Reply to charges of abetting 1984 anti-Sikh riots: US court to Congress May 07, 2011 05:45
The Congress party has been asked to respond by April 1 to "summons" issued by a US court to answer charges of "conspiring, aiding, abetting and organizing" attacks on Sikhs in November 1984. The US…
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US journal says more universities duping Indians May 07, 2011 05:45
Tri-Valley University is only one of many dubious and unaccredited universities in the US that are duping foreign students — especially Indians — reported a leading US journal on higher education. The report was based…
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Oz teen admits Indian student murder May 07, 2011 05:45
An Australian teenager pleaded guilty on Wednesday to the stabbing murder of Nitin Garg, the worst in a series of violent crimes against students from India that hurt diplomatic ties. Garg, 21, was attacked as…
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Indian-origin man pleads guilty in insider trading case in US May 07, 2011 05:45
An Indian-origin hedge fund manager in the US has pleaded guilty to his involvement in insider trading schemes and could face up to 20 years in prison. Samir Barai, 39, a portfolio manager at two…
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UK cuts visas, Indians to be hit May 07, 2011 05:45
In a move that will hit Indian and Chinese nationals, the British government Tuesday said it would cut the number of student visas for non-Europeans by up to 80,000 a year, saying the regime was…
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Reply to charges of abetting 1984 anti-Sikh riots: US court to Congress May 07, 2011 05:45
The Congress party has been asked to respond by April 1 to "summons" issued by a US court to answer charges of "conspiring, aiding, abetting and organizing" attacks on Sikhs in November 1984. The US…
Read More
US journal says more universities duping Indians May 07, 2011 05:45
Tri-Valley University is only one of many dubious and unaccredited universities in the US that are duping foreign students — especially Indians — reported a leading US journal on higher education. The report was based…
Read More
NRIs in half-billion dollar fraud case July 09, 2011 13:51
In a “jaw-dropping” and “epic” case, an Indian-American couple here has been charged with raking in over $460 million in crooked cash through a record-setting corruption scam. Reddy Allen and Dr Padma Allen have been indicted on federal fraud and kickback charges in relation to thescandals surrounding mayor Michael Bloomberg administration’s CityTime project, intended to modernise the municipal payroll system. A grand jury said yesterday that more than $600 million of the project’s bloated budget is “tainted” by fraud. The couple secured a lucrative, no-bid subcontract for the CityTime that made it look like their firm, TechnoDyne, was “a successful and fast-growing company,” the New York Post reported. But the “engine of its growth” was actually an overbilling scam in which the Allens paid out more than $15 million in kickbacks and hired a bevy of crooked subcontractors, according to the indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court. Authorities say the brazen corruption was part of a “massive and elaborate scheme” involving high-ranking executives at prime contractor Science Applications International Corp who pocketed $5 for every hour worked by 300-plus consultants. CityTime was initially budgeted at $63 million, but has cost taxpayers more than $720 million to date. Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara called the alleged scam “truly jaw-dropping” and “epic in duration, magnitude and scope.” Bharara said prosecutors were seeking to have the Allens extradited from their native India, where they fled in February after getting slapped with grand-jury subpoenas.
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Court denies medical admission to foreign-returned 'NRI' girl July 09, 2011 13:46
AHMEDABAD: Vrushali Shah went to the US twice on a visitor's visa. Upon return , on the basis of her two visits abroad, she obtained admission in the post-graduation level in the faculty of medicine on claims that she was a Non-Resident Indian (NRI). Vrushali had completed her MBBS from Pramukh Swami Medical College in Karamsad this year, and opted for PG course in General Medicine at the NHL Municipal Medical College, Ahmedabad in the NRI category. Vrushali applied in this category posing as an NRI on the basis of a certificate issued by a prestigious immigration and tax consultant . The consultant stated in his certificate that since Vrushali was out of India on two occasions for a total number of 186 days during the financial year 2010-11 , she was eligible to apply for admission in the NRI category of PG seats.
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NRI asked to serve in blind school for 6 months for harassing wife July 09, 2011 13:42
A Canada-based expatriate Indian, who married a young divorcee in Delhi but deserted her soon after marriage which led her to commit suicide, has been convicted by a Delhi court for subjecting her to mental torture but let off with a mild sentence asking him to serve a blind school in the city for six months. After convicting Pawan Dass, a resident of Surrey in Canada, Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau let him off on probation on the plea for leniency by his counsel, who pointed out that he had been in jail for last 11 months. Lau, however, ordered him to perform community service at blind students school at Kingsway Camp in North Delhi for six months. "Single women particularly divorcee are easy prey. In the hope of getting away from anxieties and pressures of day-to-day life, they become victims of NRIs, who sell them tall dreams of a bright life away from their homes and after marriage abandoned them causing physical, mental and psychological deprivation as has happened in the present case," Lau said, convicting Dass. The Delhi police had sent up Dass for trial on charges of subjecting his wife Richa to cruelty and driving her to commit suicide in April 2004 after marrying her during one of his brief visits to Delhi from Canada in December 2003. The court, however, acquitted him of the charges of drving her to commit suicide. A divorcee, Dass had married Richa after winning her sympathies, the prosecution alleged adding that after the wedlock he had returned to Canada and began living there with his first wife with whom he had a break-up earlier and her children. Before marrying Richa, Dass compelled her to convert to Christianity, but refused to speak to her properly even on phone as she made long-distance calls to speak to him, said prosecution adding that he would even abuse her on phone, resulting in bouts of abysmal depression. "If using filthy / abusive language to the newly married wife on telephone is not cruelty then what else is?" the judge said on Pawan's defence that he had not subjected Richa to cruelty. The court pointed out that "of late a large number of cases have come to light where the NRIs have been exploiting young qualified Indian women in the name of marriage."
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Wrongfully held, diplomat's daughter May 07, 2011 05:45
NEW YORK/NEW DELHI: The Indian government on Wednesday came out in full support of 18-year-old Krittika Biswas, daughter of an Indian diplomat, after she sued the New York City government for $1.5 million for being arrested on false charges, handcuffed and confined with criminals. Krittika's harrowing experience began after she was accused of sending anti-semitic emails to her school teachers sometime in December 2010 — a charge that she repeatedly denied. She was arrested on February 8 and kept in jail for 24 hours before the Indian consulate and the embassy in Washington swung into action to secure her release from prison. Thereafter, despite the Queens district attorney dropping the charges and expunging her arrest from the record, school officials sent Krittika to a suspension centre. There, Krittika told Times Now, she was treated like a criminal and forced to spend time with "HIV patients and sex workers". Her arrest and confinement have raised questions of racial bias in the New York Police as well as the school authorities. The teenager told Times Now that when she told the cops to contact the Indian consulate, they asked her, "Are you a diplomat?" On Wednesday, lawyer Ravi Batra said Krittika, whose father Debashish Biswas is vice counsel at the Indian consulate here, has sued the New York City government claiming $1.5 million in damages. Indian consulate general Prabhu Dayal said Krittika deserved the compensation from the US government as "she has undergone mental and physical torture. This has scarred her mind for the rest of her life." Official sources in the Ministry of External Affairs told TOI, "We have taken this issue up with the US government. We have conveyed our anguish at the incident." They even said that the school's decision to not charge the real culprit, an "Asian" boy, spoke volumes of their "double standards". She alleged that she was not allowed to use the bathroom when she was in custody at the 107th precinct. "Eventually, I had to go in front of everyone," she said, referring to a small toilet in the cell occupied by other people.s Batra said that her more than 24-hour arrest violated international, federal, state and city laws. Batra said neither Krittika's father nor the consulate general were informed of her arrest on February 8. "They (the school) based my arrest on basically nothing," Krittika said, adding that the school did not suspend the Chinese student who sent the emails. "I don't know why he wasn't arrested... the principal pushed for my arrest." She said a cop told her that if she didn't confess, she would have to spend time in prison with prostitutes and people with HIV. She couldn't drink water from a water fountain because it had another person's vomit, and although it was really cold, she could not use the blanket because it stank. The New York Police Department is not responding to calls and an email seeking a response. Dayal later said that the incident would have no bearing on Indo-US relations. "This is an aberration... a wrongful act of local officials," he said. In addition to compensatory and punitive damages, Batra suggested that Mayor Bloomberg could perhaps give "a key to the City to Krittika as a token of heartfelt sorrow for the unbecoming pain inflicted upon her."
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Wrongfully held, diplomat's daughter sues NY for $1.5m May 07, 2011 05:45
NEW YORK/NEW DELHI: The Indian government on Wednesday came out in full support of 18-year-old Krittika Biswas, daughter of an Indian diplomat, after she sued the New York City government for $1.5 million for being arrested on false charges, handcuffed and confined with criminals. Krittika's harrowing experience began after she was accused of sending anti-semitic emails to her school teachers sometime in December 2010 — a charge that she repeatedly denied. She was arrested on February 8 and kept in jail for 24 hours before the Indian consulate and the embassy in Washington swung into action to secure her release from prison. Thereafter, despite the Queens district attorney dropping the charges and expunging her arrest from the record, school officials sent Krittika to a suspension centre. There, Krittika told Times Now, she was treated like a criminal and forced to spend time with "HIV patients and sex workers". Her arrest and confinement have raised questions of racial bias in the New York Police as well as the school authorities. The teenager told Times Now that when she told the cops to contact the Indian consulate, they asked her, "Are you a diplomat?" On Wednesday, lawyer Ravi Batra said Krittika, whose father Debashish Biswas is vice counsel at the Indian consulate here, has sued the New York City government claiming $1.5 million in damages. Indian consulate general Prabhu Dayal said Krittika deserved the compensation from the US government as "she has undergone mental and physical torture. This has scarred her mind for the rest of her life." Official sources in the Ministry of External Affairs told TOI, "We have taken this issue up with the US government. We have conveyed our anguish at the incident." They even said that the school's decision to not charge the real culprit, an "Asian" boy, spoke volumes of their "double standards". She alleged that she was not allowed to use the bathroom when she was in custody at the 107th precinct. "Eventually, I had to go in front of everyone," she said, referring to a small toilet in the cell occupied by other people.s Batra said that her more than 24-hour arrest violated international, federal, state and city laws. Batra said neither Krittika's father nor the consulate general were informed of her arrest on February 8. "They (the school) based my arrest on basically nothing," Krittika said, adding that the school did not suspend the Chinese student who sent the emails. "I don't know why he wasn't arrested... the principal pushed for my arrest." She said a cop told her that if she didn't confess, she would have to spend time in prison with prostitutes and people with HIV. She couldn't drink water from a water fountain because it had another person's vomit, and although it was really cold, she could not use the blanket because it stank. The New York Police Department is not responding to calls and an email seeking a response. Dayal later said that the incident would have no bearing on Indo-US relations. "This is an aberration... a wrongful act of local officials," he said. In addition to compensatory and punitive damages, Batra suggested that Mayor Bloomberg could perhaps give "a key to the City to Krittika as a token of heartfelt sorrow for the unbecoming pain inflicted upon her."
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