Court issues arrest warrant against Manju Verma
Begusarai (Bihar), Oct 31: A court here on Wednesday issued arrest warrant against former Bihar minister Manju Verma, who has been booked in an Arms Act case following the recovery of a huge cache of ammunition from her residence during a CBI raid in connection with the Muzaffarpur shelter home sex scandal.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Prabhat Trivedi issued the warrant against Verma, who stepped down as the social welfare minister in August following reports suggesting "close links" between her husband Chandrashekhar Verma and the prime accused in the shelter home scandal, Brijesh Thakur.
According to Begusarai Superintendent of Police Avakash Kumar, the court also granted two days' police remand for Chandrashekhar Verma who had surrendered before the court on Monday.
His surrender had come a few days after the Supreme Court had rapped the Bihar government for failing to secure his arrest.
The warrant against Manju Verma comes a day after the Bihar government faced flak from the apex court upon its submission that the former minister was "untraceable".
The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up Bihar Police for not arresting Manju Verma.
The anticipatory bail plea of Manju Verma, an MLA of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U), was rejected by a court here and subsequently by the Patna High Court.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
