Normal life disrupted as rain lashes Kolkata, parts of south Bengal
Kolkata (PTI): Normal life was partially disrupted in Kolkata and parts of the southern region of West Bengal on Monday as heavy rain triggered by depression caused hurdles to commuters on the first working day of the week.
The Met department forecast downpour till Tuesday morning owing to the depression that lay over south Chhattisgarh and will bring in its wake gusty wind with a speed of 35 to 45 kmph in the coastal areas of West Bengal.
Children going to schools and people to their workplaces faced a tough time reaching their destinations as public transport was scarce.
Kolkata received rain at an average rate of 7-8 mm per hour since morning, and all the pumping stations are operational, a civic body official said, adding that adequate personnel have been deployed to pump out water from low-lying areas.
The Met department forecast heavy rain in Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, Jhargram, West Midnapore, Birbhum, Murshidabad and Nadia districts of Gangetic West Bengal till Tuesday morning.
It also warned of heavy to very heavy rain in the coastal districts of Purba Medinipur and South 24 Parganas till Wednesday morning.
Fishermen have been advised not to venture into the Bay of Bengal till Tuesday owing to rough sea conditions, a government official said, adding that people living in coastal areas have been asked to move to safe places.
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BharatPe fraud case: Delhi HC quashes lookout circular against Ashneer Grover, wife
New Delhi, Nov 12: The Delhi High Court has ordered cancellation of a lookout circular (LOC) issued against Ashneer Grover, the former MD of payment app BharatPe, and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover, noting that the FIR lodged against them over allegations of cheating and forgery has already been quashed.
Justice Sanjeev Narula passed the order on Monday after the court was informed that another bench of the high court quashed the FIR on the same day.
The FIR was quashed by Justice Chandra Dhari Singh after considering a plea moved by the Grovers stating that they have arrived at a settlement with the fintech company.
In his order, Justice Narula said, "Although the copy of the order (quashing the FIR) is not available as of now, the aforenoted fact is not disputed by the counsel for the parties.
"In light of the fact that the underlying FIR has been quashed, the LOC issued by respondent No. 3 (Bureau of Immigration), in the opinion of the court, will not survive."
The LOC was issued by the Bureau of Immigration at the instance of Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in view of the investigation against the Grovers in the cheating and forgery FIR.
The court was hearing a plea moved by Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover seeking quashing of the LOC issued against them in connection with the investigation into the cheating and forgery case.
"Accordingly, the present petitions are disposed of with a direction to the respondents to cancel the LOC against the petitioners in their records," the court noted.
Earlier, the Grovers claimed that they were informed about the LOC for the first time when they were detained at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on November 16, 2023, while they were scheduled to travel to the US.
After being detained, they were informed that the LOC was operational from November 6, 2023.
In May last year, the EOW filed an FIR against Grover, his wife Madhuri, and others under eight sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonesty), 467 and 468 (forgery), and 471 (using forged documents as genuine) for an alleged Rs 81 crore fraud after a complaint was lodged by BhartPe, the fintech unicorn.
In its complaint, BharatPe alleged that Grover and his family caused damages to the tune of Rs 81.3 crore through illegitimate payments to bogus human resource consultants, inflated and undue payments through pass-through vendors connected to the accused, sham transactions in input tax credit and payment of penalty to GST authorities, illegal payment to travel agencies, forged invoices by Madhuri, and destruction of evidence.
Madhuri was the head of controls at BharatPe before she was fired in 2022 after a forensic audit revealed several irregularities.
Subsequently, Grover resigned as the chief executive officer of the fintech firm in March 2022.
