Rupee declines 10 paise to close at 86.98 against US dollar
Mumbai, Feb 18 (PTI): Rupee depreciated 10 paise to close at 86.98 against US dollar on Tuesday weighed down by an uptick in the American currency index and rising crude oil prices.
Forex traders said there is a negative bias for the USD/INR pair as the RBI support is tapering off slowly.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 86.94 and touched the high of 86.91 against the greenback during intraday. It ended the session at day's low of 86.98 against the dollar, logging a loss of 10 paise from previous close.
On Monday, the rupee depreciated 17 paise to close at 86.88 against the US dollar.
Traders said disappointing trade deficit data from the domestic macroeconomic front also pressurised the rupee.
India's exports declined for the third month in a row in January, falling by 2.38 per cent year-on-year to USD 36.43 billion, while the trade deficit widened to USD 22.99 billion in the month.
Imports rose by 10.28 per cent year-on-year to USD 59.42 billion in January due to an increase in gold shipments, according to the Commerce Ministry data.
"Indian rupee declined today on weak domestic markets and a slight uptick in the US dollar index. Disappointing trade deficit data from the domestic markets too pressurised the rupee," said Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst at Mirae Asset Sharekhan.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was at 106.95, higher by 0.35 per cent.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was quoted 0.77 per cent higher at USD 75.80 per barrel in futures trade.
In the domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined 29.47 points, or 0.04 per cent, to settle at 75,967.39, while the Nifty fell 14.20 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 22,945.30 points.
On the global front, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday asked business leaders to unleash their talents in a rare meeting with billionaires including Jack Ma, founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba, in a bid to shore up sagging business confidence and reverse economic slowdown.
The meeting came amid concerns over Donald Trump's decision to hike tariffs against Chinese exports to the US amid the slowdown of the Chinese economy, which hovered at around 5 per cent GDP growth in the last few years.
Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director, Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, said despite a recovery in the US dollar and concerns over a potential global trade war sparked by US tariff threats, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) intervention could limit further INR depreciation.
"Analysts forecast a negative bias for the rupee, with a potential rebound if RBI continues its market intervention. The widening trade deficit, which reached USD 22.99 billion in January, also contributed to the INR's vulnerability," he said, adding that Wednesday's rupee range is expected between 86.75 and 87.25 as traders await Trump speech and US-Russia summit to end the war.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Actress sexual assault: Court says Prosecution 'miserably' failed to prove conspiracy against Dileep
Kochi (PTI): The prosecution had "miserably" failed to prove the conspiracy charge against Dileep in the sensational 2017 actress sexual assault case, a local court has observed while citing inconsistencies and lack of sufficient evidence against the Malayalam star.
The full judgement of Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese was released late on Friday, and has revealed the judge also pointing out at unsustainable arguments put forth by the prosecution.
"The prosecution miserably failed to prove the conspiracy between accused No.1 (Pulsar Suni) and accused No.8 (Dileep) in executing the offence against the victim," the court held.
It examined in detail, the prosecution's allegation that Dileep had hired the prime accused to sexually assault the survivor and record visuals, including close-up footage of a gold ring she was wearing, to establish her identity.
On page 1130 of the judgment, under paragraph 703, the court framed the issue as whether the prosecution's contention that NS Sunil (Pulsar Suni) recorded visuals of the gold ring worn by the victim at the time of the occurrence, so as to clearly disclose her identity, was sustainable.
The prosecution contended Dileep and Suni had planned the recording so that the actress' identity would be unmistakable, with the video of the gold ring intended to convince Dileep that the visuals were genuine.
However, the court noted that this contention was not stated in the first charge sheet and was introduced only in the second one.
As part of this claim, a gold ring was seized after the victim produced it before the police.
The court observed that multiple statements of the victim were recorded from February 18, 2017, following the incident, and that she first raised allegations against Dileep only on June 3, 2017.
Even on that day, nothing was mentioned about filming of the ring as claimed by the prosecution, the court said.
The prosecution failed to explain why the victim did not disclose this fact at the earliest available opportunities.
It further noted that although the victim had viewed the sexual assault visuals twice, she did not mention any specific recording of the gold ring on those occasions, which remained unexplained.
The court also examined the approvers' statements.
One approver told the magistrate that Dileep had instructed Pulsar Suni to record the victim's wedding ring.
The court observed that no such wedding ring was available with her at that time.
During the trial, the approver changed his version, the court said.
The Special Public Prosecutor put a leading question to the approver on whether Dileep had instructed the recording of the ring, after which he deposed that the instruction was to record it to prove the victim's identity.
The court observed that the approver changed his account to corroborate the victim's evidence.
When the same question was put to another approver, he repeated the claim during the trial but admitted he had never stated this fact before the investigating officer.
The court noted that the second approver even went to the extent of claiming Dileep had instructed the execution of the crime as the victim's engagement was over.
This showed that the evidence of the second approver regarding the shooting of the ring was untrue, as her engagement had taken place after the crime.
The court further observed that the visuals themselves clearly revealed the victim's identity and that there was no need to capture images of the ring to establish identity.
In paragraph 887, the court examined the alleged motive behind the crime and noted that in the first charge sheet, the prosecution had claimed that accused persons 1 to 6 had kidnapped the victim with the common intention of capturing nude visuals to extort money by threatening to circulate them and there was no mention about Dileep's role in it.
The court also rejected the prosecution's claim that the accused had been planning the assault on Dileep's instructions since 2013, noting that the allegation was not supported by reliable evidence.
It similarly ruled out the claim that Suni attempted to sexually assault the victim in Goa in January 2017, stating that witness statements showed no such misconduct when he served as the driver of the vehicle used by the actress there.
The court also discussed various controversies that followed Dileep's arrest and the evidence relied upon by the prosecution, ultimately finding that the case had not been proved.
Pronouning its verdict on the sensational case on December 8, the court acquitted Dileep and three others.
Later, the court sentenced six accused, including the prime accused Suni, to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment.
The assault on the multilingual actress, after the accused allegedly forced their way into her car and held it under their control for two hours on February 17, 2017, had shocked Kerala.
Pulsar Suni sexually assaulted the actress and video recorded the act with the help of the other convicted persons in the moving car.
