Does CBI have two horns and TN police only one, asked the Madras High Court

Gold missing from CBI custody

How’s this for a whodunit? India’s premier investigation agency, the CBI, searches the offices of Surana Corporation, a Chennai-based importer in 2012, finds 400.47 kg of gold, and then seals it in the same company’s vaults in the presence of independent witnesses and the MD of Surana, pending further action.

Fast forward to February 2020: the vaults are opened on the orders of the Madras High Court in front of official liquidators, officials of six banks and independent witnesses to hand over the gold to lender banks of Surana. The seals are intact, but lo and behold! The gold now weighs only 296.6 kilos; 103 kilos seem to have vanished.

The High Court is not amused; it takes the CBI to task, and over its loud protests that it would lower the prestige of the agency, orders an investigation by the TamilNadu police crime branch [CB-CID] into the missing gold. Justice PN Prakash doesn’t mince words: he rhetorically asks if the CBI is endowed with two horns, and the local police with only a tail [playing upon a reference in Tamil to take down unwarranted claims by egotistical people].

An embarrassed CBI has to retreat with its tail between its legs in front of this retort; it now says that there will be an internal inquiry by a senior officer; however, the TN police will probe the case under an SP-level officer as ordered by the court. It may be a case of ‘agnipariksha’ for the CBI, but it cannot be helped. If the agency’s hands are clean, then it will come out like Sita from her test, the Justice quipped.

Karnataka’s dubious distinction

This is one statistic that Karnataka would certainly not like to be attached to their state, which is otherwise progressive both economically and socially: domestic violence against women has doubled – 44.6 percent against 20.6 per cent -- since the last survey by the National Family Health Survey [NFHS] five years ago (2015-16).

This is part of the fifth round of data on health and economic indicators in 22 states and Union Territories. The findings are otherwise reassuring: barring Karnataka, Assam and Maharashtra [but the incidence is far less in the latter two states], domestic violence, which is violence by husbands against their wives, is on the decline. The Karnataka phenomenon is somewhat surprising, according to experts, who think that it needs further study. The survey itself offers no explanation; but the Karnataka High Court had asked the state government to take action on this matter a month into the lockdown.

Balaji darshan now open to all

In what is good news for devotees of Lord Venkateshwara, the hill temple of Tirumala in Andhra Pradesh, has been opened up for older people and those below 10; they had been barred ever since the reopening of the shrine after the lockdown was eased.

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams [TTD], the government-appointed body which administers a wide swathe of Hindu temples in Andhra Pradesh said it was now allowing those above 65 years, and children and pregnant women to visit the shrine. The temple is still restricting entry to only a few thousands every day, as against the lakhs of visitors earlier. The temple of Lord Venkateshwara (better known as Balaji in the north) attracts visitors from all over the country and from abroad [notable visitors include Sri Lankan leaders such as former presidents Rajapaksa and Sirisena, apart from top Indian political leaders and celebrities].

Robot on poll duty

Many believe that the Kerala police is a trendsetter for other forces in India. It’s not easy to police a state as highly politicised as Kerala, but barring a few aberrations, they have not done too badly by Indian standards. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that Kerala has notched up another first: robots on poll duty.

In the recent municipal elections, a robot was deployed on poll duty at a booth in Ernakulam, Kochi. It could check temperatures, see if the voters lined up were wearing their face masks properly and also dispensed hand sanitiser. If this sounds surprising, it shouldn’t; Kerala has a thriving infotech industry; its impressive Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram provides the ecosystem for young tech startups in Kerala; and the state was one of the first to roll out e-services to its people.

IBM-Telangana partnership

Former Andhra Pradesh chief minister’s dream was to make Hyderabad ‘Cyberabad.’ He did this to a large extent; in fact, there is a Cyberabad police district with its own commissioner of police in Hyderabad. But, as we all know, Hyderabad is now the capital of Telangana, after it was hived off from the undivided Andhra Pradesh, and it is ruled by the TRS [Telangana Rashtra Samiti] of K Chandrasekhar Rao, or KCR as he is known.

The state continues to woo the global IT industry: it has now signed an agreement with the tech giant IBM [incidentally headed by a Telugu CEO, Arvind Krishna, born in west Godavari district] to train 30,000 students in emerging technologies and professional skills. The curated online courses will equip them with the necessary skills for a digital future, the government and IBM said. IBM will collaborate with the Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge [TASK] to offer the Open P-Tech, a digital platform to offer the skills training.