Belthangady: Mohiddin Jumma Masjid in Halepet, Ujire, and the mosques under the Upa Jamaat have unanimously decided not to let devotees in or hold congregational prayers and other religious activities for two more months under their premises.

The decision was taken during the Executive Committee meeting chaired by Masjid President B M Abdul Hamid Haji that the rule will be followed at the central mosque and all the six mohallas under its jurisdiction.

“Even if the government permits the opening of mosques, following the Covid-19 restrictions will be difficult especially at the central mosque, which is near the national highway. Also, since members of several families visit the mosque, controlling all such people too will be a difficult task” the committee observed.

The committee also decided to withhold the reopening of the madrasas, starting with online classes and registering students for the classes for two more months.

Administrative Committee members and representatives of the respective Jamaats attended the meeting.

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Raipur (PTI): The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has attached properties of Rs 4 crore belonging to suspended IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi, an accused in a coal levy scam, for allegedly amassing assets beyond his known sources of income, officials said.

The EOW had registered a disproportionate assets case against Vishnoi in July 2024, an official release said on Saturday.

During the investigation, the agency identified nine immovable properties, valued at around Rs 4 crore, allegedly acquired through illicit means in the names of Vishnoi’s family members and associated firms, it said.

“An application seeking attachment of these properties was filed before the Special Court under the Prevention of Corruption Act in Raipur. Following a hearing on April 17, the court ordered attachment of all such properties,” the statement said.

Accordingly, the Anti-Corruption Bureau/Economic Offences Wing attached the properties. The attached properties cannot be sold or transferred, it said.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had earlier provisionally attached five immovable properties linked to Vishnoi in connection with the coal levy scam, it added.

Proceedings are also underway in cases involving other public servants, including action taken in September last year against properties linked to Saumya Chaurasia, who was deputy secretary in the chief minister’s office during the Congress government, the statement said.

Vishnoi, a 2009-batch Indian Administrative Service officer, was first arrested in 2022 by the ED in connection with the alleged coal levy scam. He was among several accused who were granted bail last year by the Supreme Court.

The case refers to an alleged Rs 540 crore racket between July 2020 and June 2022, when an illegal levy of Rs 25 per tonne was being extorted by a cartel involving senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen for every tonne of coal transported in the state.