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Ansals’ plea to
restore Uphaar rejected Govt in tizzy
over Telgi’s expose Cong asks BJP to
apologise Case seeking
Jogi’s summoning dismissed
CBI not under
pressure in Judeo case, says Sharma |
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Kanpur, November 28 The DIG Registrar, Kanpur Mandal, today registered an FIR against four firms based in Mumbai, Pune and Meerut and the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) regional office, Kanpur, for selling and purchasing fake stamps worth Rs 1,77,71,488 between 1993 and 2001. CPM flays Mulayam
on Babri Masjid issue Vikrant in rough
waters again Karunakaran puts
off meeting with Governor 22 Bodo militants
lay down arms Truckers told
not to ply in North-East Jaya turns to
Naidu for water
Nasreen’s
novel banned Sidhu may get
bail EU festival —
bringing cultures together Fire at Army HQ; no loss of life
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Ansals’ plea to restore Uphaar rejected New Delhi, November 28 A Bench comprising Mr Justice S Rajendra Babu and Mr Justice B.P. Singh rejected Ansals’ appeal against the Delhi High Court’s September 12 order stating that the plea for restoration of the theatre, under the CBI seal, could be considered only one month after the conclusion of evidence in the case. Capital’s noted builders Ansal brothers — Sushil and Gopal — are among the 16 persons chargesheeted by the CBI in the case, in which trial is going on in the city court. Cinema hall’s restoration had been opposed by the Association of Uphaar Tragedy Victims (AUTV) on the grounds that there were crucial evidence in the theatre, which should not be disturbed before conclusion of the trial. The High Court had said the trial judge would inspect the theatre one month after conclusion of defence evidence and take a decision about its release. Meanwhile, the Bench issued notices to the Delhi Government, city police, Municipal Corporation of Delhi and Delhi Vidyut Board, Delhi Fire Service and the AUTV on another appeal by Ansals, challenging the Delhi High Court’s order asking them to pay 55 per cent of the Rs 18 crore compensation, awarded to the families of 59 dead and 104 injured persons. Ansals had contended that the compensation could not be granted through a writ petition as had been done by the High Court. The victims should have filed suit for compensation instead of a writ petition, the theatre owners contended. The High Court had said the remaining 45 per cent of the compensation would be equally shared by the Delhi Government, Delhi Police and the MCD. While the Delhi Government had said it would pay the money, the Delhi Police and MCD had challenged the High Court order. |
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Govt in tizzy over Telgi’s expose Mumbai, November 28 Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde told reporters today that none of his ministers were linked with
Telgi. “We will not shield anybody,” Mr Shinde said. Yesterday, Mr V. R. Manohar, counsel for former Mumbai Police Commissioner Ranjit Singh Sharma told the Bombay High Court that investigators had a diary containing the telephone numbers of a few ministers in the Democratic Front government. Though the contents of the diary were not revealed in the court, the counsel’s statement had fuelled speculation in political circles. A section of the ruling coalition in Maharashtra was planting stories in the media that some of the names mentioned in the Telgi’s telephone diary were those of ministers belonging to the Shiv Sena-BJP coalition, in office from 1994 to 1999. Already, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is in trouble for having recommended a vendor’s licence for Telgi during his tenure as the Revenue Minister in 1992. Telgi was recommended to him by journalist-turned-MLA Anil
Gote. Though Mr Deshmukh has denied links with Telgi, the Opposition has made political capital out of the issue after the recommendation letter was leaked to the Press. Gote is now in jail. After Gote’s arrest, his close associate, former Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra Gopinath
Munde, is under a cloud. Mr Munde wanted to meet Gote in jail earlier this month, but was advised against doing so. According to officials here, Mr Sharma had access to Telgi’s diary when he was the Police Commissioner of Pune in 1992, when the fake stamp racket surfaced. Mr Sharma could make things difficult for politicians by making details of the diary public. |
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Cong asks BJP to apologise New Delhi, November 28 Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma charged BJP leaders of making misleading statements in their desperation to cast doubts on the Congress CMs. In the process, he said, they had also raised questions about the integrity of the two high courts. He said the allegations against the Karnataka Chief Minister were mischievous as it was his government that had unravelled the enormity of the stamp paper scam, arrested Telgi and informed other states about it. |
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Case seeking Jogi’s summoning dismissed New Delhi, November 28 The order was pronounced by Metropolitan Magistrate Nivedita Anil Sharma on a complaint filed by the state BJP president and leader of the Opposition in the Chhattisgarh Assembly Nand Kumar Sai. Sai, who had filed the complaint some months ago, had sought
registration of a case against Jogi under Sections 193 (punishment for false evidence), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) of the IPC, alleging that the Chief Minister had given false affidavit about his income and other members of the family. He had also alleged that Jogi had furnished wrong information about his residence. The SDM, who had attested Jogi’s
affidavit, had recorded his statement before the court.
— PTI |
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CBI not under pressure in Judeo case, says Sharma New Delhi, November 28 “There is no pressure on us. We are investigating the case as we should be doing,” Mr Sharma told reporters at the inauguration of the agency’s Command Centre. Asked about the BJP’s independent probe into the case, he said the CBI was not concerned with any other probe. “We are not concerned with who is doing what. We are carrying out our inquiry.” About the kind of inquiry being conducted in the case, Mr Sharma said, “We don’t need to be taught how to investigate the case. We know how to do inquiries and we will do it.” The CBI chief refused to go into the details of the investigation. The CBI, which has been alleged to be in possession of an e-mail, has denied its existence of any such message, purportedly written by the son of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi.
— UNI |
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FIR against LIC in stamp scam
Kanpur, November 28 According to a police spokesperson, DIG Registrar R.N. Dwivedy has alleged in his FIR that the LIC regional office purchased these stamps from Amol
Enterprizes, Pune; B.S. Uppal, Mumbai; Nirmal P. Gore, Pune; and Somal Enterprises, Meerut. The vendors from whom these stamps were purchased were not registered. Despite several reminders by the finance and revenue departments, the LIC could not give satisfactory reply. In the FIR, he said, the government lost revenue worth Rs 1,77,71,488 and demanded that the LIC repay the amount.
— UNI |
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CPM flays Mulayam on Babri Masjid issue New Delhi, November 28 A CPM central committee statement endorsed the party’s official organ, The People’s Democracy’s commentary on the UP Government’s second counter-affidavit on the Babri Masjid demolition case. Stating that even filing of the second affidavit had not rectified the damage caused by the first affidavit, about which Mr Yadav had stated that it had been filed without consultation by the lawyer who had meanwhile been removed from the government panel, the CPM said one would have liked to believe that the first counter-affidavit was an act of mischief by the UP counsel in the Supreme Court. “Further, one would have expected that the supplementary counter-affidavit would rectify the damage done in the first one, which virtually endorsed the stand taken by the BJP on the demolition case”, The People’s Democracy said. “However, a perusal of the supplementary counter-affidavit belies all such hopes. There is only one difference between the two affidavits. In the
original counter-affidavit, the UP Government stated that it was wrong and denied that there was any conspiracy to demolish the masjid by any community or political party. It also approved the second chargesheet submitted by the CBI in the Rae Bareli court and endorsed the stand that the CBI had powers to further investigate and amend the chargesheet as per Section 173(8) of the Criminal Procedure Code”, the CPM stressed. “In the supplementary counter-affidavit, what is stated is that it is for the Supreme Court to decide on the existence of the conspiracy and whether dropping the conspiracy charge from the chargesheet filed in the Rae Bareli court is justified or not”, it said. “Since the trial is pending and is to be decided by the court, no further comments in this regard are required by the state government”, the second affidavit said. The affidavit had not submitted any opinion on whether it was right or wrong to drop the conspiracy charge against Mr L.K. Advani, Mr Murli Manohar Joshi and others in the chargesheet submitted by the CBI in the Rae Bareli court, the CPM said. Unlike the earlier stand of Mr Yadav and the Samajwadi Party that the CBI was being pressurised to dilute the chargesheet, now the government headed by Mr Yadav had not stated this fact and left it to the Supreme Court, the CPM pointed out. All that the supplementary counter-affidavit does is to add a paragraph of condemnation of the demolition of the Babri Masjid as “barbaric, shameful, condemndable and unpardonable”, the CPM said and added that “as far as the Mulaym Singh Yadav government was concerned, it has no view whether this was done by a conspiracy by some BJP-VHP leaders, or whether the
moves undertaken to scuttle the case are wrong and condemnable”. |
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Vikrant in rough waters again Mumbai, November 28 The Maharashtra Government has formally told the Indian Navy that it would not be in a position to provide funds to preserve the ship. Renamed as the Indian Museum Ship Vikrant, the veteran battle warrior continues to attract a large number of visitors. INS Vikrant’s finest hours were during the Liberation of Goa from Portugal in December 1961, shortly after she was commissioned, and during the Bangladesh War. According to estimates prepared by Tata Consultancy Services four years ago, it would cost the government Rs 124 crore to turn the ship into a museum. Subsequently, a revised study pegged the costs lower at Rs 62 crore. Though the Maharashtra Government had earlier agreed to bring in the funds, a severe resource crunch has become an impediment. According to Bharatiya Janata Party member of Parliament Kirit Somaiya, the Central Government is willing to spend Rs 40 crore for the project. “The Maharashtra Government is unwilling to pay even for the approach road to the proposed museum,” he says. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) which invited global tenders for the project to turn Vikrant into a museum, got no response at all. As per the Maharashtra Government’s original proposal, a site called Oyster Rock off the southern-most tip of Mumbai is to be earmarked for the museum. Among the proposals mooted to save Vikrant from the
scrap yard includes commercial investments on the ship. Naval officials say investors could develop restaurants, convention halls or amusement parks on the ship so that it could generate funds. Vikrant is one of the six Majestic class light fleet carriers built by Britain’s Royal Navy during World War II. However, the war ended even before the first of these carriers could be completed. The carrier, which was launched as the Hercules in 1945, was sold to India in 1957. It was then moved to Belfast for refit and modernisation and commissioned into the Indian Navy on March, 1961. The ship has a length of 700 feet, an extreme beam of 128 feet (width) and a draught of 24 feet. Her displacement is 20,000 tonnes. She was armed with powerful anti-aircraft guns before decommissioning. Vikrant’s finest hour was during the war for the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971. The then East Pakistan was cordoned off and the aircraft based on the carrier pounded every port — Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong, and Khulna. Naval veterans recall on one occasion, with aircraft airborne and no wind conditions, the ship had to take a chance with her cracked boilers to land the returning flights. Such was the performance of the ship in the liberation of Bangladesh that she earned two Mahavir Chakras and 12 Vir Chakras. |
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Karunakaran puts off meeting
with Governor Thiruvananthapuram, November 28 Despite speculations about Mr Karunakaran having sought an appointment with the Governor to submit a list of MLAs to form an alternative government at 1130 hours today, the meeting never materialised. “Doctors advised him to take complete rest,” faction ‘I’ representative V. Balram told the media at the city residence of Mr Karunakaran, amid reports that the meeting was postponed in view of his failure to muster enough support of MLAs. Meanwhile, Speaker Vakkom Purushothaman expressed confidence that the Congress MLAs would not take any step to split the party. “Earlier, there were 26 MLAs with Mr Karunakaran. Later, the number was reduced to 21. Now it is only 19 and six more MLAs will desert the camp if the group decides to split”, he said here.
— UNI |
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22 Bodo militants lay down arms Kokrajhar, November 28 They laid down arms in the presence of Deputy Commissioner A.K. Bhutani and top police and army officials at a function here. The militants who surrendered were led by ‘lieutenant’ B. Bigrai alias Belaibe Basumatary, and B. Maofung, alias Monoranjan Basumatary. They deposited three AK-series rifles, one SLR, one M-20 pistol, three grenades, 66 rounds of AK-47 ammunition and eight rounds of 9-mm pistol ammunition. This is the biggest-ever surrender of militants in the troubled district ahead of the December 6 function, when a large number of Bodoland Liberation Tigers, signatories to the Bodoland council accord, are expected to lay down arms. Later, talking to reporters, Bigrai admitted that the NDFB had links with Pakistan’s ISI and some of the cadres had also visited Afghanistan for arms training to carry out subversive activities in the state.
— PTI |
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Truckers told not to ply in North-East
Patna, November 28 Mr Shankar said he would talk to Assam Chief Minister Tarun Chandra Gogoi, seeking assurance from him about foolproof security to trucks and running staff entering Assam. The Bengal Truck Owners' Association had also communicated to Mr Gogoi the inability of its members to continue operation to Assam.
— UNI |
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Hyderabad, November 28 At an hour-long meeting with Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu at the Secretariat here today, Ms Jayalalithaa explained that she had no other alternative but to request the Andhra Pradesh Government to release 3 TMC ft from the dead storage level (4.1 TMC ft) of the Kandaleru reservoir in Nellore district, bordering Tamil Nadu. With the south-west monsoon failing to bring in a good inflow, coupled with poor rainfall during the current north-east monsoon, the water storage position in the three major reservoirs catering to the metropolis had dwindled to a mere 299 mc ft, as against the total combined storage of 7412 mc ft, she pointed out. Mr Naidu, however, has sought three days time to examine the water availability in the Kandaleru reservoir before taking a decision. The Kandaleru reservoir caters to the drinking water needs of
Tirupati, Srikalahasti and other village en route the temple town. — UNI |
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Nasreen’s novel banned Kolkata, November 28 The Kolkata High Court on November 16 had stopped the print and sale of the book, following a writ petition filed against the author by a Bangladeshi poet, Syed Hasmat Jalal, settled in Kolkata for defaming him in the book, demanding a compensation of Rs 11 crore. Mr Deb said the novel contained certain chapters, criticising Prophet Mohmmed. It was apprehened, if circulated, it would incite communal violence, creating major law and order problems. As such the novel was banned. He said the publisher, Mrs Shibani Mukherjee, had been handed over a copy of the order with the instructions to stop the sale of the book and surrender all unsold copies to the police. Incidentally, several Muslim writers and intellectuals in a letter to Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, had requested him to ban the novel as they felt it hurt the religious sentiments of the Muslims. Nasreen, already declared person non-grata in Bangladesh and now on a fellowship at Harvard University, has been controversial all through. Her first novel, Amar Mayebela (My Child Womanhood) and Lajja (Shyness), considered were already banned in Bangladesh. |
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Sidhu may get bail New Delhi, November 28 This was announced by a Bench comprising Mr Justice K. G. Balakrishnan and Mr Justice B. N. Srikrishna during the resumed hearing on his bail application. Fixing further hearing on his bail petition on December 15, the court asked Sidhu’s counsel K. T. S. Tulsi and Punjab Police’s Special Public Prosecutor R. S. Cheema to ensure that the cross-examination of approvers Prem Sagar and Randhir Singh was completed before the next hearing. The matter was adjourned till December 15 by the court. |
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EU festival — bringing cultures together New Delhi, November 28 Talking to TNS, ICCR Director-General Rakesh Kumar said the festival was being held to mark the fourth Indo-EU summit at which European Union policy-makers would discuss ways to strengthen economic and political ties between India and the EU. “Our effort is to bring two peoples together through art, ballet music, films, drama and concerts”, Mr Rakesh Kumar said, adding that “we try to fuse hearts”. “Imagine a French man singing ‘Itna na mujhse pyar badha, ke main ek badal awara”, Mr Rakesh Kumar said, narrating about Pascal Heni, who will sing songs from Tamil and Hindi films during the festival and surprise the audience with the French interpretation of Bollywood songs. “Heni has whittled down 2000 Bollywood songs to 20 for his CD and chosen them for their melody”, the ICCR chief said. Eleven performing groups are participating in the festival, during which 143 artistes are displaying their talents, he said, adding that the magnitude of the festival would give Indian audiences a comprehensive view of European culture. Poland, one of the new entrants to the EU, has come with a modern ballet, “Tango with Lady M”, which is a story of love, hate, sorrow and passion. “It may easily be called a painting done with motion and emotion”, Mr Rakesh Kumar said. Though a majority of the performances are being held in Delhi, troupes from a number of countries will also be performing in Mumbai, Kolkata, Chandigarh and Bangalore, he said. The ICCR, founded in 1950 by the country’s first Education Minister, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, has been engaged in a dialogue of civilisations, which is a serious effort to stress upon similarities and divergence among major civilisations, Mr Rakesh Kumar said. He stated that culture was an important instrument in the conduct of foreign policy of a country. |
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Fire at Army HQ; no loss of life
New Delhi, November 28 The 15 fire engines, which were rushed to the site to control the blaze in the third floor of the building, doused the flames at around 11 p.m., Delhi Fire Service officials said. The fire broke out around 8 p.m., the officials said. The extent of damage to property could not be immediately ascertained, they said.
— UNI |
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