Decoding coal smuggling case
WHAT THE CASE IS ABOUT
It pertains to allegations that illegally mined coal, worth crores of rupees, have been sold in black market by a racket operating in western parts of West Bengal
WHY IS IT IN
NEWS NOW?
CBI registered a case in Nov 2020, but prime suspect Anup Majhi, alias Lala, contended that the agency can’t probe the matter since CM Mamata Banerjee withdrew general consent to CBI in 2018. In Feb 2021, Calcutta HC allowed a CBI probe. The matter is now in the Supreme Court
WHO ALL ARE INVOLVED?
Majhi and Vinay Mishra, TMC youth-wing leader, are prime suspects, says CBI. Raids are being carried out in Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and UP to find them. Majhi is also believed to be involved in illegal sand mining. CBI says Amit Singh and Niraj Singh, two businessmen already under the scanner for cow smuggling, are also suspects
WHAT’S THE ABHISHEK LINK?
Abhishek Banerjee, the CM’S nephew, is the president of the TMC’S youth wing. Last year, he appointed 15 general secretaries in the body, including Mishra. The BJP alleges Abhishek is the main beneficiary, a charge the TMC vehemently denies
WHY CBI RAIDED HIS HOUSE?
At least two bank accounts, in which huge amounts of money have been transferred regularly, are under CBI scanner, officials say. CBI is probing Abhishek’s wife, Rujira, and her sister, Menaka Gambhir, in connection with the accounts
The principal of a missionary school was booked under the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Ordinance 2020 on Tuesday on a complaint by a female teacher who accused her of harassment and trying to force her to convert her religion, the police said.
Police registered a first action report invoking the law against Khajurao-based convent school principal Sister Bhagya. No arrest has been made so far, said Sandeep Khare,an inspector at the Khajuraho police station. “A schoolteacher, Ruby Singh, filed a complaint that she has been working in the school on a contractual basis for the past four years,” Khare said. “She belongs to a lower middle-class family and school principal Sister Bhagya came to know about her poor financial condition. The principal started pressurising her for conversion and also used undignified words for her religion. The principal was luring her and promising to increase her salary and regularize her job if she converted.” “When she refused to change her faith, Bhagya stopped paying her salary to her. The principal sacked her from the job,” said Khare.
The MP Catholic Church’s public relation officer Maria Stephen said the missionaries school was being targeted. “The teacher was sacked after receiving a complaint from parents and students. She was warned but didn’t improve her way of teaching.”