Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge’s security tightened after threat calls over RSS remarks
Bengaluru: Following his demand to ban RSS activities in government schools and colleges, Rural Development Minister Priyank Kharge has reportedly been receiving continuous threat calls, prompting the state government to enhance his police security.
Since Wednesday morning, additional police personnel have been deployed at both his private residence and official quarters. Nearly 50 police officers have been stationed outside his government residence on Golf Club Road, and those visiting the minister are being thoroughly checked, a senior police officer confirmed.
Reacting to the development, B.R. Patil, Vice-Chairman of the State Policy and Planning Commission, condemned the threats, calling them an act of cowardice.
Speaking to reporters at Vidhana Soudha on Wednesday, he said, “RSS supporters are trying to silence Priyank Kharge through threats, but this is nothing short of a threat to democracy itself. We will not be intimidated by such cowards.”
He added, “Let ideological debates take place in public. We are ready to face them intellectually, not violently. RSS claims to defend religion by wielding sticks, but what does a stick have to do with religion? True faith must come from the heart, not from aggression.”
Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar also commented on the issue, stating, “The stronger we become, the more enemies we attract. Those with lesser strength have fewer enemies, and those with none have no opponents at all.”
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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.
