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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Catholic Bishops' body slams Bhagwat's remarks
New Delhi: The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India on Thursday slammed RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat for his reported remark that Pranab Mukherjee, when he was President, had said tribals would turn "anti-national" if there is no "ghar wapsi"Catholic Bishops.'
In a statement issued here, CBCI, a body of Catholic Bishops, referred to reports which said Bhagwat, at an event on Monday, claimed that Mukherjee, while he was President had appreciated ghar wapsi and told him that had it not been for the Sangh's work on reconversion, a section of Adivasis would have turned "anti-national".The CBCI called the report "shocking".
"Fabricated personal conversation being attributed to a former president of India and its posthumous publication with the vested interest of an organization with questionable credibility raises a grave issue of national importance," the CBCI claimed.
"Is it not the violent ghar wapsi program of VHP and other similar organizations, curtailing the exercise of freedom of conscience of economically deprived tribals, the real anti-national activity?" it asked.
'Ghar wapsi' is a term used by the RSS and affiliated organisations to refer to reconversion of Muslims and Christians to Hinduism, based on the belief that they were originally Hindus before converting to other religions.
The CBCI also questioned why Bhagwat did not speak about it while Mukherjee was alive.
"We, the 2.3 percent of Indian citizens who are Christians feel extremely hurt by such manipulated and motivated propaganda unleashed," it said.
In a post on X following the statement issued by CBCI, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien said, "Speak up. This is a start!"
"Bishops body have issued a statement condemning remarks made by Dr Mohan Bhagwat and RSS for defaming the Christian community," he said.
O'Brien added that they should ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi more questions, including why Christmas Day has been turned into "Good Governance Day".
The TMC leader, in a blogpost earlier this month, had said "hard questions" must be asked to the government with regards to the Christian community, including why the FCRA has been 'weaponised', and why has Manipur been 'ignored'.
