Income tax raids on TN chief secretary’s premises: New currency notes worth Rs 18 lakh seized

CHENNAI:
 Income tax investigation wing officials on Wednesday seized Rs 18 lakh in new currencies and 2kg gold during raids on premises belonging to Tamil Nadu chief secretary P Rama Mohan Rao, his son, relatives and associates.

The raids were continuing in 14 places, including the chief secretary's office at the secretariat, when the report was filed, and the total amount of seized money might go up. Raids were held in Chennai, Bangalore and Chittoor.

Reserve Bank imposes penalty on five foreign banks for forex violations

MUMBAI:
The Reserve Bank on Wednesday imposed penalty on five foreign banks, including Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered Bank, for violation of its instructions on reporting requirements of the FEMA.

The three other banks are: Bank of America, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi and The Royal Bank of Scotland.

RBI said they have been fined for violation of its instructions on reporting requirements of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA).
Germany's Deutsche Bank has been imposed fine of Rs 20,000, while Bank of America, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, The Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered Bank have been fined Rs 10,000 each.

"The penalties have been imposed in exercise of the powers vested in the Reserve Bank under the provisions of Section 11(3) of FEMA 1999, taking into account, the violations of the instructions/ directions/ guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India, from time to time," RBI said.

RBI said it has issued show cause notices to all the banks, in response to which the banks submitted written replies and also made oral submissions thereon.

"After considering the facts of the cases and the banks' replies in the matter, Reserve Bank came to the conclusion that the violations were substantiated and warranted imposition of penalty," RBI said further.

29 killed, 70 injured in Mexico fireworks market blaze

A massive fire gutted Mexico's biggest fireworks market on Tuesday, killing at least 29 people and injuring 70, the authorities said.

The massive blaze in the Mexico City suburb of Tultepec, set off a quick-fire series of multicolored blasts and a sent a vast cloud of smoke billowing over the capital city.

The market was packed with customers buying pyrotechnics for traditional end-of-year festivities. Christmas and New Year's parties in many Latin American countries often wrap up with clattering firework blasts.

From a few kilometres away, the multiple explosions that started at 2:50 p.m. (2050 GMT) almost looked festive, alight in blue, red and white.

“We recovered 26 bodies at the scene of the incident. And three more have died in the hospital, for a total of 29 dead,” Mexico state's Governor Eruviel Avila said.

The federal police said on Twitter that 70 people were hurt and transported to emergency rooms.

Two key missile launches this month

If weather permits, two important missile launches are to take place this month.

India’s long-range, subsonic cruise missile, Nirbhay, will lift off from the Launch Complex-III of the Integrated Test Range, Balasore, Odisha, on Wednesday.

The redoubtable Agni-V, which can carry nuclear warheads over a distance of about 5,000 km, will be fired from a canister mounted on a massive truck from Wheeler Island, off the Odisha coast, on December 26.

Nirbhay, which has a range of about 1,000 km, has blended missile and aeronautical technologies into a single contraption. It will take off vertically like a missile. A mechanism in its first stage will tilt it horizontally and the first stage with its booster engine will then fall off. The second stage with a turbo-jet engine will cruise horizontally like an aircraft at a subsonic speed of 0.7 Mach.

The missiles will be fired by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, which has conceived, designed and developed them.

ఐటీకి పట్టుబడిన మొత్తమెంతో తెలుసా?

దిల్లీ:
దేశంలో పెద్దనోట్లను రద్దుచేస్తూ ప్రధాని నరేంద్ర మోదీ తీసుకున్న నిర్ణయం తర్వాత దేశవ్యాప్తంగా నల్లకుబేరుల ఇళ్లల్లో జరిపిన సోదాల్లో ఆదాయపన్ను శాఖ అధికారులు రూ.3,185 కోట్లు లెక్కల్లో చూపని ఆదాయాన్ని గుర్తించారు. నవంబర్‌ 8 నుంచి ఈ నెల 19వరకు దేశవ్యాప్తంగా 677 చోట్ల నిర్వహించిన సోదాల్లో రూ.86కోట్ల విలువైన కొత్తనోట్లను స్వాధీనం చేసుకున్నట్టు సమాచారం. పన్నుఎగవేత ఆరోపణలు, హవాలా ఒప్పందాలకు సంబంధించి ఐటీశాఖ అధికారులు 3100 నోటీసులను జారీచేశారు.
డిసెంబర్‌ 19వరకు ఐటీశాఖ అధికారులు రూ.428 కోట్ల విలువైన ఆభరణాలు, నగదు స్వాధీనం చేసుకోగా వాటిలో రూ.86కోట్లు విలువైన కొత్తనోట్లే ఉండటం గమనార్హం.

వీటిలో ఎక్కువ మొత్తం కొత్త రూ.2000 నోట్లే ఉన్నట్లు గుర్తింతించారు.

Repeat Deposits Of Old Notes Raise Doubts: Arun Jaitley On Latest Rule Change

New Delhi: 

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Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today explained the latest change in rules for depositing old notes in bank accounts, criticised by the opposition as "desperate measures." The government had said on Monday that people can from now till December 30 make just one deposit of more than 5,000 rupees in banned 500 and 1,000-rupee notes and will have to explain why they had not deposited the money earlier. The Finance Minister has since clarified that no questions will be asked if any amount of the banned currency is deposited in one go, but said repeated deposits may raise queries.

27 లక్షలు కాజేసిన లేడీబాస్

కోయంబత్తూర్‌:
పనిచేసిన సంస్థకే కన్నం వేసింది ఓ లేడీబాస్‌. సంస్థకు చెందిన నిధులు 27 లక్షలను దారిమళ్లించి తన ఖాతాలో జమ చేసుకుంది. చివరికి కటకటాలపాలైంది.

వివరాలు.. ముంబైకి చెందిన ఆస్‌బెస్టాస్‌ రేకుల తయారీ సంస్థకు చెందిన కోయంబత్తూర్‌ బ్రాంచ్‌లో సుభా(31) మేనేజర్‌గా పనిచేసింది. కస్టమర్ల నుంచి వచ్చిన చెక్‌లను సంస్థ ఖాతాలో కాకుండా.. తాను సృష్టించిన మరో నకిలీ సంస్థ ఖాతాలో జమచేసింది. దీనికోసం కోయంబత్తూర్‌ రామనాధపురంలోని కెనరాబ్యాంక్‌లో నకిలీ సంస్థ పేరుమీద అకౌంట్‌ క్రయేట్‌ చేసి అందులో డబ్బును జమచేసింది. ఇటీవల ఆ సంస్థకు కొత్త బ్రాంచ్‌ మేనేజర్‌గా వచ్చిన ఉన్ని కృష్ణన్‌ జరిగిన మోసాన్ని గుర్తించి పోలీసులకు ఫిర్యాదు చేశాడు. దీనిపై విచారణ జరుపుతున్న సిటీ క్రైం బ్రాంచ్‌ పోలీసులు సుభాను అరెస్ట్‌ చేశారు. ‌