New Delhi, November 22
The CBI seems to be inching towards bringing Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi, who is also a Congress MP, under the net of its probe into CWG scam as TS Darbari, a former senior OC official at present under CBI custody, has blamed him for the shoddy deal with two London-based sister firms.

The CBI has arrested three former OC officials so far and Darbari has been most vocal in spilling the beans on Kalmadi. Official sources said he had also named M. Jayachandaran, the man in charge of accounts and arrested yesterday, for the scam worth over Rs 3.5 crore in his letter to the agency’s director.

Darbari said Kalmadi was in the loop right from the day they started negotiating with AM Films and AM Cars and Vans Services and contracts were awarded to him on his directions, CBI sources said.

A local court today sent Darbari, Sanjay Mohindroo, who was nabbed along with Darbari on November 15, and Jayachandaran in CBI custody for three more days as they wanted their remand to question them further. The agency said they were not cooperating with the probe and their custodial interrogation period needed to be extended. Darbari’s signed letter to the CBI director would give agency enough evidence to question Kalmadi and even arrest him if it wanted.

Darbari has, however, tried to wriggle out of his involvement and blamed his colleagues and bosses for the scam. The CBI said they had recovered voluminous documents from the houses of the accused and it would question them in details during their custody.

The CBI has not commented on the action it planned to take vis-à-vis Kalmadi, more so after Darbari’s letter, but it is now almost certain that the senior Congress leader, who has fallen out of favour with the party leadership and was sacked as party’s parliamentary secretary recently, would be questioned in coming days. The enthusiasm with which the agency has shared the details of Darbari’s letter is also an indication to this effect.

New Delhi, November 22
Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy today accused the Law Ministry and government law officers of wrongly advising Prime Minister Mammohan Singh to wait for evidence before deciding on sanction to prosecute former Telecom Minister A Raja in the 2G Spectrum case.

“It is regrettable that law officers of the government had failed to apprise the PM of the law of the land that he must decide on the sanction question only on the material provided by me,” Swamy, who sought Raja's prosecution, told the Supreme Court in his nine-page affidavit, submitted to the court's registry.

The Prime Minister’s affidavit to the court on Saturday had disclosed that the Law Ministry had advised him to wait for the CBI to gather the oral and documentary evidence before deciding on the question of prosecuting Raja.

“The PM made independent inquiries on the substance of my material provided in the these letters, which is against the judgments of this court,” Swamy said. Swamy also questioned the decision of the Prime Minister’s Office to refer his plea to prosecute Raja to the Telecom Ministry, terming it as “patently illegal” and against various apex court's rulings on the issue.

“The Prime Minister had forwarded my petition to the accused minister Raja for conveying his (the latter’s) defence to me. Raja then wrote to him a letter dated June 18, 2009,” said Swamy “This too is against the judgemnts of this court wherein it is held that in a petition for sanction there is no lis (dispute). Hence, sending my letter of November 29, 2008 to Raja was patently illegal,” he said.

Swamy also lashed out at the functioning of top bureaucrats working in the PMO, accusing them of trying to protect Raja and causing inordinate delay in deciding over his plea to prosecute him for allocation of the Spectrum to alleged ineligible operators at throw-away prices. “The affidavit under consideration (filed by the PMO) details the sorry state of bureaucratic affairs in the nation's highest seat of executive power, it appears to be geared to block any legal action against the corrupt acts of ministers,” said Swamy in his affidavit. — PTI

New Delhi, November 22
The Supreme Court today cautioned the media, both print and electronic, against distorting the court proceedings in the Spectrum scam case and in the process tarnishing the image of individuals.

“Every individual has his own reputation. Why should it be sullied unnecessarily,” a Bench comprising Justices GS Singhvi and AK Ganguly remarked during the hearing.

Pointing out that the public opinion was influenced by media reports, the Bench said a section of the media had been misreporting details relating to the highest political office of the Prime Minister, the authority responsible for granting permission to prosecute then Telecom Minister A Raja for his alleged role in the scam.

The court also advised all the advocates involved in the case not to take part in media debates or issue statements to the media. The Bench warned that it would not continue to be a mute spectator to all this.

Senior counsel KK Venugopal, appearing for the CBI, said the Bench should avoid going into the merits of the case, restricting itself to the PILs’ plea that the SC should monitor the CBI investigations into the scam.

The CBI would complete the investigation in three months and would come out with the probe report by March 31 next year, Venugopal said.

Senior counsel TR Andhyarujina, arguing for Raja, said the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had not indicted his client anywhere in its report, but the media had already tried and convicted him.

This was, however, countered by Prashant Bhushan, contending that the report was mainly against the then minister.

Arguing for more than an hour, Prashant Bhushan read out details from the CAG to show how Raja favoured a few companies by ignoring the advice of the Law and Finance ministries and the Prime Minister to allot spectrum in 2008 through auction instead of on first-cum-first-served basis at 2001 prices.

Bangalore, November 22
Amidst opposition demands for dissolution of the Assembly in Karnataka and the BJP high command contemplating his removal, defiant Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa today fell back on saffron-clad swamijis for support and also named a retired high court judge for heading a judicial probe into land scams in the state since 1995.

A Congress delegation headed by KPCC chief G Parameswara and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Siddharamaiah met Governor H R Bhardwaj here today and demanded action against Yeddyurappa in view of the “breakdown of constitutional machinery in Karnataka”.

Bhardwaj had earlier recommended imposition of President’s Rule in Karnataka following the fracas over trust vote in the Assembly last month in the wake of withdrawal of support to Yeddyurappa by a few BJP and Independent MLAs. The party bosses at Delhi, however, had decided to ignore his recommendation.

Janata Dal (Secular) has also demanded fresh elections in Karnataka. JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said since many of Yeddyurappa’s Cabinet colleagues were also involved in various scams, removal of Yeddyurappa from Chief Minister’s post would not be enough to restore the confidence of people in the government.

Vishvesha Tirtha, pontiff of the Pejavara Mutt near Mangalore, meanwhile gave a statement in support of Yeddyurappa. Pontiffs of the Lingayat community, to which Yeddyurappa belongs, also addressed a press conference today in the press club here to express support for the Chief Minister. The argument put forward by the pontiffs was that the CM should not be removed till he was proved guilty.

Yeddyurappa also sent V S Acharya, a veteran leader of the erstwhile Bharatiya Jana Sangh and now higher education minister of Karnataka, to Delhi to plead his case before the BJP’s top leaders. In Mandya town near Mysore, Yeddyurappa’s supporters held a demonstration and raised slogans against opposition JD(S) leader Kumaraswamy and his father and former Prime Minister Deve Gowda.

The Chief Minister, allegedly ducking the party high command as he feared he would be asked to resign by the party, sprung a surprise when he today finally flew to Delhi in the company Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Ahmedabad, November 22
The Gujarat government today informed the high court that they have issued a notification for formation of new Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the encounter case of Ishrat Jahan and three others.

A Division Bench of Justice A M Kapadia and Justice B N Mehta, after submission of government pleader, disposed of contempt of court petition filed by one Gopinath Pillai.

Gopinath Pillai, father of Javed Ghulam Sheikh, alias Pranesh Pillai, who had died in the encounter, had filed a contempt petition against the state government for not complying with the high court's earlier order of September 23 to issue notification of formation of SIT within two weeks.

During the hearing, the state government through its pleader said that it had issued notification for the formation of new SIT, which had been notified in the gazette on November 19.

During the last hearing of the contempt petition, the state government had assured the court that it will issue the notification soon. Government pleader had also said the delay had been caused as the state government had approached the Supreme Court against the high court order.

However, the apex court had rejected the Gujarat government petition challenging the high court's order of forming a new SIT on November 12.

Members of the new SIT include Karnail Singh, a 1984 batch Delhi cadre IPS officer whose name was suggested by MHA; Mohan Jha, a 1985 batch Gujarat cadre officer named by the state government; and Satish Verma of 1986 batch suggested by the petitioner.

Ishrat Jahan (19) was killed in an encounter along with Javed Ghulam Sheikh, alias Pranesh Kumar Pillai, Amjad Ali, alias Rajkumar Akbar Ali Rana, and Jisan Johar Abdul Gani by the crime branch near Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004. — PTI

New Delhi, November 22
The CBSE-conducted AIEEE examination would be for the first time held online on a limited scale next year for admission to various NITs, IIITs, deemed universities and a few state institutions.

While the regular pen-and-paper test will be held on April 24, 2011, the online version of the examination will be held from May 1 to May 15 for a maximum of one lakh candidates on "first come first served" basis, said CBSE sources. More than 11 lakh candidates are expected to appear for AIEEE examination in its 10th edition seeking admission to courses like BE, BTech and BArch and BPlanning courses. Sale of information bulletin will start from December 15.

According to sources, the online format would be conducted on a pilot scale in 20 selected cities, with a maximum of 5000 candidates appearing for the test in each city. Students will be informed about the dates on which they could sit for the online test, they added.

The success of the online format could see AIEEE going completely online in the coming years making it the largest online examination in the world. Last year, the Common Admission Test (CAT) had gone online. — PTI

New Delhi/Hyderabad, Nov 20
Law minister M Veerappa Moily has termed as “serious” the telecast of programme on Congress MP YS Jaganmohan Reddy-owned Sakshi TV channel, projecting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in bad light, “It is a very serious issue... I have received reports from Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah and the PCC,” Moily today said.

While Moily refused to comment whether disciplinary action was in the offing against CM-aspirant Jaganmohan, he also rejected the observation that Rosaiah had been “summoned” to Delhi by the party high command.

There is buzz in political circles over possible change of guard in Andhra Pradesh and that Rosaiah has been “summoned” by the Congress high command to discuss the political fallout of open rebellion by Jaganmohan. There are also speculations that he may offer to step down in the wake of persistent attack by the Jagan camp.

Facing a hostile crowd in Puttaparthi today, Rosaiah lost his cool and threatened to resign. Shouting at the angry fans of Jagan, who tried to obstruct him, he said "What do you want me to do? If you want me to submit resignation letter, I will do it.”

The party sources in Hyderabad said, “if the party president is of the view that Rosaiah may not be in a position to tackle the counter-attack by Jagan after the latter's expulsion and also the situation likely to emerge in the Telangana region, after the submission of report by the Srikrishna Committee after December 31, she might go in for a change of guard. Otherwise, she will retain Rosaiah”

Another point of view, however, is that the party president is unlikely to take any hasty decision on the latest drama unfolding in Andhra Pradesh. The party sources here say that Sonia is examining the report and talking to senior party functionaries here, while also cross-checking with Jaganmohan supporters. A decision will be taken after due consideration of both sides, they add.

The party leaders admit that the matter is very serious but given the political situation in Andhra Pradesh, the maximum fallout of the situation could be that Jaganmohan is asked for an explanation.

The state Congress president D Srinivas has also been summoned on the same mission. Both the Chief Minister and the APCC chief submitted their assessment reports to the AICC on the "slanderous" news story carried by the media group owned by Jagan.