Bharat Ratna for Pranab as he visited RSS headquarters: JD(S) leader
New Delhi, Jan 25: Janata Dal (Secular) leader Danish Ali on Friday said former president Pranab Mukherjee was being awarded the Bharat Ratna as he had visited the RSS headquarters in Nagpur and had described Sangh ideologue K B Hedgewar as the "son of the soil".
The JD(S) secretary general also protested the award being conferred on Mukherjee and not on seer Shivakumara Swami of the Siddaganga mutt in Karnataka, who died at the age of 111.
"Pranab Mukherjee is being awarded the Bharat Ratna because he visited the RSS headquarters and described the founding Sarsanghchalak chief, K B Hedgewar, as 'the son of the soil'," he said.
Ali added that there were more deserving candidates than the former president in the field of politics, like Biju Patnaik and Kanshi Ram, who had worked for the masses.
"We protest this as Sri Sri Shivakumara Swamiji of Siddaganga has not been conferred the award. Swamiji was a legend and had worked towards the social welfare of people all his life," he said.
Ali added that the people of Karnataka would teach a lesson to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for not conferring the award on Shivakumara Swami.
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Three company directors held in Rs 100-crore investment fraud in Kochi
Kochi (Kerala) (PTI): Police on Sunday arrested three directors of a firm accused of cheating hundreds of investors of over Rs 100 crore through a fake investment scheme linked to agricultural tourism here, officials said.
The accused were identified as Muraleedharan, Ashik Murali and Akhil Murali, all natives of Thrissur.
The arrests were made by the Kalamassery police in connection with a fraud involving ATCOS (Agri Tourism Cooperative Society), a firm headquartered at Pathadipalam here.
Police said the company had promised high returns by collecting investments from the public in the agricultural tourism sector, but allegedly cheated hundreds of people and fled with the money.
ATCOS was registered under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act and operated 13 branches across various districts in Kerala, besides a branch in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, officials said.
When investors failed to receive their promised returns or the invested amount, complaints were filed with the police.
Officials said around 54 cases have been registered against the firm in 32 police stations across the state, including 29 cases at the Kalamassery police station alone.
Following instructions from Kochi City Police Commissioner K S Mahesh Kumar, a special investigation team was formed under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Shehensha and Thrikkakara ACP Manoj Kumar.
The team traced the accused to an apartment in Amala Nagar in Thrissur, where they had been hiding after secretly renting the flat, officials said.
The bank accounts of the accused have been frozen, and steps have been initiated to trace their assets, officials said.
Police also conducted a raid at the company’s office at Pathadipalam and seized several documents related to the case.
The accused were produced before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Kalamassery, which remanded them to judicial custody and sent them to Kakkanad jail.
Police said they would seek the custody of the accused for further interrogation as the investigation continues.
