1. Gurugram School Murder: Two Ryan Officials Held, CEO Seeks Anticipatory Bail
Ryan International School's northern region head, Francis Thomas, and human resources chief Jayesh Thomas were arrested on Monday morning after the Haryana government ordered a criminal case against the school for the murder of a Class 2 student Pradhyumn Thakur on its campus at Bhondsi in Gurgaon. The arrests were made under Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act.
The school's suspended principal, Neerja Batra, was called in for questioning but fell ill and had to be hospitalised. Police said she would be questioned after she recovers.
A Gurgaon police team also left for Mumbai to interrogate Ryan Pinto, the CEO of the school chain. Pinto and his parents Augustine F Pinto and Grace — all three trustees of St Xaviers Education Trust which manages Ryan International Schools — sought anticipatory bail in the Bombay high court. Their application is likely to come up on Tuesday.
Source: Times of India
2. UN Rights Body Slams India for Seeking Deportation of Rohingyas
India came under fire yet again from the UN Human Rights Council over its threat to deport 40,000 Rohingyas, cow vigilantism and the recent murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh. Earlier this year, the UN body had slammed India for rising communalism, caste violence and attacks on Africans, besides criminalisation of same sex relationships.
Kicking off the 36th session of the Council in Geneva on Monday, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein criticised New Delhi's current measures to deport Rohingyas "at a time of such violence against them".
While New Delhi did not make any official comment, India believes it is taking a balanced approach to the Rohingya issue in Myanmar, which is much more than a humanitarian crisis.
Source: Times of India
3. Probe Finds Clues That Point to Link Between Gauri Lankesh, MM Kalburgi Killing
Investigations have revealed that the “mechanics of the crime’’ in the 5 September killing of journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh, 55, by an unidentified gunman is identical to that of the 30 August 2015 murder of Kannada literary scholar MM Kalburgi in Dharwad in north Karnataka.
More than one official familiar with the probe into Lankesh’s killing said that although the investigation remained open in terms of tracking down the killers – and formal forensics and ballistics reports are awaited – there has been a “significant finding” that suggests a link between the killings of Kalburgi and Lankesh.
Source: The Indian Express
4. Income of 7 MPs and 98 MLAs Under Scanner: I-T
A “prima facie verification” of election affidavits “by the Directors General of Income Tax” has “indicated discrepancies” in the income disclosures made by seven Lok Sabha members and 98 MLAs, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) told the Supreme Court on Monday.
“The prima facie verification with known sources of income has indicated discrepancy and therefore is taken up for further ‘investigation’ which may include reference to the assessing officer for making assessment,” the CBDT said in its affidavit filed before a Bench of Justices J Chelameswar and S Abdul Nazeer, which is hearing a PIL on electoral reforms.
Source: The Indian Express
5. Pakistan Has No Option but to Stop Ceasefire Violations, Says Rajnath Singh
Union home Rajnath Singh on Monday warned Islamabad to mend its ways and stop firing at Indian posts and villages along the 744 km long Line of Control and 198- km long International Border in Jammu and Kashmir.
Singh’s warning followed the latest ceasefire violation by the Pakistani army in Shahpur Kerni sector of Poonch district in the morning.
Addressing displaced border villagers at a relief camp in Nowshera town in Rajouri district, Singh said that he had told the BSF DG in 2014 that “we shouldn’t fire first but if they (Pakistani forces) fire even a single bullet then there should be no count of bullets from our side.”
He was accompanied by Union minister Jitendra Singh and Jammu and Kashmir deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh.
Source: Hindustan Times
6. I-T Attaches Lalu Son Tejashwi Yadav's Rs 40-Crore Delhi House
Just a week after the Enforcement Directorate attached a Delhi farmhouse belonging to Misha Bharti, Rajya Sabha MP and daughter of former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad, the income tax department on Monday attached another property in the national capital belonging to Lalu's son and former Bihar deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav.
A senior I-T officer confirmed that house no D-1088 in New Friends Colony was attached under the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act. Earlier in June this year, the department had issued a provisional attachment order against the property which was registered in the name of AB Exports. The I-T department has claimed that the beneficial owners of the property are three children of Lalu Yadav, including Tejashwi, Ragini and Chanda Yadav.
Source: Times of India
7. Karti Owns 25 Properties Abroad, CBI Informs SC
The CBI informed the Supreme Court on Monday that investigations so far had revealed former finance minister P Chidambaram's son Karti owned 25 properties abroad.
Additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta told a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra that the CBI was submitting a report in sealed cover detailing the properties. "Let the court go through it and post the hearing on some other day," he said.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who made his first appearance for Karti in place of senior advocate Gopal Subramanium, called the CBI's allegations "innuendoes" aimed at defaming Karti's father, mother and wife. "I have serious objections to this," he said.
Source: Times of India
8. Fresh Concerns After Cops Bust Gang Cloning Fingerprints of Aadhaar Operators
The arrest of 10 men for allegedly cloning fingerprints to subvert Aadhaar’s vaunted biometric-based security system has revealed fresh vulnerabilities in India’s controversial identity project.
On Sunday, the Uttar Pradesh police announced they had busted a Lucknow-based gang, which stole the fingerprints of authorised Aadhaar enrolment operators.
These fingerprints were cloned and used to access the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)’s enrolment service to create “fake” Aadhaar numbers.
“The gang hijacked the fingerprints and login-ids of Aadhaar enrolment operators, and also bypassed UIDAI’s iris-scan based security,” Uttar Pradesh’s additional superintendent of police for cybercrime, Dr Triveni Singh, told HT, describing a modus-operandi that sounded like the plot of a sci-fi movie.
Source: Hindustan Times
9. Deadline for Bullet Train Advanced by a Year: Piyush Goyal
The NDA government is aiming to advance the date of rolling out the first bullet train from Ahmedabad to Mumbai by about a year to August 2022. “The official deadline set in consultation with the Japanese side is 2023 but we would like to complete it by 2022. The Prime Minister believes the country’s engineers and workmen have it in them to complete the project a year in advance,” newly appointed Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said here Monday.
Senior officials present said the effort would be to complete the project by 15 August 2022.
Source: The Indian Express
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