Patna, March 22
Three men were today convicted of murdering NHAI engineer Satyendra Dubey, the young whistleblower who had exposed corruption in the Golden Quadrilateral highway project in Bihar. Six years after the 31-year-old IIT-Kanpur alumnus was shot dead in an incident that shocked the country, CBI special court judge Raghvendra Singh held the three accused guilty of murdering Dubey, the project engineer of the National Highway Authority of India(NHAI). The court will pronounce the quantum of sentence on March 27. The convicted men were Mantu Kumar, Udai Kumar and Pinku Ravidas.

Mantu was convicted under sections for murder (Section 302 IPC), voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery(Section 394 IPC) and the Arms Act for possessing an unlicensed weapon. The other two accused were convicted of murder committed in furtherance of common intention (Section 302/34 IPC) and also for voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery.

Dubey, who had exposed several cases of large-scale flouting of rules and corrupt practices in the construction project, was gunned down in the early hours of November 27, 2003 in front of the Circuit House in Gaya when he was going to his residence after alighting from the train from Varanasi. Dhananjay Dubey, his brother, said he was "really disappointed" since the three convicted people are "purely innocent". "The real culprits are still at large. It is simply a cover-up by the CBI.The statement of CBI is totally false," he added.

Faced with the possibility of high-level corruption within the NHAI, Dubey had even written directly to the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee detailing the financial and contractual irregularities in the construction project.

The murder had sparked protests across the country amidst calls for a legislation to protect whistleblowers who expose corruption. The CBI, which had taken over the investigation of the case from Bihar police on December 14, 2003, had filed a chargesheet in the case on September 3, 2004. During the investigation, CBI arrested four persons, namely Mantu, Udai, Pinku and Sharvan Kumar, all residents of Katari village in Gaya, Bihar, the investigating agency said.

“They had all assembled near Circuit House, Gaya on the fateful intervening night of November 26/27, 2003. Around 3.30 am on November 27 when Dubey was passing in front of Circuit House, Gaya in a cycle-rickshaw, the accused robbed him of his belongings. During the ensuing scuffle, Mantu shot him dead with a .315 country-made weapon," it said in a statement in New Delhi.

The CBI said a briefcase containing documents belonging to Dubey, including his identity card, were recovered from an abandoned well. — PTI

Chandigarh, March 22
Exploring a new arena in Indo-US military cooperation, top army commanders from both sides are considering holding a joint training exercise in nuclear, chemical and biological (NBC) warfare, it is learnt.

The moves comes in the backdrop of the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal that envisions increased bilateral cooperation in the nuclear field and having economic, scientific and strategic spin-offs for both countries. Also looming large over the global security environment is the specter of NBC terrorism and Indian forces have in the recent past been engaged in orienting, training and equipping for operations in an NBC contaminated environment..

Sources revealed that the Americans put the proposal forth and the Indian Army is to revert back with modalities and the unit that is to participate in the drill. It is also yet to be decided whether to hold the exercise, thought to part of the ongoing Yudh Abhyas series, in India or the US.

The NBC exercise, sources said, features on the agenda of the 14th meeting of the Army Executive Steering Group, comprising top Indian and US Army officers that began at Headquarters Western Command at Chandimandir near here today. The four-day event would be reviewing the progress made in Indo-US military cooperation during 2009 and chalk out the programme for this year.

Lt Gen AS Sekhon, Director-General Military Operations at Army Headquarters, is heading the Indian delegation while the 14-member American team is led by Lt Gen Benjamin R. Mixon, Commanding General, US Army Pacific Command (USARPAC). Headquartered at Hawaii, the USARPAC commands most Army forces in the Asia-Pacific region with the exception of Korea.

The Indian and American military establishments opened their door to each other only in late 1990s, but the past few years have witnessed significant strides in areas like joint field exercises, nomination to professional courses, seminars, exchange visits and observer programmes.

The most notable aspect of joint training is Exercise Yudh Abhyas, an annual field exercise involving troops from both countries that now also features prominently on USARPAC’s website. The exercise has, over the years, been held in various locations in India covering the jungles of the north-east, mountainous terrain of Uttar Pradesh and semi-urban areas in Central India as well as in Hawaii in 2008.

Many of the Indo-US joint training programmes like Exercise Yudh Abhyas are focused at counter-terrorist and counter insurgency. Armed forces from both countries are heavily committed in such sub-convectional warfare operations and international peacekeeping. According to some officers, the USARPAC is the primary feeder of trained troops to the US Central Command that is engaged in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and hence training with the Pacific Command assumes importance.

Chandigarh, March 22
The execution of Bhagat Singh, Shivram Rajguru and Sukhdev on March 23, 1931, changed the course of the freedom struggle. Sentenced to death for the murder of British police official JP Saunders in 1929 following the Lahore Conspiracy Case trial, the three were lodged in the Central Jail, Amritsar. The atmosphere in Lahore was charged.

“Khun ka badla khun” cried posters of the Punjab Inquilabi Party stuck on walls all over Lahore, justifying the killing of British police official Saunders. Members of the Bhagat Singh Appeal Committee were knocking at every door gathering memorials from residents addressed to the Viceroy. The Elphinstone Theatre on Mcleod Road was showing “Murder: Who killed Edna Druce” but no one seemed interested. The Naujawan Bharat Sabha volunteers were out on the streets protesting against the death sentence.

On March 1, The Tribune reported the death of Chandra Shekhar Azad in a clash with the police at Allahabad. The same day we had an exclusive blow-by-blow account of Bhagat Singh’s case as argued before the Privy Council. The Gandhi-Irwin talks that occupied the front page of The Tribune for several days that month too belied all hopes of amnesty for the three.

On March 25, our headline, read: Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev executed. “Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were executed at 7.15 pm on Monday. Earlier in the day two petitions filed in connection with their case had been rejected by the High Court. Counsel telegraphed to the Viceroy to stay execution as they were moving the Privy Council against the orders of the High Court.”

The report gave a detailed account of the execution and how the relatives did not even get to see the bodies of the martyrs. “It is reported that the bodies were secretly removed in motor lorries from the jail and transported to some place on the banks of the Sutlej near Ferozepur where they were disposed of at the dead of the night”

The Tribune that day also quoted from Bhagat Singh and his comrades last letter to the Punjab governor: “The only thing we want to point out,” they said, is that according to the verdict of your court we are said to have been waging war and are consequently war prisoners. Therefore we claim to be treated as such, i.e. we claim to be shot dead instead of hanged. It rests with you now to prove that you seriously meant what your court has said and prove it through action.”

Mumbai, March 22
The Maharashtra government has changed the domicile rules for students seeking admission to undergraduate courses in the state from this year. Consequently, it is not enough that a student was born in Maharashtra or did his schooling from the state. The father of the student would have to be born in the state or have been resident in Maharashtra for 20 years as well.

The new definition of domicile for undergraduate courses by the state government’s department of technical education has raised the hackles of scores of parents whose wards were planning to appear for the Central Entrance Examination in May this year. The CET

covers admissions to technical courses like engineering, pharmacy, architecture, hotel management and catering technology.

“The rules were changed as large number of students born outside Maharashtra were taking advantage of them,” director of technical education SK Mahajan said. He added that a number of students moved to Maharashtra before Class X examinations in order to be eligible for the CET.

Meanwhile, parents of such students have come together and are planning to file a public interest litigation. According to lawyer Asim Sarode who would be filing the petition, the changed domicile rules infringed on the constitutional rights of citizens.

New Delhi, March 22
It’s rare to have RSS ideologues preach Hindutva from swanky settings with projectors installed all around. At the best, you can imagine Sangh leaders in sandy Ram Lila grounds repeating the same old Hindu Rashtra story.

But today it was different, with veteran RSS and BJP leaders taking a back seat and letting new ideas take over. So as you entered the Mavlankar Hall in the Constitution Club, where thousands had gathered to hear Sangh veteran MG Vaidya’s take on “Hindutva and Politics”, you felt a new energy running through BJP veins.

At the entrance, beaming volunteers attired in saffron T-shirts greeted you and registered your details. As you stepped inside, a projector flashed slides of the social activities undertaken by the United Volunteer Association of Delhi, a new group of working professionals from NCR.

Among them were investment bankers, strategic consultants to foreign firms eyeing Indian collaborations, advertising and management experts -- all keen to power the BJP anew.

In the presence of Vaidya and BJP president Nitin Gadkari, as many as 100 such volunteers took the “oath of allegiance” (though the sanctity of oath-taking was amiss) to saffron ranks, vowing to volunteer their time as goodwill ambassadors for the party.

It was no routine event, as it signalled the change Gadkari has been talking of. Today, the latter wooed Muslims saying Hindutva was not anti-Muslim.

“If we have to tell the youth of the real meaning of Hindutva — from the days of Vivekananda to the Supreme Court which has said no meaning could be ascribed to the term, we must change the way we communicate Hindutva,” Gadkari said, as Vaidya listened. In the gathering sat Uma Bharti, whose presence was ensured by the RSS, much to the BJP’s chagrin.

Lucknow, March 22
In a major relief to the Mayawati government, the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court today dismissed a PIL seeking CBI probe into expenses reportedly of Rs 200 crore, including the controversial currency note garland during the March 15 BSP maha rally.

After hearing both the parties, the PIL filed by three local lawyers led by BP Singh ‘Bisen’ on 18th March was dismissed by a Division Bench, comprising of acting Chief Justice Amitava Lala and Justice Anil Kumar.

The petitioners had alleged in the PIL that approximately Rs 175 crore of public money had been spent on the ‘maha rally’ and another Rs 25 crore was presented to Mayawati in cash in form of the garland.

Guwahati, March 22
A 15-year-old boy was killed when the owner of a tea garden allegedly opened fire on a crowd on the outskirts of the city this morning, provoking the mob to set the tea factory and other properties on fire.

IGP Pallab Bhattacharyya informed that the 15-year-old boy, identified as Pradip Murari, was killed when owner of the Rani Tea estate Mridul Kumar Bhattacharjee opened fire from his licensed gun when a crowd confronted him near his office at around 7 am today accusing him of misbehaving with a woman from an adjoining village.

As soon as the woman informed about the incident to her fellow villagers, a mob of villagers laid siege to the tea garden owner’s office. The panicky tea estate owner then opened fire at the crowd from his 12 bore licensed gun, killing the 15-year-old boy and injuring two others.

As the news of the boy’s death spread in the area, hundreds of people from the adjoining areas rushed to the spot and set the tea factory, the garden office, a few vehicles and other property on fire.

The villagers demanded that the tea estate owner be handcuffed and brought out of his bungalow and handed over to them. After failing to persuade the mob to leave the place, the police resorted to blasting tear gas shells to disperse the crowd at around 4 pm. The police then took the estate owner to the nearby police station and registered a case against him.