Indian-American foreign policy expert Tellis arrested for retaining national defence information
Washington (PTI): Ashley J Tellis, a prominent Indian-American strategic affairs expert, has been arrested on charges of unlawfully retaining national defence information.
A respected voice in Washington's foreign policy establishment, Tellis is currently a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, specialising in international security, defence, and Asian strategic issues.
"Tellis, 64, of Vienna, VA, was arrested over the weekend in Vienna, Virginia, and charged by criminal complaint with the unlawful retention of national defence information," the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The charges as alleged in this case represent a grave risk to the safety and security of our citizens,” US Attorney Lindsey Halligan said, adding that the office remained “fully focused on protecting the American people from all threats, foreign and domestic”.
If convicted, Tellis faces up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to USD 250,000, a USD 100 special assessment and forfeiture, the statement said.
“The facts and the law in this case are clear, and we will continue following them to ensure that justice is served,” it said.
A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors, the statement said.
Born in Mumbai and educated at the University of Chicago, Tellis has been a prolific writer and adviser on defence and Asia policy. He was closely involved in shaping the landmark India-US civil nuclear agreement during the George W Bush administration that transformed bilateral ties in the mid-2000s.
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Ex-minister Ramanath Rai hits out at BJP leader Ashoka for ‘irresponsible’ comments on KC Venugopal
Mangaluru: Congress leader and former minister B Ramanath Rai slammed BJP leader R Ashoka for calling AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal an agent of the party high command, and asked if the general secretary and other office-bearers in the BJP were commission agents too.
Rai, who addressed a press meet at the Congress office in the city on Friday, expressed fury over the recent comments of the BJP leader that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was presenting himself in a shameless manner in public life. Ashoka, who is also Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, had said that the Congress government had ‘broken every previous record on corruption-related controversies’.
“Ashoka has spoken with sheer ignorance and displays his lack of maturity, as he often does while facing the media. KC Venugopal has been working at organization of the party and it is unbecoming of Ashoka to criticize Venugopal as he did,” Rai told reporters.
“Being in a responsible position, how acceptable is it for Ashoka to pass disrespectful, random comments about another leader who also holds a responsible position? If KC Venugopal is indeed an agent of the party high command, what should we consider BJP leaders to be? Are they brokers?” he asked
Commenting on Ashoka’s allegations of corruption in the Congress government in Karnataka, Rai pointed out, “The KSRTC land was sold to private parties when he (Ashoka) was transport minister. We can find several such cases across the state, which need to be probed.”
The former minister, however, refused to comment on the incident that occurred at Mangaluru airport during CM Siddaramaiah’s visit to the city recently.
Former mayors Ashraf and Shashidhar Hegde, Congress activists Vishwas Kumar Das, Subhodaya Alva, Shabeer, Baby Kundar, Padmanabha, Nazeer Bajal and Prem were present.
