Desperate IT Raids
Finally looks like the BJP has kicked off to a strong campaigning phase in the upcoming loksabha elections. IT dept officials have raided a few selected people including politicians of other parties in the state giving the BJP much needed campaign curtain raiser. In the recent past, the same IT dept officials had raided the house of minister D K Shivakumar’s residence. Centre had sent IT teams for the very purpose when DKS had created a safe haven for Cong MLAs from Gujarat.
A few years back, central governments would use IT department in a rather clandestine manner to issue a veiled threat to their opponents. But now things are not covered anymore. Government issues direct threat to opponents using the IT dept.
When Yeddyurappa’s diary was made public in the recently, a BJP sympathizer IT official had hurriedly clarified that the diary was fake. But one cannot even question how he was authorized to clarify the matter. The raid by IT dept around the same time as coalition partners are entering polls has created some controversy. Both JD(S) and Cong have alleged that the raids are connected with upcoming elections, a claim denied by the officials.
IT dept is bound to investigate into the matters of tax evasion. There is no doubt about this. The offenders might be the big shots or the powerful politicians, if their accounts don’t tally, the department has to investigate into the matter. In this regard, anybody interrupting the officers on job is liable to punishment. But even the IT officials during the raid have to maintain their credibility. The main question now is why are the officials raiding the offices of only one party's workers and supporters? Yeddyurappa diary is testimony to the fact that more tax evaders are present in Karnataka.
Reddys of mining mafia are still capable of spending thousands of crores during elections. Hence sparing all BJP workers, why did the teams raid only those who are with the coalition government? And why did the raids happen only at the time of elections? Why were they silent till now? IT officials are responsible to answer these questions.
The raids conducted by them during the assembly election at DKShi’s residence and now on the residences of JD(S) leaders are same in bear the same motive. Hence no matter how much one wants to defend them, the underlying rot is rather too evident. At the same time, another question also arises. The night prior to the raids, CM had said in no uncertain terms that raids on their party supporters were due soon. How did he get the inkling of this? Who leaked the information to him? If he had known beforehand, would the raid even have any impact? Persons concerned would have hidden important documents and details beforehand itself. What impact would the raids even have as an act? But despite this if the raids have happened, it means there is something more than what meets the eye here. This is about spreading negativity among people about the parties. The main purpose of this raid is over with turning into cover page news. At the same time, BJP leaders defending this raid is a mockery of sorts. If IT officers had been working independently even BJP leaders would have been the aggrieved ones along with JD(S) by now. It would have been a credible thing if the IT officers had raided all politicians that are corrupt irrespective of their party background. People would have appreciated this task by IT officers on the whole.
This raid has been some sort of a humiliating one for the central government itself for having timed it around elections. People are wise enough to understand this. They can sense the game centre is playing with the state. This shows Modi’s desperation, and his fear towards a rather bleak future for his party in the upcoming elections.
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US SC rejects 26/11 attack accused Tahawwur Rana’s plea seeking stay on his extradition to India
New York, Apr 7 (PTI): The US Supreme Court has rejected 26/11 Mumbai terror attack accused Tahawwur Rana's appeal seeking a stay on his extradition to India, moving him closer to being handed over to Indian authorities to face justice.
Rana, 64, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin, is currently lodged at a metropolitan detention centre in Los Angeles.
He is known to be associated with Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the 26/11 attacks. Headley conducted a recce of Mumbai before the attacks by posing as an employee of Rana’s immigration consultancy.
Rana had submitted an ‘Emergency Application For Stay Pending Litigation of Petition For Writ of Habeas Corpus' on February 27, 2025, with Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and Circuit Justice for the Ninth Circuit Elena Kagan.
Kagan had denied the application earlier last month.
Rana had then renewed his ‘Emergency Application for Stay Pending Litigation of Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus previously addressed to Justice Kagan’, and requested that the renewed application be directed to US Chief Justice John Roberts.
An order on the Supreme Court website noted that Rana's renewed application had been “distributed for Conference” on April 4 and the “application” has been “referred to the Court.”
A notice on the Supreme Court website Monday said that “Application denied by the Court.”
Rana was convicted in the US of one count of conspiracy to provide material support to the terrorist plot in Denmark and one count of providing material support to Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Lashker-e-Taiba which was responsible for the attacks in Mumbai.
New York-based Indian-American attorney Ravi Batra had told PTI that Rana had made his application to the Supreme Court to prevent extradition, which Justice Kagan denied on March 6. The application was then submitted before Roberts, “who has shared it with the Court to conference so as to harness the entire Court’s view.”
The Supreme Court justices are Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Elena Kagan, Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
In his emergency application, Rana had sought a stay of his extradition and surrender to India pending litigation (including exhaustion of all appeals) on the merits of his February 13.
In that petition, Rana argued that his extradition to India violates US law and the UN Convention Against Torture "because there are substantial grounds for believing that, if extradited to India, the petitioner will be in danger of being subjected to torture."
"The likelihood of torture in this case is even higher though as petitioner faces acute risk as a Muslim of Pakistani origin charged in the Mumbai attacks,” the application said.
The application also said that his “severe medical conditions” render extradition to Indian detention facilities a “de facto" death sentence in this case.
The US Supreme Court denied Rana's petition for a writ of certiorari relating to his original habeas petition on January 21. The application notes that on that same day, newly-confirmed Secretary of State Marco Rubio had met with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Washington on February 12 to meet with Trump, Rana’s counsel received a letter from the Department of State, stating that “on February 11, 2025, the Secretary of State decided to authorise” Rana’s "surrender to India,” pursuant to the “Extradition Treaty between the United States and India”.
Rana’s Counsel requested from the State Department the complete administrative record on which Secretary Rubio based his decision to authorize Rana’s surrender to India.
The Counsel also requested immediate information of any commitment the United States has obtained from India with respect to Rana’s treatment. “The government declined to provide any information in response to these requests,” the application said.
It added that given Rana’s underlying health conditions and the State Department’s findings regarding the treatment of prisoners, it is very likely “Rana will not survive long enough to be tried in India".
During a joint press conference with Prime Minister Modi in the White House in February, President Donald Trump announced that his administration has approved the extradition of "very evil" Rana, wanted by Indian law enforcement agencies for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, "to face justice in India”.
A total of 166 people, including six Americans, were killed in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in which 10 Pakistani terrorists laid a more than 60-hour siege, attacking and killing people at iconic and vital locations in Mumbai.
