Karnataka ACB files chargesheet against 6 persons, including Jayalalithaa aide Sasikala
Bengaluru, Feb 3: The Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) has filed a chargesheet in a case relating to alleged irregularities and preferential treatment provided to V K Sasikala, the close aide of former Tamil Nadu chief minister late J Jayalalithaa, at the Central Prison here.
The ACB informed the Karnataka High Court that a chargesheet has been filed against six people, including two senior prison officials of Karnataka and Sasikala.
Sasikala, who was convicted in the multi-crore disproportionate assets case, had served four years imprisonment at the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison here. She was released from the jail in January 2021.
The Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice Suraj Govindaraj, which was hearing a PIL filed by K S Gita, a Chennai-based social worker and educationist on Wednesday, was informed that the chargesheet was filed on January 7, 2022 after the state government accorded sanction on December 30, 2021, for prosecution of two prison officials.
The petitioner had claimed that despite a report submitted by retired IAS officer Vinay Kumar, indicating that preferential treatment was given to Sasikala inside the prison, the ACB had not completed the investigation.
The two officials who have been named as accused one and two in the chargesheet are Krishna Kumar, who was the Chief Superintendent and Anitha, the Superintendent of the Central prison at Parappana Agrahara when the illegal facilities and preferential treatment were allegedly provided to Sasikala and her sister-in-law Ilavarasi, who was also serving a sentence in the prison.
Sasikala and Ilavarasi have also been named as accused in the chargesheet.
The court had earlier directed the government to take a decision on the sanction request forwarded to it by the ACB on July 15 last year.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
