The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday arrested an income-tax officer here for demanding and taking a bribe of Rs 100,000 from a complainant, an official said.

According to the complainant, IT officer Ulhas Lokhande, posted at Ward 34(1), had demanded a bribe for completing an assessment of income of the complainant’s sister for financial year 2009-2010.

Lokhande had summoned the complainant and his sister to his officer in this connection on December 29 last year and demanded Rs 125,000 for giving a favourable assessment Order.

After negotiations, he settled for Rs 100,000 and fell into the CBI trap while accepting the amount.

The CBI also conducted searches at his office and residential premises and other investigations before producing him in the Special CBI Court on Thursday.

Luxury car manufacturer Audi India on Wednesday reported a rise of two per cent in its 2017 sales in India.

According to the company, its sales in the Indian market for 2017 increased to 7,876 units.

“Audi completed ten years in India in 2017 and we are delighted that within this short span, it has become one of the most preferred luxury car brands for enthusiasts in the country,” Rahil Ansari, Head, Audi India was quoted as saying in a statement.

“With 7,876 deliveries to customers in 2017, we have increased our sales by 2 per cent while earning a profitable growth for our dealer partners.”

“We are now looking forward to the launch of our trendsetting and immensely popular Audi Q5 in its new generation in January 2018.”

The Syrian government forces have captured as many as 70 towns and villages in key rebel-strongholds in northern Syria over the past 75 days, a monitor group reported on Wednesday.

Intense battles have been raging since the Syrian army launched an offensive in the northern countryside of the central province of Hama and the adjacent southern countryside of the northwestern province of Idlib against the al-Qaida-linked Levant Liberation Committee (LLC) and other allied terrorists.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the government forces are heavily shelling the terrorists’ positions in the southern countryside of Idlib amid bad weather conditions in that part of the country, Xinhua news agency reported.

Syrian warplanes are also pounding the areas near the city of Khan Sheikhoun and the town of Tamana’ in Idlib countryside, said the observatory.

The London-based watchdog group added that the Syrian warplanes struck a museum in the city of Marat al-Numan in southern Idlib a day earlier, leaving big destruction in the building.

Five men and a woman were arrested in Britain on Wednesday on suspicion of belonging to banned far-right terrorist group National Action.

Britain’s West Midlands Police said the suspects, aged between 21 and 37, were detained under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act, Xinhua news agency reported.

The arrests were pre-planned and intelligence-led with no threat to the public’s safety, the police said.

They are the latest in a wave of arrests of alleged National Action members since the group was made a proscribed terrorist organisation in December 2016.

It is the first extreme right-wing group to be outlawed in Britain.

Founded in 2013, National Action became the first British neo-Nazi group to be banned after British Home Secretary Amber Rudd said it was promoting violence and acts of terrorism.

A Russian military helicopter crashed near Hama in northwest Syria last week, killing both of its pilots, Russia’s Defence Ministry announced on Wednesday.

A technician aboard the doomed Mi-24 chopper survived Sunday’s crash, which was caused by mechanical problems, the ministry said.

“The two pilots died during an emergency landing, 15 kilometres from their air base,” the ministry stated.

The helicopter was escorting a convoy at the time of the crash and clipped power cables before it came down, the Conflict Intelligence Team non-government organisation reported.

CIT said it did not know if the convoy being escorted by the chopper was transporting humanitarian aid or military equipment.

The head of Italian parliament’s foreign affairs committee on Wednesday voiced support for women, who have been at the forefront of protests in Iran against their hardline Islamic rulers this past week.

“Our solidarity goes to women in Iran who are fighting for freedom,” said Fabrizio Cicchitto, who is a conservative member of Italy’s Chamber of Deputies.

Israel’s parliament on Wednesday gave a preliminary approval for a bill allowing the death penalty for Palestinian attackers.

Following a heated debate, the bill passed a preliminary reading with a narrow majority of 52-49 vote. The bill still needs to pass three more full rounds of votes before it could become a law, Xinhua reported.

The new legislation is sponsored by the far-right party of Israel Our Home, which is part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition.

Before the vote, Netanyahu told the parliament he supports the bill, saying the death penalty is “justice in extreme situations”.

“There are extreme cases, where people commit terrible crimes and don’t deserve to live,” Netanyahu argued. “We’re changing the law for these situations,” he added.

Under the bill, military and civil courts could sentence to death a person who was convicted of committing an “act of terror.”

Israel’s military law already allows the death penalty for Palestinian attackers but only in military court and if the entire judges in the panel reach the decision unanimously.

Under the new legislation, both military and civil courts could sentence a Palestinian attacker to death, with a simple majority.

Israel’s security system has not endorsed the new legislation. According to Israel’s Ha’aretz newspaper, an assessment by the Shin Bet security service said that such a penalty might have a counterproductive effect.

It would spark a wave of kidnaps of Israelis around the world in order to use them as “bargaining chips” to release convicts from the death row, according to the assessment.

So far, Israel has never sentenced a terrorist to death. The only time the grave penalty was applied took place in the 1961 execution of Adolf Eichman, a senior German Nazi officer who had been convicted of being a major organiser of the Holocaust

West Bengal Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi on Wednesday condemned the incident of agitation by the student’s union in the Charuchandra College here and urged the students to show “student-like courtesy” towards the teachers.

A teacher and a non-teaching staff of the college were allegedly manhandled by the students during an agitation in the principal’s chamber on Tuesday, following which the college authority declared an indefinite shutdown from Wednesday.

“The students should not behave like that. They should show student-like courtesy. Their attempt to assault the teachers, show that they do not have proper education,” Tripathi said.

The shutdown in the college was later withdrawn after Education Minister Partha Chatterjee criticised both the parties involved in the incident.

Protesting against the removal of a security guard from the college, a section of the students had agitated at the principal’s chamber and gheraoed the teaching and non-teaching staff from 2 p.m. to 8.15 p.m. on Tuesday.

Delhi Police on Wednesday suspended the licence of a bar and pub and put five policemen under suspension for negligence in investigating an incident in which a person was shot at inside the bar here, police said.

According to police, a 30-year-old man was shot at on the dance floor of Rich Bratz 17, a lounge and pub in Greater Kailash-I of south Delhi, in small hours of Monday amidst celebrations.

“A show-cause notice has also been issued to the Station House Officer (SHO) of Greater Kailash Police Station and division staff for their misconduct during investigation. Five beat officers have been sent to district lines,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Romil Baaniya said.

“Their explanation was not satisfactory. Besides, as the pub was also found to be operating two hours beyond the mandatory closing time of bars and pubs in Delhi, its licence has been suspended,” Baaniya said.

The victim, Vinay Bhati, is a resident of Jasola in south Delhi and works as a time-keeper with a private firm in Noida.

“Accused Umesh — a resident of Govindpuri — was accompanied by his friend Bhanu to the lounge on Saturday night. Bhati had also gone to the lounge in Greater Kailash-I with his brother and two friends when Umesh, 27, fired at him following a heated argument,” Baaniya said.

“People in the lounge got hold of Umesh and thrashed him. The bullet hit Bhati’s collarbone. He was taken to AIIMS Trauma Centre and is out of danger now,” he added.

Minutes before the incident took place, Bhati had posted a Facebook Live video from inside the lounge at around 3.00 a.m.

A case of attempt to murder was registered against Umesh and he was arrested, the officer added.

Terming West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s visit to a temple in Birbhum district as “soft Hindutva”, state BJP President Dilip Ghosh on Wednesday said the ruling party was trying to arrest consolidation of “Hindu votes” in favour of his party.

“If we go to temples, we are branded as communal. But if Trinamool leaders visit temples, they remain secular. The Trinamool Congress is practising soft Hindutva in Bengal to stop the consolidation of Hindu votes in favour of BJP,” he said.

The “so-called secular leaders” realised that the Hindus are uniting under BJP and secular leaders understood they would no longer be able to win elections by appeasement politics, Ghosh said.

Citing Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s visit to temples in Gujarat during the Assembly poll campaign, he said Banerjee was taking lessons from him.

Inspired from the life and teachings of Swami Vivekananda, the Ramakrishna Mission here in collaboration with the Bhartiya Lok Kala Mandal, Udaipur organised a puppet show on the monk at the Parliament Library Building on Wednesday.

The puppet show was attended many dignitaries including Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, MPs, and others.

The puppet show depicted various incidents and stories from the life of Swami Vivekananda who was born Narendra Nath Datta during his pre-monastic life. This unique show was conceptualised with high-class background music, colourful performances and special effects.

Some of the incidents depicted during the puppet show included Vivekananda’s mother pouring water on the child to cool his irrepressible energy; him managing a situation with the help of policeman when a friend falls ill during a boat ride and many other interesting incidents.

The puppet show was specially commissioned to commemorate the 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda in the year 2013. Since then, the show has been staged in different parts of India and world including at New York, New Jersey, Toronto and other foreign locations.

The Eastern Army Command has organised a ‘National Integration Tour’ for school children from Tuting Valley and Yinkiong district of Arunachal Pradesh, with the aim to acquaint them with the rich cultural heritage of our country. On Wednesday the children got the opportunity to interact with Lt Gen Abhay Krishna, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Command, who shared his thoughts on ‘Unity in Diversity’ with them.

The tour that is underway from 1 Jan to 6 Jan has evoked keen interest amongst the 25 students from Tuting Valley and 26 students from Yinkiong District. As part of the tour, the children were provided with glimpses of cultural heritage of Kolkata through their visits to Fort William, Howrah Bridge, Victoria Memorial and Indian Museum. Army routinely undertakes such national integration tours for children in various parts of the country.

This initiative is an effort towards giving opportunity to students of NE to integrate with rest of the country and in turn contribute towards Nation Building and increasing opportunities available due to developing economy of the nation.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today accused the BJP-led central government of “hatching a conspiracy” to drive out Bengalis from Assam by “excluding” their names from the first draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

The NRC of 1951 is being updated in Assam under the supervision of the Supreme Court to identify original residents of the state in order to check illegal migration. Its first draft was published on31 December midnight.

MamataBanerjee cautioned the Centre on the issue, saying it should not “play with fire”. “People have gone there (Assam) to work. In the name of NRC, they are planning to drive them out. I warn the BJP government at the Centre not to play with fire. They should not follow divide and rule policy,” she said while addressing a meeting in Birbhum district.

“This is a conspiracy of the central government to drive out around 1.80 crore people from the state,” Mamata Banerjee alleged. She said she will not tolerate any sort of atrocities upon the Bengali families living in Assam and other parts of the country.

It is a right of every Indian to stay anywhere in the country and work. Bengalies work in Assam, Rajasthan, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and so the men from this states to Bengal. We assure every body who has come from different states that our government will look after them. But it is very unfortunate that from Assam a major conspiracy have been brewing to push back the people who have been earning their livelihood,” she added.

She said people migrate to other states for jobs which is their right. “Slowly, they settle down just like people from other states who are working and staying in West Bengal.”

She claimed the Trinamul Congress is the only party which speaks for the cause of the people.“We will continue speaking for the people and if anything happens to them, we will not keep silent,” she said.The chief minister said that if trouble breaks out in Assam, it will have an effect on Bengal, but added “we will keep the Assamese residing in Bengal close to our bosom”.

Breaking silence on the sensitive issue of triple talaq chief minister Mamata Banerjee today strongly criticised the Bill placed by the Narendra Modi-led BJP government in Parliament.Describing the Bill on triple talaq as “defective”, Miss Banerjee said it would do Muslim women more harm than good.

She accused the BJP of trying to “do politics” with the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, which was passed in the Lok Sabha recently.

“We did not oppose the Triple Talaq Bill because we are for women. I know many Muslims who abide by the law. This Bill, brought by the BJP government, is a defective one.

“Instead of protecting the Muslim women, it will cause them harm. The BJP is playing petty politics with the Bill,” Miss Banerjee said while addressing a meeting here.

She also claimed that her Trinamul Congress is the only party in the country having 33 per cent women MPs. Similarly in the three-tier gram panchayats and municipalities about 50 per cent seats have been reserved for the women.

Questioning the utility of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ scheme, Miss Banerjee said the Centre was spending only Rs 100 crore for the entire country, while the Bengal government is spending Rs 5,000 crore for the ‘Kanyashree’ scheme.
‘Kanyashree’ is a cash transfer scheme with the aim of improving the status and well-being of the girl child in Bengal by incentivising schooling of teenage girls.

The Lok Sabha had on 28 December passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill that criminalises instant triple talaq or talaq-e-biddat and makes it punishable by up to three years imprisonment for the husband.

The development was hailed by the BJP-led government as “historic” but disapproved of by a section of the Opposition.
The Lok Sabha passed the hugely contentious Bill by voice vote after rejecting a string of amendments moved by the Opposition members. The Rajya Sabha is yet to pass the Bill.

Women-related issues, like satidaha, widow marriage, child marriage have been stopped after movements from this state and persons like Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar, Raja Ram Mohan Roy played a key role in eliminating them. Bills have been tabled later in Parliament, Miss Banerjee said. “The BJP has been making dirty politics on this issue. The TMC will not accept such defective Bill.”

She said it is the Bengal government which gives the highest maternity leave of 731 days in the country. The Asha project has been stopped in the country, but the Bengal government has continued with the project and has been paying Rs 200 every month from its own fund, she added.The landmark Bill has made triple talaq a criminal offence.

The main Opposition party, DMK has upped its ante to prevent Governor Banwarilal Purohit’s attempts to review the implementation of state and central schemes throughout the state.

In fact, on Tuesday when the Governor visited Thanjavore to interact with the people and other organisations on the implementation of the schemes, DMK cadres led by former Union ministers T R Baalu and SS Palani Maanickam staged a black flag protest near the venue of the programme.

Though the governor is mainly concentrating on the implementation of schemes like Swaach Bharat mission, the Opposition is making it a point to criticise both Purohit and the state government watering down the cooperative federalism in the country.

Not only DMK and other Opposition parties but also sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran are continually criticising the actions of the Governor. In fact, the Governor in a release issued on 20 November, 2017, clarified there was nothing unconstitutional or illegal in his actions. He said in the release that he had never violated any law or the Constitution.

“These meetings helped Purohit in getting first-hand knowledge of the developmental needs and problems faced by the people at the grass root level which facilitated him in reflecting the same to the Government of India and thereby enabling him to avail more funds to fulfil the needs and aspirations of the people,” said the Chennai Raj Bhavan release.

In Thanjavore, leaders of various farmers’ associations called on the Governor and submitted representations listing their woes in getting water for irrigation.

Thanjavore is described as Tamil Nadu’s hub of rice cultivation and the district is part of the fertile Cauvery Delta Region.
The farmers’ associations detailed the problems faced by the members of their community in the Delta region and impressed upon the Governor the need for Central government to constitute the Cauvery Management Board immediately .

While pro-BJP farmer leaders like Kattumannarkoil Kannan are appreciating the Governor’s actions, the Constitutional experts are of the view that the black flag demonstrations are purely political in nature.

“The Governor is a Constitutional authority and there is no law in the Indian Constitution which prevents him from interacting with the officials and people of the State,” said Prof A Sathyaseelan, a constitutional expert.

The much-flaunted liquor ban imposed by chief minister Nitish Kumar in Bihar has once again become a laughing stock. Days after the chief minister was caught on camera sharing the same sofa with a liquor mafia at the CM House, a selfie of JD-U leader with liquor bottle has gone viral on the social media. Efforts are on to arrest the leader.

As per reports, the JD-U leader, Raj Kumar Thakur, who also happens to be mukhia of Rasulpur panchayat under Darauda block in Siwan district, had organised a party for his supporters on New Year day, in which liquor was also served.

According to reports, the mukhia lost control after consuming a few pegs of liquor and posted his selfie with the bottle on the social media which went viral. In due course, the selfie also reached the WhatsApp number of the local police inspector, who taking the matter seriously registered a case against the mukhia and his men.

The police are now conducting raids to nab the absconding accused persons. Meanwhile, JD-U has dismissed the leader from the party for violating prohibition. This is the second time in quick succession that the JD-U leadership has come under fire for publicly violating the law.
Earlier in October, the chief minister was caught on camera with a liquor mafia in his 1, Anne Marg official residence in Patna.

In further embarrassment to the chief minister, the said liquor mafia, identified as Rakesh Singh, later turned out to be the party’s block president. Visibly embarrassed over the incident, the JD-U later expelled Singh from the party.

Amid the Opposition tirade against RSS for allegedly fomenting riots in Maharashtra, the organisation has in a counter-offensive blamed ‘some forces’ for the disturbances in the state.

Violence erupted in Pune and other parts of Maharashtra during the bicentenary celebration of the Bhima-Koregaon battle near Pune on Monday as Dalits and right-wing activists fought in the streets over the latter’s objection to celebrating the day as ‘victory day’ which it termed as anti-national.

Condemning the violence, RSS Akhil Bharatiya Prachaar Pramukh Manmohan Vaidya alleged some ‘forces’ were behind the caste violence. He demanded persons behind the violence should be punished. “….some forces are trying to create hatred and animosity among communities,” Vaidya charged.

“The recent incidents at Koregaon, Pune and various other parts of Maharashtra are very sad and painful. RSS strongly condemns such violence and feels it is despicable,” the RSS leader said in a statement.

The RSS appealed to the people to maintain unity and harmony. “RSS appeals to the public to maintain unity and harmony in the society, which have always been the top priority for RSS,” Mohan Vaidya said.

The state government has initiated a probe into the widespread arson and violence in Maharashtra in the wake of caste violence.
Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut alleged that there was a conspiracy behind the violence. He said it was imperative to find out who stood to gain from the caste clashes in the state.