ED attaches Mumbai property worth ₹3,716 crore linked to Anil Ambani

MUMBAI, Feb 25: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) provisionally attached the Pali Hill residential property worth ₹3,716.83 crore linked to businessman Anil Ambani in connection with the alleged Reliance Communications Limited (RCom) bank fraud case on Wednesday. The cumulative value of the attachment with respect to the group now stands at over ₹15,700 crore.

Earlier, a part of the Mumbai property named ‘Abode’, worth ₹473.17 crore, had been attached by the agency. The ED probe is based on a First Information Report registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation against RCom, Ambani and others. As alleged, RCom and its group companies had taken loans from domestic and foreign lenders, of which a total amount of ₹40,185 crore is outstanding.

“ED investigation has revealed that among other assets, the Pali Hill property was aggregated into the RiseE Trust – a private family Trust of the members of Anil Ambani’s family. This was done to make it appear as though Anil Ambani is not involved,” said the ED on Wednesday.

According to an agency, the intended effect of the corporate restructuring was to ensure wealth preservation and resource generation by aggregation of the property in the RiseE trust and shield it from the personal liabilities of Ambani in the form of personal guarantees extended by him to lender banks against the loans sanctioned to RCom.

“The property was intended to be beneficially used and owned by the Anil Ambani family and not for the distressed public banks whose loans turned NPA (non-performing asset),” it said.

Lok Sabha Speaker constitutes Parliamentary Friendship Groups with 64 countries

NEW DELHI, Feb 24: In a major step to deepen India’s parliamentary engagement across the world, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has constituted ‘Parliamentary Friendship Groups’, aimed at strengthening inter‑parliamentary cooperation and legislative dialogue, with more than 60 countries.

A wide spectrum of political leaders are a part of the groups. Senior political leaders, including Ravi Shankar Prasad, M. Thambidurai, P. Chidambaram, Ram Gopal Yadav, T.R. Baalu, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Gaurav Gogoi, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, Manish Tiwari, Derek O’Brien, Abhishek Banerjee, Asaduddin Owaisi, Akhilesh Yadav, K.C. Venugopal, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Supriya Sule, Sanjay Singh, Baijayant Panda, Shashi Tharoor, Nishikant Dubey, Anurag Singh Thakur, Bhartruhari Mahtab, D. Purandeswari, Hema Malini, Biplab Kumar Deb, and others will lead these groups.

The first phase involves engagements with countries, including Sri Lanka, Germany, New Zealand, Switzerland, South Africa, Bhutan, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the Maldives, the U.S., Russia, members of the European Parliament, South Korea, Nepal, the U.K., France, Japan, Italy, Australia, Greece, Singapore, Brazil, Vietnam, Mexico, Iran, and the UAE. These groups are expected to facilitate regular dialogue, exchange of legislative practices, and cooperation on trade, technology, culture, and shared global challenges.

The initiative seeks to build on the Centre’s post-Operation Sindoor outreach, which saw multi‑party delegations representing India abroad in a unified manner on issues of national interest.

3 Terrorists Shot Dead In J&K

SRINAGAR, Feb 22: A most wanted terrorist of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed was among three terrorists who were shot dead by the security forces during an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar today.

The JeM terrorist, Saifullah, had been on the run in the region for the last two years and evaded his end at least 20 times, sources said.

The operation began after the security forces received excellent intelligence about the movement of the terrorists, sources said. The encounter began when the terrorists opened up while the security forces moved in to set up an assault.

The terrorists had been hiding inside a mud house on a hillside.

The security forces retaliated with effective fire, sources said. Those who took down the terrorists included the state police, CRPF and special forces.

Two assault rifles and supplies were recovered from the encounter site. Another key Jaish terrorist Adil was recently shot dead by the security forces in the same area.

The Chatroo forest belt saw nearly half-a-dozen encounters last month.

Operation Trashi-I, launched in January, has focused on challenging forested and mountainous areas of Kishtwar, including Chatroo, Sonnar, Dolgam and Dichhar, involving multiple searches and assaults.

2 IEDs found in Punjab and Kashmir after Lashkar Delhi terror plot warning

NEW DELHI, Feb 21: Two IEDs were found in Punjab and Kashmir as security agencies sounded a high alert, warning of a possible terror attack by Pakistan-based outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in Delhi. While authorities have not linked the IED recovery to the terror plot warning, the timing of the incidents has raised concern.

In Punjab, an IED was found in a suspicious bag near the Rayya police post in Amritsar on Friday. Police said the bomb disposal squad was rushed to the spot and the IED was diffused.

"A suspicious bag was spotted close to the police chowk. Immediately, the bomb disposal squad was called, and they confirmed it as an IED. Later, as per the protocol, it was diffused," SSP Sohail Qasim Mir told India Today.

The same day, another IED was found at Safapora in Kashmir's Ganderbal district. The bomb detection squad (BDS) of the army and J&K police detected the IED and defused it within hours.

It is the third IED detected during the last week in North Kashmir. On Thursday, an IED was found on Tangmarag Road and one in Baramulla.

The development comes on the heels of security agencies warning of a possible terror plot by Lashkar targeting religious and tourist spots in Delhi.

Sources said the Hafiz Saeed-led outfit was allegedly seeking to avenge the February 6 suicide blast at a mosque in Islamabad, which left over 30 people dead. However, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.

Specifically, the intelligence inputs have suggested that a temple in Old Delhi's Chandni Chowk area could be among potential targets. The conspiracy could involve terrorists allegedly planning an IED attack in and around sensitive zones, including near the Red Fort.

The Red Fort was targeted three months ago after a deadly car explosion near the historic tourist spot left 12 dead and over 20 injured. A white-collar terror module backed by the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind was behind the blast.

Recently, a report by the United Nations counter-terrorism monitoring team found Jaish's link to the Red Fort blast.

Following the latest alert, security has been increased around major temples and markets across the national capital as well as around the Red Fort.

Interim trade agreement with U.S. one-sided; government sold ‘Bharat Mata’: Rahul in Lok Sabha

NEW DELHI, Feb 11: Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged that the government has “sold Bharat Mata” through the India-U.S. interim trade deal and that it was a “wholesale surrender” with India’s energy security handed over to America and farmers’ interests compromised.

Participating in the debate on the Union Budget, he said that had an INDIA Bloc government negotiated the trade agreement with the U.S., it would have told U.S. President Donald Trump that he should treat India as an equal.

“You have sold India. Are you not ashamed of selling India? You have sold our mother, ‘Bharat Mata,’” he said while referring to the trade agreement.

The LoP said energy security has gone under the India-U.S. trade deal, and the U.S. will decide “whom we buy oil from”.

Gandhi said the interests of the farmers have been compromised, and the farmers are facing a “storm” as agricultural products from the U.S. will flood Indian markets.

He also alleged that the Indian textile industry is “finished”.

The Congress leader said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and NSA Ajit Doval had stated that the era of war is over. “But the fact is, we are moving into the era of war.”

“Moving into a dangerous world, we have to understand our strengths, and the central strength of our country is our people,” he pointed out.

He underlined the need to protect country’s people, data, food supply and energy system.

Supreme Court orders extension of time for objections in West Bengal SIR by a week from Feb. 14

NEW DELHI, Feb 9: A Supreme Court Bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and N.V. Anjaria on Monday, ordered an extension of the time for objections by a week from February 14 in the West Bengal SIR case.

The Bench also ordered the 8,505 officials from the State government to report to duty before the district electoral offices by 5 p.m. on February 10. The Election Commission has to utilise their services as EROs/AEROs if found suitable, the SC said.

In addition, the apex court also asked West Bengal to respond to allegations of violence committed against EC officials.

In the previous hearing, on February 4, the top court issued notices and sought replies by February 9 from the Election Commission and the chief electoral officer of West Bengal on the petition filed by Ms. Banerjee. Ms. Banerjee became the first serving Chief Minister to argue in the top court. She had urged the court to intervene in the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls to “save democracy”, alleging that West Bengal was being targeted and its people were being bulldozed.

EROs should consider all or any of the documents listed in the SIR notice plus documents mentioned in the SC order (admit card, Aadhaar, etc) during verification in the claim/objections phase, the Supreme Court order adds.