Saradha scam: Former TMC MP interrogated again
Kolkata: Former Trinamool Congress MP Srinjoy Bose, who was arrested by the CBI in connection with the Saradha scam and later granted conditional bail, on Saturday visited the CBI office here for further interrogation. CBI sources said Bose was interrogated for more than three hours. It was his first visit to the CBI office after getting bail. He was given bail by the Alipore district sessions and judges court on February 4 on the conditions that he would appear before the CBI whenever called for interrogation and would not leave the country. Bose had resigned from TMC and also as its Rajya Sabha MP a day after he was released. (PTI)
MP urges HC to dismiss writs challenging her nationality
Cuttack: BJD MP Pratyusha Rajeswari Singh has filed a written statement before Orissa High Court stating that she is an Indian and urged it to dismiss all petitions questioning her origin. The statement of the Lok Sabha member from Kandhamal was filed Friday in response to a notice issued to her by the HC last month pertaining to an election petition filed by BJP leader and former MP Rudra Madhav Ray. Ray, who had lost to Singh in the October 2014 by-election, had challenged the BJD leader’s election stating that she automatically disqualifies to be a member of Parliament as she is a Nepalese and has not accepted Indian citizenship yet. Singh refuted Ray’s contention and claimed that she is an Indian born in India to a Nepalese father and Indian mother. She said she was born in Ranchi in 1971 when her parents were staying there for a brief period. In another application to the High Court, the BJD parliamentarian has urged the court to dismiss the petition of Ray at threshold as it lacks merit. To this, Ray’s counsel Gopal Agarwal sought to file a rejoinder following which the single-judge bench of Justice Biswanath Rath adjourned the matter to March 4. (PTI)
India successfully test-fires BrahMos missile from INS
Kolkata: India on Saturday successfully test-fired its 290-km range BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from the Navy’s newest destroyer INS Kolkata. The launch off the Goa coast was “flawless” and the missile met all its designed parameters. INS Kolkata, which was commissioned by the Indian Navy on August 16, 2014, has the capability of firing the highest number of BrahMos missiles. While a ship normally has the capacity to fire eight missiles, INS Kolkata can fire 16 BrahMos missile in salvo mode, defence sources said. This is the first ship of this class, with two more in the pipeline. All the three ships are equipped with vertical launched BrahMos missile system as the prime strike weapon. The Universal Vertical Launcher (UVLM) being used in these ships has a unique design, developed and patented by BrahMos Aerospace. The UVLM has the benefits of stealth and permits launching of the missile vertically in any direction, an official statement said. BrahMos chief Sudhir Mishra congratulated his team and Indian Navy on the successful mission. The two-stage missile, the first one being solid and the second one ramjet liquid propellant, has already been inducted into the Army and Navy, and the Air Force version is in final stage of trial. (PTI)