Centre denies permission for Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan’s gulf tour: Report
New Delhi: The Union government has reportedly denied permission for Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s proposed visit to several Gulf countries, according to a report by Mathrubhumi.com.
Officials said that the Ministry of External Affairs communicated the decision to the Kerala government. However, no reasons were cited for the denial of permission, the report added.
Chief Minister Vijayan was scheduled to travel to Gulf nations along with State Minister Saji Cherian. The visit was planned to begin on October 16, with Vijayan expected to attend an event in Bahrain that evening. Following that, he was to travel to Saudi Arabia, where public programmes were planned in Dammam, Jeddah, and Riyadh on October 17, 18, and 19 respectively.
Further, meetings were scheduled in Muscat and Salalah in Oman on October 24 and 25.
The Kerala government has not yet issued an official response to the Centre’s decision.
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3 officials of private banks arrested in Gujarat in Rs 2,500 crore cyber fraud; 20 held so far
Rajkot (PTI): Three officials of leading private banks were arrested for their alleged involvement in a Rs 2,500-crore cyber fraud racket in Gujarat's Rajkot district, bringing the number of those held so far in the case to 20, police said on Monday.
Those arrested were identified as Maulik Kamani, a personal manager at Yes Bank in Padadhari; Kalpesh Dangariya, a manager at Axis Bank in Jamnagar; and Anurag Baldha, a personal banker with HDFC Bank, Rajkot (Rural) Superintendent of Police Vijay Gurjar said.
Dangariya and Baldha were previously employed with Yes Bank, he added.
Kamani allegedly assisted the earlier arrested accused in opening and managing suspicious accounts. He also helped bypass banking alerts triggered by high-value transactions by submitting additional documentation to keep accounts active, the SP said.
Kamani was allegedly involved in cash withdrawals that were later routed through hawala channels (illegal money transfer system), supported by digital evidence recovered from his mobile device, he added.
Dangariya is accused of facilitating the opening of fraudulent accounts using fake or misrepresented identities, police said.
He also assisted in structuring documentation, including Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC)-related papers, to prevent transactions from being flagged as suspicious, they said.
On the other hand, Baldha opened new accounts after verification and certification processes as part of the racket, Gurjar informed.
All the three accused are in police custody, while others are in jail under judicial remand, SP said.
So far, police have identified 85 bank accounts linked to the racket with 535 complaints filed on the cyber crime portal.
The total transaction linked to the cyber fraud exceeds Rs 2,500 crore, police said.
The earlier fraud amount was pegged by police at Rs 1,500 crore.
