Kochi: The Income Tax Department has launched an investigation into the Life Mission bribery deal. Unitac owner Santosh Eepan is being questioned by the Income Tax Department. The Income Tax Department has launched an investigation into a bribery deal related to Life Mission. Unit owner Santosh Eepan is being questioned at the Kochi office of the Income Tax Department.

Santosh Eepan was present at the Kochi office of the Income Tax Department at noon. Income tax officials are trying to find out about the commission of Rs 4.5 crore on the Life Mission deal. The income tax department will examine Santosh Eepan’s sources of income and dividends. Those who received the money will then be investigated.

The Income Tax Department had earlier filed a preliminary report in the court alleging massive fraud in the Life Mission deal. Meanwhile, the arrest of Swapna and Sarith in the dollar smuggling case will be recorded today. The court, which is considering financial crimes in Kochi, had allowed the customs to arrest the two. The customs officials will record their arrest while they are in jail.

Thiruvananthapuram: Report of the two-member committee that there was a lapse in the Sprinklr contract. The report states that failure to seek the advice of top officials and the Legal Secretary before the sprinkler agreement was a procedural omission. The report also contains eight recommendations to ensure information security. Following the controversy over the sprinklr deal, the government appointed a committee to look into the matter.

The committee comprising Madhavan Nambiar and Gulshan Roy submitted a 23-page report to the government. It was Sprinklr who approached the government offering help. According to the report, Shivshankar himself took the decision and signed the agreement. Sprinklr has data on 1.8 lakh people. It was transferred to the C-DIT server within ten days, the report said. But information affecting national security has not been lost.

The committee also found that the government had no mechanism to detect the leakage. Ramesh Chennithala said the report confirms the allegations of the opposition. The committee also submitted eight recommendations to ensure information security. C-DIT and the IT department need to be further technically strengthened. C-DIT employees should be trained from time to time. The government needs the services of more technicians, the government needs to strengthen its digital technology sector and empaneled cybersecurity auditing companies, the report said.

Kochi:  The Special NIA Court in Kochi has closed anticipatory bail to M.Shivashnakar. The petition was settled after the NIA informed the court that M Shivashankar was not a defendant in the case at present and did not intend to prosecute him and therefore his bail application should not be considered.

He said that he had been interrogated more than 100 times in the case 11 times and that he had fully assisted in the investigation but had not received any evidence to charge him and would continue to co-operate with the investigation. In this view, Shivshankar had sought anticipatory bail.

However, the NIA’s current decision is that it has no intention of adding a defendant in the gold smuggling case at present and will consider adding a defendant in the future if any evidence is found.

Meanwhile, the High Court will give its verdict tomorrow on the anticipatory bail application in the cases registered by Customs and ED. The customs court was told that M.Shivashnakar’s hospital stay was a pre-arranged script. There is no doubt that a decision in the case of Sivashankar will be taken if the documents for this are also produced in the Customs Court.

Shivshankar, who was discharged from the Medical College Hospital, is currently undergoing treatment at a private Ayurvedic hospital. The probe team said that the meeting was held at the CM’s residence and information was being gathered from Shivshankar about the smuggling of dollars.

Thiruvananthapuram: Biju Radhakrishnan has been sentenced to three years rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 10,000 for solar fraud. A case has been registered against Biju Radhakrishnan’s Swiss solar company for embezzling Rs 75 lakh from a Thiruvananthapuram resident. Biju Radhakrishnan had confessed guilty in the case. He faces no more than five years in prison in various cases. The trial of the other accused Shalu Menon and Kaladevi will continue.

Thiruvananthapuram: The cabinet has decided to cancel the salary cut of government employees. The Cabinet meeting approved the recommendation of the Finance Ministry. It was also decided to merge the previous salary with PF from April.

The government decided to cut salaries after the Covid crisis after the floods. Criticism of this was high.

At the same time, the criteria for local elections have been published.

The cabinet also decided to amend the Police Act to prevent harassment of women through social media. Under the existing section, only bailable cases can be filed against the accused.and

Kochi: Following the report of the Special Commissioner on the Sabarimala Makaravilak pilgrimage, the High Court ruled that devotees can enter Sabarimala with restrictions but the restrictions should not hinder the rituals. The court also said that all necessary facilities should be provided at the base camp.The High Court questioned the absence of the Devaswom Board representative on the Chief Secretary level committee. The Devaswom Board has to present the problems of the devotees to the government.