ED attaches Sterling Biotech's Rs 4,700cr assets
New Delhi, June 1: The Enforcement Directorate on Friday said it has attached properties worth Rs 4,700 crore in a Rs 5,000-crore bank fraud case involving Gujarat-based pharmaceutical company Sterling Biotech.
An ED official told IANS, the agency has attached properties of the Sterling Biotech in Mumbai and Ahmedabad under the sections of Prevention of Money laundering Act, (PMLA), 2002. A
The ED action comes after the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) FIR.
The CBI has booked Sterling Biotech, its directors Chetan Jayantilal Sandesara, Dipti Chetan Sandesara, Rajbhushan Omprakash Dixit, Nitin Jayantilal Sandesara and Vilas Joshi, Chartered Accountant Hemant Hathi, Anup Prakash Garg and some unidentified persons in connection with the alleged bank fraud.
Sterling Biotech had taken loans of over Rs 5,000 crore from a consortium of banks led by Andhra Bank which had turned into non-performing assets. Total pending dues of the group companies were Rs 5,383 crore as on December 31, 2016, said the CBI FIR.
The ED said that during the probe, it found that "certain entries" in a diary seized by the Income Tax Department in 2011 showed cash payments amounting to Rs 1.52 crore made to one "Garg, Director, Andhra Bank" between 2008 and 2009 by the Sandesara brothers.
On January 13, the ED arrested Garg. The agency also arrested a Delhi-based businessman Gagan Dhawan in connection with the case in November 2017.
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Karnataka likely to provide six days of paid menstrual leave annually
Bengaluru: Karnataka is considering to implement a progressive policy granting women six days of paid period leave annually.
Labour Minister Santhosh Lad told Deccan Herald that an 18-member committee, headed by Christ University’s law professor Sapna S., had submitted its report on the initiative. Lad commended the committee’s effort and noted that their report proposes to give six paid menstrual leaves for women. “This is important as I have seen from close circles how women go through various physiological changes in the menstrual period that necessitates rest,” Lad said.
He added that the initiative will help increase women’s participation in the workforce, particularly at a time when it is relatively low.
Mohammed Mohsin, Principal Secretary (Department of Labour) told the publication that the proposed policy would apply to women professionals in both government and private sector.
If implemented, Karnataka will join Bihar, Kerala, and Odisha as the fourth state in India to provide menstrual leave.
Former Union Minister Smriti Irani had remarked last year that period is not a "handicap," describing it as a natural aspect of women’s lives that does not require a specific policy for "paid leave".
