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Friday,
May 23, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Lashkar
ultra killed in encounter SETBACK TO MAYAWATI
GOVT Madhumita
case: HC moved for CBI probe |
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‘Publicity’
PIL dismissed, fine imposed
FCI
officials indicted by panel ISRO
tie-up with 11 nations Kailash
yatra postponed Honour
for 50 BSF personnel Plea to
MEA on racial attack ‘Blacklisted’
NRIs: NHRC seeks details Indo-Nepalese
team scales Everest
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Lashkar ultra killed in encounter New Delhi, May 22 The militant, identified as Arif, alias Abdul Aziz, was killed early this morning. He had built his own house in Najafgarh. Arif was his assumed name and his real name was Abdul Aziz, a resident of Bahawalpur district of Punjab in Pakistan, Joint Commissioner of Police (special cell) Neeraj Kumar said. He said the militant had sneaked into the country two and half years ago and was changing places quite often till he purchased a plot in Najafgarh. He had stayed at several places in Uttar Pradesh before moving into the Capital. The militant had also married a local girl with his assumed Indian identity and managed to procure a driving licence and a ration card for himself, the Joint Commissioner of Police said. The police seized an AK 47 rifle, four magazines, 92 rounds and six hand grenades from the scene of the encounter, Mr Neeraj Kumar said. The militant was entrusted with the task of setting up a local base in the Capital for his outfit members to carry out subversive activities, he added. The police stormed the hideout of the terrorist in Deepur Colony on the basis of information provided by Mehboob, who was arrested yesterday. Arif had procured the ration card from Circle 20, Najafgarh, and the licence from the Janakpuri Transport Authority. Mehboob, who had got him married to Tabassum, daughter of an old acquaintance in Najafgarh, to legitimise his stay in India, was arrested from Bhajanpura Crossing, East Delhi. A pistol and eight cartridges were seized from his possession. He was produced before POTA judge S.N. Dhingra, who remanded him in police custody for 10 days. Mehboob was arrested on the basis of intelligence inputs that a terrorist staying in Mustafabad area of the Capital was in possession of illegal arms and ammunition, Mr Neeraj Kumar said. |
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SETBACK
TO MAYAWATI GOVT New Delhi, May 22 Rejecting the special leave petition (SLP), filed by the Uttar Pradesh Government seeking vacation of the stay into the probe granted by the High Court on May 7, a Bench comprising Justice N. Santhosh Hegde and Justice Shivaraj V. Patil said it would not like to interfere in the matter at this stage. Without recording the reasons for the dismissal of the SLP, the Bench observed “we have heard the matter in which a lot of political personalities are involved.” The apex court said that the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court, which is seized of the matter, had already fixed hearing of the case on August 19. As the Uttar Pradesh Government counsel K.T.S. Tulsi contended that the High Court order had virtually “stalled” the investigation into the case and had shown “undue preference to Yadav”, the Bench said “unless you have the courage to specifically say that the (High Court) judges were biased, we are not going to entertain such a petition.” Stating that the practice of rushing to the Supreme Court in every matter should not be encouraged, the Bench said “we will not interfere in the High Court’s power to deal with such cases”. Mr Tulsi, during the hour-long arguments, contended that there was no reason for the High Court to stay the probe in the FIRs registered on April 14 in connection with these cases as the state government had issued clear directions to the District Magistrates that no person should be arrested until warrants were issued by the courts. The anticipatory bail was granted by the High Court overriding the law as there was no provision in the state’s procedural statute for the grant of pre-arrest bail, the Uttar Pradesh Government counsel said. He said the cases were registered for the “violation” of the UP State Discretionary Fund Rules, 1989, by Mr Yadav as he had sanctioned several lakh rupees to the 148 parties without complying with the provisions laid under law between 1993-95 when he was Chief Minister of the state. “The stay will virtually amount to the grant of immunity to politicians against investigation and this will shake the confidence of the people in the High Court,” the government counsel argued. Ms Mayawati had announced at a BSP rally in Lucknow last month that FIRs for the alleged misuse of discreationary fund had been registered against Mr Yadav and some other persons. Her move had come in retaliation against Mr Yadav’s Samajwadi Party releasing two video tapes showing Ms Mayawati allegedly seeking “cut” from party MPs and MLAs in the constituency development fund and denouncing Hindu gods and goddesses. |
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Madhumita
case: HC moved for CBI probe Lucknow, May 22 Sources in the CID today, however, admitted that it would not be possible for it to complete the probe in one month, as ordered by Chief Minister Mayawati. “Various new angles to the crime and theories indicating links between Madhumita and sacked Minister of State Amarmani Tripathi have prompted us to investigate every possible lead,” an official said. Meanwhile, the Allahabad High Court today admitted a PIL seeking CBI probe into the crime.
UNI |
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Lucknow, May 22 The Bench also directed the Archaeological Survey of India to replace the leader of its team excavating the disputed site. The special full Bench further directed that the current leader of the ASI team, Dr B. R. Mani, would continue to work with the new team leader and that the excavation would only be carried out in the areas identified by the Tojo Vikas international.
UNI, PTI |
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‘Publicity’ PIL dismissed, fine imposed New Delhi, May 22 Terming the PIL as a “publicity interest litigation”, a Bench comprising Chief Justice B.C. Patel and Mr Justice
A.K. Sikri said such matters wasted a lot of precious time of the court. Directing counsel for Hindu-Muslim-Sikh Brotherhood, the organisation which filed the
PIL, to deposit the Rs 10,000 costs with the registry, the Bench said the petitioner should have been aware that they were making those people a party who were outside the jurisdiction of this court. Telling petitioner’s counsel Sharad Kumar Puri that he should have been aware that waging a war
against Iraq was a political decision by the USA and UK, the Bench said rushing to the court with such a plea had no basis for judicial interference. |
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FCI officials indicted by panel New Delhi, May 22 Official sources said the probe panel found that misappropriation and diversion by the FCI officials had resulted in a major part of the missing stocks. The Food Ministry has now embarked on an elaborate exercise to quantify the exact volume of the missing stock, tentatively pegged at 52 lakh tonnes. Declining to disclose the persons involved in the scam, sources indicated strong possibility of stern action against officials indicted in the probe after their version was recorded. |
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ISRO tie-up with 11 nations
Kolkata, May 22 “Keeping the commercial component in mind, we have reached agreements with 11 countries, including the USA, Japan, Australia and European Space Agency, to let them use our launch vehicles on a commercial basis,” Mr Kasturirangan told mediapersons here. Pointing out that financial sustainability of India’s space programmes was dependent on such commercial agreements, he said ISRO had let out its expertise to South Korea, Germany and Belgium under similar schemes. ISRO, he said, was also providing consultancy support to a few nations to build and launch their own satellites. The Insat-2E transponder had been leased out to a few private entertainment groups on a $ 100-million contract spread over 10 years, Mr Kasturirangan, also Secretary to the Department of Space, said. Meanwhile, Dr Kasturirangan was today awarded the coveted Ram Mohan Puraskar, 2003, along with a Member of Parliament, Prof V.K. Malhotra, for outstanding contribution in their respective fields.
PTI |
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Kailash
yatra postponed New Delhi, May 22 An External Affairs Ministry release today said the draw for selection of yatris was being postponed till such time when the Chinese authorities informed that the Tibet was once again open for foreign tourists. “The draw will be held once it is confirmed that the yatra through the Lipulekh Pass route can go ahead. Depending on the quantum of delay, the number of yatris and the number of batches that can be sent will have to be adjusted appropriately,” it said. The decision had been taken following the advice of the Government of Peoples Republic of China, where hundreds of people died due to SARS, that with a view to ensuring that the Tibet remain SARS free, it was not allowing any tourist into TAR.
UNI |
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Honour for 50 BSF personnel New Delhi, May 22 He was speaking at the investiture ceremony held at Vigyan Bhavan to honour 50 BSF personnel with police medals, 19 for gallantry and 31 for meritorious service. Among the gallantry medal winners, five are officers, including Commandant D.L Chauhan (98 Battalion) who received the medal for putting up a brave fight against the militants who attacked the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly complex in October, 2001. Constable P.S. Rao got the award posthumously for fighting militants in Jammu and Kashmir in 2001. The gallantry medal was received by his widow,
Sujata. |
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Plea to MEA on racial attack New Delhi, May 22 Reacting to the latest racial attack on a Sikh in Phoenix, the NCM chairman in a letter to the Foreign Secretary, Mr K. Sibbal, said, “I would request the MEA to impress upon the US Government for taking strong measures and educating the American people about the separate identity of the Sikhs.” |
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‘Blacklisted’ NRIs: NHRC seeks details New Delhi, May 22 A note issued by the NHRC said here that the commission, in a notice to Home Secretary N. Gopalaswamy, sought information about various aspects, including the total number of Sikh NRIs who were “blacklisted” by the ministry for the alleged reasons cited in the reference by the NCM Chairman. The commission also asked on which date the list was revised, its current status and the possibility of its expeditious revision. The NCM had pointed out that the “blacklisted” Sikh NRIs were being denied visas, even on humanitarian grounds, the note added. |
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Indo-Nepalese team scales Everest
New Delhi, May 22 All the 14 members of the first- ever Indo-Nepalese joint army expedition, including seven sherpas, scaled the peak through the traditional South Col route in three batches early this morning, according to an army spokesman here. The success of the expedition comes after yesterday’s attempt which was beaten by bad weather. The climbers were just 200 m short of the peak. Two climbers Kushang Sherpa and Nadre Sherpa had climbed the peak yesterday. It was a grand double for the Indo-Nepalese army expedition as the seven climbers also scaled Everest neighbour, the 8511-metre-Lhotse peak, last week. While Sub Anchuk was the first to set foot on the peak at 5.56 this morning, he was followed by Havaldar Jagat Singh and Sherpa Pemba Renzing at 6.05 hrs, an official release said here.
PTI |
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