BJP trying to divest Brahmins of their ownership to donated land in Haryana: Cong
Chandigarh:The Congress on Saturday accused the Haryana's BJP-JJP government of harassing the Brahmin community by "snatching away" their ownership rights of donated lands.
All India Congress Committee's communication department in-charge and senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said the BJP-JJP government's attempts to harass the Brahmin community by snatching away their ownership rights of donated land reflects the anti-Brahmin mentality of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
"Neither the Brahmin community nor the people of Haryana would ever forgive the BJP-JJP government for the arrogant decision and the government would have to bear the consequences," he said in a statement here.
Condemning the "conspiracy being carried out against the Brahmin community" by the Haryana government, he said the Congress party would firmly oppose it in the state.
Surjewala said in 2010, the Congress-led state government had bestowed ownership rights of donated land to people of Brahmin community by enacting a law in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha.
"On March 16, 2010, I myself had the privilege of drafting and presenting this important bill in the Haryana legislative assembly, due to which as many as 37,836 Dholidars and 3,838 Bhondedars respectively became owners of more than 14,187 acres and 5,000 acres of land," he said.
"But the BJP-JJP government has been trying to evict the Brahmin community from their land and snatching away the entitlements of about 50,000 Brahmin families," he added.
Questioning Chief Minister Khattar about his alleged "malicious and disrespectful attitude" towards the Brahmin community, he said the state government wants to take back the land for which the ownership rights were given by the Congress government by due legislation.
The state government had enacted a law in 2011 aimed at vesting property rights of land to 'dholidars' -- people from the Brahmin community who got this land as gift from big landowners nearly a century ago -- for a token compensation of Rs 500 per acre.
The state government now plans to amend the Haryana Dholidar, Butimar, Bhondedar and Muqararidar (Vesting of Proprietary Rights) Act, 2010, which was notified on February 21, 2011, to bar the creation of 'dholi' on the panchayat land.
The Punjab Settlement Manual described 'dholi' as landholding right acquired by a Brahmin on a small piece of land as a deathbed gift received from a landowner.
The person who acquires such a right is called 'dholidar' of that particular land.
The practice of creating 'dholi' was prevalent in parts of Haryana and Rajasthan centuries back and in some cases, people managed to acquire 'dholidar' rights on panchayat land too, though only a private individual can create such rights on his own land.
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ED arrests Sandeepa Virk, 'cosmetologist' for alleged money laundering
New Delhi, Aug 13 (PTI): The Enforcement Directorate said on Wednesday it has arrested a woman, who claims to be an actor and a cosmetologist, under the anti-money laundering law in a case of alleged fraud and misrepresentation.
The agency said the purported links of the woman, Sandeepa Virk, with a Reliance Group executive, Angarai Natarajan Sethuraman (President, Corporate Affairs), are also under its scanner. Sethuraman, in a statement, denied any connection with Virk or any transactions related to her.
Virk was taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Tuesday after searches were conducted against her and her associates in Delhi and Mumbai over the last two days.
A special court sent her to the ED's custody till August 14, the agency said. The woman claims to be the owner of a skin care products selling website named hyboocare.com, which the ED claimed was a "front" for money laundering.
She and her associates are being probed for allegedly exerting undue influence through "misrepresentation" and "defrauding" individuals by soliciting money under false pretences.
According to an Instagram ID of Virk, she is an actor and entrepreneur and the founder of the said website.
The federal agency said in a statement that the woman was also "in touch with" Sethuraman, former director of erstwhile Reliance Capital Limited.
She was communicating with him regarding "illegal liaisoning", the ED claimed, adding that the searches at Sethuraman's residence "confirmed" these allegations.
"Besides, diversion of funds for personal benefit has also been unearthed during the course of the search action," it said.
The ED alleged that public money worth about Rs 18 crore belonging to Reliance Commercial Finance Limited (RCFL) was disbursed to Sethuraman in 2018 by "flouting" prudent lending norms.
The funds were lent under terms that allowed a deferment of the principal amount as well as the interest, with multiple waivers granted and no due diligence conducted, it said.
The ED claimed that besides this, a home loan of Rs 22 crore was provided by Reliance Capital Limited by "violating" the prudential norms. "A large part of these loans are seen to have been eventually siphoned off and remained unpaid," it alleged.
Sethuraman, in a statement, dismissed the allegations as "baseless". He denied any connection with Virk or any transactions related to her.
Detailing about Virk's web portal, the agency said it purportedly sold FDA-approved beauty products. However, the ED said the products listed on the website have been found to be non-existent and the portal lacks a user registration option and is plagued by persistent payment gateway issues.
A scrutiny of the website uncovered minimal social-media engagement, an inactive WhatsApp contact number and an absence of transparent organisational details, all of which reinforce the finding of "non-genuine" commercial activity, the ED claimed.
"These factors, including limited product range, inflated pricing, false claims of FDA approval and technical inconsistencies, indicate that the website serves as a front for laundering funds," it said.
Another social media-hosted bio data of the woman said she is a certified cosmetologist.
The ED said several "incriminating" documents were seized during the searches and the statement of a man named Farrukh Ali, stated to be an associate of Virk, was recorded.
The money-laundering case stems from an FIR lodged by the Punjab Police.
Sethuraman said that the home loan he received from Reliance Capital was granted following due process and was secured by the property offered as collateral.
