Padma Shri awardee arrested for financial fraud in Kerala
Kerala businessman and Padma Shri awardee Sundar C Menon has been arrested over complaints of alleged financial fraud in this district, police said on Tuesday.
He was arrested by the district crime branch wing of the state police on Sunday and sent to the district prison here after being remanded by a local court.
According to police, Menon, a recipient of the civilian honour in 2016, faced 18 cases of financial fraud in connection with accepting deposits from people in the name of two firms in which he was one of the directors.
He allegedly accepted Rs 7.78 crore from various people but didn't return the money after the maturity period of the schemes, the police added.
The accused committed the fraud by accepting deposits from over 62 investors, violating Reserve Bank of India (RBI) norms and cheating them by not returning the amount even after the maturity period, a police statement said.
"There were 18 cases registered against the accused at the West Police station here," it said, adding the investigation was later handed over to the Crime Branch.
As per the BUDS (Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes) Act, the properties of Menon and other directors of the firm have been frozen, and steps are being taken to attach them, police added.
Sixty-three-year-old Menon was also the president of the Thiruvambady Devaswom, one of the organisers of the famed Thrissur Pooram.
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Syria says Israeli strikes leave 18 dead in the biggest toll since the war in Gaza began
Masyaf (Syria), Sep 9: The number of people killed in overnight Israeli strikes in Syria has risen to 18 with dozens more wounded, Syria's health minister said on Monday — the largest death toll in such an attack since the beginning of the war in Gaza.
One of the sites targeted was a research centre used in the development of weapons, a war monitor said. Syrian officials said civilian sites were targeted.
Israel regularly targets military sites in Syria linked to Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah. Those strikes have become more frequent as Hezbollah has exchanged fire with Israeli forces for the past 11 months against the backdrop of Israel's war against Hamas — a Hezbollah ally — in Gaza.
However, the intensity and death toll of Sunday night's strikes were unusual.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of war-torn Syria in recent years, but it rarely acknowledges or discusses the operations. The strikes often target Syrian forces or Iranian-backed groups.
Israel has vowed to stop Iranian entrenchment in Syria, particularly since Syria is a key route for Iran to send weapons to Hezbollah.
Israeli strikes hit several areas in central Syria, damaging a highway in Hama province and sparking fires, Syrian state news agency SANA said.
Speaking to reporters, Syrian Health Minister Hassan al-Ghabbash described the strikes as a “brutal and barbaric aggression”. He said the death toll had risen to 18 with nearly 40 wounded.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, said 25 were killed, including at least five civilians, while the others included Syrian army soldiers and members of Hezbollah and other Iran-linked armed groups.
One strike targeted a scientific research centre in Masyaf, and others struck sites where “Iranian militias and experts are stationed to develop weapons in Syria”, the observatory said. It said the research centre was reportedly used for developing weapons, including short- and medium-range precision missiles and drones.
Minister of Electricity Mohammad al-Zamel said the strikes had caused “truly significant” damage to water and electricity infrastructure.
“This brutal attack targeted civilian targets, and the martyrs were mostly civilians, as were the wounded,” he said.
Local media also reported strikes around the coastal city of Tartous, which the observatory said were the result of air defense missiles falling.
On Monday afternoon, a charred car remained at the scene of one strike and smoke was still rising from some spots where fires had been put out.
