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On April 10, the special PMLA court of PK Sharma framed charges against suspended IAS Pooja Singhal under sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Pooja Singhal
RANCHI: Suspended IAS officer Pooja Singhal, surrendered before a special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court in Ranchi on Wednesday after her bail period ended.
Pooja Singhal was sent to Birsa Munda Central jail after she surrendered.
Notably, on April 10, the special PMLA court of PK Sharma framed charges against suspended IAS Pooja Singhal under sections 3 and 4 of the PMLA.
Singhal was granted two months’ interim bail in February 2023 for the treatment of her ailing daughter. Earlier on January 3, Sinhgal was granted interim bail for a month on similar grounds.
Two days before the expiry of the bail term, she surrendered before the court on February 4 and obtained a surrender certificate. She filed a bail application with it in the Supreme Court which was allowed.
Singhal had been directed to keep away from the enforcement directorate witnesses. The court had directed Sinhgal not to try to build any pressure on the witnesses and not influence them.
Singhal had knocked on the doors of the SC after Jharkhand High Court denied bail to her on November 3, 2022.
The Enforcement Directorate, after interrogation for over 15 hours, arrested Singhal on May 11 in a money laundering case linked to alleged embezzlement of MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) funds and other charges.
ED also has provisionally attached immovable properties worth Rs 82.77 crore belonging to the former Jharkhand Mining Secretary Pooja Singhal on money laundering charges. The properties include ‘Pulse Super Speciality Hospital’, ‘Pulse Diagnostic and Imaging Centre’ and two land parcels located in Ranchi.
The ED claimed that Singhal purchased as many as 13 insurance policies by paying a premium of Rs 80.81 lakh and closed them before the completion of their tenure and got Rs 84.64 lakh against it.
The Congress leader alleged that the BJP and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah are trying to ignore the Constitution which clearly demarcates cooperative societies as a state subject.
Image used for illustrative purposes only.
NEW DELHI: The Congress won't allow a time to come when the BJP can raise the slogan of 'One Nation, One Milk', the opposition party said on Wednesday while accusing the Centre of seeking "enforced cooperation" between Amul and Karnataka Milk Federation brand Nandini.
Terming it a "brazen move" to control dairy cooperatives in states, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the party will strongly oppose the BJP's efforts to centralize control of cooperatives by replacing farmers' control with theirs.
With assembly elections just a month away in Karnataka, the Congress has trained its guns at the ruling BJP and expressed fears that Nandini, the Rs 21,000 crore brand, from the KMF, could be merged with Anand Milk Union Limited (AMUL). The BJP has emphatically rejected the charge.
"The Congress party will not allow the time to come when the BJP may raise the slogan of “One Nation, One Milk'," Ramesh said in a statement.
In its election campaign in Karnataka, and in political activities across the country, the Congress will explain to people the "sinister agenda" behind these moves and resolve to oppose them through all possible democratic means, he said.
The Congress leader alleged that the BJP and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah are trying to ignore the Constitution which clearly demarcates cooperative societies as a state subject.
In December last year, Shah had said during the inauguration of KMF's mega-dairy in Mandya that "cooperation between Amul and Nandini can do wonders in the dairy sector."
Gujarat-based dairy cooperative Amul announced on April 5 that it would enter the Karnataka market to supply its milk and curd.
In his statement, Ramesh alleged that Shah's "enforced cooperation" between Amul and Nandini is a "brazen move by BJP to control dairy cooperatives in states."
Noting that Amul and Nandini are both national success stories of the White Revolution, Ramesh said it was started by Verghese Kurien in Anand and spread across India when prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri established the National Dairy Development Board in 1965.
"The network of cooperatives in each state aimed to empower the dairy farmer, as exemplified by Dr. Kurien's mantra, 'I am an employee of the farmer'," Ramesh said.
He said the Congress helped nurture this decentralized vision over decades, empowering and ensuring autonomy to crores of dairy farmers.
"In sharp contrast, Amit Shah imagines a small collection of centralized organizations under his direct command and control. This is the agenda of the new Union Ministry of Cooperation which Shah heads," Ramesh alleged.
This is why Shah wishes that Amul merges with five other cooperative societies to form a multi-state cooperative society involving two lakh rural diaries, he claimed.
Ramesh also shared a chronology of events, including in it the establishment of the Ministry of Cooperation in July 2021, when Shah given its charge and his announcement that Amul will merge with five other cooperative societies.
"As the chronology shows, PM Modi and his government are following their usual practice. They are establishing their total control, ignoring the Constitution which clearly demarcates cooperative societies as a state subject," Ramesh alleged.
Nandini, Amul, and other cooperatives like OMFED, Mother Dairy, Vijaya and Aavin, empower farmers and help them prosper, Ramesh asserted.
For example, the KMF, which markets Nandini, is a federation of 14,000 cooperative societies organized into 14 unions and its 24 lakh members earn over Rs 17 crore a day, Ramesh said.
"Amit Shah and the BJP wish to replace the farmers' control with their control by consolidating these historic societies into new multi-state cooperative societies," the Congress leader alleged He went on to add that the attempt to compel KMF to act against its commercial interests is only a step towards the intended goal where all dairy unions become a political arm of the BJP.
"Decisions will not be made in Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Chennai or Pune, but in Delhi by Amit Shah, the Minister of Cooperation," he claimed This will disempower dairy farmers and will ultimately threaten their incomes and livelihoods, Ramesh said.
"This pattern has been seen before. Karnataka, for example, saw Vijaya Bank, one of the most successful public sector banks, merge with the loss-making Bank of Baroda. Similarly, the State Bank of Mysore merged with SBI and Corporation Bank merged with Union Bank, leaving only one public sector bank with its head office in Karnataka," he said.
He asserted that the Congress has always supported a federal and decentralized vision of India, and strongly opposes "Amit Shah and the BJP's efforts of centralized control".
In a phone conversation with President Zelenskyy on October 4 last year, Modi said that there can be "no military solution" and that India is ready to contribute to any peace efforts.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
NEW DELHI: Ukraine's First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova has conveyed to her Indian interlocutors Kyiv's desire to build a stronger and closer relationship with New Delhi.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Wednesday said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Dzhaparova handed over the letter to the Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture Meenakshi Lekhi during a meeting on Tuesday.
The MEA said the next round of foreign office consultations between the two sides will be held in Kyiv on a mutually convenient date. The First Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine wrapped up her three-day visit to India on Wednesday.
It was the first visit from Ukraine to India after Russia began its invasion of the East European country on February 24 last year.
The MEA said Ukraine requested for additional humanitarian supplies, including medicines and medical equipment. In her meeting with Secretary (West) in the MEA Sanjay Verma, the Ukrainian deputy foreign minister also proposed that rebuilding infrastructure in Ukraine could be an opportunity for Indian companies.
"Dzhaparova, during her visit, highlighted Ukraine's desire to build a stronger and closer relationship with India," the MEA said in a statement.
It said Dzhaparova's visit to India would facilitate cooperation between the two countries.
"Besides holding a discussion on a wide range of bilateral and international issues of mutual interest, she handed over a letter from President Zelenskyy, addressed to Prime Minister Modi," the MEA said on the Lekhi-Dzhaparova meeting.
On talks between Verma and Dzhaparova, the MEA said the bilateral agenda included spheres such as economic, defence, humanitarian assistance, and global issues of mutual interest.
"She briefed Secretary (West) about the prevailing situation in Ukraine. The two sides agreed to hold the next round of Foreign Office Consultations in Kyiv on a mutually convenient date," it said.
The MEA said Verma shared that India has provided medicines, medical equipment and would provide school buses, etc. to Ukraine.
The MEA said the next meeting of the Inter-governmental commission between the two sides would be held in India.
"On the issue of Indian medical students, the deputy foreign minister mentioned that Ukraine will allow foreign medical students to take the Unified State Qualification Exam in their country of domicile," the MEA said.
Since the Ukraine conflict began in February last year, Prime Minister Modi spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as Ukrainian leader Zelenskyy a number of times.
In a phone conversation with President Zelenskyy on October 4 last year, Modi said that there can be "no military solution" and that India is ready to contribute to any peace efforts.
India has not yet condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and it has been maintaining that the crisis must be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue.
