Four activists attack three accused in Kopardi rape case

The police held four :activists of little-known outfit Shivba Sanghatana after they attacked the three accused in the Kopardi rape and murder case at an Ahmednagar court on Saturday afternoon. The accused were not injured. However, two police constables were hurt in the attack. They were discharged after receiving primary treatment.

Police said that while the accused belong to the Dalit community, the attackers — Rajendra Patil, Baburao Walekar, Pramodkhuneandganeshkhune— are Marathas. They stay in Beed district in the neighbouring Marathwada region, where the Marathas had staged massive protests demanding amendments to the Atrocities Act.

They attacked the accused — Jitendra Shinde, Nitin Bhailume and Santosh Bhava — with sharp weapons, including a sickle, when they were being brought to the court for a routine hearing. The accused were accompanied by full police security at the time.

The police nabbed the attackers after a brief chase and confiscated their weapons.

Police said the attackers chanted slogans against the Atrocities Act while they were being taken to the police station.

The activists reportedly told police that they were fighting for the cause of the Maratha community and they did not regret their actions. The police are in the process of recording their statements.the functioning of the Ahmednagar court was not affected by the incident, which took place near the main entrance.

This is the second time that the three accused in the Kopardi case have been attacked.

A group of women attacked them in July last year, when they were brought to the Ahmednagar court for the first time since their arrest.

The rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl in Kopardi in Ahmednagar caused unprecedented tension across the state. Massive protest marches were staged to condemn the incident.

The Central Board of Secondary Education is planning to make it mandatory for schools to install lockers for students to keep books they don’t need to

The order will hit 15,699 establishments, including restaurants and bars, which will have to shut operations. It will cost the government Rs7,000 crore every year.

Friday’s order came as a major embarrassment for the state government, which had just last week decided to allow restaurants and bars to operate in the prohibited area. The state had at the time cited the opinion of Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, instead of waiting for a clarification from the SC that was expected on March 30. Rohatgi on February 24 said the SC’S order is only applicable to liquor shops and not to restaurants and bars. The state had even issued an order on March 31, allowing restaurants and bars to operate in the now restricted areas.

On the fresh SC order, Shiv Sena legislator Pratap Sarnaik said in the Assembly the state should to show sympathy towards the establishments that will have to shut shop. In his reply, Bawankule said the government has started implementing the SC order. “We have decided to revoke licenses of 15,699 establishments that fall in the prohibited area.” But the government will not charge a fee from affected establishments if they apply for licenses to start operations beyond the 500-metre limit, Bawankule said. take home, hoping to lighten backpacks that have become a health concern for being too heavy.

CBSE, India’s largest board with 18,000 schools affiliated to it, plans to lay down lockers as a prerequisite when it comes up with two years, real estate prices have not increased, but ready reckoner rates are going up constantly. This will ultimately hurt home-buyers. In addition, in the long term, it will affect builders as the entire cost of the project will increase drastically.”

Samantak Das, chief economist, Knight Frank, said, “At a time interest rates on home loans are going down and builders are offering sops to buyers, such a move will act as hurdle.” Das said the state had taken the step just when buyers were coming back and sales were gradually taking place.

The amendment also makes way for provisions to control unauthorised developments by giving power to the planning authority or the municipal corporation to give a notice of just 24 hours to owners before demolishing illegal additions to their buildings.

The amendment was moved by the urban development department headed by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis after the Bombay high court, in an order issued in a public interest litigation, did not allow the state to implement a policy to this effect. The court had said the policy would go against the provisions of the MRTP Act and the existing development control regulations (DCR), which provide for regularisation of such structures.

“The state government is satisfied that it is expedient to make suitable amendments to the MRTP Act, For removing the basis on which the high court declined to grant leave to implement the policy,’’ the bill states. The amendment is now in conformity with existing DCR and will allow for implementation of the policy.

The policy was drafted on the basis of a report by former municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte that suggested recommendations on how to deal with unauthorised structures in urban areas falling in big cities. The report had recommended regularising 70% of such structures, besides suggesting legal and administrative reforms to new affiliation bylaws.

“A number of students and parents have raised this issue and despite us having issued many advisories and directions, a lot still needs to be done. If schools have a locker inside the premises, students will be able to keep

In a statement, the election commission said the team of officers, led by Andhra Pradesh CEO Bhanwar Lal, will supervise the implementation of all administrative and security instructions for conduct of elections.

“The integrity of EVMS and the VVPATS to be used in the poll will be demonstrated to the complete satisfaction of all stakeholders. These teams will remain in the assembly constituency till the counting is over,” the commission said.

But crying foul, a Congress delegation comprising Mohan Prakash, Digivijaya Singh, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Vivek Tankha and KC Mittal, knocked at the doors of chief election commissioner Nasim Zaidi on Saturday and demanded scrapping the use of EVMS in upcoming elections.

The party also demanded that the election commission direct “impartial and unimpeachable” experts to revisit and re-verify the authenticity of all the voting machines being deployed in the two by-elections in Madhya Pradesh. BJP veteran LK Advani had raised doubts about the possibility of EVMS malfunctioning after the 2009 elections when the UPA emerged victorious second time in a row.

“Investigations had revealed that certain entry operators and fraudsters were using network of companies (to launder money), some of which have been used repeatedly while some other were discarded after use or kept dormant for a long period,” said ED spokesperson AK Rawal.

An operator in Mumbai, identified as Jagdish Prasad Purohit, was allegedly found to be running 700 shell companies with 20 dummy directors.

The operator is accused of converting ₹46.7 crore of illegal cash to legal money for Bhujbal, a former Maharashtra deputy chief minister who is in jail on laundering charges.

After the government pulled out 86% of India’s cash in circulation last November to stamp out corruption and illegal transac books that are not required (at home) in the school itself. The investment by the schools will also be a long-term one and which is why we are planning to link it to affiliation,” said a senior official.

The CBSE has set up a committee to review its affiliation rules to tax evaders convert slush funds into legal money, experts say.

Senior ED officials said while no one was arrested during the raids, questioning of the suspects was underway.

Officials said multiple teams of the ED raided premises of suspected shell firms in Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Patna, Ranchi, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar and Bengaluru, among others.

An HT investigation in January found thousands of phantom businesses and drop-box addresses masquerading as company headquarters registered in Delhi and Kolkata alone.

A source in the agency said some shell companies were found to have remitted huge amounts to other countries for imports which never took place.

These companies, the sources said, are being probed for their alleged links to Reddy. The official added that Yadav Singh and Bhujpal are being probed for conversion of black money to white.

The drive was part of a recent PMO directive to check the illegal operations of these companies.

At one of the premises in Mumbai, a scanned copy of an apparently fake Interpol ID card bearing the name of one Chetan Shah was found on a laptop.

WHAT ED FOUND OUT DURING THE RAIDS

1. Among the 110 locations raided by ED included one allegedly belonging to a person named Jagdish Prasad Purohit.

Purohit allegedly admitted that he had formed around 700 shell companies using 20 dummy directors. Out of 700 fake firms 130 are still in existence. “He had also provided accommodation entry to the tune of rupees 46.7 crores to Chhagan Bhujbal,” ED said in a statement.

2.The directorate said that in Kolkata, more than 50 companies had the same registered address which was found to be a vacant residential premises .

When questioned, the landlord of the premises said he had let out the premises three years ago to an individual who disappeared in December.

3. An entry operator connected to Rajeshwar Exports was also searched by ED The company combat commercialisation of school education.

With the Board’s curriculum following a two semester system the government is also consider ing bringing out NCERT books in two volumes to reduce the bur den, sources said. tances to the tune of Rs 1476 crores for import of diamonds which were grossly overvalued.

4.A chartered accountant located at Delhi’s Barakhamba Road was found to have formed 200 shell companies

5. A shell company was found to have exported carpets to its sister concern incorporated outside India.

The export proceeds were never realised and the person behind these companies had applied to RBI for writing off of outstanding export proceeds.

“I had never been insulted so much as I was during these five years. The chief minister even removed his uncle Shivpal from the post of minister,” the veteran leader said.

Mulayam also appeared to support a statement made by Prime Minister Narendra Mod during an election campaign rally, where the BJP leader had criticised Akhilesh and asked how anyone could trust a person who wasn’t faithful to his father

Without naming the party’s national general secretary Ram gopal Yadav, Mulayam said “Those having no vote base are hatching a conspiracy against me. But he (Ramgopal Yadav) should understand that I rely on the masses, and not him, now.”

“Some sections are suggesting floating of a new party but I have to see what ‘my people want,” he said.

Mulayam also said there was a conspiracy against him and asked supporters to wait for some time before decisions were taken. “I did not intervene in what happened in the last few months but I have to speak here so that ‘my people’ do not find fault with me,” he said.

Mulayam said the people voted the Samajwadi Party to power in 2012 with a majority of seats because of him.

But at the same time, he applauded the development work undertaken during Akh ilesh’’s five-year rule, adding the reasons for the defeat in 2017 elections were being assessed