The CBI, which probed the mysterious disappearance of Dilip Patidar, a witness in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, on Thursday filed a report before the court here, recommending closure of the case as Maharashtra authorities did not give permission to prosecute two accused officers.

The 17-page report, filed before the CBI Magistrate Raghvendra Singh Chouhan, stated that Maharashtra government did not give permission to prosecute inspector Rajendra Dhule and assistant sub-inspector Ramesh More of the state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).

According to CBI, Dhule and More abducted Patidar and kept him in illegal custody so that they can force him to confess to few things related to the blast in Malegaon.

They prepared fake documents to shield themselves, the report adds. For the want of sanction to prosecute them from the state government, CBI could not arrest the duo.

CBI had filed a case against Dhule and More under sections 120B (conspiracy), 348 (wrongful confinement to extort confession), 365 (kidnapping), 193 (false evidence), and 218 (preparing false record) of the IPC.

According to the report, Mumbai ATS took Patidar from Indore on November 10-11, 2008 for questioning, and since then he is missing. He was kept in illegal custody, without producing him before the court, even when he was ready to record his statement before the court, CBI says.

Patidar was a tenant of Ramchandra Kalsangra, an accused in Samjhauta Express blast case and other terror-related cases. ATS was hoping that it might get some clues about Kalsangra through Patidar.

Patidar’s brother Ramswaroop had moved the Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court, demanding CBI probe.

ATS had told the HC that Patidar went to Mumbai on his own to record his statement. He was asked to bring proof of his identification and he left the ATS office on November 18, 2008, never to return.

An anti-Narendra Modi comment on Facebook may now lead to the arrest of a 31-year-old shipbuilding professional, even as police in BJP-ruled Goa suspect a “larger game plan to promote communal and social disharmony in the state”.

The accused, Devu Chodankar’s anticipatory bail was rejected on Thursday by the district and sessions court in North Goa, clearing the ground for his arrest.

Police Inspector Rajesh Job of the Goa Police cyber cell, which is investigating the case, in his statement filed before the court has sought custodial interrogation of the accused.

“Custodial interrogation of the accused is very much essential to find out any motive of larger game plan to promote communal and social disharmony in the state,” Mr Job has said.

Two summons have already been issued to Mr Chodankar by the cyber cell. In the run up to the Lok Sabha 2014 poll campaign, Mr Chodankar, who is from Mumbai in a post on Goa+, a popular FB group with nearly half a lakh members, had claimed that a holocaust would follow and that Christians in Goa would lose their identity.

“There is imminent threat of Holocaust as it happened in Gujarat th(r)ough the garb of cunning government policies of Parrikar (sic),” Mr Chodankar had said, before deleting the post.

Subsequently, in Goa Speaks, another Facebook group well known for discussions on Goa-related issues, Mr Chodankar had apologised for his choice of words but not the sum of his argument.

But Atul Pai Kane lodged a FIR against the shipbuilder. Mr Kane, who regularly defends the BJP and Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on the social media, in his complaint said Mr Chodandkar had threatened Facebook users against voting for the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls.

Opposition parties at the time had protested calling it an attempt by the BJP to muzzle criticism.

“The complaint is against Mr Chodankar for making inflammatory statements and trying to create communal disharmony, not comments against the BJP,” Mr Kane had explained.

Mr Chodankar has been booked under sections 153(A), 295(A) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 125 of the People’s Representation Act and 66-A of the Information Technology Act. Some of the sections are non-bailable in nature.

Civil society activists have now jumped into the fray claiming that such heightened police interest in a Facebook post is draconian. A protest will now be held on Saturday outside the police headquarters in Panaji.

“We will raise slogans, hold placards protesting against application of draconian laws to curb free speech. Today it is Devu, tomorrow it could be any of us,” Samir Kelekar, an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay alumnus, said.

The Election Commission (EC) is likely to frame charges against former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Friday in connection with the alleged ‘paid news’ and furnishing of “incorrection” election accounts case against him.

Chavan, who recently won the Lok Sabha polls on a Congress ticket from Nanded, will be represented by a team of lawyers after he informed the EC that his “authorised” counsel will appear before the poll body in response to its summons issued to him last week.

“Chavan has asked for framing of charges in this case by the EC against him. The Commission will conduct a hearing in this regard tomorrow in the presence of the former CM’s lawyers,” sources privy to the development said.

A similar case of furnishing allegedly false election accounts by former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda has been postponed till May 26, the sources said.

The EC, on the directions of the Supreme Court, had issued a notice to Chavan last week to appear before it in connection with the case of alleged expenses made by him during the 2009 polls which were categorised as “paid news”.

The apex court had, in its earlier order, given a free hand to the Commission to inquire into complaints of ‘paid news’ or incorrect expenses against a political leader.

A bench headed by Justice A K Patnaik had dismissed the plea of Chavan challenging the Commission’s jurisdiction to inquire into such issues.

The apex court had directed the Commission to inquire into the complaint against Chavan within 45 days.

The EC, post complaints made against the two political leaders, had initiated disqualification procedures against them under the Representation of the People Act.

Both the leaders had challenged the EC’s action as they denied any wrongdoing.

In the second case, the EC has asked Koda to appear for the hearing, either in person or through an authorised counsel, with regard to a case against him for allegedly furnishing false election expenditure records after the 2009 polls.

The poll body had last conducted a hearing in Chavan’s case in May 2012.

The apex court had passed an order on May 5 this year on an appeal filed by Chavan challenging the Delhi High Court verdict which had refused to grant any relief to Chavan on the issue of ‘paid news’.

In the case of Koda, who was elected as an independent MP from West Singhbum constituency in Jharkhand in 2009, the EC had in October, 2010 issued a notice to him asking him why he should not be disqualified on the ground that he had shown the election expenses far less than the actual amount of nearly Rs 10 crore allegedly spent by him.

The Commission had said it found that Koda had made an expenditure of about Rs 10 crore during his election campaign against Rs 25 lakh as stipulated under the EC guidelines for parliamentary polls that time.

Former Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Friday came out in support of Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, whose leadership credentials have been questioned within Congress and by ally NCP following the party’s poor performance in Lok Sabha elections.
“Chavan is an efficient chief minister. It’s not advisable to effect changes in government and party on the eve of elections,” Shinde said.
Describing the crushing defeat of Congress in the Lok Sabha elections as “unfortunate”, Shinde, who himself lost elections from his Solapur Lok Sabha seat, spoke to reporters on Friday at Tilak Bhavan.
He had come there to attend the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) review meeting to analyse the disastrous results of the polls. He said he had suggested setting up of a “fact-finding committee” to look into the reasons for the massive defeat of Congress.

The Bombay High Court stayed a family court order asking Pakistani singer Adnan Sami to hand over five flats in suburban Andheri to his ex-wife Sabah Galadari by the first week of June besides paying certain amount to her.

The stay was granted till June 10 by a vacation bench of justices Anil Memon and R D Dhanuka on an appeal filed by Sami against the family court order.

The family court on April 5 had also ordered Sami to pay Galadari Rs. 5.3 crore towards money she gave him between 2007-08 and Rs. 1 crore as domestic violence compensation, Rs. 10 lakh as belated ‘mehr’ and Rs. 1 lakh for litigation costs.

Galadari has filed a matrimonial dispute suit in the family court at Bandra claiming compensation from Sami as well as the flats saying that Sami had gifted them to her in 2008.

Hearing Sami’s appeal, the judges, however, said “Till the next date (June 10), the implementation, execution and effect of the impugned order of April 5 passed by the family court filed by the respondent (Galadari) is stayed.”

However, the judges made it clear that the high court was not expressing any views on the merits of the matter.

Sami’s lawyer Ranbir Singh sought quashing of the impugned order saying it was “erroneous, illegal, ultra vires, contrary to settled principles of law, and unsustainable”.

Besides, he argued, the family court did not appreciate the legal effect of the order of the Enforcement Directorate holding that Sami had no legal title and hence no legal authority to gift the suit property.

In the appeal, Sami claimed that the judge’s premise of stating that domestic violence was committed is discriminatory.

Counsel for Galadari, Mrunalini Deshmukh and Edith Dey, sought time on the ground that they had not been served with the papers and proceedings of the appeal filed by Sami.

Hence, the court stayed the family court order till June 10.

The Bombay high court has quashed and set aside an order of the Caste Scrutiny Committee of Maharashtra government which had invalidated the claim of a student, who was pursuing the final year in engineering, that he belonged to the Scheduled Tribe.

A bench, while setting aside the impugned order of September 24, 2010, recently remanded the matter back to the Caste Scrutiny Committee for reconsideration of the claim put by Swapnil Gaikwad, a resident of nearby Thane, that he belonged to Thakur caste, which comes under Scheduled Tribe.

The court opined that in this case, the scrutiny committee had not considered the documents and evidence and wrongly applied law on “affinity test issue, area restriction removal and caste certificates of relatives based on similar wrongly framed issues”. Hence, it was setting aside the order.

The court asked the scrutiny committee to reconsider every aspect, by giving an opportunity to all parties. Liberty was given to the student to apply before the committee for filing additional evidence, oral and documentary material.

Justices Anoop Mohota and A A Sayed asked the petitioner to appear before the concerned committee on June 10. Thereafter, the committee was asked to fix the date and schedule the hearing to dispose of the matter early, preferably within four months from the date of receipt of the judgement/order.

The court said that in case the committee passes an adverse order against the petitioner, the same should not be given effect to and/or acted upon for four weeks thereafter from the date of communication of the order.

In that event, the court held that the petitioner would be allowed to finish the engineering course. However, it will be subject to the final decision of the scrutiny committee and/or subsequent challenge, if any.

The judges also ruled that any interim protection granted earlier to the student would continue.

Describing his predecessor and former Test player Madhav Mantri – who died today aged 92 – as one of the giants of Mumbai and Indian cricket, Mumbai Cricket Association president Sharad Pawar said he was an inspiration to the city’s cricketers.

“He may have looked diminutive, but Madhav Mantri was well and truly one of the giants of Mumbai and Indian cricket. The game of cricket and cricket administration were dearer to him than anything else,” said Pawar in his condolence message.

“He served Mumbai and India in several capacities. He played for India in four Tests, in the 1950s. He captained Mumbai to three Ranji Trophy titles in the 1950s, and inspired youngsters in the city to excel at the sport,” said Pawar.

The NCP supremo also praised Mantri for recognising the importance of fielding, a neglected art in his prime days, and for his contributions to the game in different capacities after his playing days.

“A visionary, he was among the earliest cricketing gurus in India to recognise and emphasise the importance of fielding, at a time when this department of the game was not valued as much as batting and bowling.

“He was a national selector in the 1960s. As President of the Mumbai Cricket Association from 1987-88 to 1991-92, he set high standards for his successors, with his accomplishments and commitment. He was Treasurer of the BCCI from 1990 to 1992. He loved sharing his views on cricketing matters with youngsters. He managed the Indian team on its tour of England in 1990,” he said.

“Two of the youngest members of the side on that tour, Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble, would have learnt a lot from him.

“He would make it a point to watch international and domestic cricket matches at the Wankhede Stadium. He regularly attended functions organised by the Mumbai Cricket Association, and would advise and guide players and administrators. He was hugely proud of his association with Mumbai cricket.

“He was a stickler for discipline, and for playing the game in the right spirit. Indian and Mumbai cricket will miss this extraordinary individual,” Pawar added.