Steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal's brother held in Bosnia
Sarajevo: Indian industrialist Pramod Mittal, the younger brother of steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, was arrested Wednesday in Bosnia for suspected fraud and "abuse of power", a prosecutor said.
The case is related to the running of a coking plant in the northeastern town of Lukavac, which Pramod Mittal has co-managed since 2003. It has a 1,000 employees.
"Police, who acted upon the order of the prosecutor, arrested the president of the supervisory board of GIKIL, Pramod Mittal," prosecutor Cazim Serhatlic told reporters.
GIKIL was founded in 2003 and is co-managed by Pramod Mittal's Global Steel Holdings and a local public company (KHK). The coking plant in Lukavac employs a thousand people.
Two other company officials -- general manager Paramesh Bhattacharyya and another member of the supervisory board -- were also arrested.
They are suspected of "organised crime, notably the abuse of power and economic crimes," the prosecutor said. Serhatlic said that if found guilty the suspects could get jail sentences of up to 45 years.
An arrest warrant has been issued for a fourth man "considered to be a member of this organised criminal group with Pramod Mittal on top".
The suspects will appear before a judge on Wednesday.
According to the Zurnal.info website which covers organised crime, the suspects were believed to have embezzled "at least five million marks" (2.5 million euros, USD 2.8 million).
Lakshmi Mital, the CEO of global steel giant ArcelorMittal, has bailed out his cash-strapped brother Pramod in India. Pramod Mittal owns several companies in the Balkans.
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'Modi will never succeed in suppressing voice of Tamil people': Rahul on 'Jana Nayagan' row
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that the Centre's "attempt to block" Vijay-starrer "Jana Nayagan" is an attack on Tamil culture, and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will never succeed in "suppressing the voice of the Tamil people".
Gandhi's remarks come on a day he is on a visit to poll-bound Tamil Nadu where the row over actor-turned-politician Vijay's Tamil film has snowballed into a major issue.
The producer of the film approached the Supreme Court, challenging a January 9 interim order of the Madras High Court that stayed a single-judge direction to grant the CBFC clearance to the movie.
The Madras High Court has left the fate of the film, which has drawn attention for its political overtones, in limbo.
In a post on X, Gandhi said, "The I&B Ministry's attempt to block 'Jana Nayagan' is an attack on Tamil culture."
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"Mr Modi, you will never succeed in suppressing the voice of the Tamil people," the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.
KVN Productions LLP has filed an appeal against the order passed by a division bench of the high court.
Vijay recently launched his political party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK). "Jana Nayagan", which is widely publicised as Vijay's final film before his full-fledged entry into politics, was slated for a Pongal release on January 9.
However, the film ran into last-minute hurdles after the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) did not issue certification in time.
On January 9, the division bench's order came hours after Justice PT Asha directed the CBFC to give clearance to "Jana Nayagan", setting aside the film board's directive to refer the matter to a review committee.
The first bench, comprising Chief Justice M M Shrivastava and G Arul Murugan, on an appeal filed by the CBFC, granted an interim stay against the single judge's verdict.
Earlier, allowing the plea of KVN Productions seeking a direction to CBFC to issue a censor certificate, Justice Asha said once the board had decided to grant the certificate, the chairperson had no power to send the matter to the review committee.
The film board immediately preferred an appeal against the order.
Additional Solicitor General ARL Sundaresan and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared through video conferencing, outlined the grounds for the appeal before the division bench.
The January 6 letter of CBFC, which was communicated to the producer of the film, informing him that the matter was referred to the revising committee, was not at all under challenge. But the single judge set aside the letter and gave the above direction.
In its order, the division bench said the petition was filed on January 6, and the CBFC was not granted sufficient opportunity to file its reply.
There shall be a stay, the bench added and ordered notice to the producer of the movie and posted the matter to January 21.
