Ahmedabad: The CBI on Thursday lodged a second charge sheet in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case against former Intelligence Bureau Special Director Rajinder Kumar and three officers slapping murder and conspiracy charges on them, but did not name former Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah who was questioned by the agency in the case.

Notwithstanding denial of sanction to prosecute the officers by the Law ministry, the CBI named Kumar, a 1979-batch IPS officer who retired last year, and P. Mittal, M.K. Sinha and Rajiv Wankhede.

They have been charged under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy), murder, wrongful confinement, kidnapping, wrongful concealment.

Kumar has been additionally charged under the Arms Act with the CBI alleging that he had provided arms to the accused on June 14, 2004, a day before the encounter took place.

The CBI alleged in its supplementary charge sheet that Kumar, who was the then Joint-Director of IB, handed over arms and ammunition to G. Singhal of Gujarat Police who passed on the weapons to Tarun Barot through Nizamuddin Sayeed. These arms and ammunition were used in executing the crime.

The name of Shah, a close aide of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi did not figure in the charge sheet despite allegations made against him by Singhal.

CBI sources said that the matter was still under investigation and also mentioned that the agency was filing the charge sheet without any sanction of prosecution by the Law ministry.

The agency has also requested the court to slap an additional charge under Section 193 of IPC against retired Deputy Superintendent of Police J.G. Parmar. This section deals with punishment for intentionally giving false evidence in any of a judicial proceedings, or fabricating false evidence for the purpose of being used in any stage of judicial process.

The CBI alleged that Parmar had concealed the fact that he had kept the car with him in which the four — Jahan, Javaid Sheikh alias Parnesh Pillai, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar — were killed.

CBI counsel Ejaz Khan told the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate that the IB officials had conspired to eliminate the four. — PTI

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government on Thursday directed its Anti-Corruption Branch to lodge an FIR in the Rs 90-crore street light project for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in which a panel headed by a former CAG had indicted the then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

After a Cabinet meeting, senior minister Manish Sisodia said ACB has been told to conduct a thorough probe into the scam as there have been "strong findings" in it by CAG and Shunglu Committee.

"The ACB has been directed to conduct an independent and thorough investigation and take action. ACB will file FIR in the case. Our motive is not to target a particular person," Sisodia said. Registration of an FIR is the first step in the filing of formal charges. Today's move was bound to needle its ally Congress.

Law Minister Somnath Bharti said a number of Commonwealth Games-related projects that were implemented during the reign of Dikshit will be probed by the ACB which functions under the Delhi government.

This is the second move against Dikshit by Kejriwal government this week. On Monday, it had recommended to President Pranab Mukherjee to issue an "advisory" to Dikshit based on a Lokayukta order for alleged wrongdoings in grant of provisional regularisation certificates to unauthorised colonies in 2008.

The Lokayukta had recommended issuance of advisory to caution her against repeating such wrongdoings.

Sisodia said investigation into the street lighting scam was closed at the level of preliminary inquiry though there were "strong findings" in the case by CAG and Shunglu Committee.

The Shunglu Committee and CAG in their reports had mentioned about flouting of laid down rules at the instance of Dikshit in awarding of contract to certain firms for procurement of street lights. Dikshit had vehemently rejected findings of the reports.

"It was strongly mentioned in the reports that many ineligible companies were made eligible through back doors and contracts were given to them. The then government had wasted Rs 31 crore," alleged Sisodia.

After taking over, Kejriwal had announced that his government will investigate all corruption cases, particularly the CWG scam.

In the 70-member Delhi Assembly, eight Congress MLAs are giving outside support to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government which currently has 27 MLAs after expulsion of rebel legislator Vinod Kumar Binny. The government has also been given outside support by a Janata Dal(United) MLA and an Independent. — PTI

Parliament stalled for second consecutive day

NEW DELHI: Controversy over Telangana along with a number of other issues on Thursday washed out proceedings in Parliament for the second day, which also saw two members from Andhra Pradesh, including one from Congress, giving notices for a no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha.

Both the Houses were disrupted as members created uproar over the creation of separate Telangana state, harassment of Tamil fishermen by Sri Lanka, 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Pathribal fake encounter case and killing of a student from Arunachal Pradesh in Delhi last week.

Trouble started in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha as soon as they met for the day, leading to adjournments. The Lok Sabha was adjourned till noon and then till tomorrow. The Rajya Sabha was also adjourned, first till noon and then till 2 pm and finally for the day.

The Lok Sabha saw members from Andhra Pradesh, cutting across party lines, storming the Well shouting slogans in favour or against separate Telangana. While YSR Congress chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy as also several members from Seemandhra were holding placards for ‘United Andhra Pradesh’, those from Telangana wanted the Bill for the separate state to be brought early.

TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao and his party colleague Vijaya Shanthi were, however, in the aisle.

The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill is expected to come before Parliament next week and the state is sharply divided on regional lines on the issue.

Meanwhile, Sabbam Hari (Cong) and M Venugopala Reddy (TDP), who are opposed to division of the state, gave the no-confidence notices shortly before the House met for the day.

Speaker Meira Kumar expressed her inability to ascertain the support for the notices in view of the disruptions.

She repeatedly appealed to agitating members to go back to their seats, contending that unless the House is in order, she will not be in a position to count the 50 members, whose backing is required for admitting such notices. — PTI

CHANDIGARH: Punjab will organise a disputes redressal meet for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) on February 10 to dispose of their complaints "in a transparent and timely manner".

The NRI Disputes Redressal Samellan would be organised at the Punjab Police Academy in Phillaur, Inspector General of Police (NRI Wing) Gurpreet Kaur Deo said here today.

Deo said the Punjab government had established 15 NRI police stations for speedy disposal of their complaints, and the meet would help the police address their problems on the spot.

"The sammelan is another initiative to create a direct communication between senior officers and NRI complainants so that their complaints could be disposed of in a transparent and timely manner," she said.

Deo said in the event, women facing matrimonial problems with NRI spouses would be provided advice and counselling.

"Complainants of pending cases will be provided an update regarding current status of their case with the NRI Wing," Deo said. — PTI

NEW DELHI: A six-member committee, headed by former IAS officer M.P. Bezbaruah, has been set up by the government to suggest remedial measures to address concerns of people from the Northeast following outrage over the death in Delhi of a 19-year-old student from Arunachal Pradesh.

Former IAS officers H.W.T. Syeim, Allen Temshi Jamir, Tape Bagra and P. Bharat Singh will be members of the committee which will have Deputy Secretary in Ministry of Home Affairs S. Saha as Member Secretary, AICC general secretary in-charge for north-eastern states Luizinho Faleiro said on Thursday.

The panel, led by Bezbaruah, who is also a member of North-Eastern Council, will submit a report within two months after examining the causes behind the attacks/violence and complaints of discrimination against the people from the Northeast, Faleiro, who led a delegation of MPs from the region to meet Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, told reporters here.

The meeting at Gandhi’s residence was attended by Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde. It discussed steps to end harassment of people from the region.

The meeting comes in the backdrop of the outrage over the death of Nido Taniam, son of an MLA, after being allegedly beaten by some shopkeepers in south Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar.

Faleiro said the Congress vice-president wanted not only to ensure justice in Taniam’s case but also address the issue of discrimination of people from the Northeast.

Joint Commissioner of Delhi Police Robin Hibu, who hails from that region, has also been asked to assist the panel.

The Chairman of the Committee shall co-opt members, one each from the other Northeastern states like Tripura, Mizoram and Sikkim.

“It has been decided to constitute a committee to look into various kinds of concerns of the persons hailing from the Northeast, who are living in different parts of the country, especially metropolitan areas, and suggest suitable remedial measures, which could be taken by the government,” said an order issued yesterday by Deputy Secretary of MHA’s Northeast Division Ajay Kanoujia. — PTI

Discoms move SC against NTPC notice to cut power supply 

NEW DELHI: Reliance Group-owned power distribution companies in Delhi on Thursday approached the Supreme Court against NTPC’s notice threatening to cut off power supply for not clearing outstanding dues.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice P. Sathasivam, before whom the matter was mentioned for an urgent hearing, listed the case for Friday.

The counsel appearing for BSES submitted that a matter connected to this case is coming up for hearing tomorrow and pleaded that its fresh plea be also heard with it.

The Bench agreed to the plea and posted the case hearing on Friday.

NTPC had last week issued notices to BSES Rajdhani and BSES Yamuna on the issue of payment security mechanism and non-payment of outstanding dues to the state-run company.

After issuing notices to BSES Rajdhani and BSES Yamuna on February 1, NTPC had on February 4 said it was in trouble and unless its dues are cleared, the company may have to stop power supply to these discoms.

NTPC Chairman and Managing Director had said if they were not paid in time, they will have to regulate nearly 2,000 MW of power. These bills, due to BSES Rajdhani and Yamuna, are for the amount of power consumed in December and billed in January to be payable by the end of January.

NTPC had said that currently there was no letter of credit available for the two companies. BSES Rajdhani’s last letter of credit was encashed on January 31, leaving a shortfall of Rs. 27l.61 crore. There is a payment shortfall of Rs. 96.07 crore on BSES Yamuna. — PTI

AUCKLAND: India frittered away the early advantage as Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson smashed brilliant centuries to lead New Zealand's spirited fightback and take the opening day honours in the first cricket Test on Thursday.

New Zealand reached a position of strength after a disastrous morning session to finish the day on 329 for four at the Eden Park. Skipper McCullum (143 batting) and Corey Anderson (42 batting) were in the middle at the close of play.

McCullum, who slammed his third ton against India and his eighth Test century overall, reached the three-figure mark with a towering six off Ravindra Jadeja, while Williamson (113) hit his fifth Test ton with the help of 10 boundaries and a couple of sixes.

New Zealand's cause was helped by four dropped catches and inconsistent bowling under pressure by the visitors as the duo of Williamson and McCullum put on a 221-run stand for the fourth wicket to lift the hosts from a precarious 30 for three.

After being sent into bat under overcast conditions conducive to seam bowling, New Zealand could manage only 54 runs in the pre-lunch session losing both their openers, Peter Fulton (13) and Hamish Rutherford (6), and in-form batsman Ross Taylor (3).

But Williamson and McCullum swung the first day in New Zealand's favour by adding 125 runs in 27 overs in the post-lunch session.

The sensational fightback has put the Kiwis on top in the first Test after their resounding 4-0 win over the visitors in the just-concluded one-day series.

The Indian bowlers attacked in a bid to take wickets, but gave away runs easily considering the short boundaries. Ishant Sharma (2-62) was the pick of the bowlers, reaching his 150-wicket mark in 54 Tests.

Zaheer Khan (2-98) pitched in with two wickets, while Mohammad Shami (0-66) was unlucky to finish empty-handed despite bowling good spells throughout. Jadeja (0-81) proved ineffective on the hard and bouncy pitch, while Rohit Sharma (0-12) and Virat Kohli (0-4) turned their arms over as well.

Starting their 149-run partnership after tea, Williamson and McCullum went about continuing their dominance of the Indian bowling. They did so by bringing up their respective hundreds, with the captain first to get to that mark.

In the 58th over, McCullum hit Jadeja down the ground for his first six to reach his hundred in style. He got there in 135 balls, also hitting 16 fours in the process.

Two overs later, Williamson first brought up their 200-run partnership and then his own hundred off 138 balls, cashing in on a dropped chance when on 32.

Williamson had edged a seaming delivery from Shami, but Murali Vijay dropped a sitter at first slip much to Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's dismay.

Vijay also dropped an edge from McCullum, who scored quickly and batted through the two sessions.

McCullum was also dropped on 102 when Shikhar Dhawan failed to judge a looping catch at short fine-leg and the skipper made the Indians pay a heavy price for the reprieve.

Both the batsmen continued unabated until the 69th over, when finally Zaheer got Williamson to glance one down leg and edge it to the keeper, ending his long-haul partnership with McCullum.

McCullum was undeterred though, and put on another 50-runs with new batsman Anderson quickly, with the score also hopping across the 300-mark in the 82nd over.

India taking the new ball had no effect whatsoever as 150 run came in the final session of play. The two batsmen remained unbeaten at the end, putting on 78 runs for the fifth wicket.

Earlier, McCullum looked to repair the damage from the morning session and re-build the innings with Williamson. Wind carried away the cloud cover from the morning and finally the sun came out as prominent swing from the morning session vanished.

Williamson hit two sixes, the first in the 33rd over, when New Zealand were placed at 102/3, and the second in the 38th over, reaching his fifty. At the other end, McCullum brought up his fifty in the 43rd over, as also their 100-run partnership. In doing so, he carried the team-score past the 150-mark as well.

In the morning session, Dhoni won his sixth straight toss on this tour, and opted to bowl first in optimum conditions. The visitors did not make any changes to their eleven that played against South Africa in Durban. Similarly, the hosts did not make any either to their eleven that played West Indies in Hamilton.

Fulton and Rutherford took first strike, even as Shami and Zaheer bowled at lively pace and beat the batsmen on more than a couple of occasions. In fact, the former was very lucky to survive as long as he did, continuously troubled by all Indian bowlers. He should have gone back, first on the seventh ball of the innings, with Zaheer inducing an edge but Dhawan dove in front of second slip and spilled the chance.

Fulton got another life 11 runs later when umpire Richard Kettleborough did not raise his finger on a plumb LBW decision in the ninth over bowled by Shami. He eventually got out for 13 runs, when Zaheer trapped him in the 13th over.

At the other end, Rutherford was brilliantly set up by Ishant in the 10th over earlier, with the batsman fishing outside the off-stump on more than one occasion. After four balls, the bowler finally found an edge as Ajinkya Rahane completed a superb diving catch at gully.

That was not the end of New Zealand's woes, with Taylor looking to play his shots from the very beginning, despite a difficult pitch. It did not pay off, as he drove Ishant on-the-up and Jadeja completed a stunning catch at short mid-off, leaving the Kiwis reeling at 30/3.

Williamson and McCullum then saw off the 25 minutes before lunch without any further loss, with the 50-run mark of the innings coming in the penultimate over of the session bowled by Jadeja. — PTI

WASHINGTON: India has warned the United States of consequences for its companies if lawmakers tighten visa rules on high-tech firms as part of an immigration overhaul.

Ambassador Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said that India would see a decision to restrict certain temporary visas for skilled workers as a sign that the US economy is becoming less open for business.

"We think this is actually going to be harmful to us. It would be harmful to the American economy and, frankly, it would be harmful to the relationship" between the two countries, Jaishankar told AFP in an interview.

"Once I feel I'm not getting a fair deal, I am less responsive to the concerns of the other party. Then tomorrow if an American company comes and says, 'You know, we've got this set of problems,' the temptation for me is to say, 'I'm out for lunch,'" he said.

The Republican leadership of the House of Representatives recently laid out general principles for an overhaul of immigration — whose main goal would be to give legal status to the estimated 11 million undocumented foreigners in the United States.

A version passed last year by the Senate, which is led by President Barack Obama's Democratic Party, offers automatic immigrant visas for foreigners who earn advanced science degrees at US universities. But it changes rules on so-called H-1B visas, which are issued to skilled workers who come temporarily to the United States.

The Senate Bill, while increasing the overall number of H-1B visas available, would hike fees and restrict additional H-1B visas for companies considered dependent on such foreign workers. The move came after complaints by US companies and labor groups that Indian tech firms bring in their own, lower-paid employees rather than hiring Americans.

Jaishankar charged that the changes attacked the business model of India's showcase IT industry, which he said was making the US economy more competitive by helping companies operate round-the-clock.

The Ambassador said he raised his concerns in meetings with more than 25 members of Congress, including House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, since he arrived in Washington in December.

Another prominent lawmaker, Senator Orrin Hatch, recently called India "the biggest battlefield" for intellectual property rights and accused the country of "rampant piracy and counterfeiting" to benefit its own industries.

Hatch made his remarks at the US Chamber of Commerce, which released a report that ranked India at the bottom of 25 countries in protection of intellectual property.

Jaishankar said he was "very surprised" by Hatch's remarks and charged that the pharmaceutical industry was driving criticism of India, with few complaints about intellectual property rights in other sectors.

India has a major generic drug industry that produces cheaper copycat versions of life-saving branded medicines. But Jaishankar said it was incorrect to suggest that a "huge number of patents" was under threat.

"I would very honestly describe it as scare-mongering tactics and, frankly, I don't think it's helpful," he said. "If there is an expectation that by doing this, we are setting ourselves up for a serious conversation, I think someone's got something wrong."

"Affordable health care is the number one issue in the United States. There is almost a presumption here that what is a legitimate concern for Americans should not be a legitimate concern for Indians," he said.

Jaishankar arrived in Washington amid one of the worst crises in years between the world's two largest democracies after authorities in New York arrested an Indian diplomat, Devyani Khobragade, on charges of underpaying her domestic servant and lying on her visa application.

Jaishankar said that Indians "disagree strongly" with the US treatment of Khobragade, who returned to India under a deal after an indictment, but played down the impact on overall ties.

He said that India and the United States — whose relationship has rapidly grown since estrangement during the Cold War — shared common interests on security and political issues.

"I would not assume that there's something structurally wrong or some revisiting of the basics of our relationship," he said. — AFP

SRINAGAR: A Kashmiri youth from a remote village of the Valley has won approval for two of his projects from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in the United States.

Asif Ali, who comes from a humble background from a village in Mattan area of south Kashmir district, Anantnag, is studying astronomy at the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), Kerala, a defence spokesman said here.

The two projects that Ali will work on include those on estimation of asteroids and the effect of gamma ray emissions.

"NASA is supporting his project works and accepting his research idea as a major leap forward in his career," the spokesman said.

Ali, who has done B.Tech from IIST and is currently doing MS in Astronomy from the same college, will be headed to NASA soon to start work on his projects.

"I will be flying to NASA, US, soon to start my project work. After I return, I have some more projects in my mind that would cater to telecommunication problems faced by our state in particular and India in general," he said.

Ali is an alumnus of Army Goodwill School at Aishmuqam in Anantnag district and has done his higher studies at Government Higher Secondary School in his native area.

His father retired as an officer from the Animal Husbandry Department and his mother is a housewife.

"I have not been to elite schools of towns and cities.

I dreamt of making big in life while studying at my native place in a remote area. However, to fulfil my aspirations, I went to a good college in Kerala under the guidance of brilliant mentors. I worked hard. My core interest was always astronomy," he said.

His achievement was recently acknowledged by the Army, which felicitated him in the presence of engineering students in Anantnag, the spokesman said. — PTI