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Supreme Court Grants Bail To Real Estate Firm Owners In Money Laundering Case

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Supreme Court Grants Bail To Real Estate Firm Owners In Money Laundering Case

Th two were earlier arrested by Enforcement Directorate in connection with money laundering probe.

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to Basant Bansal and Pankaj Bansal, directors of Gurugram-based realty group M3M, in a money laundering case.

A bench of justices A S Bopanna and Sanjay Kumar, which had reserved the verdict on September 11 after hearing submissions of lawyers, granted the relief to the directors of the realty firm.

The Bansals had moved the top court against the July 20 order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court which had dismissed their bail pleas, saying the case is quite serious in nature.

Basant and Pankaj Bansal were earlier arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the money laundering probe linked to the alleged bribery case.

The top court on August 11 had sought responses from the Centre and the Enforcement Directorate on the bail plea of the accused directors against the high court order refusing to release them on bail in the ED’s probe linked to an alleged bribery case against a former judge.

The money laundering case in which Basant Bansal and Pankaj Bansal have been arrested pertains to an FIR filed by the anti-corruption bureau of the Haryana Police in April against Sudhir Parmar, a former special judge for ED and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) cases who was posted in Panchkula, his nephew and a third M3M group director Roop Kumar Bansal.

According to the FIR, the ED said, reliable information was received that Parmar was allegedly showing “favouritism” to accused Roop Kumar Bansal, his brother Basant Bansal and real estate firm IREO owner Lalit Goyal in the ED and CBI cases pending against them in his court.

Parmar was suspended by the Punjab and Haryana High Court after the registration of the ACB case.

The ED has said it has collected “incriminating evidence such as bank statements and money trail, etc.” with respect to the allegations in the FIR before making the arrests. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

India

SC to hear pleas challenging Patna HC order on Bihar caste survey on Oct 6

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A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that it has listed the pleas for hearing

Published Date – 01:00 PM, Tue – 3 October 23


SC to hear pleas challenging Patna HC order on Bihar caste survey on Oct 6



New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that it will hear on October 6 pleas challenging the Patna High Court’s August 1 order giving the go-ahead for a caste survey in Bihar.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that it has listed the pleas for hearing.

The bench made the remark after Mehta sought adjournment in a different matter pertaining to the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd and sought listing it on Friday.

On Monday, the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar released findings of its much-awaited caste survey months ahead of the 2024 Parliamentary elections, which revealed that OBCs and EBCs constitute a whopping 63 per cent of the state’s total population.

According to the data released, the state’s total population stood at a little over 13.07 crore, out of which the Extremely Backward Classes (36 per cent) were the largest social segment followed by the Other Backward Classes at 27.13 per cent.

The survey also stated that Yadavs, the OBC group to which Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav belongs, were the largest in terms of the population, accounting for 14.27 per cent of the total.

Dalits, also known as the Scheduled Castes, accounted for 19.65 per cent of the total population in the state, which is also home to nearly 22 lakh (1.68 per cent) people belonging to the Scheduled Tribes.

On September 6, the top court had deferred for October 3 the hearing on pleas challenging the Patna High Court’s August 1 order giving the go-ahead for a caste survey in Bihar.

On August 7, the top court had refused to stay the Patna High Court’s order giving the go-ahead for a caste survey in Bihar, and deferred the hearing on petitions challenging it to August 14.

Besides a plea by NGO ‘Ek Soch Ek Paryas’, several other petitions have been filed including one by Nalanda resident Akhilesh Kumar, who has contended that the notification issued by the state government for the exercise is against the constitutional mandate.

Kumar’s petition says in terms of the constitutional mandate, only the Union government is empowered to conduct a census.

The high court had said in its 101-page verdict, “We find the action of the state to be perfectly valid, initiated with due competence with the legitimate aim of providing development with justice.”

A day after the high court held the caste survey as “valid”, the state government had swung into action and suspended all ongoing training programmes for teachers so they can be engaged for early completion of the exercise.

The Nitish Kumar government had said on August 25 that the survey has been completed and data will be made public soon.

Senior advocate C S Vaidyanathan, who represents a petitioner in the case, had opposed making the data public, contending it will infringe people’s right to privacy.

Top News

Paris Crawling With Bedbugs As French Capital Prepares To Host Olympics

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Paris Crawling With Bedbugs As French Capital Prepares To Host Olympics Next Year

Videos of bedbugs in Paris Metro have gone viral on social media.

France’s capital Paris is battling an invasion of bedbugs, just 10 months before the 2024 Summer Olympics. The tiny pests were first spotted in hotels and rental apartments across the city during the summer. Then, moviegoers were disgusted by these bugs in theatres and now, social media users have reported bedbugs crawling around on seats in high-speed trains and Paris Metro. Photos and videos of bedbugs in the Metro train are going viral on X (formerly) with passengers warning others to pay attention before sitting on a seat or dropping their bags.

France24 said in a report that country’s transport minister Clement Beaune has vowed to “protect” the public from the menace by holding a meeting of public transport operators.

Bedbugs had disappeared from daily life in France in 1950s, but their resurgence is mostly due to high population density and more mass transit.

Paris city hall has urged President Emmanuel Macron to take measures to check the infestation, including creating a dedicated task force, said the outlet.

But despite these voices, Paris’ deputy mayor Emmanuel Gregoire said that there is “no threat to the Olympic Games”, and urged everyone to work together to solve the issue. “Bedbugs existed before and they will exist afterward,” he added.

Transport operators have said they will remain “extremely vigilant” and The Local France said there have been no more recent sightings since the one caught on camera by a passenger last week.

Companies specialising in clearing insect infestation say they have been overwhelmed in recent weeks. One visit costs several hundreds of dollars and the pest control operation often needs to be repeated.

These blood-sucking pests have been given the name bedbugs because they have a habit of nesting in mattresses. They come out at night to feed on human blood.

Top News

Asian Games: India secures win in squash mixed doubles pool A and D match

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Squash players Dipika Pallikal-Harinder Pal Singh and Anahat Singh-Abhay Singh secured a win for India

Published Date – 12:50 PM, Tue – 3 October 23


Asian Games: India secures win in squash mixed doubles pool A and D match



Hangzhou: Squash players Dipika Pallikal-Harinder Pal Singh and Anahat Singh-Abhay Singh secured a win for India in the mixed doubles pool A and D match at the ongoing Asian Games in Hangzhou on Tuesday.

In the pool A match, Dipika and Harinder teamed up to beat Japan’s Risa Sugimoto and Tomotaka Endo by 2-0. The Dipika-Harinder duo dominated the game from the very first set and clinched a win in straight two sets by 11-5, and 11-5.

Meanwhile, the Anahat-Abhay duo defeated Hong Kong’s Tsz Wing Tong and Ming Hong Tang by 2-0.

Again India dominated and sealed the game in straight two sets by 11-10, and 11-8. However, in the first set, Hong Kong tried to make a comeback but the Indians made no mistake.

The Indian players have been displaying a stellar performance at the Hangzhou Games. Earlier, Saurav Ghosal stormed into the quarterfinals of men’s single as he defeated his opponent in three straight games with scores of 11-4, 11-4, and 11-6.

Last Saturday, India’s men’s squash team of Mahesh Mangaonkar, Saurav Ghosal and Abhay Singh clinched a gold medal after defeating Pakistan 2-1 in a high-intensity final at the Asian Games.

Business

World Bank maintains India’s 2023-24 GDP growth at 6.3 pc-Telangana Today

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The World Bank in its April report had cut India’s growth forecast for 2023-24 to 6.3 per cent from the earlier 6.6 per cent

Published Date – 12:40 PM, Tue – 3 October 23


World Bank maintains India’s 2023-24 GDP growth at 6.3 pc



New Delhi: The World Bank has retained India’s GDP growth forecast for the financial year 2023-24 at 6.3 per cent and noted that the country continued to show resilience against the backdrop of a challenging global environment.

The World Bank in its April report had cut India’s growth forecast for 2023-24 to 6.3 per cent from the earlier 6.6 per cent.

According to the World Bank’s latest India Development Update (IDU) released Tuesday, the international financial institution’s flagship half-yearly report on the Indian economy, observed that despite significant global challenges, India was one of the fastest-growing major economies in 2022-23 at 7.2 per cent.

“India’s growth rate was the second highest among G20 countries and almost twice the average for emerging market economies. This resilience was underpinned by robust domestic demand, strong public infrastructure investment and a strengthening financial sector,” World Bank said.

This fiscal, bank credit in India grew 15.8 per cent in the first quarter compared with 13.3 per cent in the first quarter of previous fiscal.

India’s service sector activity is expected to remain strong with growth of 7.4 per cent and investment growth is also projected to remain robust at 8.9 per cent.

“An adverse global environment will continue to pose challenges in the short-term, ” said Auguste Tano Kouame, World Bank’s Country Director in India.

“Tapping public spending that crowds in more private investments will create more favourable conditions for India to seize global opportunities in the future and thus achieve higher growth.”

The World Bank expects that global headwinds will continue to persist and intensify due to high global interest rates, geopolitical tensions, and sluggish global demand and as a result, global economic growth is also set to slow down over the medium term.

About adverse weather conditions in India that contributed to a spike in inflation in recent months, World Bank in the report said the price rise is expected to decrease gradually as food prices normalize and government measures increase the supply of key commodities.

“While the spike in headline inflation may temporarily constrain consumption, we project a moderation. Overall conditions will remain conducive for private investment,” said Dhruv Sharma, Senior Economist, at the World Bank, and lead author of the report.

“The volume of foreign direct investment is also likely to grow in India as rebalancing of the global value chain continues.” Headline inflation in India rose to 7.8 per cent in July due to a surge in prices of food items like wheat and rice, to later fall to 6.8 per cent in August.

Further, the World Bank expects fiscal consolidation to continue in 2023-24 with the central government fiscal deficit projected to continue to decline from 6.4 per cent to 5.9 per cent of GDP.

Public debt is expected to stabilize at 83 per cent of GDP. On the external front, the current account deficit is expected to narrow to 1.4 per cent of GDP, and it will be adequately financed by foreign investment flows and supported by large foreign reserves.

World

Over 200,000 migrants apprehended at US-Mexico border in Sep, highest in 2023

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The latest figure marked an increase from August, when Border Patrol arrested around 181,000 migrants crossing between ports of entry

Published Date – 12:30 PM, Tue – 3 October 23


Over 200,000 migrants apprehended at US-Mexico border in Sep, highest in 2023



Washington: US Border Patrol apprehended more than 200,000 migrants crossing the country’s border with Mexico unlawfully in September, marking the highest so far this year, according to an official from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The latest figure marked an increase from August, when Border Patrol arrested around 181,000 migrants crossing between ports of entry, reports CNN.

September’s tally is the highest since December 2022, when more than 222,000 migrants were apprehended.

“We remain vigilant and expect to see fluctuations, knowing that smugglers continue to use misinformation to prey on vulnerable individuals,” CNN quoted the DHS spokesperson as saying “DHS has used its executive authorities to improve processing, strengthen consequences at the border, and more quickly remove individuals who fail to establish a lawful basis to remain in the country.”

The spokesperson also said that the Department has repatriated more than 281,000 individuals since May while ‘expanding refugee processing and family reunification options’.

This week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, Attorney General Merrick Garland and White House Homeland Security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall will meet with their Mexican counterparts in Mexico City for annual security talks, during which migration is said to be a main point of discussion.

Middle East

Two injured after Israeli regime attacked Iraq-Syria border

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Israeli regime’s fighter jets bombed the positions of the Hashd al-Shaabi Resistance group in the Al Bukamal region early Tuesday.

According to local Syrian sources, at least four attacks have been carried out on Hashd al-Shaabi positions in Al Bukamal.

Meanwhile, SANA reported that the airstrike carried out by the Zionist enemy left two soldiers injured and caused material damage as well.

The Israeli regime’s violations and attacks against various areas in Syria continue, despite the Syrian government repeatedly calling on international forums, including the United Nations, to condemn the Israeli aggressions and take action to stop them.

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Business

Markets fall in early trade on unabated foreign fund outflows-Telangana Today

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Equity benchmark indices declined in early trade on Tuesday amid unabated foreign fund outflows and sluggish Asian market cues

Published Date – 12:20 PM, Tue – 3 October 23


Markets fall in early trade on unabated foreign fund outflows



Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices declined in early trade on Tuesday amid unabated foreign fund outflows and sluggish Asian market cues.

Fall in index majors Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank also dragged the benchmark indices lower.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 347.09 points to 65,481.32. The Nifty declined 117.3 points to 19,521.
Among the Sensex firms, Maruti, State Bank of India, JSW Steel, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, ITC, Reliance Industries and NTPC were the major laggards.

Asian Paints, Hindustan Unilever, UltraTech Cement and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the gainers.

In Asian markets, Tokyo and Hong Kong were quoting lower while Shanghai traded in the green.
The US markets ended mostly in the green on Monday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.89 per cent to USD 89.90 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,685.70 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

FPIs (Foreign Portfolio Investors) turned net sellers and pulled out over Rs 14,767 crore from the Indian equities in September, primarily due to dollar appreciation, steady rise in the US bond yields, and a spike in crude oil prices.

Equity markets were closed on Monday on account of Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti.

“There are mixed cues for the October series, which historically has been a good month for markets. The major negative for the near-term will continue to be the sustained FII selling. The dollar index rising above 107 and the US 10-year bond yield at 16-year high of 4.68 per cent are major headwinds for the market since FIIs are likely to continue selling in response to the rising dollar and US bond yields.

“But, on the positive side, the bulls will be emboldened to buy on the back of the tailwind of the 5 per cent crash in Brent crude prices,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

The BSE benchmark had climbed 320.09 points or 0.49 per cent to settle at 65,828.41 on Friday. The Nifty advanced 114.75 points or 0.59 per cent to end at 19,638.30.