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Political Notes |
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CBI asked to expedite Telgi scam probe
The Supreme Court has directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to complete its investigation as expeditiously as possible in the 48 cases relating to the Rs. 30,000-crore Abdul Karim Telgi stamp paper scam. Of the cases, 23 are from Maharashtra, 10 from Karnataka, three each from Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, two each from Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh and one each from Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat, Kerala and West Bengal.
A Bench, comprising Justice S.B. Sinha and Justice S.H. Kapadia, gave this direction after the CBI submitted a status report on the investigation carried out so far across the country after the agency was entrusted with the cases in March this year. The Bench directed listing of the case after three months.
Earlier on March 15 the Court, hearing a petition filed by advocate Ajay Agrawal, had directed the State Governments to hand over the cases to the CBI. The status report mentioned about the prima facie evidence collected by the agency relating to the role of high officials and politicians, whose patronage was allegedly enjoyed by Telgi, the main accused.
Sangh Parivar activists stop bus carrying tribal Christians
A group of Sangh Parivar activists forcibly stopped a Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation bus taking tribal Christians from Banswara to Ajmer near the Chittorgarh railway station alleging that they were being led to a conversion ceremony on August 9.
The bus, carrying a group of 28, comprising 10 women, six extension workers and regular passengers on their way to Ajmer, was stopped at Chittorgarh by the activists. The roadways bus stand at Chittorgarh came virtually under the siege as Sangh workers reached there in large numbers following a call by their leaders. VHP and the Bajrang Dal men got into the bus and manhandled the passengers, including a tribal priest, Stephen Rawat, who is the director of the Banswara unit of the Udaipur-based Sampoorna Jeevan Vikas Samiti. Later, following police intervention, the tribals escaped the fury of slogan-shouting men, but had to return to Banswara.
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