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Sheena murder: Sanjeev Khanna confesses, Mikhail submits evidence

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Indrani Mukerjea’s former husband Sanjeev Khanna (in mask) in police custody. Photo: IE

Indrani Mukerjea’s former husband Sanjeev Khanna (in mask) in police custody. Photo: IE

Mumbai: As investigators waddled through an intriguing web of lies and deceit in the Sheena Bora murder case, Mumbai Police on Friday took Sanjeev Khanna, a prime accused and former husband of co-accused Indrani Mukherjea, to the spot where the young woman was killed three years ago. Khanna later cracked and confessed to his role in the crime.

Police, acting on a court order, permitted Indrani to meet her lawyers while in custody, and officers again questioned former media baron Peter Mukherjea — Indrani’s husband — and the victim’s brother Mikhail, who, after flying into Mumbai from Guwahati, vowed to get justice for his murdered sister.

The probe picked up pace when Khanna, nabbed in Kolkata, was brought here and sent to police custody till August 31.

In a major breakthrough in the murder case, Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria told media persons late on Friday that Khanna has cracked and confessed to his role in the crime.

“(Indrani’s son) Mikhail Bora has submitted some evidence to us. We are in the process of verifying it,” Maria added.

Indrani was arrested on August 25 on charges of killing Sheena on April 24, 2012 along with her driver Shyam Rai and Khanna. She as well as Khanna have denied the charge.

Public Prosecutor Laxman Rathod said police needed to know how Sheena was killed, the vehicle in which she was allegedly murdered before her body was burnt and dumped in the forests near Pen in Raigad district, adjacent to Mumbai.

Seeking custodial interrogation, Rathod said police wanted to take the accused to where Indrani, her driver Shyam Rai and Khanna allegedly poured petrol on Sheena’s body and set it on fire. They also needed to know if more people were involved in the killing.

Khanna has been charged with murder, kidnapping, criminal conspiracy, destroying evidence and more. His mobile phone, laptop and passport have been seized but he has denied the police charges.

Rathod told the media that Khanna played “an active role in the case along with the other two accused”.

According to police, the macabre deed was allegedly executed by Indrani with help from Khanna and driver Rai.

Police are also browsing the details of incriminating telephone call records of Khanna and Indrani, email exchanges, birth certificates, school records and other documents that have emerged during the investigation.

Rakesh Maria is personally conducting the interrogation of various players including Indrani, Khanna, Rai, Peter Mukherjea, his son Rahul, who admits to having had a relationship with Sheena, and Mikhail for the past three days.

Late on Thursday night, Maria said investigators have a fair idea of the motives behind Sheena’s killing.

After interrogation, Maria confirmed that Sheena was indeed the daughter of Indrani, contrary to earlier perceptions that they were siblings.

On Friday afternoon, Khanna was taken to the crime scene near Pen in Raigad district, around 95 km south of Mumbai, to recreate the crime scene.

Maria said skeletal remains of Sheena were recovered from the murder scene and they were being sent for forensic and DNA tests.

Mikhail, who arrived here from Guwahati on Friday, provided certain evidence pertaining to his sister’s killing which was now being verified.

During the investigation, it also came to light that Indrani’s claim of Sheena “studying in the US” was false.

Police have also recovered Sheena’s passport from Dehradun.

Meanwhile, the Sir J.J. Hospital handed over to police the bones, nails and other evidences of Sheena which was deposited by Raigad police after her body was found three years back.

Suggesting a pre-planned conspiracy, police have said Indrani had recceed Pen area with her driver to pick the exact spot to dispose of her body a day before the actual killing.

Mikhail Bora has said he knows the real reason his sister was murdered and that he will reveal it all at the appropriate time.

There are still more angles that need probing, including who was the unknown caller who tipped off Mumbai Police some time ago about the Sheena murder.

Then, there is the mystery of why, after Sheena’s death, letters on her behalf were sent to Mumbai Metro One Pvt. Ltd. – where she worked – and her landlord.

(IANS)

Indian women hockey team qualifies for Olympics after 36 years

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Women's-Hockey

New Delhi: Indian women’s hockey team will return to the Olympics after a long gap of 36 years as it qualified today for next year’s Rio Games, courtesy England making it to the final of the ongoing Euro Hockey Championships in London.

England’s semifinal victory over Spain, coming after the Netherlands’ win over Germany in the other semifinal in the European Championships freed one quota place as both the finalists have already qualified for the Olympic Games.

India took the quota place on the basis of its fifth-place finish in the women’s Hockey World League Semifinals in Antwerp, Belgium last month.

International Hockey Federation (FIH) confirmed that Indian women’s team has qualified for the Rio Games.

“India qualified after England defeated Spain in the semi-finals of the Unibet EuroHockey Championships in London, which ensured that the only teams — The Netherlands and England (as Great Britain) — who can now win the event have already qualified for Rio through the Hockey World League Semi-Finals,” the FIH said in a statement.

“The winner of the EuroHockey Championships will qualify for the 2016 Olympics as European continental champions, opening up a further qualification spot which India secure as the team who ranked highest at the Hockey World League Semi-Finals not already qualified,” it said.

Indian women’s team now join nine other teams, who have already qualified for 2016 Rio Games — Korea as Asian Games champions, Argentina as Pan Am Games champions and Great Britain, China, Germany, Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand and the USA through the Hockey World League Semi-Finals.

Indian women’s hockey team last featured in an Olympics in the 1980 Moscow Games, where they finished at a respectable fourth position.

Hockey India applauded the historic achievement of the women’s hockey team.

“It is a proud moment for Hockey India and the whole country. We have been waiting for this for the last 36 years and this achievement is the sweetest and the most memorable among all our previous feats in recent times,” HI President Narinder Batra said in a release.

“I congratulate all the players and coaching staff who made this dream real and this achievement also shows their commitment toward their responsibilities. Hockey India thanks all the coaches who trained these players at their respective academies, parents, sponsors and the entire hockey fraternity, who continuously motivated the players and without their support, we could not have achieved this success. I am sure the girls will make us proud at the Olympics,” he said.

Hockey India Secretary General Mohd Mushtaque Ahmad said: “The Olympics qualification is indeed a great achievement for the Indian Women Team and the Indian hockey fraternity. The players and the Coaching Staff have done a commendable job and they are still training hard for the 2016 Olympic Games. Hockey India is doing its part and fulfilling all the requirements of the team.

“I congratulate the whole team and the people who have been working hard behind the scene to achieve this success. However, the job is still half done and the team now has to set a new aim of clinching the first Olympic medal,” he said.

India are the 10th team to qualify for Rio Olympics. The last two participating teams will be confirmed in the 2015 Africa Cup for Nations in Egypt and 2015 Oceania Cup in New Zealand in November.

The Indian women’s team will commence its outing from August 7 in the Rio Olympics.

(Agencies)

Rain mars first day’s play in third India-Sri Lanka Test

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Cricket-Sri-Lanka-Rain-India

Colombo: Rain forced an early end of the first day’s play of the third cricket Test between India and Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) here on Friday, with just about one hour’s play possible.

India were 50/2 against Sri Lanka when rain interrupted play before lunch. Opening batsman Cheteshwar Pujara (19 not out) and captain Virat Kohli (14 not out) were at the crease after 15 overs of play. The game didn’t resume after that.

Earlier, India lost opener Lokesh Rahul (2) and Ajinkya Rahane (8).

(IANS)

Austria: Arrests after 71 dead refugees found in truck

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Austrian police confirm final death toll, saying the refugees included eight women and four children.

Initial investigations revealed the truck had left Budapest on Wednesday morning, before being sighted near the Austrian border overnight [Reuters]

Initial investigations revealed the truck had left Budapest on Wednesday morning, before being sighted near the Austrian border overnight [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Austrian authorities say three people have been arrested in Hungary after the bodies of 71 refugees were found in a truck abandoned on a motorway.

Police had originally put the death toll at between 20 and 50 after the truck was found on Thursday, but Austrian officials revised the figure upwards on Friday.

Speaking at a press conference in Eisenstadt, Austrian police official Hans Peter Doskozil said the dead comprised 59 men, 8 women and four children, including a young infant.

He said it was likely that those in the truck suffocated.

Of the three arrested, one is a Bulgarian who is believed to have owned the vehicle. The others, a Bulgarian and another with Hungarian documents, are “pretty certain to be those who drove the vehicle,” Doskozil said.

Officials said they hoped the three would lead them to others responsible for trafficking the dead across Europe.

The truck, found on Thursday, had travelled to Austria from Hungary. The partly decomposed bodies were piled on top of each other in a cargo container in the vehicle, parked off the highway in Burgenland state.

The shocking discovery cast a shadow over talks in Vienna, where Europe’s leaders had gathered on Thursday to discuss the mounting refugee crisis on the continent.

“We were all shaken by the horrible news that up to 50 people died … these were people coming to seek safety,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday, prior to the new toll being released.

“This is a warning to work to resolve this problem and show solidarity.”

The conference held a minute of silence to commemorate the dead.

This year has seen record numbers of people trying to reach the EU by sea and land as they flee conflicts in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

In Austria, the number of asylum requests rose above 28,300 between January and June alone – as many as for the whole of 2014 – and officials expect the total to reach 80,000 this year.

The Western Balkans conference was called to find a common European answer to the refugee crisis that is overwhelming some countries while leaving others relatively unaffected.

Austrian plan

At the summit, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz floated elements of a five-point plan that foresees establishing safe havens in the refugees’ home countries where those seeking asylum in the EU could be processed and – if they qualify – be given safe passage to Europe.

Beyond safe havens, possibly protected by troops acting under a UN mandate, the Austrian plan to be submitted to EU decision-makers foresees increased controls on Europe’s outer borders and coordinated action against human smuggling.

It also calls for refugee quotas for each of the EU’s 28 members – something that many countries have opposed.

 

EU members Greece and Italy, and non-EU Balkan countries such as Macedonia and Serbia – whose leaders attended the summit – are dealing with the initial refugee burden through sea and land routes. But many of these refugees are only in transit to western European countries.

Nearly 300,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean this year with at least 2,373 “migrants and refugees” dying in a bid to reach Europe, nearly 300 more than the same period last year, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

WTO ruling against India’s solar push threatens climate, clean energy

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“The U.S. should be applauding India’s efforts to scale up solar energy—not turning to the WTO to strike the program down.”

India's ambitious solar program was rebuked by the WTO in a decision that climate advocates say shows the potential damage of deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership. (Photo: Knut-Erik Helle/flickr/cc)

India’s ambitious solar program was rebuked by the WTO in a decision that climate advocates say shows the potential damage of deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership. (Photo: Knut-Erik Helle/flickr/cc)

by Nadia Prupis, Common Dreams

The World Trade Organization (WTO) on Wednesday ruled against India over its national solar energy program in a case brought by the U.S. government, sparking outrage from labor and environmental advocates.

As power demands grow in India, the country’s government put forth a plan to create 100,000 megawatts of energy from solar cells and modules, and included incentives to domestic manufacturers to use locally-developed equipment.

According to Indian news outlets, the WTO ruled that India had discriminated against American manufacturers by providing such incentives, which violates global trade rules, and struck down those policies—siding with the U.S. government in a case that the Sierra Club said demonstrates the environmentally and economically destructive power of pro-corporate deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

“Today, we have more evidence of how free trade rules threaten the clean energy economy and undermine action to tackle the climate crisis,” Ilana Solomon, director of the Sierra Club’s Responsible Trade Program, said on Thursday. “The U.S. should be applauding India’s efforts to scale up solar energy—not turning to the WTO to strike the program down.”

According to Indian media outlet Livemint, the U.S. government

has resorted to similar measures, specifying local content requirements and offering a range of subsidies for promoting its renewable energy sector at the federal, state, regional and local levels.

India spoke repeatedly against the US at WTO’s committee on subsidies and countervailing measures, stating that American subsidy schemes relating to local or domestic content requirements for its solar companies are inconsistent with its global trade obligations.

In addition, Livemint reports, the ruling “goes against the spirit of an agreement signed early this year…. [in which] the two sides agreed to promote clean energy and expand solar energy initiatives.”

Regardless, Solomon said, the WTO “needs to get out of the business of hampering climate action in countries around the globe. The outdated trade rules on the books now and under negotiation in trade pacts including the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership encourage trade in fossil fuels and discourage countries from developing local clean energy capacity.”

“These rules simply do not reflect the urgency of solving the climate crisis and stand in the way of clean energy growth,” Solomon said.

The Indian government will appeal the decision to the WTO’s highest court, the appellate body. It is the second time that the WTO has ruled against India in a case with the U.S., which first brought legal action against the country’s food security program in 2014.

The WTO ruled on that case in June, when it decided that the Indian ban on certain foods from the U.S. was “inconsistent with the global norms.”

Clashes force 5,000 to flee after beheading in CAR

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Fresh violence in central town of Bambari comes ahead of planned presidential elections next month.

Over the past five months, thousands have been returning to CAR as the situation was seen to be improving [Getty]

Over the past five months, thousands have been returning to CAR as the situation was seen to be improving [Getty]

by Azad Essa, Al Jazeera

Around 5,000 people have fled from their homes in Bambari following clashes between rival militias over the past few days, demonstrating how fragile the situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) remains ahead of next month’s presidential election, the UN refugee agency has said.

The latest flare-up in Bambari erupted after a 19-year-old Muslim was beheaded by fighters on August 20, according to the UNHCR.

In a town hit hard by violence, the new set of clashes around Bambari prompted the escape of almost 5,000 people in recent days, seeking shelter at the UN’s nearby base.

“We cannot say the country is at peace – because the events in Bambari show how fragile the situation remains,” Dalia al-Achi, spokesperson for the UNHCR, told Al Jazeera on Friday.

“They are living in a [former] cotton factory [at the UN base] where there is no sanitation, lights or any infrastructure. It is not fit for living,” she said.

On Friday, Diane Corner, deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), said in a tweet that 5,000 people had been displaced and that  the protection of civilians remained the mission’s top priority.

With just over a month left before presidential elections are held in the country, experts are not convinced the country would be able to host credible polls.

More than one million people have been displaced since Muslim-led Seleka rebels took the capital, Bangui, in March 2013.

Following a spate of abuses by the Seleka, vigilante groups known as anti-Balaka (anti-machete), made up of animist and Christian fighters, emerged to fight off the new leadership.

They also targeted the country’s Muslim minority, seen as sympathetic to the Seleka.

The country has been run by a transitional government since January 2014, after the Seleka were forced out of the capital.

Over the past five months, thousands have been returning to CAR as the situation in the country was seen to be improving, but the recent violence is likely to undo a lot of the efforts being put into rebuilding the nation.

“More than half the districts of the Central African Republic continue to be controlled by the Seleka coalition and its allies, who have not allowed a return of the national administration to the areas they control,” Peter Bouckaert, emergency director at Human Rights Watch, said.

Bouckaert told Al Jazeera that the bloodshed may have reduced over the last twelve months, but attributed the drop in violence to the fact that most Muslims had been “forced to flee [and] not because the war is over”.

Bouckaert said that despite the obvious weaknesses of hosting presidential polls under the current conditions, the EU and France continue to push for the elections.

“The danger is that they see a quick and flawed election as an excuse to once again abandon the Central African Republic, with a claim that the country will then have made a ‘democratic transition’,” Bouckaert said.

“A very large percentage of the population, particularly Muslims living in refugee camps in Chad and Cameroon, but also many rural people, have not even been registered to vote yet, and preparation for a national vote has been minimal,” he said.

The UN says more than half the country’s population are still in need of aid, while 1.5 million people were affected by food insecurity.

In early August, the UN said that only 31 percent of the humanitarian appeal for the CAR had been secured. Aurelien Agbenonci, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in CAR, told Al Jazeera at the time that if more support was not forthcoming, the UN “won’t be able to continue humanitarian activities till the end of the year”.

Dozens of refugees die as boat sinks off Libyan coast

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Official in Zuwarah says many of the hundreds on board the boat appear to have been trapped in the cargo hold.

boat-sinks-off-libya

by Al Jazeera

A boat reportedly packed with people from Africa and South Asia bound for Italy has sunk off the Libyan coast, raising fears that dozens have died.

A security official in Zuwarah, a town in the North African nation’s west from where the overcrowded boat had set off, said on Thursday there were about 400 people on board.

While an official death toll has not been announced, sources told Al Jazeera that dozens of people died in the incident, with many reported to have been trapped in the cargo hold when the boat capsized.

By late in the evening, the Libyan coastguard had rescued about 201 people, of which 147 were brought to a detention facility for “illegal migrants” in Sabratha, west of the capital Tripoli, the security official was cited by Reuters news agency as saying.

Another local official and a journalist based in Zuwarah confirmed the sinking but also had no information on casualties.

The people on board had been from sub-Saharan Africa, Pakistan, Syria, Morocco, and Bangladesh, the Libyan security official said.

The Italian coastguard, which has been coordinating rescue operations with the European Union off the Libyan coast, could not confirm a sinking.

Libya’s coastguard has very limited capabilities, relying on small inflatables, tug boats and fishing vessels.

Al Jazeera’s Claudio Lavanga, reporting from Rome, said according to accounts by survivors, most of the people who had died were locked inside the hold of the boat.

“We’ve seen this many times before, only a few days before 50 refugees died because they were held in the hold,” Lavanga said.

“Sometimes they die of suffocation and sometimes they drown because they can’t escape after the boat capsizes…these are people who don’t have the money to pay for a ‘deck’ position.”

Smugglers’ launchpad

Zuwarah, Libya’s most western town located near the Tunisian border, is a major launchpad for smugglers shipping refugees and migrants to Italy.

Libya has turned into a transit route for people fleeing conflict and poverty to make it to Europe.

Cross-border smuggler networks exploit the country’s lawlessness and chaos to bring Syrians into Libya via Egypt or nationals of sub-Saharan countries via Niger, Sudan, and Chad.

More than 2,300 people have died this year in attempts to reach Europe by boat, compared with 3,279 during the whole of last year, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Anas El Gomati, who founded the Tripoli-based think-tank The Sadeq Institute, said Libya’s government does not feel it should be helping pay the bill to deal with refugees making their way to Europe as it is facing continued violence across the country.

“Libya’s security approach – and security apparatus – is now completely disorganised and in chaos,” he said.

“You have hundreds of different groups that are operating on the ground now, some of them taking advantage of a very, very chaotic situation – one of civil war.”

On Thursday, 71 refugees were found dead in a parked lorry in Austria near the Hungarian border on Thursday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the discovery had shaken European leaders discussing the refugee crisis at a Balkans summit.

Libya has been struggling to cope with an influx of foreigners, putting them in overcrowded makeshift detention facilities such as schools or military barracks where they live in poor conditions lacking medical care.

Libya used to deport people it caught but with fighting between armed groups having cut off land border crossings to Niger, Algeria, and Chad many stay months or years in detention facilities.

Proposal to make Hampi, Machu Picchu sister heritage sites

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Hampi

Bengaluru: An initiative taken by Karnataka’s Tourism Department might soon witness the iconic ruins of Hampi in Ballari and Machu Picchu in Peru become sister heritage sites.

The dream might come true if the submitted proposal was accepted.

The plan has been taken up by Tourism Minister RV Deshpande. He recently led a delegation to the South American nation which included a free entry at Hampi for those tourists who had visited Machu Picchu.

Deshpande said that the proposal was made after reviewing the similarities between the two sites. These historical sites have the Unesco heritage tag, they were built around the 14th-15th century, also both were famous for their Sun temples.

“Peru’s tourism minister has assured that he would discuss the plan with the President of Peru. The regional administration of Cuzco, where Machu Picchu is located has also agreed to display facts about Hampi on its website,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Secretary Kaushik Mukherjee said that the ticket for Machu Picchu would contain a counterfoil for Hampi. Tourists have to return the counterfoil and enter Hampi within two years, he said.

He noted that it was the first time that a proposal was made to merge two heritage sites instead of cities.

(Agencies)

Two more die for special status to Andhra Pradesh

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special status Andhra

Hyderabad: The issue of special status to Andhra Pradesh continues to claim lives with one person committing suicide and another dying of a heart attack on Friday.

A day after a man hanged himself in Nellore district, a youth ended his life in Krishna district. Uday Bhanu (40) was found hanging in his house in Gudivada town of Krishna district.

Uday Bhanu, a kirana shop owner, left behind a suicide note in which he called upon students to fight for special status. “Get AP free. Dead or alive,” he wrote.

Unhappy over the delay on the part of the Centre in granting special status to Andhra, he discussed the issue with his friend before returning home and resorting to the extreme step, family members said.

In another incident, a man, who was dejected over the delay in the state getting special status, died of a heart attack. Lokes Rao (32) died at his home in Guduru in Kurnool district.

A contract lecturer in a private college, Rao had participated in a protest organised by a non-political organisation on Thursday.

According to family members, Rao discussed the issue with them last night and explained how the special status would help the unemployed.

Earlier, Ramishetti Lakshmaiah (55) committed suicide in Nellore district on the same issue on Thursday.

YSR Congress party chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy on Friday visited Lakshmaiah’s house and consoled the family.

Talking to reporters, the leader of opposition said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu failed to convince the Centre to immediately accord special status.

He said though four people lost their lives, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) was doing nothing to pressurise the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government, in which the TDP is an alliance partner.

A Congress worker had immolated self in Tirupati on August 8 during a rally organised by the party to demand that the Centre immediately accord special status to Andhra.

Naidu called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday in New Delhi to seek special status for the revenue-deficit state.

(IANS)

Sheena Bora was strangled to death by Indrani’s ex-husband: Reports

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sheena-bora

Mumbai: Indrani Mukerjea’s driver, an accused in Sheena Bora’s murder, has revealed to the Mumbai Police that the victim was strangled to death by her mother’s ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna.

The driver told the investigating officers that Sheena Bora was first forcibly sedated and then strangled to death in the car by Indrani Mukerjea’s ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna, as per a report in NDTV.

After this revelation, the Mumbai police will be interrogating Sanjeev Khanna today.

Khanna, who was arrested in Kolkata by the Mumbai Police in connection to Sheena’ murder, had stated that he was sleeping in the car when the victim was murdered.

After murdering Sheena Bora, the murderers had dumped her body about 85 kilometers from Mumbai. Sheena’s face was smashed and her body was burned.

Sheena was in a relationship with Rahul Mukerjea, TV tycoon Peter Mukerjea’s son from his first marriage.

Sheena’s mother Indrani Mukerjea, Peter Mukerjea’s second wife, was against her daughter’s affair with her step-son.

(Agencies)

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