Friday, March 26, 1999
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Soren's sons hand in murder alleged NEW DELHI, March 25 — The mother of Shashi Nath Jha, Private Secretary to JMM MP Shibu Soren has alleged that not only Soren but his two sons, driver and former JMM MPs Suraj Mandal and Simon Marandi were also involved in her son’s murder, though the CBI has found no evidence against them. 50 houses of Trinamool men
torched |
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 A joint function organised by the Khalsa Panth, Sanatan Dharm Sabha and The Arya Samaj on the occasion of Ram Navami at the Red Fort Maidan in New Delhi on Thursday. — PTI Vittal's anti-graft law NEW DELHI, March 25 — The Central Vigilance Commissioner, Mr N. Vittal has suggested the introduction of new law to confiscate ill-gotten wealth of corrupt public servants as an effective deterrent to check corruption in society. |
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BJP
office gets threatening letter Temple
robbed of deities Two
more held in Kunjam murder case Finding
age of universe HC
stays FERA order on C’swami No
significance of Jaya’s visit: BJP CBI
workshop on women planned |
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Soren's sons hand in murder alleged NEW DELHI, March 25 (PTI) — The mother of Shashi Nath Jha, Private Secretary to JMM MP Shibu Soren has alleged that not only Soren but his two sons, driver and former JMM MPs Suraj Mandal and Simon Marandi were also involved in her son’s murder, though the CBI has found no evidence against them. In an application filed in the court of Special Judge Ajit Bharihoke, Jha’s mother Priyambada Devi requested him to summon Soren’s son Hemant Soren and Durga Soren, his driver S.A. Raja, former JMM MPs Mandal and Marandi, Mukesh Tirkey, Uma Shanker, Sushil Kumar and Pawan Sharma as accused in the case. The CBI has not chargesheeted these persons for the reasons best known to them, Priyambada Devi said in her application seeking initiation of trial against all these persons. She accused the CBI of letting off the "culprits" by accepting illegal gratification from them, a charge the CBI has termed as "baseless and figment of her imagination." In its reply, the CBI said "a thorough probe into the case has already been made and we could not find sufficient evidence against the persons mentioned in the application so as to warrant inclusion of their names in the charge sheet," The agency requested the court to direct Jha’s mother to give her blood samples for DNA test to get conclusive proof regarding the identity of Jha’a body. The matter will be taken up by the court tomorrow. Besides JMM MP Shibu Soren, Sunil Khaware, Ashish Thakur, Nand Kishore Mehta, Ajay Kumar Mehta, Pashupati Nath Mehta and Shailendra Bhattacharya are facing trial for the alleged abduction and murder of Jha in May 1994. The formal trial in the case was postponed yesterday for the third consecutive day as the CBI failed to produce accused Sunil Khaware despite production warrants issued by the court. Special Judge Bharihoke postponed the matter and issued non-bailable arrest warrants against Khaware returnable by tomorrow after CBI counsel J.S. Wadia informed him that the accused, arrested in some other case in Bihar, has been released on bail. In the charge sheet filed on November 10, 1998, the CBI said Jha was "killed" as he knew about the alleged JMM-Congress deal to save the Narasimha Rao government in July 1993 no-confidence motion and was demanding his share in the deal. Jha was apprehensive of the threat to his life from Soren and his family members and had told his mother Priyambada Devi and brother Vijay Nath Jha about it, the CBI said. "Jha had been putting
pressures on Soren to get much more financial favours in
lieu of his knowledge of secrets and illegal financial
dealings of Soren," CBI charge sheet alleged. |
50 houses of Trinamool men torched MIDNAPORE (West Bengal), March 25 (PTI) — At least 65 persons, including 15 policemen, were injured and 50 houses torched in separate incidents of violence in Midnapore district, the police said today. Fifty houses of Trinamool Congress supporters were set ablaze last night allegedly by CPM workers at Siribari village, the police said, adding that the incident led to a clash between TMC workers and those of the CPM leaving 30 injured. Eastern Frontier Rifles and Rapid Action Force personnel were deployed in the village. At least 59 were arrested. Clashes between TMC and CPM workers have been reported from several adjoining villages, including Keshpur, Saldiha, Kumardihi and Taltala during the past four days, they said. In another incident, 35 persons, including 15 policemen, were injured in a clash between the police and Congress workers at Sabang in the district. The police said the incident occurred when over 5,000 Congress supporters, led by party General Secretary Manas Bhunia, demonstrated before the Sabang police station to protest against the alleged deterioration in law and order. As the demonstrators
turned unruly pelting stones to the securitymen, the
police resorted to lathi charge, injuring 20 people.
Fifteen policemen were also hurt by the stones pelted by
Congressmen. |
It’s ‘twice in a blue moon’ CALCUTTA, March 25 (PTI) —"Twice in a blue moon" it will be, when the world witnesses a rare celestial event on March 31 — two full moon nights each in two months of a single calendar year. The event, which inspired the phrase "once in a blue moon" about 400 years ago, was last observed in 1961. M.P. Birla Planetarium Director R. Subramanium told PTI here that a full moon had lit up the last night of January this year after appearing on the first night of that month. "We shall witness the same phenomenon in March as the full moon will reappear on March 31 after being seen on March 2, marking a once-in-19-year happening," he said. A full moon normally appears twice a month in every two and half years, but only in more than 19 years does the event occur in two months of the same calendar year. However, this blue moon will be significant since the event failed to occur in 1980, Mr Subramanium said. The blue moon phenomenon was last recorded in January and April, 1961. "Since the moon takes around 29.5 days to complete one lunar cycle, it is rare to spot a full moon twice a month and rarer still for it to appear in two months," Mr Subramanium explained adding that it is seen in its usual hue and not blue as the saying might seem to suggest. On what led to the coining of the adage ‘once in a blue moon’ he said legend has it that in 1883 an Indonesian volcano erupted coinciding with the time the full moon occurred for a second time in a particular month. The smoke and dust emanating from the lava made the moon appear to be blue. "There are also
stories of a forest fire in New Foundland lending its
smoky colour to such a moon, Mr Subramanium added. |
Vittal's anti-graft law NEW DELHI, March 25 — The Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), Mr N. Vittal has suggested the introduction of new law to confiscate ill-gotten wealth of corrupt public servants as an effective deterrent to check corruption in society. Delivering a lecture on 'Emerging Economic Scenario Challenges to the Indian Industries' organised by Krishak Bharati Cooperative (KRIBCHO) here, Mr Vittal also called for the simplification of rules and procedures to eliminate scope for corruption and opportunity for exploitation by public servants. Citing the major reasons for corruption in the country's system as scarcity of goods and services, lack of transparency, and obsolete laws, he said that each of these needed to be handled carefully. Regretting that because of the legacy of licence and permit regime, the Indian economy today was not globally competitive, Mr Vittal pointed out that according to the World Competitiveness Index, India ranks 50th out of 53 countries. On the other hand, in terms of corruption Perception index, India was the 17th most corrupt country out of 83 countries identified by Transparency International, the CVC pointed out. Mr Vittal stressed the need for articulating a National Competitiveness Policy (NCP) which would help in bringing in an in-built mechanism for coherence and evolution of policies in different sectors. According to Mr Vittal, the NCP would mean making optimum use of all resources of the country measured in terms of human resources, physical resources, financial resources and time. Every law or regulation or every policy measure in any sector will be viewed ultimately in terms of its national productivity. The CVC called for
screening of every process to see if unnecessary delays
which not only reduced competitiveness of the domestic
industry but also provided fertile ground for corruption.
Business process reengineering principle would help in
improving the procedure, so that minimum time was
required for every activity, he observed. |
BJP office gets threatening letter CHENNAI, March 25 (PTI) — BJP office here has received a letter purportedly from the leader of the banned Jihad Committee, now lodged in Madurai prison, threatening Union Ministers L.K Advani and Mr Rangarajan Kumaramangalam with dire consequences. If the Tamil Nadu government was dismissed. Distributing photocopies of the letter at a press conference here today, BJP All-India general secretary a Venkaiah Naidu said this showed that all was not well in Tamil Nadu. "We are sending this letter to the Union Home Ministry and the Tamil Nadu government" for follow-up action. The situation in Tamil Nadu was "worrisome" because fundamentalists were active and were operating even from prisons. They had cellular phones and were even threatening jail officers. The banned Al Umma had already issued threats to Mr Advani and some second rank leaders, he alleged. Drawing attention to a line in the letter that dismissing Tamil Nadu government could happen only over our dead bodies. Mr Naidu said sending out such a letter showed the amount of courage the banned outfits had. This is because of lack of firmness and political will to crush the activities of such organisations by the state government." Mr Naidu said we would only blame the Tamil Nadu government for the atmosphere" that had been created to enable such banned organisations to do such things. "We are only cautioning the state government. We want the state government to understand the depth of such threats." He said and wanted the government to make a distinction between the terrorist extremist and anti-national forces and the people. The letter also warned Mr
Kumaramangalam and Mr Advani to stop making critical
remarks against Muslims and Christians. |
Temple robbed of deities NEW DELHI, March 25 — Even gods have not been spared in the worsening law and order situation in the Capital where a temple was robbed of its deities and jewellery today. The police said two idols, gold jewellery and silver utensils worth thousands of rupees and Rs 10,000 in cash were looted from Shankar Narayan temple at Vasant Kunj in south-west Delhi. The intruders had apparently broken the doors and decamped with the booty, the police said. The burglary was reported by the temple authorities this morning following which forensic experts and dog squad were summoned to get some clues. More than one person could be involved in the burglary, the police said adding that they were also probing the possibility of involvement of some insider in the crime. Earlier, a robbery was also reported at Congress MLA Meira Bhardwaj's house in East Delhi. Some cash and jewellery were found missing last night from her house in Ekta Vihar in East Delhi. Ms Bhardwaj had won the assembly election from the Mandawali constituency in East Delhi. Her husband, Mr P.K. Bhardwaj is chief reporter in Hindu. The incident came to light when domestic servant of Ms Bhardwaj raised the alarm in the morning. The servant, Sanjay, hails from Bihar. The police is suspecting his involvement. The picture will be clear after his interrogation. Meanwhile, senior police officials, forensic experts along with dog squads examined the spot and picked up some finger prints from the flat. The police also recovered two small iron roads from the room where Sanjay was sleeping. According to Ms Meera Bhardwaj, her husband, Mr P.K. Bhardwaj and MLA's Political Secretary, Mr Mukesh Sharma, came late last night and was fast asleep. While Meera and her
husband were sleeping in one bedroom Mukesh was on a sofa
in drawing room and the servant was in the bedroom in
which almirah was kept. |
Two more held in Kunjam murder case NEW DELHI, March 25 (PTI) — The Delhi Police today arrested two girls suspected to be involved in the murder of Romesh Sharma’s girlfriend Kunjam Budhraj here on Saturday even as they continued to interrogate "key suspect" Surendra Mishra in custody. "Dolly and Sonu, who have been claiming to be Romesh Sharma’s sisters, were arrested from two different places in Delhi," Deputy Commissioner of Police P.K. Srivastava said. He said Surendra Mishra, a nephew of Sharma, was brought from Ahmedabad on transit remand and would be in police custody till Saturday. During interrogations, Mishra confessed his involvement in the murder of the 29-year-old fashion designer at the instance of Romesh Sharma, alleged front man of Dubai-based underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, the DCP said. If needed, Romesh Sharma would also be interrogated in the case, Mr Srivastava said, adding the other four suspects Rajesh, Bobby, Prahlad and Nani — were yet to be traced. Surendra Mishra alias Surendra Sharma was arrested from a guest house in Ahmedabad on March 23 by a joint team of Gujarat and Delhi Police. Kunjam was allegedly stabbed to death by four persons at Sharma’s ‘Jai Mata Di’ farm house in South Delhi when she had had gone to offer prayers at a temple in the complex. Sharma at present lodged
in Tihar jail here in connection with several criminal
cases including extortion. |
Finding age of universe PUNE, March 25 (PTI) — In an effort to determine the fate of the universe, an Indian scientist is taking the help of a theory which was once discarded by Albert Einstein who had later admitted that it was the “biggest blunder” of his life. After the discovery of the theory of relativity, Einstein introduced a mathematical term called ‘cosmological constant’ (which represents an imaginary force to counter gravity) in his theory so that the equations could fit into a static universe. But when the universe was found to be expanding, Einstein said the “constant” was his “biggest blunder” as it prevented him from predicting the expansion. After almost 80 years, Varun Sahni at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) here is resurrecting this long-forgotten idea in a modern guise to answer a fundamental question — what is the fate of the universe? The answer lies with a hypothetical parameter called ‘omega’ that is related to the total mass of the universe. If the value of ‘omega’ is one, the universe is considered “flat”. If it exceeds the critical value of one, the universe will collapse after about 100 billion years but if the value is less than one, the universe will go on expanding forever. However, studies showed the total amount of matter present in the universe could not account for an ‘omega’ value greater than 0.2 which indicates an ever-expanding universe. In order to “balance the books” in favour of a flat universe Mr Sahni reintroduced the concept of cosmological constant with a “non-zero value” which helps maintain an exactly critical value of ‘omega’. According to the theory, “cosmological constant” is not an imaginary force but exists in reality. “It is an unusual form of energy that produces particles out of vacuum,” Mr Sahni said. These numerous particles created out of nothing, accounted for the remaining value of the ‘omega’ thereby making the universe flat, he said. The theory was published recently in the journal, Physical Review Letters. Experimental evidences also support the theory. By observing about 30 supernovae — a star that suddenly bursts into brilliance — an international team of astronomers led by Mr S. Perlmutter from the Lawrence Berkley University in the USA has found that the “cosmological constant” has a non-zero value as predicted by Mr Sahni. The findings could help
fix the age of universe too, Mr Sahni added. |
HC stays FERA order on C’swami NEW DELHI, March 25 (PTI) — The Delhi High Court has stayed operation of a Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (fera) Board order quashing the imposition of penalty on Chandraswami for depositing money in pounds in a London court without the permission of the Indian authority in 1984. Mr Justice J. B. goel also issued notice to Chandraswami asking him to file a reply by April 22, the next date of hearing. The court was hearing an appeal by the government against the order of the fera Board saying “evidence on record clearly shows that the respondent had contravened fera”. The fera Board had quashed the order of the Special Director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which had imposed a fine of Rs 2.5 lakh on Chandraswami for failing to show the source of a total of £13,000 paid to the Queen’s Bench of the London High Court in a defamation suit against pickle king Lakhubhai Pathak and his solicitor in London. The ED had initiated proceedings against Chandraswami on the basis of cbi documents which indicated that he had deposited £6,000 as the defendant’s cost in the London court and paid £7,000 to his lawyer for filing the suit against Pathak. Chandraswami had pleaded before the adjudicating authority that the money was deposited by arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. However,
Chandraswami’s suit was dismissed in the London
court after a three-year-long legal battle. |
No significance of Jaya’s visit: BJP CHENNAI, March 25 (UNI) — BJP general secretary Venkaiah Naidu today said the party did not attach any significance to AIADMK general secretary J. Jayalalitha’s four-day visit to Delhi beginning tomorrow. Addressing a press conference here, he said when the leader of a big party visited the national Capital, political implications were bound to be attributed to it. Asked about Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy’s efforts to arrange a meeting between Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Ms Jayalalitha, Mr Naidu said both of them had been meeting regularly. She (Ms Jayalalitha) was a seasoned and intelligent politician and the BJP would not come in her way, he quipped. Alluding to the AIADMK leader’s reference to Ms Sonia Gandhi as a “foreigner”, he said Ms Jayalalitha had made some remarks about her earlier also. Mr Naidu alleged that the Congress which had acted out of political interests on the Bihar issue, had joined hands with Left parties to break the coalition government at the Centre, by stalling the business in Parliament. But all this had backfired, forcing it to beat a hasty retreaty by shying away from a debate on the Vishnu Bhagwat and Mohan Guruswamy dismissal issues, he added. Mr Naidu alleged that Congress which had earlier opposed the proclamation of President’s rule in Bihar, resulting in the revival of the Rabri Devi Government, was now demanding that Mrs Rabri Devi should step down on moral grounds in the wake of the Senari massacre. The Congress had only supported the Rabri Devi Government with the intention of consolidating minority votes. The party, which had pronounced that it would not have any truck with the centrist forces, had acted to the contrary in Bihar, he charged. Mr Naidu claimed that BJP’s coalition partners were now solidly backing the government. “Our stand on Bihar has proved it” he claimed. “We had only sought
the Congress’s support in the Rajya Sabha to pass
the proclamation inposing President’s rule in Bihar
as it was talking about morals”, he said. |
CBI workshop on women planned NEW DELHI, March 25 — The CBI will organise a workshop on “Crime against women in India”, here on April 5. To be inaugurated by Ms Uma Bharati, the Minister of State, Department of Women and Child Development, the workshop is aimed to sensitise officers create awareness on recent developments and take steps regarding policing, legal reforms and criminal justice system. Trends on crime against women show that not only rise in figures per se, but also in crime rate per lakh population and above all infiltration of criminals into the world of innocence — girl child, a bureau release said. The feedback in this regard has persuaded the CBI to organise a workshop and to discuss the latest developments in the field, the release said. The day-long workshop will
be in three sessions each dealing with separate aspects
of the issue with the Union Home Secretary, Mr B.P.
Singh, the Secretariat in the Department of Women and
Child Development, Mrs Kiran Aggarwal, former Chief
Justice of India, Mr Justice A.M. Ahmadi, and the
Chairperson of the National Commission for Women, Mrs
Vibha Parthasarathi charing different sessions, the
release added. |
Temple bell consecrated DEHRA DUN, March 25 — A traditional temple bell made of eight precious metals was consecrated at the Mata Kalika Temple complex here today amidst the chanting of Vedic mantras. The 3½-foot-high bell, weighing 415 kg, was consecrated by Swami Divyananda, Shankracharya of Bhanupura Pitha and Avadhoot Swami Lakshaman Dassji of Rishikesh, at a function presided over by Balayogi Shri Sarvdasji. They earlier blessed the bell which had been prepared by a local resident, Mr Ved Parkash Goel, to commemorate his ancestors. A large number of devotees
witnessed the consecration ceremony. |
Tripura House motion on Netaji AGARTALA March 25 (UNI) — TheTripura Assembly today passed a motion urging the union government to institute a fresh inquiry commission in order to remove the mystery regarding the whereabouts of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. The motion, raised by CPM MLA Sadhan Das, said the House, through the state government, urged the Centre to make the necessary arrangements for the availability of related records and documents in and outside India. The motion said the people
and scholars of India were still in the dark about the
mysterious disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose
during the second world war. |
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| Hepatitis-B vaccine NEW DELHI: India’s first home-made genetically-engineered hepatitis-b vaccine, promoted by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), has come out with flying colours in efficacy studies, results of which appear in the latest issue of the international journal ‘vaccine’. The vaccine, Shanvac-B, “is safe and efficacious providing significant protection after only two doses,” says the report by Philip Abraham and his colleagues at the King Edward Memorial Hospital in Mumbai who assessed the efficacy of the vaccine in 81 volunteers. — PTI Breast-fed women have no
cancer risk Sharks ‘being
mercilessly killed’ Wadhwa panel to
hold sitting 3 Shatabdi coaches
derailed Kidney
transplantation |
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