Renowned journalist P Sainath returns Basavashree Award conferred to him by Shri Murugha Mutt
Says returning award in solidarity with survivors of alleged sexual abuse by Chief Pontiff of Mutt
Bengaluru: Senior Journalist and Founder-Editor of People’s Archive of Rural India, P Sainath on Friday returned his Basavashree Award conferred to him by the Shir Murugha Mutt in Chitradurga.
In an official statement, Sainath said that he was returning the award in solidarity with the minor girls who have alleged that they were sexually abused by the Chief Pontiff of the Mutt Shri Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru.
The Chief Pontiff is facing charges under the POCSO Act after two high school students approached an NGO and explained their ordeal leading to the NGO filing a police complaint against the pontiff.
“No words are strong enough to condemn any such offences against children. In solidarity with the survivors and with the cause of Justice in this case, I hereby return the Basavashree award (and the Rs. 5 lakhs prize money that came with it, by cheque) conferred on me by the Math in 2017.” Sainath said in his statement.
“I would like to record my appreciation of the efforts of the Mysuru-based NGO "OdaNadi" to bring the awful incidents to light and their decades-long fight against social evils. And I appeal to the Karnataka government to pursue the investigation into the scandal vigorously and not allow that to be compromised on any grounds whatsoever.” He further added.
Shri Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru was arrested by the cops on Wednesday evening in connection with the case, seven days after the complaint was filed against him. On Friday, the court sent him to police custody till September 5.
He was produced on Friday in a local court, where the police sought five days' custody.
The seer wrapped himself in a white cloth around his saffron attire and was taken in a wheelchair to the court.
Thick security cover was given all over the place right from the hospital, where he was taken after he complained of chest pain, to the court with barricades on key roads along the way.
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ED raids against Anil Ambani Group companies continue on day 3
Mumbai, Jul 26 (PTI): Enforcement Directorate searches against the companies of Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani in Mumbai continued for the third day on Saturday with the agency recovering a number of documents and computer peripherals from multiple locations, official sources said.
The raids were launched on July 24 by the federal probe agency as part of an alleged Rs 3,000 crore worth bank loan fraud-linked money laundering case apart from multiple other allegations of financial irregularities with crores of rupees by certain companies.
The searches, being conducted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), are continuing at some locations out of the more than 35 premises that were covered in Mumbai since Thursday, the sources said.
These premises belong to 50 companies and 25 people including a number of executives of the Anil Ambani Group companies.
ED sources had said the investigation primarily pertains to allegations of illegal loan diversion of around Rs 3,000 crore, given by the Yes Bank to the group companies of Ambani between 2017-2019.
Reliance Power and Reliance Infrastructure, two companies of the group, had on Thursday informed the stock exchanges saying while they acknowledge the action, the raids had "absolutely no impact" on their business operations, financial performance, shareholders, employees, or any other stakeholders.
"The media reports appear to pertain to allegations concerning transactions of Reliance Communications Limited (RCOM) or Reliance Home Finance Limited (RHFL) which are over 10 years old," the companies had said.
The ED, the sources had said, has found that just before the loan was granted, Yes Bank promoters "received" money in their concerns.
The agency is investigating this nexus of "bribe" and the loan.
The sources said the ED is also probing allegations of "gross violations" in Yes Bank loan approvals to these companies including charges like back-dated credit approval memorandums, investments proposed without any due diligence/credit analysis in violation of banks credit policy.
The loans are alleged to have been "diverted" to many group companies and "shell" (bogus) companies by the entities involved.
The agency is also looking at some instances of loans given to entities with weak financials, lack of proper documentation of loans and due diligence, borrowers having common addresses and common directors in their companies etc., the sources said.
The money laundering case stems from at least two CBI FIRs and reports shared by the National Housing Bank, SEBI, National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) and Bank of Baroda with the ED, they said.
These reports indicate, the sources said, that there was a "well-planned and thought after scheme" to divert or siphon off public money by cheating banks, shareholders, investors and other public institutions.
The Union government had informed the Parliament recently that the State Bank of India has classified RCOM along with Ambani as 'fraud' and was also in the process of lodging a complaint with the CBI.
A bank loan "fraud" of more than Rs 1,050 crore between RCOM and Canara Bank is also under the scanner of the ED apart from some "undisclosed" foreign bank accounts and assets, the sources said.
Reliance Mutual fund is also stated to have invested Rs 2,850 crore in AT-1 bonds and a "quid pro quo" is suspected here by the agency.
Additional Tier 1 (AT-1) are perpetual bonds issued by banks to increase their capital base and they are riskier than traditional bonds having higher interest rates. An alleged loan fund diversion of about Rs 10,000 crore involving Reliance Infrastructure too is under the scanner of the agency.
A Sebi report on RHFL is also part of the ED probe.
The companies also said in their filings before the stock exchanges that Anil Ambani was not on the Board of either Reliance Power or Reliance Infrastructure and that they had no "business or financial linkage" to RCOM or RHFL.
Any action taken against RCOM or RHFL, the companies said, has no bearing or impact on the governance, management, or operations of either Reliance Power or Reliance Infrastructure.
