NEWS

The home ministry has suspended the foreign funding licence of a prominent Kerala-based NGO linked to influential Sunni leader, Sheikh Aboobacker Ahmed, after detecting violation of provisions of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010 (FCRA).

The suspension bars Markazul Ighasathil Kairiyathil Hindiyya – which has recieved over Rs 146-crore contributions from abroad in the last three years – from receiving funding from international donors without prior permission. The prime violation cited by MHA is diversion of foreign contributions by Markazul.

With the SC set to take up the West Bengal government’s plea challenging CBI probes into several cases in the state despite the government withdrawing “general consent” in November 2018, TMC on Friday said the recent summonses by the ED to its leaders had no “legal sanctity” since these are based on FIRs filed by CBI.

Addressing a press conference, TMC MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said, “The Centre has been using CBI, ED and other central agencies to harass CM Mamata Banerjee after her landslide victory in the assembly polls and because of her efforts to string together all the opposition forces to defeat BJP in 2024.”

The Calcutta HC on Friday directed the Santiniketan Police to remove the ongoing students’ demonstration outside the Visva-Bharati vice-chancellor’s official residence and break open the locks on the university gates, and also ordered the university authorities to “immediately restore” normal functioning. The court set a deadline of 4pm on Friday for the officer-in-charge of Santiniketan PS to comply with the directive.

Justice Rajasekhar Mantha banned demonstrations within 50 metres of VC Bidyut Chakraborty’s residence, classrooms, the administrative zone and the central library, and ordered a ban on the use of loudspeakers on the campus. “This is a students’ agitation, not a trade union movement,” the HC observed.

The CBI Thursday arrested Anand Daga, the lawyer of former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, in connection with the alleged leak of a probe report of the investigative agency on allegations of policemen being coerced by Deshmukh to collect bribes on his behalf from bars and restaurants in Mumbai.

Daga had been detained by the agency on Wednesday evening,along with Deshmukh’s son-in-law Gaurav Chaturvedi, for questioning. While the agency let Chaturvedi go after a few hours, it arrested its own Sub-Inspector Abhishek Tiwari in connection with the alleged leak.

Following his arrest, Daga was produced at 1.40 am before the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in Mumbai, who granted his transit remand to Delhi. On Thursday afternoon, Daga and Tiwari were produced in a Delhi special court, which granted police custody to the CBI for two days.