Take voluntary retirement or transfer, Tirumala trust tells non-Hindu staffers
Hyderabad: The newly-formed Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) passed a resolution recently requiring non-Hindus employed by the board to either take voluntary retirement or opt for a transfer to other government departments in Andhra Pradesh.
Following his appointment as the chairman of the TTD board, BR Naidu declared that Tirumala and TTD, being a Hindu charitable organisation, would not allow non-Hindus as staff. He noted that the non-Hindu TTD staff will either be offered VRS (Voluntary Retirement Scheme) or surrendered to the government.
However, Naidu declined to reveal the exact number of non-Hindu employees. Sources told Times of India said the move will affect about 300 of the board's 7,000 permanent employees.
The new TTD chairman also said that the board had resolved to take advice from experts to reduce the darshan time of Lord Venkateswara Swamy from 20–30 hours to 2-3 hours using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and advanced technology.
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UK court rejects Nirav Modi's fresh bail application: CBI
New Delhi, May 15 (PTI): The High Court of Justice in London on Thursday rejected a fresh bail petition filed by diamantaire Nirav Modi, who is held in a prison there and wanted in India in the Rs 13,000 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case orchestrated with his uncle Mehul Choksi, officials said.
Modi approached the court in London on Thursday seeking his release on bail pending the decision on his extradition request, they said.
"Fresh bail petition filed by Nirav Deepak Modi was rejected Thursday by the High Court of Justice, King's Bench Division, London. The bail arguments were strongly opposed by the Crown Prosecution Service advocate, who was ably assisted by a strong CBI team consisting of investigating and law officers who travelled to London for this purpose," the CBI said in a statement here.
Modi, 55, is lodged in a UK prison since March 19, 2019. He is accused of siphoning off Rs 6498.20 crore of the total scam amount.
His extradition has already been approved by the High Court of UK in favour of the Government of India, the agency said.
"This was his 10th bail petition since his detention in the UK, which was successfully defended by the CBI through the Crown Prosecution Service, London," the agency said.
Nirav Modi's uncle Mehul Choksi, a co-accused in the PNB fraud case, was arrested by the authorities in Belgium where he had gone for treatment, it said.
The duo has been accused of siphoning off over Rs 13,000 crore from the PNB using fraudulent letters of undertaking and foreign letters of credit.
Officials at PNB's Brady House branch in Mumbai issued letters of undertaking (LoUs) and foreign letters of credit (FLCs) to their firms without any sanctioned limit or cash margin and without making entries in the bank's central system to evade any scrutiny in case of a default.
LoUs are a guarantee given by a bank on behalf of its client to a foreign bank. If the client does not repay to the foreign bank, the liability falls on the guarantor bank.
Based on the LoUs issued by the PNB, money was lent by the SBI, Mauritius; Allahabad Bank, Hong Kong; Axis Bank, Hong Kong; Bank of India, Antwerp; Canara Bank, Mamana; and SBI, Frankfurt.
Since the accused companies did not repay the amount availed against the said fraudulent LoUs and FLCs, PNB made the payments, including the overdue interest, to the overseas banks, which advanced buyer's credit and discounted the bills against the fraudulent LoUs and FLCs issued by the PNB, the CBI alleged.
