Threat calls to Gadkari's office: Nagpur police seize mobile phones, sim cards from Karnataka jail
Nagpur, March 24: The Nagpur police have recovered two mobile phones and as many sim cards from a jail in Karnataka's Belagavi, days after a person made threat calls to Union minister Nitin Gadkari's office here identifying himself as a jail inmate, an official said on Friday.
On March 21, three calls were made to the BJP leader's public relations office in Nagpur. The caller, who identified himself as one Jayesh Pujari, alias Jayesh Kantha, demanded Rs 10 crore and threatened to harm the minister if the money was not paid.
As part of their investigation, the local police with the help of their Belagavi counterparts searched the premises of Hindalga Central Jail in the Karnataka city where a man named Jayesh Pujari is serving a life sentence, said Nagpur police chief Amitesh Kumar.
During the search, two mobile phones and two sim cards were recovered from the jail premises, he said.
The official said they will seek Pujari's remand for his custodial interrogation as his name had also been used to make similar calls to the minister's office demanding Rs 100 crore in January.
The Nagpur police had then questioned Pujari but he had denied having any role in the calls, said an official had said then.
In the latest set of calls, the caller demanded that the amount of Rs 10 crore be paid through UPI (Unified Payments Interface) to one Razia, who is an event manager from Mangalore and is believed to be the girlfriend of an inmate at the Belagavi jail, said Kumar.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
