Audi chief Rupert Stadler arrested in diesel emissions probe
The chief executive of German carmaker Audi, Rupert Stadler, has been arrested in connection with an investigation into the diesel emissions scandal.
A spokesman for Volkswagen, which owns Audi, confirmed he was being held.
Munich prosecutors said they had acted because of a risk that Mr Stadler might seek to suppress evidence.
The scandal erupted three years ago, when it emerged that cars had been fitted with devices designed to cheat emissions tests.
The devices were initially found in VW's cars, but its Audi subsidiary has also been embroiled in the scandal.
Last month, it admitted that another 60,000 A6 and A7 models with diesel engines have emission software issues.
That is on top of the 850,000 recalled last year by Audi, of which only some have been found to require modification.
- Audi admits more diesel emission problems
- How VW tried to cover up the emissions scandal
- Ex-VW boss charged over diesel scandal
Munich prosecutors said Mr Stadler would be questioned by Wednesday, once he had spoken to his lawyers.
The so-called dieselgate emissions scandal first came to light in September 2015.
Volkswagen admitted that nearly 600,000 cars sold in the US were fitted with "defeat devices" designed to circumvent emissions tests.
The carmaker said it had installed software in 11 million diesel cars worldwide that could tell when they were being tested and cut their emissions.
On the open road, untested, the level of emissions would in practice be far higher - up to 40 times as bad as recorded under laboratory conditions.
Courtesy: BBC NEWS
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
