Tirupati shrine owns over 9k kg gold; India tipped Sri Lanka on attacks

Tirupati temple reveals gold reserves after row over seizure

The Tirumala temple has come out with details of its gold reserves after 1,381kg gold belonging to the temple was seized by the Election Commission on April 17. Anil Kumar Singhal, executive officer of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam revealed that the hill shrine owns 9,259 kg of gold. While 5,387 kg of gold is with the State Bank of India, another 1,938 kg gold is with the Indian Overseas Bank under different gold deposit schemes. In addition to 1381 kg gold which has now come back to TTD, it has 553 kg of gold comprising small jewellery and other items in the treasury. TTD has been depositing the yellow metal under gold deposit schemes in various nationalised banks since 2000. After the RBI launched gold monetisation scheme in 2015, the temple body deposited different quantities of gold under short, medium and long term schemes in various banks.

India alerted Lanka of possible blasts after NIA probe in TN: Reports

Intelligence inputs regarding a possible terror attack in Sri Lanka were shared by Indian agencies with their Sri Lankan counterparts earlier this month after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) completed its probe into an ISIS-inspired module planning to kill prominent leaders in South India, officials in New Delhi said. The input was sent through diplomatic channels to the island nation after a thorough investigation pertaining to the ISIS case in Coimbatore was carried out by the NIA, which has filed a chargesheet against seven people. During investigation, the probe team had stumbled upon videos of National Thowheed Jamaat (NTJ) leader Zahran Hashim, which was indicative of a terror attack on the Indian High Commission in Colombo.

Interpol, FBI to assist in Lanka bombings investigations

The Interpol will deploy a team to Sri Lanka to assist the national authorities investigating the series of bomb attacks that killed 359 and injured more than 500 people in the country on April 21, ANI reported. According to an official statement, checks are already being made against the organisation’s stolen and lost travel documents and nominal databases in order to identify potential investigative leads and international connections. Deployed at the request of Sri Lankan authorities, the
Incident Response Team, will include specialists with expertise in crime scene examination, explosives, counter-terrorism, disaster victim identification and analysis.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is also assisting Sri Lankan authorities in investigations. According to sources, US president Donald Trump has pledged to support the island-nation in bringing the perpetrators to justice.

The Sri Lankan president on April 24 also asked the country’s police chief and defence secretary to resign due to intelligence failure in regard to the attacks.

Fresh reports on the bomb blasts said that the suicide bombers involved were middle class and upper middle class youths.

CJI sexual harassment case: SC asks CBI, IB, Delhi police chiefs to appear

The Supreme Court on April 24 directed the CBI, IB and Delhi police chiefs to appear before it and meet in chambers the judges hearing a lawyer’s claims of a larger conspiracy to frame CJI Ranjan Gogoi on allegations of sexual harassment. The matter is being heard by a three-judge special bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra. The bench said it will meet the CBI and IB directors and the Delhi police commissioner in “secret”. “It is not an enquiry. We are meeting these officers in secret. We don’t want any evidence to be disclosed,” the bench also comprising justices RF Nariman and Deepak Gupta said.

They won’t buy me at auctions if I reveal CSK’s success mantra: Dhoni

Chennai Super Kings’ success mantra is a “trade secret” revealing which could leave Mahendra Singh Dhoni unsold at the IPL auctions, jocularly says the cricketer. “(On CSKs mantra of success) If I tell everyone what it is, then they won’t buy me at the auctions. It’s a trade secret,” Dhoni said cheekily after CSKs six-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad and their 97th overall. Dhoni has led his team to glory three times in the Indian Premier League (2018, 2011 and 2010) and under him Chennai Super Kings have qualified to the playoff in every season of the league, barring in 2016 and 2017, when they were not part of the IPL. “The crowd support and franchises support are key of course. Huge credit has to also go to the support staff who play a huge role in keeping the team atmosphere good for the team and other individuals. “Other than this, I can’t reveal anything till I retire. It’s alright, not showing signs of getting worse. With the World Cup coming, I need to be careful as that comes first,” the 37-year-old said. CSK, sitting pretty at the top with 16 points from 11 games, will next lock horns with Mumbai Indians on Friday (April 26).

Indian in US jailed for 5 years for smuggling foreigners

A 61-year-old Indian has been jailed in the US for five years for smuggling foreigners, including a majority of Indians, into America, the department of justice has said. Yadvinder Singh Sandhu pleaded guilty early this year, saying he personally assisted around 400 aliens to unlawfully enter the US between 2013 and 2015, according to the department of justice statement. The human smuggling carried out by him resulted in at least one death and endangered the lives of many, it said. Sandhu, charged in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in the district of Puerto Rico on March 15, 2017, used multiple names including Yadvinder Singh Bhamba, Bhupinder Kumar, Rajinder Singh, Robert Howard Scott and Atkins Lawson Howard.

Gambhir richest among LS candidates in Delhi

Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir is the richest among all the candidates in fray for the Lok Sabha election in Delhi with total assets worth ₹147 core. The cricketer-turned-politician, who will be making his electoral debut from East Delhi, has shown an income of nearly ₹12.40 crore in the Income Tax returns filed for 2017-18. His wife Natasha Gambhir declared an income of ₹6.15 lakh in the IT returns filed during the same period. Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari has a total of movable and immovable assets worth over ₹24 crore, an increase of over ₹4.33 crore from 2014, according to his poll affidavit. He has shown an income of ₹48.03 lakh in the income tax return for 2017-18 while in the affidavit filed in 2014, he had declared an income of over ₹85 lakh. BJP MP from South Delhi Ramesh Bidhuri has movable and immovable assets worth ₹18 crore, an increase of close to ₹3.5 crore in the last five years, according to his affidavit. Bidhuri, his wife and dependent Himanshu have shown an income of over ₹16.72 lakh, ₹3.09 lakh and ₹3.18 lakh respectively in the IT returns filed in 2017-18.