches at the premises of the accused in Gandhinagar and Surat (in Gujarat) and Rajahmundry (in Andhra Pradesh), which led to the recovery of incriminating documentary and digital evidence, it had said.

  • CBI arrests seven, including ECL managers, in coal pilferage scam

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The CBI on Wednesday arrested seven people, including a serving and three retired general managers of state-run Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL), in connection with the multi-crore coal pilferage scam, an official said.

    The others arrested are a manager and two security guards, he said.

    They were arrested following interrogation by the CBI at its Kolkata officer, he added.

    “All these people were asked questions and they could not reply to those properly. They are hiding several pieces of information, and we suspect their active involvement in the scam. As a part of the investigation, we have arrested them,” the officer said.

    They will be taken to Asansol for production in a court, he said.

    The central agency has twice interrogated TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee’s wife Rujira Narula Banerjee in connection with the scam.

    It had last year also interrogated Rujira’s sister Menoka Gambhir, her husband and father-in-law in connection with their probe.

    CBI has announced a bounty of Rs 1 lakh on absconding TMC leader Vinay Mishra in connection with the scam.

    Mishra allegedly collected money on behalf of influential people.

    The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth Rs 9.28 crore belonging to Mishra, his brother Vikas and prime accused Anup Majhi under the anti-money laundering law.

    It is alleged that illegal mining of coal was done at leasehold mines of ECL in Kunustoria and Kajora areas near Asansol.

    Investigations have hinted towards financial transactions of Rs 1,300 crore, the bulk of which went to several influential people, as per the CBI.

    Investigations have revealed that the money was deposited in foreign bank accounts of these influential people through hawala.

  • CBI searches Karti Chidambaram’s Chennai house in Chinese visa case

    By IANS

    NEW DELHI: In the latest development in the Chinese visa case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday conducted searches at the residence of Congress MP Karti Chidambaram in Chennai and recovered some incriminating documents from there.

    A CBI source said that when the probe agency conducted searches at the residence of Karti Chidambaram in May, a portion of the house had to be sealed as the keys were with the Congress MP’s wife, who was reportedly out of the country then.

    “Today, Karti Chidambaram’s wife joined the probe and we opened this portion of the house. We have recovered some incriminating evidence and documents,” said the source.

    According to the CBI FIR, in 2011, a Mansa (Punjab) based private firm, Talwandi Sabo Power Limited, took the help of a middleman and allegedly paid Rs 50 lakh to get visas issued to Chinse nationals to help get a project completed before the deadline.

    “The private firm was in the process of establishing a 1,980 MW thermal power plant which was outsourced to a Chinese company. The project was running behind its schedule. In order to avoid penal actions for the delay, the said private company was trying to bring more and more Chinese professionals to its site in Mansa district. For this it needed project visas over and above the ceiling imposed by the Ministry of Home Affairs,” said a CBI official.

    The official said that for the said purpose, the representative of the private firm approached a person in Chennai through his close associate and thereafter they devised a back-door ploy to get permission to re-use 263 project visas allotted to the said Chinese company’s officials.

    In pursuance of the same, the said representative of the Mansa-based company submitted a letter to the Ministry of Home Affairs seeking approval to re-use the project visas allotted to the company, which was approved within a month and permission was issued to the firm.

    “A bribe of Rs 50 lakh was allegedly demanded by the said private person based in Chennai through his close associate which was paid by the Mansa-based company. The payment of the said bribe was routed from Mansa to the person in Chennai and his close associate through a Mumbai-based company, reportedly controlled by Karti Chidambaram, as payment of false invoice raised for consultancy and out-of-pocket expenses for Chinese visa-related works,” said the CBI official.

    Karti Chidambaram’s father P. Chidambaram was the Union Home Minister then.

  • CBI arrests Power Grid exec director, Tata Projects executive VP among 6 in bribery case

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The CBI has arrested Executive Director of Power Grid Corporation of India B S Jha and five officials of Tata Projects, including its Executive VP Deshraj Pathak and Assistant VP R N Singh, in connection with alleged bribery to favour the private company, officials said on Thursday.

    The probe agency had conducted searches on Wednesday in Ghaziabad, Noida, Gurugram, among other places, during which Rs 93 lakh cash was recovered from the Gurugram premises of Jha.

    Jha is currently posted in Itanagar, they said.

    It is alleged that Jha was extending favours to Tata Projects in various projects in return of illicit payment, they said.

    The CBI was keeping an eye on Jha during which it got an input that he was receiving bribes from the executives of Tata Projects and other companies for granting favours for various work, they said.

    The agency teams swooped down at the location where the alleged illicit payments were to be made on Wednesday and arrested the accused, they said.

    All the six arrested accused will be produced before Panchkula court on Thursday, they added.

  • Birbhum arson: CBI files two charge sheets in March 21 violence, TMC leader’s death

    By Express News Service

    KOLKATA: The CBI on Monday filed two separate charge sheets in the killing of a Trinamool Congress leader and subsequent carnage allegedly triggered by it in which a house was set ablaze and nine persons, including two women and two children, were charred to death in Birbhum’s Bogtui in March.

    The CBI held four persons accused in the charge sheet in the murder of Bhadu Sheikh, the TMC leader, whereas 18 persons, including a local TMC leader who was arrested by the state police shortly after chief minister dropped his name publicly, in the massacre case.

    On March 21 night, Sheikh, deputy chief of a local panchayat, was attacked with bombs and he died. On the same night, the house was set on fire in retaliation. The CBI had taken over the investigation of both the cases – Sheikh’s murder and the massacre claiming nine lives – following an order of the Calcutta High Court.

    “In the charge sheets, it has been mentioned that the massacre killing nine persons was a direct fall out of the killing of Sheikh. The rivalry between two groups over the issue of dominance in the area and control over income from illegal collection led to Sheikh’s killing and the subsequent massacre,” said a CBI officer.

    The Bogtui massacre is said to be the biggest carnage during Mamata’s tenure since the change of guard in the state in 2011.

  • Jharkhand seeks urgent SC hearing on maintainability of plea for probe against CM Hemant Soren

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI:  The Jharkhand government on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court seeking urgent listing of its petition challenging a high court order accepting the maintainability of a plea seeking a probe against Chief Minister Hemant Soren.

    The plea sought a probe into alleged irregularities in the granting of mining leases and also into the transactions of some shell companies allegedly operated by his family members and associates.

    On June 3, the Jharkhand High Court had said it was of the considered opinion that the writ petitions cannot be thrown away on the ground of maintainability and it will proceed to hear the matters on merit.

    The state government told a vacation bench of Justices A S Bopanna and Vikram Nath that there is urgency. Despite being informed that a special leave petition (SLP) has been filed in the apex court challenging the June 3 order, the Jharkhand High Court has listed the matter for hearing on June 17, it said.

    The bench told senior advocate Arunabh Chowdhury, who mentioned the matter on behalf of the state, to give details about the petition to the registrar so the apex court registry can take orders from the office of the chief justice about its listing.

    ALSO READ: Hemant Soren seeks more time to appear before EC in mining lease allotment matter

    “You just give the details. They (registry) will take orders,” the bench said. It observed that there are two vacation benches sitting at present and the chief justice would take a call about the listing the matter.

    When Chowdhury told the bench that the high court has listed the matter for hearing on June 17 despite being informed about the filing of the petition in the apex court, the bench said, “Tell this to the registry.”

    In its June 3 order, a division bench of the high court had said, “This court, after having answered the issue, as framed by this court, and on the basis of discussions made hereinabove, is summing up its view and is of the considered opinion that the writ petitions cannot be thrown away on the ground of maintainability.”

    Before that, on May 24, the apex court had asked the high court to first hear the preliminary objections on the maintainability of the public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a probe in the matter.

    ALSO READ: Jharkhand moves SC against HC order on maintainability of plea seeking probe against Hemant Soren

    “The issue of maintainability should be dealt with by the high court on the next date of listing when the proceedings are taken up. Based on the outcome of the objections to the maintainability of the proceedings, the high court may thereafter proceed in accordance with law,” the apex court had said.

    It had passed the May 24 order on the petition filed by the state against two orders of the high court in the matter. The top court had also made clear that it has not made any observation with regard to the merit of the case and has not dealt with the allegations levelled in the petition.

    It had noted that three PILs have been filed before the high court seeking an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into the allegations of corruption, misuse of office and money laundering against the chief minister. Soren has denied the allegations levelled against him.

  • Anil Deshmukh, Nawab Malik move HC seeking release from jail to vote in MLC polls; CBI opposes move

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Jailed NCP legislators Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh on Monday approached the Bombay High Court seeking to be released from prison for a day on June 20 to cast their vote in elections to the Maharashtra Legislative Council.

    Deshmukh and Malik, both members of the Legislative Assembly, could not cast their vote in the Rajya Sabha elections held on June 10 after a special court refused to release them to take part in the poll process.

    The duo has now sought to be released from jail for one day on June 20 to vote in MLC elections.

    Deshmukh, a former home minister of Maharashtra, filed an application for one day release from prison in his bail plea submitted earlier this year.

    The NCP leader’s application was mentioned by his advocate Inderpal Singh before a single bench of Justice N J Jamadar.

    Justice Jamadar posted the matter for hearing on June 15.

    The plea of Malik, a sitting cabinet minister, was mentioned before a single bench of Justice Bharati Dangre.

    His lawyer Kushal Mor sought permission to get Malik’s plea tagged with Deshmukh’s application and for both the matters to be heard on June 15 by Justice Jamadar.

    Justice Dangre asked Mor to mention the matter on June 14 (Tuesday).

    Malik’s lawyers Taraq Sayed and Kushal Mor had initially sought to amend an earlier petition filed by the state minister challenging a special court order refusing to release him on June 10 for voting in the Rajya Sabha polls.

    Sayed told a single bench of Justice P D Naik that the prayers are still the same and that only the date would have to be amended from June 10 to June 20.

    Justice Naik, however, noted that the cause of action was different and that Malik’s earlier petition had become infructuous as the elections he wanted to vote in (Rajya Sabha) was over.

    ALSO READ | Another BJP vs MVA on cards as 11 candidates in fray for 10 Maharashtra Legislative Council seats

    “You (Malik) will have to file a fresh plea seeking to be released on June 20 for the MLC elections,” Justice Naik said, indicating he was not inclined to allow the amendment.

    Malik’s lawyers then withdrew the earlier petition and said they would file a fresh one.

    Malik was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on February 23 this year in connection with a money laundering probe linked to the activities of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and his aides.

    His party colleague Deshmukh was arrested in November 2021 by the ED on money laundering charges.

    The biennial elections for 10 vacant seats of the Upper House of the state Legislature will be held on next Monday.

    Members of the state Legislative Assembly constitute the electoral college for these polls.

    Eleven candidates are in the fray.

    The opposition BJP has fielded five candidates, while the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress, all constituents of the ruling MVA, have given tickets to two nominees each.

    Meanwhile, the CBI on Monday submitted before a special court here that it had filed a charge-sheet against Deshmukh and his former aides within the mandated time period of 60 days in a corruption case, and opposed their pleas for default bail.

    The central agency submitted an affidavit in the court opposing the pleas of Deshmukh and his former aide and co-accused Sanjeev Palande seeking default bail on the ground that the CBI had filed an “incomplete” charge-sheet in the case.

    The pleas had claimed the CBI had not submitted relevant documents along with the charge-sheet and those papers were deposited in the court after the mandated time period.

    As per section 173 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), a charge-sheet in a case ought to be filed within 60 days from arrest of an accused.

    If this was not done, then the accused can seek default bail.

    The CBI, in its affidavit, said the law mandates completion of investigation within 60 days and that in the present case the report (charge-sheet) was filed by the agency on June 2, 2022, which is within the period of 60 days.

    It added that the contention of the accused persons that since the documents accompanying the charge-sheet were not deposited in the court on June 2, 2022, it cannot be termed as a complete charge-sheet is entirely misplaced.

    “Such misplaced understanding cannot be used/ utilized to seek the benefit of default bail,” the CBI said.

    The affidavit further said that it was the court that directed the investigating officer to deposit the documents on or before June 7 and hence the accused cannot claim benefit under section 167(2) of the CrPC (accused can seek default bail if charge-sheet is not filed within 60 days).

    The CBI had last week filed a 59-page charge-sheet against NCP leader Deshmukh and his two former aides – Sanjeev Palande and Kundan Shinde – in the case related to alleged corruption and misuse of office.

    Former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh in March last year alleged that Deshmukh, the then-state home minister, had given a target to police officers to collect Rs 100 crore per month from restaurants and bars in the city.

    Deshmukh denied the allegations, but stepped down from his ministerial post after the Bombay High Court directed the CBI to register a case against him.

    The 72-year-old politician is currently in jail under judicial custody in a money laundering case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

  • Felt Indrani was lying about Sheena’s whereabouts, Rahul Mukerjea tells court

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Rahul Mukerjea, the son of former media baron Peter Mukerjea, on Thursday told a special CBI court here that Indrani Mukerjea’s replies to him about her daughter Sheena Bora’s whereabouts did not seem “truthful”, and he sensed that something was amiss.

    Indrani Mukerjea is a prime accused in the case related to Sheena’s 2012 murder.

    She is now out on bail.

    The murder came to light in 2015, three years after Sheena (24) was allegedly killed by her mother with the help of co-accused Sanjeev Khanna and Shyamvar Rai.

    On Thursday, Rahul Mukerjea, Peter Mukerjea’s son from earlier marriage, deposed as a witness before special CBI court judge S P Naik-Nimbalkar.

    Peter later married Indrani.

    Rahul told the court about his relationship with Sheena, and narrated the sequence of incidents after he dropped her near suburban Bandra on April 24, 2012, for her meeting with her mother Indrani.

    Later in the evening, when he sent Sheena a text message about picking her up, Sheena replied “she is having fun catching up with Indrani and will spend the night with her,” Rahul told the court.

    He found this message odd as just a day before Sheena was apprehensive about meeting Indrani, he said.

    The following day, after he made several calls and sent messages, Sheena `replied’ (by message) that she will be home in about 30 minutes, Rahul said.

    After two hours, he got another message from her that “she has met someone else, who was very wealthy.

    She is in love with him and he should not contact her.

    ”At this point he did not think that Sheena’s life was in danger, but thought that she might have been sedated by someone, he told the court.

    He then went to Marlow building in Worli in south Mumbai where Indrani lived to meet Sheena, but he didn’t find them there, Rahul said.

    He then went to the local police station in Worli, and two police constables were sent to the building to enquire about Sheena.

    When they asked the watchman, he said three people had left earlier in the morning, Rahul told the court.

    But the police refused to take his written complaint about Sheena going missing, and told him that she had gone with her mother and would be fine and he should not worry, he said.

    He got similar response from the Bandra police station under whose jurisdiction she had been seen last, and MIDC( Andheri) police station under whose jurisdiction they lived.

    Through his mother he got the number of senior police officer Param Bir Singh.

    Singh told him that it was very important to get a missing person complaint registered, Rahul told the court.

    Later, the MIDC police noted down the information about his complaint in a police diary, he said.

    He also called his father Peter, Sheena’s grandparents and her school friends, but none of them had any information about Sheena, he said.

    When he asked Indrani about Sheena, he felt that her response was not “truthful”, so he started recording his phone conversations with Indrani, Rahul told the court.

    In one of these conversations Indrani told him that Sheena was in Nagpur, he said.

    Another time, Indrani said Sheena had gone back to Guwahati, while on one occasion she told him that Sheena had gone to the US.

    “I felt Sheena going to the US was not possible as her passport and belongings were at home,” Rahul said.

    “I felt that Indrani was lying for some reasons… Because of her different answers, I felt that Indrani was lying,” he said.

    Rahul Mukerjea’s testimony will continue on June 17.

    As per the Central Bureau of Investigation, Indrani disapproved of Sheena’s relationship with Rahul.

    She also had financial disputes with Sheena, the CBI has said.

  • Interpol issues Red Corner Notice against Goldy Brar

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Interpol has issued a Red Corner Notice against Satinderjeet Singh alias Goldy Brar who claimed responsibility for the killing of singer Sidhu Moose Wala, within eight days after the CBI forwarded a request, officials said Thursday.

    Brar is currently living in Canada. The Punjab Police had sought the Red Corner Notice against Brar on May 30 in connection with two old cases, officials said.

    Brar, a native of Sri Muktsar Sahib, had gone to Canada on a student visa in 2017 and he is an active member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, according to Punjab Police.

    Moosewala’s murder was allegedly in retaliation to Akali youth leader Vicky Middukhera’s killing that took place last year. The Punjab Police on Tuesday had said it had arrested eight people so far in connection with the 27-year-old singer’s brutal murder.

    The CBI, which is the liaison agency of the country with the Interpol, had earlier in the day said that the Punjab Police had sought the Red Corner Notice against Brar on May 30, a day after the singer was killed, as against the claims of the state police that it had sent the request on May 19.

    The CBI said a communication was received from the Bureau of Investigation, Punjab Police, through an email at 12.25 pm on May 30 with a letter dated May 19 attached in it seeking issuance of a Red Corner Notice against Brar in two FIRs registered by the Punjab Police — FIR No.409 dated November 12, 2020 and FIR No.44 dated February 18, 2021 — at City Police Station, Faridkot.

    Moosewala, who had fought the recent assembly elections in Punjab on a Congress ticket, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Punjab’s Mansa district, a day after the state government curtailed his security cover. Over 30 empty cases of bullets were found near his SUV in which he was killed.

    “In the present matter, the proposal for issuance of Red Notice (RCN) against Satinderjeet Singh alias Goldy. A hard copy of the same proposal was received from Punjab police in IPCU, CBI, New Delhi on May 30, 2022,” it said.

    The communication was sent nearly six months after a court had issued warrants against Brar in both cases probed by the state police, sources said.

    The CBI said Red Corner Notice is neither mandatory nor a pre-requisite for sending extradition request, more so when the location of the subject is known. The Red Corner Notice alerts enforcement agencies of 195 Interpol member countries to locate and detain a fugitive wanted by a requesting member country.

    FIR number 409 pertains to a shootout near the Kataria petrol pump in Faridkot on November 11, 2020, in which a charge sheet was filed in November, 2021, and warrants were issued in October, 1, 2021, they said.

    The second FIR pertains to the murder of Gurlal Singh in Faridkot on February 18, 2021, in which a chargesheet was also filed in November 2021. The warrants were opened on September 13, 2021, they said.

    “After processing for confirmation of pre-requisite requirements, the Red Corner Notice proposal was forwarded expeditiously to INTERPOL (Headquarters), Lyon on 02-06-2022,” the CBI’s spokesperson said.