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Hindu Terror Propaganda by Congress

Ahead of Lok Sabha elections, there is shocking news repeatedly telecast by electronic media that Aseemanand, a key accused in several terror attacks between 2006 and 2008, has alleged that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS sanctioned these strikes. The Caravan magazine which has published his interview claims that Aseemanand has said this all to him. Now, the question is, after seven years of arrest, what made Aseemanand to give such interview and other thing is how a journalist was allowed to interview him in jail? Suppose the journalist managed to interview, but is there any recording or proof to his claims? If yes then why those interviews were not aired on television, radio or websites? Right now, Congress supporting media houses are disproved and rejected by Social media and lost its credibility. Tehelka is almost vanished and Cobra Post is just labelled as Congress’s mouthpiece, no one takes them serious today and now another magazine emerges. Anyways this is not the first attempt to connect extreme Hindu organisations with RSS and termed them as “Saffron terror”.

What is the status of police investigations, in three major blasts happened in 2007? After seven years of investigations, some conclusions are surely expected. Days after a magazine quoted him saying that his terrorism acts were sanctioned by the RSS chief, Aseemanand has denied of having given any such interview to the magazine. Delhi-based Caravan Magazine carried a press release in which Aseemanand was quoted as saying that his terrorist acts were ‘sanctioned by the highest levels of the RSS-all the way up to Mohan Bhagwat, the current RSS chief, who was the organisation’s general secretary at the time’.

Aseemanand is incarcerated in Ambala Central Jail for abetting terrorist attacks on various targets between 2006 and 2008 Samjhauta Express (February 2007), Hyderabad Mecca Masjid (May 2007), Ajmer Dargah (October 2007) and two attacks in Malegaon (September 2006 and September 2008) which together took the lives of 119 people. Aseemanand’s lawyer has come up with a press release, terming the interview ‘a bundle of lies’. The press release says that the content of the article are false and baseless and Aseemanand has denied of having given any such interview. Aseemanand, in the press release, has challenged the magazine to prove the truth of the allegations or apologise. The interview, published with a caption ‘The Believer’ in the magazine’s February edition, is a compilation of four interviews taken during various occasions in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 at Ambala Jail.

Whenever something goes wrong in any part of the country, the first target will be the minorities and attack will be at Hindus. Whenever Hindu’s are targeted then, no matter whosoever are the terrorists, they are labelled as Pakistani and Indian minorities are protected. Somewhere something is unfair. Protecting the rights of minority may be on priority for each and every government but accusing Hindus is also not fair. Terrorist is terrorist, they have no religion then why fingers are raised against Hindus? Investigation agencies always suspect, and suspect comes out clean? Are their sources authentic or they knowingly do this thing? Can’t they have neutral approach to investigations with not just one dimension but from different dimensions? In this way, many innocent lives will be saved and investigations will bring culprits to their dues.

Terrorists have no religion; irrespective of the religion, culprits must be punished as per the law of the country. But, many of the people arrested in Mecca Masjid blasts are implicated in other blasts like Gokul chat, Lumbini park etc. It is a fact that majority of the terrorists acts are committed by misguided youth. Till to-date, Hindu terrorists are in fraction when compared with Muslim terrorists. Police have rights to investigate but without torture. They must be treated as per the law, but they must not be let free with hefty compensation. Justice should be speedy; punishment given by the courts should be implemented fast. Terrorists like Afzal, Rajiv killers etc are still not punished as per the court’s verdict due to vote bank politics. This shows how our police work.

After Malegaon blast, there was appeal to ban Abhinav Bharat, the home ministry wrote to the state government opposing proscribing of Abhinava Bharat — accused of launching bomb attacks at Mecca Masjid, Malegaon, Samjhauta Express and Ajmer Shariff — under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). According to sources in the MHA, there wasn’t substantial material at hand to establish Abhinav Bharat’s “terror activities” over the last two to three years. Also, there was no clear information available on the organizational structure of the Hindutva outfit, including its leadership and cadre still at large, or its infrastructure such as offices and hideouts. The security agencies also had no track of its continued terror funding.

Swami Aseemanand, Lt Col Shrikant Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Lokesh Sharma, Kamal Chauhan, Sunil Joshi (now dead) and Rajendra Choudhary are some of the Abhinav Bharat leaders already arrested for their role in various blasts, including the 2007 Samjhauta train blasts and Malegaon, Mecca Masjid and Ajmer Shariff explosions. But, nothing has been proven against them, till today. The National Investigation Agency has filed charge-sheets against Aseemanand but not named any prominent RSS leader. Sources in the agency say they are not sure how the Caravan magazine’s revelation can change anything. Ahead of the national election, due in May, these allegations are likely to take a political turn.
It is noteworthy that Shrikant Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya etc. have been behind bars for years and are in no position to interfere with the evidence gathering, the Police have not been able to charge them in the court of law. Then ATS Chief Hemant Karkare was under tremendous pressure from the NCP bosses including the Home Minister R R Patil to fabricate evidence against them. Now, Congress is already in deep trouble for trying to frame Col. Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya, Aseemanand and other Hindu members despite clear intelligence input even from US that all these blasts have been carried out by LeT. Congress badly failed to frame and charge sheet these people in any of the cases but still keeping them behind bars for over a decade to defame Hindu outfits and attack BJP for petty political gain. That is why; Congress does not want to invite further trouble by banning Abhinav Bharat and polarize votes. Now, they again played dirty by ‘imaginary’ interview of Aseemanand. Everyone knows, the RSS is the ideological mentor of the BJP, and is the fountainhead of a grouping that calls itself the “Sangh Parivar.” If they manage to damage the image of RSS, Congress may retain power after general elections in centre. But, I think this time it won’t happen.

Sena leader moves HC on Adarsh, names Gadkari’s associate

Neelam-GorheShiv Sena leader Neelam Gorhe has approached the Bombay High Court seeking invocation of Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act, Environment (Protection) Act and Benami Transaction Act against the persons accused by CBI in the Adarsh Housing Society scam.

Interestingly, her petition mentions Abhay Sancheti, an alleged “close associate” of BJP leader Nitin Gadkari, named by the two-member judicial commission which probed the scam.

“The commission in its final report has clearly mentioned that the society had not sought clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests to construct in a Coastal Regulation Zone II area. This amounts to violation under the Environment (Protection) Act,” the petition states.

It further adds that the commission had pointed out that 22 out of the 100 flats are ‘benami’. “The commission in its report said that out of the 22 benami flats, eight are in the name of Abhay Sancheti who is said to be a close associate of former BJP president Nitin Gadkari. Investigation must be conducted under Benami Transaction Act against the accused persons,” the petition said.

However, when the petition came up for hearing before the division bench of Justices N H Patil and V L Achiliya, the judges recused themselves without giving any reasons.

The petition will now be placed before another bench.

Pragya Thakur to be taken to Indore for more cancer tests

Pragya-ThakurSadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, a key suspect in the murder of RSS Pracharak Sunil Joshi, will be taken to Indore soon for PET scan as part of her treatment for cancer.

Pragya, who was diagnosed with cancer last year and had been undergoing treatment at the Pandit Khushilal Ayurveda Hospital, was briefly shifted to Jawaharlal Nehru Cancer Hospital (JNCH) on Tuesday after her condition deteriorated.

“She was brought back to the Pandit Khushilal Ayurveda Hospital last evening”, her relative Bhagwan Jha said.

He said timing of the Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan–which is done to find out the stage of cancer and its spread–will be finalised after securing permission from police since Pragya is in their custody.

Pragya was arrested by the Maharashtra police in connection with the Malegaon blasts of 2008. Later, the Madhya Pradesh police had arrested her in February 2011 for her alleged role in Sunil Joshi’s murder.

Joshi was named as an accused in the Malegaon and Samjhauta Express blasts cases, and was found murdered at Dewas in MP on December 29, 2007.

Bhatkal, Asadullah sent in ATS custody in 2011triple blast case

Bhatkal-AsadullahA special MCOCA court today remanded Indian Mujahideen (IM) co-founder Yasin Bhatkal and his aide Asadullah Akhtar in ATS custody till February 18 in connection with the 2011 Mumbai terror attack case.

The duo was arrested on Wednesday by the Mumbai Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) after a Delhi court allowed its plea seeking their custody, saying their custodial interrogation was required to complete the probe.

Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told judge Y D Shinde that Bhatkal was the key conspirator of the three powerful blasts which ripped through crowded areas in Mumbai on July 13, 2011, killing at least 21 people and injuring 141.
Bhatkal played a very important role in procuring explosives and making Improvised Explosive Device (IED), he said. Nikam also told the court that they want to find out how the money was routed through hawala to execute the blasts.

“The court has allowed us to hand cuff the accused while being transported,” he said. However, defence lawyers told the court that since the ATS was conducting supplementary investigation, the accused should be remanded in judicial custody.

They also told the court that Bhatkal and Akhtar don’t want to make any confessions to ATS about the crime. Meanwhile, before the hearing, the court appointed lawyer V D More from legal aid panel to represent Bhatkal, who wore a smile on his face during the court proceedings while Akhtar had a grim look.

Akhtar’s lawyer Sherif Sheikh and More also moved an application in the court that the accused were detained illegally for a day. Earlier, five accused – Naquee Ahmed, Nadeem Shaikh, Kanwar Pathrija, Haroon Naik and Mohammed Qafeel Ansari were held in the case and are facing trial under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), Indian Penal Code and other laws.

Those wanted in the case are Riyaz Bhatkal, who is also a top operative of the alleged home grown terror outfit, Waqas Ibrahim Sad, Dubai-based Muzaffar Kolah and Tehseen Akhtar Shaikh, the police said. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had arrested Yasin Bhatkal (30), who is wanted in over 40 terror cases and carries a reward of Rs. 35 lakh, as well as Akhtar, from the Indo-Nepal border on the night of August 28 last year.

Bhatkal, who hails from Bhatkal village of Udupi district in North Karnataka, is wanted in a string of terror attacks in Ahmedabad, Surat, Bangalore, Pune, Delhi and Hyderabad, the agency had said. Bhatkal, who was earlier associated with banned outfit SIMI, is suspected to have allegedly conspired along with others to “wage war against India.”

Bombay HC asks IT tribunal to hear Vodafone case expeditiously

Bombay-HCThe Bombay High Court directed the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) to hear the Rs. 3,700-crore transfer pricing tax demand dispute involving Vodafone India Services on a daily basis from February 21.

The division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice M S Sanklecha advanced the hearing date from March 21 to February 21, and directed the tribunal to hear and decide the matter expeditiously.

The court also asked both Vodafone and the Income Tax department not to seek any adjournments during the hearings.

The order was passed on a petition filed by the IT department challenging an interim order of the tribunal staying the Rs. 3,700 crore tax demand against Vodafone India.

The tribunal, in December last year, also directed the telecom giant to deposit Rs. 200 crore and provide corporate guarantees for the balance tax amount of Rs. 3,500 crore.

The IT department in its petition urged that the amount of Rs. 200 crore to be deposited by Vodafone was too low.

The department slapped a demand of Rs. 3,700 crore on Vodafone for FY08, which was a fall out of an earlier transfer-pricing order seeking to add Rs. 8,500 crore to the taxable income of the company from the deal that involved it selling its BPO unit to an offshore entity. The company challenged the demand before the Appellate Tribunal.

The IT department had in January slapped another Rs. 3,000 crore demand on the company in another transfer pricing case, which was stayed by the court on January 30.

Transfer pricing refers to the actual price at which a transaction takes place between two related parties, usually belonging to the same group.

Enforcement Directorate registers money laundering case in QNet scam case

Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a money laundering case in connection with the alleged Rs. 425 crore financial fraud involving multi-level marketing firm QNet in which the name of former world billiards champion Michael Ferreira has cropped up.

Besides Ferreira, actor Boman Irani’s son Danesh is also under the scanner in the alleged QNet scam. The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police has already questioned Ferreira and Danesh.

The Mumbai office of ED has registered the case under the Prevention of Money laundering Act (PMLA) after taking cognisance of the EOW FIR filed in this case, official sources said.

The case has cross-border ramifications of monetary transactions and hence the agency has been brought in to probe this angle, they said.
The investigative agency may soon issue summons to all the accused in the case, they said.

The EOW has so far arrested nine team leaders of QNet for allegedly duping investors of crores of rupees by offering to sell products like magnetic disks, herbal products and holiday schemes through alleged fraudulent practices.
QNet has also been accused of using the banned binary pyramid business model for their multi-level marketing (MLM) schemes to entice investors. Investigating agencies have in the recent past keeping a watch on such cases across the country.

The accused in this case have been charged with cheating and forgery under relevant sections of the Prize, Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act 1978 and the ED probe will now focus on alleged money laundering.

Both Ferreira and Danesh along with QNet have denied any wrongdoing on their part in this case.

Will go all guns blazing on Navi Mumbai airport: GVK

GVKGVK Infra which operates the Mumbai International Airport or MIAL says that it will go all guns blazing to bid for the Navi Mumbai international airport. The state government of Maharashtra recently called for a request for qualification or RFQ for the construction of the much-delayed second airport in Mumbai.

“We will certainly bid for the project. We already have a right for first refusal or RoFR for the project, so we have a prize presence,” Issac George, the chief financial officer of GVK Infra said, in a analyst conference call.

The project had been delayed for many years the state government could not acquire the land required for the project. GVK, which already runs the domestic and international airports, was given an RoFR as they would lose some of their existing traffic. GVK will be asked to match the bid of the highest bidder for the project, and it shall pass on to others only if they refuse to do so.

George also said that they might have to wait a little longer for the project as the final bids for the project, are expected only in June. Spread over 1,160 hectares, the project would be one of the biggest airport projects to seek bids since the airport modernisation projects of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad were awarded in 2005.

The Navi Mumbai airport project which is expected to be completed in four phases will cost as much as Rs. 14,574 crore. It will have two parallel runways of 3,700 meters of length.

GVK has also recently launched its new terminal at Mumbai international airport T2. It also plans to now commercialise as much as eight acres of land that belongs to the airport, in four parcels. This land which can translate into 1.8 million square feet of space is not as a part of the encroached land that is currently under dispute.

“We have some bids come in, which we have evaluated. We are in negotiations with the individual parties. We should be able to finalise in a week or so,” said George. The land is located in the lucrative Western suburbs of Mumbai. GVK got the right to monetise the land as it won the bid to develop the Mumbai airport.

The infrastructure company which has presence across sectors like power and transportation too, has a consolidated debt of Rs. 20,970 crore. It is also looking to reduce its debt by selling stake in the airports holding company. It owns and operates airports in Mumbai and Bangalore.

“We already got two binding term sheets from two investors,” said George, without revealing the names due to a confidential agreements that they have with them. The amount of investment and the extent of equity dilution too is under discussions, he said.

Police meet citizens at Kandivali

Police-meet-citizensPolice had a meeting with Kandivali residents at Vrindavan society, Kandivali. The meeting was organized by New Saibaba Nagar Welfare Association and was presided by Prof. DP Mehta.

D.C.P B. K Rajput (Zone XI) presided over the meeting. A.C.P. Kandivali Division, A.C.P. Borivali division, officer from Crime branch unit XI, Sr. P.I. Borivali, P.I. (L & O), Kandivali, Sr. P.I. traffic attended the meeting .

Residents have put forward several questions before the police officials as they replied them. Crimes like chain snatching, theft, house breaking, eve-teasing were discussed at length.

D.C.P. Rajput had asked people to remain vigilant and urged them to install CCTV cameras at housing societies. He assured to strengthen patrolling in remote and sensitive locations where risk of chain snatching is more.

He stated that “Police is for the Public” and any complaint filed by citizen will be addressed promptly. Large number of residents attended the meeting and there was a healthy interaction between police and citizens.

CBI slaps murder, conspiracy charges on 3 IB officers; Amit Shah not named in Ishrat Jahan case

Ishrat-Jahan-case-amitshahFormer Gujarat Intelligence Bureau chief Rajinder Kumar has been charged with murder and three serving officers have been accused of conspiracy in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case. Ishrat, a 19-year-old college student, was killed by policemen in an alleged fake encounter 10 years ago.

In its supplementary chargesheet filed, the Central Bureau of Investigation has also accused Rajinder Kumar and the three serving IB officers – P Mittal, MK Sinha and Rajiv Wankhede – of conspiracy and illegal confinement.

Mr. Kumar has been charged under the Arms Act too; the CBI has alleged that he provided the weapons used by the Gujarat cops to kill Ishrat and three others and an AK-56 that, the agency alleges, was planted at the scene of the shooting to portray the victims as terrorists.

But nowhere does the 200-odd page charge-sheet mention a motive for the alleged involvement of these officers, a fact that is expected to exacerbate friction between the IB and the CBI. The Intelligence Bureau has said that though its officers had alerted the Gujarat police to the possibility that Ishrat and the others could be affiliated to terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, its officers did not authorize or participate in the killing.

The IB had vehemently objected to Mr. Kumar’s interrogation by the CBI in the case last year, arguing that it would affect the morale down the ranks of the IB and also that it would set a dangerous precedent because its members often work undercover and have sources that would dry up if its officers were entangled in police cases. The home ministry had backed the IB.

Ishrat Jahan was killed along with three men on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on 15 June, 2004, by Gujarat crime branch officers who claimed they had been told by the IB that the four were terrorists who planned to assassinate Narendra Modi, the state’s chief minister who is now running for Prime Minister.

In its first charge-sheet in July last year, the CBI accused seven senior policemen of murdering Ishrat and the others “in cold blood”. Amid the tension with the IB, it did not name Mr. Kumar, who was then serving. He retired about a month later.

Today’s chargesheet does not mention former Gujarat Home Minister and Narendra Modi aide Amit Shah, who the CBI had interrogated.

AAP government puts Sheila Dikshit’s role under scanner in CWG scam

Under pressure to act against the previous Congress government in Delhi over the Commonwealth Games scam, the Aam Aadmi Party government on Thursday forwarded files relating to the scam to the anti-corruption bureau and asked it look into the allegations against former chief minister Sheila Dikshit.

The ACB would probe the alleged irregularities in a case related to the procurement of street lights at inflated prices and is likely to file an FIR.

Also, the Delhi government, Monday, wrote to President Pranab Mukherjee seeking action against Sheila Dikshit for allegedly trying to gain political mileage by granting regularisation certificates to unauthorised colonies in the Capital.

The Prime Minister-appointed Shunglu Committee had blamed Sheila Dikshit and then Delhi Lt Governor Tejinder Khanna for procedural violations and inadequacies in executing projects related to the Commonwealth Games.

The Arvind Kejriwal-led government had been facing fire from the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) over its unwillingness to fast-track the probe against Dikshit and others.

Kejriwal had earlier said he had proof of wrongdoings during CWG and had prepared a report but nobody was named in it. “In November 2010, I had prepared a 370-page report on the CWG scam which contains evidence on corrupt practices during CWG. It doesn’t mention any names. It was based on newspaper reports,” he said.

Kejriwal had said that he would go ahead with the investigation into the scam unfazed by the fact that the Congress could pull out of the government.

However, with his government now deciding to go ahead with the probe, the stage appears set for a showdown with the Congress. The Aam Aadmi Party is in power in Delhi with the Congress’s support.