Canadian cricketer among four arrested for gold smuggling at Delhi airport
New Delhi: A Canadian cricketer is among four people arrested by Customs Department sleuths at the Delhi airport for allegedly trying to smuggle into the country gold worth Rs 1.7 crore, officials said Tuesday.
The accused were intercepted upon their arrival from Bangkok on Saturday, they said.
A detailed personal and baggage search of the passengers resulted in the recovery of five gold pieces, collectively weighing 5.2 kg and having a market value of Rs 1.71 crore, they said.
All the four accused, two men and as many women, are relatives, they added.
They went to Bangkok on Wednesday and returned on Saturday on a combined ticket booked by one of the passengers, identified as Rakesh Luthra, the Customs Department said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
The two male passengers, including the cricketer, have reportedly confessed to smuggling in gold valuing Rs 1.72 crore in the past, it said.
The accused cricketer is a Canadian national. He has represented Canada in the ICC under-19 World Cup held in Bangladesh, the officials said.
All the four accused were refused bail on production before a magistrate here and sent to judicial custody, they added.
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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.
