The National Investigating Agency (NIA) has sought rejection of the application filed by an accused, an alleged member of a Hindu extremist group, in the 2006 Malegoan blast case opposing the discharge plea of nine Muslim men.
The investigators had earlier arrested nine Muslim men, however the NIA, after it took over the probe, found that the blast was the handiwork of a Hindu extremist organisation.
In its application filed this week before the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act Court’s judge Y D Shinde, NIA has said the accused Manohar Singh has no right to be heard (locus standi) in this issue.
“As per provisions of law, co-accused has no locus standi in the discharge application filed by any other accused,” NIA has said.
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad had arrested Noorul Huda Samsudoha (28), Shabbir Ahmed Masiullah (41), Raees Ahmed Rajab Ali Mansuri (35), Dr. Salman Farsi Abdul Latif Aimi (40), Dr. Farogh Iqbal Ahmed Magdumi (38), Mohammad Ali Alam Sheikh (42), Asif Khan Bashir Khan alias Junaid (35), Mohammad Zahid Abdul Majid Ansari (31) and Abrar Ahmed Gulam Ahmed (38) in connection with the two blasts.
But NIA claimed that the blasts were carried out by a Hindu right-wing group, and arrested Lokesh Sharma, Dhan Singh, Manohar Singh and Rajendra Choudhary. They were chargesheeted.
The aforesaid nine Muslim men got bail, and filed application for discharge, which is being heard.
The Hindu group came under the scanner following a confession of Swami Aseemanand, an accused in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case.
Two blasts in Malegaon, a communally sensitive town in Nashik district, killed 37 people on September 8, 2006.
After 10 long years, the 6.5-km Santa Cruz-Chembur Link Road was finally thrown open to public in Mumbai today. The road is expected to cut commuting time between the two areas from nearly an hour to just ten minutes.
The project, which has already earned the embarrassing tag of being the ‘world’s most delayed road project’, will provide crucial east-west connectivity in a linear city like Mumbai.
The road, which was due to open in 2004, has missed several deadlines. While the initial cost of the project was Rs. 115 crore, it now stands at a whopping Rs. 435 crore.
The road has a four-lane double-decker flyover, the first-of-its-kind in India. The project was delayed due to problems in rehabilitating a huge number of people and delay in construction of a bridge over the railway tracks in Kurla.
The road is being thrown open just a week before elections in Mumbai as this is a major infrastructure project and the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government wants to reap electoral benefits.
The opening comes after the government inaugurated other major infrastructure projects like the new terminal at Mumbai airport, the Sahar Elevated Corridor, the Eastern Freeway and the Mumbai Monorail.
The Opposition has alleged that these projects have seen delays due to the government’s inefficiency and are being thrown open right ahead of elections as pre-poll stunts. Apart from infrastructure projects, the state government also increased the cut-off date for legalisation of slums as pre-poll sop.
Mumbai BJP President Ashish Shelar said, “Obviously, this is a political gimmick. The Congress has done this only to get the vote of the people and this is their political intention. Whether it will benefit the Congress, I don’t think so. It is purely political gain and we have complained about the same to the Election Commission.”
But Sachin Sawant, spokesperson for the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee, defended his party by saying, “It is definitely an achievement from our side. It adds to our satisfaction and it is not related to the polls. If it is ready, why should we stop its opening for the election? It is not an election agenda.”
No politician was present for the opening as the model code of conduct is currently in force.
According to sources, the road was ready a few days ago but the government wanted to throw it open just before elections in Mumbai. This morning, the new road was still getting finishing touches even as traffic started plying on it.
Terming the BJP’s announcement of Prime Ministerial nominee Narendra Modi as a “sign of impatience”, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Thursday said they are not fighting the elections on issues, but only to make Narendra Modi the Prime Minister. “Any political party contests a certain election on specific issues or the development issue, but, the BJP is contesting the general on Thursday evening at Ghoti.
Launching a scathing attack on Modi, the NCP chief said most of the communal riots (in the country) took place in Gujarat. “When a people’s representative was set on fire at a short distance, Modi did not show the courtesy to meet his family members to offer them condolences,” he said in an apparent reference to 2002 post-Godhra riots victim and former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri.
These elections are important for the nation, he said, adding that that in the last 10 years, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh enhanced the level of development of the country. “…in my tenure as agriculture minister, we reached to the root of the cause to prevent farmers’ suicides in Maharashtra and we have waived loans of the farmers,” the Union minister said.
“Our paddy and cotton have reached international market. Our UPA government has introduced the Food Security Bill so that no one would starve,” he said while describing the achievements of the central government. He said that during the earlier Congress rule in Gujarat, the GDP of that state was 17 per cent but now during Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s rule, the GDP has come down to 8 per cent.
NCP sitting MP from Nashik, Sameer Bhujbal and senior Congress leader Vinayakdada Patil were present on the occasion.
Today, the biggest issue this country is facing is corruption. The country has seen mega scams in the last 10 years of UPA regime and voters want to bring an end to the ‘Mahacorrupt’ government. People are not concerned about why Modi has not disclosed his childhood marriage before. People are concerned with what he is going to deliver for the country. Modi is being tagged as #Feku on social network for lying time and again and stating the wrong facts. It is natural that the supporters of a person/ party come under question while leader gives some wrong statement and reduces his credibility. Though it is a personal matter but hiding the truth does not suit a leader. He always said that he is a bachelor. When opposition created hullaballoo over the issue then he declared that she is his wife. He should be answerable to his voters about her basic rights denied by him. He is the leader who always talks about Women’s Rights in a Democracy. Yes, India is the biggest democracy and he should know that charity begins at home and he should practice what he preaches.
Finally, he revealed that he is married because he has eyes on the PM post and secondly, Jasodaben was already in news. He might have thought if he declared himself a bachelor, this issue of his marriage may get him into controversy and to avoid the hullabaloo, he declared her name in the election form and ended up in a muddle. I agree, marriage is a private matter, but the surprise disclosure by the PM candidate raises many unanswered questions. The sudden disclosure after so many years of denying existence of a wife is a clear case of lie and perjury. Moreover, he admitted that his marriage was a child marriage. Then who was the culprit and who should be punished for that? If it was not child marriage, then who will take action against Modi for depriving his wife’s her rights, leaving her without giving divorce. No matter what, but the lady has suffered all these years. Now, Modi’s supporters are terming it as sacrifice and tapasya. This is not about linking Mr. Modi’s silence about his wife to position of women in the country. The real question is, why he has hidden the truth and why he did not accept that he is a married guy? Was it not only for a political mileage, that he has sacrificed his personal feelings for the sake of people? It is about his mentality; if he cannot do justice to his wife then how can we expect him to do justice to the women of this country?
To marry and have a wife is one’s personal choice. This revelation is fully comprehended by conservative ideologues of new renaissance behind BJP when they do final character sketch for its future PM. If one fails to deliver normal affinity to his wife, how can it be a better choice for the bulk of diversified India?
Unfortunately, the act added more spice than intended in favour of the opposition and the impact feasibility study seems went wrong. Though, the West owns its own frailties, it insists obsessively for clean leaders to rule them. They peek into minute details of leaders’ biography, search genealogy and discuss it before exercising the revered democratic conscience. There is no intolerance for candidates or party but the aggressive instant flow of comments.
BJP supporters and leaders are actually hiding the fact by saying the marriage happened at a very young age, when Modi was just 17 and since it is a child marriage it need not to be entertained. The real issue here is not whether that was a child marriage or not, but why a person in his capacity, and a PM aspirant, had hidden the very fact in the previous elections, and why he is disclosing it in this election? Besides, he himself was saying time and again I am a bachelor, and will not involve in scams and corruptions like family men do.
Child marriage is not new in Indian society. Kids are married at a tender age when they don’t even understand the institution of marriage. Secondly, the electoral and judicial system has also made mandatory the disclosure of personal details like assets and that might hinder the candidacy of a candidate contesting in the elections.
Recently, we see BJP’s advertisement on TV showcasing women empowerment, women safety, women development.
Ironically, their PM candidate is the man who has never acknowledged the fact that he has a wife. What role model will Modi play when he refused to acknowledge his own wife? Had they been legally separated, then the case would have been different. If he was married in childhood, why didn’t he do something when he became an adult? What took him so long? Further, in a country where women have a robust public presence, keeping his wife hidden away from the public eye, suggested a regressive view on Modi’s part of a woman’s place in this country. Personal life and conduct of course reflect the character of the person. It is high time, Modi acknowledges his mistake and take sincere steps to address the issue.
Narendra Modi said that, if voted to power, he would give priority to preventing corruption in future before addressing the old cases and would be ready to face investigation if charges are levelled against him “professionally”.
He also talked about dealing with criminalisation of politics, saying his government would ask the Supreme Court to create a mechanism to fast-track pending cases against lawmakers.
The BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate insisted that he would not make any special appeal to any community for votes as he believes in oneness of all the 1.25 crore people of the country and would not mind defeat at the hustings in the process.
Describing corruption as a “disease”, Modi said he would put in place a mechanism by which corruption could be prevented.
“My priority will be developing a system by which the scope of corruption is minimised. We have to decide either I should concentrate my efforts on preventing new corruption or to clean up the old mess. My conscience says that my focus should to be ensuring that new mess (of corruption) is not created,” he said.
“We have to decide whether I should focus my energy on preventing new corruption or waste time on cleaning up old mess,” he added.
“If I create such a mechanism which has technology and transparency and all the preventive measures, we will address jointly the issue of corruption. That should not be political, otherwise the cause will be defeated and this disease will continue to increase,” he said.
In case charges of corruption are levelled against him in the capacity of Prime Minister, Modi said, “Professionally if there are any allegations against me, those cases should get stuck but should continue. Modi should stop them.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Kumar Vishwas on Friday sat on a dharna on the premises of Gauriganj police station demanding immediate registration of FIR Priyanka Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and some Congress workers in connection with an alleged threat by a party man.
However, Circle Officer Naveen Kumar Singh said that the FIR would be registered only after a probe into the matter.
“We have got an application from Vishwas for lodging an FIR against Rahul, Priyanka, Chandrakant Dubey, Vinod Mishra and other Congress workers. We will examine it and take appropriate action,” Superintendent of Police Hiralal said. The application filed at Gauriganj police station also names Rahul’s representative Dubey. When asked about it, Vishwas said that on April 15 during Priyanka Gandhi’s tour, a video of Congress worker Vinod Mishra had been “leaked” in which he allegedly said “Vishwas Rahul bhaiya ke khilaf bol raha hai mai usko goli maar dunga” (Vishwas is talking against Rahul, I will shoot him).”
Vishwas alleged that instead of telling about it to the police, Priyanka called Mishra at the guest house. He said that he would also approach the Election Commission.
“If I am attacked in future, Congress will be responsible for it,” he said.
12 gold biscuits, each weighing 33 grams, have been found inside the abdomen of a businessman in Delhi.
The 63-year-old had approached the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in the national capital for a surgery, stating that he had swallowed a water bottle cap and wanted to get it out of his body.
“He approached us on April 7 seeking surgery to remove a water bottle cap which he claimed he had accidentally swallowed. We got an X-ray done and it didn’t appear to be a cap. As the gold bars got stacked one behind the other it appeared to be a metal,” said Dr C S Ramachandran, senior consulting surgeon at Sir Ganga Ram hospital.
A team of doctors operated upon him on April 9 to get through the abdominal cavity and removed the foreign metal.
“We were shocked to find not one but 12 gold biscuits in his abdomen. When we asked him he was not ready to speak. We immediately sealed them in a container and handed it over to
the medical superintendent,” said Dr Ramachandran adding that the patient was discharged on April 15.
The hospital authorities later informed the police and subsequently the custom department officials were informed.
Dr Ramachandran said that the patient, a businessman from Chandni Chowk, was a known patient and he had operated upon him thrice in the past since 1989.
“He was operated for gall bladder removal, appendicitis and incisional hernia. He had diabetes. We were shocked when gold biscuits came out of his abdomen during the operation… But I am at least happy that I could save his life. If it would have stayed inside for couple of more days, it would have led to severe bleeding, rapture of the intestine, and septicemia. Moreover, he had severe diabetes,” said the doctor.
According to hospital sources, the man had swallowed the 12 gold biscuits, worth approximately Rs12 lakhs in all, to smuggle them into the country from Singapore 10 days ago.
He landed in trouble when he failed to get it out through his stool. It eventually started hurting him because of which he approached the doctors.
Faced with criticism over the claims made by Sanjaya Baru and PC Parakh in their recently released books, the Prime Minister’s Office on Friday came out in strong defence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s 10-year track record in office.
Pankaj Pachauri, communications advisor to the Prime Minister, on Friday rejected the charge that Singh had remained silent on various issues facing his government over the last few years.
“The Prime Minister has made more than 1000 speeches and more than half of what he said has been achieved in last 10 years,” Pachauri said.
“In the last 10 years, the PM has made a speech every 3 days,” Pachauri noted, while ruing that “news channels do not cover the Prime Minister as much”.
“He has preferred to talk about politics on the floor of the House and in the last five years the Parliament has not given him enough chances to speak,” he added.
“In the last two years, communication between the media and the PMO has improved,” he said further.
Two recently released books – one by Singh’s former media advisor Sanjaya Baru and the other by former coal secretary PC Parakh – have blamed the PM for surrendering his authority to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and of inaction in preventing the coal blocks allocation scam.
Pachauri said he too, like Baru, has been offered to write a book on his stint in the PMO but will not write one.
Baru has been slammed by the PMO, Singh’s daughter and many others for betraying the trust of the PM by writing the book that apparently exposes the relationship between the PM and the Congress chief. Baru has alleged in the book that Sonia used to vet several of the PMO’s files.
Reacting on the issue, Pachauri said, “The PMO has made statements twice, his daughter too has made a statement.”
Parakh, in his book, claimed that the PM had failed to ensure that auction process was followed in the allocation of coal blocks, which led to the humongous scam dubbed as Coalgate.
The Supreme Court’s verdict on the petition by the Centre challenging Tamil Nadu Government’s decision to release all seven life convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi Assassination case would be pronounced within a week, Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam indicated.
The petition was pending before the court and arguments had been completed. Since he was demitting office as CJI on April 25, the verdict will be given before that, he told reporters here replying to a specific question about the petition.
When scribes persisted with more questions on the issue, Justice Sathasivam, here to attend a Judges’ conference, quipped “It is not correct to talk about the case. Your colleagues in Delhi will tell you about it in another week.”
On February 20, a bench headed by the CJI has stayed the state government’s order, saying there have been procedural lapses on the part of the state.
The Centre had filed a petition challenging the state government’s authority in ordering the release of all seven convicts, a day after the Supreme Court rejected its appeal against the commutation of death sentence to three convicts in the case — Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan.
To a question on pending cases in various Courts, Justice Sathasivam said in a huge country like India, it was quite natural to have large number of cases and the courts were taking efforts to clear them.
Moreover, during the last two to three years, the government has brought out new laws by which cases like domestic violence act and rape (IPC 376), recorded an increase, he said.
Azam Khan, a senior minister in Uttar Pradesh, said he will not apologise for an alleged hate speech that led to him being banned from campaigning by the Election Commission.
“I have not committed a crime,” Mr. Khan said. The 55-year-old is a prominent Muslim face of the state’s ruling Samajwadi Party.
Earlier this month, the Election Commission made rallies and public meetings off-limits for Mr. Khan and Amit Shah, a top aide of the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi who is running his campaign in Uttar Pradesh. Both were accused of making speeches designed to incite tension between Hindus and Muslims in Uttar Pradesh, which elects 80 parliamentarians.
The ban on Mr. Shah was lifted last evening after the Election Commission said the BJP leader had conceded his fault and in writing vowed not to use “abusive or derogatory language.”
The Samajwadi Party suggested that the commission had not treated Mr. Shah and Mr. Khan equally. “When Azam Khan defends his action, how can the ban on his campaign be lifted?” asked an Election Commission source. “We can examine that once he accepts our authority and orders,” said the source.
Muslims account for nearly 20 per cent of the population of UP. In September last year, Hindu-Muslim riots, allegedly fuelled by inflammatory speeches by leaders from a cross-section of parties, left nearly 60 people dead in Muzaffarnagar in the western part of the state. Nearly 60,000 people were displaced.
The BJP, under prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, is expected to win the maximum seats in the national election -voting, spread across nine phases, ends on May 12; results will be declared on May 16.
Narendra Modi said that, if voted to power, he would give priority to preventing corruption in future before addressing the old cases and would be ready to face investigation if charges are levelled against him “professionally”.