A team, comprising about four officers, including an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) and two inspectors from the Counter Intelligence Unit, is expected to reach Azerbaijan by Sunday night.
Sachin Bishnoi, allegedly one of the key conspirators in the murder of Punjabi singer Siddhu Moose Wala, is likely to be extradited soon with security agency personnel leaving for Azerbaijan to apprehend him.
Sachin, the nephew of notorious criminal Lawrence Bishnoi, has been on the run since the murder in May last year and had fled to Azerbaijan with a fake passport and had taken refuge there. He had also, reportedly applied for political asylum there.
He was detained in Azerbaijan a few days ago.
A team, comprising about four officers, including an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) and two inspectors from the Counter Intelligence Unit, is expected to reach Azerbaijan by Sunday night. It has been tasked with ensuring that Bishnoi is extradited to India.
Extradition expected to lead to crucial revelations in the case
Bishnoi’s involvement in the Siddhu Moose Wala murder case has been a subject of intense investigation and the gangster’s capture and extradition are expected to lead to several crucial revelations in the case.
The top court had on July 21 sought the ED’s response on the petitions filed by Balaji and his wife Megala challenging the July 14 order of the Madras High Court upholding his arrest by the probe agency in a money laundering case.
DMK Minister Senthil Balaji was shifted to the Puzhal Central Prison in Chennai from a private hospital recently. (Twitter/@V_Senthilbalaji)
Embattled Tamil Nadu Minister V Senthil Balaji and his wife Megala Wednesday assailed the ED’s decision to arrest him in a money laundering case, saying in accordance with an apex court judgement, the officials of the probe agency are not police officers and so they cannot make arrests.
Appearing for the minister and his wife before a bench of Justices A S Bopanna and M M Sundresh, senior advocate Kapil Sibal referred to various provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the apex court judgement while trying to drive home the point that ED not being a police agency lacked the power to arrest.
“There is no provision under the PMLA for the Enforcement Directorate to seek remand of an accused into its own custody in the same manner as an officer in charge of a police station can do in exercise of power under section 167 of the CrPC,” the senior lawyer said.
“If an officer of the ED is not a police officer when a person accused of predicate offence under the PMLA has to compulsorily answer questions or face prosecution, making their statement admissible in trial, then at what stage do they become a police officer,” Sibal asked.
He referred to the top court’s 2022 judgement in the Vijay Madanlal Choudhary case and said it had held that ED officers are not “police officers”.
In the verdict, the apex court had upheld the ED’s powers relating to arrest, attachment of property involved in money laundering, search and seizure under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
It had, however, said authorities under the 2002 Act are “not police officers as such” and the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) cannot be equated with an FIR under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
The senior lawyer said though the 2022 judgement has several anomalies and has been challenged on several grounds, it did hold that ED officials are not police officers and hence, the powers available to police with regard to arrest and custodial interrogation were unavailable to the anti-money laundering agency.
“Personally, I feel Vijay Madanlal’s judgement is wrong but that is for another court to decide. But here I am relying on that judgement to say that ED officials are not police officers,” he said.
“Your contention is unless you are a police officer there is no question of (seeking) remand,” the bench said.
Sibal said the normal notions of criminal law cannot be applied in this case.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the ED, said the plea be decided expeditiously as the probe agency only has time till August 13 to quiz the minister in custody. He said the 60 days time, prescribed under section 167 of the CrPC, to complete the probe and for filing the charge sheet is ending on August 13.
The bench took note of his submissions and said it will continue with the hearing on Thursday at 2 pm.
The top court had on July 21 sought the ED’s response on the petitions filed by Balaji and his wife Megala challenging the July 14 order of the Madras High Court upholding his arrest by the probe agency in a money laundering case.
The minister and his wife have filed two separate petitions in the top court challenging the high court order.
The judge raised concerns over two separate agreements the president’s son reached with prosecutors, but the agreement could ultimately be accepted.
Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to federal tax charges Wednesday after a plea deal he struck with the government unraveled when the judge raised questions about the terms of the agreement.
The surprise development came at a hearing in federal court here at which Biden had been expected to plead guilty to two charges of failure to pay taxes under a deal he struck with the government last month. Far from signing off on a done deal, he pleaded “not guilty” to those charges instead until the two sides can meet and address the questions posed by U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika.
At times, Noreika appeared almost upset that she believed she was being asked to act as a “rubber stamp” for the deal. The parties will reconvene later to hammer out the terms and provide Noreika more information, which could be within the next six weeks.
“Without me saying I’ll agree to the plea agreement, how do you plead?” Noreika asked Biden.
“Not guilty, your honor,” he responded.
Biden is expected to reverse his plea if a new agreement or the new information eventually satisfies Noreika.
Noreika, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, pressed both sides about the terms of the agreement struck with U.S. Attorney David Weiss of Delaware, another Trump appointee, whom President Joe Biden kept on to oversee the case. She expressed clear concern about how two separate deals, one regarding the unpaid taxes and the other about a gun possession charge, potentially intersected, as well as her purview over them.
Noreika quizzed the lawyers about whether the gun charge would be diverted until Biden fulfilled certain terms. The agreement would have her act as an arbiter if he violated the deal over 24 months. She said that she did not believe that the judiciary would normally oversee such an agreement and that it was the responsibility of the executive branch to bring charges.
Biden’s lawyer, Chris Clark, said that because of tremendous political “Sturm and Drang” surrounding the case, that element of the agreement would help ensure it “wouldn’t become more politicized” if the government targeted Biden again in the future.
While Noreika said she understood his argument, she said she worried that there was no case law to necessarily support the terms of the agreement.
Noreika also said she worried that the agreement on the tax charges did not give her the authority to reject or modify the deal and that the gun charge agreement could shield Biden against further prosecution over his financial and tax issues.
Though Noreika said it was possible all of those terms could be adopted, she wanted both sides to give her more information about their reasoning for her to study further.
There were numerous points of disagreement and requests for clarification throughout the hearing, which had been expected to take a little over an hour but lasted well over three hours.
At one point, Noreika asked whether the investigation was ongoing, to which Weiss responded that it was but said he could not share any further details.
Noreika also raised a hypothetical, asking whether Biden could face charges of failing to register as a foreign agent and whether the agreement blocks his prosecution on such a charge. The defense said it believed the agreement would prohibit him from being charged, and the prosecution then disagreed.
Clark was overheard telling a prosecutor, “Then we’ll rip it up,” most likely in a reference to the plea deal, as they discussed the disagreement during a brief break before he eventually relented.
Earlier, police arrested six accused, including a juvenile, in connection with the horrendous crime that took place on May 4. The incident shook the entire nation.
The Manipur Police on Monday arrested one more accused in connection with the stripping and alleged sexual assault of two women. So far, since a purported video of the incident recently surfaced online, the police have arrested seven accused in the case. Officials said that the seventh accused was arrested from Thoubal district.
Earlier, police arrested six accused, including a juvenile, in connection with the horrendous crime that took place on May 4. The incident shook the entire nation.
Meanwhile, irate mobs earlier set ablaze the houses of absconding suspect L. Kabichandra, 20, at Wangjing area in Thoubal and main accused Huirem Herodas Singh at Yairipok village in Thoubal.
The incident took place in Trans-Yamuna Colony’s Tevari Bagia area. The victim’s brother reported the incident to the police, alleging that his sister-in-law, her brother, and her mother conspired to burn his brother, Dharmendra, alive.
UP Crime News: A woman and her family in Agra have been booked by the police for pouring petrol on her husband and attempting to burn him alive. The incident occurred when the man went to his in-laws’ house to bring his wife back. Currently, the man is receiving treatment at a hospital, and his condition is described as critical.
The incident took place in Trans-Yamuna Colony’s Tevari Bagia area. The victim’s brother reported the incident to the police, alleging that his sister-in-law, her brother, and her mother conspired to burn his brother, Dharmendra, alive.
As per the police complaint, Preeti and Dharmendra got married on November 8, 2019. Lokesh, the victim’s brother, stated that Preeti and her family had not been cordial during the duration of the marriage.
Despite being married, Preeti reportedly used to spend most of her time at her parents’ home. Three months after she left for her home, on July 18, 2023, Dharmendra went to meet her with the intention of bringing her back to his in-laws’ home. While Dharmendra was inside, Preeti, her mother Shilpa, and her brother Ajay Singh set the home on fire using petrol.
The security of the Supreme Court of India was “compromised” on Friday. The SC was shocked to see terrorist Yasin Malik walk into the apex court for a physical appearance without its permission. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said this is a case of grave security lapses. The Solicitor General has now written a strongly worded letter to the Home Ministry. A probe has been ordered into a possible goof-up or scam in Delhi’s Tihar Jail.
While the FIR, on charges including abduction, gangrape and murder against “unknown armed miscreants”, was registered two months ago, there have not been any arrests so far.
The two women, one in her 20s and the other in her 40s, are from the Kuki-Zomi dominated hill district of Kangpokpi. (Representational/ File)
A video showing two women from the Kuki-Zomi community being paraded naked by a mob of men and being sexually assaulted began doing the rounds on Wednesday, bringing to light an incident which took place in Manipur more than two months ago, when violence first started.
The video provoked sharp reactions from across the political spectrum, and prompted Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani to speak with the state’s Chief Minister N Biren Singh.
A senior police official confirmed that the incident had taken place on May 4 in Thoubal district and that a zero FIR had been registered in the matter on May 18 in Kangpokpi district. However, while the FIR, on charges including abduction, gangrape and murder against “unknown armed miscreants”, was registered two months ago, there have not been any arrests so far.
In a press note in the evening, Manipur Superintendent of Police K Meghachandra Singh said the “state police is making all-out effort to arrest the culprits at the earliest”.
The two women, one in her 20s and the other in her 40s, are from the Kuki-Zomi dominated hill district of Kangpokpi. In the video, they can be seen being made to walk naked down a road and towards a field by a mob of men. Some of the men can be seen dragging the two women towards a field and forcibly groping them.
While the incident had taken place in the Meitei-dominated valley district of Thoubal, the victims later filed a complaint at a police station in Kangpokpi district where a zero FIR was registered and the case forwarded to the police station concerned in Thoubal.
According to their complaint, while the video shows only two women, there was another woman in her 50s who was also forced to take off her clothes by the mob. The complaint also alleges that the younger woman was “brutally gang raped in the broad daylight”.
In their complaint, the victims have said that five members of the village – the three women and two family members of the youngest – had fled towards the forest after a “group of 800-1,000 persons carrying sophisticated weapons like AK Rifles, SLR, INSAS and .303 Rifles” entered their village and began looting and burning it on May 4 afternoon, a day after violence had erupted in the state on May 3.
They said they were later rescued by the police and were being taken to the police station, but were stopped on the way by a mob and seized from police custody around two kilometres away from the police station. They stated that the youngest woman’s father was killed on the spot and that “all three women were physically forced to remove their clothes and were stripped naked in front of the mob”, after which they alleged that the youngest was raped in front of the others. They also alleged that her brother was killed while trying to help her.
The three women were later able to escape through the adjoining hill district of Tengnoupal and are currently in relief camps.
In response to the release of the video, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum – a conglomerate of registered tribes in Churachandpur – demanded that the state and central governments, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, and the National Commission for Women take cognizance of the incident and act against the perpetrators.
As the video sparked outrage, Irani tweeted: “The horrific video of sexual assault of 2 women emanating from Manipur is condemnable and downright inhuman. Spoke to CM N Biren Singh ji who has informed me that investigation is currently underway and assured that no effort will be spared to bring perpetrators to justice.”
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted that the “PM’s silence and inaction has led Manipur into anarchy”. “INDIA will not stay silent while the idea of India is being attacked in Manipur. We stand with the people of Manipur. Peace is the only way forward,” he wrote.
Party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also took on the PM. “The images of sexual violence against women from Manipur are heart wrenching. Any amount of condemnation of this horrific incident will fall short. Women and children have to face the maximum brunt of violence in society. We must all condemn the violence in one voice while furthering the efforts for peace in Manipur. Why is the Central government, Prime Minister sitting blindly on the violent incidents in Manipur? Do such images and violent incidents not disturb them?” she wrote on Twitter.
The Aam Aadmi Party issued a statement condemning the incident: “The inaction of the State and Central government is painful for all the citizens of the country. We again request the intervention of the Prime Minister in Manipur. Turning a blind eye to the problem will not make it go away. The Aam Aadmi Party is ready and willing to assist in any manner as the Central Government may deem fit.”
