ED raids Delhi Minister Raaj Kumar Anand in money laundering probe
New Delhi (PTI): The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday raided the premises of Delhi Cabinet Minister and AAP leader Raaj Kumar Anand and some others as part of a money laundering probe, official sources said.
A dozen premises, including that of the minister in the Civil Lines area of the national capital, were being searched since 7:30 am, they said. The ED teams are escorted by a team of the CRPF.
The probe against Anand is being undertaken as per provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMlA).
The investigation stems from a charge sheet filed by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on charges of false declarations in imports for customs evasion of more than Rs 7 crore apart from international hawala transactions, the sources said.
A local court recently took cognisance of the DRI prosecution complaint after which the ED filed a PMLA case against Anand and some others, they said.
Anand, 57, is the minister for social welfare and SC/ST welfare among others in the Arvind Kejriwal-led government. He is an MLA from Patel Nagar.
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Catholic Bishops' body slams Bhagwat's remarks
New Delhi: The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India on Thursday slammed RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat for his reported remark that Pranab Mukherjee, when he was President, had said tribals would turn "anti-national" if there is no "ghar wapsi"Catholic Bishops.'
In a statement issued here, CBCI, a body of Catholic Bishops, referred to reports which said Bhagwat, at an event on Monday, claimed that Mukherjee, while he was President had appreciated ghar wapsi and told him that had it not been for the Sangh's work on reconversion, a section of Adivasis would have turned "anti-national".The CBCI called the report "shocking".
"Fabricated personal conversation being attributed to a former president of India and its posthumous publication with the vested interest of an organization with questionable credibility raises a grave issue of national importance," the CBCI claimed.
"Is it not the violent ghar wapsi program of VHP and other similar organizations, curtailing the exercise of freedom of conscience of economically deprived tribals, the real anti-national activity?" it asked.
'Ghar wapsi' is a term used by the RSS and affiliated organisations to refer to reconversion of Muslims and Christians to Hinduism, based on the belief that they were originally Hindus before converting to other religions.
The CBCI also questioned why Bhagwat did not speak about it while Mukherjee was alive.
"We, the 2.3 percent of Indian citizens who are Christians feel extremely hurt by such manipulated and motivated propaganda unleashed," it said.
In a post on X following the statement issued by CBCI, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien said, "Speak up. This is a start!"
"Bishops body have issued a statement condemning remarks made by Dr Mohan Bhagwat and RSS for defaming the Christian community," he said.
O'Brien added that they should ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi more questions, including why Christmas Day has been turned into "Good Governance Day".
The TMC leader, in a blogpost earlier this month, had said "hard questions" must be asked to the government with regards to the Christian community, including why the FCRA has been 'weaponised', and why has Manipur been 'ignored'.
