Dalit girl burnt alive in UP village

 A young Dalit girl was burnt alive in an Uttar Pradesh village in Unnao district late last night, police said.

Eighteen-year-old Moni was cycling to a vegetable market on Thursday when some unidentified persons confronted her. They surrounded her and poured petrol over her. Before she could react, they had set her ablaze.

The girl up in flames ran for some 100 metres to save herself but finally collapsed and died on the spot.

Senior police officers, including IG (Zone) Sujit Kumar Pandey rushed to the crime scene around midnight and spoke to the victims family.

The police is trying to find out whether it was a case of stalking or family enmity. The victim's family has ruled out any case of enmity.

Officials told IANS that the police has recovered an empty petrol can, a match box and detected tyre marks of a four-wheeler near Tedha Bazaar where the crime took place.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Pushpanjali along with the Station House Officer (SHO) Uttam Singh Rathore have interrogated several persons in connection with the crime.

A case has been registered against unidentified persons.

IANS

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Misty Friday morning in Delhi

It was a misty Friday morning in the national capital with the minimum temperature recorded at 15.5 degrees Celsius, four notches above the season's average.

"The sky will be partly cloudy with mist in the morning and generally cloudy towards afternoon/evening," an India Meteorological Department official told IANS.

The maximum temperature is expected to hover around 31 degrees Celsius.

The humidity at 8.30. a.m., was 94 per cent and visibility stood at 1,200 metres.

Thursday's maximum temperature was 32 degrees Celsius, seven notches above the season's average, while the minimum temperature was recorded at 14 degrees Celsius, three degrees above the season's average.
IANS

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70 years after Independence power reaches Elephanta Isle near Mumbai

 Seventy years after Independence, a 7.5-km long undersea cable has finally brought electricity to the world-famous Gharapuri Isle, which houses the UNESCO World Heritage site Elephanta Caves, about 10-km from Mumbai, a top official said here on Thursday.

The project to electrify the island, thronged daily by thousands of Indian and foreign tourists, has cost a total of Rs 25 crore and was completed in 15 months, said Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd. Regional Director Satish Karape.

"This is India's longest undersea power cable which took around three months to lay. Plus, we have installed a transformer in each of the three villages, six streetlight towers each 13-metre tall with six powerful LED bulbs and provided individual power meter connections to 200 domestic and a few commercial consumers. Intensive testing over past three days has been successful," Karape told IANS.

A function will be held at the island later in the day when renowned social reformer Appasaheb Dharmadhikari will formally 'switch on' the power supply in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, his ministers Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Jaykumar Raval, Ravindra, and other dignitaries.

Karape said that of the total project cost, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority gave Rs 18.50 crore while the rest had been borne from the MSEDCL's own resources.

The 22-KV cable has four lines, including one exclusive standby line, to ensure 24x7 high quality power to the islanders with sufficient excess capacity to take care of future requirements for more than 30 years, he explained.

An unseasonal 'Diwali' has suddenly been ushered on the island, which used to be plunged into darkness after dusk in the absence of electricity at the three villages -- Raj Bander, Mora Bander and Shet Bander -- housing around 1,200 people, mostly engaged in fishing, farming, boat-repairs and tourism-related activities.

Since the past few years however, the villagers managed with just three hours electricity courtesy power generators provided by the state government, but these were expensive and unreliable.

The previous Congress-Nationalist Congress Party regime had initiated the proposal, but it fell through as the tender attracted a single bid, and later the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena government revived the proposal almost two years ago.

The 22-KV cable has been connected directly with the MSEDCL's Olwa sub-station, Panvel Division in Raigad on the mainland, Karape said.

The official is hopeful that now, the islanders can get better educational institutions, boost tourism -- probably with overnight stay, subject to other governmental clearances -- install a lighthouse on the isle's hilltop, and even power the Elephanta Caves if the Archaelogical Survey of India permits.

Since a small dam exists on this 16-sq km island, a water filtration plant can be set up to provide safe and clean drinking water to the locals and tourists, who now rely on bottled mineral water.

The power connection is also expected to speed up work on the proposed 8-km long ropeway connecting Mumbai directly with Elephanta Island running above the Arabian Sea, planned by the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT), and billed as a boon to nearly two million tourists who visit it annually.

Inhabited since the 2nd Century BC, the island has seven big and small rock-cut caves temples carved between 5th-6th Centuries AD. It was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

The island also has two large British-era canons atop the hill.

Presently, the thickly-forested island abounds in monkeys and other creatures, is accessible only by an hour-long voyage by motorboats and launches from Gateway of India or Raigad, with compulsory return in the evening.

IANS

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Explosion at US embassy in Montenegro

An unidentified attacker threw an explosive device at the US embassy in Montenegro's capital city Podgorica, before blowing himself up with another bomb, police said on Thursday.

The attack took place around midnight on Wednesday, reports Xinhua news agency.

"Immediately before the suicide, the person threw an explosive device into the compound of the embassy from an intersection near the sports centre in Podgorica," the police said.

It added that the explosive device was most likely a hand grenade. Identification of the assailant was underway.

The US State Department said that the embassy has been conducting an internal review to confirm the safety of all staff, according to spokesperson Heather Nauert.

The embassy has warned American citizens of "an active security situation at the embassy" and to avoid the embassy "until further notice".

Located in southeastern Europe, Montenegro has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the southwest and borders Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Albania.

The Balkan country declared independence in June 2006, after it separated itself from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a federation it established with Serbia in 1992.

Last May, Montenegro joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), leading to large protests by the pro-Russian opposition and anti-NATO demonstrators.

IANS

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Maldives President turns down UN Secretary-General's mediation

Maldives President Abdulla Yameen has turned down UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' offer to mediate between him and the opposition in the ongoing political crisis, Guterres's Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq said.

"He offered to the President (Yameen) UN mediation but the President conveyed that mediation was not wanted at this stage," Haq said on Wednesday.

Asked about Maldives extending the state of emergency that was set to expire on Wednesday for another 30 days, he said: "The Secretary-General is following the situation in the Maldives closely and with concern."

The crisis in the island nation began on February 1 when the Supreme Court unanimously overturned the terrorism conviction of former president Mohamed Nasheed as well as that of eight other politicians on several charges.

In response, Yameen clamped down the state of emergency and arrested Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and another judge along with several politicians on February 6.

The three judges remaining on the Supreme Court overturned the court's unanimous ruling ordering the release of the nine politicians.

On Wednesday, Yameen reiterated his offer to hold negotiations with the opposition.

Responding to an earlier offer of talks by Yameen, the Joint Opposition led by Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party wrote to Guterres asking him to mediate and to oversee the talks.

The opposition leaders expressed scepticism about the talks offer saying they was concerned that it was a ploy to ease international reaction to its recent actions, according to the Colombo Gazette.

Earlier this month Guterres, who has called for restoration of democracy, reiterated "his belief in finding a solution to the political stalemate in the Maldives through all-party talks, which the UN continues to stand ready to facilitate".

IANS

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PNB fraud favouring Nirav Modi started in 2008, arrested bank officials tell CBI

The practice of illegally issuing Letters of Understanding (LoUs) and Foreign Letter of Credits (FLCs) and then rolling them over to favour Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi groups started in 2008 and continued till these were discovered in January this year, according to CBI officials.


The illicit activities resulting in fraud of Rs 11,300 crore occurred under the nose of top Punjab National Bank officials but they claimed to be unaware of the scam.

The revelation came to the fore during questioning by CBI officials of Rajesh Jindal, who was holding the charge of Mumbai-based PNB's Brady House Branch Head between August 2009 and May 2011, Gokul Nath Shetty, a retired Deputy Manager from the same branch who retired in May 2017, Bechu B. Tiwari (Chief Manager, in charge of Forex Department), Yashwant Joshi (Scale II manager of Forex Department) and Prafful Sawant (Scale I officer, export).

The officials questions said they merely continued with the practice which is said to have started in 2008. It was not immediately clear who was in charge of the Forex Department when the illegal practice began.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials said the alleged multi-crore fraud by issuing LOUs and FLCs for sanction of loan to diamantire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi's group of firms continued during Jindal's tenure. Jindal, posted as GM Credit at PNB's Head Office in New Delhi, was heading the second largest branch of the PNB when the practice of issuing the LoUs without sanctioned limits continued.

Jindal was arrested on Tuesday night after his day-long questioning in Mumbai. He was the 12th accused person to be arrested in the case so far. The CBI investigators had managed to get his custody till March 5 from the special CBI court on Wednesday.

Tiwari , Joshi and Sawant were also arrested on Monday for their alleged role in the scam and will remain in police custody till March 3.

All five PNB officials arrested so far were part of the forex department at the bank's Brady House branch at the time of the fraud took place, said officials, adding these employees, in collaboration with the staff and associates of the firms headed by Nirav Modi and Choksi, commited wrongdoings for personal gains.

The first FIR in the scam registered on January 31 alleged that Shetty and a single window operator Manoj Kharat, during their forex department posting, fraudulently issued eight LoUs (which are a form of bank guarantee) equivalent to Rs 280 crore on February 9, 10 and 14, 2017, favouring the Nirav Modi companies to Allahabad Bank, Hong Kong, and Axis Bank, Hong Kong, without following prescribed procedure.

It added that the funds raised for import bills were not utilised for such purposes in many cases. Shetty and Kharat, arrested last week, are currently in CBI custody until March 3.

PNB's employee Tiwari, in his capacity as Chief Manager, was to monitor Shetty's transactions. However, Tiwari told the interrogators that during 2015-17, he did not monitor the fraudulent and illegal LoUs issued by Shetty.

An offcial close to the investigation said that Tiwari issued three circulars on February 19, 2016, February 7 and March 14, 2017, purportedly for the sake of keeping a check on the LoUs sent through the SWIFT code of the PNB's Brady House Branch without any name. However, he neither followed it up nor took any steps to see why his instructions were not followed by Shetty, Joshi or Sawant.

"Tiwar's deliberate acts of omissions led to the continuance of concealment and large scale liabilities of PNB to the foreign banks," said the official.

The CBI filed the first FIR against Diamond R Us, Solar Exports and Stellar diamond whose partners have been named as Nirav Modi, his brother Nishal, uncle Mehul Choksi and wife Ami-- who left the country earlier in early January. The second FIR was filed on February 15 for an amount of Rs 4,886.72 crore against the Gitanjali group headed by Choksi.

CBI officials said details of additional amounts (of around Rs 6,400 crore) would be added to the first FIR.

The second FIR also names 11 directors of the three Cholksi owned Gitanjali group companies-- Gitanjali Gems Ltd, Gili India Ltd and Nakshatra Brands Ltd.

The PNB fraud came to light on January 16 when officials of Nirav Modi companies approached the bank for buyers' credit without collateral saying they had been getting such facility for years. The bank said that the official who had earlier allowed such illegal facility through LoUs and FLCs had retired by then, and on checking by officials, the whole fraud unravelled.

IANS

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