India a 'bright star', says Sitharaman as she presents first 'Amrit Kaal' Budget

New Delhi, Mar 17: Two meat vendors were allegedly beaten up and robbed by seven miscreants, including three Delhi Police personnel, in east Delhi's Shahdara, a senior officer said.

The incident took place in Anand Vihar area on March 7 when the two meat vendors were travelling in their car and hit a scooter.

The accused, alleged to be 'gau rakshaks', urinated on the victims' faces and threatened to kill them, the police said on Thursday.

Reportedly, a case was registered four days later, even though the victims had approached the police immediately.

All the seven men involved in the incident were booked and the three policemen, one of them an assistant sub-inspector, were suspended, the police said.

Nawab, who supplies meat to the Ghazipur slaughterhouse and a resident of Mustafabad, was headed home in his car with his cousin Shoaib when he hit a scooter near Anand Vihar. They were carrying meat in the car, according to the FIR.

The scooter driver demanded Rs 4,000 in damages from them. Just then a PCR van arrived there and one of the policemen took Rs 2,500 from the meat suppliers and gave it to the scooter driver, the FIR stated.

The policeman then demanded Rs 15,000 from the meat suppliers and threatened to take them to the police station if they did not pay up, it said.

The victims alleged the policemen in the PCR van called four other people and took them to an isolated spot. Nawab and Shoaib were confined and thrashed by the accused, who also tried to cut their hands with a knife. The accused also urinated on their faces and threatened to kill them, it added.

The policemen also accused them of slaughtering cows and threatened to dump their bodies in a drain after killing them.

The policemen allegedly extorted Rs 25,500 from the victims. The victims were "injected" with some narcotic and made to sign a few "blank papers" by the policemen, the FIR stated.

The victims sustained injuries on their limbs and back, and were taken to the GTB Hospital, the police said.

A case was filed on March 10 against the accused on charges of extortion and voluntarily causing hurt, they said.

A senior police officer said they are verifying the allegations of the complainant.

However, as per preliminary inquiry, departmental action has been initiated against the three policemen, who have been suspended till inquiry, the officer said.

New Delhi, Mar 15: Leaders of 18 Opposition parties began their march to the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) office in Delhi today to press for an investigation into the Adani-Hindenburg issue.

The stage is set for a massive face-off between Delhi Police and the marching leaders. Police have put up barricades and deployed several mobile vans to block the march.

Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress and Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party, it is learnt, will not be joining the march.

US short seller Hindenburg Research has alleged that the Adani group was "engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud", and used offshore shell companies to inflate stock prices.

The group has denied the allegations, calling them "malicious", "baseless" and a "calculated attack on India.

The Supreme Court has set up a six-member committee of experts to examine issues arising out of the stock crash. The committee has been tasked with an overall assessment, suggesting measures to make investors more aware and to strengthen regulatory measures for stock markets.

The Adani Group has welcomed the Supreme Court order, with Chairman Gautam Adani saying "it will bring finality in a time bound manner" and "truth will prevail".

While a section of Opposition parties have welcomed the Supreme Court order, another, including the Congress, have insisted on a probe by a joint parliamentary committee (JPC).

The Opposition's demand for the JPC probe and the government's offensive on Rahul Gandhi's remarks in London have led to an impasse in Parliament. The first three days of the second leg of the Budget session have seen frequent disruptions and repeated adjournments.

Bengaluru: The Election Commission on Saturday said it has introduced the facility to Vote-from-Home (VFH) for people above 80 years of age and those with disabilities in the upcoming assembly elections in Karnataka.

For the first time, the ECI is going to provide the facility to those above 80 years of age. Our teams will go there with a form-12D to exercise their franchise, the Chief Election Commissioner, Rajiv Kumar told reporters here.

Though we encourage those above 80 years to come to the polling station, those who cannot can avail this facility, he added. Secrecy will be maintained and the entire process will be videographed, Kumar explained.

“All the political parties will be informed whenever there is a movement for Voting From Home (VFH),” Kumar said.

For people with disabilities, a mobile application ‘Saksham’ has been introduced, which they can login to and choose the facility to vote, the CEC said. Another mobile application, ‘Suvidha’ has been developed, which is an online portal for candidates to file nominations and affidavits.

“Candidates can also use the SUVIDHA portal for seeking permission for meetings and rallies,” the top election official explained.

The ECI has also launched a campaign called Know Your Candidate (KYC) for the benefit of voters. “Political parties have to inform the voters on their portals and social media platform as to why they chose a candidate with criminal background and gave ticket to contest the election,” Kumar said.

Speaking of the Karnataka assembly election, he noted that the state with 224 constituencies has 36 seats reserved for the SCs and 15 for the STs. There are 5.21 crore voters including 2.59 women voters. The number also includes 16,976 centenarians, 4,699 third gender and 9.17 lakh first time voters.

Also, there are 12.15 lakh voters above the age of 80 and 5.55 lakh people with disabilities (PWD).

The state has 58,272 polling stations, including 24,063 in urban areas. The average voters in each station is 883. Of these polling stations, 1,320 are women managed, 224 are youth managed and 224 are PWD managed. There will be webcasting in 29,141 polling stations, the CEC said adding 1,200 are critical polling stations.

As most of the polling stations are in schools, these will have “permanent water, electricity, toilet and ramps.”

“These facilities will be permanent in nature. This is a gift from the ECI to the schools and to the school children,” said Kumar, who is on a three-day visit to the state to review election preparedness.

To a query on possible election date, the CEC said it has to be conducted before May 24, when the tenure of the current assembly comes to an end. He directed the official machinery to gear up for a fair and transparent elections in the state.