IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal, whose suspension by UP Government has sparked a controversy amid allegations that she was targeted for taking on the powerful sand mafia, on Friday met the Secretary to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
Rana Gurjit denied the charges saying neither he nor his company - Rana Sugars Limited - has any direct or indirect stakes in sand mining business.
A deputy superintendent of police investigating illegal stone-mining was killed on Tuesday when a truck he signalled to stop in Haryana's Nuh district drove into him, officials said.
'Government officials use Gmail and ordinary phones without basic security consciousness.' 'Interoperability, especially in joint exercises with countries like the US, worries me.' 'It often means we open our systems to them, but they don't reciprocate.' 'They could have kill switches in their systems and might even be able to affect ours.'
The Supreme Court of India has ruled that it is mandatory to consider the twin conditions laid out in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) when deciding bail applications in money laundering cases. The court emphasized the seriousness of the crime and the need to comply with the rigorous requirements of Section 45 of the PMLA, which includes giving the prosecutor an opportunity to oppose bail and ensuring that the court is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to believe the accused is not guilty and unlikely to commit another offense on bail. The ruling was made in response to an appeal filed by the Enforcement Directorate against a Patna High Court order granting bail to an accused in a money laundering case. The Supreme Court found that the High Court had granted bail without properly considering the requirements of Section 45 and remanded the case back for a fresh review.
In the last five years, 37 bridges have collapsed in Uttarakhand. Another 27 bridges are on the brink of collapse. 'Our politicians don't view these bridge collapses as a setback.' 'Rather they see them as an opportunity to make more money.'
The Union home ministry wants state governments to take proactive action against illegal mining as it has become a national security threat. In a recent meeting with the states, the home ministry said that windfall profits from such mining of minerals and sand were being used by the mafia to aid extremist elements.
A woman who had suffered burns in the petrol bomb attack in Bogtui village in Birbhum district last week died in a hospital on Monday, raising the toll to nine, a police officer said.
Amid demands by opposition parties to revoke her suspension, Indian Administrative Service officer Durga Shakti Nagpal has reported to the revenue board, sources said on Wednesday.
"The day news of the SP-BSP top leadership meeting came out, the BJP government used the CBI and raids were conducted in an old mining scam and the news of quizzing Akhilesh Yadav was deliberately spread. Is it not an action to defame the SP-BSP alliance?" Mayawati said.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said that the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Bharatiya Janata Party and all the alliance parties will contest the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu together under the National Democratic Alliance. The significant political development comes ahead of the TN Assembly election to be held in 2026,
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday defended the suspension of IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal, claiming that action was taken against her for demolishing the wall of a mosque without consulting seniors and not for preventing illegal sand mining.
Uttar Pradesh is under the scanner again as that state IAS Association has taken on CM Akhilesh Yadav for the suspension of Durga Shakti Nagpal, who campaigned against the sand mafia
Besides Yadav, the CBI is likely to question Gayatri Prajapati, who was arrested in 2017 following a complaint of rape by a woman residing in Chitrakoot.
"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.
Unemployment, delivery of justice in desecration cases, illegal sand mining and drug menace are likely to be key issues in the Punjab assembly elections.
Replying to a question on the Enforcement Directorate raids at many places including at the premises of Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi's nephew, Sidhu slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre over the raids and said the ED took action after nearly four years of the registration of the case.
Family members of Bhadu Sheikh, the TMC panchayat leader whose killing on Monday is suspected to have sparked off the attack with petrol bombs on some 10 houses in Bogtui village on the outskirts of Rampurhat town, claimed that Sheikh's sons were among those arrested.
Adityanath alleged that illegal mining, including rampant extraction of sand, coal and forest resources, was flourishing under the protection of the ruling coalition, leaving Jharkhand hollowed out by mafia activities.
Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Monday came down heavily on the Uttar Pradesh government over the suspension of a woman IAS officer, who had clamped down on illegal mining in the state.
Barely a year after the killing of young IPS officer Narendra Kumar, allegedly by a member of the mining mafia, an unsuccessful attempt to run over a trainee IAS officer posted at Sabalgarh in Madhya Pradesh was made by the sand mafia on Wednesday.
The mining mafia in the district allegedly tried to attack a senior woman officer when she opposed illegal mining of sand from the area.
Four of the injured are personnel of UP police, two of them with gunshot wounds, the police said.
According to an insider, "Winning is all that matters to the BJP. The leaders were warned that he was an undesirable character but they said look at his victory margin."
Entertainers can be good politicians if they treat the citizens as the audience, and treat their job like a live show, and work hard to make sure the audience likes them, asserts Sandeep Goyal.
In an incident reminiscent of the murder of IPS officer Narendra Kumar, two members of a mining mafia on Wednesday allegedly tried to kill a police officer who was trying to stop a tractor-trolley carrying illegally mined sand.
Fifty-six days after she was summarily suspended by the Akhilesh Yadav government, Durga Shakti Nagpal, the young upright IAS sub-divisional magistrate of Greater Noida, was finally reinstated on Sunday.
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a PIL seeking the reinstatement of suspended IAS officer Durga Sakhti Nagpal, who had cracked down on illegal sand mining in Uttar Pradesh.
The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear a Public Interest Litigation seeking quashing of all proceedings against suspended Indian Administrative Service officer Durga Sakthi Nagpal, who had cracked down on illegal sand mining in Uttar Pradesh.
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Friday said he would file a defamation case against Aam Aadmi Party national convenor Arvind Kejirwal, who has dubbed him as a dishonest man after the Enforcement Directorate carried out raids at many places, including at the premises of the Congress leader's nephew.
CM Yogi Adityanath expressed condolences and directed DGP Sulkhan Singh to immediately follow up on the investigations to nab the culprits.
Aam Aadmi Party on Friday asked suspended IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal to resign from the central services and contest election against Samajwadi Party Chief Mulayum Singh Yadav from his Mainpuri parliamentary constituency.
Days after an Indian Police Service officer was killed allegedly by the mining mafia in Madhya Pradesh, a young man met a similar fate at Tisyanvilai, Tamil Nadu on Sunday when he reportedly tried to stop a lorry carrying illegally quarried sand from a river.
Geetanjali Krishna looks at how one organisation's unique idea is helping marginalised communities to gain legal access.
The Madras high court on Tuesday rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Union minister M K Alagiri's son Durai Dayanidhi, in the multi-crore illegal granite quarrying case. Dayanidhi and nine others are facing charges that companies owned by them mined sand and granite without permission.
According to the police, a Special Task Force team retaliated when the gangster, recently released from prison on bail, opened fire at them after being cornered. His car had crashed into a pole.
The ED has attached seven sugar mills worth over Rs 1,097 crore in a money laundering case against former Uttar Pradesh BSP MLC Mohammed Iqbal and his family, officials said.
A 14-year-old Indian boy, who camped out overnight on the banks of the Chambal River in Madhya Pradesh to click the winning shot of a crocodile, has bagged this year's Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award'.
Police have already arrested three persons in connection with Kothari's murder.
Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu on Wednesday once again trained his guns on former state chief minister Amarinder Singh, calling him a 'fraud,' 'coward' and a 'crybaby.'