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Bangaru Laxman gets 4-year jail

NEW DELHI: Former BJP president Bangaru Laxman was sentenced today to four years in jail by a Delhi court for taking a bribe of Rs 1 lakh in a fictitious arms deal case 11 years ago.

Additional Sessions Judge Kanwal Jeet Arora sentenced 72-year-old Bangaru, also a former Union Minister, holding him guilty of taking the bribe from fake arms dealers to recommend to the Defence Ministry to award them a contract to supply thermal binoculars to the Army.

The court awarded him the prison term, rejecting his plea for leniency and ordered that he be taken in custody to serve the sentence.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on Bangaru, who had been caught on camera accepting the money in his chamber in the party headquarters and had to quit as its president shortly after the sting expose which had created a huge political storm.

"Balancing the twin interest of society and that of the convict, I am of the opinion that interest of justice would be met, if the convict is sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a term of four years and to pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh for the offence under Section 9 of the Prevention of Corruption Act," the judge said.

"It is often said that the accomplice of the crime of corruption is generally our own indifference. 'Sab chalta hai' syndrome has led us to the present situation, where we are, where nothing moves without an illegal consideration. People are forced to pay for getting even the right things done at right time," he added.

The judge, in his 14-page order on quantum of the sentence, said it is time to "shun" the "sab chalta hai" (It's OK, whatsoever!) attitude and courts should deal strictly with persons found guilty of corruption. 

"It is right time to shun this attitude. When Parliament, taking note of the grim situation, has taken first step to sternly deal with such persons by increasing the quantum of punishment which can be imposed, it is the turn of the court to follow suit, so as to implement the will and intention of the legislature by interpreting the provisions of the PC Act as per the dictates of the apex court," the judge said. 

"The problem of large-scale and rampant corruption, more particularly, the political corruption is weakening the political body and damaging the supreme importance of the law, governing the society," 

"The wisdom in the saying 'crime never pays' is belied by the factual realities of the day. The crime scenario in our country is distressingly disturbing as it has shattered hopes of both the plebeian and intellectual society about a possible rejuvenation of a value-based society," the judge said. 

The court had on Friday convicted Bangaru observing that the CBI had established the case of accepting Rs 1 lakh bribe against him. 

"Accused Bangaru Laxman stands convicted for the offence under Section 9 (taking gratification for exercise of personal influence with public servant) of the Prevention of Corruption Act," the judge had said. — PTI

India needs to rationalise petroleum prices, says PM

Bhatinda: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said India needs to rationalise the prices of petroleum products while insulating the common man from its effects.

Dedicating the Rs 20,000-crore Guru Gobind Singh Refinery, he said with imports accounting for about 80 per cent of the crude supplies, the spiralling prices of crude in the international markets have put a serious strain on the import bill.

"We need to rationalise prices and at the same time ensure that the poor and needy are shielded from the effects of such a rationalisation," he said.

State-owned oil companies have not raised diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene for almost a year despite cost of raw material rising by a quarter.

The Prime Minister said in order to insulate the common man from the impact of rising oil prices, the government shouldered sizeable portion of the burden by pricing diesel, kerosene and domestic LPG below their market prices.

"The challenges we face on the energy front are formidable. We need adequate supplies of energy at affordable prices. Domestic sources of crude oil and gas are inadequate to meet the growing demands of our rapidly expanding economy," Singh said.

The government had in June 2010 freed petrol prices from its control but PSU oil companies haven't been able to raise prices because of political pressure. Petrol price of Rs 65.64 a litre in Delhi is about Rs 9 short of its cost.

The government controls rates of diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene. Oil companies sell diesel at a discount of Rs 16.16 a litre, while they lose Rs 32.59 on sale of every litre of kerosene. A 14.2-kg domestic LPG cylinder costs Rs 570.50 less than its actual cost.

Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum lost about Rs 1,38,800 crore in revenues on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below cost in 2011-12. This fiscal, the revenue loss is estimated at Rs 2,08,000 crore. — PTI

New Delhi: VK Saraswat, the chief of Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), has disclosed that the country’s missile defence system is ready for induction. 

Speaking on a TV show, Saraswat said that as part of the system a two-layer shield – the AAD (advanced air defence) and the PAD – will be put in place over Delhi. 
The system has already undergone four tests as part of which incoming missiles were intercepted and destroyed. 

According to Saraswat, Prithvi missiles were modified and used as incoming missiles. The tests showed the system can hit missiles with a range of over 2,000 km. The DRDO chief said the Indian missile defence system is comparable with the US Patriot 3 system.

Arjuna Ranatunga fired as SLC head for opposing IPL: report

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's World Cup-winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga's tenure as the head of the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) came to be short-lived because of his opposition to IPL, a report has claimed.

'The Island', quoting SLC documents said Ranatunga was removed "after the BCCI applied pressure on the Sri Lankan government". Ranatunga was unavailable for comment on the matter.

The paper says an offer was made by the English Cricket Board (ECB) when Ranatunga was the head of SLC, for Sri Lanka to play a Test series in England, but the dates were clashing with the 2009 edition of the IPL.

Ranatunga's request for the players to return early from the IPL was staunchly resisted by the players. As there was no softening of the stance by Ranatunga, the BCCI summoned a Sri Lankan delegation to come over to Bangkok for talks.

During the meeting held in Bangkok in October 2008, the BCCI was represented by sacked IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi, current President N Srinivasan and the then secretary Niranjan Shah.

The newspaper claimed that the SLC delegation was warned of dire consequences unless they toed the BCCI line.

"The meeting that lasted for approximately two hours ended with the BCCI adopting a very aggressive stance, stating that the forthcoming Indian tours that have been indicated in the FTP up to 2012, stand unconfirmed at present and stated that they are not ready for any negotiations or to compromise with SLC, as long as SLC's present hostile approach," the report said.

"Mr Modi, together with Mr Srinivasan were very puzzled and shocked at the attitude of SLC towards the BCCI. The BCCI representatives had said that they had never had to contend with such an attitude with any committees which were previously handling the affairs of SLC and in particular, were very surprised and concerned about the comments made by Chairman, Arjuna Ranatunga, at different forums," it added.

Within a few weeks of the meeting, Ranatunga was removed as head of SLC by the Minister of Sports.

Ranatunga, who was a government parliamentarian at the time, switched over to opposition thereafter and still remains a strong critic of the IPL. — PTI

Mumbai: Social activist Anna Hazare has reiterated his stand of not contesting elections, saying that by doing so he would lose all his savings as voters get influenced by money and liquor. 

Speaking at a programme organised by a leading Marathi daily Loksatta, Anna said, “I feel I should contest elections, but if I do so, I will lose my deposit... I will not do so.” 

“Voters are not alert,” Hazare said. “An informed voter is the crux of democracy. In villages, even today if a Rs 500 note is waved in front of people they will vote for you, and a drunkard will vote for you if he is promised alcohol,” the anti-corruption crusader said at the programme. 

Interestingly, some Team Anna members have expressed their desire to get into the electoral system.