'In an indictment of the Central Board of Direct Taxes’s (CBDT) functioning, a top Indian Revenue Service (IRS) official has accused Pramod Chandra Mody, chairman of India’s top tax administration body, of giving an unlawful directive to bury a “sensitive case” involving “serious allegations”. In what is an equally incriminating charge against the Narendra Modi government, the official said that the CBDT chairman tried to entice her to fall in line by claiming that he had secured the top position only because of a “successful search” operation against an opposition leader.
'The decision of a bench of the Delhi High Court of comprising Justices D N Patel and C Hari Shankar on Friday September 27, to issue notices to different government bodies – the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) and its wings, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) and the Registrar of Companies (RoC), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the National Housing Bank (NHB) – to investigate the allegations levelled in a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by a non-government organisation, the Citizens Whistle Blowers Forum against I
'It seems as though the Narendra Modi government is making an all-out effort to save controversial Indian Police Official (IPS) official Rakesh Asthana, as the Delhi high court deadline to complete the bribery investigation against him – September 30 – looms. On May 31, the high court had given the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) a four-month deadline... Displaying unusual alacrity, the government has moved out or changed all four officials handling the Asthana probe. This includes additional director M.N. Rao, who was removed on July 5...'
'Indiabulls Housing Finance Limited, the flagship company of the Indiabulls group, collaborated with large conglomerates including the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group and the DLF Group to divvy up vast amounts of public money by rerouting it through shell companies, according to a public-interest litigation submitted today in the Delhi high court. The PIL stated that IBHFL borrowed large sums from various private and public banks, and used a complex maze of shell companies to extend loans to the tune of thousands of crores to firms owned by these large business groups.
'The first 100 days of Modi 2.0 has firmly placed Union home minister Amit Shah at the top of government affairs. From criminalising triple talaq to the Centre’s decision to read down Article 370 and bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories, the Gandhinagar MP has been at the forefront of implementing the BJP’s political agenda. Even after J.P.Nadda was appointed BJP working president at the start of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second term, Shah has still found time to chalk out the party’s election strategies in various states.
'Both the CBI and the ED were extremely assiduous in using a two-day window afforded by the Supreme Court’s listing for Friday of an anticipatory bail plea to arrest Chidambaram, scaling the wall to enter the premises of his house... It may be worth inquiring into what kind of due diligence these agencies have displayed in pursuing cases against those members of the BJP or its allies against whom charges of corruption have been levelled... Mukul Roy, now a leading light in the West Bengal BJP, was one of those implicated and questioned in connection with the scam.
'Centre on Friday sacked a whistle blower Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Kallol Biswas of Andhra Pradesh cadre. Biswas a 1991 batch officer served notices to the controversial Obulapuram Mines Company (OMC) owned by Gali Janardhana Reddy, while he was Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) in Anantapur... Known for his innovative development work in the Narsipatnam agency area, Kallol Biswas while working in Anantapur district served notices to Gali Janardhana Reddy, a prominent BJP leader in Karnataka.
'The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a plea seeking to re-open a nine-year-old corruption case against BS Yediyurappa and Congress leader DK Shivakumar. However, a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra said it will decide the locus standi of NGO Samaj Parivartana Samudaya, which is intervening and wants the case that was closed a few years ago re-opened. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for BS Yediyurappa, said the NGO was unnecessarily trying to open the corruption case that was quashed by the Karnataka High Court in December 2015...'
'From accusations of involvement in the Moin Qureshi money laundering case to allegedly snooping on a CBI official, Goel is the first head of India's external intelligence agency to come to office mired in controversy... Samant Goel, promoted on Wednesday as chief of India’s primary external intelligence agency, is the first head of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) to carry the taint of being associated with individuals who were the subject of an anti-corruption investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation...'
'...Last week, on March 6, 2019, during the hearing of Rafale review petition in the Supreme Court, AG Venugopal made a shocking statement. He claimed that secret documents of Rafale deal were stolen from the Defence Ministry, reason enough for the Supreme Court to not consider them, as it would be a breach of the Official Secrets Act, he asserted. To the utter disbelief of all those present in the court of the Chief Justice, he further declared that the government was contemplating legal action against the newspapers that published these documents...
