NEW DELHI: In an apparent U-turn, the CBI, which had filed a closure report in a coal block allocation case involving industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, former Coal Secretary PC Parakh and others, on Monday told a special court there was enough evidence against the accused to take cognisance of offences.

The Supreme Court-appointed Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) RS Cheema submitted before Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar that the court can take cognisance on the closure report filed by it on October 21 as there was prima facie "evidence against the accused to show their involvement".

The court after hearing the submissions advanced by Cheema and CBI prosecutors VK Sharma and AP Singh fixed the matter for November 25 for consideration of the agency's closure report.

"SPP states that under the facts and circumstances of the case, prima facie there is enough material to take cognisance of the offences against private parties and some of the government officials involved in the process of coal blocks allocation. Put up for consideration on the closure report on November 25," the judge said.

The CBI also placed on record a compilation of relevant documents relating to the case.

During the hearing, Cheema said, "We are asking for cognisance on the closure report as there was evidence against the accused to show their involvement."

The judge asked the prosecutor that if the court decides to take cognisance of the offences, will the agency be ready with its documents.

To this, Cheema said some further investigation was required in the matter.

Earlier, on October 21, CBI had filed a "detailed and comprehensive" revised final closure report before a the court in the case.

The FIR against Birla, Parakh and others was registered in October last year by CBI which had alleged that Parakh had reversed his decision to reject coal block allocation to Hindalco within months "without any valid basis or change in circumstances" and shown "undue favours".

The FIR relates to allocation of Talabira II and III coal blocks in 2005. — PTI

CHANDIGARH: The Haryana Police on Monday failed to present controversial sect leader Rampal in the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday despite the court issuing non-bailable warrants against him last week.

The high court on Monday reserved its order on the issue after counsel for the sect leader submitted a fresh medical certificate before the court that Rampal was not medically fit to appear before the court. The court will deliver its order on the matter for 2 pm.

This is the third time that Rampal has skipped appearing before the high court despite contempt proceedings against him. He failed to appear before court November 5 also, citing medical reasons.

Tension continued to prevail on the outskirts of Barwala town in Haryana's Hisar district Monday with hundreds of followers of the self-styled sect leader surrounding the entire Satlok Ashram complex for the past two days.

The followers, some of them carrying weapons and others armed with sticks, have blockaded the way to the ashram complex to prevent the police and administrative officials from arresting Rampal and taking him away.

Those blocking the police entry into the ashram include hundreds of women, men and children. Volunteers of the sect have even set up a 'commando protection force' to prevent the police from entering the ashram and arresting their sect leader.

A division bench of the court headed by Justice Jeyapaul last week directed the Haryana home secretary and the state Director General of Police (DGP) to ensure that Rampal and Rashtriya Samaj Seva Committee president Ram Kumar are present in the court November 10.

The controversial sect leader's followers had indulged in vandalism in a court in Haryana's Hisar town, 240 km from here, in July this year when he was going there for an appearance in a 2006 murder conspiracy case.

The high court took suo moto notice of the Hisar incident and summoned the sect leader to appear before it. –IANS

NEW DELHI: Kiran Choudhary, daughter-in-law of late Chief Minister Bansi Lal, was today made the Congress Legislature Party leader in Haryana where the party lost power after a 10-year rule under Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Choudhary, who was a Minister in the previous Hooda government, was named the CLP leader by party chief Sonia Gandhi after she was asked by the MLAs to decide the issue, party general secretary Shakeel Ahmed said.

Her name has been announced amid a tussle between the detractors and supporters of Hooda to wrest the leadership of the state Congress after the party not only lost power in the recent Assembly polls, but also finished third.

The anti-Hooda leaders had impressed upon the high command that the naming of the Congress Legislature Party leader should be used as a political opportunity to start afresh after Hooda's 10-year rule.

Soon after Manohar Lal Kattar, a non-Jat, was named CM as an appreciation of consolidation of the anti-Jat votes behind the BJP, the anti-Hooda camp in the state was pitching for electing a new Jat leader as head of CLP. Choudhary belongs to the Jat community.

The party has done a balancing act by appointing her as CLP leader as PCC chief of Haryana Ashok Tanwar is from Dalit community.

Senior leader from the state and former Union Minister Kumari Selja, a prominent Dalit face in the state, has been critical of the style of functioning of Hooda and held the view that he should take responsibility for the defeat.

She had also hit out at Hooda after the party lost badly in Lok Sabha polls, winning only one of the ten Parliamentary seats there.

Senior Congress leaders Rao Inderjit Singh and Chaudhary Birender Singh, who were also detractors of Hooda and quit Congress to join BJP, are now Union Ministers in the Narendra Modi government. -PTI

NEW DELHI: The Patiala House Court on Monday cancelled the non-bailable warrant issued against DMK MP Kanimozhi after her lawyer apologized to the court for her non-appearance in the 2G case hearing.

A non-bailable warrant had been issued against Kanimozhi after she failed to appear in court today for the hearing.

The court had also fixed December 19 as the next date for hearing of final arguments in the case.

Last month, a special court had charged former telecom minister A. Raja, Kanimozhi and 16 others for money laundering in a case related to the 2G spectrum scam.

The accused were charged under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and under provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The 2G spectrum scam involved both politicians and government officials in India illegally undercharging mobile telephone companies for frequency allocation licenses, which they would then use to create 2G spectrum subscriptions for cell phones.

The shortfall between the money collected and the money that the law mandated to be collected is estimated to be Rs.1766.45 billion (USD 29 billion), as valued by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India based on 3G and BWA spectrum auction prices in 2010. –Agencies

NEW DELHI: Former state Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil was on Monday elected as the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader in Maharashtra, where the party has lost power.

Patil, who was Agriculture Minister in the erstwhile Prithviraj Chavan Ministry, was nominated as the CLP leader by party chief Sonia Gandhi.

Gandhi was earlier authorised by the CLP to decide its leader.

The announcement by AICC General Secretary Mohan Prakash came as the first session of the Maharashtra Assembly commenced today. The Devendra Fadnavis Government will be seeking trust vote in coming days.

Patil hails from sugar-rich Ahmednagar district and has been a legislator for long. He was also a minister during the Shiv Sena-BJP govt some 20 years back.

He is the son of Balasaheb Vikhe Patil, who had been a Minister in the Vajpayee government and had earlier been a Congress MP for several terms.

Congress has been reduced to 42 in the 288-member House in Maharashtra after 15 years in power, leading a coalition along with Sharad Pawar's NCP. It is the third largest party after the BJP and the Shiv Sena and has just one seat more that estranged ally NCP.

The name of another Maharashtra leader Balasaheb Thorat, who too hails from Ahmednagar district, was also doing the rounds for the post of CLP leader. -PTI

NEW DELHI: Four children were among five people who died due to suffocation as a fire broke out early Monday morning at a factory here.

The fire broke out at a factory in Begampur, west Delhi.

"Five people died due to suffocation, as fire broke out in a factory that made paper plates," said a fire official.

Shravan Kumar (17), Niranjan (5), Nilesh (11), Nitin (26), and Shivam (15) died in the fire.

The fire was reported at 3.14 am and eight fire tenders were rushed to the spot. -IANS

SRINAGAR: A jawan was killed and two others were injured when their bunker along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara district of north Kashmir caught fire, the police said on Monday.

The fire broke out in the bunker in Nowgam sector in Handwara area of the district last night, a police spokesman said.

One trooper was charred to death, while two others sustained burn injuries and have been hospitalised, he said.

The cause of the fire is being established, the spokesman said, adding police is investigating the case. -PTI

SRINAGAR: Snowfall in the mountains caused sharp fall in temperatures in the Kashmir Valley on Monday, the night temperature dropping to 2.7 degrees Celsius in this city - the lowest so far this season.

The minimum temperature of 2.7 degrees Celsius on Monday is the lowest recorded this season so far in Srinagar, a Met department official said.

"The minimum temperature dropped below the freezing point in Sonamarg and Pahalgam tourist resorts in the valley while Leh and Kargil towns also recorded below freezing point temperatures," Sonam Lotus, director of the local meteorological office, told IANS.

"The minimum was minus 2.0 degrees in Gulmarg on Monday. It was minus 3.6 in Pahalgam, minus 7.6 in Leh and minus 4.6 in Kargil towns. Jammu city recorded a minimum temperature of 11.5 degrees during the night." Lotus said: "The early snowfall in the mountains this season has been caused due to unprecedented rainfall witnessed by the valley during autumn." "Snowfall in the higher reaches has also caused temperatures to drop in the plains." "We are expecting the weather to remain dry for another five to six days, but during this period due to clear night skies, there would be marginal drop in the minimum temperatures in the valley." Locals wearing woollens, including the traditional tweed over-garment called the 'pheran', are a common sight in cities, towns and villages in the valley these days.

Earthen fire-pots woven in willow wicker baskets called the 'kngris' are also in great demand these days.

Lit with charcoal and dry Chinar leaves, dried cow dung or firewood, Kashmiris kkeep the kangri inside the pheran to keep body warm during the harsh winter months.

Because of its history, availability, and dependence on it, the Kangri has been dubbed the one-man central heating arrangement for the poor in Kashmir.-IANS