‘Hefty fare collected from Hajj pilgrims’
Minister Zameer Ahmed apprises centre
Bengaluru, July 02: Minority Welfare and Hajj and Wakf Minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan said that he has apprised the central government that hefty flight fare was being collected from the Hajj pilgrims of the state.
Speaking to Varthabharati on the sideline of the Assembly Session at Vidhana Soudha in the city on Monday, the Minister said that he noticed that all fares like travel expenses, accommodation in Mecca and Madina, and luggage expenses were increased. After he had become the Minister, he had discussed those issues with the officials. Instead of the government of India and Hajj Committee, if the state government made all arrangements for the Hajj pilgrims, each pilgrim would save minimum Rs 70000, he said.
Compared to the fee being charged to the pilgrims by the Indian Haj Committee, the accommodation facility being given to Azizia category was not good. Accommodation could be made near the Kaaba Bhavan. But the Indian Haj Committee has been providing accommodation far away, he said.
There was no need to get any subsidy from the Centre. If the government allotted the share in the quota being allotted to India by the Saudi Arabia for Hajj pilgrims, it would be enough. He brought to the notice of the central minister that the state government was capable of providing all facilities to the Hajj pilgrims.
Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi responded positively and asked him to come to Delhi again after completing the Hajj pilgrimage of this season. Total 18000 applications were filed from the state for Hajj pilgrimage. Among them, 6624 persons were selected through lottery and 11500 applications were in waiting list. So, he has urged the central minister to hike 2000 seats more for the state, he added.
But Naqvi said that ‘You have come for the first time after becoming the minister. If you had come two months earlier, something could have been done. But a meeting would be held within a week and after that, I would try to increase at least 1000 quota’, he added.
From Bengaluru airport, the first team of Hajj pilgrims would start on August 1. On July 31, the flight travel would be inaugurated officially, he said.
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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.
