Over 2,000 banned e-cigarettes worth Rs 27 lakh seized in Delhi, 3 arrested
New Delhi (PTI): Delhi Police has arrested three men for allegedly running an illegal e-cigarette trade, and seized 2,073 banned devices worth around Rs 27 lakh, officials said on Saturday.
The police have arrested Vikash, 33, a resident of Dakshin Puri, Ritwik Bahl, 25, of Greater Kailash and Jishan alias Jassu, 24, of Haryana's Ballabhgarh, they said.
Police also recovered 53 e-cigarettes from a tobacco shop in CR Park run by Vikash and 20 more from Bahl's residence in Greater Kailash, they said.
During the interrogation, 2,000 e-cigarettes were seized from a house in Ballabhgarh, taking the total recovery to 2,073 units, a senior police officer said.
The devices, mostly manufactured in China, were being sourced at Rs 800 to Rs 900 per unit and supplied through a network of sellers at higher margins despite the ban, he added.
A case has been registered under the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes Act, 2019, and further investigation is underway.
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Defamation case: Application filed in court for voice sample of Rahul Gandhi
Sultanpur (UP) (PTI): An application for obtaining a voice sample of Rahul Gandhi was filed in an MP-MLA court here on Saturday during a hearing in a defamation case against the Congress leader over his alleged objectionable remarks against then BJP president Amit Shah in 2018.
The plaintiff Vijay Mishra's advocate, Santosh Kumar Pandey, said he filed the application requesting that a voice sample of Gandhi be collected and sent to a forensic science laboratory for comparison with a CD that has already been submitted to the court.
Rahul Gandhi's lawyers registered their objections to this demand. The next hearing in the matter is fixed for April 6, Pandey said.
On February 20, Gandhi, the Lok Sabha MP from Raebareli, had appeared before the court and recorded his statement, claiming the case was filed against him due to political vendetta.
He had also told the court that the audio and video evidence submitted by the complainant was incorrect and said he would present his own evidence.
In December 2023, the court issued a warrant against Gandhi after he failed to appear before it. He later surrendered before the court in February 2024 and was granted bail on two surety bonds of Rs 25,000 each.
The hearing was deferred on Friday due to a holiday on Ram Navami.
Pandey said that during the previous hearing, the complainant's side had filed an application seeking verification of audio and video evidence of the alleged statements made by Gandhi by matching them with his original voice.
The case stems from Gandhi's alleged objectionable remarks against Shah during the 2018 Karnataka election campaign. Following the remarks, Vijay Mishra, a resident of Hanumanganj under Kotwali Dehat police station area in Sultanpur, filed the defamation complaint.
