Businessman Bhaskar Shetty murder case: Hearing begins with tight police security
Udupi, July 02: The hearing of witnesses in the businessman Bhaskar Shetty murder which startled the entire state began at the principal district and sessions court here on Monday with tight police security. After killing Bhaskar Shetty, his body was burnt in the homa kundam.
On the first day, the hearing held from 11 am to 1.30 pm and important witnesses and complainant Gulabi Shedti, mother of Bhaskar Shetty, witnessed in the case. District public prosecutor Shanti Bai got the statement of Shedti. Her enquiry would also continue on July 03. Counsel Ashwini Kumar Joshi would argue in the case. Shanti Bai would get the statement from then investigating officer SV Girish on July 03.
Due to lack of space in the court hall, the hearing of the incident was conducted at the conference hall of the court. Projectors were installed in the conference hall to conduct the video conference of accused Bhaskar Shetty wife Rajeshwari Shetty (50), son Navaneeth Shetty (20) and Nandalike Niranjan Bhat (26) who are in Parappana Agrahara central jail in Bengaluru.
Sources said that the accused were not produced before the court citing security reasons. Two other accused Srinivas Bhat (56), father of Niranjan Bhat and car driver Raghavendra (26), who are on bail, were present at the court during the hearing.
Advocates of accused Arun Bangera, Arun Kumar Shetty, Kalyan Joshi, Vikram Hegde, A Sanjeeva and others were present. Out of total 167 witnesses, hearing of 44 witnesses would continue till July 6 and from July 16 to 19.
Tight police security
In view of the hearing of the witnesses, police security was beefed up in the court on Monday. Metal detectors were installed in the main door of the principal district and sessions court judge office in the first floor of the court complex. Except advocates, no one was allowed inside the court hall.
Inside and outside the court hall, armed police personnel were taking guard. Gulabi Shedti was given tight police security.
SP Lakshman was present in the court and observed the witnesses giving statements. Udupi DySP Jaishankar, district armed police force inspector Raghavendra, Manipal police inspector Sudarshan and others were in charge of the police security.
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BharatPe fraud case: Delhi HC quashes lookout circular against Ashneer Grover, wife
New Delhi, Nov 12: The Delhi High Court has ordered cancellation of a lookout circular (LOC) issued against Ashneer Grover, the former MD of payment app BharatPe, and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover, noting that the FIR lodged against them over allegations of cheating and forgery has already been quashed.
Justice Sanjeev Narula passed the order on Monday after the court was informed that another bench of the high court quashed the FIR on the same day.
The FIR was quashed by Justice Chandra Dhari Singh after considering a plea moved by the Grovers stating that they have arrived at a settlement with the fintech company.
In his order, Justice Narula said, "Although the copy of the order (quashing the FIR) is not available as of now, the aforenoted fact is not disputed by the counsel for the parties.
"In light of the fact that the underlying FIR has been quashed, the LOC issued by respondent No. 3 (Bureau of Immigration), in the opinion of the court, will not survive."
The LOC was issued by the Bureau of Immigration at the instance of Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in view of the investigation against the Grovers in the cheating and forgery FIR.
The court was hearing a plea moved by Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover seeking quashing of the LOC issued against them in connection with the investigation into the cheating and forgery case.
"Accordingly, the present petitions are disposed of with a direction to the respondents to cancel the LOC against the petitioners in their records," the court noted.
Earlier, the Grovers claimed that they were informed about the LOC for the first time when they were detained at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on November 16, 2023, while they were scheduled to travel to the US.
After being detained, they were informed that the LOC was operational from November 6, 2023.
In May last year, the EOW filed an FIR against Grover, his wife Madhuri, and others under eight sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonesty), 467 and 468 (forgery), and 471 (using forged documents as genuine) for an alleged Rs 81 crore fraud after a complaint was lodged by BhartPe, the fintech unicorn.
In its complaint, BharatPe alleged that Grover and his family caused damages to the tune of Rs 81.3 crore through illegitimate payments to bogus human resource consultants, inflated and undue payments through pass-through vendors connected to the accused, sham transactions in input tax credit and payment of penalty to GST authorities, illegal payment to travel agencies, forged invoices by Madhuri, and destruction of evidence.
Madhuri was the head of controls at BharatPe before she was fired in 2022 after a forensic audit revealed several irregularities.
Subsequently, Grover resigned as the chief executive officer of the fintech firm in March 2022.
