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Opposition parties on Friday accused the government of using pressure of investigative agencies and quid-pro-quo methods on business firms to help the BJP get the largest chunk of political donations through electoral bonds, and demanded a Supreme Court-monitored investigation into what they saw as corruption by the ruling establishment. The Congress also demanded a freeze on BJP's bank accounts. Citing the electoral bond data that State Bank of India provided to the Election Commission, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the BJP received about half the total donations while the principal opposition party, Congress, got only 11%. «There are many dubious donors. Who are these people? Which companies are these? Why have so many companies donated only after ED, IT and CBI raids? Who put the pressure on such companies,» Kharge asked, and sought a Supreme Court-led investigation into «the saga of corruption». «It is quite worrying that while the accounts of the Congress party have been frozen, no action has been taken against the BJP which has illegally acquired crores and crores of money,» he said, referring to a lien the Income Tax Department imposed on its account. «Thus, along with an inquiry, we demand that accounts of BJP should be frozen with immediate effect due to the illegal nature of the funds received through the electoral bonds scheme,» he added.

Dargah of Ajmer Sharif has filed a petition in the Rajasthan High Court and has questioned YouTube's «laxity» in taking down a video that it described as being intended to outrage the religious feelings of followers of Khawaja Gharib Nawaz by using «highly objectionable, derogatory, defamatory and insulting remarks.» In the petition, filed on Thursday, the dargah also said the police have not yet filed an FIR despite the dargah filing a written complaint, it said. This is the first time that a Sufi sect has gone to court against a social media company for alleged inaction to remove an allegedly inflammatory video.

Pierce Brosnan, who pleaded guilty to stepping off a trail in a thermal area during a November visit to Yellowstone National Park, was caught after posting pictures online, court records said. Brosnan, who called in to the court hearing in Mammoth, Wyoming, on Thursday, was fined USD 500 and ordered to make a USD 1,000 donation by April 1 to Yellowstone Forever, a nonprofit organization that supports the park, court records said. Prosecutors had recommended a USD 5,000 fine and a two-year probationary sentence. A second petty offense, for violating closures and use limits, was dismissed by US Magistrate Judge Stephanie Hambrick. The actor issued an apology on his Instagram account Thursday, saying he «made an impulsive mistake» and calling himself an environmentalist with «the utmost respect for and love of our natural world.»

The mysterious identity of Bitcoin's creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, has been a topic of discussion and speculation since the cryptocurrency's inception. The possibility of unmasking Nakamoto has sparked intense debate within the crypto community, with many speculating about the potential outcomes for Bitcoin if the figure behind it were to be revealed. 

Kavitha, daughter of former chief minister and BRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao, a day before the Election Commission is set to announce the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections, may have some psychological impact on party workers. Former minister T Harish Rao said at a press conference that the party will hold protests in the headquarters of all the assembly constituencies tomorrow. The Enforcement Directorate arrested BRS leader K Kavitha today in Hyderabad in connection with a money laundering probe linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.

Uber and Lyft drivers have dropped a class-action lawsuit in California that accused the ride-hailing companies of unfairly stopping them from setting their own fares as independent contractors. The drivers in a filing on Wednesday said they had dismissed their case, which hit a major setback last year when a San Francisco Superior Court judge ruled that the plaintiffs would be required to arbitrate their claims individually.

Mint was the first to report about the launch of the portal. CCPA, which reports to Ministry of Consumer Affairs, also launched e-court facility for State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (SCDRC) in Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra and Delhi. The e-court will facilitate easy e-filing of complaints by consumers for the speedy and hassle-free resolution of their complaints.

₹141.80 on March 15, against previous close at ₹146.90. According to Star India's claim, filed under the Arbitration Rules of the London Court of International Arbitration, Zee is purportedly in violation of the terms stipulated in the agreement dated August 26, 2022.

News18, K Kavitha is being brough to Delhi to complete chain of evidence in the Delhi liquor policy scam case. Further K Kavitha is likely to be faced with senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders, who also face arrest in this case, including Sanjay Singh, Manish Sisodia. Key witness, who ‘confessed to the ED on the alleged ‘bribes that were designed and secured in the Delhi liquor policy’ scam case, Amit Arora could be brought face to face with K Kavitha.

Byju's $1.2 billion term loan said on Friday that judge John T Dorsey of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware has issued an order prohibiting the edtech firm from transferring or using any of the $533 million in loan proceeds previously held by Camshaft Capital Fund, LP and subsequently transferred to an unnamed, unknown offshore trust. The court, according to the lender statement, also found that company founders Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath are working in concert with Byju's Alpha and ordered them to comply with its ruling.

Madras High Court on Friday directed the police in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore to grant permission with certain conditions to BJP to conduct a four km road show of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in that city on March 18. Justice N Anand Venkatesh gave the directive to the Assistant Commissioner of Police, R S Puram Range, on a petition filed by J Ramesh Kumar, BJP District President, Coimbatore, challenging an order denying permission to BJP to conduct the road show on Monday. In his petition, Ramesh Kumar submitted he had applied for permission with the police on March 14 to permit him to conduct a road show for a span of four km via Mettupalayam road, Coimbatore for the purpose of enabling people to meet the Prime Minister. The road show was to sensitize the people of Coimbatore about various welfare schemes launched by the PM and urge them to avail them through Direct Benefit Transfer without any interference of touts and also promote the habit of saying no to drugs keeping in perspective the recent incidents hazardous drug trafficking in Tamil Nadu, he added.

sessions court on Friday refused to stay the proceedings against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal before a magisterial court on the ED's complaint against him for skipping summons in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam. Additional Sessions Judge Rakesh Syal directed Kejriwal to approach the metropolitan magistrate for exemption from personal appearance in the matter. Kejriwal had moved the sessions court against the order passed by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Divya Malhotra asking him to appear before her on March 16. The Enforcement Directorate has filed two complaints before the magisterial court seeking Kejriwal's prosecution for skipping multiple summonses issued to him in the case.

Follow Electoral Bonds Data Live updates here However, there's no way to find out which donor/company donated how much to which political parties. This was despite the Supreme Court raising concerns in its February 15 judgement that the now-scrapped Electoral Bond Scheme can lead to quid pro quo. In later rulings, the Supreme Court said the State Bank of India (SBI) does not need to match the names of electoral bond buyers with specific political parties.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday denied any link between the functioning of investigative agencies, including ED raids, and electoral funding to the ruling party, saying these allegations are just assumptions. «What if the companies gave the money, and after that, we still went and knocked at their doors through ED (Enforcement Directorate). Is that a probability or not...It is an assumption that the ED went and knocked at their doors, and to save themselves they came up with funds. The second assumption is that are you sure that they have given (electoral bonds) to BJP. What if they probably gave to regional parties,» she said while speaking at India Today Conclave. The finance minister's comments came a day after the Election Commission of India published a list of subscribers of the electoral bonds and funds mobilised by various political parties. The list provided by State Bank of India, the issuer of electoral bonds, was published after the order of the Supreme Court.

Also Read: Catch Electoral Bonds Data Live updates As soon as the list was published, allegation of Quid pro quo surfaced with opposition parties alleging link between top donor companies and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Congress leader Jairam Ramesh alleged that “immediately after receiving some handouts from the Central government, companies have repaid the favour through electoral bonds." On Thursday, Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan too alleged quid pro quo. He took to microblogging site X to write, “On 11 April 23, Megha Engineering gives 100s Crs in #ElectoralBonds to whom? But within a month it gets a 14,400 cr contract from BJP’s Mah govt! Though SBI has hidden Bond numbers from the info, some of donors & parties match can be guessed.

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AFP. O was indicted in 2022 without detention on charges of sexually assaulting a woman, who has not been identified, on two occasions. As he was leaving the court, O told reporters he planned to appeal against the decision.

'Tired of talking with INDIA bloc': AAP declares candidates for 3 Lok Sabha seats in Assam In an official release, AAP expressed displeasure towards the Congress party over seat-sharing and alleged, "We (AAP) were told that a solution would be found, but, when the Congress announced its candidates for all the seats in Assam on March 12. We are totally in shock by this approach of Congress, will it not be helping the BJP by dividing the votes? Will it not help BJP?" AAP added that the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of AAP has decided not to contest the Guwahati Lok Sabha seat, by stating that the Aam Aadmi Party won the second-highest number of votes in the Guwahati Municipal Corporation elections after the BJP.

Jairam Ramesh also said the party continues to demand unique bond ID numbers, so that it can precisely match donors to recipients. "The BJP's Hafta Vasooli strategy is simple raid a target through the ED/CBI/IT, and then seek hafta ("donations") for the company's protection. At least 14 of the top 30 donors have been raided," Ramesh alleged.