Dr. Richard Vincent D'Souza appointed Karnataka State Information Commissioner
Bengaluru: Dr. Richard Vincent D'Souza, a retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, has been appointed as a State Information Commissioner for the Karnataka Information Commission’s Bengaluru Bench. The appointment was made through a notification issued by the Governor of Karnataka, Thaawarchand Gehlot, on Tuesday.
According to the notification, two other commissioners have also been appointed, B. Venkat Singh for the Kalaburagi Bench and Dr. Mahesh Walwekar for the Bengaluru Bench. The appointments were made under sub-section (3) of Section 15 of the Right to Information Act, 2005, and the terms of service will be governed by Section 16 of the Act and the Karnataka Right to Information (Term of Office, Salaries, Allowances and Other Conditions of Service) Rules, 2019.
Dr. D'Souza, who served in the IAS between 2015 and 2024, held several administrative positions in the Karnataka government, including Secretary in the Planning Department and the Industries and Commerce Department. He has also served as Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate of Kodagu, Managing Director of Hutti Gold Mines Company Ltd., and Mission Director of the National Health Mission.
Before joining the IAS, Dr. D'Souza worked in the Karnataka Transport Department from 1991 to 2014, where he was involved in driver training and road safety initiatives. He began his professional career as an Aero Engineer at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) on the Light Combat Aircraft project.
He holds a Ph.D. in Driver Behaviour from Bangalore University, an MBA in Human Resource Management from Karnataka State Open University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Surathkal.
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Rs 640 crore cyber fraud: SC refuses anticipatory bail to CA in ED case
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to grant anticipatory bail to a chartered accountant in a money laundering investigation linked to a Rs 640 crore cyber fraud case.
A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Augustine George Masih upheld the order of the Delhi High Court which had denied pre-arrest bail to Bhaskar Yadav and directed him to surrender in 10 days.
The high court on February 2 dismissed anticipatory bail applications by Yadav and Ashok Kumar Sharma.
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In the 22-page judgement, the high court had said there was an "intricate mesh of laundering of money", and the need expressed by the Enforcement Directorate to interrogate the two accused in custody was not unreasonable.
"The accused/applicants, being skilled professionals, have allegedly crafted laundering of proceeds of crime across multiple layers, and to unearth the same, I find substance in the submission of learned counsel for DoE (Directorate of Enforcement) that custodial interrogation is much required," the HC said.
"It is not a case of mere dealing in cryptocurrency, which per se is not a crime in this country and the liability of the accused persons is confined to paying tax on the crypto transactions. The present cases exhibit a vast intricate mesh of movement of money, fraudulently extracted out of pocket of gullible investors, who appear to be primarily belonging to middle class," it had added.
The high court had stated that individual liberty was sacrosanct, but it could not brush aside the requirement to carry out a meaningful interrogation and investigation in the larger interest of the country's economy.
It had noted there were fresh complaints of the accused allegedly assaulting the investigating officers, bribing the local police to settle cyber fraud complaints and destroying electronic evidence.
The money laundering probe stems from two FIRs filed by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police that were registered to probe charges of cyber fraud to the tune of Rs 640 crore generated through betting, gambling, part-time jobs and phishing scams, the ED has earlier said in a statement.
As per the agency, the money of gullible people was siphoned off by layering funds cheated from them through more than 5,000 mule Indian bank accounts and subsequently uploaded on PYYPL, a UAE-based payment platform.
Part of the cyber fraud money was withdrawn in cash in Dubai through debit and credit cards issued by various Indian banks, it said.
According to the probe agency, the alleged scam was being run through a nexus of certain CAs, company secretaries and crypto traders who worked in tandem to launder the proceeds of crime.
