Rahul Gandhi seeks JPC probe into fresh report on Adani; says India's reputation at stake
Mumbai, Aug 31: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday sought a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into reports that Adani family associates secretly invested "hundreds of millions" in the company through opaque investment funds based in Mauritius.
Addressing a press conference in Mumbai, Gandhi referred to news articles by some prominent foreign newspapers on Adani Group.
"These are not random newspapers. These newspapers affect investment in India and the perception of India in the rest of the world. They are stating that over a billion dollars of money went from India, was circulated in different places and then came back to India," he said.
"The first question arises: whose money is this? Is it Adani's or someone else's? The mastermind behind this is a gentleman called Vinod Adani who is the brother of Gautam Adani. There are two other people who are involved in this round-tripping of money. One is a gentleman called Nasir Ali Shaban Ahli and another is a Chinese gentleman called Chang Chung Ling," he said.
"So, the second question arises - why are these two foreign nationals being allowed to play with the valuation of one of the companies that controls almost all of Indian infrastructure," Gandhi said.
"The gentleman who conducted SEBI investigation and gave a clean chit to Adani Group is now a director on a media company owned by the same group," Gandhi said.
Billionaire Gautam Adani's group was on Thursday hit by fresh allegations that it used family associates to secretly invest hundreds of millions of dollars through "opaque" Mauritius-based investment funds to fuel the spectacular rise in group stocks from 2013 to 2018.
The conglomerate vehemently denied the charge.
An article by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) alleged that millions of dollars were invested in some publicly traded stocks of Adani Group through opaque' Mauritius funds that "obscured" involvement of alleged business partners of the Adani family.
Gandhi questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi as to why the latter had not forced an investigation. "Why is PM Modi silent," he added.
"This is raising very serious questions on the PM just before G20 leaders come here. It is important that this issue is made clear before they (G20 leaders) arrive," Gandhi added.
"India's reputation is at stake ahead of the G20 meet in the country. PM Modi should take action and get the Adani issue investigated," he said.
दुनिया के दो बड़े अखबारों ने प्रधानमंत्री और अडानी के रिश्ते पर सवाल उठाए हैं - ये हिंदुस्तान की इज्ज़त पर दाग है।
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 31, 2023
प्रधानमंत्री जी, ये रिश्ता क्या कहलाता है?
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Two arrested in K'taka for assaulting minors, uploading CSAM content
Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said.
A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said.
Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.
Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.
Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.
Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.
Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.
The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.
According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet.
"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.
