Morning Brief: CBI To Probe Role Of UPA Ministers In Loans Given To Mallya; DU Polls: ABVP Sweeps Three Posts, Congress’ NSUI Settles For One; And Other News

Good morning, dear reader! Here’s your morning news brief for today.

CBI To Probe Role Of UPA Ministers In Loans Given To Mallya

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is set to launch an investigation into the alleged role of some ministers in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, which was in power between 2004 and 2014, in loans given to absconding liquor baron Vijay Mallya during this period, the Economic Times has reported. According to the daily’s report, the CBI has officially approached the finance ministry and formally obtained the documents it needs to build its case. Top officials of the finance ministry are also under the radar.

The CBI will also be looking at the emails it had recovered during raids on the house of the Kingfisher Airlines owner. It had seized over a lakh internal email exchanged between 2008 and 2013, including communications with the Prime Minister’s Office, finance ministry, civil aviation ministry and petroleum ministry among others. In one such exchange, Mallya had reportedly claimed that the disbursement of loans was made possible by the intervention of UPA ministers.

DU Election: RSS’ Student Wing Wins Three Posts, Congress’ NSUI Gets One

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's (RSS') student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on Thursday managed to win three of the four posts up for grab in the recently held elections of the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU), including that of the president. Congress's National Students' Union of India emerged victorious in just one. While ABVP garbed the posts of president, vice president and joint secretary of the student’s union, NSUI secured the post of secretary. ABVP’s Anvik Basoya claimed the post of DUSU president with a margin of over 1,700 votes and Shakti Singh won the post of the vice president of the students’ union by a margin of over 7,600 votes.

Taking a cue from its national leadership, the Congress party’s NSUI claimed that the electronic voting machines were tampered with and called the elections ‘unfair’. While NSUI and ABVP have always dominated DUSU, the far-left All India Students Association of the Left parties and Aam Aadmi Party's CYSS had entered into an alliance and were vying for the central panel posts this time.

China Installing QR Codes On Homes Of Uighur Muslims

According to a Human Rights Watch report released on Sunday, the Communist Party of China is installing QR codes on the homes of the Uighur Muslims, living in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region in northwest China, to get instant access to the personal details of people living there. This comes amid a large-scale crackdown on minorities in China, which includes arbitrary detentions, daily restrictions on religious practice and "forced political indoctrination".

Earlier, it was reported that China is holding more than one million (according to an estimate from the United Nations) Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in political “re-education” camps. Uighurs, a Turkic ethnic group, have been demanding the creation of an independent country. Ethnic riots in Xinjiang in 2009 had claimed hundreds of lives. Many Uighurs are believed to have mounted low-intensity attacks in the region in the past few years.

Five Pakistani Terrorists Killed In Two Separate Operations

Five Pakistani terrorists, who were members of Deobandi terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), have been killed by security forces in two separate operations in the Kashmir Valley. While three of these terrorists were killed in an eight-hour encounter in Reasi district, the other two were neutralised in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district. At least 37 JeM terrorists have been eliminated by the security forces this year. The forces also arrested a truck driver and his helper for allegedly aiding the terrorists by allowing them to travel in their vehicle.

At least 14 security personnel, including five cops of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, six Central Reserve Police Force men and three Army jawans were injured in these gunfights. A deputy superintendent of police was also hurt.

From Swarajya

Dalit Man Struggles To Get His Minor Daughter Back, Months After She Was Kidnapped, Converted And Married: When the minor girl’s father called up the accused and requested him to return his daughter, the latter had the audacity to say: I have taken the girl, take her back if you can.

How Ganesha Is An Integral Part Of Tamil Culture: Some in Tamil Nadu denounce Ganesha as an ‘Aryan’-imported god and believe he is not an ‘original’ Tamil deity. Here’s why they are wrong:

Four Ways To An Excise Duty Cut Without Rocking The Fiscal Boat Much: Bringing fuel under GST is the most lasting solution but in an election year if the Modi government doesn’t want to rock the boat too much, then the only way forward is sharp reduction in the existing fuel taxes.

We hope you enjoyed reading our morning brief. Have a great day ahead!