India News
Supreme Court refuses Chidambaram protection from arrest in ED case, says may hamper probe

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Congress leader and former union minister P Chidambaram suffered a setback today – Thursday, Sep 5 – as the Supreme Court on refused to intervene against a Delhi High Court order to protect former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram from arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) probing money laundering charges against him in the INX Media case.
The Supreme Court bench of Justices R Banumathi and AS Bopanna said anticipatory bail could not be expected as a matter of right, especially in economic offences. Courts had to provide anticipatory bail sparingly.
Calling economic offences “serious”, court said anticipatory bail has to be an exception in such cases. “The right to anticipatory bail can’t be a subject matter of fundamental right under Article 32,” the SC added.
Grant of anticipatory bail to Chidambaram at this stage will hamper the investigation, it said. In its decision, the apex court further upheld the investigating agency’s stand that an accused could not insist that he should be first confronted with the evidence placed in court to deny him anticipatory bail.
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The investigating agency has to be given sufficient freedom to conduct a probe into the case, the apex court said. It also rejected Chidambaram’s application for direction to the ED to produce transcripts of his questioning conducted by the agency on three dates.
The court said this may run the risk of exposing the evidence.
The ED had argued that the “art of investigation” did not oblige it to reveal to Chidambaram the entire gamut of evidence collected during investigation in the INX Media case.
After the dismissal of his plea in the ED case, Chidambaram chose to withdraw his appeal challenging his arrest and remand in the INX Media case by CBI as well.
Chidambaram, arrested by CBI on August 21, has been in CBI custody for 15 days and is due to be produced before the trial court for remand hearing.
He has applied for regular bail in the CBI court. If that fails, chances are he may be sent to Tihar Jail in judicial custody. With this apex court order, the road is also clear for the ED to arrest him.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for the ED, had told the Supreme Court that complete transparency towards an accused, especially one so high-profile like the senior Congress leader, would have been an open invitation for him to tamper with evidence of money laundering. A tell-all policy in favour of accused persons destroyed cases.
Mehta said it was “preposterous and absurd” for Chidambaram to claim that only evidence he was privy to should have been shown to the Delhi High Court. Such an approach, if adopted, would affect other sensitive investigations into the Vijay Mallya, Mehul Choksi, Neerav Modi, Sharda chit fund and terror funding cases.
“It will result in disastrous consequences,” Mehta submitted on August 29, when the case was reserved for orders.
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“The art of investigation is that we reveal only certain things. If we confront him with 15 money trails when he really has 30, he will do his best to wipe out the rest,” Mehta reasoned.
Chidambaram had argued that the Delhi High Court had refused him protection from arrest on August 20 solely on the basis of “material” handed over by the probe agency in a sealed cover “behind his back”.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Chidambaram, said the case was a classic example of how “sealed covers seal the fate of a man’s liberty”.
Chidambaram’s lawyers had questioned why he was not confronted with this material when he was questioned thrice by the ED on December 19, 2018, January 7 and January 21, 2019. They sought a transcript of the interrogation sessions of the three days.
The ED has accused the Congress leader of money-laundering in the case, which is also being investigated by the CBI. CBI had lodged an FIR on May 15, 2017, alleging irregularities in FIPB clearance granted to INX Media group for receiving overseas funds worth Rs 305 crore in 2007 during Chidambaram’s tenure as finance minister. Thereafter, ED lodged a money laundering case in 2017.
The Delhi High Court had on August 20, rejected anticipatory bail pleas of Chidambaram in the INX media scam cases lodged by the CBI and ED. The high court held that he was “prima facie the kingpin” in the INX Media corruption and money laundering cases and “simply because he is a Member of Parliament would not justify the grant of pre-arrest bail to him”.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
India News
WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh hits out at protesting wrestlers, tags medal immersion claims as emotional drama
The protesting wrestlers on Tuesday, in a dramatic turn of events gathered at the banks of Ganga in Haridwar to immerse the medals won by them in Ganga as a part of their protest.

Amid the allegations on him, Wrestling Federation of India President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh on Wednesday, attacked the wrestlers protesting, tagging the medal immersion claims as emotional drama and that this would not hang him.
India’s top wrestlers including Olympic medalist Bajrang Punia, Sakshee Mallikh and Asian Games champion Vinesh Phogat have been protesting since January this marking grave allegations of sexual harassment against the WFI President.
Singh said it’s been four months since the wrestlers are protesting demanding to take action against him and hang him for the sexual harassment of female athletes but no action has been taken by the government yet as the protestors have no evidence to prove their allegations.
Singh said the immersion of medals would not hang him and if they(the protesting wrestlers) want so, they should produce the evidence before the police and the Court and if the Court orders him to be hanged, he will happily accept the punishment.
Singh further challenged that if any allegation is proven against him, he will hang himself.
The protesting wrestlers on Tuesday, in a dramatic turn of events gathered at the banks of Ganga in Haridwar to immerse the medals won by them in Ganga as a part of their protest.
Bharat Kisan Union national chief Naresh Tikait jumped in with other leaders of the khap reaching Haridwar to convince the wrestlers to hold off, giving five days ultimatum to the government.
Meanwhile, a mahapanchayat of the farmer leaders and heads and leaders of khaps from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana and Punjab has been organised in UP’s Muzaffarnagar tomorrow.
The central issue of the discussion in the huge meeting would be the wrestlers protest, where future steps of the protest would be discussed.
The wrestlers until May 28 were protesting at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar since April 23 demanding action against Singh for alleged sexual harassment of female athletes.
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India News
Home Minister Amit Shah visits Moreh and other severely violence affected districts in Manipur
Moreh is a town which has been significantly impacted by the ongoing unrest.

On Wednesday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah visits the Model town of Moreh, located on India-Myanmar border in an effort to restore peace in the violence-hit Manipur as it is witnessing violence for almost a month now that has left over 80 people dead.
Moreh is a town which has been significantly impacted by the ongoing unrest. Shah began his visit to Moreh around 10 am . He will interact with Kuki civil society groups and will access the current security measures in place.
Shah is also expected to visit Kangpokpi district around 1pm, a Kukis dominated area but also is home to many Meitei villages. Kangpokpi is one of the majorly violence affected districts. Reports said, the buildings and religious structures of both the communities have been a point of target in the violence.
Security officials earlier reported, there have been overnight gunfights between insurgents and security forces in Sugnu, Kakching district. Reports also claimed civilian injury during attack in Sagolmang, East of Imphal.
The Home minister arrived Imphal late on Monday night, Shah held a series of meetings with Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, senior cabinet ministers, top security officers and various leaders from the Meitei community in pursuit of a resolution to the escalating ethnic clashes that broke out since May 3. He also held an all party meeting on Tuesday, which aimed to restore peace in the state.
The visit of the Home Minister is to ensure the peace restoration and bring back normalcy in the law and order situation of Manipur. Shah was accompanied by Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla and Director of the Intelligence Bureau Tapan Kumar Deka.
In Shah’s meeting key decisions were taken to curb the violence and bring back normalcy such as announcement of a Centre-state equally contributed compensation worth Rs 10 lakh and a job to the kin of those killed in the violence, set-up of dedicated communication channels to counter the dissemination of rumors, improvement in law and order along others.
The hill state has been in trouble since May 3, a clash broke out after a Tribal Solidarity March was organised to protest the Metei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe(ST) status.
India News
Farmers convene mahapanchayat in UP’s Muzaffarnagar tomorrow to address wrestlers protest issue
The agenda of the meeting will be to discuss the next steps to be taken to make the impact of the wrestlers protest larger.

After a dramatic turn of events yesterday at Haridwar, a large group of farmers has convened a mahapanchayat in the Sauram town of Muzaffarnagar district, Uttar Pradesh tomorrow to address the issue of ongoing wrestlers protest.
Bharatiya Kisan Union chief and the head of the Balyan Khap Naresh Tikait has informed that at the Mahapanchayat in the Sauram Chaupal, the wrestlers protest will be the central issue of discussion.
The mahapanchayat, as the name suggests is expected to be a huge gathering of the farmers and the heads of different khaps and their representatives from various northern states such as Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Delhi and Rajasthan.
The agenda of the meeting will be to discuss the next steps to be taken to make the impact of the wrestlers protest larger.
India’s ace wrestlers Sakshee Mallikh, Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat have been protesting since January who gave a break in the middle for some period, resumed their protest outside Jantar Mantar in Delhi on April 23.
The wrestlers are in protest demanding action against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brijbhusan Sharan Singh, whom they have accused of sexual harrasment of female athletes including some minors.
Singh is a sitting BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh, said to have a wide influence over almost 6 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
On Tuesday, the wrestlers reached Haridwar to immerse the medals won by them in Ganga as a part of their protest.
The wrestlers were in view that there is no point of them keeping the medals which brought pride to the country after their years of hardship as their voice is being unheard by the government.
However, Naresh Tikait and other leaders of the Khap reached the banks of Ganga at Haridwar and convinced the protesting wrestlers to hold off the idea of immersion of medals giving an ultimatum to the Centre for five days.
On May 28, the day of new Parliament inauguration, the protesting wrestlers leading a large group of crowd marched towards the Parliament building but were detained by the Delhi police midway and FIRs were registered against some for law and order violations.
Visuals of tussle between the wrestlers and the police also surfaced, where both the sides were seen grappling with another.
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