Lakshadweep Tuna fish scam: CBI books NCP MP Mohammed Faizal, his nephew
New Delhi, Jul 12: The CBI has booked Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal under corruption charges for alleged irregularities in the export of Tuna fish to a Sri Lankan company represented by his nephew, officials said Tuesday.
The NCP MP's nephew Abdul Razik Thangal and the Colombo-based company SRT General Merchants that he represented have also been named in the FIR as accused, the officials said.
The agency on Tuesday conducted searches at the residence of Faizal in Delhi, Calicut and Lakshadweep, they said.
Faizal did not respond to messages requesting his response.
The CBI had conducted joint surprise checks after getting inputs of alleged corruption in last week of June.
The checks showed that during 2016-17, Faizal gave a false Lakshadweep Cooperative Marketing Federation (LCMF) Ltd that a foreign buyer SRT General Merchants Importers and Exporters, is willing to import dried Tuna fish at a higher price than the prevailing rate, the CBI FIR said.
Board of Directors of LCMF, in its meeting on November 21, 2016 decided to procure the fish from local fishermen, the FIR alleged.
They procured 287 MT of the fish from them of different islands of Lakshadweep through co-operative societies of islands on the assurance that fishermen will get prices higher than the prevailing market rate, it said.
M P Anwar, the then Managing Director, LCMF, also named as accused, without following norms and without floating any tender and merely relying on the assurance of Faizal proceeded with the purchase, the FIR said.
Faizal fixed the Tuna fish exporter Accelerated Freeze Drying Company (AFDC) based in Cochin, Kerala through LCMF for exporting the fish, it alleged.
The said project was not materialized due to refusal of AFDC as it did not receive Rs 60 lakh for the first consignment of the fish which was to be exported to the Sri Lankan company.
"Cochin-based AFDC suffered a loss of about Rs 60 lakh and also it did not continue the lifting of fish through LCMF, as per the agreement. The poor fishermen of Lakshadweep Islands and LCMF have faced a loss of money to the tune of approximately Rs 9 crore," the FIR said.
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Bengaluru: Two booked for disabling 240 CCTV cameras at Chinnaswamy Stadium
Bengaluru (PTI): An FIR has been registered against two persons for allegedly tampering with the CCTV surveillance system at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here on the day of the RCB versus GT IPL match on April 24, police said on Monday.
The accused, identified as Manjunath (37) and Abdul Kalam (19), allegedly entered the stadium without valid authorisation, reportedly by misusing a deactivated access card, and tampered with critical surveillance infrastructure, they said.
The complaint was lodged by Aditya Bhat of Staqu Technologies Pvt Ltd, which provides AI-driven surveillance support during match days, police said.
According to the FIR, more than 240 cameras went offline on the morning of the match.
The two, said to be associated with subcontractor IVS Digital Solutions, allegedly damaged Network Video Recorder (NVR) systems and optical fibre connections, disrupting surveillance coverage in key security zones, including entry gates and perimeter areas.
The accused allegedly entered the CCTV room without proper access and later moved to a junction box near the parking area, where fibre connections were damaged, the FIR stated.
The alleged sabotage affected the availability of surveillance feeds required by police personnel deployed for match security, it added.
A senior police officer said that on the morning of April 24, at around 11.30 am, the two employees, working under a sub-vendor providing digital services during match days, carried out the act.
According to him, the accused duo damaged CCTV fibre connections and a video recorder. The issue was detected and rectified within an hour.
Preliminary investigation suggests that the two employees may have had a personal grudge against the company, possibly related to pending payments, which may have led them to commit the act, he said.
“Both accused have been identified, and further action will be taken soon. All CCTVs were restored within an hour, and the disruption did not impact match proceedings,” he added.
