8 kg gold seized at Delhi airport in two days

Customs officials at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) have seized 8 kg gold worth ₹2 crore in five different cases in the past two days.

On Sunday, a Japanese national was stopped by the customs after he crossed the green channel. He was coming from Hong Kong and customs could not find anything from his baggage. “But four gold bars weighing a kilogram each was recovered from the belt worn by him under his trouser. He has been arrested and gold worth ₹1.15 crore has been seized as per Customs Act,” the official said.

In the second case, on Sunday itself, customs stopped a passenger coming from Dubai. Total 16 pieces of gold bars were recovered from his hand baggage.

“Gold weighing 1.86 kg worth ₹53.32 lakh recovered. His interrogation revealed involvement of security agent of Air India. Both have been arrested,” the official added.

In another case, 1,100 gm gold was seized, which was concealed ingeniously in various home appliances like hair straightener and CFL bulbs. Another 620 gm seized from a passenger coming from Italy in the form of gold plates. “In the fifth case, 400 gm gold recovered from the rectum of a passenger. In some case, due to the less quantity, passengers were not arrested,” the official said.

The Bridge School of Management held its 3rd graduation day to felicitate students of the Predictive Business Anaytics Program and the postgraduate Program in Management.

The convocation ceremony was held on Sunday. Graduating students included a mix of professionals working in multinationals, large and medium Indian companies, as well as entrepreneurs with an experience range of 2-15 years.

“It is a matter of great pride that over its brief history of three years, BRIDGE School, has strongly positioned itself as a unique value oriented professional institution. We set out to transform aspirants’ careers through professional education that is tangible, relevant and practical. We are proud that we have begun to deliver this consistently,” said Dr Bibek Banerjee, Dean of Bridge School.

He said that 80% of the graduates have moved to new and better opportunities, either within functions or across. “The fact that a significant number of our alumni are recommending Bridge School to their colleagues is a testimony of our quality. And this is from sectors across IT & ITES, Banking & Financial Services, Telecom, Media, Consumer Durables, Aviation & Logistics, and Consulting,” Banerjee said.

Bridge School has an exclusive academic partnership with the Northwestern University (USA) for multiple programs. Northwestern has a dozen schools and colleges, including Kellogg School of Management, ranked 3rd among the USA’s Best Business Schools by U.S. News.

Only Madhya Pradesh had set up the Rera, minister of state, housing and urban poverty alleviation Rao Inderjit Singh told the Rajya Sabha on April 6. India has 29 states and seven union territories, which are administered by the Centre.

Some states and UTs such as Delhi, Chandigarh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Punjab, Kerala, Rajasthan and Andaman & Nicobar Islands have put in place an interim regulator.

States can name any officer, preferably from the housing department, as the regulator to hear buyers’ complaints till a Rera is set up.

In the absence of the Rera, developers won’t have to register projects if they complete it before the regulator is notified. The law covers new as well as those projects where completion certificate has not been given. A buyer hit by delays won’t get any relief.

This is not all. Many states are still to notify the rules, without which the realty law can’t kick in. Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Delhi are the only ones to have drawn up the rules.

While states had to frame their own law using the central act as a template, the rules for the UTs were notified by the Centre. States can make changes to the central law but they can’t completely dilute the parent act.

Consumer groups are up in arms in states such as Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra against the dilution of provisions dealing with ongoing projects, alleging those were tweaked to favour builders.

Fight for RERA, an umbrella body of more than 100 home-buyers’ associations from across India, had in November written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the chief ministers of UP and Gujarat, saying the changes would render the new law “redundant”.

The deadline is just 20 days away and not much is expected as setting up a Rera takes time, sources said.

Earlier in the day, the leaders met in the Parliament House complex to chalk out a joint strategy. On Wednesday, these opposition parties will meet President Pranab Mukherjee to hand him a memorandum on the issue.

Separately, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal likened the election commission to the Mahabharata character Dhritarashtra. “As Dhritarashtra used to help his son Duryodhana grab power, the election commission is similarly helping the BJP in getting power by using all means possible (through Saam Daam Dand Bhed),” he said.

Kejriwal’s accusation came a day after media reports suggested a few machines, used during the bypoll in Rajasthan’s Dholpur, might have been “tampered with”.

The commission has repeatedly denied the allegations, countering that the EVMs are robust and tamper-proof and even the manufacturers cannot manipulate them at the time of production.

As Dhritarashtra used to help his son Duryodhana grab power, the election commission is similarly helping the BJP in getting power by using all means possible (through Saam Daam Dand Bhed)

“If this sentence (is) against an Indian citizen, awarded without observing basic norms of law and justice, is carried out, the government and people of India will regard it as a case of premeditated murder,” the demarche said.

“The proceedings that have led to the sentence against Jadhav are farcical in the absence of any credible evidence against him. It is significant that our high commission was not even informed that Jadhav was being brought to trial.”

Global human rights watchdog Amnesty International also the opposed the death sentence.

“Under Pakistan’s military courts, no information about charges or evidence against suspects is made public,” Amnesty said in a statement.

Pakistan, however, defended the sentence.

“You can’t sponsor terrorism and then summon an ambassador to protest over the sentencing of terrorists. Nothing matters more than national security,” Basit said in New Delhi.

In Islamabad, defence minister Khawaja Asif said the death sentence should serve as a warning to those engaged in terrorism in Pakistan.

“Those plotting against Pakistan will not be spared,” Asif told Geo News.

“He came with the approval of the Indian government…There is no doubt that India is fuelling terrorism in Pakistan.”

Last December, Pakistan’s foreign policy adviser Sartaj Aziz told the upper house of Parliament that the “dossier on Jadhav contained mere statements” and didn’t have any conclusive evidence. Hours later, Pakistan denied the statement.

Pakistan army had also released a “confessional video” of Jadhav who is purportedly heard saying that he was serving the Indian navy. In the video, Jadhav allegedly says he arrived in Iran in 2003 and started a small business in Chahbahar.

Islamabad also repeatedly refused India’s request for access to Jadhav, who allegedly held an Iranian residency permit and a passport in the name of Hussain Mubarak Patel. The place of birth given in this passport was apparently Sangli, Maharashtra.

Pakistan has repeatedly accused India of fomenting unrest in Balochistan, the country’s largest province, but it has never offered any evidence to back up its claims. India last year launched a new offensive by highlighting Pakistan’s alleged human rights abuses in Balochistan.

In 2013, Indian national Sarabjit Singh, who was sentenced to death for spying in Pakistan, was killed in jail after being attacked by fellow inmates. Singh was on death row for 16 years.

Months later, a Pakistani prisoner was killed by inmates in the Jammu jail.

Another Indian national Ravindra Kaushik, also convicted of spying, died in jail in 2001.

In between, Pakistan pardoned and released another convicted Indian ‘spy Kashmir Singh who spent 35 years in prison after being sentenced to death.

However, previous cases have largely gone through civilian courts unlike Jadhav.