Daily Bulletin: SC to hear plea of disqualified Karnataka MLAs; Calcutta High Court likely to hear ex-top cop Rajeev Kumar's anticipatory bail plea; day's top stories

Supreme Court to hear plea of disqualified Karnataka MLAs today The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear the plea of 17 disqualified Karnataka MLAs who are seeking to contest by-polls for 15 Assembly seats in the state. A three-judge bench, headed by Justice NV Ramana, said it would hear on 25 September the plea in which the disqualified MLAs have sought interim relief to contest the by-elections. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the disqualified MLAs, told the bench that as per the disqualification orders of the then Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar, these persons cannot contest elections for the remaining term of the current Assembly which will end in 2023. Meanwhile, the counsel representing the Election Commission told the bench that by-polls for 15 vacant Assembly seats have been notified and the court should not stay the elections. The EC’s counsel also said the Speaker’s order disqualifying these MLAs cannot deprive them of their right to contest by-polls. Kumar had disqualified the MLAs which eventually led to the fall of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government headed by the then chief minister HD Kumaraswamy. Kumaraswamy resigned as the chief minister after losing a trust vote, which paved the way for the BJP-led government in the southern state under Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa. Saradha scam: Calcutta High Court likely to hear Kolkata ex-top cop Rajeev Kumar’s anticipatory bail plea Former Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar on Monday filed an anticipatory bail petition before the Calcutta High Court in the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam case, days after a district court rejected his prayer. The plea is likely to be moved by Kumar’s lawyers before a division bench of the high court on Wednesday. [caption id=“attachment_7354221” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Rajeev Kumar. Twitter@ANI[/caption] A CBI lawyer said the agency has been served a copy of the petition by Kumar’s counsel. Kumar, who is now the Additional Director General in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), had on Saturday suffered a setback in Alipore district sessions court which dismissed his anticipatory bail plea. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had claimed that Kumar is not cooperating with it in the probe and had been evading appearance before its investigation team on frivolous grounds. Countering the assertion, the senior IPS officer’s counsel said he is not a fugitive and has taken leave from 1 to 25 September. Narendra Modi to deliver keynote address at Bloomberg Global Business Forum, chair 45 US CEO roundtable at India investment meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to be joined by CEOs and top executives of Bank of America, Coca Cola, PepsiCo, Microsoft, and of 41 other companies at the roundtable meeting in New York on 25 September. Some of the other companies expected to be present are: Amway Corp, Bank of America, Coca Cola, Deloitte, IBM, Cisco Systems Inc, JPMorgan & Chase, Lockheed Martin, Marriott International, MasterCard, Microsoft, Visa, Walmart Retail. Modi will also deliver the keynote address at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum (GBF), a day-long event that attracts scores of CEOs and heads of state and government, will open with Modi’s address, which will be followed by a conversation between the prime minister and businessman and philanthropist Michael Bloomberg that will focus on strengthening global economic stability, tackling climate change and advancing technologies that can improve society. The GBF will also feature New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, former US presidents George W Bush and Bill Clinton and Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger. Donald Trump impeached: Speaker Nancy Pelosi launches formal inquiry even as US president denies claims The trouble for US President Donald Trump seems to be mounting after reports surfaced of him having “pressured” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to dig up damning information on the Democratic front-runner for the 2020 presidential election. Trump has rejected accusations of offering aid to Ukraine if it investigated his political rival Biden and his son, Hunter, and has claimed he is not worried about being impeached. The president, back in his hometown of New York for the UN General Assembly, was taking “executive time” at his Trump Tower penthouse late Tuesday afternoon when Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House was launching a formal impeachment inquiry against him. Pelosi’s move increases the odds that Trump will become the third US president to be impeached. “They’re going to lose the election, and they figure this is a thing to do,” Trump told reporters. Speaking of Pelosi, he added, “If she does that, they all say that’s a positive for me, for the election. You could also say, ‘Who needs it? It’s bad for the country.’” The revelations revolve in part around a 25 July phone call the president had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in which Trump is said to have asked for help investigating Biden and his son Hunter. In the days before the call, Trump ordered advisers to freeze 400 million dollars in military aid for Ukraine, prompting speculation that he was holding up the money as leverage for information on the Bidens. Trump has denied that charge but acknowledged he blocked the funds. Amazon Hardware event today: Expect new Echo devices E-commerce giant Amazon is hosting a hardware event in Seattle today and it is expected that the company will announce new Echo devices among other things. It is possible that we see a new version of the standard Echo smart speaker as we saw refreshed the Echo Dot, Echo Plus, and Echo Show last year. There is also rumour of Alexa-powered power earbuds in the pipeline. A separate report states that Amazon could be introducing a “bulkier Echo device with better sound quality” to match a new “lossless” tier for its music streaming service. We shall see today how many of these products are actually revealed. Carmen Chaplin to direct documentary on grandfather Charlie Chaplin Filmmaker-actor Carmen Chaplin is set to direct a theatrical documentary feature on her grandfather, screen legend Charlie Chaplin. Titled Charlie Chaplin, a Man of the World the film will shed light on a barely explored new facet to Chaplin, his Romani roots and heritage, reported Variety. This is the first time that the Chaplin family is involved in a movie about the creator of The Tramp. Carmen Chaplin is also attached to co-write the screenplay with Amaia Remirez, a co-writer on Another Day of Life, a European Film Awards best-animated feature winner.