Indian man faces jail, caning over bid to extort bank
Singapore, Oct 3 : A 35-year-old Indian national faces a jail term of 2-5 years and caning over his bid to extort half a million dollars from Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore, the media reported on Wednesday.
According to court papers, Nagarajan Balajee had allegedly threatened to publish a libel concerning Aalishaan Zaidi, 47, the global head of digital banking at Standard Chartered Bank, unless he paid 500,000 Singapore dollars, the Straits Times reported.
Zaidi was one of a few bank employees who received the threatening e-mails sent anonymously. He earlier made a police report on the bank's behalf.
The Indian man was arrested on Sunday and several laptops as well as mobile phones were seized from him in connection with the case, the report said.
According to the daily, the bank had made a police report last Thursday about how it had been threatened with a leakage of confidential information. Balajee was believed to have used multiple fictitious e-mail accounts to deliver the threats anonymously.
Preliminary investigations by the police also found that the suspect might have used overseas-registered mobile lines and virtual private network services to mask his identity to evade detection. A VPN allows unauthorised content from overseas to be accessed by users.
Balajee is out on bail and due to appear in court on October 30.
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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.
