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It takes an Oscar-worthy director to come up with the juicy drama that somehow seems to pervade India’s pre-general election seasons. Amid all the chaos, a political hot topic has just witnessed a major development: the electoral bonds row. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="What are electoral bonds?" comment="subhead" text="What are electoral bonds?">What are electoral bonds?</cmsannotation> For those unversed in the whole episode, the government introduced the <keyword id="4697813" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="electoral-bond" source="Orion">Electoral Bond</keyword> Scheme via the Finance Act of 2016-2017, allowing anyone to anonymously make an indefinite number of non-capped donations to their preferred political parties. Before this scheme, all donations above Rs 20,000 had to be explicitly made public, and donations of more than a certain percentage of the company’s revenue were disallowed. Such restrictions were meant to ensure that no political party had an unfair monetary advantage over the others and that the policies would not be influenced by the rich. Therefore, many experts were concerned that this new lack of transparency in the donation process opened up a gaping avenue for big corporations to donate for favourable outcomes from the ruling regime in terms of acquiring licences, government contracts, leases, and even accelerating favourable policy changes. The government insists that the measure ensures transparency as the purchaser would be allowed to buy bonds only on due fulfilment of all the extant KYC norms and by making payment from a bank account. However, the opposition parties kept raising objections, with the <keyword id="19895371" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="congress" source="keywords">Congress</keyword> leader Rahul Gandhi terming the electoral bond scheme as a legalisation of the process of accepting bribes and commissions. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="How did the Supreme Court step in?" comment="subhead" text="How did the Supreme Court step in?">How did the <keyword id="19895345" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="supreme-court" source="keywords">Supreme Court</keyword> step in?</cmsannotation> Recently, in a move that many celebrated as a major win for transparent and fair electoral practices, a Constitution Bench panel of five Supreme Court judges scrapped the Centre’s electoral bonds scheme on February 15, deeming that the whole ordeal was “unconstitutional” to begin with. Subsequently, the <keyword id="19934368" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="state-bank-of-india" source="keywords">State Bank of India</keyword> (<keyword id="19898108" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="sbi" source="keywords">SBI</keyword>) was ordered to disclose all details of the donors that had purchased electoral bonds, the amount purchased, and the recipients of these “support” donations. Nearly a month after the directive, SBI finally submitted the electoral data to the <keyword id="19895782" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="election-commission" source="keywords">Election Commission</keyword> on March 13, after the apex court denied its application for more time. The bank attributed the delay in compiling the information to the non-digital nature of the way electoral data was collected and stored, making it harder to collate and produce. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="What does the data reveal?" comment="subhead" text="What does the data reveal?">What does the data reveal?</cmsannotation> The data published by the Election Commission based on SBI’s affidavit revealed information on over 22,217 electoral bonds purchased between April 1, 2019 and February 1, 2024. This also means there exists a year’s worth of data missing from the first year of the electoral bonds scheme, amounting to hundreds of crores of Rupees. Further, the very content of the data remains lacklustre, many experts maintain. The problem is that individual electoral bonds do not have their serial numbers attached. This makes it impossible to accurately ascertain who these bonds were directed to, meaning we still do not know which corporations donated how much to which parties. Condemning the SBI for not divulging the unique serial numbers as per its previous full-disclosure directive, the Supreme Court has now issued a notice for a prompt response by March 18. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Which political party benefited the most?" comment="subhead" text="Which political party benefited the most?">Which political party benefited the most?</cmsannotation> While many political parties benefited from this scheme, the Bharatiya Janata Party (<keyword id="19894848" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bjp" source="keywords">BJP</keyword>) encashed about 1,300 crores worth of electoral bonds during the 2023 financial year, according to media reports. This amounted to about half of the total electoral bond donations, and more than seven times the amount Congress received during the same period. Out of a total of 12,155 crores worth of electoral bonds purchased between 2019 and 2024, BJP redeemed Rs 6061 crores, followed by Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress at Rs 1610 crores. A total of 213 donors purchased bonds worth over Rs 10 crores, with the top 20 donors accounting for nearly half of the total electoral bonds. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Are scams hiding behind the electoral bonds?" comment="subhead" text="Are scams hiding behind the electoral bonds?">Are scams hiding behind the electoral bonds?</cmsannotation> The ruling party receiving such a disproportionate share of the electoral bonds has raised many eyebrows. Rajya Sabha Minister Kapil Sibal expressed discontent with the SBI report, calling it a “scam” and explaining that it needs thorough investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Jharkhand Congress President Rajesh Thakur emphasised that a comprehensive study is essential to ascertain the true extent to which companies might have their money to get favour from the central government. Many Congress leaders, such as Manickam Tagore and Jairam Ramesh, also held that it was suspicious that only companies that donated funds to the BJP were given projects and contracts. The other problem is the fact that several of the big purchasers have been consistently under the radar of central agencies, facing frequent raids. This includes the top donor, Lottery company Future Gaming and Hotel Services, led by “Lottery King” Santago Martin, who donated a whopping Rs 1,368 crores. Many others also concern that large corporations may have donated money through shell corporations, in order to hide their involvement in any political favouritism. Congress MP Manish Tewari asked for a Supreme Court order to “lift” this corporate veil of shell companies to reveal the true purchasers of the bonds. Further, as per a Mint analysis, several donor companies who contributed massive amounts were found to be ‘inactive’, and thus the true details of the donors were not transparent at all. According to their report, this included entities such as Rungta Sons, SN Mohanty, Sasmal Infrastructure Private Limited, Avees Trading Finance, and others, whose collective contributions amount to hundreds of crores of Rupees. The official electoral bond data can be accessed via the <a href="https://www.eci.gov.in/candidate-politicalparty" data-type="tilCustomLink">Election Commission of India website</a>.

Electoral bonds: What are they? What does the newly-released data reveal? Would it make an impact?

New Delhi, The <keyword id="19914482" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="aap" source="keywords">AAP</keyword> on Friday claimed the CBI is planning to arrest Delhi Chief Minister Arvind <keyword id="19895701" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="kejriwal" source="keywords">Kejriwal</keyword> in the next few days and will serve him a notice by the evening. While the party did not say in which case Kejriwal is likely to be arrested, it said that this was being done to prevent the AAP from stitching an alliance with the Congress for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as the <keyword id="19894848" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bjp" source="keywords">BJP</keyword> is scared of the two parties coming together. While there was no immediate response from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to the AAP's claims, the BJP said AAP leaders are trying to create confusion and generate sympathy for Kejriwal. The Congress and the AAP are likely to have a seat-sharing pact in Delhi, Gujarat and Haryana for the Lok Sabha polls and the talks between the two sides are in the final stages, sources said on Thursday. Addressing a press conference here, Delhi cabinet minister and senior AAP leader <keyword id="19945966" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="saurabh-bharadwaj" source="keywords">Saurabh Bharadwaj</keyword> said as soon as reports of finalisation of seat-sharing talks between the Congress and the AAP started coming in, the ED sent a seventh summons to Kejriwal in the excise policy case. "We have learnt from reliable sources that the CBI is planning to arrest Kejriwal. The CBI will also serve a notice to Kejriwal either this afternoon or by the evening," Bharadwaj said. Kejriwal will be arrested in the next two to three days, he said. "We are getting messages that if the AAP-Congress alliance is formed, Arvind Kejriwal will be arrested. The BJP is scared of the AAP-Congress alliance. You can arrest Kejriwal if you want, but the alliance will be forged," he said. The Enforcement Directorate has issued a fresh summons to Kejriwal asking him to appear before it for questioning in the Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case on February 26, sources said on Thursday. This is the seventh summons issued by the ED to the chief minister, who skipped the previous six. AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak said people will take to the streets if Kejriwal is arrested. "There will be a tsunami. Their (BJP) political calculations will go wrong. We are not scared of being arrested. We are forging this alliance for the country," he said. Delhi BJP president <keyword id="20040814" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="virendra-sachdeva" source="keywords">Virendra Sachdeva</keyword> said Kejriwal knows that the talks on the AAP's alliance with the Congress are failing but AAP leaders have been spreading rumours since Thursday and are trying to generate sympathy for the chief minister. "Kejriwal may delay his punishment with the help of lawyers but ultimately, the people of Delhi will punish him harshly in the coming elections," the BJP leader said. The AAP and Kejriwal should remember that Congress leader Ajay Maken had submitted the first written complaint to the lieutenant governor regarding the liquor "scam" under his government, Sachdeva said. The BJP won all the seven seats in Delhi with 51 per cent votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and 59 per cent in 2019. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the people of Delhi will give 70 per cent votes to the BJP, he asserted.

CBI to arrest Kejriwal in few days, will serve him notice by evening: AAP

Hyderabad-based businessman <keyword id="15211274" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="boinpally-abhishek-rao" source="Orion">Boinpally Abhishek Rao</keyword>, who has been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (<keyword id="6354572" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="cbi" source="Orion">CBI</keyword>) in <keyword id="14762568" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Delhi-excise-policy-scam" source="Orion">Delhi excise policy scam</keyword> allegedly involving the national capital's Deputy Chief Minister <keyword id="6354681" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="manish-sisodia" source="Orion">Manish Sisodia</keyword>, is associated with several companies. He is a director of Anoos Electrolysis &amp; Obesity Pvt Ltd, Anoos Health &amp; Wellness Pvt Ltd, Robin Distribution LLP, Agasti Ventures, SS Mines &amp; Minerals, Master Sand LLP, Neoverse Realty Pvt Ltd, Zeus Networking Pvt Ltd and Valuecare Esthetics Pvt Ltd. Considered close to a key leader of the ruling party in Telangana, he is the first person from <keyword id="6354552" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="hyderabad" source="Orion">Hyderabad</keyword> to be arrested in the case. Rao was allegedly found to be acting as a south lobby. The investigating agency suspects that he committed irregularities through cartelization. Rao is the second person to be arrested in the excise policy. The CBI had earlier arrested Vijay Nair, former CEO of events company- Only Much Louder. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also arrested liquor trader Sameer Mahendru of Indo Spirit. He is said to have business links with Arun Ramachandra Pillai, a resident of Hyderabad and one of the persons booked by the CBI in the case. Rao's arrest came after several rounds of raids conducted by the CBI and ED at various places in Hyderabad, including in the office of a media house. He was also reportedly questioned by the CBI a couple of times in the case. According to the CBI investigation, Arun used to collect money from Sameer Mahendru for onward transmission to the accused public servants through Vijay Naidu. The liquor license holders allegedly issued bills to retail vendors to divert funds to public servants involved in irregularities. This is where some companies from Hyderabad are believed to have helped in illegal transactions. Further questioning of the CBI is likely to unearth the role of some other suspects in the case. Six to seven to eight businessmen and a couple of politicians and officials from Telugu states are believed to be involved in the case. The officials hailing from Telugu states are said to be holding key positions in the Delhi government. The Hyderabad-based businessmen were reported having colluded with politicians and officials in the Delhi government to influence the liquor policy of that state to derive monetary benefits from it. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/banks/news/beware-of-bouncing-cheques-harsher-punishments-may-be-afoot/articleshow/94757668.cms">Beware of bouncing cheques, harsher punishments may be afoot</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/livspace-earmarks-100-mn-to-invest-in-d2c-brands-in-home-segment/articleshow/94755762.cms">Livspace earmarks $100 mn to invest in D2C brands in home segment</a>

Who is Boinpalli Abhishek Rao arrested in Delhi excise policy scam?

The Central Bureau of Investigation (<keyword id="6354572" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="cbi" source="Orion">CBI</keyword>) has arrested 11 more persons, including businessmen and <keyword id="347681" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="pearls-group" source="Orion">Pearls Group</keyword> employees in connection with ₹60,000 crore Pearls Ponzi Scheme case. "Chander Bhushan Dhillon, Prem Seth, Manmohan Kamal Mahajan, Mohanlal Sehajpal, Kanwaljit Singh Toor are the employees of the Pearls Group who have been placed under arrest. Apart from them we arrested Delhi, Chandigarh and Kolkata-based businessmen Praveen Kumar Agarwal, <keyword id="978155" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mannoj-kumar-jain" source="Orion">Mannoj Kumar Jain</keyword>, Akash Agarwal, Anil Kumar Khemka, Subhash Agarwal and Rajesh," said a CBI official. The official said that the CBI had earlier registered a Preliminary Enquiry on the directions of the Supreme Court against Pearls Group, which had allegedly collected around ₹60,000 crore from around five crore investors all across the country by illegally operating different investment schemes, without any statutory approval, with an intention to cheat them. The accused had given land guarantee to the investors to lure them. The people were told that they would be getting an interest of 12.5 per cent if they would invest. They were offered free accidental insurance and income tax free maturity on their investments. The accused had also promised the investors that the value of the land that they were purchasing would multiply fast. Later on the basis of the enquiry a case was registered against Ms. PGF Limited, Ms PACL Limited, <keyword id="2082526" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="nirmal-singh-bhangoo" source="Orion">Nirmal Singh Bhangoo</keyword> and other Directors of these two flagship companies of the Pearls Group. During investigation, Nirmal Singh Bhangoo, <keyword id="154354" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="sukhdev-singh" source="Orion">Sukhdev Singh</keyword>, <keyword id="58350" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="subrata-bhattacharya" source="Orion">Subrata Bhattacharya</keyword> and Gurmeet Singh were arrested in January 2016. Later in April 2016 the CBI filed it's first charge sheet against them. The CBI had identified properties of Nirmal Singh Bhangoo worth ₹1.85 lakh crore in the current market rate across the country. The accused had also invested in Australian companies. Australian cricketer Bret Lee was a brand ambassador for the Pearl Group and the IPL team 'Kings XI Punjab' was also cosponsored by Pearl Group. To investigate the role of other accused in this multi-crore financial scam, which had adversely affected the interests of millions of investors, further investigation of the case was continued. This morning the CBI arrested 11 more persons for their alleged involvement in the case. The Enforcement Directorate is also probing a case of PMLA in this connection. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/nasa-plans-to-return-to-the-moon-while-esa-has-missions-targeted-for-jupiter-in-2022/articleshow/88445816.cms">Space science missions to look forward to in 2022</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/improve-your-iphone-experience-with-these-10-tips-from-apple/articleshow/88445422.cms">Improve your iPhone experience with these 10 tips from Apple</a>

CBI arrests 11 in ₹60,000 crore Pearls Ponzi scam

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Around 76 locations were raided across 12 Indian states in a crackdown on tech support scam calls.</li><li>India's Central Bureau of Investigations is working with Amazon and Microsoft to combat scammers.</li></ul>India has been cracking down on tech support scammers in an effort to "combat and dismantle" finance-related cyber crime, officials announced on Thursday.Officials raided around 76 suspected illegal call center locations across India, in several different states, according to a press release from <a href="https://twitter.com/CBIHeadquarters/status/1715013792697045503/photo/1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">India's Central Bureau of Investigations</a>. These raids were part of a police operation called Chakra-II. The scammers often pretend to work for reputable companies like Microsoft and Amazon, according to a press release from <a href="https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/policy-news-views/amazon-microsoft-protect-against-impersonation-scams" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amazon</a>. Now, Amazon and Microsoft are teaming up with CBI and international law enforcement in an effort to cut down on the calls. Many of these scammers target Americans, with over 2,000 people being impacted, according to Amazon. Countries like Canada, Australia, the UK, Germany, and Spain have also been affected. Law enforcement seized 32 phones, 48 laptops and hard discs, and 33 SIM cards and froze several bank accounts amid the raid of the 76 locations, according to CBI. The locations were in Indian states including Bihar, Dehli, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. The <a href="https://pdf.live/edit?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ic3.gov%2FMedia%2FPDF%2FAnnualReport%2F2022_IC3Report.pdf&amp;guid=2ddc7657-c83a-6076-17bc-72ec9ddcb2b2&amp;installDate=070723&amp;source=google-d_pdftab_crx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FBI</a> estimates that in 2022, over 32,000 people were targeted by tech and customer support scams, with over $800 million in losses. Amazon said it has a "zero tolerance" policy for scammers pretending to be part of the company. It has taken down over 20,000 phishing websites and 10,000 phone numbers associated with fraud scams.Oftentimes, scammers will target <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-its-so-easy-to-scam-old-people-2012-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">elderly</a> victims, with 69% of victims being 60 or older, according to the FBI. Ensuring that you and your loved ones are aware of the warning signs of a scam call or phishing email or text can help them avoid being tricked into handing away sensitive information.Microsoft and other reputable tech companies will never contact you via phone call, email, or text to tell you that there's a problem with your device, Microsoft Security's Doug Thomas said in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkREEmr0maw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube</a> video. He also said that pop-up messages from reputable companies won't include a phone number that you need to call to get help. Amazon recommends that anyone who suspects they're being scammed report the activity to <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?amazonTrackingID=biauto-63823-20&amp;h=52b2ea51ffa357f3d904f0652b1ce5e62088fb9c8234f130aa0cabb3980cc9a7&amp;postID=6532e079e20e2d7dddac5183&amp;postSlug=scam-call-centers-crackdown-raids-india-microsoft-amazon-2023-10&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fhelp%2Fcustomer%2Fdisplay.html%3FnodeId%3DGRGRY7AQ3LMPXVCV" target="_blank" rel="noopener">amazon.com/reportascam</a> or email stop-spoofing@amazon.com.

You Searched For "CBI scam" and got 5 results

Electoral bonds: What are they? What does the newly-released data reveal? Would it make an impact?

Ankush Banerjee

CBI to arrest Kejriwal in few days, will serve him notice by evening: AAP

PTI

Who is Boinpalli Abhishek Rao arrested in Delhi excise policy scam?

IANS

CBI arrests 11 in ₹60,000 crore Pearls Ponzi scam

IANS

Around 76 locations were raided in India as part of a crackdown on phony tech support scam calls

Haley Tenore

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