NRIs Corner

A prominent India-born doctor based in Australia has been conferred with a prestigious award by a top medical body here in recognition of his outstanding service to the medical profession and the community, the Australian Medical Association (AMA) said.

Mukesh Haikerwal, 54, a general practitioner and former AMA president, was presented the AMA Gold Medal, the association’s highest honour, at the AMA National Conference Gala Dinner earlier this month, the medical association said in a statement.

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An Indian expatriate has been facing trial for smuggling in and possessing drugs in the UAE, media reported Tuesday.

The Indian driver, 28, identified only as A.S., was arrested with Tramadol drug tablets on his arrival at the Dubai airport following an arrest warrant by Ajman police anti-narcotics department March 28, Emirates 24/7 reported.

A.S. denied smuggling drugs at the Dubai Criminal Court and contended that they were bought against medical prescription.

Police recovered 36 Tramadol tablets, in addition to 39 buprenorphine tablets and other types of medicines from him.

A prominent Indian-origin doctor has been awarded the Australian Medical Association’s highest honour for his outstanding service to the medical profession and the community.

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) honoured Mukesh Haikerwal, who is a former president of the association, with the AMA Gold Medal.

A court here Tuesday reserved its order on a plea by a man, booked for the death of an NRI student and seeking permission to go abroad to pursue higher studies.

Accused Shivank Gambhir, who is now out on bail, pleaded before the court to release his passport and allow him to go to Britain to pursue further studies.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Veena Rani said it will deliver the order May 30.

The prosecution opposed Gambhir’s plea saying he has been booked under serious charges.

The body of an Indian fisherman who was shot dead on-board a vessel by armed pirates off the coast of Bahrain will be repatriated soon after completion of formalities, a media report said.

Thomas Glattus Soosai, 47, who was captaining the Bahraini dhow, was shot by masked gunmen who boarded the vessel northwest of Bahrain’s sea border May 22, Gulf Daily News reported Tuesday.

The Indian embassy in Bahrain has been awaiting confirmation from Soosai’s family in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu and approval from the state authorities.

A seven-year-old Indian boy died after falling from a 13th-floor apartment in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a media report said Tuesday.

The boy, identified as K.Gh.J., was playing in the flat when he fell from the apartment’s balcony in the Al Shuweihein area in Sharjah Monday, Gulf News reported.

Police have taken the boy’s parents for questioning on suspicion of negligence.

Police have launched an investigation into the incident and are questioning witnesses.

The body of the child was moved to Al Kuwaiti Hospital in Sharjah and then to the forensic laboratory.

An Indian driver has been shot dead by his employer’s son in Saudi Arabia.

Anas Pudvilikalvi, 24, from Kerala arrived in Makkah a week ago to work as a family driver, the Arab News reported Sunday.

The incident happened saturday.

“The shooter (Saudi citizen), who is in his twenties, suffered psychological problems,” Aati Al-Qurashi, Makkah police spokesman, was quoted as saying.

“The driver died after sustaining several gunshot wounds,” the spokesman added.

The shooter has been taken into custody, the spokesman said.
(IANS)

India born Abu-Dhabi based billionaire B R Shetty is acquiring leading foreign exchange specialist firm Travelex Holdings for one billion pounds, sources said.

B R Shetty, 72, is buying Travelex from private equity player Apax Partners, Lloyd Dorfman (Founder and Chairman of Travelex) and other shareholders.

Though the commercial terms of the proposed transaction were not disclosed, investment banking sources close to the development said that it is a one billion pound deal and in rupee terms it is around Rs 9,500 crore to Rs 10,000 crore.

An Indian man has been severely injured after being shot at by a motorcycle-borne gunmen in Philippines, a media report quoted police as saying.

Amandeep Kour Singh, 28, was shot in the head by unknown gunmen, while he was collecting money that he lent out to a store owner in Zamboanga city in southern Philippines, Mindanao Examiner reported Saturday.

A medical response team took Amandeep Singh to the hospital, police said.

Police also recovered a bullet casing of a .45-caliber pistol from the scene.

Meanwhile, police has been investigating the motive behind the attack.

An Indian-origin man in Britain has been jailed for 17 years for a violent axe attack on a Sikh religious leader last year, media reported Friday.

After a unanimous decision from the jury, the Birmingham Crown Court Friday convicted Harjit Singh Toor, 27, for attempted murder in a vicious axe attack on Uday Singh.

Toor, an orthodox Sikh, swung an axe at Namdhari sect leader Uday Singh, breaking his arm and severely injuring his face, while the latter was leading a ceremony in a local gurdwara in East Midland’s Leicester city in August last year, the Leicester Mercury reported Friday.

An Indian-origin mother who died along with her four-year-old son in a fire in Britain earlier this month is believed to have started the blaze deliberately following a custody battle with the boy’s father.

Jamna Joshi and Moksha Jai Joshi, known as Jai, died in the house fire in the city of Liverpool on May 8 and police has confirmed that an accelerant had been used and there was “no evidence of any third-party involvement”.

“It was a case of if she can’t have him, I can’t,” Paresh Patel, Jai’s father, told the BBC.

The loss in child custody battle was the prime reason behind a fire set out by the mother of an Indian-origin boy which killed both of them in Britain, the kid’s father has said.

Both Jamna Joshi, 40, and son Moksha Jai Joshi, died in the blaze in Moscow Drive, Liverpool city, May 8.

“It was a case of if she can’t have him, I can’t,” BBC quoted the deceased boy’s father Paresh Patel as saying Thursday.

A poor cotton farmer’s son from Maharasthra’s Vidarbha region has been named in the Forbes list of top 40 CEOs in Middle-East countries, announced recently by Forbes.

The distinction-holder is Krishnakumar Taori, the group managing director of Hasan Juma Backer Trading & Contracting Co. Oman.

He hails from a remote village called in Ghuikhed in the backward Amravati district of Vidarbha.

Supporting issues taken up by the American Sikh Congressional Caucus (ASCC), U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has said that the changes taking place in the way the FBI investigates hate crimes against Sikhs may result in saving lives. Addressing the first annual reception of the ASCC on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Pelosi recalled the Oak Creek Sikh shrine killings of 2012, and said: ” There is no place in our country for such a thing, and it was shocking for us when one element of a white supremacist takes to sacrifice in order to make changes.

An Indian American student has won the coveted National Geographic Bee championship that includes a $50,000 college scholarship, National Geographic said.

Akhil Rekulapelli, 13, hailing from Virginia, outclassed fellow Indian American Ameya Mujumdar in the final head-to-head round of the nationwide contest held in Washington Wednesday.

The geography whizkid also received a trip to the Galápagos with National Geographic’s Lindblad Expeditions.

Australia is rebounding as a preferred study destination for Indian students with latest official data showing more than 17 per cent jump in their enrolments in the country’s education institutions this year.

A total of 35,671 students across all sectors including higher education were enrolled from India during the first three months this year as compared to 30,372 registered during similar period last year, according to official data.

A Dubai court has sentenced five people to jail for attacking and robbing an Indian expatriate of over 853,000 dirhams (around $232,315), a media report said.

The Indian salesman, 24, was punched and hit with a lamp before the assailants fled with his laptop bag that had 835,340 dirhams in cash, while he was about to take an elevator in Dubai’s Naif area Jan 11 this year, The Khaleej Times reported Wednesday.

With Narendra Modi all set to become the Prime Minister, Indian-Americans feel that “policy paralysis” would be a thing of the past and want India and the US to reset their strategic relationship.

“The euphoria is over. Now the job begins. It is my belief that the two countries should look at some kind of a 100-day active effort to really build the relationship, which frankly has been at a low point (for some time now),” said M R Rangaswami, an Indian-American entrepreneur.

Conservative Indian-American author and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza, who has been critical of President Barack Obama through his works, pleaded guilty before a US court to violating election campaign law by making illegal contributions to a Senate campaign.

D’Souza, 53, had in January pleaded not guilty to charges brought by Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor India-born Preet Bharara and was scheduled to go on trial from May 19.

A US-based Sikh body has raised $3,30,000 to fund scholarships for bright but poor students to acquire higher education in Punjab.

Sikh Human Development Foundation (SHDF) organized a fund raising programme which was attended by Sikh-Americans from across the US. The chief guest of the event, Surender Singh Kandhari, a Dubai-based business tycoon, announced a donation of $1,00,000.

Calling India a “very important strategic partner”, the US hopes that its “enduring partnership” with India will only grow under the new government led by Narendra Modi despite the flap over his visa.

“Obviously, we have a long, enduring partnership with India. That will continue and hopefully only grow in the future,” State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters Monday referring President Barack Obama’s invitation to the prime minister elect.

A 30-year-old Indian man in the UAE has been found dead on a boat under mysterious circumstances.

The body of M S H, identified only by his initials, was found on the boat by some workers in Sharjah on Sunday, Gulf News reported.

Police and CID officials recovered the body from the scene and have sent it for an autopsy, it said.

Further investigation is underway.

The Hinduja brothers have topped UK’s list of 1,000 richest people, including other Indian- origin industrialists Lakshmi N Mittal and Lord Swraj Paul, with a combined fortune reaching a “phenomenal” £518.9 billion or one-third of Britain’s annual GDP.

An Indian man in Australia was sentenced to eight months in jail for a violent attack on her estranged wife in her workplace, a media report said Sunday.

The unnamed man jumped the counter of a pizza shop where his estranged wife worked and tried to throttle her last month in Melbourne in the state capital of Victoria in Australia, despite an intervention order issued against him in March, The Herald Sun reported Sunday.