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| Thursday, August 9, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Hiten Dalal
surrenders Cabinet
approves rural roads scheme 2 more
suspects held in Phoolan murder case Dreaded
criminal killed in encounter Govt
admits lacunae in ammo depots |
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NORTH INDIA IN
PARLIAMENT
Jaswant
Singh to visit Nepal More
evidence on Bhagat’s role in riots
Padmanabhaiah
meets Advani NCC
delegation returns from UK
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Hiten Dalal surrenders Mumbai, August 8 He is the first broker to undergo conviction in cases concerning the multi-crore scam which rocked all the stock exchanges in the country 10 years ago. The Supreme Court had earlier upheld the one-year sentence imposed on Dalal by a special court. Rejecting Dalal’s plea for more time to surrender, Justice D.K. Trivedi ordered the police to take him into custody but allowed the broker to remain in the court till 4.45 pm to attend another scam case in which he is facing trial. On July 25, the court had granted him time to surrender till today. Dalal appeared before the judge this morning and his counsel R.D. Ovelekar moved an application seeking more time to surrender on the grounds that he was facing trial in other case. The court was also informed that Dalal had filed a petition in the apex court seeking review of the earlier Supreme Court judgement which had upheld his conviction. Since the review petition was not notified, he may be allowed time to surrender, Dalal pleaded through his counsel. Prosecutor Kiran Kapoor opposed Dalal’s plea for more time to surrender on the ground that the court had taken a lenient view on last occasion by deferring his arrest by two weeks although there was no provision in the Cr.PC to do so. The judge held that the court could seek production of Dalal in other scam cases whenever it was necessary and there was no need to defer his arrest.
PTI |
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Cabinet approves rural roads scheme New Delhi, August 8 The Cabinet also approved the exchange of land between the Navy and the Andaman and Nicobar Administration at Campbell Bay in the islands and the signing of a bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement with the Republic of Yemen. It approved three legislations — the Tea Districts Immigrant Labour (Repealing) Bill, 2001, Inland Waterways Authority India (Amendment) Bill, 2001 and National Commission for Safai Karamchari Management Bill. |
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2 more suspects held in Phoolan murder case New Delhi, August 8 However, the police has been unable to trace a former employee of the liquor vend owned by Pankaj who had actually spent days in the Hardwar jail by impersonating him when his bail was cancelled after one of the persons withdrew his surety. The employee, identified as
Shravan, had reportedly disappeared and had gone back to his native village in Bihar. A police team has been sent to Bihar to trace him. The two suspects have been identified as Pradeep and Surinder Singh. They had reportedly helped Pankaj in securing the bail in an illicit liquor case pending against him since 1996. The total number of persons arrested so far has reached to 10. The police said some more persons were likely to be arrested since the main accused, Pankaj and his associate, Vicky, alias Dhan Parkash alias
Dhanraj, a close relative of a sitting MLA of Uttar Pradesh, were still being interrogated. |
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Dreaded
criminal killed in encounter New Delhi, August 8 The accused, Amarpreet Singh, was shot at Shyam Nagar in Okhla Industrial area when he fired at a police team which asked him to surrender. In its defence the police also fired, injuring the accused seriously. He was taken to the AIIMS where he was declared dead, the police added. The police was in search of Amarpreet Singh, who was suspected to be involved in an extortion case. His name came to light following the arrest of his accomplice, Rajinder Singh. They called the businessman in West Delhi for an extortion of Rs 10 lakh. The calls were made from different PCOs in South Delhi. These PCOs were identified by the police and sleuths of Special Cell were deployed there in plain clothes. Amarpreet’s associate was arrested from the Okhla Industrial area yesterday when he was returning from the PCO. During interrogation he disclosed that he belonged to Amarpreet’s gang. He also revealed the whereabout of Amarpreet. Amarpreet was also involved in an attempt to murder case of the Deputy Director of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Anil Kumar Gupta and his family members in Noida. Both Mr Gupta and his wife sustained bullet injuries but had a providential escape. Amarpreet was arrested in this case but he had escaped from the judicial custody in Masoori in Ghaziabad district. The Director of the DRI was reportedly shot at the instance of a businessman, Gurmeet Sehgal, the police said. The police said after escaping from the judicial custody Amarpreet threatened the businessman for extortion. He had also threatened two senior government officials who were taking action against Gurmeet Sehgal and his associates. |
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Govt admits lacunae
in ammo depots New Delhi, August 8 Making a statement in the Rajya Sabha on the Calling Attention motion on the fires in the ordnance depots in the country, Defence Minister Jaswant Singh said: “there is an urgent need to change not only the means of storage, but also the method of it. And we are committed to doing precisely that.” “The government is facing the problem (fires in ammunition depots) which, unfortunately, was not attended to for almost five decades,” he said adding that the Centre had already allocated Rs 350 crore in the past two years and planned to shift all ammunition into covered accommodation by 2004. Listing out the additional steps that had been taken to prevent incidents in ordnance depots, Mr Singh said all storage dumps had been directed to update safety and security arrangements, dispose of unserviceable ammunition on priority basis and equip them with adequate fire fighting equipments besides repairing defective ones. “It is planned that by the end of 2004, all ammunition would be shifted into covered accommodation,” he said. |
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Sawant rues
populist journalism New Delhi, August 8 Their focus was only on increasing their circulation and profits and in the process giving a go-by to the social obligations and responsibilities, he observed in an exclusive interview to The Tribune. He
was categoric that newspapers could not and should not be run as
businesses. They had a larger societal role to play, particularly in a
democracy. People needed to know about the developments. “Media has
never been a consumers market. It has always been a suppliers market
and it will continue to be so”, he said. It was precisely for this reason that some of the larger newspapers once regarded as leaders were gradually losing their credibility. One could not find anything to read except for trashy material in some of these papers, he regretted. He had no doubt that some newspapers which had been persistently holding on to the traditional values were registering gradual growth and gaining in respectability. Justice Sawant, whose six-year-term comes to an end this month, was optimistic that the work initiated by the Press Council of India would be carried on by his successors. Justice
Sawant claimed that his tenure had been extremely educative as it gave
him an opportunity to watch the growth and evolvement of the print
media from a very close range.”The experience has been extremely
instructive as I was able to watch the developments from the inside”. He
was not bitter about the controversies that erupted during his
stewardship of the council. He maintained that the reaction of the
publishing houses concerned and their editors was expected. He would
have been surprised if they had responded otherwise and taken the
criticism graciously. “Very few people have the maturity to accept
criticism with grace no matter what the circumstances”, he noted. The
outgoing Chairman of the council said he would like to see the old
values in journalism of social responsibility return to the print
medium as journalism was neither an employment or business but a
social responsibility. “Journalists and all others associated with
the print medium have a very heavy social responsibility on their
shoulders as they are the trustees of people in whom the people have
reposed implicit confidence to inform them truthfully and totally
about events to help them take crucial decisions”. “People are
getting sick and tired of commercial journalism as is being pandered
by some of the larger papers”, Justice Sawant said. Asked about the achievements of the council during the past six years, he said the council had succeeded in informing the public in general that the freedom of the Press was not for the publishers and editors alone but for society at large which had the right to be informed truthfully and honestly about events and other developments. “If
society confers the right of freedom of speech and expression, it also
confers the right of freedom of the press”, Justice Sawant
emphasised. The council had also succeeded in looking after the interest of the smaller and medium sized publications, journalists and even the common man who lacked the means to get justice when wronged. The council was able to send a message across to the public that the newspapers were not meant for the urban elite only. The
past six years were sort of landmark years as the information
technology revolution was exploited by the print media. However, he
said, the larger newspapers because of the immense assets were able to
exploit this fully. He was confident that given time, even the smaller
publications would be able to use the technology to disseminate
information more effectively. |
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NORTH INDIA IN
PARLIAMENT New Delhi, August 8 The Minister for Tourism and Culture, Mr Anand Kumar, informed the Rajya Sabha that Buddha Mahotsava Festival would be held in Kalpa, Himachal Pradesh, on September 15 and 16, this year. Similar festivals would be held in Arunachal Pradesh and West Bengal later this year to promote Buddhism-based cultural and heritage tourism in the country. The Minister of State for Home Affairs, Mr Vidyasagar Rao, informed the Rajya Sabha that the construction of fencing in the Punjab and Rajasthan sectors of the Indo-Pak border has been completed, except for certain stretches where fencing was not possible due to terrain conditions like riverine areas, shifting sand dune areas, permanently waterlogged areas. The construction of fencing in the Gujarat sector (to be completed by March 2004) and international border in the Jammu sector is in progress and would be completed by March 2003. In reply to another question, the minister said Pakistan based terrorist organisations had threatened to escalate violence and reiterated their resolve to carry on ‘jehad’ after failure of the Agra summit. The government has adopted a multi-pronged approach which includes strengthening border management, pro-active action against terrorists in the hinterland, gearing up intelligence machinery, greater functional integration through an institutional framework of operation groups and intelligence groups of the UHQ, improved technology, weapons and equipment for security forces. Mr Vidyasagar Rao, in response to another question, said the government does not maintain any record on the number of Hindu families migrated to India during the past 10 years from Sindh district of Pakistan. |
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Jaswant
Singh to visit Nepal New Delhi, August 8 Confirming the impending visit, a spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs Ms Nirupm Rao, said there was a proposal under consideration regarding the visit of the External Affairs Minister to Nepal. “We are working out the details”, she said, adding that the exact dates would be worked out through diplomatic channels. A visit at this level is very crucial as not only a new government under Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has assumed charge recently but a rapport also needs to be established with the Naraynahiti Palace, where King Gyanendra has started to settle down. During Mr Singh’s stay in Kathmandu, a review of the bilateral relations would be undertaken and security issues are also expected to come up. |
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More evidence on Bhagat’s role in riots New Delhi, August 8 A witness of the riots, Wazir Singh (32), told the commission that Mr Bhagat, the then Union Minister, had organised a meeting at the residence of Congress leader Ram Pal Saroj in Trilokpuri in East Delhi on the night of October 31. “At about 9 or 9.30 p.m. I learnt that Mr Bhagat had come to the residence of Mr Saroj and all local leaders of the Congress were attending a meeting there. After half an hour, the meeting ended and I saw Mr Bhagat and other Congress leaders coming out of the residence. All the leaders were shouting anti-Sikh slogans,” he said in an affidavit filed before the commission. The very next day, he said, Mr Saroj was leading a mob of about 50 persons carrying iron rods and knives and shouting slogans like “khoon ka badla khoon se lenge”. The mob attacked the houses of Sikhs and set their jhuggis on fire. Later, Wazir Singh said, he came to know that Mr Bhagat had given instructions to his party colleagues during the meeting to kill Sikhs.
UNI |
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Security
tightened in Delhi New Delhi, August 8 It is feared that Pakistan-supported terrorist outfits, particularly the dreaded Lashkar-e-Toiba, may launch attacks on the “symbols” of India like the Red Fort, North Block and South Block here. The Lashkar has already threatened to attack the Prime Minister’s Office. Access to South Block (housing PMO and the ministries of External Affairs and Defence) and North Block (which houses ministries of Home and Finance) has been made strictly on the basis of a valid identity card. |
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Padmanabhaiah
meets Advani New Delhi, August 8 Mr Padmanabhaiah has returned to India for further consultations and directions from higher authorities, sources in the Union Home Ministry said. Speaking to reporters after a 15- minute meeting with Mr Advani, Mr Padmanabhaiah said talks with the Naga leaders would continue. He, however, was tightlipped about the contents of the meeting with Mr Advani and the Naga leader in Amsterdam. |
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NCC delegation returns from UK New Delhi, August 8 The NCC is having a youth exchange programme with the UK since 1971. During the present programme, cadets got an exposure to the functioning of the Air, Navy and Army units. Apart form this, they interacted with a cross section of people representing various cultures The cadets who participated in this year’s programme in UK are: Cadets Vikram Nehra and Cadet Sreekant from NCC Maharashtra Directorate, Sergeant Kirtivardhana N and Sergeant Rohini D from Karnataka Directorate, Sergeant Sachin Srivastave from UP Directorate, Cadet Under Officer Somya Surjaya Rath from Orissa Directorate, Lance Corporal Navneet
K.Wasu. |
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