Courts Financial News

A federal judge in Texas has ordered a 55-year-old U.S. agency that caters to minority-owned businesses to serve people regardless of race, siding with white business owners who claimed the program discriminated against them

A wealthy campaign donor of California Gov. Gavin Newsom said his Panera Bread restaurants will comply with a new minimum wage law

South Africa has gone back to the United Nations’ top court seeking additional emergency orders for Israel to let more humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip

Trinamool Congress for its «grave sin» in Sandeshkhali, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that the «aakrosh (storm) of narishakti» in Sandeshkhali will not be restricted to Sandeshkhali alone but will sweep across West Bengal. Addressing a public rally in Barasat, he slammed Trinamool's political culture and reluctance to act on issues like Sandeshkhali, calling its inaction in Sandeshkhali as «ghor paap» (grave sin). «Trinamool's politics is such that mothers and sisters were tortured and assaulted in Sandeshkhali but the party did not pay any heed to it. They have committed a 'ghor paap' (grave sin). What has happened in Sandeshkhali, any one will lower their heads in shame. But it makes no difference to the Trinamool Congress,» Modi said.

CBI registered three FIRs on Tuesday hours after the Calcutta High Court ordered a probe by the federal agency into the attack on Enforcement Directorate officials at Sandeshkhali in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district. While one of the FIRs mentions suspended — and arrested — Trinamul Congress leader Shahjahan Sheikh as the prime accused, the other two FIRs are registered against «unknown miscreants» and «unknown persons». Sheikh, who managed to evade the police dragnet for nearly two months, was recently arrested by West Bengal Police. The suspected offences for which Shahjahan Sheikh has been booked by CBI include «rioting, rioting armed with deadly weapons, unlawful assembly, wrongful restraint, obstructing a public servant in discharge of public functions, assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty, voluntarily causing hurt, mischief causing damage, theft, criminal intimidation, acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention and mischief causing damage to public property of PDPP Act».

CBI on Wednesday evening got the custody of suspended Trinamool Congress leader Shahjahan Sheikh from CID after a fresh directive by the Calcutta High Court. The court ordered CID to hand over Sheikh, the alleged prime accused in the attack on ED officials in Sandeshkhali on January 5, to CBI by 4:15 pm. However, Sheikh was reportedly taken by the CID team to the state-run hospital SSKM through the backdoor of Bhabani Bhawan (police headquarters), people in the know told ET. CID finally gave official custody of Sheikh to CBI at 7 pm.

CBI) on Wednesday filed a supplementary chargesheet in the land-for-jobs case against three individuals, said people in the know. Those chargesheeted include Bhola Yadav, the then officer on special duty to RJD supremo Lalu Prasad when he was the Union railways minister. Besides Bhola Yadav, two candidates (including a woman), who allegedly secured jobs illegally in the railways by giving away their parcels of land to Lalu and his kin, have also been chargesheeted by the CBI. The fresh supplementary chargesheet covers the central wing of the railways department, said people quoted above. The CBI, in the fresh supplementary chargesheet, has submitted that Bhola Yadav played a crucial role in «facilitating» the land-for-jobs case. A hard disk was recovered from Bhola Yadav's computer during CBI raids in August 2022.

A former producer of raw milk cheese has pleaded guilty to charges related to a deadly outbreak of listeria

Enforcement Directorate has filed a fresh complaint before a Delhi court seeking prosecution of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for skipping its summonses in a money laundering investigation, official sources said Wednesday. The latest complaint pertains to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor not honouring the summons no 4 to 8, they said. The court of ACMM Divya Malhotra has listed the master to be heard on Thursday. The ED had earlier moved a local court seeking Kejriwal's prosecution for not attending the first three summonses issued to him in the money laundering investigation linked to the Delhi excise policy.

National Law School of India University (NLSIU) completed their 40-day internship at the Commercial Taxes department as part of an MoU both signed to learn from each other’s domain of expertise. The internship would help students of the prestigious law school get first-hand experience of aspects such as implementation of GST, the GST laws, how we deal with indirect tax collections, claims of refunds, regulations, orders of authority of advance ruling, GST Council deliberations and court orders. Apart from these, the students will also get to experience how a government department functions, Commissioner of Commercial Taxes C Shikha told ET. “The students were from the fourth and final years of the 5-year law course,” she added. “They were all very bright. The day-to-day interaction with the students helped my colleagues also benefit from their knowledge of law.”

By Jonathan Stempel

The CBI got the custody of Sheikh Shahjahan on Wednesday. The Trinamool Congress leader, who is the prime accused in the Sandeshkhali ED official attack case, was handed over by state CID hours after a new order by the Calcutta High Court earlier in the day. After the medical examination, Shahjahan was handed over to CBI at the Bhabani Bhaban Police Headquarters. Earlier in the day, the Calcutta High Court stated that the investigation into the attack on ED officials should be transferred to the CBI, and the custody of the accused Sheikh Shahjahan should be arranged promptly.

A charge-sheet has been filed under the anti-money laundering law against 299 entities, including 10 persons of Chinese origin, in an investigation linked to alleged duping of investors in the name of mining cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoins, the Enforcement Directorate said on Wednesday.

₹50,000 in a four-year-old case of kidnapping a UP Jal Nigam project manager. On Tuesday, the court held Dhananjay Singh and his associate Santosh Vikram guilty of kidnapping ‘Namami Gange’ project manager Abhinav Singhal and extortion. Additional Sessions Judge Sharad Kumar Tripathi held Singh and Vikram guilty.

Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday issued an advisory to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi to be more careful and cautious in the future, in his remarks on leaders including the Prime Minister. The election governing body said that the advisory comes after considering all facts in the matter related to certain remarks against Prime Minister, including Delhi High Court order and Gandhi's reply. Delhi High Court on December 21 said that Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s speech given on November 22 against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling him a 'pickpocket' was 'not in good taste'. The court directed the Election Commission to decide the matter within 8 weeks.

Google and Indian internet companies have agreed to a four-month extension in the timeline for payment of service fees to the Android maker. The development marks a pause in the acrimonious face-off between Indian internet firms and Google over the US firm’s billing policies that finally prompted the Indian IT ministry to step in to play peacemaker.

Madras High Court on Wednesday held Tamil Nadu Youth Welfare & Sports minister Udhayanidhi Stalin's comments on Sanatana Dharma as «divisive» and against the “Constitutional principles” while refusing to issue writ of quo warranto to remove him, his ministerial colleague Sekar Babu and DMK MP A Raja (Nilgiris) from their ministerial positions. Justice Anita Sumanth said persons holding Constitutional positions must not make divisive comments, and Stalin Jr's remarks equating Sanatana Dharma to HIV, AIDS, Malaria etc., were `perverse.' Such claims about Sanatana Dharma which were unverified in nature amounted to spreading misinformation, the Judge said, disposing of a petition from the Hindu Munnani, which took serious objection to Stalin Jr's comments, and questioned their continuation in office after making such remarks in public, while praying for a writ of quo warranto.

India to set up international big cat alliance Rawat, who was the forest minister in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in 2021 is now with the Congress party. The court's judgment came on a petition filed by environment activist and lawyer Gaurav Bansal alleging the destruction of the tiger habitat and a decline in the tiger density in the Lansdowne Forest Division owing to illegal construction in the Pakhro Tiger Safari as well as illicit cutting of trees.

Shahjahan Sheikh and others for allegedly attacking Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers during searches at Shahjahan Sheikh’s premises in January 2024. Meanwhile, the Crime Investigation Department (CID) in West Bengal, along with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government has refused to handover Shahjahan Sheikh to the CBI.

Pakistan prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, executed by the military regime in 1979, did not receive a fair trial, the Supreme Court observed on Wednesday. Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa announced the unanimous opinion of a nine-member larger bench of the apex court during the hearing of a presidential reference related to the death sentence given to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) founder. It is based on a special case sent in 2011 by then president Asif Ali Zardari to the Supreme Court to revisit his father-in-law Bhutto's conviction for abetment in a murder case and his eventual hanging in 1979.

Live Law, a division bench of Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Sandeep Marne delivered the judgment in three writ petitions filed by working journalists and newspapers challenging the Industrial court orders on complaints. The court directed that journalists have various safeguards under the Working Journalists and Other Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1955 (Working Journalists Act), therefore can avail the machinery for a dispute under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (ID Act).