'Though the scheme to issue electoral bonds was announced by finance minister Arun Jaitley in his budget speech in February this year, the Ministry of Finance, the Election Commission of India (EC) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have all claimed to be unaware of the plan in their replies to queries filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
'In the months leading up to his sudden death three years ago, the judge who was hearing the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case in which BJP chief Amit Shah was the prime accused was allegedly offered a bribe of Rs 100 crore for a “favourable” judgment. The sister of Brijgopal Harkishan Loya – who presided over the CBI special court in the matter till his death on December 1, 2014 – told The Caravan that some weeks before his death, the judge had confided in her about the bribe offer which she alleged had been made by the then chief justice of the Bombay high court, Mohit Shah.
'Demonetisation crippled an economy that ran on cash; it destroyed the livelihoods of millions of farmers, workers, traders, women and the elderly; and it violated the dignity and liberty of law-abiding citizens... ‘Demonetisation’ – the withdrawal of legal tender status of notes of denomination Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 – announced by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi over a televised address on 8 November 2016 will go down in history as one of the most reactionary and illogical economic policies ever attempted in independent India.
'Court documents related to a case filed by a senior police officer at the Central Administrative Tribunal, Guwahati bench, show that chief election commissioner (CEC) Achal Kumar Joti had not vacated a bungalow allotted to him by the Gujarat government in Ahmedabad while he was in government service until at least late 2016 – more than a year after he had taken charge of a constitutional position that requires his complete independence from political parties and governments.
'BJP president Amit Shah’s son, Jay Shah, has seen a dramatic increase in some of his businesses since Narendra Modi became prime minister... The turnover of a company owned by Jay Amitbhai Shah, son of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amit Shah, increased 16,000 times over in the year following the election of Narendra Modi as prime minister and the elevation of his father to the post of party president, filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) show.
'The Congress on Sunday questioned the government for deploying a minister, Piyush Goyal, to address the press on allegations that BJP chief Amit Shah's son, entrepreneur Jay Shah, saw windfall profits after the party was elected in 2014. Now, government lawyer Tushar Mehta has told NDTV that he is likely to represent Jay Shah in the matter. "I have taken permission from the Law Ministry on 6th October for this issue. I am being consulted in this case. I may even appear for the case in court," said Mr Mehta, who is the additional solicitor general, to NDTV...'
'The man the BJP once described as a 'key suspect' in the Louis Berger case is now a senior minister in its own government... Two years ago, on July 21, 2015, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released a booklet at a meeting of party MPs in New Delhi with the title ‘Water Supply Scam 2010 in Goa and Guwahati’. The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
'There has been talk about Adanis and Ambanis having known about the currency demonetisation in WhatsApp groups. Now it appears that it’s not just talk among the common men but even among the ruling party’s own. Video footage has emerged on the internet in which a BJP MLA from Rajasthan has been taped in an “off-the-record” conversation saying Adanis and Ambanis, who are seen as being close to the ruling dispensation at the Centre, knew about the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes before it was implemented on ninth of this month...'
'A former bureaucrat, who was earlier the Information and Broadcasting Secretary and also served as the Chairman of Air India, Sunil Arora has been appointed as an advisor in public broadcaster Prasar Bharati. Arora also featured in at least three conversations in the Radia Tapes scandal. In the purported tapes, Arora is heard speaking to Niira Radia about providing pointers on the airline industry to Ratan Tata and Tarun Das ahead of the latter’s meeting with the then Prime Minister, discussing corruption in the judiciary, and union cabinet appointments.
'The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has served a severe indictment to union health minister J.P. Nadda, who is also the president of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), and AIIMS director M.C. Misra. The tribunal has quashed orders issued by them against whistleblower and Indian Forest Service officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi for so-called “indiscipline, insubordination and lack of work ethics”. Orders against Chaturvedi were in violation of principle of natural justice, the tribunal said.
