#2019Elections: AAP not to contest LS polls in Maharashtra

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January 21, 2019

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday said that “as of now” it has decided not to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra.

The party will fight Lok Sabha polls in four states – Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Goa. But, it has decided not to contest in Maharashtra, AAP’s national spokesperson Preeti Sharma Menon told agencies on Monday.

“As of now, we are not contesting any seat in Maharashtra, but the party may take a view on a few seats if we feel it will help defeat the BJP,” she said.

The party wants to save democracy from the “clutches” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, so “we will devote all our strength on the seats where we are certain we can defeat them,” Menon said.

However, former AAP leader Mayank Gandhi said the decision shows the party is “dead” in Maharashtra, which has 48 Lok Sabha seats – the second highest number after Uttar Pradesh which has 80 parliamentary constituencies.

“Encouraging the worst kind of leadership at the behest of volunteers destroyed AAP’s ethos and soul. Only self-seeking people are left in the party now,” he claimed.

Gandhi said that if the Arvind Kejriwal-led party, which rules the Delhi Assembly, contests in Maharashtra, it may not even get a few thousand votes and become a “laughing stock”.

Notably, the party had drawn a blank in the state in the 2014 general elections.

Dissident AAP leader Ravi Srivastava, who was one of its founder members, said the party’s position in Maharashtra was quite “weak”, so it was a wise decision not to contest the Lok Sabha polls in the state.

“The AAP fared very badly in the recent Assembly polls in Hindi heartland states. It couldn’t garner more than the NOTA (none of the above option for voters) votes polled. The party has miserably failed to expand its base outside Delhi and even its MPs and MLAs are quitting. So, it is a wise decision,” he said.

Since the last two years, AAP has suffered a setback in Maharashtra after its prominent leaders like Mayank Gandhi and Anjali Damania left the party. Its state executive committee was also disbanded sometime back.

Ghar Wapsi of Congress leaders, Ghar Tyag of other politicians

By

Afternoon Voice

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January 20, 2019

After the UPA government faced an anti-incumbency during the 2014 elections, the nation witnessed a massive Modi-wave which led the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) to win with a huge mandate. However, with a change in the political scenario, the nation also observed that many leaders from all political parties across took a back seat from their age-old home party and shifted to BJP. However, now again after Modi-led BJP received a major setback in three Hindi heartland state elections, many leaders due to trust factors in the ruling party are leaving BJP either to make a Ghar Wapsi to Congress or even join some other political parties.

Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Prashant Hiray, the former Maharashtra minister and Apurva Hiray, former Member of Legislative Council (MLC) from Nashik in December returned to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), deserting the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Amid the stir going over corruption in Rafale, a day after BJP lawmaker Ashish Deshmukh met Congress President Rahul Gandhi in Wardha in October, he announced the decision to quit as MLA and submitted his resignation to the Assembly Speaker. Earlier, in November, controversial BJP legislator Anil Gote had announced his resignation from the legislative assembly as well as the party to protest against what he called the “growing criminalisation of the BJP under state BJP President Raosaheb Danve”. In a major setback for Maharashtra BJP, a senior party leader Eknath Khadse in December hinted at an exit from the party. Previously, in 2016, Khadse had to resign as the Maharashtra Revenue Minister amid allegations of involvement in irregularities in a land deal in Pune. Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan had already invited Khadse to join Congress.

In a conversation with AV, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan commented, “It’s evident that the upcoming general election is going to be a noteworthy one and it is also true that many Congress leaders, who had left the party, are now making a comeback. When leaders jump and change their base parties, it impacts their followers. Those who withdrew their support from Congress have now realised that they got no response from outside. We will welcome them back but the party will always give preference to the genuine workers who were there beside the party in its hard times.”

In a major blow to the NDA in Bihar just a few months before the polls this year, Upendra Kushwaha, Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) chief, has resigned as the Union Minister of State (MoS) for Human Resource and Development (HRD) over the BJP’s seat-sharing deal. Former BJP MP Uday Singh, who has represented the Purnea Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar twice, announced his resignation from the party on January this year and hinted at joining the Grand Alliance constituent impressed by Rahul Gandhi and declining popularity of PM Modi.

RJD MP Jay Prakash Yadav mentioned, “There are politicians who go by political ideologies and there are others who go by their decisions. The rest, who maintains both the sides, are the one who never leaves party’s back. Such political side change of the leaders creates massive confusion in the party workers and Nitish Kumar is the one who does politics only for the ‘power chair’.”

A most recent drawback was faced by BJP this year in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. Arunachal former chief minister Gegong Apang resigned from the party on January 16 this year, citing disappointment with the present day BJP leadership. Former ministers and BJP functionaries Komoli Mossang and Lichi Legi also joined the Congress in the function attended by PCC chief Takam Sanjoy. Apart from that, BJP MLA Dr. Akula Satyanarayana is all set to join actor-politician Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena party in Andhra Pradesh on January 21. Senior BJP leader Chandrakanta Das, former Vice President of the party, a member of the North Eastern Council resigned from BJP on January 10.

Accusing the state BJP of trying to create a divide in society over the Sabarimala issue, four leaders – BJP state committee member Vellanad Krishnakumar, party’s district leaders Uzhamalackal Jaykumar, Thelicode Surendran, and V Sukumaran resigned from the party in December and evinced interest in joining CPI(M), heading the ruling LDF in Kerala. Meghalaya BJP Minority Morcha chief Sofiur Rahman on January 13 this year announced to resign from the party, citing opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019. Rahman, a member of Garo Hills Autonomous District Council from Balachanda constituency, claimed that all 21 members of the Morcha would quit the BJP on January 14.

On December 6, 2018, Savitribai Phule, a member of Parliament from the Dalit community, became the latest in the line of departures from the BJP. Four years earlier, Phule was elected from the Lok Sabha constituency of Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh. Phule had joined BJP in 2014 to ensure that atrocities against Dalits are stopped. When AV spoke to Samajwadi Party MP Praveen Kumar Nishad, he asserted, “I strongly believe that changing political parties adds no value to the nation’s development as it’s done only for their own benefits; leaders rather should focus on spreading political awareness among the citizens. When the leaders shift to a different party, they take their followers along. While it does not make much difference with a leader changing side, but it’s the grassroot party workers, the real pillar of every political party, whose departure affects the party?”

In November last year, the release of the first list of BJP candidates for the Rajasthan Assembly elections has triggered a flurry of resignations in the party as many prominent names – State Minister Surendra Goyal, BJP MLA Habibur Rahman, former General Secretary of the BJP Kuldeep Dhankhar decided to quit as the party had failed to get ticket to contest. Habibur Rahman returned to Congress. Although, Kamlapat Arya, a politician from the Dalit community from Madhya Pradesh, left the BJP’s unit in Madhya Pradesh’s Chambal division in October last year, to join the Congress. Danish Ansari and Amaan Memon, former BJP members also quit the party.

In the latest strong move by the oppositions, putting aside their differences and pledged to work together for a Modi-free nation, leaders of 23 national and regional parties descended in Kolkata on Saturday. Nonetheless, in a more shameful act by a disgruntled BJP leader, Shatrughan Sinha shared the stage with opposition leaders, called for changing the government in the 2019 Lok Sabha election and said that he was not afraid of being removed from the ruling party.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Sajda Ahmed stated, “The 2019 general election is going to be a significant one and all the political parties in India want to dethrone BJP from power. The recently held mega opposition rally in Bengal marked the togetherness of the like-minded parties who will fight the election with the same motto. Public representatives usually change political parties as per the political wave; however, it makes least difference in the party’s structure. Although it undoubtedly affects the grassroot workers.”

The Nation has noticed this game of shifting the parties from one to another by the leaders ahead of the elections for their political and personal gains. However, it is believed that such party change as per political wave can affect the grassroots workers the most!

Maharashtra Pradesh BJP Mahila Morcha chief Madhavi Naik expressed, “Before elections, to touch the majority figure of seats, political parties accept leaders from other parties who can fetch more votes. The change from one political party to another surely makes an impact on the party cadre; while before including someone from a different party, political parties always take the opinion of the grassroot party workers to avoid confusion.”

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@www.afternoonvoice.com)

Girls are the new currency in India

By

Vaidehi Taman

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January 20, 2019

In India, of an estimated 20 million commercial sex workers, 16 million women and girls are victims of sex trafficking, according to the non-government organisations working in India. Most of the poor girls are pushed into the sex trade by family members to counter poverty. The father literally bargains for perks while letting go his daughter in an agent’s hand. Once the girls were gone, families rarely found out what had happened to them and had no further communication at all. Researchers found that 78 per cent of girls sold for commercial sexual exploitation were from West Bengal. Official data in 2014 showed that West Bengal accounted for about a fifth of India’s 5,466 cases of human trafficking, with the state both a source and a transit location for women and children trafficked into the sex trade. Reports of human trafficking in India rose 25 per cent in 2015 compared to the previous year, with more than 40 per cent of cases involving children being bought, sold and exploited as slaves, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.

In the recent past, a study led by the My Choices Foundation in partnership with major anti-trafficking groups across India found the average age of girls being trafficked had fallen to age 10-14 in recent years from 14-16 in the past. Fathers in rural India are the targets of a new campaign to stop traffickers trapping young girls into the sex trade as research showed the average age of girls forced into prostitution had dropped with some as young as eight. But a key finding was the role of fathers with researchers discovering that traffickers were convincing fathers to give away their daughters by promising to arrange a marriage without the need to pay a dowry to the boy’s family or a job in a metro city. Apart from selling or bartering daughters, a large number of missing girls are mostly found in flesh trade, especially from the rural areas. Researchers also found during their work in the field that parents were also unwilling to report a missing girl to the police fearing stigma.

A few months ago, there were two minor tribal girls of the same family, aged 12 and 14, who went missing from Lemru village of Korba district and were rescued from the traffickers. 11 people, including 3 women, were arrested.

The girls were raped by six ‘customers’ and were kept confined at a farmhouse. One of them was almost sold and she was supposed to be sent to another city for flesh trade.

Girl trafficking is strengthening its roots in tribal-dominated regions or in rural villages, where jobs and economy are a big crisis. On the grounds of providing jobs in metro cities and also locally, girls get exploited.

Last year, a 17-year-old girl was sold and pushed into flesh trade in Thane, Mumbai. She was hailing from Bangladesh and was repeatedly raped by her friend’s acquaintance while promising marriage at her native place. In the same month, he sold her to agents (involved in trafficking) in Bangladesh who in-turn sold her to their counterparts in India.

The girl was subsequently brought to Thane district; she was taken to customers at various places in Thane, Vashi in Navi Mumbai, Mumbai, and Bangalore.

These days, even the social network is used for exploiting these girls; they are from village and not educated. The agents take advantage of such situations. They create their FB profiles and even websites; they display their pictures inviting customers. These girls are exploited to the core and if they dare to oppose, they face cruel treatment. There is no one in their life as a fallback. Trafficking of women from the state to metros has increased, though the government has chosen a mystifying silence. More than 60,000 girls between 12 and 15 years work as domestic workers in Delhi and Mumbai.

One girl in every 10 families is pushed into prostitution by middlemen, who take them to the cities with the promise of a job. The government should take steps to stop this violation of human rights. In a male-dominated society, women are not allowed to claim their rights.

There is another example; the ‘Rajnat’ community of Rajasthan is struggling to give up prostitution, a profession practiced for generations. But with no jobs on offer, even for educated members of the community, the girls have been forced to join dance bars in Mumbai. At least it ensures a decent income and a better future for their children. The ‘rajnats’ or ‘nats’ were dancers and singers in the royal courts but were reduced to utter penury and took to prostitution with the decline of the feudal order. While most of the girls in the community were pushed into commercial sex, the men functioned as pimps and the tradition has continued. Though in most parts of the State, commercial sex work has been given up, there are pockets where some girls still follow the profession because even the educated men have no jobs and the situation has become even more difficult when it comes to girls.

Even if the community wants their daughters to be educated and live a respectable life, but when they educate the girls they are not getting good grooms as the men are jobless and no one wants to have a matrimonial alliance with this particular community, even if the community gives up commercial sex work altogether, there is no other option for survival.

Each state of India is going through worst for girls; we need some drastic step towards the prevention of such practices.

Just saying, ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana’ is not enough.

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@www.afternoonvoice.com)

Jalna to host national fair of animals in February

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Web Team

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January 20, 2019

Yuvraj and Sultan, the two most-sought-after bulls from Haryana, will be the major attraction at the national fair of animals to be held in Jalna in Maharashtra next month, a state minister said on Sunday.

Minister of State for Dairy Development Arjun Khotkar told reporters that the exchange of cattle will boost breeding potential of milch animals.

Animals like horses, goats, donkeys, camels, elephants, cows, bulls, buffaloes and various species of birds would be exhibited and sold by traders at the fair, to be held on 100-acre land in New Modha area, during February 2-4.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray will attend the inaugural event, apart from state ministers.

Khotkar said that the state government has allotted Rs 5 crore towards preparation of the gathering.

Yuvraj and Sultan have been the major attractions at various animal fairs in the country.

Owners of the two bulls claim that they produce high quality semen which is sought after by farmers for breeding their cattle to boost dairy business.

The semen of the two bulls reportedly costs more than a lakh per ejaculation.

Untrained forest staff, delayed compensation behind rise in leopard poaching: Experts

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Web Team

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January 20, 2019

Untrained forest officials and delayed compensation to victims of big cat attacks are some of the reasons for the steep rise of 40 per cent rise in leopard poaching cases last year in comparison to 2017, wildlife experts say.

Terming leopard poaching cases as “revenge killing”, an official of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) said man-animal conflict was the primary reason which the government needs to address swiftly.

The NTCA is the statutory body under the Ministry of Environment with an overarching supervisory role as provided in the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

According to data given by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change during the winter session of Parliament, 260 leopards were poached between 2015 and 2018 with 66 big cats falling prey in 2018 alone. The number of poaching incidents was 47 in 2017.

“Humans poach leopards in retaliation to attacks on their livestock and the tedious process of compensating for their loss make them take law in their own hands for a quick solution. The process of compensation needs to be expedited to stop this revenge killing,” the NTCA official, who did not wish to be named, said.

Expressing a similar concern over the spiralling instances of leopard poaching, an official of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) said human-wildlife conflict is the concentrated in agricultural regions where human population growth begins to encroach on animal territory.

“In such situations, wildlife causes destruction to crops, livestock, infrastructure and human lives. Thus, to minimise the human reaction against wild animals, effective mechanism to cover the loss and immediate support in the form of compensation is required,” said Tilotama Verma, Additional Director of WCCB.

While the NTCA and WCCB called for effective resolution of the conflict by streamlining the process of compensating the victims in case of attacks, environment activist Gaurav Bansal said it was the forest staff crunch, lack of training and arms for officials that are some of the reasons behind the rise in poaching incidents.

“While the poachers have guns, the forest officers have sticks, which are not enough to face them,” Bansal, also a lawyer, said.

The view was shared by the NTCA official who said that good quality arms must be provided to the forest officials by the respective state governments.

“Weapons for forest officials are being procured in some states like Assam. There have INSAS rifles (Indian Small Arms System) but there is a lack of regular supply of good quality ammunition to them. The state governments must provide proper arms to forest officials to tackle the problem,” the official said.

According to the WCCB official, awareness programmes and sensitisation of communities living around forests can reduce leopard poaching.

“Leopards are directly poached for their body parts which are sold internationally for medicinal value and decoration. Increased awareness on wildlife, its role in maintaining healthy ecosystems and the immorality of driving another species to extinction will definitely help address issues of poaching of wild animals,” Verma said.

The official also held practices like witchcraft and black magic by poor and illiterate communities responsible for poaching of the big cats.

Leopard poaching is an offence under the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 which entails up to seven-year imprisonment with a minimum of Rs 25,000 fine.

The experts said this was “one of the most stringent and effective wildlife laws in the world”.

They also emphasised on providing proper training to the frontline staff of forest and police on the basics of wildlife law and identification of wildlife species.

Minister of State for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Mahesh Sharma had said the law enforcement authorities in states maintain strict vigil against poaching of wild animals including leopards.

According to state-wise date provided by the minister on leopard poaching, Uttarakhand was found with the maximum cases of 15 followed by Madhya Pradesh which had 13 poaching incidents in 2018.

He had said that the state governments and union territories have been requested to strengthen the field formations and intensify patrolling in and around protected areas.

Mumbai Marathon 2019: Runners, amateurs, veterans hit streets

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Web Team

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January 20, 2019

Runners, amateurs and veterans have started running on the busiest roads of Mumbai to compete and complete India’s biggest and prestigious Tata Mumbai Marathon 2019. With many first-time runners geared up for the 16th edition of the Mumbai Marathon on Sunday early morning, over 46,000 including some of the world’s best runners hit Mumbai streets on Sunday early morning.

The IAAF Gold Label Race was flagged off from outside the landmark Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) by Six-Time World Boxing Champion and the event ambassador Mary Kom. The total prize money awarded will be USD 405,000.

Along with the Mary Kom, the event was graced by South African Comrades Marathon champion, Bruce Fordyce. Popularly known as the ‘Comrades King’, Bruce has been the winner of South Africa’s gruelling ultra-marathon for an unprecedented eight consecutive years, and nine times overall.

Ethiopia’s Abera Kuma is leading the men’s field, while the women’s field is headlined by the defending women’s champion Amane Gobena.

For the 2019 edition, Tata Mumbai Marathon had launched the initiative ‘Mumkin Hai – Run for the Full’ with Mumbai Striders, aiming to galvanise, encourage and assist amateur half marathoners to push their limits towards becoming a full marathoner.

The Traffic guidelines were also issued by Police for people participating in the race and people who are planning or travel through the path of the marathon in the morning hours.

Life sentence to SP-rank officer in kidnapping, extortion case

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Web Team

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January 20, 2019

A Maharashtra court has sentenced a superintendent of police (SP)-rank officer and another person to life imprisonment in a 2009 kidnapping and extortion case.

Jalgaon sessions judge P Y Ladekar convicted Manoj Lohar, who is presently posted at the Home Guard Department in Mumbai in a senior administrative position, and his relative Dheeraj Yevle on January 16.

The court pronounced the sentence on Saturday and also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 each on the duo.

Lohar and Yevle were convicted under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 342 (wrongful confinement), 346 (wrongful confinement in secret), 364-A (kidnapping for ransom), 385 (putting person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

According to the prosecution, Lohar had in 2009 forcibly kept the then zilla parishad member, Uttam Mahajan, confined at his office at Chalisgaon in Jalgaon district of North Maharashtra and two other places for two days in a bid to extort Rs 25 lakh from him.

He was at that time posted as additional SP of Chalisgaon.

Mahajan was picked up by police sub-inspector Vishwasrao Nimbalkar and brought to Lohar’s office on June 30, 2009.

Lohar had threatened to expose some illegal doings by Mahajan at the educational institutes run by the latter and demanded Rs 25 lakh from him.

He kept Mahajan confined first at his office and then at co-accused Yevle’s residence from June 30 to July 1, 2009.

Mahajan was released on July 2 after his son Manoj Mahajan contacted the then Jalgaon SP for help.

A case was registered against Lohar and Yevle on July 16, 2009 and the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) conducted a probe into it.

Lohar was arrested in June 2012 and later released on bail.

While Nimbalkar was also an accused in the case, the court acquitted him for want of evidence.

3 die in Himachal’s Chamba as car from Maharashtra falls into gorge

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Web Team

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January 20, 2019

Three persons were killed as their car fell into a gorge in Himachal Pradesh’s Chamba district on Sunday, police said.

The car, which had a Maharashtra registration number, fell into a gorge at Saru, Chamba’s superintendent of police Monika Bhutunguru said.

The bodies have been sent to the district hospital for autopsy, she added.

Under-trial prisoner dies, family alleges custodial torture

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Web Team

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January 20, 2019

An under-trial prisoner died after being found unconscious in his cell in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad district Saturday, the police said.

The family of Yogesh Rathod (29), the deceased, alleged that he was tortured by police which led to his death.

Rathod, a resident of Bharamba Tanda in Kannad tehsil of the district, had been arrested a few days ago in a case of house trespass, a police official said.

He was sent to Harsul prison after a court remanded him in judicial custody.

He was found unconscious in his cell Saturday evening and rushed to a government-run hospital where he was declared dead, the official said.

While his family members alleged that he died due to police torture, the exact cause of death will be known after autopsy, he added.

#CBIvsCBI: PM-led panel to meet on Thursday

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Web Team

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January 20, 2019

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led high-powered panel on CBI chief will meet on Thursday and discuss probable names for the coveted post.

The panel meeting will be attended by Chief Justice of India Rajan Gogoi or his nominee and Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, officials said.

Among the officers whose name would be discussed at the meeting are J K Sharma and Parminder Rai from the 1982 batch — the senior most but lacking experience in the CBI.

Rai, a Haryana-cadre officer who is set to retire on January 31, 2019, is Director General, State Vigilance Bureau, which makes him eligible for the post, the officials said.

Special Secretary (Internal Security), Home Ministry, Rina Mitra of the 1983-batch is another contender. She served in the CBI for five years and had a long tenure in Madhya Pradesh state vigilance where she handled serious corruption cases.

Mitra headed the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, an organisation tasked to combat organised wildlife crime, in its early years, they said, adding that if chosen, she would become the first woman chief of the CBI.

Current chief of National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Sciences Javeed Ahmed, a 1984-batch IPS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, has served the CBI for 13 years — starting as an SP to DIG from 1994 to 2002 and as joint director from 2009-14, they said.

He could not be promoted to post of Additional Director, CBI, as the then Home Secretary Anil Goswami had not cleared the empanelment file of the entire 1984-batch IPS officers till his term came to an end, they said.

Goswami was forced to resign for trying to stall the arrest of a former Union minister in a case, they said.

Ahmed was posted as Uttar Pradesh DGP and he led many initiatives like Twitter outreach campaign, UP100 and special help line for women.

Closely following him in terms of experience is O P Galhotra, former Rajasthan DGP, who has served in the agency for 11 years — as an SP from 1996-2000 and as a Joint Director from 2008-15, the officials said.

H C Awasthy, Galhotra’s batchmate from the UP cadre, also served in the agency for over eight years, they said.

Director General, National Investigation Agency, Y C Modi, a 1984-batch IPS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, is a favourite in the race to the top post in the CBI.

Y C Modi was part of the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team which probed the 2002 riots in Gujarat from 2010 to 2012. The SIT had cleared Narendra Modi who was then the chief minister of the state.

Y C Modi was also part of the CBI team that probed the murder of former Gujarat minister Haren Pandya and arrested 12 accused. But the evidence was rejected by the Gujarat High Court which acquitted all the accused, they said.

Director General of CISF Rajesh Ranjan, a 1984-batch Bihar cadre officer, has served in the agency for nearly five years and also in Interpol.

He was never inducted into the CBI after 2011 as there were “vigilance issues”, the officials said.

BSF Director General Rajni Kant Mishra, a 1984-batch officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre is also being considered a frontrunner for the post of the CBI Director, they said.

He is retiring in August, 2019 and had served for nearly five years in the agency.

Another contender DG Indo-Tibetan Border Police S S Deshwal has five years’ experience of working in the CBI, they said.

Arun Kumar, a 1985-batch officer of the UP cadre, who led the first CBI team that probed the Aarushi case, is also in the race.

The report prepared by him indicting three servants of the Talwars in the Aarushi-Hemraj murder case was rejected by the then CBI chief Ashwani Kumar as he was not convinced by the evidence.

Other contenders from the 1985-batch include Rishi Raj Singh and Loknath Behera from Kerala cadre who have around 6 and 10 years’ of experience in the CBI respectively.

Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik has also been shortlisted but he lacks experience in the agency, the officials said adding that experience in the vigilance unit of the state compensates it.

The selection panel would meet Thursday to find a replacement for Alok Verma was removed as the CBI director on Januray 10, three weeks before he was to demit his office.

A 1979-batch IPS officer, Verma was locked in a bitter tussle with agency’s Special Director Rakesh Asthana, a 1984-batch IPS officer.