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Draft law suggests 5-yr jail for fixing
Meiyappan, Vindoo used code language
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Rauf ready to face ICC inquiry
Aruna Roy opts out of NAC
Panchayat poll: Mamata seeks Central forces
Antony expects Tejas okayed by 2014 Ishrat case: CBI summons senior IB officer for quizzing
India may get access to Headley, Rana
Capital’s pride, Signature Bridge, to be ready in 2014
Stop affiliation to new colleges, UGC to varsities
Suryanelli sex scandal: Convict retracts charge against Kurien 4-yr-old falls into borewell in Palwal
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Sreesanth's friend, 3 others arrested
New Delhi, May 29 With this, 26 persons, including Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankit Chavan, have been arrested in the scandal since May 16 when it came to light. Sreesanth's friend Abhishek Shukla was arrested this morning for allegedly hiding incriminating material and keeping the money that was paid to Sreesanth by the bookies for the spot-fixing scam. Shukla is a freelance event-manager in Bombay. The Delhi Police arrested him at 11 am and took him to Mumbai to recover Rs 5 lakh. "Shukla had taken Sreesanth's belongings (from his room in Mumbai's hotel Sofitel) and money (paid by the bookies). He has played a role in hiding the items," said a senior Delhi Police officer. Shukla has not been arrested for spot-fixing. He has been booked under Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence or giving false information to screen offender) of the IPC. Some arrested bookies had paid Rs 10 lakh to Sreesanth's friend and fixer Jiju Janardhan to pay him for allegedly conceding runs in a May 9 match between Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab. Sreesanth, a bowler, was playing for Rajasthan Royals. Police have taken account of Rs 5 lakhs that were allegedly spent by Sreesanth in buying clothes and mobile phones. Out of the remaining money, Jiju had allegedly given Rs 2 lakh to Shukla from Sreesanth's room in the Mumbai hotel. Sreesanth's PR manager Sonu Lakhwani was in possession of Rs 3 lakhs, which, according to police, is with Shukla. Shukla had yesterday joined Delhi Police's investigations, after he arrived in Delhi from Mumbai. His name came up during the interrogation of the accused. Delhi Police also announced the arrests of Nitin Jain, Vicky and Vinod Sharma (alias Monu) today. The trio had allegedly contacted arrested Rajasthan Royals player Ajit Chandila. A deal was struck for paying Chandila Rs 30 lakh upon giving them information about outcome of the May 12 match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore. Chandila had said KKR would win and it actually did. Investigators claimed he had made an "intelligent guess". (with PTI inputs)
MURKY DEALS
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Draft law suggests 5-yr jail for fixing
New Delhi, May 29 Those booked for fixing matches or trying to change the course of games should be denied bail by making the offence non-bailable, according to the proposals forwarded to the Union Sports Ministry for wider consultations with players, experts and stakeholders. The government has taken the initiative to frame a law against malpractices in sports in the wake of the recent scam in the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket matches involving betting and fixing by players, bookies and others allegedly having terror links. The move also comes in the light of experience in the past when players and bookies had gone scot-free after being charged with committing such offences. In the absence of a specific law to deal with match-fixing, the accused had been booked under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including Section 420 for cheating, 120-B for criminal conspiracy and 409 for criminal breach of trust. The criminal proceedings had to be dropped on the advice of law officers as charges under these sections were difficult to prove in the court of law. While the proposed standalone Central law did not have a provision for confiscating or attaching the assets of the accused persons, official sources said the provision would be incorporated at the time of finalisation, depending on the views of legal experts, laws in other countries and the rules being followed by various international sports federations.
Other proposals
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Meiyappan, Vindoo used code language
Mumbai, May 29 In its remand application, the Crime Branch of the Mumbai police told the court that investigators had evidence of the coded language used by Meiyappan and actor Vindoo Dara Singh Randhawa to place bets on cricket matches. The police said they needed further time to decipher the coded language used by the duo. The police also added that they were in the process of taking into custody Vikram Agarwal, owner of Radisson Blu hotel in Chennai, who is another suspect in the spot-fixing case. In its remand application, police said they wanted to confront Vindoo, Meiyappan and Agarwal in custody. The police added that they had earlier confronted Meiyappan and Vindoo with the records of telephone calls made to each other and obtained important leads in the probe. According to the police, Meiyappan, son-in-law of BCCI president N Srinivasan, used a mobile phone obtained in his employee's name to place bets with several bookies. Following the submissions made by the police Additional Metropolitan Magistrate AM Padwad extended Meiyappan's custody till May 31. The court also rejected pleas by Meiyappan's counsel Harshad Ponda that investigations could continue with the former cricket official out on bail.
Meiyappan's custody extended
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Rauf ready to face ICC inquiry
Lahore, May 29 "Money, gifts, spot-fixing and match-fixing have never been my goal and target. They have never been a topic in my life," Rauf said here today. "If there is an inquiry by the ICC's ACSU, then I will be happy to face the inquiry and answer all their queries," he added. — PTI
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Aruna Roy opts out of NAC
New Delhi, May 29 Roy, who is part of the 12-member council headed by Sonia Gandhi today released her communication to the NAC Chairperson requesting not to consider giving her another term after the current one expires on May 31. The request has been acceded to by Sonia Gandhi. "I do believe that it is extremely unfortunate the Prime Minister rejected the NAC recommendations on payment of minimum wages to MGNREGA workers and instead chose to appeal against the Karnataka High Court judgment ordering payment of minimum wages to these workers. Even more distressing is the government's refusal to pay minimum wages even after the Supreme Court refused to stay the Karnataka High Court judgment. It is difficult to understand how a country like India can deny the payment of minimum wages and still make claims of inclusive growth," Roy said in her letter to Sonia. Though the NAC Chairperson acknowledged Roy's contribution as an active member of the council taking up issues forcefully and being instrumental in guiding some of its most important decisions and recommendations, she neither rejected Roy's charge against the UPA government nor offered any comment on it. The NAC member, on her part, maintained that there is huge group of MGNREGA beneficiaries who were critical but supportive of the law. They were losing public and political space to a "small vocal and powerful minority determined to undermine the basic objectives of the social welfare measure, she said.
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Panchayat poll: Mamata seeks Central forces
Kolkata, May 29 According to official sources, the state government today sent an urgent request to the Union Home Ministry seeking some 400 companies of the CRPF and other para-military personnel forces to the state for their deployment during the first of the panchayat polls. The government will send a similar request to the Centre for the remaining two phases of the elections on June 4 and 6, if needed. The decision to take the services of the Central forces was taken after the refusal by Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Orissa and other states to help West Bengal with their respective state forces. Initially the government was reluctant and decided to deploy the state civil defence personnel, home guards, volunteers, etc, in place of the Central forces. The state Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee claimed the deployment of these forces would ensure free and fair polling. But SEC Ms Mira Pande, who fought a protracted battle with the state demanding the deployment of the Central forces during the polls, was not satisfied that the state was planning to engage civil defence forces and home guards in place of the armed guards. She met Governor M K Narayanan at Raj Bhawan two days and sought his intervention.
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Antony expects Tejas okayed by 2014
New Delhi, May 29 Speaking at the Annual Awards Functions of the DRDO here, he said all stakeholders, including the DRDO, the IAF and HAL, must put their energies together in a focused manner to achieve this objective. Antony warned: “The countries that depend on imported arsenal cannot become great nations. India is the largest importer of defence equipment. The share of indigenous content in defence procurement is low. “Our experience has been that foreign vendors are reluctant to part with critical technologies. There are delays in the supply of essential spares. There are exorbitant price hikes. The Services too realise that we cannot be eternally dependent on foreign equipment and platforms”, he said. Referring to the expansion of domestic defence industry, Antony said this has to be achieved through public and private sector initiatives. He said there is ample scope for joint ventures also. “All the stakeholders in the defence sector -- DRDO, armed forces and the industry - must work in tandem and develop trust and confidence in each other’s capabilities.” Cautioning against time and cost overruns in projects, Antony said the Indian companies must compete with global players in developing state of the art technologies of acceptable commercial parameters and must meet customer satisfaction. The minister complimented the DRDO for their magnificent achievements in 2012. Earlier, he gave away awards to DRDO scientists. Several of those have been associated with Agni-V, the underwater missile firing test and components of the under-constructions nuclear powered submarine INS
Arihant.
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Ishrat case: CBI summons senior IB officer for quizzing
Ahmedabad, May 29 Rajendra Kumar was posted in Gujarat between 2001 and 2005 as the head of the IB in the state and is alleged to have generated “fake” intelligence inputs cautioning the state police of possible “terror attacks” on Chief Minister Narendra Modi, then Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani and some leaders of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad by the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit. On the trail of the Ishrat Jahan case, Shabbir Jamal, the brother of Sadiq Jamal, who too was killed allegedly in another “fake encounter”, filed a petition in the metropolitan court today demanding a fresh inquiry into the encounter killing of his brother in January, 2003, also on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. The petition wanted further investigation into the allegation of Sadiq Jamal Mehtar as a “terrorist” and “conspiracy” by Rajendra Kumar to paint him as a terrorist to facilitate his arrest and subsequent “encounter-killing”. Many senior and retired IPS officers in the state, including former Additional Director General Of Police RB Shreekumar, and the police-turned politician Jaspal Singh, a former police commissioner of Vadodara, who later became a minister in the Keshubhai Patel cabinet, have expressed doubts on the authenticity of intelligence inputs “generated” by Rajendra Kumar. As pointed out by the retired IPS officers, all of the then “IB inputs” were almost of identical in nature expressing threat to the lives of Modi and others from across the border. “Interestingly, all the IB inputs were against Muslims though Hindu fanatic groups too were creating havoc then,” Shreekumar pointed out. Long ago, Jaspal Singh had written to the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation team probing some of the gruesome 2002 communal riots cases in the state to examine Rajendra Kumar, as he was the first to suggest to the state police then that the Godhra train burning was possibly a “terror act” executed by Pakistani spy agency
ISI.
Generated ‘fake’ Intel inputs
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India may get access to Headley, Rana
New Delhi, May 29 The positive indication was given by Washington to New Delhi during a recent bilateral meeting held in America. Government sources said following New Delhi's consistent persuasion, the US has indicated to interlocutors that India could be given access to Headley, who carried out a recce of the 26/11 targets for the Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba, for the second time to get more information about the conspiracy hatched to carry out the 2008 attack. The US, which has not given any opportunity to question Rana, may also allow Indian investigators to question the Pakistani-Canadian, who was sentenced by an American court for his involvement in a terror plot in Denmark. Indian investigators believe that if they could quiz Rana, many hidden information could come into light as Rana was a close associate of his Pakistani-American friend Headley. — PTI
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Capital’s pride, Signature Bridge, to be ready in 2014
New Delhi, May 29 The state government has roped in consultants from Germany, Switzerland, China, Italy and France. The major attraction of the state-of-art cable-supported suspension bridge is the 151-meter-long steel tower or pylon which resembles the shape of joined hands in a ‘namaskar’ position. It is because of this feature, it has been named as ‘Signature Bridge’ by the Delhi Government which envisions it as becoming the identity of the Capital after completion. “The steel tower will stand in bow position and it would appear as a welcoming gesture to the commuters while riding across it,” said Priyank Mittal, Superintendent Engineer of the project. The bridge is being built on the Yamuna near Wazirabad. Proof consultants from Germany would review its design, drawings, costing and other specifications. Erection stage analysts from Italy have been appointed to help raise the 7,000-tonne steel tower. Bridge appurtenance and bearings are being brought in from Switzerland and the fabrication work of the steel tower has been outsourced to China, said Mittal. The 675-metre-long bridge has been designed and conceptualised by a German company, Schlaich Bergermann Und Partner. The firm is also the structural consultant of the project. The entire project is estimated to cost Rs 1,131 crore. The project has been entrusted to Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation Limited (DTTDC) and MoU in this regard was signed between the two. It gives connectivity to North-East Trans Yamuna areas of Delhi. This bridge is intended to be the first part of the proposed tourism destination at
Wazirabad.
Wonder structure
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Stop affiliation to new colleges, UGC to varsities
New Delhi, May 29 While the HRD Ministry has already initiated steps to bring an ordinance restoring the powers of All India Council for Technical Education, the UGC's directive today came as it is in the process of working suitable guidelines and regulations in view of the apex court ruling. The guidelines would ensure standard of teaching and learning in affiliated colleges offering professional and technical courses. Last month, the apex court had ruled that colleges affiliated to a university do not come under the purview of the definition of 'technical institution' as defined in the AICTE Act and in such a case, AICTE cannot directly control or supervise affiliated colleges. It had ruled that AICTE was only an advisory body and colleges affiliated to various universities are not required to take its approval for running MBA programmes. In its missive, the University Grants Commission said "any dilution of standards of technical education at this juncture would also belie the trust reposed by the Supreme Court on the sanctity of the autonomy of universities. — PTI
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Suryanelli sex scandal: Convict retracts charge against Kurien
Thodupuzha (Kerala), May 29 In an affidavit filed through his lawyer in the Sessions Court at Thodupuzha in Idukki district, Dharmarajan said he made the allegation as the reporter of a Malayalam TV channel barraged him with questions while he was hiding in a place near Mysore after jumping bail. Dharmarajan, who surrendered in February last after absconding for several years, said he was not familiar with Kurien and he had seen his pictures only in media. Withdrawing his claim that he had taken Kurien in his car to a guest house in Kumali where the victim was lodged, Dharmarajan said in fact he did not even have a car of his own. The sex scandal took place at Suryanelli in Idukki district January 1996. A 16-year-old was threatened, abducted and abused by a bus conductor and was later confined and sexually assaulted for 45 days by 42 men. The affidavit was submitted in a private petition filed by the victim seeking legal action against Kurien in the light of Dharmarajan's "revelation." Dharmarajan dropped a bombshell in February claiming in a television interview that Kurien was present at the guest house where the victim was exploited. — PTI
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4-yr-old falls into borewell in Palwal Palwal, May 29 Initially, the villagers tried to rescue the girl, Tannu, by attempting to send a boy to the bed of the borewell, but in vain. Later, they informed the district administration about the incident. Palwal Deputy Commissioner AK Diwedi, a team of doctors and senior officials of the district have reached the spot. They said the girl was alive as her cries could be heard intermittently. The incident took place around 4.30 pm, the DC said. The rescue team has dug a parallel opening along the borewell and laid a pipe to pump in oxygen to keep the girl alive. Efforts to bring out the girl have not succeeded so far. Tannu and her mother had come to Balai in connection with a wedding in the family four days ago. The four-foot-wide borewell was got dug by Tannu's grandfather a few days ago for installing a submersible pump. The district administration has sought help from Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and defence authorities in rescuing the girl. The teams have not arrived yet. The DC, however, said the girl would be rescued soon.
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New Delhi, May 29
New Delhi, May 29
New Delhi, May 29
Consultants from five countries will give their expert advice to the Delhi Government to build the country’s most unique bridge which will rest on a steel tower double the height of Qutub Minar.