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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Surgery saves boy who gulped tiny LED bulb

Mumbai : In a bizarre development, a small boy from Kolhapur swallowed a tiny LED light bulb a few months ago that got stuck deep in his...

Surgery saves boy who gulped tiny LED bulb

Mumbai : In a bizarre development, a small boy from Kolhapur swallowed a tiny LED light bulb a few months ago that got stuck deep in his lung causing huge trauma and emotional stress for his family, officials said.   When the unusual case was referred to the Jaslok Hospital & Research Centre (JHRC), a team of medicos successfully extricated the foreign object lodged in the three-and-half-year-old boy’s chest.   Recounting the remarkable feat, a JHRC official said the child, Aarav Patil was reported to be suffering from severe breathing difficulties and incessant coughing for almost three months.   Doctors treating him at his home town initially mistook it for pneumonia and subjected him to multiple courses of antibiotics and other medicines, but there was improvement in the boy’s condition.   Subsequently, he was taken for advanced tests, examinations and a CT Scan which revealed the shocker – a metallic object was sitting inside the boy’s left bronchus, partially blocking the airway.   More tests identified the offending object – it was a LED bulb from a toy car – a development so rare that even seasoned doctors described it as a ‘one in a million case’.   Though doctors in Kolhapur attempted to retrieve the foreign body through flexible bronchoscopy - a minimally invasive procedure - the attempts proved to be unsuccessful.   As Aarav’s condition appeared to deteriorate, his desperate family rushed him to JHRC and he was referred to a team of specialist doctors.   After studying his case and examining Aarav, the medical team comprising thoracic surgeon Dr. Vimesh Rajput, ENT surgeon Dr. Divya Prabhat and Dr. Anurag Jain discovered that the bulb had not only blocked the bronchus but had also embedded itself in the surrounding tissues of the lung tissue, making its removal extremely challenging.   A rigid bronchoscopy conducted further confirmed the severity of the obstruction. Left with no other option, the doctors decided to opt for a mini thoracotomy — a delicate surgery involving a 4-centimeter incision in the chest.   “This was one of the rarest cases we’ve encountered. The bulb was lodged in such a way that conventional methods could not retrieve it. Through careful planning and teamwork, we managed to safely remove the object by a mini thoracotomy and restored Aarav’s lung function,” explained Dr. Rajput.   Emphasising how such cases are ignored, Dr. Prabhat pointed out that chronic cough or breathing issues are often dismissed as common pneumonia or even asthma.   “However, such persistent symptoms must always be investigated thoroughly, especially through early detection and imaging which can make all the difference to the patient,” she averred.   JHRC CMO Dr. Milind Khadke said, “The foreign body aspiration in kids is far more common that parents may realise but quick intervention is critical to prevent long-term medical complications.”

Gautam Adani charged with paying USD 265 mn bribe to Indian officials

  • PTI
  • Nov 22, 2024
  • 4 min read
Gautam Adani

New York/New Delhi: Billionaire Gautam Adani has been charged by US prosecutors for allegedly being part of a scheme to pay USD 265 million (about Rs 2,200 crore) bribe to Indian officials in exchange of favourable terms for solar power contracts.


Adani and seven others including his nephew Sagar have been charged with paying bribes to unidentified officials of in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha to buy expensive solar power, potentially earning more than USD 2 billion profit over 20 years.


The indictment also names New Delhi-based Azure Power, which had won a similar tender for supply of 4 GW. But when Azure could not cough up its one-third share of the bribe money paid to the states for buying expensive power, Adani made the firm give up part of its contract taken over by Adani through SECI.


Adani has been charged with bribery and securities fraud in two separate cases brought by US authorities -- a criminal indictment by the US Department of Justice in a New York court that charges him and seven others including his nephew Sagar. Separately, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Gautam and Sagar Adani and an Azure Power executive with "violating the anti-fraud provisions of securities laws".


The charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.


US authorities allege that the bribes paid were concealed from the US banks and investors from whom the Adani group raised billions of dollars for the projects that were to supply 12 gigawatts (GW) of solar power.


US law allows pursuing foreign corruption allegations if they involve certain links to American investors or markets.


US authorities allege that between 2020 and 2024, the Adani firm and its subsidiaries raised more than USD 2 billion in US dollar bank loans from international financial institutions and US-based asset management companies and offered more than USD 1 billion in securities underwritten by international financial institutions and sold to investors in US.


Adani and his co-defendants sought to "obtain and finance massive state energy supply contracts through corruption and fraud at the expense of US investors", Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lisa Miller said.


US Attorney Breon Peace said the defendants "orchestrated an elaborate scheme" and sought to "enrich themselves at the expense of the integrity of our financial markets".


The indictment charges Gautam and Sagar Adani as well as Jaain with multiple counts of conspiracy and securities fraud, and it charges Ranjit Gupta and Agarwal, who are former executives of another publicly traded renewable energy company, with FCPA violations. Agarwal and three former employees of a Canadian institutional investor — Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal and Deepak Malhotra - have been accused of obstruction of justice and FCPA violations.


The indictment may throw the conglomerate again in a turmoil just as it rebounded from US short seller Hindenburg Reseach's damning fraud allegations.


Hindenburg allegations of "brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud" in January 2023 had led to the conglomerate seeing USD 150 billion wipeout in market value at its lowest point. The group stocks have since recovered most of the losses.


Adani Group had denied all allegations made by Hindenburg.

"Specifically, on or about March 17, 2023, FBI special agents approached Sagar Adani in the United States and pursuant to a judicially authorised search warrant, took custody of electronic devices in his possession," the court document said.


Some conspirators, according to the documents, referred privately to Gautam Adani with the code names "Numero uno" and "the big man", while his nephew allegedly used his cellphone to track specifics about the bribes. "On or about March 18, 2023, the defendant Gautam S Adani emailed himself photographs of each page of the search warrant executed and grand jury subpoena served on the defendant Sagar R Adani."


USD 85.5 billion – Worth of Gautam Adani

18 – Adani’s rank in the list of world’s top billionaires


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What is their alleged role?

In the indictment, prosecutors accuse the 62-year-old Adani and two Adani Green Energy Ltd executives -- executive director and his nephew Sagar R Adani and CEO Vneet S Jaain -- of conspiring to defraud investors.

The trio is accused of orchestrating the scheme with the help of the five other defendants, who face Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and obstruction of justice charges.


It says Gautam Adani personally met with a government official several times, and the defendants met in person to discuss the alleged scheme with each other multiple times. The scheme was extensively documented by the defendants, according to prosecutors.


As an example, Sagar Adani used his cellphone to track details of the bribes offered and promised to government officials, and Jaain used his phone to photograph a document summarizing various bribe amounts owed.


Defendant Rupesh Agarwal also prepared analyses of the bribery scheme using PowerPoint and Excel that summarized various options for paying and concealing bribe payments, and he shared those analyses with other defendants, it is alleged.


The charges

Adani group had in 2021 won a bid to supply 8,000 megawatt (8 GW) of power generated using locally manufactured solar cell and modular plants but could not meet the price expectations of state governments buying such electricity.


Adani is alleged to have met the then Andhra Pradesh chief minister in 2021, following which the state government agreed to buy 7,000 MW of power.

Andhra Pradesh officials were paid at the rate of Rs 25 lakh per MW, totalling Rs 1,750 crore (USD 200 million) for 7,000 MW the state ended up purchasing.


Odisha purchased 500 MW of power through the same route.

"Andhra Pradesh bribe payment was approximately USD 200 million," the court document showed. Odisha purchased 500 MW of power.


The document also stated that central government entity Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI), which originally awarded the solar manufacturing linked power tender, entered into the sale agreements with Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu between July 2021 and December 2021.


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