The Evening Wrap: CBI arrests Videocon chief Venugopal Dhoot in ‘loan fraud’ case

After the arrest of former ICICI Bank’s chief executive officer and managing director, Chanda Kochhar, and her husband, Deepak Kochhar, in a case related to the credit facilities extended to the Videocon Group of companies, the CBI on Monday arrested Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot, a CBI official said. The CBI had registered a case alleging quid pro quo in sanctioning loans of ₹1,875 crore to the companies of Videocon Group, headed by Venugopal Dhoot.Based on the CBI case, the Enforcement Directorate had filed a case pertaining to causing loss to ICICI Bank by sanctioning loans to Videocon Group in contravention of the rules and policies of ICICI Bank during the relevant period. These loans had turned non-performing assets and thus resulted in wrongful loss to ICICI Bank and wrongful gain to the borrowers and accused persons, the FIR had said. The ED alleged that Kochhar and her family acquired a Mumbai flat, which was also attached, at a nominal rate by taking over a Videocon Group entity through a trust. As a quid pro quo, Dhoot also allegedly invested in NRL via Supreme Energy Private Limited (SEPL), which was later transferred to Pinnacle Energy Trust, purportedly controlled by Kochhar. Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ takes oath as Nepal’s new Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ was on December 26 sworn in as the Prime Minister of Nepal for a third time, a day after the former guerrilla leader dramatically walked out of the pre-poll alliance led by the Nepali Congress and joined hands with opposition leader K.P. Sharma Oli. The 68-year-old CPN-Maoist Centre chairman was appointed as the country’s new prime minister on Sunday after he submitted a letter to President Bidya Devi Bhandari showing the support of 169 members in the 275-member House of Representatives. Dahal took the oath of office and secrecy from President Bhandari at an official ceremony at Shital Niwas. President Bhandari also administered the oath to other cabinet members of the new coalition government. The new cabinet has three deputy prime ministers—Bishnu Paudel from Oli’s CPN-UML, Narayan Kaji Shrestha from CPN-Maoist Centre and Rabi Lamichhane from Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP). Despite getting appointed Prime Minister with an overwhelming majority, Dahal will now have to win a vote of trust from the lower house within 30 days.If he fails to win the confidence of the House, then a new process for government formation will begin. The surprise development of Prachanda becoming the new premier may not bode well for India-Nepal ties as he and his main backer and former premier Oli have had some run-ins with New Delhi previously over territorial issues. Dahal, who is seen as pro-China, has in the past said a new understanding with India needed to be developed on the basis of a “changed scenario” in Nepal and after addressing all outstanding issues, like revision of the 1950 Friendship Treaty and resolving Kalapani and Susta border disputes. The India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1950 forms the bedrock of the special relations between the two countries. In recent years, Dahal, however, has said India and Nepal need to address diplomatically some of the issues “left by history” to realise the full potential of the bilateral cooperation. His main backer Oli is also known for his pro-China stance. As the prime minister, Oli last year claimed that efforts were being made to oust him after his government redrew Nepal’s political map by incorporating three strategically key Indian territories, a move that strained ties between the two countries. India had termed as “untenable” the “artificial enlargement” of the territorial claims by Nepal after its Parliament unanimously in 2020 approved the new political map of the country featuring Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura areas which India maintains belong to it. The country shares a border of over 1,850-km with five Indian States—Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Land-locked Nepal relies heavily on India for the transportation of goods and services. Nepal’s access to the sea is through India, and it imports a predominant proportion of its requirements from and through India. Born in Dhikurpokhari of Kaski district near Pokhara on December 11, 1954, Dahal remained underground for almost 13 years. He joined mainstream politics when the CPN-Maoist adopted peaceful politics, ending a decade-long armed insurgency. Yezdi trademark does not belong to Boman Irani and Classic Legends, says High Court of Karnataka The High Court of Karnataka has restrained Boman R. Irani of Rustomjee Group, and Classic Legends Pvt. Ltd., incorporated by Irani and Mahindra & Mahindra, and any others from using the trademark ‘Yezdi’ or any other mark containing the word ‘Yezdi’ as a word or a device, whether independently or in conjunction with other words, including all domain names which use the word or mark ‘Yezdi’. Declaring that Ideal Jawa (India) Ltd., which is under liquidation, is the owner of ‘Yezdi’ (word and device) taken independently or in conjunction with other words, the court said that the trademarks of the company remain in custodia legis of the court as it is dealing with the liquidation proceedings, initiated in 1991 through the Official Liquidator (OL). The court declared as null and void all trademark, registration certificates issued by Registrar of Trademarks, Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad in favour of Boman Irani and directed the Trademark Registration Authority to transfer all such registrations to Ideal Jawa through the OL. Justice S.R. Krishna Kumar passed the order recently while allowing applications filed by the OL and the Ideal Jawa Employees’ Association questioning the grant of ‘Yezdi’ to Boman Irani. However, the court kept this order in abeyance for one month for the limited purpose of enabling aggrieved parties to challenge it before the appellate forum. “Mr. Irani could not have obtained registration of ‘Yezdi’ during the process of winding up. The conduct of Mr. Irani in obtaining registration of the marks is in bad faith and amounts to misappropriation of the assets of the company,” the court observed while pointing out that Ideal Jawa has not lost its right over the trademark by not renewing it, as the company is under liquidation. The court said that Boman Irani and Classic Legends are liable to account and pay to ideal Jawa for all the gains made from use of the trademark and directed them to provide to the OL all details of the sales and earnings from the use of ‘Yezdi’ in any form whatsoever. The OL, the court said, should appoint a reputed firm of chartered accountants to determine the benefit that has accrued to Boman Irani and Classic Legends from the use of the trademark.Besides, the court directed Boman Irani and Classic Legends to pay a cost of ₹10 lakh each to the OL. On the other hand, the court permitted the OL to sell all trademarks and such other associated rights in and over the trademarks with all goodwill associated with the mark owned by Ideal Jawa by public auction after proper valuation of the trademarks. Boman Irani had got ‘Yezdi’ trademark registered in his favour during 2013-15. Classic Legends was incorporated in 2015, and Boman Irani is one of its directors. Classic Legends launched a new motorcycle under ‘Yezdi’ brand name in the market in January 2022. It was contended in court that Boman Irani’s father Rustom S. Irani, who had started Ideal Jawa, owned ‘Yezdi’ name, and hence the mark was acquired by his son after his demise. Boman Irani argued that Ideal Jawa had abandoned the trademark by not renewing it, and hence it was open to anyone to register ‘Yezdi’ before the trademark authority. However, the court rejected these claims and said that it was the company, Ideal Jawa, which owned the trademark and not Rustom Irani, and Ideal Jawa had not abandoned its trademarks. The court observed that Boman Irani did not bring the fact of pendency of winding up process to the notice of the registrar of trademarks, and the registrar had not issued a notice to Ideal Jawa before removing the mark from its ownership. Frigid monster storm across U.S. claims at least 34 lives Millions of people hunkered down against a deep freeze on Sunday to ride out the winter storm that has killed at least 34 people across the United States and is expected to claim more lives after trapping some residents inside houses with heaping snow drifts and knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses. The scope of the storm has been nearly unprecedented, stretching from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande along the border with Mexico. About 60% of the U.S. population faced some sort of winter weather advisory or warning, and temperatures plummeted drastically below normal from east of the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians, the National Weather Service said. Travelers’ weather woes are likely to continue, with hundreds of flight cancellations already and more expected after a bomb cyclone — when atmospheric pressure drops very quickly in a strong storm — developed near the Great Lakes, stirring up blizzard conditions, including heavy winds and snow. Some 1,707 domestic and international flights were canceled on Sunday as of about 2 p.m. EDT, according to the tracking site FlightAware. The storm unleashed its full fury on Buffalo, with hurricane-force winds and snow causing whiteout conditions, paralyzing emergency response efforts. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said almost every fire truck in the city was stranded Saturday and implored people Sunday to respect an ongoing driving ban in the region. Officials said the airport would be shut through Tuesday morning. The National Weather Service said the snow total at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport stood at 43 inches (109 centimeters) at 7 a.m. Sunday. Daylight revealed cars nearly covered by 6-foot snowdrifts and thousands of houses, some adorned in unlit holiday displays, dark from a lack of power. With snow swirling down untouched and impassable streets, forecasters warned that an additional 1 to 2 feet of snow was possible in some areas through early Monday morning amid wind gusts of 40 mph. Police said Sunday evening that there were two “isolated” instances of looting during the storm. In Brief: Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was admitted to AIIMS on December 26 with symptoms of viral fever and is recovering, official sources said.According to ANI, the 63-year-old has been admitted to a private ward of the hospital for a routine check-up around noon. The hospitalisation of the 63-year-old minister comes at a crucial time since the presentation of Budget of the nation is only a month away. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 26 DECEMBER 2022 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( Dear reader, We have now made it easier for you to manage your The Hindu newsletter subscriptions in one place! 1. Visit [The Hindu newsletters page]( 2. Click MANAGE tab and then click LOGIN / SIGN UP 3. If you don’t have an account with The Hindu, please click SIGN UP OR If you already have an account with The Hindu with this email ID, please login using the email ID CBI arrests Videocon chief Venugopal Dhoot in ‘loan fraud’ case After the arrest of former ICICI Bank’s chief executive officer and managing director, Chanda Kochhar, and her husband, Deepak Kochhar, in a case related to the credit facilities extended to the Videocon Group of companies, [the CBI on Monday arrested Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot]( a CBI official said. The CBI had registered a case alleging quid pro quo in sanctioning loans of ₹1,875 crore to the companies of Videocon Group, headed by Venugopal Dhoot.Based on the CBI case, the Enforcement Directorate had filed a case pertaining to causing loss to ICICI Bank by sanctioning loans to Videocon Group in contravention of the rules and policies of ICICI Bank during the relevant period. These loans had turned non-performing assets and thus resulted in wrongful loss to ICICI Bank and wrongful gain to the borrowers and accused persons, the FIR had said. [Videocon Group’s Venugopal Dhoot arrives at the Enforcement Directorate office in New Delhi. File Photo] The ED alleged that Kochhar and her family acquired a Mumbai flat, which was also attached, at a nominal rate by taking over a Videocon Group entity through a trust. As a quid pro quo, Dhoot also allegedly invested in NRL via Supreme Energy Private Limited (SEPL), which was later transferred to Pinnacle Energy Trust, purportedly controlled by Kochhar. Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ takes oath as Nepal’s new Prime Minister [Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ was on December 26 sworn in as the Prime Minister of Nepal]( for a third time, a day after the former guerrilla leader dramatically walked out of the pre-poll alliance led by the Nepali Congress and joined hands with opposition leader K.P. Sharma Oli. The 68-year-old CPN-Maoist Centre chairman was appointed as the country’s new prime minister on Sunday after he submitted a letter to President Bidya Devi Bhandari showing the support of 169 members in the 275-member House of Representatives. Dahal took the oath of office and secrecy from President Bhandari at an official ceremony at Shital Niwas. President Bhandari also administered the oath to other cabinet members of the new coalition government. The new cabinet has three deputy prime ministers—Bishnu Paudel from Oli’s CPN-UML, Narayan Kaji Shrestha from CPN-Maoist Centre and Rabi Lamichhane from Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP). Despite getting appointed Prime Minister with an overwhelming majority, Dahal will now have to win a vote of trust from the lower house within 30 days.If he fails to win the confidence of the House, then a new process for government formation will begin. The surprise development of Prachanda becoming the new premier may not bode well for India-Nepal ties as he and his main backer and former premier Oli have had some run-ins with New Delhi previously over territorial issues. Dahal, who is seen as pro-China, has in the past said a new understanding with India needed to be developed on the basis of a “changed scenario” in Nepal and after addressing all outstanding issues, like revision of the 1950 Friendship Treaty and resolving Kalapani and Susta border disputes. The India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1950 forms the bedrock of the special relations between the two countries. In recent years, Dahal, however, has said India and Nepal need to address diplomatically some of the issues “left by history” to realise the full potential of the bilateral cooperation. His main backer Oli is also known for his pro-China stance. As the prime minister, Oli last year claimed that efforts were being made to oust him after his government redrew Nepal’s political map by incorporating three strategically key Indian territories, a move that strained ties between the two countries. India had termed as “untenable” the “artificial enlargement” of the territorial claims by Nepal after its Parliament unanimously in 2020 approved the new political map of the country featuring Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura areas which India maintains belong to it. The country shares a border of over 1,850-km with five Indian States—Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Land-locked Nepal relies heavily on India for the transportation of goods and services. Nepal’s access to the sea is through India, and it imports a predominant proportion of its requirements from and through India. Born in Dhikurpokhari of Kaski district near Pokhara on December 11, 1954, Dahal remained underground for almost 13 years. He joined mainstream politics when the CPN-Maoist adopted peaceful politics, ending a decade-long armed insurgency. Yezdi trademark does not belong to Boman Irani and Classic Legends, says High Court of Karnataka The [High Court of Karnataka has restrained Boman R. Irani of Rustomjee Group]( and Classic Legends Pvt. Ltd., incorporated by Irani and Mahindra & Mahindra, and any others from using the trademark ‘Yezdi’ or any other mark containing the word ‘Yezdi’ as a word or a device, whether independently or in conjunction with other words, including all domain names which use the word or mark ‘Yezdi’. Declaring that Ideal Jawa (India) Ltd., which is under liquidation, is the owner of ‘Yezdi’ (word and device) taken independently or in conjunction with other words, the court said that the trademarks of the company remain in custodia legis of the court as it is dealing with the liquidation proceedings, initiated in 1991 through the Official Liquidator (OL). The court declared as null and void all trademark, registration certificates issued by Registrar of Trademarks, Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad in favour of Boman Irani and directed the Trademark Registration Authority to transfer all such registrations to Ideal Jawa through the OL. Justice S.R. Krishna Kumar passed the order recently while allowing applications filed by the OL and the Ideal Jawa Employees’ Association questioning the grant of ‘Yezdi’ to Boman Irani. However, the court kept this order in abeyance for one month for the limited purpose of enabling aggrieved parties to challenge it before the appellate forum. “Mr. Irani could not have obtained registration of ‘Yezdi’ during the process of winding up. The conduct of Mr. Irani in obtaining registration of the marks is in bad faith and amounts to misappropriation of the assets of the company,” the court observed while pointing out that Ideal Jawa has not lost its right over the trademark by not renewing it, as the company is under liquidation. The court said that Boman Irani and Classic Legends are liable to account and pay to ideal Jawa for all the gains made from use of the trademark and directed them to provide to the OL all details of the sales and earnings from the use of ‘Yezdi’ in any form whatsoever. The OL, the court said, should appoint a reputed firm of chartered accountants to determine the benefit that has accrued to Boman Irani and Classic Legends from the use of the trademark.Besides, the court directed Boman Irani and Classic Legends to pay a cost of ₹10 lakh each to the OL. On the other hand, the court permitted the OL to sell all trademarks and such other associated rights in and over the trademarks with all goodwill associated with the mark owned by Ideal Jawa by public auction after proper valuation of the trademarks. Boman Irani had got ‘Yezdi’ trademark registered in his favour during 2013-15. Classic Legends was incorporated in 2015, and Boman Irani is one of its directors. Classic Legends launched a new motorcycle under ‘Yezdi’ brand name in the market in January 2022. It was contended in court that Boman Irani’s father Rustom S. Irani, who had started Ideal Jawa, owned ‘Yezdi’ name, and hence the mark was acquired by his son after his demise. Boman Irani argued that Ideal Jawa had abandoned the trademark by not renewing it, and hence it was open to anyone to register ‘Yezdi’ before the trademark authority. However, the court rejected these claims and said that it was the company, Ideal Jawa, which owned the trademark and not Rustom Irani, and Ideal Jawa had not abandoned its trademarks. The court observed that Boman Irani did not bring the fact of pendency of winding up process to the notice of the registrar of trademarks, and the registrar had not issued a notice to Ideal Jawa before removing the mark from its ownership. Frigid monster storm across U.S. claims at least 34 lives [Millions of people hunkered down against a deep freeze on Sunday]( to ride out the winter storm that has killed at least 34 people across the United States and is expected to claim more lives after trapping some residents inside houses with heaping snow drifts and knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses. The scope of the storm has been nearly unprecedented, stretching from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande along the border with Mexico. About 60% of the U.S. population faced some sort of winter weather advisory or warning, and temperatures plummeted drastically below normal from east of the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians, the National Weather Service said. Travelers’ weather woes are likely to continue, with hundreds of flight cancellations already and more expected after a bomb cyclone — when atmospheric pressure drops very quickly in a strong storm — developed near the Great Lakes, stirring up blizzard conditions, including heavy winds and snow. Some 1,707 domestic and international flights were canceled on Sunday as of about 2 p.m. EDT, according to the tracking site FlightAware. The storm unleashed its full fury on Buffalo, with hurricane-force winds and snow causing whiteout conditions, paralyzing emergency response efforts. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said almost every fire truck in the city was stranded Saturday and implored people Sunday to respect an ongoing driving ban in the region. Officials said the airport would be shut through Tuesday morning. The National Weather Service said the snow total at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport stood at 43 inches (109 centimeters) at 7 a.m. Sunday. Daylight revealed cars nearly covered by 6-foot snowdrifts and thousands of houses, some adorned in unlit holiday displays, dark from a lack of power. With snow swirling down untouched and impassable streets, forecasters warned that an additional 1 to 2 feet of snow was possible in some areas through early Monday morning amid wind gusts of 40 mph. Police said Sunday evening that there were two “isolated” instances of looting during the storm. In Brief: Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister [Nirmala Sitharaman was admitted to AIIMS]( on December 26 with symptoms of viral fever and is recovering, official sources said.According to ANI, the 63-year-old has been admitted to a private ward of the hospital for a routine check-up around noon. The hospitalisation of the 63-year-old minister comes at a crucial time since the presentation of Budget of the nation is only a month away. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. Interested in Science? Our "Science For All" weekly newsletter takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! [Subscribe Now!]( Today’s Top Picks [[Watch | Why are countries racing towards the Arctic?] Watch | Why are countries racing towards the Arctic?]( [[Syrian Democratic Forces say six fighters killed in Islamic State attack] Syrian Democratic Forces say six fighters killed in Islamic State attack]( [[Taiwan says China deployed 71 warplanes in weekend war drills] Taiwan says China deployed 71 warplanes in weekend war drills]( [[Twitter brings back suicide prevention and safety support features] Twitter brings back suicide prevention and safety support features]( Copyright @ 2022, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. 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