'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...'
'A year ago, Right to Information activist Nanjibhai Sondarva was clubbed and slashed to death by six persons near his village in Rajkot district of Gujarat for demanding transparency and asking for details about funds spent on the construction of a village road. On Wednesday, his 17-year-old son, Rajesh, died following a brutal assault by the same culprits. The RTI activist’s son was on his way home from a Rajkot hostel.
'...Electoral bonds can be donated to parties anonymously. The purported logic is that this will shield donors from retribution at the hands of parties they did not support and also incentivise donors to contribute more. However, anonymity works against transparency, as the public cannot follow the money. It enables the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to claim that it is not corrupt when, in reality, it is squeezing funds out of different groups and people through whatever means necessary. Only the State Bank of India and the Reserve Bank of India will know who purchased bonds.
'Authorities have seized Rs 1.80 crore in cash from the son of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate in Arunachal Pradesh and a former legislator at a government guest house in East Siang district's Pasighat town, officials said on Wednesday (April 3). The money was seized from two vehicles parked at the guest house, Additional Chief Electoral Officer Kanki Darang said, adding that it was the largest seizure of cash in the state.
'...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...
'Earlier this week, the Narendra Modi government, through attorney general K.K. Venugopal, informed the Supreme Court that a set of documents concerning the controversial Rafale deal were stolen from South Block. The usage and publication of those documents, the attorney general warned, could be punished under the Official Secrets Act. This was a warning to news organisations like The Hindu, which over a series of articles, had done exactly that to shed light on the negotiation and pricing details of the fighter jet deal. In an interview with The Wire’s Arfa Khanum Sherwani, N.
'...As per several show cause notices (SCN) issued by the DRI, a set of giant companies in the power sector have allegedly resorted to over-invoicing of imports of coal and power generating equipment, cumulatively amounting to more than Rs 50,000 crore. In simple words, for instance, accusations against Adani Group (in the case mentioned above) has been that its companies imported coal at inflated costs by billing through intermediaries in tax havens, and siphoned thousands of crores....'
