The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said it has issued show-cause notices to the Indian arm of Chinese mobile phone manufacturer Xiaomi, its chief financial officer and director Sameer B Rao, former managing director Manu Kumar Jain and three foreign banks for alleged violations of the foreign exchange law to the tune of more than Rs 5,551 crore.
"The DMK is not worried a wee bit," he said on the ED searches. Such an action by the ED was 'usual, ordinary and a drama' enacted to divert attention.
In a first, a special National Investigation Agency court in Mumbai sentenced six accused in a 2009 fake currency case to life imprisonment, terming the possession and circulation of Indian counterfeit notes as an "act of terrorism".
Police seized 100 fake notes of old Rs 500 denomination from Burhanuddin, who first claimed to be a Mumbai resident.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has taken over the investigation of four distinct cases from the Assam police, all connected with the death of the state police sub-inspector Junmoni Rabha last month in a suspected road accident, according to officials.
The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday alleged that Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader and Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy issued "illegal" red sand mining licenses to his MP son, relatives and some benami holders, and that huge amount of "hawala" funds generated from this mining business was used to purchase companies abroad.
As Jagan's property attachment came on the day the poll dates were announced, the YSR chief and his supporters refuse to buy the Enforcement Directorate's claim that it was a mere coincidence. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
Indian government bonds, particularly those of shorter maturity, strengthened sharply on Monday, as the collapse of the California-based Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) prompted investors to rush to the safety of American debt, leading to a decline in US bond yields.
The NCB claimed that 'incriminating' evidence comprising of digital evidence, call record details, WhatsApp chats, location tags, video and voice recordings, and several other documents had been submitted.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday asked enforcement agencies to go after 'big fish' involved in drug trafficking, saying they need to find who is sending 'mountains' of illegal drugs into the country.
Banks have raised concerns over the new international trade settlement in rupee, fearing that facilitation of such a mechanism could result in them facing the ire of economic sanctions by the West, people aware of the matter said. Large banks with overseas operations have sought clarity and assurance from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that they will not be targeted with sanctions for facilitating rupee trade with a sanction-hit country such as Russia. The present payment mechanism is a shift from earlier such arrangements, like the one with sanction-hit Iran, which involved banks facilitating settlement of international trade that did not have business in the sanctioned nation.
The finance ministry on Friday informed a parliamentary committee that smuggling of fake currency has totally stopped post demonetisation and the tax department has seized Rs 515 crore in cash, including Rs 114 crore of new currency notes, up to January 10.
With this amount, the total seizure in the case has now gone upto Rs 166 crore in a single case.
Six people have been detained in various raids.
The sleuths of the department seized over Rs 4 crore in new currency, mostly in denomination of Rs 2000, some notes of Rs 100, demonetized notes of Rs 500 and a few gold biscuits
The biggest-ever seizure of cash in new currency grew to over Rs 5 crore on Friday even as the Income Tax department said it detected unaccounted income worth Rs 152 crore after it conducted searches in a dozen premises in Bengaluru and other locations.
The seizure occurred during raids at eight premises of a group engaged in sand mining in Tamil Nadu.
If Sebi and RBI remain quiet about this brazenly illegal activity, will someone in the finance ministry or the NITI Aayog take a closer look, asks Debashis Basu.
"Post demonetisation, during November 9, 2016, to January 10, 2017, more than 1,100 searches and surveys were conducted and more than 5,100 notices were issued by the income tax department for verification of suspicious high-value cash deposits," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Friday.
The disclosures will enjoy immunity from wealth tax, civil and other taxation laws but there will be no immunity from FEMA, PMLA, narcotics and black money laws.
The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday said it has arrested two persons in Chennai for alleged illegal exchange of Rs 6 crore in old notes "in connivance with" sand-mining baron J Sekhar Reddy as part of its money laundering probe post demonetisation.
The police on Sunday questioned the Karmapa and also arrested two more persons in connection with the seizure of foreign currency worth over Rs 7.5 crore from the offices of a trust backed by him. The Karmapa denied any Chinese links and said the charges against him were 'grossly speculative and without foundation'. A team of state police officers put nearly 50 questions to Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje at Gyuto Monastery at Sidhbari.
Centre says the very object of demonetisation and elimination of black money will be defeated if a fresh window is given.
On October 18, the tax department had said searches had led to detection of undisclosed income of more than Rs 500 crore in addition to Rs 93 crore worth seizures, including gold jewellery and diamonds. A revised appraisal of such seizures now pegs its value at Rs 106 crore which includes cash (Rs 45 crore), gold jewellery and diamonds (Rs 41 crore) and foreign currency Rs 20 crore.
The taxman carried out a total of 677 search, survey and enquiry operations
The Himachal Pradesh government is now moving to acquire the land of Gyuto Monastery, the transit home of Karmapa Ugyen Trinley Dorje, as the probe into seizure of large amount of foreign currency from the monastery brought fresh focus on benami deals by the community members.
Bank accounts of a trust backed by Karmapa Ugyen Trinley Dorje and its trustees have been frozen in connection with the probe into the seizure of a huge amount of foreign currency from a transit home of the Tibetan spiritual leader. "It (freezing of bank accounts) is part of the investigation process as bank accounts were being thoroughly screened for money transactions," Inspector General of Police P L Thakur said on Friday.
The year also witnessed Mumbai-based Sun Pharmaceutical continue the tussle for taking over Israeli drug firm Taro, while MNCs struck alliances with Indian companies to capitalise on generics expertise in New Delhi.
Three persons are being questioned in connection with the massive seizure.
Polling in Vellore was scheduled on April 18.
The Crime Branch and Delhi Police had earlier on December 11carried out raids at the office of his firm T&T Law and seized nearly Rs 13.5 crore, of which Rs 2.6 crore was in new banknotes released after demonetisation.
Some genius assumed that a 2,000 note could seamlessly replace 500s and 1000s in ordinary transactions. If that genius had consulted an actual chai-wallah, he might have thought twice, argues Devangshu Datta.
In the first such incident reported in Punjab, drones were used to drop weapons and communication devices, among others, from across the border, an official said, adding that a half-burnt drone used in the operation was recovered from Tarn Taran.
The ED is investigating Lodha after it booked him on criminal charges for his alleged involvement in two high-profile black money cases of illegal conversion of old notes post demonetisation.
Pakistan dropped weapons and some cash in Indian currency using a drone in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, Director General of Police Dilbag Singh on Saturday said, announcing the arrest of three Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorists who had picked up the consignment near the Line of Control.
According to the FIR, some Delhi-based individuals were receiving funds from FIF operatives based abroad and were using it for terror activities.
Whether the collections were original or fake is yet to be ascertained, the police said.
The searches, they said, are related to the department's probe in the biggest haul of cash and gold in Chennai post demonetisation.
Raids are being carried out across the country by the Income Tax department in the wake of the burgeoning fake currency racket post demonetisation, as currencies both new and old have been seized in large amounts from Bengaluru, Panjim and Faridabad besides the national capital.