A GST official in Maharashtra’s Mumbai was booked by the CBI after he allegedly took a bribe from a jailed gold dealer and absconded with the money, officials said on Friday.

According to reports, the accused GST official, Dhirendra Kumar, who is posted as the Superintendent of Anti-Eviction Wing of Central GST, along with two others— Amrutlal Shankhala and Baban—were booked by the Anti-corruption wing of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), for allegedly absonding with Rs 25 lakh in bribe money.

They said that on April 20, one Jitendra Lunawat—a Mumbai-based businessman—had filed a complaint with the CBI on behalf of his friend Arpit Jagetia, who had reportedly been taken into custody by Central GST officials for questioning.

Lunawat in his complaint that the accused GST official, Dhirendra Kumar, allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 1 crore from Jagetia and harassed the gold dealer in custody.

The Central GST had registered a case against Jagetia—a gold dealer—in connection with alleged irregularities in transactions between Shree Bullion and other companies in the bullion market.

According to the FIR which was filed by the CBI based on Lunawat’s complaint, Dhirendra Kumar forcibly took Jagetia into custody from Sarafa Bazar in the Kalba Devi area on April 20 and then allegedly harassed him in custody while also threatening to put him behind bars in a fake case if he did not pay a bribe of Rs 1 crore.

As per the FIR, Lunawat said that Jagetia called him after he was let off by the GST officials and narrated the entire incident to his friend. Lunawat claimed that in a bid to help his friend, he met with the accused GST official and managed to negotiate the bribe amount to Rs 25 lakhs from the earlier Rs 1 crore demanded by Kumar.

Luckily, Lunawat recorded the entire phone conversation and later used it as supporting evidence to his complaint.

The businessman then arrived at the the Central GST office in Churchgate with Rs 25 lakh in cash to free his friend, however, before he could enter the GST office,  the bag containing the bribe amount was allegedly snatched by some random bike-borne man, who later turned out to be Amrutlal Shankhala, as revealed by nearby security camera footage.

A CBI official said that during investigation, it was revealed that Shankala, who owns a small-time jewelry shop in Antop Hill, was a close associate of the prime accused, Dhirendra Kumar.

The official said that another accused, Baban, who worked at Shankala’s shop, was also absconding along with Dhirendra Kumar and Shankala, adding that a manhunt has been launched to nab all three accused.

Environmental watchdog  National Green Tribunal (NGT) has slapped a hefty Rs 4,000 crore fine on state of Bihar for its failure to manage solid and liquid waste in a scientific manner.

An NGT bench comprising of chairperson Justice A K Goel, Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi along with experts Afroz Ahmad and A Senthil Vel, imposed Rs 4,000 crore environmental compensation on Bihar and directed the state to deposit the fine in a ring-fenced account within two months.

The said amount was to be operated according to the chief secretary’s directions only for waste management in the state of Bihar, the bench said.

The NGT bench said the fine has been imposed on the “polluter pays principle” for Bihar’s failure to scientifically manage the liquid and solid waste in violation of the mandate of law, particularly judgments of the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal, adding that the amount will be utilized for setting up of setting up solid waste processing facilities, remediation of legacy waste and setting up of sewage treatment plants, and faecal sludge and septage treatment plants so there remains no gap.

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The green tribunal bench noted that Bihar has a legacy waste of over 11.74 lakh metric tonnes as well as unprocessed urban waste of 4072 metric tonnes per day and the gap in liquid waste generation and treatment was 2,193 million litres per day.

The bench urged the state to find better alternatives to utilize the wet waste for composting and explore appropriate locations for the same, adding that the scale of expenditure for sewage treatment plants may be reviewed in the light of realistic expenses involved in decentralized/traditional systems or otherwise.

Bihar capital Patna along with six other cities— Darbhanga, Gaya, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur, Chhapra and Hajipur— are ranked among the 50 most polluted cities in the world, as per an IQAir report.

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Indians are gearing up to see the first Lunar Eclipse or Chandra Grahan of 2023 today. The Lunar Eclipse this year will be a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse.

The phenomenon will occur only a few weeks after the rare Hybrid Solar Eclipse (the first Surya Grahan of 2023) that took place on April 20, Thursday.

The celestial occurrence occurs when the Moon passes deep into the outer portion of the Earth’s shadow, known as the Penumbra. This time, the Moon will just miss the darker, inner section of Earth’s shadow known as the Umbra.

Lunar Eclipse 2023: Where will it be visible?

The Penumbral Lunar Eclipse will be visible from all over India, Asia, Australia, Russia, Central and Eastern Africa, Antarctica and parts of Europe.

Penumbral Eclipse will not be visible at all from North America, South America and some parts of Europe as the Moon will be below the horizon for the entire time Earth is in the shadow of the Moon.

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Chandra Grahan 2023: Timings

Lunar Eclipse Starts: May 5, 2023 – 08:44 pm (IST)
Lunar Eclipse Ends: May 6, 2023 – 01:01 am (IST)
Lunar Eclipse Peak Time: May 5, 2023 – 10:52 pm (IST)

Chandra Grahan 2023: City-wise Timings

Chandra Grahan 2023: Duration of different phases

Total Phase – 1 hour 24 minutes 28 seconds
Partial Phase – 3 Hours 38 Minutes 35 Seconds
Penumbral Phase – 5 Hours 52 Minutes 2 Seconds

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