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Wednesday,
November 6, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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3 killed in Bihar train mishap BJP prepares
strategy for Gujarat poll Defence delegation in Paris
Skepticism about
Delhi encounter
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New Delhi, November 5 Prime suspect in the Shivani Bhatnagar murder case, R.K. Sharma’s judicial remand has been extended for another six days. A Delhi court today extended the judicial remand of the suspended IPS officer and fixed November 11 for the scrutiny of documents. Capt their hero,
Badal villain
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3 killed in Bihar train mishap Deputy Inspector-General (Railways) S.K. Singh said here that the Gwalior-Barauni Express hit the rear coach of the Janseva Express, a long distance train, which was waiting at the Technivas outer signal at 8 am. The Gwalior-Barauni
Express was on its way to Barauni from Gwalior. Mr S.K. Singh said both the passenger trains were on the same track. Prima facie, manual error appears to be the reason behind the train mishap. The injured were admitted to a local hospital. The Northern Railway has set up enquiry centres in New Delhi, Phagwara, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Ludhiana and Beas to help relatives and friends of the passengers. NEW DELHI: Railway Minister Nitish Kumar today said investigations were underway to ascertain the cause of the train accident that occurred in Bihar today morning and indicated that human error could be behind the mishap. “It can be engine failure or human failure, investigations are on. Such as incident should not have occurred”, he told newspersons here. The Railway
Minister said the driver and the assistant driver of the train were yet to be traced as they ran away from the site after the accident. “If it is human error, strict action will be taken against those found guilty”, he said adding that several factors could have led to the accident. If it is an engine failure, the driver may not have been able to control the train or he may have committed some error. The Railway Minister acknowledged that the cause of the accident was purely related to the Railways and it had “nothing to do with the state of Bihar”. Meanwhile, six railway employees have been suspended following the
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BJP prepares strategy for Gujarat poll New Delhi, November 5 With a view to please the alienated sections of the Hindu electorate, who have distanced themselves from the party in the recent past owing to Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s aggressive style of functioning, sources said the BJP central leadership had begun to send signals that even Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani was not prepared to back the Chief Minister fully and had begun to nurse reservations about him. On the other hand, the party high command has allowed Mr Modi to start the next phase of “Gaurav Yatra” from Godhra, where on November 11 the Chief Minister will roll his rath for Vadodara after addressing a rally. The signal from Mr Advani is also being interpreted by a section of the party that the Deputy Prime Minister’s apparent distancing from Mr Modi is in realisation of the ground realities. Notwithstanding the Election Commission’s recent directives against putting communally sensitive posters and hoardings, it is learnt that posters of burning compartment of the ill-fated Sabarmati Express will be on display soon in the state so that the sentiments about the tragic incidents can be revived. At the same time, the party is also leaving no stone unturned to bring former state Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel to Godhra for the next phase of “Gaurav Yatra” so that a united image of the party could be projected. While a section of the party is maintaining that the news reports about Mr Advani’s reservations about Mr Modi is also meant for placating Mr Patel, the other section is of the view that the former Chief Minister will not turn up at Godhra unless he has a firm assurance that his followers will be given party tickets for the Assembly elections. And for that a meeting of the State Election Committee of the party has been scheduled in Gandhinagar on November 10 after local-level meetings on November 6, 7 and 8 at which interviews of the prospective candidates will be held. Once assured of his candidates getting party nomination, Mr Patel will be present in Vadodara where the Modi camp has organised a massive rally which is expected to be addressed by many central leaders. Meanwhile, chief spokesperson and general secretary of the party Arun Jaitley was at pains to explain that there is no “feud” between Mr Keshubhai and Mr Modi. The Central Election Committee of the party is expected to meet in the third week of November to clear the list of candidates. The sources said even Mr Modi was very keen to get his followers party nominations but the central leadership’s role was going to be crucial and it was to be seen whether the central leadership was going to perform the balancing act of uniting the feuding sections of the party’s state unit. |
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Defence
delegation in Paris
New Delhi, November 5 A high-level delegation of the Ministry of Defence(MoD) today left for Paris for the three-day meeting. The Indian delegation is led by Defence Secretary Subir Dutta. The other members of the delegation include the Vice Chief of Army Staff, Lieut-Gen N.C. Vij, Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal S.G. Inamdar and Admiral John De-Silva, the Vice Chief of Naval Staff. Defence Finance Secretary Bishwanath Banerjee and Special Secretary Acquisition Dhirendra Kumar are also accompanying the Defence Secretary. Dhirendra Kumar is expected to visit the DCN international submarine lines to hold talks on reopening submarine assembly lines at Mazagoan docks, Mumbai, keeping in mind the option for building of more such submarines. India, as part of its new 30-year submarine building plans, is seeking to build six Scorpene SSK class submarines at Mazagon docks near Mumbai, keeping the option open for building more of these submarines. Scorpene is a medium-sized new generation submarine developed jointly by the French DCN International and Izar of Spain. The submarine combines a new generation combat system and integrated platform management system making the design ideal for mission ranging from anti-surface warfare as well as anti-submarine warfare to special operations and intelligence gathering. The French company is also offering collaboration in India’s indigenous Air Defence ship project, which after the design finalisation, is ready to take off in a big way, according to top naval officials here. Naval officials said India was still looking at Russian Amur class submarines as the other major submarine component in the 30-year plan. The Indian team is also expected to carry out talks on the purchase of thermal imagers and avionics and other components for the Air Force and the Navy. Besides, the two countries are expected to discuss ways to further cooperation in the strategic, military and armaments sector. Security issues concerning the two countries would also come up during the talks between the delegations of the defence ministries of India and France. The two countries are also expected to work out further details during the meeting for holding of the first ever fighter aircraft exercises between the two air forces early next year. The French Air Force Mirage-2000 and the Indian Air Force Mirage-2000 would come together to hold joint manoeuvres, the schedule for which might be worked out during the meeting. India and France would be carrying out joint naval exercises in the Arabian Sea later in the month. The exercises “Varuna 02/2” would be preceded by the French frigate La Fayette and the Command vessel Marne calling at the port of Mumbai. The earlier exercise Varuna was conducted in May this year with the participation of the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. The delegation which includes H C Gupta, Additional Secretary of Defence Production, K C Prashar, eminent DRDO scientist, and Gautam Mukhopadhyaya, Joint secretary in the Ministry would also go to the Dassult aircraft assembly plant during its week-long visit. India has recently concluded a deal with the giant French aircraft company for the acquisition of 10 more Mirage-2000 fighters. The Company has offered New Delhi its upgraded Mirage 2000-V as well as the naval version of the Rafale Fighter. The Indo-French High Committee on Defence was set up in 1998 following the State visit of President Jacques Chirac to India. The last meeting of the High Committee was held in July 2001 in New Delhi. |
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Skepticism
about Delhi encounter
New Delhi, November 5 Joint Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Neeraj Kumar said they had definite clues about the terrorists’ intrusion in the capital and the Special Cell with the help of intelligence agencies had been working for the past three months which resulted in the encounter on Sunday. We were working on to find out the other members of the outfit in the Capital. He said the deceased Abu Anas, alias Dawood Ali Ahmed, resident of Kasoor, Punjab, Pakistan, and Ezaz Ahmed, alias Deepak, resident of Gujranwala City, Punjab, Pakistan belonged to the LeT and were in touch with Azam Cheema, commander of the LeT, based in Bahawalpur Markaz. “This is evident from the recovery of three diaries, one matrix (used to decode messages) and Indian currency, Rs 7657, from the personal search of the bodies,” he claimed. The small diaries which were recovered from the slain terrorists reportedly contained some entries in Urdu and had phone numbers of some Pakistanis.  |
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R.K. Sharma’s remand extended New Delhi, November 5 Metropolitan Magistrate J.P. Narain in his order also extended the judicial custody of five other accused, Shree Bhagwan, Pradeep, Ved Prakash, alias Kalu, Ved Sharma and Satya Prakash, who are currently lodged in Tihar jail. The accused was last produced in the court on October 30. While talking to mediapersons R.K. Sharma denied having given a statement to the police and said the documents were fabricated. He pointed out that the disclosure statements and other documents submitted the last week were planted by the police. He also claimed that during his tenure with the PMO during Prime Minister I.K. Gujral’s regime he did not pass on any documents to Indian Express journalist Shivani Bhatnagar. He, however, admitted to having a professional relationship with Shivani and said he used to speak to her on phone. The police alleged that Sharma and the co-accused had conspired and murdered Shivani in her East Delhi Navkunj apartments on January 23, 1999. All accused have been chargesheeted for murder, conspiracy, destruction of evidence, stealing of the property of a deceased and receiving stolen property, under Sections 302, 120B, 201, 403, 404 and 411 of the IPC. R.K. Sharma’s mother, wife, Madhu Sharma, and other relatives were present in the court today. On seeing her son, R.K. Sharma’s mother hugged him. |
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Capt their hero, Badal villain
Bikaner, November 5 On the other hand, least bothered about the value of the water, people in other northern states waste hundreds of litres of water daily just on washing hands, bathing and cleaning toilets. On a visit to the countryside in this belt, one finds ponds in villages completely dried up. People with their livestock have migrated to states like Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, where grass for grazing is available in plenty. Because of very limited canal network, people, by and large in Rajasthan depend on the monsoon. However, this time, monsoon completely skipped this belt. And it resulted into a trail of misery, hunger and diseases for lakhs of people of the area. While all other districts of Rajasthan got nearly 500 mm of rain during the monsoon, the rainfall in this belt, comprising Bikaner, Jodhpur and Udaipur, was just near 35 mm. In fact, what has made the Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, a hero in this part of Rajasthan was his gesture to release 1,000 cusecs of water and sending relief for the drought-affected people of Rajasthan. And contrary to it, a former Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, has become a villain for them. Talk to any politician or common man in this part of Rajasthan, he or she will immediately start praising Capt Amarinder Singh. “We had heard a little about Capt Amarinder Singh earlier. Only after he started a campaign against corruption, his name starting appearing in newspapers in this part of the country. However, he has become the most popular name in Rajasthan in the past two weeks”, says Mr Bhom Raj Arya, president of the local panchayat samiti. Ms Sunita Rani, president of the local zila parishad, echoes his views. Mr Arya says for the past five years, the Rajasthan Government tried its best to urge Mr Badal to release full share of water to Rajasthan. |
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Patna, November 5
