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Archives for January 2016

​Families of terror suspects claim they are innocent

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NIA

Bengaluru: The family members of terror suspects arrested from Karnataka as part of the nationwide crackdown by NIA and other security agencies on Friday maintained they were “innocent” and expressed shock over the action.

The mother of the suspect from Mangaluru identified as Najmul Huda, a dropout Diploma student in Chemical Engineering at a prominent engineering college here, said her son was innocent.

“….he was not even going out much; he used to be at home…..I don’t know what he has done using his mobile, I don’t know much about using mobile. You can ask anyone regarding my son, they will tell you. He used to not get involved in anything….,” she said.

Wife of another suspect Mohammed Afzal picked up from Bengaluru said that about 3 am, 30-35 people claiming that they were police from Delhi took away her husband.

“They asked my husband to show weapons by pointing gun to his head; they searched the entire house but found none. They have seized my laptop and phone as well as of my husband, they have also taken our car and bike,” she said.

She said that her husband was a software engineer.

Six suspected terrorists from Karnataka were either arrested or detained by the NIA from Bengaluru, Tumkuru and Mangaluru regions.

(Agencies)

Punjab cop Salwinder Singh gets clean chit in Pathankot attack case

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sp-salwinder

New Delhi: Senior Punjab Police officer Salwinder Singh, who is being questioned by the National Investigation Agency in connection with the Pathankot terror strike, has been given a clean chit after the tests, including a lie-detector test, found nothing against him, according to official sources.

Singh, a Superintendent of Police-rank officer, has been questioned multiple times in the last two weeks.

Searches at various places against him including his native place in Amritsar found nothing; documents recovered showed nothing incriminating against him, official sources said.

The NIA was trying to find out whether the senior cop had any role in the drug racket being run in the bordering districts of Pathankot and Gurudaspur.

Singh says he was driving with his cook and a jeweller friend on the night of December 31 when men wearing fatigues and armed with AK-47s stopped his car. He says the men then took his car, abandoning his cook and him, gagged and bound, on the road. The throat of the jeweller, who was taken by the terrorists, was slashed; he has recovered from his injuries.

Mr Singh’s car was used by the terrorists from Pakistan to approach the 2000-acre air force base at Pathankot, which they reportedly entered by scaling a 10-foot high wall with a rope. The attack, conducted by them and another pair of terrorists, commenced pre-dawn on Saturday.  Seven military men were martyred and 20 injured before the base was secured nearly 80 hours later.

Singh has denied reports that links to the booming cross-border drug trade in Punjab may have brought him into contacts with the terrorists, believed to be from the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed, which says it is fighting for Kashmir’s independence.

After he managed to free himself, Mr Singh’s phone call to his superiors, alerting them to his car-jacking, was treated for hours as a case of armed robbery – a major security lapse.

(Agencies)

Modi declassifies Netaji files

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Subhash_Chandra_Bose

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday declassified Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose files at the National Archives of India here.

Modi released digital copies of some of the files following the government’s decision to declassify files on the freedom fighter.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “Today (Saturday) is a special day for all the Indians. Declassification of Netaji files starts on Saturday. Will go to National Archives myself for the same.”

In another tweet, Modi said: “Remembering Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on his birth anniversary. His bravery and patriotism endears him to several Indians across generations.”

The release of the files “will meet the long-standing public demand” and “will also facilitate scholars to carry out further research on Netaji”, a culture ministry statement said.

The National Archives received 990 declassified files pertaining to the Indian National Army (INA) from the defence ministry in 1997.

Netaji, one of the leading lights of the Indian freedom struggle, set up the INA during World War II to take on the British Indian Army.

A former Congress president and once a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi, Bose’s reported death in a plane crash in Formosa, now Taiwan, in 1945 has remained a mystery.

Bose was born on January 23, 1897 in Cuttack, Odisha.

(Agencies)

Modi may move Jaitley out of finance, says report

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Narendra_Modi

New Delhi: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi may look to press the reset button on his leadership this spring to reinvigorate stalled economic reforms and appease critics, eyeing a mix of tried and tested allies and fresh blood, senior government sources said.

The government has overseen rapid economic growth but failed on tax and land reforms, and the euphoria that met Modi’s 2014 election triumph has given way to investor disillusionment; Indian stocks have erased all of their gains since he won power.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) faces a crucial election test in the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh in 2017 that it probably needs to win if it wants to hold on to power nationally in 2019.

“Modi needs to identify new talent and bring changes in his government. It will be too late if he fails to do it now,” said veteran newspaper editor and commentator Shekhar Gupta.

With an eye on Uttar Pradesh, Modi looks set to keep Amit Shah on as BJP president, the sources said, extending his closest aide and election campaign manager’s tenure by three years when it expires at the weekend.

But Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, responsible for delivering the Modi message to international investors, may move to defence after he delivers his annual budget in late February, sources said.

Jaitley, 63, has failed to push through a major tax reform and critics have faulted his stewardship over India’s $2 trillion economy, which is growing fast but not creating enough jobs to employ an expanding workforce.

A spokesman for Modi declined to comment on the move and an official in Jaitley’s office said he had no knowledge of a possible reshuffle.

Moving Jaitley to defence, a post he also held in the early months of the Modi government, could better suit the veteran corporate lawyer and keep the strategically important portfolio in trusted hands.

It would also open the way for power and coal minister Piyush Goyal to take the finance portfolio, while underperformers in other minor posts may be weeded out.

A federal minister and two BJP officials said Goyal, 51, was being groomed for his next big role, and a white paper on banking was recently shared with him to seek his inputs. A Goyal aide denied all knowledge of an impending promotion.

Goyal is a good communicator and has often travelled abroad with Modi, but lacks political and electoral experience.

The ex-investment banker has turned around state-run Coal India, tackled chronic power shortages and backed renewable sources of energy.

Those are key wins for Modi, whose provision of 24/7 electricity as chief minister of Gujarat state helped him become prime minister.

“Goyal is doing a fine job – he has brought a lot of energy to the coal and power sector,” said Rajiv Kumar, senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi.

“But I’m not sure he can do justice to the complex finance portfolio,” he said. “Goyal, with his micro orientation, might struggle to get to grips with multi-dimensional and serious macroeconomic issues facing the country.”

Balancing Act

Modi, who has relentlessly centralised power in the prime minister’s office, has held his cards close to his chest and would have the last word on recruiting new talent from a pool of candidates that is short on experience.

Shah, Modi’s right-hand man in Gujarat and the architect of his general election triumph, lost his winning touch last year with a heavy defeat to an upstart party in Delhi and a crashing loss in the big eastern state of Bihar.

That has tested the patience of the ideological parent of the BJP, the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). But, apart from a brief rebellion by party elders, Modi has managed to fend off challenges to his authority.

At a meeting between BJP and RSS leaders earlier this month in New Delhi, Modi made his support for Shah clear. No challenger has applied for the post, meaning that Shah’s term that expires this weekend will be extended by three years.

While party workers praise Shah as a tough and effective administrator, many want him to promote new faces instead of, as he has done, focusing his campaign strategy exclusively on Modi.

Even though Modi addressed more than 30 rallies on the campaign trail, the BJP fell in Bihar in November to an alliance of regional parties. Realising its fate was sealed, it did not even field a candidate for chief minister.

The party’s fortunes will depend on five state polls in 2016 that will build up to next year’s crunch vote in Uttar Pradesh. The outcome of that ballot will set the tone for the 2019 general election.

Shah helped Modi win the biggest general election mandate in three decades by sweeping 71 of 80 seats in the northern state, whose 200 million population is as big as Brazil’s.

“If Shah wins Uttar Pradesh, then no one can stop Modi from becoming the prime minister again,” said one senior BJP leader.

(Reuters)

Mallika Sarabhai attacks Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not condoling mother’s death

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mallika_sarabhai

Ahmedabad: Mallika Sarabhai, social activist, dancer and daughter of renowned Bharatnatyam exponent Mrinalini Sarabhai, has criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not paying tributes to her mother who died on Thursday.

Mallika Sarabhai took to Facebook to ask why Modi, who belongs to Gujarat, had not bothered to condole the death of her 97-year-old mother.

“My dear prime minister. You hate my politics and I hate yours, that has nothing to do with what Mrinalini Sarabhai did to promote the culture of this country to the world over 60 years. She blazed a trailer for our culture in the world,” Mallika Sarabhai said.

“That her death sees no word from you shows your mentality. However much you hate me, as our prime minister it behove you to recognize her contribution. You have not. Shame on you.”

As an activist, Mallika Sarabhai continuously attacked the then Gujarat chief minister Modi for the 2002 communal riots in the state.

Mrinalini Sarabhai was a Padma Bhushan awardee. She founded Darpana Academy of Performing Arts, an institute for imparting training in dance, drama, music and puppetry.

(IANS)

India women’s T20 practice match washed out

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jhulan_goswam

Sydney: India women’s cricket team Twenty20 practice match against the Governor-General’s XI was washed out due to heavy rain at the Drummoyne Oval here on Friday.

Following the wash out, which was the only practice game for the visitors, India and Australia will play three Twenty20s and three One-Day Internationals (ODI) each.

This was the inaugural Governor-General’s XI T20 match and was dedicated to Peter Cosgrove, who is the current Governor-General of Australia.

Less than four overs were bowled when a drizzle started. All-rounder Jess Jonassen led a 12-member Governor-General’s XI side.

Heavy rain forced the players off the field when Governor-General’s XI were batting at 19/1. Grace Harris was run out for seven.

India will kick off their campaign with a T20I match in Adelaide on January 26, followed by the second T20I on January 29 (Melbourne) and the third on January 31 (Sydney).

Mithali Raj will lead the team while fast bowler all-rounder Jhulan Goswami will be the vice-captain of the side.

The tour is considered important as post the limited-overs series, India will start their World T20 campaign against Bangladesh on March 15 in Bengaluru.

(IANS)

13 alleged ISIS ‘sympathisers’ arrested from four states

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NIA

New Delhi: In a nationwide swoop, NIA along with state police forces and central security agencies today claimed to have averted a major attack with the arrest of 13 alleged ‘sympathisers’ of banned ISIS terror group including their self-styled chief “Ameer”.

The raids were carried out simultaneously in four states of Karnataka, Hyderabad, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh where 13 people had formed ‘Janood-ul-Khalifa-e-Hind’, a terror group which had almost similar ideologies that of ISIS.

Mumbai resident Munabeer Mushtaq had allegedly designated himself as ‘Ameer’ of the organisation which was tasked to carry out blasts at various installations in the country besides attacking some foreigners, Home Ministry sources said.

The raids were conducted in collaboration with police forces in all the states.

All the arrested accused were being brought to the national capital for detailed interrogation as preliminary enquiry indicated that there was a proper structure of the terror outfit.

The NIA and central agency sleuths also recovered 42 mobile phones including eight from Ameer of the newly formed terror group which had allegedly received hawala money from overseas, unconfirmed sources said.

The sleuths claimed to have recovered explosive material, detonators, wires, batteries and hydrogen peroxide besides ‘Jihadi literature’.

(Agencies)

Refugees drown as two boats capsize off Greek islands

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Authorities recover bodies of 42 people, including 17 children, after two refugee boats capsize in the Aegean.

About 850,000 refugees crossed into Greece last year

About 850,000 refugees crossed into Greece last year

by Al Jazeera

At least 42 people, including 17 children, have drowned after two boats carrying refugees capsized in the Aegean Sea, the Greek coastguard has said.

In the first incident, the bodies of six children and two women were recovered early on Friday after a wooden boat carrying 49 people capsized off the small Greek island of Farmakonisi in eastern Aegean.

Authorities said they rescued one girl, while 40 more people safely made it to land.

Separately, at least 34 people – 16 women, seven men and 11 children – died after another refugee sailing boat sank off the island of Kalolimnos early on Friday.

The coastguard said that 26 people had been pulled to safety and rescue operations were ongoing.

Three helicopters and patrol boats from the Greek coastguard and the European border agency Frontex were part of the rescue operations, alongside fishing vessels.

About 850,000 refugees crossed into Greece last year, paying smuggling gangs to ferry them over from Turkey in often frail boats.

In a deal struck at the end of November, Turkey promised to help stem the flow of refugees to Europe in return for cash, visas and renewed talks on joining the EU.

Turkey is host to 2.2 million Syrians and has spent around $8.5bn on feeding and housing them since the start of the civil war nearly five years ago.

Sunanda Pushkar: AIIMS medical board confirms death due to poisoning

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sunanda pushkar

New Delhi: Sunanda Pushkar died of “poisoning” with the AIIMS medical board, which gave its opinion on the FBI report on her viscera samples, unanimously concluding that there was presence of anxiety drug Alprax in her stomach.

However, the board did not rule out the possibility of any injectable poison, in view of a particular mark on Sunanda’s body, and said that the FBI report confirmed the presence of lidocaine in her body, said the medical board’s opinion communicated to Delhi Police.

The report ruled out death due to combination of drugs and also said that the medical board is “highly afraid” that this case may have led to a complete “botched up” scenario in absence of the FBI report. It also said that the Special Investigation team (SIT) probing the case should “thoroughly investigate” if any person had access to injectable agents in view of a syringe mark spotted in Sunanda’s body.

“The Medical Board unanimously concluded that the cause of death in this case is poisoning. “The circumstantial recovery of empty Alprex Tablets (27 tablets) and report of FBI which shows the presence of Alprax in stomach and its contents, spleen, liver section, half of each kidney, blood sample, as well as urine wet clothing, bed cover and bed sheet confirmed the death is due to excessive ingestion of Tablet Alprazolam,” the written opinion reads.

It further said, “The Medical Board does not rule out any injectable poison in view of injury number 10 which is an injection prick mark and the same is subsequently clarified by KIMS Hospital as well as the confirmation of presence of lidocaine in FBI report… The dozens of unexplained injuries including teeth bite mark are suggestive of active scuffle prior to death.”

The board also said that the fatal dose of Alprax is completely variable from person to person, physical conditions and medical history/duration/dose of intake of Alprax. Exceeding the prescribed dose leads to poisoning.

Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi Friday refused to comment on the medical board’s opinion and said that necessary information regarding the case will be shared once the investigation is complete and a report is submitted at the court.

“I would not like to enter into speculations. What is being published or broadcasted in the media could be right or could be wrong. At this point of time, I won’t be able to say anything conclusive.

“Once the investigation is complete, we shall send a report to the court. At that point we shall brief media about our findings. And I can assure that the investigation will be complete as early as possible,” Bassi told reporters.

In January last year, Delhi Police had registered a case of murder in connection with the death of Sunanda. An Aiims medical board had found poisoning as reason for her death following which the police had sent her viscera samples to an FBI lab in Washington last year.

The FBI had sent its report to Delhi Police two months back. The report said the radiation levels in Sunanda’s viscera samples were “within the standard safety norms” besides mentioning other details. As police could not firm up about cause of the death based on the FBI report, they requested a medical board of Aiims to analyse the contents of the report.

The head of the Aiims medical board, which gave its opinion last week on the cause of Sunanda Pushkar’s death, on Tuesday had said that Delhi Police caused “unnecessary delay” in sending Sunanda’s viscera sample to the FBI lab on account of which its contents degraded.

“By the time the FBI lab got the viscera samples, the contents had already degraded. There was an unnecessary delay on part of Delhi Police in sending the viscera samples of Pushkar to FBI,” Aiims Forensic Science department head Sudhir Gupta said. “The Medical Board is highly afraid that this case of deceased Sunanda Pushkar may have led to a complete botched up scenario in absence of FBI report,” the fourth subsequent opinion on Sunanda’s case read.

“FBI reported the presence of lidocaine, which is an anti-arrhythmic drug of heart, and may cause fatality if administered intravenously. This requires further legal investigation as there was presence of injection mark over body of deceased (injury no 10)… There have been reported cases of homicide by lidocaine poisoning,” it said.

The board said that death due to combination of drugs as asked by the IO (investigating officer) is also ruled out. It added that the speculation regarding Sunanda’s cause of death as hypoglycaemia, which can happen if a person does not take food for 2-3 days, was misleading. “However, if a person in having hypoglycaemia, even a small dose of injectable hypoglycaemic agents like insulin or albiglutide (Tanzeum) may lead to fatality,” the board said.

It added that the SIT should investigate thoroughly if any person in the vicinity and in access of insulin/hypoglycaemic agent was there, as there was presence of injection mark over body of deceased. Disclosing the receipt of the Aiims report analysing the FBI conclusions, Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi had last week told the media that Sunanda’s death was not natural but ruled out the presence of radioactive material in her viscera.

Sudhir Gupta, head of Aiims Forensic Science department, had said the FBI report also said the death was due to poisoning as was concluded by the Aiims. 51-year-old Sunanda was found dead at a suite in a five-star hotel in South Delhi on the night of 17 January 2014, a day after her spat with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar on Twitter over her alleged affair with Tharoor.

(PTI)

SC refuses to stay contempt notice of Bombay HC against Arundhati Roy

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Indian writer and political activist Arundhati Roy

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay a criminal contempt notice issued by the Bombay High Court against author Arundhati Roy for her article in a weekly magazine questioning the continued incarceration of Delhi University professor GN Saibaba.

The apex court also did not give her any relief from personal exemption from appearance before a single judge of the Nagpur Bench of the high court on January 25. While asking her to appear on Monday, the bench issued notice to the respondents on her petition challenging the high court’ order.

When senior advocate Chander Uday Singh, appearing for the writer, sought stay on her personal appearance, contending that the passion has beefed up and effigies are burnt, the court said it was passing the order after carefully considering the matter. “You should have no fear in appearing in court. You go and appear. We are here. We have issued the process and we are looking into it. We have thought about it carefully,” the bench comprising Justice J S Khehar and Justice C Nagappan said.

When the counsel once again sought for personal exemption on Monday, the bench said, “We don’t want to grant you or deny you.”

The Bombay High Court had on December 23, 2015 issued the contempt notice against the author, for her views on the arrest of Saibaba and the rejection of his bail plea early last year. Gadchiroli Police had arrested Saibaba in 2014 for his alleged links with Maoists. He has been on bail since June last year. Roy had expressed her views on the arrest in an article published in a weekly magazine last year.

(Agencies)

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