Vajpayee visited Udupi six times
Udupi, August 16: Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who died after prolonged illness at AIIMS at New Delhi on Thursday, had visited Udupi, the temple town, six times in his lifetime.
When Vajpayee was the national president of Bharatiya Jan Sangh (earlier name of BJP) in 1968, the Jan Sangh had come to power at New Delhi and Udupi city municipal councils with clear majority for the first time. When Udupi city municipal council came into existence, the Jan Sangh had come to power and when Dr VS Acharya was elected as the president, Vajpayee had called him over phone and congratulated him, M Somashekar Bhat who was elected as then Udupi city municipal council member, recalled.
When the Udupi city municipal council had banned carrying excreta on head for the first time in the country, Vajpayee had congratulated Dr Acharya in 1968. In the same year, Vajpayee had participated in a special programme of the city municipal council held in front of the Pejawar Mutt on Ratha Beedi, recalled another senior leader Gujjadi Prabhakar Nayak who became the city municipal council president later.
Somashekar Bhat recalled his stay with Vajpayee, LK Advani and other leaders in Bengaluru jail when Indira Gandhi jailed the opposition leaders during Emergency in 1975.
In the Lok Sabha elections held after withdrawing the Emergency in 1977, Vajpayee had visited Udupi to campaign in favour of former Supreme Court Judge Justice KS Hegde and he had also participated in that meeting, recollected Gujjadi.
Somashekar Bhat recalled that Vajpayee had visited Udupi in 1984 to campaign in favour of himself who contested for Assembly from BJP and Karamballi Sanjeeva Shetty who contested for Lok Sabha elections and addressed the people in front of Victoria Jubilee Hall before the city municipal council. Though both of them were defeated in that election, they were able to retain the deposits and it was because of the speech and visit of Vajpayee, Bhat said.
In 1993, Vajpayee again visited Udupi. While returning from Shivamogga, he had visited Udupi and he was welcomed in front of the city municipal council and felicitated him. In 1998, Vajpayee visited Udupi for the fifth time. He had come to the city to campaign in favour of IM Jayaram Shetty who had contested for Lok Sabha election. Thousands of people thronged the Bhujanga Park where the rally was held to listen to his speech. In the same year, he had also visited Mangaluru to campaign in favour of Dhananjay Kumar.
As the last time, Vajpayee had come to Udupi in 2001 to inaugurate the newly constructed Rajangana by Pejawar seer during the fourth Paryaya of Pejawar seer at Krishna Mutt. On January 18, 2001, Vajpayee, along with Vishvesha Tirtha Swamiji, had darshan of Lord Sri Krishna and inaugurated the Rajangana in the evening. He was felicitated by the Pejawar Mutt then.
Vajpayee had many friends for in Udupi including Dr VS Acharya, Somashekar Bhat, Karamballi Sanjeeva Shetty and others. Dr VS Acharya was recalling his friendship with Vajpayee and LK Advani.
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Punjab: CBI arrests 3 men in Rs 13-lakh bribery case involving Vigilance dept after midnight chase
New Delhi (PTI): In a late-night raid at the Punjab Vigilance office in Mohali followed by a dramatic chase, the CBI arrested two middlemen and another person in a Rs 13-lakh bribery case involving senior officers of the department, officials said.
The CBI took the action after registering an FIR on a complaint of a Punjab State Tax Officer, who had accused Vikas Goyal and his son Raghav Goyal of demanding illegal gratification of Rs 20 Lakh for securing the closure of a complaint against him in the office of DG (Vigilance), Punjab.
"Further, it was alleged that both the accused were acting as intermediaries for senior Vigilance officials including the Reader to DGP Vigilance, Punjab and were using their influence to assure the complainant that his matter could be settled. O. P. Rana, the reader to DG Vigilance assured him for closure of the complaint once illegal gratification is paid," a CBI spokesperson said in a statement.
Prima facie, the investigation reveals active involvement of Rana in the conspiracy, she said.
According to the statement, during negotiations, the accused reduced the demand from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 13 lakh along with one Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 mobile phone for Rana.
After getting confirmation about the bribe exchange, a CBI team raided a place in Chandigarh, where an associate of the accused, Ankit Wadhwa, was arrested while accepting a bribe of Rs 13 lakh and a mobile phone on their behalf, the spokesperson said.
"The bribe amount and mobile phone were recovered during the trap proceedings," the statement read.
As it happened, Raghav Goyal, Vikas Goyal, and Rana ran away after being alerted by their gunmen stationed there to keep a watch.
The CBI team began a hot pursuit and after a dramatic chase, nabbed Raghav, Vikas and apprehended two gunmen near Ambala at the Punjab-Haryana border, the spokesperson said.
"Rana, reader to DGP Vigilance, is still absconding and efforts are being made to arrest him," she said.
Searches at the residential premises of Goyals at Malout and Rana at Chandigarh, led to recovery of Rs 9 lakh in cash and incriminating documents, the spokesperson said.
The CBI investigation exposed an exchange of "sensitive information" relating to pending vigilance matters between Rana and Goyals.
"The wider conspiracy, including possible illegal gratification nexus and the role of other persons, is under investigation. The accused private persons were given police gunmen officially. The role and attachment of Punjab Police gunmen carrying AK-47 rifles with the private accused persons is also being examined," the spokesperson said.
