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DSP Ashraf held in sex racket
Srinagar, June 4
The CBI today arrested a senior Jammu and Kashmir Police official in connection with the sex racket in the state, taking the total number of persons nabbed for the scandal to eight, agency sources said.

BJP leaders to court arrest
Jammu, June 4
While intensifying the agitation against killing of Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir, senior BJP leaders, including Mr Vankaiah Naidu, Mr Shanta Kumar, Ms Sushma Swaraj, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi and Mr Vinay Katyar, will be among the 15,000 party activists who will court arrest here next week.

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DSP Ashraf held in sex racket

Srinagar, June 4
The CBI today arrested a senior Jammu and Kashmir Police official in connection with the sex racket in the state, taking the total number of persons nabbed for the scandal to eight, agency sources said.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Ashraf Mir, one of 11 persons accused by teenager Yasmeena of raping her, was arrested by the CBI after he was identified by the girl during two Test Identification Parades (TIPs) here, the sources said.

The 15-year-old girl also gave details of the two instances when Mir allegedly raped her, they said.

The agency may now take action against a Deputy Inspector General in the BSF and a noted lawyer if they failed to appear for the TIP, the sources said.

A meeting of Senior CBI officials in New Delhi decided to “get tough” with the BSF officer and the lawyer, who is the son of a former judge, if they continued to avoid appearing for a TIP. The CBI may place them under arrest if they continued their “delaying tactics”, the sources said.

The agency had issued two notices to the BSF officer, the lawyer and Mir to appear for a TIP. Mir, currently posted in Baramula district, initially reported sick and then appeared before the CBI here today, the sources said.

The BSF officer informed the agency that he was posted in the northeast while the lawyer last month met CBI officials who asked him to appear for a TIP the next day. However, he never returned for the test.

Sabeena, the alleged kingpin of the racket, is among the eight persons arrested so far by the police and the CBI in connection with the racket.

Yasmeena had named 11 persons allegedly for raping her. Eight of them have appeared in TIPs during which she identified five of them including Mir.

The teenager, who recently recorded her statement before a judge appointed by the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, also named another 20 persons, who used to visit Sabeena’s house.

The TIPs involving these 20 persons led to the identification of only three persons, the sources said.

Yasmeena has named no politician in her statement to the CBI, the sources said.

About Sabeena’s role in the racket, the sources said the CBI had approached a local magistrate for an order to record her statement as she was in judicial custody. — PTI

BJP leaders to court arrest
Tribune News Service

Jammu, June 4
While intensifying the agitation against killing of Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir, senior BJP leaders, including Mr Vankaiah Naidu, Mr Shanta Kumar, Ms Sushma Swaraj, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi and Mr Vinay Katyar, will be among the 15,000 party activists who will court arrest here next week.

This was announced here yesterday by Mr Manohar Lal, in charge of Jammu and Kashmir affairs at the BJP headquarters, and Dr Nirmal Singh, state BJP chief.

They said BJP activists from Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Rajasthan, Maharashatra, Gujarat, Delhi, Uttaranchal and other states would court arrest here during the nine-day “satyagraha” beginning on June 7.

The first to court arrest would be Mr Naidu along with the party activists from Rajasthan and Kerala. Mr Shanta Kumar would reach here on June 9 with the party men from Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Uttranchal. Mr Sahib Singh Verma would lead the volunteers of Punjab, Chandigarh, Pondicherry and Andaman on June 8.

The BJP had recently announced a countrywide agitation against the failure of the Central and state governments in protecting the lives of Hindus in the state. As many as 34 Hindus were recently massacred in Doda and Udhampur districts.

The BJP leaders demanded that the village defence committees should be strengthened with modern arms and ammunition to match with that of the terrorists. They demanded that military cantonments should be established in the interior areas to provide a sense of security among the Hindus.

Meanwhile, Mr Chaman Lal Gupta, senior BJP leader and former Union Minister, criticised the government for ignoring the nationalists who were being targeted by terrorists and spending crores of rupees on the security of those who were challenging accession of Jammu and Kashmir with India.

He said the government had failed to take note of the agitation of the victims of massacre of Hindus at Kulhand who were demanding security in their village.