Kochi (Kerala) [India], August 10 (ANI): Kerala High Court on Wednesday dismissed the petition filed by Solar Scam accused Saritha S Nair seeking a copy of the statement given by Swapna Suresh, prime accused in the Kerala gold smuggling case to a lower court under Section 164 of CrPC.

Kochi (Kerala) [India], June 12 (ANI): Gold smuggling case accused Swapna Suresh has come out strongly against MLA KT Jaleel days after the latter filed a conspiracy case against her.

Kochi (Kerala) [India], June 11 (ANI): In the wake of ongoing protests by the Opposition parties over the Kerala Gold Smuggling Case, the security cover of Kerala Chief Minister Pinrayi Vijayan has been strengthened.

Kochi (Kerala) [India], June 11 (ANI): Kerala Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan on Saturday said that Pinarayi Vijayan should "stay away from the Chief Minister's chair" while he is accused of being involved in a gold smuggling case.

Kokrajhar (Assam) [India], May 25 (ANI): Police on Wednesday arrested three youths for allegedly raping a 16-year-old girl in Assam's Kokrajhar district.

Ahmedabad Feb 18 PTI Plotters of the 2008 Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts had also planned to kill then-Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi besides creating mayhem one of the accused convicted for the bombings by a special court here had admitted before the court in the past the prosecution said on FridayThe special court on Friday sentenced 38 convicts to death and 11 others to life imprisonment till death for the Ahmedabad serial blasts which had claimed 56 lives and left over 200 injured As many as 21 explosions had ripped through the city on July 26 2008 within a span of 70 minutesThe court had convicted 49 persons and acquitted 28 others in the case on February 8After the sentencing Public Prosecutor Sudhir Brahmbhatt informed the media that a charge-sheet filed by the Gujarat police in 2010 had revealed that the convicts who were associated with terror outfit Indian Mujahideen had also planned to eliminate Modi who is now the prime ministerA charge-sheet filed in 2010 in the case contained a statement of an accused which he had given to the magistrate under section 164 of the CrPC In his statement the accused who is among those convicted had admitted that they had also hatched a plan to kill PM Modi who was Gujarats chief minister back then said BrahmbhattBrahmbhat did not gave the name of the convictA senior lawyer who had the opportunity to go through some part of the 7000-page judgement said the special court judge has also observed in his verdict that the convicts had tried to kill the then CM Narendra Modi the then Home Minister of Gujarat Amit Shah and local MLA Pradipsinh Jadeja But fortunately they survived Further the court noted that the accused had tried to target Modi and his then ministers including Shah Nitin Patel Anandiben Patel and MLA Jadeja because they were the elected government as per the Constitution he said citing the orderThe lawyer said the court has noted that nearly 30 accused were active members of the banned terror outfit SIMI which was later on activiated as Indian MujahideenWhile the accused persons held training camps in the forests of Gujarat and Kerala they assembled bombs in rented premises in cities like Ahmedabad Vadodara Bharuch Surat and PuneAs per the lawyer the court noted that the accused were hardened criminals and they deserve nothing less than death penalty for their terrorist acts Since these accused did not show any mercy for innocent people there was no need to show mercy to them said the lawyer citing the orderThese accused had incited Muslim youths in the name of taking revenge for the post-Godhra riots of 2002 to remove anti-Muslim government and to establish an Islamic rule said the lawyer citing the orderThe court noted that jihad is a pious word but these terrorist organisations have misused it to misguide Muslim youthsThe court also urged all Islamic organisations to come forward to stop the misuse of the word Jihad and boycott people who spread terror PTI PJT PD RSY RSY

New Delhi Jan 20 PTI The Supreme Court Thursday granted interim protection from arrest to Trinamool Congress leader S K Supiyan who was the election agent of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram in connection with a murder case being investigated by the CBIA bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavai was hearing an appeal filed by Supiyan challenging an order of the Calcutta High Court which rejected his anticipatory bail pleaThe apex court directed the West Bengal government to file statements recorded under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code CrPCCounsel for the petitioner and the complainant are permitted to file additional documents if any before the next date of hearing List on January 31 2022 There shall be a stay of the arrest of the petitioner in the meanwhile the bench said while adding that no adjournment shall be granted and the special leave petition shall be heard finally on that dateSolicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that the order rejecting his anticipatory bail was passed on November 29 2021 and for two months Supiyan has managed not to be arrestedMehta said it is a very serious offence and the man is quite powerfulThis will have its own repercussions the solicitor general saidThe apex court however said Please dont get politics into thisSenior advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for Supplying submitted that the supplementary charge sheet has been filed in which again the petitioner has not been named The CBI is probing the death of BJP worker Debabrata Maity who was allegedly attacked in Nandigram on an order of the high court which directed the agency to investigate post-poll violence cases in the state PTI PKS RKS RKS

A seven memeber panel is formed by The Samkyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), umbrella body of over 40 farm unions, to fight cases in courts in connection with Lakhimpur violence, according to PTI.

New Delhi Oct 26 PTI The Supreme Court Tuesday directed the Uttar Pradesh government to give protection to the witnesses of Lakhimpur Kheri violence in which eight people including four farmers were killed during a protest and find more eye-witnesses as such testimonies are more credible A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana issuing a slew of directions asked the UP government represented by senior advocates Harish Salve and Garima Prasad to record the statements of other witnesses before judicial magistrates under Section 164 of the CrPC and expedite the examination of digital evidence by experts The bench also comprising Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli sought a separate report from the state government on the alleged lynching of a journalist by the mob post the mowing down incidentThe bench asked the state government to file a report on the probe conducted so far in the lynching of one Shyam Sunder by a mob of farmers Referring to the large crowd at the protest site where the four farmers were allegedly mowed down by the convoy of Ashish Mishra son of Union Minister and BJP MP Ajay Kumar Mishra the bench asked why the probe agency found only 23 witnesses to the incident Your case and for that matter anybodys case has been that there were hundreds of farmers there and a rally was going on Only 23 people are there as eyewitnesses the bench said What we are sayingyou understand You Salve ask your agency that out of the rest of the witnesses just see who can also say more about the incidenteye witnesses evidence are more credible It is always better that first hand information and evidence is available It is always better to have credible evidence the CJI observed Taking note of the fact that recording of statements of several witnesses are to be conducted the court directed the District Judge concerned to entrust the task of recording of evidence under Section 164 of the CrPC to the nearest judicial magistrates also Statements under Section 164 of the CrPC Code of Criminal Procedure are recorded before a judicial magistrate and they have evidentiary value The bench asked Salve to convey its concerns to forensic labs and experts on preparation of reports on digital evidence of the incident and fixed the plea for further hearing on November 8 The second thing is about the protection of witnesses We had orally observed and had not given any direction Now we direct the state to provide necessary protection to the witnesses the bench directed in its order At the outset Salve said that out of 68 witnesses statements of 30 witnesses have been recorded under Section 164 of the CrPC and some more testimonies will be recorded Of these 30 witnesses 23 claim to be eyewitnesses A lot of witnesses are formal witnesses of recovery and all Salve said He also submitted that several pieces of digital evidence have been recovered and sent for examination by experts Some people who had seen the vehicles and those inside have been made witnesses and their statements recorded by magistrates said Salve adding that some others who witnessed certain recoveries have been exempted from recording statements before the judicial officer Your case is also that there was a crowd of four-five thousand persons and they were all local people and there have been reports that even after the incident most of them were agitating and hence their accessibility or identification should not be a serious problem the bench said Salve said he would put in a sealed cover the statements of some of the witnesses whose testimonies have been recorded under section 164 of the CrPC by the judicial magistrates He said 16 accused have been identified so far Identification is important and the second thing which I want to know that out of these 23 witnesses are there any injured witnesses the CJI asked The state government said that there were around five injured persons who have been made witnesses by the probe agency Observing that the probe into the Lakhimpur Kheri violence should not be an unending story the Supreme Court on October 20 had rapped the government saying the court was getting the impression that the state police was dragging its feet and also ordered the protection of witnesses The apex court was hearing a matter about the October 3 violence in Lakhimpur Kheri in which eight persons including four farmers were killed during a farmers protest and over ten accused including Ashish Mishra have been arrested so far in the case Four farmers were mowed down by an SUV in the convoy at Lakhimpur Kheri when a group agitating against the Centres three new farm laws was holding a demonstration against the visit of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on October 3 Two BJP workers and a driver were beaten to death allegedly by the angry protesters and a local journalist was killed in the violence PTI SJK ABA SA

The Supreme Court (SC) asked the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government why are very few witnesses in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case when hundreds of farmers were present at the rally?