Former Home Minister of Maharashtra Anil Deshmukh on Wednesday failed to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) consecutively for the fifth time in the whole money laundering probe against him. It was with respect to the infamous ‘100 crores hafta wasooli’ gate that ED had issued fresh summons to former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh and his son Hrishikesh on Tuesday to appear before it on Wednesday.

Skipping summons Anil Deshmukh submitted his response to the central agency via his lawyer Inderpal Singh who reached the agency’s Mumbai office around about 11.00 am. “We have again and again asked ED to wait and let Supreme Court hearing get over, and that’s what we submitted today! Our plea has been filed in the apex court and we have been allowed to take recourse. Our matter will be heard soon We have told ED to wait until the hearing happens and we have asked for time,” said Inderpal Singh while speaking to media outside the ED office.

The response submitted stated that as per the Supreme Court order of August 16, “It will be open to the petitioners to take recourse to appropriate remedies available under the Criminal Procedure Code including by way of quashing petition if so advised.” The letter submitted also mentions that Anil Deshmukh is a law-abiding citizen who shall never shirk away from rendering all necessary cooperation and assistance for any investigation.

“However, it is a fundamental right to avail constitutional remedies where there is a violation of the procedure or excesses are committed or malice in fact, as well as malice in law, is apparent in the face of the record,” it added.

This comes after on Monday, the SC refused to grant Deshmukh interim protection from arrest in the money laundering case and said that he can avail remedy under CrPC and approach the appropriate forum for relief. Deshmukh in past has skipped all the previous summons by the agency to present himself. The ED has alleged that Rs 4.7 crore collected from orchestra bars by dismissed cop Sachin Waze, allegedly on Deshmukh`s instructions, was transferred to the former minister`s Nagpur- based educational trust by his son.

Governing Board members and senior member broadcasters of News Broadcasters Federation (NBF), India’s largest body of news broadcasters, held a productive meeting with Union Information & Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Tuesday.

The Governing Board of the NBF apprised the Union Minister of key issues faced by the news industry, the recent growth and trends in the news broadcasting sector, and the challenges facing the news broadcasting industry in recent times.

During the meeting, members of the NBF highlighted the need for the immediate resumption of viewership ratings for the news genre, which have been unilaterally paused and have severely impacted the sustainability of news channels.

Anurag Thakur said, “It was a pleasure to meet and exchange views with the NBF governing board led by Mr Arnab Goswami. It was a productive exchange of views and I look forward to engaging with the NBF on issues regarding news broadcasting and the role of news broadcasting in strengthening our democracy.”

Kartikeya Sharma, Promoter of ITV Network and Vice-President of the NBF, said, “It was a very positive meeting with the Minister. The Minister heard out all the matters raised by various members of the NBF. I would like to thank the Minister for hearing the viewpoints of all news channels from across India and from regional channels as well.”

Arnab Goswami, founding president of the NBF, spoke on the occasion and said, “The meeting of NBF members with the Minister was a wonderful opportunity to apprise him about the steps we have taken to build India’s largest federation of news broadcasters.”

Barun Das, Group CEO of News9 Network and Vice President of the NBF, said, “It was a pleasure to be a part of the NBF delegation to meet the honourable minister of I&B. The highly competitive news TV genre certainly needs a level-playing field for new promising players both in the national arena and regional markets.”

In its meeting with the Minister, the NBF also submitted that it is essential for news viewership ratings to be released.

Shankar Bala, CEO of Fourth Dimension and Vice President of the NBF, after the meeting with the Minister said, “Whatever the issues were, those were addressed. We have particularly stated that it is essential to release the viewership ratings for news channels, which were unilaterally stopped. The resumption of the publication of news ratings will ensure fair play and measurement-driven competitive news industry. We have a lot of expectations after our talks.”

After the meeting, Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, Managing Director of Pride East Entertainments, said, “As a team, NBF put forth the problems we tend to face and the ways in which we want to raise and address our concerns. At least, we can go forward and help regional industries survive, like ours. The Minister gave us a patient hearing and we are very grateful to the Ministry.”

The NBF delegation included Kartikeya Sharma, Founder/ Promoter of ITV Network, Arnab Goswami, Editor-in-Chief of the Republic Media Network, Barun Das, CEO of the TV9 News Network, Sanjive Narain, Founder/Managing Director of Prag News, Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, Chairperson/ Managing Director of Pride East Entertainment, Shankar Bala, CEO, Fourth Dimension, Hemant Sharma, News Director of TV9 Bharatvarsh, Manoj Gairola, Editor-in-Chief of News Nation, Mahendra Bhatla, Chairperson of MHOne, Divaakar S., Business Head of Newsfirst Kannada, R. Jai Krishna, Secretary-General of NBF and Eshita, Associate for Policy and Regulations of NBF.

Goa CM Pramod Sawant has said that he would write to the Centre urging it to allow the landing of inbound international chartered flights at Goa International Airport, Dabolim, as the coastal state is mulling to open an international tourism sector.

He said, “It (allowing international charter flights) is in the purview of the government of India. Until the government of India permits, we cannot start charter flights. We have requested the MHA and the Union tourism ministry about this. We are also writing to them this time.”

The Chief Minister said the time had come to think positively about re-opening the tourism sector in the state.

“We want to think about it positively by following proper SOPs and precautions. Till now we have not finalised,” he said.

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday gave interim relief against arrest to businessperson and husband of actress Shilpa Shetty, Raj Kundra, in a November 2020 case registered by the Nodal Cyber police station in Mumbai for alleged distribution of obscene and explicit content.

Kundra, who is behind bars in a similar case related to adult films filed by the Mumbai police crime branch, approached the HC after the sessions court rejected his pre-arrest bail plea earlier this month. Kundra has sought pre-arrest bail in the October 2020 FIR registered by the Cyber Crime department of Mumbai Police in connection with broadcasting of nude erotic content on OTT platform.

The offences in the FIR were Sections 292, 293 (sale of obscene material) under the Indian Penal Code, Sections 66E, 67, 67A (transmission of sexually explicit material) under the Information Technology Act and provisions of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act.

A single-judge bench of Justice Sandeep K. Shinde was hearing the anticipatory bail plea by Kundra in the 2020 case. He directed an interim order protecting Kundra from arrest till the next hearing date which is August 25, 2021. Kundra submitted that he was falsely implicated in the case.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has urged the people of the state to participate in the vaccination drive against Covid-19 so that the spread of this pandemic could be checked against a third possible wave. He said that the state government has launched the vaccination campaign on a large scale and Himachal Pradesh was among the leading states in this campaign. The Chief Minister said that the state government was fully geared up to handle the situation and all arrangements have been made to tackle a third possible wave of this pandemic effectively.

The Himachal Pradesh government can impose more restrictions keeping in view the rising Covid-19 cases in the state. The government is further planning to increase strictness on wedding ceremonies, religious festivals and political gathering in the state also. The government is worried about the rapidly increasing cases in Himachal. Health Secretary Amitabh Awasthi said that Himachal has a strong health infrastructure to deal with the possible third wave, but the increase in cases is worrying.

Himachal ranks first in vaccination; so far 90 percent of the population in the state has received the first dose of corona vaccine. With the increasing cases of corona infection in the state for the last several days; the government is now preparing to impose more restrictions. Several restrictions can also be put in place to control the overcrowding. Himachal Pradesh is also is among select states of the country where the numbers of Covid cases and reproduction and positivity rate are on the higher side. And this is the reason why the government has implemented the mandatory vaccination along with RT-PCR report for all the people coming to the state.

Health Secretary Amitabh Awasthi said that even after imposing some restrictions in the state, Covid-19 cases are showing an increasing trend ,so restrictions can be imposed in the coming days to control the crowd in marriage ceremonies, festivals, political programmes. The Health Department is preparing a proposal regarding this, and the final decision will be taken in the cabinet.

Meanwhile, in view of the increasing cases of Covid-19, the state government has made it mandatory to register again for people entering Himachal. According to the orders issued by the State Disaster Management Cell on Wednesday, all types of inter-state movement in the state will be monitored through registration on the government’s Covid e-pass portal.

After Sambhal MP Shafiqur Rehman of the Samajwadi Party, Muslim Personal Law Board spokesman Sajjad Nomani has also come out in support of the Taliban. On Wednesday, he issued a statement justifying the Taliban›s occupation of Afghanistan. He said that the Taliban has defeated the strongest forces of the whole world. These youths have kissed the land of Kabul. He thanked Allah for the victory of the Taliban. 

Sajjad Nomani said, “August 15 has been recorded in history. In Afghanistan, the Taliban defeated the world›s greatest power without weapons and without any science. The way they entered the Rashtrapati Bhavan in Kabul, they did not show any kind of pride.” This comes a day after a Samajwadi Party MP defended the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, equating it with India›s own freedom struggle.

Speaking to media on Tuesday, Rahman said that the Taliban have only recaptured the land that originally belonged to them. He said that just like India›s freedom fighters who fought against British rule, the Taliban fought against countries like the US to free their land and run the country as they wanted.  

“When India was under British rule, our country fought for freedom. Now the Taliban wants to free their country and run it. Taliban is a force that did not allow even strong countries like Russia and America to settle in their country,» he added.

Speaking to media, Superintendent of Police Sambhal Chakresh Mishra said on Wednesday that he was charged under Indian Penal Code section 124A (sedition) after BJP leader Rajesh Singhal on Tuesday filed a complaint.  The MP has been also booked under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language) and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), Mishra said.