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Was told not to file FIR by Raigad SP, says cop

By
Afternoon Voice
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Adding a fresh twist to the Sheena Bora murder case, a Maharashtra policeman has claimed that he was asked by his senior not to file an FIR when her body was found in May 2012.

According to media reports, Police Inspector Subhash Mirge has claimed that the then Superintendent of Police, Raigad, RD Shinde, had told him not to file a report in the case when the body was found.

As per the reports, Mirge also stated, in his statement, that there were clear signs of foul play when Sheena’s body was found in Pen forest in Maharashtra’s Raigad district.

Interestingly, Mirge was the investigator officer when the body was found.

Though Sheena, daughter of high-profile media professional Indrani Mukerjea, was allegedly murdered in 2012 and her body was disposed of in the Raigad district, the crime came to light only recently.

Mirge claimed that SP Raigad, RD Shinde had ordered him not to file an FIR or an accidental report and instead make a diary entry, even when the half burnt body and a burnt suitcase clearly indicated signs of foul play.

Mirge’s disclosure comes days after Maharashtra DGP Sanjeev Dayal ordered an inquiry to determine if there was any cover-up of the crime back in 2012.

Indrani is accused of killing Sheena with the help of her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and her driver Shyamvar Rai on April 24, 2012.

Indrani had apparently concealed from her husband and former Star India CEO Peter Mukerjea the fact that Sheena and Mikhail were her children and, instead, called them her siblings in front of the world.

Peter and Indrani married in 2002.

Indrani, Sanjiv and Rai have been arrested on the charges of murdering Sheena and disposing of the body at Pen forest in Maharashtra’s Raigad district.

No corroboration needed if rape victim’s statement reliable: HC

By
Afternoon Voice
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The Bombay High Court has upheld the conviction of a 23-year-old man for raping a minor girl while observing that if the statement of a rape victim is trustworthy and reliable, further corroboration is not needed.

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice V K Tahilramani and Justice A S Gadkari on September 16 held that the conviction and ten-year sentence awarded by a sessions court to Pandurang Lalasaheb Yadav, a resident of Sangli, for raping a nine-year-old girl was correct.

According to prosecution, on December 23, 2006, the accused accosted the victim when she was on her way home from school. The accused told the girl that her parents were waiting outside his house and hence she should come with him. He then took the girl to a nearby field and raped her.

The girl later informed her mother about the incident following which she was taken to doctor and a case was registered.

“We find that the testimony of the victim is wholly trustworthy and reliable and it does not require any corroboration in support thereof,” the court said.

The High Court also held that the victim’s statement has been corroborated by evidence of her mother and doctor who conducted the medical check.

The HC, while upholding the conviction, took note of a Supreme Court judgement which said, “A victim of rape stands at a higher pedestal than an injured witness. In the latter case, there is injury on the physical form, while in the former it is physical as well as psychological and emotional.”

Fisherman killed in firing off Gujarat coast allegedly by Pakistan navy

By
Afternoon Voice
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Fisherman-killedIn yet another act of transgression by Pakistan, one Indian fishermen was killed after Pakistan Navy opened fire on two Indian boats off the Gujarat coast.

Pakistan Navy fired on Indian fishing boat Premraj and Ramraj that had 5-6 fishermen on board. The boats had set sail from Okha on September 8.

The, apparently, unprovoked firing lead to the death of one fisherman, who was later identified as Bhatti Iqbal Abdul, a native of Okha.

Two coast guard vessels are on their way to the location of the fishing vessels and will toe the boats back to a Indian harbour.

As per the initial assessment, the Indian boats were in the international waters and had crossed into the Pakistani side of the maritime boundary.

Asked about the alleged involvement of Pakistan’s MSA, the official said a probe is underway and it would be premature to draw any conclusion at this stage.

The firing took place near the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL), Secretary of National Fishworkers’ Forum (NFF) Manish Lodhari said.

“We learnt from the fishermen that several rounds were fired on the boat near IMBL at 9:00 AM. The fishing boat has been registered in Okha (about 500 km from Gandhinagar). A fisherman named Iqbal (40) has been killed in firing,” he said.

“Iqbal was among six fishermen on the boat that had ventured into the sea from Okha port in Devbhoomi Dwarka district,” Lodhari said.

The Indian Coast Guard on Friday will conduct a joint interrogation on Pakistan firing at Indian boats off the Gujarat coast, killing one fisherman.

“We will be conducting a joint interrogation once the vessel reaches. There was no number or name written on the boat and it was carrying some blue and green colour flags. There is no other indication to pinpoint that the boat belongs to any other particular organisation or country,” Inspector General of Coast Guard VSR Murthy said.

“Our coast guard station Okha was informed by the owner that their vessel Prem Raj while fishing in the area was fired upon by some vessel. On receipt of the information, we immediately diverted our coast guard ship the Vijit which is carrying out IMBL petrol in that area and then go on to investigate,” said Murthy.

“The vessel reached and then boarded this vessel and found one crew member, namely Iqbal died of the firing incident. They narrated there is one vessel slightly bigger than our fishing vessel came and opened fire. They fired about 5-6 rounds. There were about 40 people on board,” he added.

Murthy further said that at present the boat is under escort by another coast guard vessel and both the vessels are heading towards Okha, which is expected to arrive at Okha by 11 pm tonight.

VHP threatens stir if J&K assembly allows discussion on anti-beef ban bill

By
Afternoon Voice
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VHP on Friday threatened to launch a massive agitation and enforce an economic blockade in Jammu and Kashmir if the assembly allowed a discussion to revoke provisions criminalizing bovine slaughter and sale of beef in the state.

“We warn the state government that Jammu would observe a black day and the people of the region would be forced to take to the streets if the Assembly Speaker allowed a discussion on an anti-beef ban bill,” Leela Karan Sharma, president of VHP’s state unit told reporters.

“If the beef ban is revoked, VHP would enforce an economic blockade in Kashmir, forcing people to starve. The people of Jammu would not tolerate it…The government will have face consequences,” he said.

“People will be forced to take to the streets and launch an agitation similar to the one in 2008 if slaughtering of bovines continued unabated in the region,” Sharma said.

He said it was a “sensitive” issue related to religious and emotional sentiments of Hindus. “Nobody should be allowed to play with the sentiments of over one billion Hindus across the globe,” he said.

‘Subhas Chandra Bose did not die in 1945; family was spied upon’

By
Afternoon Voice
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Adding to the Netaji death mystery, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said that some letters in the declassified files indicate that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was alive even after 1945.

The Trinamool Congress chief’s comments came after sixty-four secret files relating to Netaji that could help throw light on his mysterious disappearance–an enduring enigma for seven decades –were today released by her government.

The Bengal CM also that the documents also support the theory that Bose family was snooped upon.

“There are intercepts. I have seen the documents and it is clear from them that the family of Netaji was spied upon,” Banerjee told the media here.

She termed the snooping incident as unfortunate and said after India’s independence the great freedom fighter did not get due honour.

“There are certain letters where many have said that he was alive after 1945,” the chief minister further said.

An August 22, 1945, Tokyo Radio announced the ‘death’ of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in an air crash in Formosa (now Taiwan) on August 18, 1945, en route to Japan.

Fulfilling a long-standing demand, Banerjee described as “historic” the declassification of the closely guarded files on one of the country’s foremost nationalist leaders and said people should know the truth. The Centre has 130 files.

Hidden in police and government lockers for years, the 64 files containing 12,744 pages were declassified here in the presence of Bose’s family members who have been demanding that information on the leader of the Azad Hind Fauj(Indian National Army-INA) be made public.

“Today is a historic day. Our government has made all Netaji files public. People have a right to know about the brave son of India,” Banerjee, who visited the police museum, tweeted.

Later, she said, “We made a beginning. The people should know the truth. Let the central government also declassify the files (on Netaji). Let good sense prevail on all of us. You cannot suppress the truth. Let truth come out.

“In 70 years, the mystery has not been solved. We did not know what happened (to Netaji). It is unfortunate. How long you can keep it under secrecy. You read the files in details.”

Welcoming the declassification of the 64 files, Chandra Bose, Netaji’s grandnephew said, “It is a correct step. Now it is the duty of the central government to declassify 130 files it has with it.”

PM Narendra Modi’s dig at Congress – ‘Garibi Hatao’ has remained mere political slogan

By
Afternoon Voice
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that his government’s first priority is to eradicate poverty and make poor people self-reliant shortly after he arrived in his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi on a day-long visit.

“I am surprised that those who did not open a single account in the banks are showing their concern that the accounts are not being operated properly. I am here to tell them that what they failed to do in 50 years, I will do in 50 months,” Modi told a gathering of the rickshaw pullers.

PM Modi said had his critics helped the poor open bank accounts when they were in power he would have been spared the worry. Modi said that more than 18 crore bank accounts have been opened under PM Jan Dhan Yojana and thanked the poor for depositing around Rs 30,000 crore in the banks.

In an indirect attack on the previous Congress-led governments’ popular slogan of ‘Garibi Hatao’, he said poverty has not been eliminated from the country despite all the experiments undertaken so far.

“We have been hearing the slogan of ‘Garibi Hatao’ for 40-50 years, but nothing concrete was done to eliminate poverty. It has become a tradition to chant in the name of the poor, there is a need to come out of it,” he said.

Modi also said education is the best and the least expensive way to fight poverty and urged the people of Varanasi to educate their children.

“The biggest weapon one can use to fight poverty is the education of children. I request you to please educate your children, no matter what the circumstances are,” Modi told the gathering.

Modi, who arrived in his constituency for the first time in 2015, also stressed the need for skill development to eliminate poverty and said with the help of technology the poorest of the poor can earn more and become self-reliant.

“Make a little change in their lives by enhancing their skills, and we will get wonderful results,” he said.

People fail to understand the meaning of development

By
Mahendra Singh
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We often hear people talking about development in a very simplistic and general manner, often they fail to understand its true meaning. Mostly, the citizens will expect that they get a government job with accompanying security in service and secured pension. Youth should realise that good days will only come and you will embark on path of progress only by working hard, maintaining required standards and quality. People expect results instantly, which is unrealistic. Patience is necessary to achieve success.

Our Railways are performing good work, considering the vast network of their operation. The railways have upgraded the internet based ticketing system and also have introduced mobile ticketing on suburban section. The government must take steps to generate power and its effective distribution. It is necessary to eradicate electricity theft in a country like India might result in a loss of up to a third of the power generated.  Same is the case of water availability. Even though the BMC has introduced 20 per cent water cut but the civic body has failed to curb water leakage which is occurring mostly in slum areas. The quality of pipe lines needs to be improved but burgeoning population creates lot of hindrance. Not a single minister talks about controlling the rising population. Some of them are more bothered about imposing a ban on meat.

Training must be imparted to youth for enabling them to become skilled workers. Our criminal justice system is such that powerful and wealthy people seldom are awarded punishment and poor people become victims.

Garbage collection, segregation and disposal is very important. Of the 1,27,486 tonnes of waste generated daily in India in 2011-12, Mumbai alone accounted for 6.11 per cent. It is estimated that every resident in the metropolis now generates about 630 grams of waste daily, a figure that is expected to touch 1 kg in the coming years. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has ambitious plans to process and manage the 7,000-8,000 metric tonnes (MT) of waste generated daily. But since the formulation of the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Rules (management and handling) in 2000, most of these ideas have either failed to take off. Critics say while the BMC has an elaborate system in place for collection and transportation of waste, there are no real-time checks in place to see if the appointed contractors are following specifications. If BMC wants to increase segregation of waste, it will first have to invest in more dust bins for Mumbai. Agriculture is considered unfashionable but recently at Cambridge I saw how beautifully they do harvesting, packaging using mechanical means with great aesthetic accuracy.

Pansare’s killer has Sanatan connection

By
Afternoon Voice
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Sameer Gaikwad’s arrest confirms about the outfit’s link in the elimination of Govind Pansare and Narendra Dabholkar.

PansareEven though the police claims to have made a headway in the Govind Pansare murder case by arresting Sameer Gaikwad from Sangli but investigations gathered pace after the murder of Kannada scholar and researcher M M Kalburgi in Dharwad, Karnataka. Probe was fast tracked after left parties and rationalist forces expressed concern about the snail paced investigation process of this case. Sanatan Sanstha has been in controversy for its extreme right wing ideology and was on radar from last two years, after the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar in Pune. Activists of this organisation have also been arrested for their role in a blast in Thane’s Gadkari theatre. Its members were also arrested in another blast case in Madgaon, Goa. AV too had reported about the involvement of Sanatan Sanstha in murder of Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare. Gaikwad’s arrest confirms about the outfit’s link in the elimination of these rationalists.

Even though more than two years have passed after the murder of rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar but police still remain clueless about the accused’s whereabouts. The Karnataka government had announced Rs 5 lakh reward to those who could provide clues about the murder of Kalburgi.

Kolhapur and Sangli Police have launched a joint operation to nab Sameer Gaikwad. Police said Gaikwad has some criminal backgound. He was produced in a court at Kolhapur in western Maharashtra which remanded him in police custody till September 23.

Sachin Sawant said, “There has always been doubts about the involvement of fundamentalist outfits behind the murder of Govind Pansare and Narendra Dabholkar. Since reports about the involvement of Sanathan Sanstha has come up hence the government must impose a ban on this outfit.”

Inspector General of Police Sanjay Kumar Verma, heading the SIT, confirmed the development.

“Samir is an active member of Sanatan Sanstha since 1998 and has been arrested and remanded to police custody until September 23. The arrest has been made on leads we got through electronic surveillance,” Verma said.

According to Verma, accused Gaikwad and his family members are associated with Sanatan Sanstha. Gaikwad used to frequently visit the outfit’s asharam in Goa.

Govind Pansare’s daughter-in-law Megha Pansare said, “Sameer Gaekwad is a resident of Sangli. He is linked to Sanathan Sanstha. The police tracked Sameer’s whereabouts through his call details. He used to run a mobile shop in Sangli four years back.”

Uma Pansare, Govind Pansare’s wife said, “The police have done a laudable job by arresting Sameer Gaekwad. They should investigate this matter thoroughly in order to avert the murder of rationalists in future.”

On February 16, Pansare was gunned down outside his house in Sagar Mala locality of Kolhapur city and five days later succumbed to his injuries at Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital. The police managed to procure CCTV footage of the nearby areas but owing to its poor quality they were sent to London for enhancement. New sketches were prepared based on the enhanced footage received from London.

Pansare’s family has been demanding a probe into the Communist leader’s murder. They had also filed a petition in the Bombay High Court which had asked Maharashtra government to file its response to the petition seeking constitution of a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the killing.

The Karnataka and Maharashtra police will work together to find out if the murder of Professor Kalburgi, Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare are in any way linked. The Karnataka CID which has formed four teams has already sent a batch of officers to Maharashtra.

Robert Vadra is now a ‘Mango Man’

By
Vaidehi Taman
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Nowadays, Robert Vadra is very much active on social network and attacking BJP and its ruling government on it. Amid controversy regarding Robert Vadra’s presence in the list of select VVIPs exempted from frisking in airports, he urged government to withdraw his name. Vadra has said that he is not a VIP and his name should be removed from that list. He also felt that it may be a conspiracy to malign his name. He said that he has never used this privilege. The government had earlier clarified that it had no plans of removing Robert Vadra from the no-frisking list. Vadra insisted that he had earlier also consented to removing his name from the list. He said that in any case it just takes a minute to get frisked and he had no problem with subjecting himself to such checks like ordinary citizens. Vadra said if he needs to he would physically go to all airports to remove his name from the list. He also urged those outraging on this issue to dedicate time to more on critical problems. These statements were really considered as a big slap on BJP’s face from Vadra. The Home Ministry had recently asked the Civil Aviation Ministry to go ahead with its plan to review the list of 33 categories of people, including the Dalai Lama and Vadra.

More than a year after coming into power, Narendra Modi-led NDA government now has finally removed Vadra’s name from the “no-frisking” list at the country’s airports. Vadra had repeatedly urged the government to scrap his name from the VVIP list. Reacting to the government’s step, Vadra wrote on Facebook: “I appreciate that my name will not appear in the VVIP list anymore. I hope this is a dead issue now and will not be used against me. My Best wishes. Vadra has appreciated the development. He had also said earlier that he was not interested in the special privilege.

Clearing the government’s stand, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma said that if Vadra wanted his name to be deleted earlier, he should have written a letter rather than posting it on Facebook. The issue of Vadra’s exemption from frisking and checking at airport had been raised many times. Gajapathi Raju had last year said that the no-frisking list should be meaningful and not “ornamental”. Anyway, there are many sides to this story. On social network, BJP supporters are cherishing this status of Vadra, whereas Congress supporters have reason to overpower BJP stating that Vadra forced BJP to do this.

Robert Vadra is Priyanka Gandhi’s husband. He is the son-in-law of Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, and a member of the Nehru family by marriage. In the recent times, he grabbed headlines because of his controversial relations and land dealings with DLF group. In October 2012, Arvind Kejriwal accused Vadra of taking an interest-free loan of Rs. 65 crores and heavy bargains on land from DLF Limited in exchange for political favours. DLF responded that it had dealt with Vadra as a private entrepreneur, which the loan was Business Advance which was given, as per practice of trade, to make payments for land purchased from Vadra, that the company did not sell him land at a throwaway price, and that no quid pro quo took place.

After the controversy, Robert Vadra’s Facebook comment “Mango people in a banana republic” that was later deleted, had become widespread punchline for the news reporters and the public to talk about. Then civil society activist and now chief minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal had raised questions over the rise in his fortune. Kejriwal was claimed that the evidence pouring in from mango men from across the country. Mango men would prove to be nemesis for the powerful. Numerous reports have questioned veracity of balance-sheets of Vadra-owned companies, which claim to have received an overdraft of Rs. 7.94 crores from Corporation Bank. Corporation Bank has now denied ever providing an overdraft facility to that amount. Vadra, has been repeatedly targeted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP over his same controversial land deals, which allegedly led to windfall gains for his company. However, so far neither Modi nor Kejriwal could prove anything against Vadra or Gandhi family. They have miserably failed to prove them guilty. BJP lost its credibility by alleging the Gandhi and Vadra but failed to prove those allegations of loot, having Swiss Bank Account and Black Money. Now, just to satisfy their false ego they are using unwanted tactics to keep up self-image.

BJP is creating hue and cry against Vadra for land deal in Haryana and Rajasthan to fool public to gain political mileage. Public is losing faith in the BJP government as it fails to arrest and convict allegedly corrupt leaders of UPA who have recklessly looted public money of country by abusing power as claimed by BJP and its then Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. The public will teach lesson to BJP like they had done to Congress if it fails to convict corrupts indulged in corruption during 10 years of UPA regime. Frisking or no frisking, Vadra will not lose anything as long as Congress is here. However, with such cheap traits BJP and NDA will lose its sheen with time.

Anyway, the countdown has begun for BJP’s bad days?

Reliance Jio to offer unlimited free wi-fi during Ganesh Utsav

By
Afternoon Voice
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Ganpati-BappaRIL’s telecom arm Reliance Jio Infocomm has announced the launch of unlimited free Wi-Fi service, Jionet, at select pandals during ongoing Ganesh Utsav.

Devotees visiting Lalbaug Cha Raja, Andheri Cha Raja and Sahyadri Cha Raja pandals during 11-day long festival will be able to access high speed Wi-Fi internet services through their mobile devices, the company said in a statement.

“This year, we are privileged to join the festivities by offering ‘Jionet’ high speed Wi-Fi internet service…as we want visiting devotees to sample the digital ecosystem we are building consisting of high speed data networks,” Reliance Jio spokesperson said.

The users’ feedback on the overall experience and network will be used to improve the services further as Jio gets ready for its formal launch, it added.

“Once 4G LTE service commences, wi-fi and LTE networks will operate seamlessly with each other,” the statement said.

The company is expected to commercially launch its 4G services by the end of this year.

Visitors at any of the three pandals will have to scan and select Jionet, fill their details in a message that will appear on their device and later enter one-time password to start using Wi-Fi service.

“The system will automatically log the user out after every 30 minutes of inactivity, and the user has to log in again with the same password,” the statement said.

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