The tax department conducts about 100-150 "full blown" searches and surveys in a financial year, and this enforcement action is not aimed towards the common taxpaying individual or entity.
Among the seizures made are three active hand grenades, two active detonators, one foreign-made pistol and 13 cartridges of foreign make, the officer said.
A Delhi court refused to order an FIR on a complaint alleging that two paintings by late artist M F Husain hurt religious sentiments, stating that no further investigation was required. The court, however, issued notice to the Delhi Art Gallery for a complaint case hearing on February 12. The paintings, featuring Hindu deities Hanuman and Ganesh, were seized by the police earlier this month following the complaint. The complainant, advocate Amita Sachdeva, argued that the paintings insulted the revered deities and constituted obscenity.
In a joint operation, the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad and the Indian Coast Guard have seized over 300 kg of drugs worth Rs 1,800 crore which were dumped into the Arabian Sea by Pakistani smugglers who fled across the international maritime boundary on being chased, officials said on Monday.
The Indian Navy will conduct a large-scale multilateral maritime engagement exercise with African countries in April, aiming to enhance interoperability with African navies and further strengthen maritime security cooperation. The exercise, titled "AIKEYME" (Africa-India Key Maritime Engagement), will see the participation of several African nations, including Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, and South Africa. The exercise is part of India's growing engagement with the Global South, as outlined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "MAHASAGAR" vision for mutual and holistic advancement in the region.
'This is the first case in which we saw use of Starlink by smugglers.'
After Singer and Rapper Honey Singh's show concluded on Saturday, the Indore Municipal Corporation seized the concert goods over alleged entertainment tax evasion.
The Bombay High Court has allowed the police investigation against comedian Kunal Kamra over his remarks against Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to continue, but has barred his arrest. The court said the investigation can continue, but Kamra will not be arrested during the pendency of the petition. The court also said that if the police wanted to record Kamra's statement, they shall do so in Chennai, where he currently resides, after giving him prior notice.
Delhi is experiencing its first heatwave of the season, with temperatures reaching 40.2 degrees Celsius. Doctors have warned that exposure to extreme heat can lead to a range of health issues, from mild rashes and muscle cramps to serious conditions like heat exhaustion and heatstroke. They advise staying hydrated, avoiding outdoor activities during peak hours, and wearing light, breathable clothes. Vulnerable groups like children, the elderly, and those with pre-existing conditions are at greater risk.
Four children died and several others fell ill, allegedly due to food poisoning at a government rehabilitation centre for children in the Para area here, officials said.
The operations revealed evidence of price and volume manipulation of stocks through the use of platforms like YouTube and WhatsApp.
A joint operation by anti-narcotics agencies led to the seizure of about 700 kg of drugs and the arrest of eight Iranian nationals from Indian territorial waters off the Gujarat coast around Porbandar on Friday.
The Supreme Court has announced it will decide in April whether to reconsider its 2022 verdict upholding the Enforcement Directorate's powers to arrest and attach property under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The court is hearing a batch of pleas seeking a review of the July 2022 verdict, which upheld the ED's powers of arrest and attachment of property involved in money laundering, search and seizure under the PMLA. The verdict came on a batch of over 200 petitions filed by individuals and other entities questioning various provisions of the PMLA.
The drugs were hidden inside plastic packets of snacks with 'Tasty Treat' and 'Chatpata Mixture' written on them. About 20-25 such packets kept in cartons were recovered from a small narrow shop in west Delhi's Ramesh Nagar area, the official said.
West Bengal CID claimed that two of its teams in New Delhi and Guwahati were restrained on Wednesday morning by the local police in the respective places from carrying out investigations into the cash seizure from three Jharkhand MLAs.
A 22-year-old man wanted for liquor smuggling was arrested in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh during the Maha Kumbh festival. Pravesh Yadav, a resident of Alwar, Rajasthan, had been evading arrest since July 2023 after being involved in a liquor smuggling operation. Police apprehended him during the Maha Kumbh, a major religious event where millions of people gather for ritual bathing at the Sangam. The arrest highlights the effective surveillance measures implemented by the police.
The Supreme Court has dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking the registration of an FIR over the alleged discovery of burnt wads of cash at the official residence of Delhi High Court judge Yashwant Varma. The court said an in-house inquiry was underway and there would be several options open to the Chief Justice of India after the probe's conclusion.
A Mumbai court has granted anticipatory bail to Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi in a case filed against him for his remarks praising Mughal ruler Aurangzeb. The court, however, cautioned Azmi to exercise restraint during interviews, warning that any irresponsible statement could spark riots. The case stems from Azmi's remarks during an interview where he praised Aurangzeb's rule and claimed that India's GDP during his reign accounted for 24 percent of the world's GDP. Azmi's lawyer argued that his client's statements were made spontaneously and without any malicious intent, while the prosecution opposed the bail plea, arguing that the remarks were made in a sensitive time following the release of a film based on the life of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, a revered Maratha king who was captured by Aurangzeb. The court noted that the investigation was at a preliminary stage and that the investigating officer did not have the video recording of the interview when the case was filed. The court also expressed concern over the potential for Azmi's remarks to incite violence.
The maiden Africa India Key Maritime Engagement exercise will be held from April 13 to 18 off the coast of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
The magistrate court has remanded the accused Pakistani national Subair, who was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau to 14 days of judicial custody.
Nearly 3,000 polling booths have been identified as sensitive, and special security arrangements, including drone surveillance, have been ensured at some of these locations.
The Border Security Force has ordered mobilisation of additional manpower at posts along the India-Pakistan border in Punjab and Jammu as part of its measures to strengthen the anti-infiltration grid and check the intrusion of drones carrying ammunition or drugs, official sources said Monday.
The world has changed and the CBI should also, the Supreme Court observed on Monday while hearing a plea seeking guidelines for probe agencies on seizure, examination and preservation of personal digital and electronic devices and their contents.
There has been an "exponential" rise in the seizure of drugs in India in the last five years with the darknet and the maritime route emerging as the most preferred modes of trafficking, NCB director general S N Pradhan said on Tuesday.
Kannada actress Ranya Rao's frequent trips to Dubai have come under intense scrutiny following her arrest for allegedly smuggling gold into India.
The Gujarat High Court dismissed a plea filed by journalist Mahesh Langa seeking the quashing of an FIR registered against him for allegedly stealing "highly sensitive and confidential documents" belonging to the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB). The court found that prima facie, Langa's involvement in the crime was evident from the evidence collected during the investigation. The court further stated that the investigation is at a nascent stage and it would be inappropriate to exercise its inherent powers in favor of the petitioner at this stage.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday took over the probe into the seizure of 2,988 kg narcotic at the Mundra port in Gujarat, an official said.
Fadnavis further said it was too early to comment on a foreign or Bangladeshi link to the riots as the probe is underway.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized its biggest-ever cryptocurrency worth Rs 1,646 crore in a money laundering investigation into a fraud investment scheme called BitConnect. The scheme, which ran between 2016 and 2018, promised investors high returns through a proprietary trading bot but was found to be a sham. The ED tracked transactions through the dark web and seized the cryptocurrency from numerous wallets. This is the agency's largest-ever seizure of virtual digital assets and the investigation is ongoing.
A remote village in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district has been declared a containment zone after 17 people from three families died under suspicious circumstances. Prohibitory orders have been imposed on all public and private gatherings in the area. The village has been divided into three containment zones with varying levels of restrictions. The incident follows a visit by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to the village on Tuesday.
Late Jammu and Kashmir Police deputy superintendent Humayun Bhat, who died in a 2023 encounter with terrorists, was posthumously awarded the President's Police Medal for Gallantry for his courageous actions during a 2021 gunfight. Bhat was earlier honored with the Kirti Chakra, the nation's second-highest peacetime gallantry award, for his role in neutralizing a top local commander of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and a Pakistani terrorist.
The Punjab government dismissed claims that it owned the car intercepted in Delhi. The vehicle's number plate was forged and fake as it can be tracked to a different car not owned by the Punjab government, it said. The AAP, too, released a statement, saying the car seizure was a "planted stunt, ?poorly executed and utterly bogus".
The unaccounted cash was seized on Monday evening near Khed-Shivapur plaza on Mumbai-Bengaluru highway during a police nakabandi.
'Anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, and other drugs suspected to be spurious were seized from the raid carried out at the firm.'
In a significant order, the Supreme Court has restrained the Enforcement Directorate from accessing and copying content from electronic devices seized during searches against Santiago Martin, also known as the 'lottery king', his relatives, and employees.
Seizures were made to stop any inducement of voters in Maharashtra, where polling will take place on November 20.
The Madras High Court has asserted that press freedom and privacy are intertwined and that surveillance constitutes an attack on the press, which is considered the fourth pillar of democracy. The court made this observation while addressing petitions filed by the Chennai Press Club and three reporters seeking protection from harassment by a police Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the leak of an FIR concerning a sexual assault case at Anna University. The court highlighted the importance of protecting journalists' sources and criticized the SIT for seizing reporters' mobile phones without justification and for failing to adequately investigate the source of the leaked FIR.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Thursday debarred Ketan Parekh, the stock market operator involved in the stock market scam of 2000, Singapore-based trader Rohit Salgaocar, and one other individual from the securities market for alleged front-running of trades of a United States (US)-based foreign portfolio investor (FPI). The FPI manages around $2.5 trillion worth of funds globally.
The poll-panel called these seizures by its various field and technical enforcement teams a "historic milestone" achieved "for the first time in any assembly electoral process", meaning during simultaneously-held assembly polls.
A special court in Thane, India, has acquitted six individuals, including a former corporator, in an extortion case. The court cited "lack of evidence" and "procedural lapses" by the prosecution, as well as "unreliable testimonies" of witnesses, as reasons for granting the accused the benefit of doubt.
