Minister D.K. Shivakumar cries foul over BJP's graft charges
Bengaluru, Sep 19: Accusing the BJP of trying to destabilise the coalition government in Karnataka, state's Water Resources Minister of the Congress D.K. Shivakumar on Wednesday cried foul over the graft charges levelled by the BJP against him and his party.
"The BJP is trying to destabilise the JD-S-Congress coalition government in the state by levelling baseless charges of corruption and money laundering against me and my party," Shivakumar said.
Reacting hours after BJP spokesman Sambit Patra alleged in Delhi that the Congress and corruption were "synonymous", Shivakumar said he had been cooperating with the Income-Tax (I-T) department and would do so even with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) if it served notice on him in the money laundering case.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had on Tuesday filed a case of money laundering against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. This was based on a chargesheet the I-T department had filed in a special court in Bengaluru early this year involving alleged tax evasion and money laundering worth crores of rupees.
"Unaccounted cash, hawala transactions and corrupt deals are the pillars on which the Congress sits. We now know why the Congress was crying during demonetisation," said Patra at a press conference in New Delhi earlier in the day.
Presenting confessional statements of the three accused to the I-T department in the case pertaining to the recovery of Rs 4 crore from Shivakumar's flats in New Delhi, Patra said the evidence showed Congress's involvement and 'proof of hawala network' that helped money transfer from Karnataka to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in the national capital.
Patra also claimed that the money was transferred to the AICC office not in lakhs or crores but in kilogrammes.
Refuting Patra's allegations, the Minister said he did not do anything illegal or made any mistake and accused the BJP of defaming him and his party.
"Rs 40 lakh was found in my Delhi flat, which my friends and business partners have declared that it belonged to them. Every rupee found has been accounted for," claimed Shivakumar,
Recalling that the I-T sleuths had raided 82 places belonging to him and his friends on August 2, 2017, Shivakumar said the action (raids) was taken on the same day he was hosting the party's legislators from Gujarat at a resort in his (Bengaluru Rural) district.
Asserting that he would face the law, Shivakumar said BJP's state unit president B.S. Yeddyurappa had been charged with corruption.
"Though I have been in the hospital recuperating from food poisoning, I am forced to address the media to refute Patra's allegations against me and my party," added Shivakumar.
Reiterating that the Congress stood by its minister, party's state unit president Dinesh Gundu Rao said the money in Shivakumar's possession was accounted for.
"Minister @DKShivakumar rebuts @BJP4India spokesman #SambitPatra's baseless charges; Reiterates he and his family are tortured because he refused to join BJP," tweeted Rao, adding every single paisa in his possession is accounted for. @INCIndia stands by Shivakumar.
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Jharkhand horror: Man kills live-in partner, chops body into 40 pieces
Ranchi (PTI): A 25-year-old man, who works as a butcher, allegedly strangled to death his live-in partner and chopped her body into 40 to 50 pieces in a forested area in Jharkhand’s Khunti district, police said on Wednesday.
The accused, identified as Naresh Bhengra, was arrested.
The matter came to light after around a fortnight after the killing when a stray dog was found with human body parts near Jordag village in Jariagarh police station on November 24.
Bhengra was in a live-in relationship with the deceased, a 24-year-old woman also from Khunti district, in Tamil Nadu for the past couple of years. Sometime back, he returned to Jharkhand, got married to another woman without telling his partner anything and went back to the southern state without his wife to join her.
"The brutal incident occurred on November 8 when they reached Khunti as the accused who had married another woman did not wish to take her home. Instead, he took her to a forest near his house at Jordag village in Jariagarh police station and chopped the body into pieces. The man has been arrested," Khunti Superintendent of Police Aman Kumar told PTI.
Inspector Ashok Singh who investigated the case said the man worked in a butcher shop in Tamil Nadu and was expert in slicing chicken.
“He admitted chopping the body parts of the woman into 40 to 50 pieces before leaving those in the forest for wild animals to feast on. The police recovered several parts on November 24 after a dog in the area was seen with a hand," Singh told PTI.
Singh said that the woman, who was unaware of his marriage, pressured him to return to Khunti. After reaching Ranchi, they boarded a train on November 24 and headed to the man's village.
"Under a plan, the man took her to Khunti in an autorickshaw near his home and asked her to wait. He returned with sharp weapons and strangulated her with her dupatta after raping her. He then cut the body into 40 to 50 pieces and left for his home to live with his wife," Singh said.
The woman, however, had informed her mother that she had boarded a train and would be living with her partner, the police officer said.
Following the recovery of body parts, a bag was also found in the forest with the murdered woman's belongings including her Aadhaar card. The mother of the woman was called at the spot and she identified her daughter's belongings.
"The mother suspected the man behind the crime who after being nabbed by the police admitted to chopping the woman into pieces," the official added.
The incident has sent shockwaves among people in the region, with the Shraddha Walker murder case of 2022 still fresh in their memory.
Walker was killed by her live-in partner who chopped her body into pieces before dumping them in the jungle in South Delhi’s Mehrauli.
