Rameshwaram Cafe blast: NIA conducts spot inspection along with two accused
Bengaluru (PTI): The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday brought two accused arrested in the Rameshwaram Cafe blast to the spot for inspection as part of its investigation into the incident that occurred on March 1, police sources said.
During the course of its investigation into the Cafe blast, the NIA has conducted extensive searches at more than 29 locations across the country.
"A team of NIA probing the Rameshwaram Cafe blast came here this morning at the Cafe for spot inspection along with two of the accused as part of their internal investigation into the case," a police source said.
The inspection was carried out amid heavy police presence deployed outside the Cafe and barricades were also erected in the surrounding area.
According to officials, the NIA, which took over the case on March 3, had on April 12 arrested two key accused -- mastermind Adbul Matheen Ahmed Taahaa and Mussavir Hussain Shazib (the perpetrator of the attack) -- from their hideout in Kolkata, where they were staying under assumed identities.
The duo, along with co-accused Maaz Muneer Ahmed and Muzammil Shareef, a resident of Khalsa in Karnataka's Chikkamagaluru, have already been arrested by the NIA.
The NIA has so far arrested five people in connection with the bomb blast at the Cafe in Brookfield area of the city in which as many as 10 people were injured on March 1.
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GST Council sets up GoM on reduction in GST on health insurance; cuts rate on cancer drugs
New Delhi, Sep 9: GST Council headed by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday decided to set up a Group of Ministers (GoM) on reducing tax rate on life and health insurance and cut GST on cancer drugs and namkeens.
Briefing reporters on the outcome of the 54th GST Council meeting, Sitharaman said it has decided to have a Group of Ministers (GoM) to look into the GST rate on life and health insurance.
The GoM will be headed by Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, who is currently heading the panel on GST rate rationalisation.
Sitharaman said that new members would be joining the GoM to look into GST on health insurance.
The GoM will be submitting its report by October end, she said.
The issue of taxation of insurance premiums had figured in Parliament discussions with Opposition members demanding that health and life insurance premiums be exempt from the GST. Even Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari wrote to Sitharaman on the issue.
Sitharaman in her reply to a discussion on the Finance Bill had said that 75 per cent of the GST collected goes to states and the Opposition members should ask their state finance ministers to bring the proposal at the GST Council.
The GST Council in its meeting on Monday also decided to cut tax rates on cancer drugs to 5 per cent from 12 per cent and namkeens from 18 per cent to 12 per cent.
Sitharaman further said that a GoM will also be constituted to deal with the issue concerning compensation cess which will cease after March 2026.
The Council also deliberated on the GoM's status report on rate rationalisation and online gaming.
The minister further said that a committee of secretaries headed by Additional Secretary (Revenue) will be formed on the IGST which is currently facing a negative balance. It will look into ways to retrieve the money from states.
