The Principal District Sessions Court, Chennai, on June 16 allowed the ED to conduct “custodial interrogation” for eight days (until June 23) with Tamil Nadu Minister V. Senthilbalaji, who was arrested in an alleged money laundering case and is hospitalised.
The ED sought the custodial interrogation of Senthilbalaji. The ED said in its petition that his custodial interrogation might reveal crucial facts.
The petition, filed by Karthik Dasari, Deputy Director, ED, who is also the investigation officer, said based on the investigation conducted so far, the role of Senthilbalaji appeared crucial for the probe.
The petition said it was also apparent that he was guilty of the offence of money laundering. Considering his “non-cooperation” in the investigation, his custodial interrogation was required for further investigation, it said.
Principal Sessions Judge S. Alli on June 15 heard the views of Senthilbalaji, who was produced through video conference, and enquired about his willingness to go for custodial interrogation. His counsel had objected to the custodial interrogation citing his health condition. The court also recorded the sworn statement of Karthik Dasari.
Pronouncing the order on the petition filed by the ED, the court allowed the plea of ED to conduct custodial interrogation with Senthilbalaji at the place where he has been hospitalised.
Meanhwile, the ED has summoned Senthilbalaji’s brother R.V. Ashok Kumar, and others for questioning next week in connection to the money laundering case.
Cyclone Biparjoy | No power in hundreds of villages; roads, houses damaged
Cyclone Biparjoy left a trail of destruction in Gujarat’s Kutch and Saurashtra regions as some 1,000 villages were without power after hundreds of electric poles got damaged. Several coastal villages were flooded due to heavy rains and incoming seawater, officials said on June 16, a day after the storm made landfall.
There was no loss of life in the state on account of the cyclone which was the “biggest achievement,” a senior official said.
More than one lakh people had been shifted to safer places before the cyclone’s landfall, state Relief Commissioner Alok Kumar Pandey said.
“The cyclone caused extensive financial loss to the state power utility, Paschim Gujarat Vij Company Limited, with 5,120 electricity poles getting damaged. They are being restored. As many as 4,600 villages were rendered without power but electricity supply has been restored in 3,580 villages,” he said.
Work to restore power supply in the remaining villages is underway, but inclement weather is posing hurdles in the task, he added.
“Three State highways were closed as they suffered damages and saw felling of trees. A total of 581 trees were uprooted as per reports. As many as nine pucca and 20 kutcha houses were razed, and two pucca and 474 kutcha houses suffered partial damages,” he said.
Sixty-five thatched houses were destroyed, and the government was preparing an order for immediate compensation to those who have suffered losses due to the cyclone, the official said.
Nehru Memorial Museum and Library renamed sans Nehru, triggers political war of words
The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library was renamed as the Prime Minister’s Museum and Library Society.
The renaming came more than a year after the ‘Pradhanmantri Sanghralaya’ or the Prime Minister’s Museum was inaugurated at the historic Teen Murti Complex, where the NMML is housed.
The decision to rename was taken at a special meeting of the NMML Society presided over by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who is the Vice-President of the Society, a statement from the Ministry of Culture said on June 16.
The statement said that the decision was taken as the NMML Executive Council felt that the name should reflect the present activities of the institution which now also “include a ‘Sangrahalaya’ (Museum) depicting the collective journey of democracy in Independent India and highlighting the contribution of each Prime Minister in nation-building”.
The idea for a museum dedicated to all Prime Ministers had been mooted by PM Narendra Modi in 2016.
Fresh clashes between Rapid Action Force and riotous mob in Imphal
Police used tear gas shells to disperse the mob as it was believed that it would target other properties.
“The riot occurred near the Imphal palace grounds,” officials said. Fire personnel and security forces rushed to the site and brought the warehouse fire under control and prevented it from spreading to the neighbouring houses.
The property belonged to a retired high-profile IAS officer from the tribal community.
On June 15 night Union Minister of State for External Affairs R K Ranjan Singh’s house in Imphal town was vandalised by a mob which also tried to burn it down, officials said.
This development came after the burning of two houses, and clashes between the Rapid Action Force of Manipur and a mob in the heart of Imphal town earlier that day.
NCERT fully justified in carrying out rationalisation of its textbook content: UGC chief
His remarks came a day after a group of academicians, who were part of the textbook development committees of the NCERT, wrote to the council demanding their names be dropped from books as their “collective effort is in jeopardy”.
“In the recent past, the attacks by some ‘academicians’ on the NCERT for revising the textbooks are unwarranted. There is no merit in the hue and cry of these academicians. The objective behind their grumbling seems to be other than academic reasons,” UGC chief Kumar said.
“The current textbook modifications are not the only ones carried out. The NCERT has been revising textbooks from time to time in the past too. The NCERT has repeatedly stated that the revision of textbooks originates from various stakeholders’ feedback and suggestions,” he said.
Missiles target Kyiv as visiting African leaders push Ukraine and Russia for peace and grain
The delegation including the presidents of South Africa, Senegal, Zambia and the Comoros Islands first went to Bucha, a Kyiv suburb, where bodies of civilians lay scattered in the streets last year after Russian troops abandoned a campaign to seize the capital and withdrew from the area.
The delegation’s stop in Bucha was symbolically significant, as the town’s name has come to stand for the brutality of Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian occupation of Bucha left hundreds of civilians dead in the streets and in mass graves. Some showed signs of torture.
While in Bucha, the visitors placed commemorative candles at a small memorial outside St. Andrew’s Church, near one of the locations where a mass grave was unearthed. Shortly after, air raid sirens began to wail in Ukraine’s capital. Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported an explosion in the Podilskiy district, one of the city’s oldest neighbourhoods.
The Ukrainian air force said it shot down six Russian Kalibr cruise missiles, six Kinzhal hypersonic ballistic missiles and two reconnaissance drones. It gave no details on where they were shot down.
In Brief:
India and China, the world’s top oil users, continued to lap up heavily discounted Russian crude oil, buying as much as 80% of the oil that Moscow exported in May, the International Energy Agency said in a report. “Heavily discounted Russian crude oil has found new buyers primarily in Asia. India has increased purchases from almost nothing to close to 2 million barrels per day, while China has raised liftings by 5,00,000 barrels per day to 2.2 million barrels per day,” the Paris-based energy agency said in its latest Oil Market Report. Russia-origin seaborne crude exports averaged 3.87 million barrels per day in May, the highest since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.
