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14-day judicial remand for Rahul Mahajan
Top BJP leaders call on Rahul
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Airports’ modernisation to be expedited: Patel Gopalaswami appointed CEC
HC notice to EC on voting procedure
Avoiding notice no defence in cheque-bounce case: SC
3-month RI for Zaheera’s sister
Academics to weigh quota
CIC directs IT Department to furnish details
Rajnath calls on Nepal PM
Sharad accuses IIT, IIM heads of caste bias
ITBP seeks more battalions
Cong should follow coalition course: NCP
Pak to open consulate at Kalina
Nanavati panel grills CBI SP
Centre likely to release jailed ULFA leaders
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14-day judicial remand for Rahul Mahajan
New Delhi, June 8 The court also directed the police to have Rahul medically examined. A visible weak Rahul nearly collapsed when he was presented in court. The bail plea application filed by his lawyers will be taken up for hearing tomorrow. Before being taken to the Patiala House Courts at the expiry of his two-day police remand, Rahul Mahajan was taken to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital for the mandatory medical check-up. Still wearing a white shirt and denims with stubble on his face, Rahul appeared tired and haggard. When questioned by reporters waiting outside the hospital, Rahul said, “I am innocent”. Investigations into the sensational Rahul Mahajan drug abuse case have discovered names of several high-profile designers, film personalities and businessmen who reportedly purchased narcotics regularly from the peddlers, who are in police custody. Sahil Zaroo, the son of a carpet dealer, was a regular on the party circuit in Mumbai and allegedly had a high-profile clientele for drugs. Rahul, the son of slain BJP leader Pramod Mahahjan, had allegedly met Sahil at one such party, police sources said. A team of the Delhi Police is camping in Mumbai to unravel the drug trail left by Sahil, who had also introduced Abdullah, a Nigerian drug peddler, to several people in Mumbai, the sources said. “We are checking the contacts Sahil and Abdullah had in Mumbai”, a senior police officer said. Another team of the Delhi Police has taken Sahil to Srinagar to check his antecedents there. The interrogation of Abdullah revealed that he had allegedly supplied drugs through Sahil to a high-profile clientele in Mumbai. The name of a Mumbai-based ramp model also cropped up during investigation. Analysis of Rahul’s phone records show that he had called the ramp model minutes before he took seriously ill during the late Thursday night party. Moitra, the late BJP leader’s aide, died allegedly due to drug overdose after the party at Mahajan’s residence here, the sources said. Rahul was taken to his 7, Safdarjung Road, residence, the venue of the party, to reconstruct the sequence of events that took place on Thursday night. Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) today sought a report from the Delhi Police on the alleged illegal detention of nine persons in connection with the Rahul Mahajan drug abuse case. The NHRC has sought the report from the police on the basis of a complaint alleging illegal detention of Anil Singh and eight others working as house staff at 7, Safdarjung Road, the official residence of late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, the commission said in a press note. The complaint dated June 6 was filed by relatives of the detainees, who did not name themselves, and alleges that Anil Singh, a driver of the Mahajans, and eight others were forcibly picked up from 7, Safdarjung Road, in the morning of June 2 and illegally detained in the police station. It further alleged that during their illegal detention, they were mercilessly beaten up by the police. The complaint alleged those picked up were neither produced before any court nor released by the police. Also, none of them were permitted to contact their relatives, it further claimed.
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Top BJP leaders call on Rahul
New Delhi, June 8 Vice-president of the party Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and senior Uttar Pradesh leader Kalraj Mishra visited the Tughlak Road police station where the junior Mahajan was lodged. The visits of these two leaders came after Mr Vajpayee returned to the Capital from his holiday in Manali. While Mr Vajpayee had said on June 4 before leaving for his holidays that “Such mistakes happen in young age. The party would bring him to the right track.” The BJP maintained a distance from Rahul saying that the party had nothing to do with him. Sources said a section of the BJP leadership, including former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani and party spokesperson Sushma Swaraj, was of the view that the party’s public image would suffer if it stood with Rahul on such an issue. Mrs Swaraj earlier articulated the partyline that the party had nothing to do with the troubles faced by the members of the Mahajans after a meeting at the residence of Mr Advani. Mrs Swaraj had said that it was a tragedy to the Mahajans and the party had nothing to do with it. Meanwhile, thousands of messages and telephone calls from angry district and state-level leaders and party workers expressed solidarity with late Mahajan’s family and also objected to the party’s attitude toward young Rahul who needed a helping hand at the time of crisis. Mr Naqvi said that “party with a difference does not mean washing hands off of the family of any worker or leader in their hour of crisis”. In an interview with a Hindi magazine, Mr Naqvi said the BJP’s stand distancing itself from Mahajan family was a “matter of concern” for lakhs of party workers and the late leader’s well-wishers.
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Delhi cops in Mumbai on hunt for addicts
Mumbai, June 8 The Delhi Police team, headed by Mr Suresh Kaushik, SHO of the Connaught Place police station, will visit several pubs and discos in Mumbai said to be frequented by Zaroo. The youth was a former student of St Xavier’s College here and has a base in Mumbai where his family owns carpet showrooms in city hotels. The police team will also question several celebrities whose phone numbers appeared in Zaroo’s phone records. Mumbai police officials told this reporter that all “arrangements” were being extended to Kaushik and his team. The visitors have a short list of several pubs and discos which are known in the Page 3 circuit for their cocaine parties, according to the police here.
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Airports’ modernisation to be expedited: Patel New Delhi, June 8 For the purpose, the ministry had also suggested, at the Infrastructure Committee meeting, that the empowered Group of Ministers (eGoM) on airport modernisation, headed by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, should hold consulations with the two state governments to decide about the path to modernise the two metro airports. Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said here the modernisation of 35 non-metro airports would also be taken up in one go and tenders for the purpose would be issued shortly, he told reporters after an hour-long meeting of the Prime Minister's Committee on Infrastructure here. There was earlier a proposal to take up the modernisation work for these 35 airports in three phases. However, Mr Patel said it would now be taken up together from next year and the entire process will be completed by 2008-09. On the Kolkata and Chennai airports, he said: “We will find the way forward in the shortest possible time in consultation with the two state governments, probably within the next three months. “After Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad, these two airports are major gateways of great significance and they have to be upgraded on a priority basis.” The minister said the construction of two greenfield airports at Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh would be done at a cost of Rs 700-800 crore on a priority basis. Announcing that two new airports would be established in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, he said broadly the total cost of construction of the two airports would cost about Rs 800 crore, primarily due to the hilly terrain. “These two airports will be constructed on a priority basis,” he said. The development and upgradation of airport infrastructure in the remaining northeastern states would be taken up on priority. “The Prime Minister is keen that airports in the region are taken up on a priority basis,” he said. On the 35 other non-metro airports, he said the PPP (public-private partnership) mode would be adopted for development of non-aeronautical side of these airports. The total cost has been estimated at between Rs 7,000 to Rs 8,000 crore. He also said the draft Civil Aviation Policy was ready and could be taken up by the Union Cabinet for approval this month itself. Comments on the policy from all Ministries concerned and agencies have already been received, he said. A Bill to establish an Airport Economic Regulatory Authority was also ready. It could be taken up by the Cabinet this month and was likely to be tabled in Parliament in the coming Monsoon session. |
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Gopalaswami appointed CEC New Delhi, June 8 Mr Gopalaswami, the seniormost Election Commissioner, will take over as the new CEC on June 30. He will succeed the present Chief Election Commissioner, Mr B.B. Tandon, who retires on June 29. He will remain on the post till February, 2009. Mr Navin Chawla, whom the BJP has charged with receiving funds from Congress MPS for a trust run by his wife, is the other member of the Election Commission. The government has to now appoint another Election Commissioner to complete the three-member team. Mr Gopalaswami, a former Union Home Secretary, became the Election Commissioner on February 8, 2004. |
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HC notice to EC on voting procedure
New Delhi, June 8 A Bench, headed by acting Chief Justice Vijender Jain took cognizance of a writ petition by former MP Satyapal Malik on the issue. But it refused to stay the process for byelection, scheduled to be held on June 15. The court directed the EC to submit its reply by August when the petition would be taken up for further hearing. It said the question of stay did not arise because if the petition succeeded, then any order passed by the court would be binding on the parties. Mr Malik in his public interest litigation (PIL) challenged the EC order of May 20 in the former of press note, declaring the byelection schedule, on the ground that it violated Article 80 (4) of the Constitution providing for adopting a system of proportional representation by means of the "single transferable" vote to elect a Rajya Sabha MP. The petitioner contended that under the single transferable vote system, a vote of an MLA was allocated to his most preferred candidate and subsequently if it was not needed for election of that candidate or not used in his favour, it was transferred to the other candidate according to the MLA's second preference. But the EC press note was "contrary" to the laid down procedure, and therefore violated the constitutional provision as well as Rule 76 to 80 of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.This raised doubt over the free and fair conduct of the election, he alleged. The byelection was necessitated due to disqualification of Ms Bachchan on the office of profit issue, resignation of industrialist Anil Ambani (both from UP), death of BJP leader Pramod Mahajan (Maharashtra) and resignation of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad (J&K) after he had taken over reigns of power in the state. While the Samajwadi Party has again fielded Ms Bachchan from UP along with Amir Alam Khan, noted industrialist Rahul Bajaj is contesting as an independent candidate from Maharashtra supported by the BJP, Shiv Sena and the NCP combine. Though the election were schedule for June 15, Ms Bachchan and Mr Khan's election as the SP candidates from UP is a foregone conclusion as there was no other candidate to oppose them, according to reports reaching here. Looking at a combined strength of the BJP, the NCP and the Shiv Sena in Maharasthra Mr Bajaj's election was also considered to be through.
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Avoiding notice no defence in cheque-bounce
New Delhi, June 8 If the defaulter was allowed to take these situations as grounds for escaping prosecution, “it would defeat the very purpose of the Negotiable Instruments Act,” a Bench of Mr Justice
B.P. Singh and Mr Justice R.V. Raveendran ruled in a recent judgement. “It would be then very easy for an unscrupulous and dishonest drawer of a cheque to make himself scarce for sometime after issuing it so that the requisite statutory notice can never be served upon him and consequently he can never be prosecuted,” the court held. The court made it clear that while dealing with such cases, trial courts should take into account that the Act only provided 30 days for issuing notice to the defaulter by a payee to initiate prosecution against him after the cheque had bounced. “If a person can dodge the postman for about a month or can get a fake endorsement made regarding his non-availability, he can avoid his prosecution because the payee is bound to issue notice to him within 30 days from the date of receipt of information from the bank regarding the return of the cheque as
dishonoured,” it observed. The courts could not lose sight of the fact that the drawer of cheque might use dubious means to manage incorrect endorsement made on the envelope that the premises had been found locked or that the addressee was not available at the time when the postman went for delivery of the letter, the apex court pointed out. The ruling came against Karnataka High Court’s seven separate orders quashing criminal proceedings in as many cases under Section 138 of the Act for dishonoured payments on the ground that the drawers of the cheques were either not found at their address or their premises were found locked and they were out of station. The apex court said Section 138 made it clear that if after the bouncing of a cheque the drawer failed to make the payment within 15 days of the receipt of the notice given by the payee, the person made himself liable for prosecution. The court was of the view that the time of 30 days for service of notice and 15 days for initiating prosecution as contemplated in the Act was crucial, and therefore, a special care should to be taken by the trial courts that a person did not take undue advantage of it in
such cases.
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3-month RI for Zaheera’s sister
Mumbai, June 8 Judge Abhay Thipsay of the Sessions Court, who pronounced Sahira guilty yesterday, ordered the sentence today. She was also fined Rs 500. The court acceded to Shahira’s request for bail, which was set at Rs 4,000. She was given time till July 10 to appeal before the high court regarding her sentence. The court, however, decided to award Zaheera’s brother Nasibullah a probationary sentence in view of his youth though he was found guilty as well. Judge Thipsay said he would first peruse reports of the probation officer before pursuing the matter further. Meanwhile, Zaheera’s trial in the same case will begin tomorrow. She is at present serving her sentence for contempt of court awarded by the Supreme Court.
— TNS
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Academics to weigh quota
New Delhi, June 8 Committee chairperson Verappa Moily said the government had not instructed them to discuss whether or not the creamy layer should be included in the 27 per cent reservation that would be extended to OBCs in higher education from 2007. Mr Moily said since the committee had been given “no such instructions” by the government, it would focus on the preparation of the roadmap. He pointed out that the committee was contemplating to submit an interim report before the presentation of the final report on August 31. Reiterating that the committee would ensure that merit and brand names of elite institutions remained intact, Mr Moily assured that the final report would be “practical and feasible”, and would be based on a “national consensus”. A website for inviting views in order to have a national consensus was also on the cards, he said. A national colloquium, including academic experts, would be organised on July 3, which would discuss the “pros and cons of the measures and build a knowledge society”. The theme paper of the national colloquium would be finalised at the next meeting of the committee scheduled for June 15, Mr Moily said after a meeting with chairpersons of sub-groups here today. The Administrative Reforms Commission of the committee today met the heads of the five sub-groups on technological/engineering institutions, health services, agricultural institutes, Central universities and management institutions. These sub-groups, which will go into specific details about universities and institutes, have been asked to submit their recommendations by July 31 regarding the course of action to be adopted for the implementation of reservation in a time-bound manner.
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CIC directs IT Department to furnish details
New Delhi, June 8 The commission while noting that investigations into the alleged Rs 100 crore tax evasions has not been completed even two-and-half years after the complaint was lodged. It asked the department to fix a definite time frame for investigating such cases. The directions were passed on a complaint by one Rakesh Kumar Gupta who alleged that officials were not providing him information pertaining to a "tax evasion petition" (TEP) filed by him in which he alleged that over Rs 100 crore tax revenue loss was caused to the government due to malpractices of tax evaders and tax officials. In 2004, the CVC had also forwarded Mr Gupta's complaint to the department for necessary action. According to Mr Gupta, his requests to the tax officials to furnish him information on the progress of the investigation under the Right To Information Act had not been considered either by the department's Public Information Officer or the appellate authority. The complainant further said he had not been paid the "reward money" for filing the TEP and instead his name had been disclosed to the tax evaders by the tax officials and therefore apprehended threat to his life. While acknowledging the receipt of the TEP from the complainant, the IT officials took the stand before the commission that certain information sought by Mr Gupta was furnished to him.
— PTI
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Rajnath calls on Nepal PM
New Delhi, June 8 BJP president Rajnath Singh, who called on the visiting Nepal Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, said his party was always in favour of restoration of democracy in Nepal. “It will be better that all organisations in Nepal, even the armed ones, should join the political process giving up the arms and the changes being contemplated in Nepal should not result in any dilution of the unique cultural identity of Nepal,” he was quoted as saying in a press note issued by the BJP. He also insisted that some anti-India forces that were intending to use Nepal as their platform should be discouraged. In response, Mr Koirala said Nepal was always secular in its approach and being a Hindu kingdom never prevented Nepal from practicing a secular approach. Hindu values would continue to guide the people of Nepal, Mr Koirala said adding that the bonds of friendship between India and Nepal were very strong and would be carried over even by the next generation. The two leaders felt that contacts between the BJP and the Nepali Congress Party should be more frequent to enable the two parties to promote a better understanding and contribute further to the strengthening of relations between the two countries. Mr Koirala expressed confidence that the BJP would continue to lend support to the Nepalese cause as it did during the time when it was in power.
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Sharad accuses IIT, IIM heads of caste bias
New Delhi, June 8 “Those at the helm of affairs in top professional institutions are mostly upper caste and they want to camouflage their bias by making a hue and cry about merit being a casualty in reservation,” Mr Yadav said here. Mr Yadav said he failed to understand why these people did not lament the loss of merit in the present system of admissions to private medical, engineering and management institutes through capitation fee. He argued that the caste system of the country was itself the oldest form of reservation. “We have been putting up with these reservations introduced centuries back, and now the time has come to end it. “But so long as the caste system is there and equal educational opportunities are not there, reservation will be needed,” he added.
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ITBP seeks more battalions
New Delhi, June 8 “We have sought Centre’s permission to raise eight or 10 new battalions for better rotation of our jawans posted at high altitude”, ITBP Director-General V.N. Joshi said here. He was addressing a press conference after welcoming the ITBP mountaineering team that conquered summit of Mount Everest from the North face. Mr Joshi said the ITBP was also formulating a curriculum for adventure sports like mountaneering and skiing so that jawans and officers from various Central paramilitary forces could get familiarised with adventure sports. As far the long-pending demand of the ITBP for a separate airwing of its own, Mr Joshi said “there is some progress in the matter and there is some delay due to some technical problems, like availability of pilots, etc”. Asked whether the ITBP was planning to send more force for the safety and security of Indian workers in Afghanistan, Mr Joshi said “the assessment of security is done by the Ministry of External Affairs and if it demands for more security then we will provide it”. He, however, admitted that “providing additional forces means stretching ourselves further”. He said the notable achievement of the expedition was that late Ct/GD Srikrishan of the CRPF became the first person from the force and second from Haryana state to scale Mount Everest. While coming down the summit, Srikrishan slipped and fell down. He could not be traced. Sharing his experiences from the expedition, Additional DIG and expedition leader Harbhajan Singh said more than the physical extremities, the expedition was a test of nerves.
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Cong should follow coalition course: NCP
New Delhi, June 8 General secretary of the NCP D.P. Tripathi said here that the differences among the NCP and the Congress over choice for the May-15 byelection for the Rajya Sabha seat from Maharashtra was not the first such instance. “This has happened when Mr P.C. Alexander got elected... Such instances will keep happening till the Congress understands coalition politics. “We request them to follow the coalition course and not collision course," he said. The NCP has joined hands with the BJP-Shiv Sena to back industrialist Rahul Bajaj for the Rajya Sabha seat while the Congress has fielded its own candidate. The defeat of the NCP candidate because of Congress stance in the recently concluded Maharashtra Legislative Council elections was among the factors that led the party to not go with the Congress in the Rajya Sabha byelection. Mr Trpathi, however, said differences over choice of candidate would not strain the relationship between the two parties. He said the two parties had fought Assembly elections together after they differed over candidature of Mr Alexander. He said UPA experiment should be strengthened and it should not be run as “a one party government”. On the hike in prices of petrol and diesel, he said any lowering in the prices would bring relief to people.
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Pak to open consulate at Kalina
Mumbai, June 8 The authority had offered a choice of plots in three areas to the Pakistan Government that chose Kalina, officials said. The other plots offered included one at the Bandra-Kurla complex. However, Pakistan turned down the plot here since Bandra-Kurla was fast developing as a major business district of Mumbai. The Pakistan government would be paying Rs 6.5 crore for the plot of land once all approvals from the external affairs ministries of both countries come through. Pakistan chose the plot at Kalina though it was located in a low-lying area. The plot was under nearly six feet of water during the heavy downpour of July last year.
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Ahmedabad, June 8 The session went on for about 90 minutes, the commission sources said. The CDs contained telephone numbers of calls made from mobile phones between February 27 and March 7, 2002, in Ahmedabad. The list had been sought from the mobile phone companies by the Crime Branch for its probe into the Naroda Patiya and the Gulberg society massacre cases. The two-member panel constituted by the Gujarat Government to probe into the Sabarmati Express carnage and the riots that followed in its aftermath had called Mr Sharma as it wanted to check if further copies of these CDs were made. A set of the discs had also been sent to the Banerjee Committee. —UNI
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Centre likely to release jailed ULFA leaders
New Delhi, June 8 An indication to this effect was given by National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan and Home Secretary V.K. Duggal during a meeting here with Assamese writer Indira Goswami and Rebati Phukan, both members of the People’s Consultative Group that is holding talks with the Centre on behalf of ULFA. “We urged the government to take immediate steps for the release of the jailed ULFA leaders and the government is likely to take a decision before the June 22 meeting,” Ms Goswami said after their meeting. Five senior ULFA leaders, including Pranati Deka, Ramu Mech and Mithinga Daimary, are currently being held in prisons in Assam. Ms Goswami was optimistic about the next round of talks between the PCG and the government on June 22. “We hope it will be fruitful and prepare the ground for direct talks with the ULFA,” she said.
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