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SC to hear Pegasus snooping case on Friday

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 The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear the case relating to the Pegasus surveillance scandal on February 25, after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta requested for a new date before the Chief Justice N.V. Ramana, pointing out that he is supposed to be arguing a different part-heard case on Wednesday.

The Pegasus panel, appointed by the Supreme Court, have submitted an interim report appraising the apex court about the progress on the probe. The matter was listed for hearing before a bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and comprising Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli on February 23. The panel had earlier said that only two people submitted their mobile phones with it for forensic examination.

On October 27 last year, the top court said it was compelled to take up the cause to determine the truth, as it appointed an independent expert technical committee supervised by a retired top court judge, Justice R.V. Raveendran, to probe the Pegasus snooping allegations.

The top court had authorised the technical committee to devise its own procedure to effectively implement and answer the terms of reference. The committee can hold an investigation it deems fit and take statements of any person in connection with the inquiry and call for records of any authority or individual.

Justice Raveendran is overseeing the functioning of the technical committee and he is assisted by Alok Joshi, former IPS officer and Dr Sundeep Oberoi, Chairman, Sub Committee in International Organisation of Standardisation/International Electro-Technical Commission/Joint Technical Committee.

The three members of the technical committee are Dr Naveen Kumar Chaudhary, Professor (Cyber Security and Digital Forensics) and Dean, National Forensic Sciences University, Gandhinagar, Dr Prabaharan P., Professor (School of Engineering), Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri, Kerala, and Dr Ashwin Anil Gumaste, Institute Chair, Associate Professor (Computer Science and Engineering), Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.

A batch of petitions, including those by advocate M.L. Sharma, CPI-M MP John Brittas, journalist N. Ram, former IIM professor Jagdeep Chokkar, Narendra Mishra, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Rupesh Kumar Singh, S.N.M. Abdi and Editors Guild of India were filed seeking an independent probe into the Pegasus snooping allegations.

Crime

RG Kar victim’s parents yet to secure death certificate even after six months

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Kolkata, Feb 22: Over six months have passed since the shocking rape and murder of a junior woman doctor at Kolkata’s R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital but her parents are still to get a copy of her death certificate.

The body of the victim was recovered from a seminar hall within the premises of the state-run institution early on August 9 last year.

The victim’s parents have alleged that they have been unable to get the death certificate till now as the R.G. Kar and Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) authorities are shifting the responsibility onto each other.

According to them, the KMC authorities are claiming that since the “place of death” is R.G. Kar, it is the responsibility of the hospital authorities to provide the death certificate.

On the other, the R.G. Kar authorities claim that if a patient dies within the hospital premises or is even brought dead to the hospital, the death certificate will have to be provided by the KMC authorities, the parents added.

The victim’s parents have further claimed that although they have not got a copy of the death certificate, it has been mentioned in the court documents, as per the statement of a medical officer attached to R.G. Kar.

They now say if the death certificate is mentioned in the court documents, why was a copy of the certificate not handed over to them?

Last week, a special court in Kolkata, which had convicted and sentenced civic volunteer Sanjay Roy in the rape and murder case, directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file a fresh progress report on its investigation in the matter on February 24.

Since the special court has already pronounced the sentence for the convict in the main crime of rape and murder, legal circles feel that the fresh progress report will be related to the angle of tampering with the evidence in the case.

It is learnt that the special court had directed the CBI to submit a fresh progress report following a complaint filed by the counsel of the victim’s family accusing the central agency of not updating the court on the progress of investigation in the matter periodically.

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Crime

Ten persons arrested for attack on Congress MP, says Assam CM

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Guwahati, Feb 21: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Friday that ten persons have been arrested in connection with the attack on Congress MP Rakibul Hussain.

Taking to social media platform X, CM Sarma said, “The police have identified the individuals involved in the alleged incident of assault on Congress MP Sri Rakibul Hussain.”

He also mentioned that the actions will be taken as per the law.

The Dhubri MP was attacked while attending a public programme in the Nagaon district.

The Congress MP had to run from the spot wearing a helmet to save himself. The security officers of Hussain sustained minor injuries in the attack.

In a viral video, it was seen that some masked miscreants initially showed black flags to the Congress MP and after that attacked him.

In the video, Hussian was seen fleeing from the spot in a two-wheeler to save himself from the attack.

The incident that happened in the Ruporihat locality drew criticism from the opposition with Congress leaders training guns on the BJP government.

Gaurav Gogoi, Deputy Opposition leader in the Lok Sabha, launched a sharp attack on the BJP government as Congress MP Hussain was attacked on Thursday.

Gogoi said, “In Assam, a Congress Lok Sabha MP is attacked by thugs in broad daylight in a busy marketplace. The goons even attack the police security officers and try to snatch their weapons. All of this is recorded on camera. Yet the Chief Minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma refuses to ensure that the thugs will be arrested immediately.”

“The Chief Minister should at least think of his constitutional duty towards Assam Police and the innocent civilians in the marketplace. If the goons had got hold of the machine gun, a terrible tragedy could have taken place. The attitude of the Chief Minister will only embolden the thieves, dacoits, smugglers and those accused of murder. Democracy is under threat and people of Assam want freedom from this gunda raj culture,” he added.

The Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Debabrata Saikia said it was a “failure” of the police and administration.

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Crime

New India Co-operative Bank Scam: EOW Arrests Former CEO Abhimanyu Bhoan

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Mumbai: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has made another arrest in the New India Co-operative Bank scam. Former CEO Abhimanyu Bhoan has been taken into custody, making him the third accused in the case.

The Court has remanded accused into police Custody untill February 28.Bhoan’s arrest follows an ongoing investigation into financial irregularities within the bank, which allegedly led to taken place during his working period.

The authorities suspect his involvement in mismanagement and fraudulent transactions.Further investigation is underway, and officials believe that more arrests may follow in the case.

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