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Five undertrials shot dead by police in Telangana

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Vikaruddin Ahmed

Hyderabad: Five undertrials of Warangal prison facing different charges were shot dead by police on the Warangal-Nalgonda district border in Telangana when they allegedly tried to escape while being brought to a court in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

Among the killed was Vikaruddin Ahmed of Hyderabad, who was accused of shooting down two policemen some days ago in city and trying to recruit youth for the terror outfit he had allegedly launched on his own.

A convoy of three vehicles carrying the undertrials left the Warangal Prison at 8.30 a.m. The incident occurred on Hyderabad-Warangal Highway at around 10.25 a.m.
Police sources said, as the vehicles were reaching Kandigadda Thanda, Vikaruddin requested police to stop for a while to attend nature’s call. The five prisoners suddenly lunged at the escort policemen and tried to open fire after snatching a firearm from one of the policemen. Other members of the police party returned fire killing Vikaruddin and four others.

However, rights activists in Telangana have called this encounter a cold blooded murder. They have accused police of fabricating a story to justify the murder.

Other prisoners killed were Zakir, Amjad, Hanif and Izhar Khan. Warangal SP A.K. Jha and Range IG B. Malla Reddy rushed to the spot. The Nalgonda SP Vikramjit Duggal along with Hyderabad Range DIG Y.Gangadhar too arrived there. Hyderabad IGP Naveenchand rushed to the place and inquired as to how the encounter took place.

Later in the afternoon, the bodies were shifted to Area Hospital in Jangaon in Warangal District for post-mortem. As the incident took place inside Nalgonda District, a kilometer away from Warangal border, the Nalgonda police and revenue officials arrived at the hospital for inquest. Bhongir RDO Madhusudhan conducted the inquest.

The incident occurred close on the heels of a gunfight in Nalgonda district on Saturday in which two alleged members of banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and a policeman were killed.

(Agencies)

Amanath Bank Case: "No guilty person will go scot-free," says HC

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Amanath-Bank

Bengaluru:The High Court on Monday observed that those who are guilty of the financial crisis of the Amanath Co-operative Bank Ltd will not be allowed to go scot-free.

While hearing a batch of petitions filed by bank account holders of Amanath Bank, Justice S Abdul Nazeer observed that the persons responsible for the crisis will be punished in accordance with law.

The case on Monday focused on how to recover the dues and loans advanced by the bank. The chorus of dozens of depositors who were present in court was to hand over the case to the CBI. The court asked for submission of the list of depositors to be submitted by the managing director of the bank.

The court was told that action was initiated to recover Rs 48 crore of dues and notices were issued to defaulters.

Justice S Abdul Nazeer asked the bank to recover the amount due from debtors/borrowers as far as possible by June 9, the next date of hearing. “No guilty person will go scot-free,” the judge said when a depositor broke down in the court. He said if necessary, a CID or CBI probe will be ordered to nail the culprits.

(Agencies)

Rajeev Shukla named IPL chairman

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Rajeev Shukla

Mumbai: Rajeev Shukla was appointed the new chairman of the Indian Premier League (IPL) Governing Council on Monday, a Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) release said.

Shukla resigned from the post of IPL chairman in June, 2013, following a scandal over corruption and spot-fixing in the tournament.

He replaces Ranjib Biswal who was the interim chairman of the council.

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly and current team director Ravi Shastri were also named in the governing council.

(IANS)

As Death Toll and Chaos Mount in Yemen, Red Cross Calls for Ceasefire

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‘The streets of Aden are strewn with dead bodies, and people are afraid to leave their homes,’ says Red Cross

A Houthi fighter mans a weapon on a patrol truck as he guards the site of a demonstration against Saudi-led coalition airstrikes, in Sanaa April 3, 2015. (Photo: Reuters/Mohamed al-Sayaghi)

A Houthi fighter mans a weapon on a patrol truck as he guards the site of a demonstration against Saudi-led coalition airstrikes, in Sanaa April 3, 2015. (Photo: Reuters/Mohamed al-Sayaghi)

by Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams

Amid ongoing Saudi-led airstrikes—including a bombing Friday that killed at least nine people from the same Yemeni family—the United Nations is considering calls for a ceasefire in Yemen to allow urgent humanitarian aid deliveries and evacuation of civilians.

And on Sunday, Reuters cited a senior Houthi member who said the Houthis “are ready to sit down for peace talks as long as a Saudi-led air campaign is halted and the negotiations are overseen by ‘non-aggressive’ parties.”

Warplanes and ships from a Saudi-led coalition have been bombing the Iran-allied Houthi forces for 11 days.

However, as Juan Cole notes, the airstrikes “have repeatedly hit civilian neighborhoods in cities like Sanaa and have, intentionally or no, struck soft targets of no obvious military value, including a refugee camp.”

Hundreds have reportedly died, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, in its appeal for an immediate “humanitarian pause,” describedharrowing conditions for civilians.

The Red Cross said, “hospitals and clinics treating the streams of wounded from across much of Yemen are running low on life-saving medicines and equipment. In many parts of the country, the population is also suffering from fuel and water shortages, while food stocks are quickly depleting. Dozens of people are being killed and wounded every day. The streets of Aden are strewn with dead bodies, and people are afraid to leave their homes.”

Summer Nasser, a human rights activist and blogger in Aden, told Al Jazeerathat it seemed the humanitarian crisis in that city “is actually getting worse by the hour.”

If relief supplies and medical personnel are unable to reach affected areas, Robert Mardini, head of Red Cross operations in the Near and Middle East, warned that “many more will die.”

Russia similarly appealed to the United Nations Security Council, pressing for suspensions of the airstrikes to allow evacuation of foreign civilians and diplomats and demanding rapid and unhindered humanitarian access. The council met Saturday in New York to consider the proposal, but made no decisions.

BBC reports that the council’s president, Dina Kawar, who is also Jordan’s UN ambassador, said members needed time to “reflect on the proposal.”

According to Al Jazeera:

Saudi Arabian Brigadier General Ahmed al-Asiri, a spokesman for the Arab coalition, told a news conference that aid “will come when we are able to set the conditions [so] that this aid will benefit the population”.

He said the coalition requires that aid delivery does not interfere with the military operation, that aid workers are not put at risk, and that supplies do not fall into the wrong hands.

“We don’t want to supply the militias,” Asiri said.

Meanwhile, the Guardian reported that three Arab-American advocacy groups—The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus (ALC)—have created StuckInYemen.com as part of a campaign to highlight the plight of Yemeni Americans, currently trapped in the war-torn country, who fear they have been abandoned by their own government.

Bangladeshi Jamaat leader loses appeal against hanging

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Rejection of Mohammad Kamaruzzaman’s final appeal sparks deadly clash between party supporters and police.

Kamaruzzaman was sentenced for war crimes including a mass killing at a site that has become known as the 'Village of Widows' [AP]

Kamaruzzaman was sentenced for war crimes including a mass killing at a site that has become known as the ‘Village of Widows’ [AP]

by Al Jazeera

Bangladesh’s Supreme Court has rejected a final appeal by a Jamaat-e-Islami leader to overturn his death sentence for atrocities committed more than 40 years ago, clearing the last legal hurdle to his execution.

Chief Justice S K Sinha ruled that the review petition was “dismissed”, upholding Mohammad Kamaruzzaman’s original death sentence for genocide and torture of unarmed civilians during the 1971 war of independence.

Monday’s ruling sparked clashes between Jamaat-e-Islami party supporters and police in Bangladesh’s southeastern Noakhali district.

Al Jazeera’s Tanvir Chowdury reported that one person was killed and another was injured in the Noakhali riots.

The party also called for a nationwide 48-hour strike from Tuesday to protest against the decision.

Kamaruzzaman was sentenced to hang in May 2013 by a domestic war crimes court for crimes including a mass killing at a site that has become known as the “Village of Widows”.

An appeal court in November last year upheld the verdict, raising the prospect of his becoming the second Jamaat leader to be hanged for war crimes.

Abdul Quader Molla was executed in December, 2013.

‘Notorious war criminal’

Lawyers for Kamaruzzaman, who is the third most senior member of the Jamaat, made a last legal appeal arguing that there were “serious discrepancies” in the testimonies of prosecution witnesses at his trial.

Secular activists who attended the brief court session were pleased with the verdict.

“We’re happy. He is a notorious war criminal. We made several attempts during the 1971 war to capture him. But finally he is caught by the court,” Anwar Hossain, who fought in the independence war, told the AFP news agency.

“We hope he’ll be executed [in] the quickest time possible,” he added.

The 62-year-old’s only chance of avoiding the gallows will be if he is granted clemency by the country’s president.

“He can now seek clemency from the president but it is up to him whether he wants to seek mercy or not,” his lawyer Shishir Monir said.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told AFP that prison authorities would now ask Kamaruzzaman whether he would seek clemency from the president.

“If he refuses, he could be hanged at any moment,” he said.

Molla was executed just hours after his review petition was rejected by the Supreme Court.

Under Bangladesh’s law, the execution of the accused could be carried out within 21 days and before 28 days of the Supreme Court’s upholding of a death sentence.

The upholding of Kamaruzzaman’s execution order could worsen the ongoing unrest in Bangladesh, which has been hit by deadly protests over the opposition’s bid to topple the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The country suffered its deadliest chapter of political violence in 2013 after the war crimes court handed down a series of death sentences to Jamaat leaders for their role in the 1971 conflict, which saw the then east Pakistan secede from the regime in Islamabad.

Opposition parties say the war crimes trials are politically motivated and aimed at settling scores, while rights groups say the trials have fallen short of international standards.

Hasina’s secular government maintains they are needed to heal the wounds of the conflict, which it says left three million people dead.

Independent experts have estimated the death toll was much lower.

Kenya strikes al-Shabab in Somalia after Garissa attack

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Military targets al-Shabab bases in Somalia following attack on Garissa university that killed 148 people.

Kenya's president vowed to retaliate for the 'mindless slaughter' at Garissa in the 'severest way' [Reuters]

Kenya’s president vowed to retaliate for the ‘mindless slaughter’ at Garissa in the ‘severest way’ [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Kenya’s military has launched air strikes against al-Shabab bases in Somalia following an attack on a Kenyan university that killed 148 people.

Colonel David Obonyo, a military spokesman, said on Monday that warplanes had attacked positions of the al-Shabab group on Sunday afternoon and early Monday morning.

Al-Shabab, which is based in Somalia, claimed responsibility for Thursday’s attack on the Garissa University College campus in northeastern Kenya.

After besieging the university, the al-Shabab gunmen lined up non-Muslim students before executing them in the armed group’s bloodiest attack to date.

The attack claimed the lives of 142 students, three police officers and three soldiers.

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday pledged that the attackers would face justice for the “mindless slaughter” and vowed to retaliate for the killings in the “severest way”.

Previous strikes

Monday’s air strikes were not the first launched by Kenya against al-Shabab targets.

In June last year, Kenyan fighter jets attacked two bases belonging to al-Shabab fighters in Somalia, killing at least 80 of them, according to African Union (AU) peacekeeping troops deployed there.

The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), whose soldiers launched a new offensive against al-Shabab last year, said the Kenyan jets carried out the raids on Anole and Kuday in Somalia’s southern Lower Jubba region.

Kenya first sent its troops into neighbouring Somalia in 2011 after several attacks inside its territory that it blamed on al-Shabab. It later joined the AMISOM peacekeeping force.

Al-Shabab has since carried out a string of attacks to punish Kenya for its intervention, including a raid on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall in September 2013 that killed at least 67 people.

Kenya responded the following November by “completely destroying” an al-Shabab training camp about 300km west of the Somali capital Mogadishu, which was believed to have housed more than 300 al-Shabab recruits.

PM meets 'leaders' of Muslim community

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leaders-Muslim-modi

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday met senior leaders of the Muslim community who apprised him of their concerns, including the increasing radicalisation and emerging threat of terrorism.

“While expressing apprehensions about the trend of increased radicalisation and emerging threat of terrorism, the leaders underlined the need for greater unity and collective efforts to meet the challenge,” an official release said.

The leaders brought to the notice of the prime minister issues relating to properties of Muslim shrines, mosques and madrassas.

They also sought the government’s support in providing better facilities to Muslim youth, particularly in the field of education.

Modi gave a patient hearing to the delegation and assured them of his full support in meeting the grievances of all sections of the Muslim society.

He emphasised the need to empower Muslim youth to enable them to play a larger role in nation-building.

Modi specifically assured the leaders that he will look into their grievances on shrines, mosques and madrassas.

The prime minister further promised his complete assistance in ameliorating their social conditions and addressing their educational requirements.

The Muslim leaders reiterated full support of the community to the prime minister in meeting his objectives of ensuring speedy economic growth, promoting communal harmony and peace and strengthening national security.

The leaders included Syed Sultan-ul-Hasan Chishti Misbahi from Ajmer Sharif, Hazrat Ghulam Yasin Sahib from Varanasi, Sheikh Wasim Ashrafi from Mumbai, and Allama Tasleem Raaza Sahib from Dargah Barelvi Sharif in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh.

(IANS)

Mirza-Hingis win Miami Open doubles title

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sania-mirza-martina-hingis

Miami: Sania Mirza claimed her 25th Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) doubles title and second partnering Martina Hingis by winning the Miami Open trophy 7-5 6-1 against the Russian pair of Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina here.

The No.2-seeded Makarova and Vesnina came out strong, storming out to a 5-2 lead, but the No.1-seeded Hingis and Mirza came alive from there, reeling off eight games in a row – even staving off a set point – to surge ahead, 7-5, 3-0. They barely looked back to close out the match on Sunday.

“The most important thing is that we never stopped believing we’re a great team,” Hingis said of the early deficit after winning on Sunday.

“They played a great set to get us to that position, 5-2 down. Then we just tried to stay in there and get our chances. We just built on every point, which is what we did well last week too.”

The Swiss-Indian duo talked about how an on-court coaching visit helped them turn it around.

“Today the coaching really turned it around – your dad came on court,” Hingis said to Mirza.

“We just tried to keep telling each other to enjoy the struggle,” Mirza said. “Last week everything came very, very easily to us – we didn’t lose more than four games in a set. Over here we were down, and we were panicking. It was like, ‘Oh my God, we’re not playing well.’ We just weren’t used to that.

But it’s good to fight through those matches and believe, and come out now and be like, ‘At 5-3 I was gutsy to hit a big serve,’ or she made a huge move at 5-4, if that makes sense. So it’s good,” Hingis added.

Mirza and Hingis have now won their opening two tournaments they have played together.

Hingis now has 43 WTA doubles titles to her name, which matches the 43 WTA singles titles she’s won in her career. Meanwhile, Mirza took home the milestone 25th WTA doubles title of her career.

The Mirza-Hingis pair will now jump from ninth to third position in the WTA rankings as a result of the victory.

(IANS)

DK Ravi suicide: No time limit can be fixed for probe, says CBI

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ias-dk-ravi

Bengaluru: CBI has turned down the request of Karnataka Government seeking a time-bound probe in the alleged suicide of IAS officer D K Ravi, saying there is no provision in law to complete investigations in a given period.

CBI sources said that a communication has been sent to Department of Personnel and Training requesting for a fresh notification to takeover probe in Ravi’s death.

They said once fresh notification is received, the agency will examine the matter whether to takeover probe or not in the controversial death which has snowballed into a major political controversy in Karnataka.

The sources said the notification received from the DoPT has come with a request to complete to the probe within three months which was not according to law.

They said state government handing over probe to CBI cannot give time limit for concluding the probe, hence a fresh notification has been sought from the state government.

The death of Ravi, who took on land mafia and realtors, spiralled into a major controversy after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah initially refused to seek a CBI probe in the case. The case was being probed by Karnataka CID.

Opposition parties and activists then mounted pressure on the state government demanding that the investigation in the case be handed over to CBI.

The decision to transfer the probe to CBI come after Congress president Sonia Gandhi wrote in March to Ravi’s wife promising a fair and transparent probe into the incident.

This came after Ravi’s mother reportedly wrote an open letter to her seeking an impartial probe.

Siddaramaiah had said there had never been a case where an incident had straightaway been referred to CBI immediately after its occurrence.

With the federal set-up in the country, the Centre could not refer a case suo motu to CBI and could do so based on a state’s request, he had said.

The state government had maintained that Ravi’s death prima facie seemed to be a case of suicide, but the opposition parties and the family of the IAS officer have refused to accept the theory.

Ravi’s family had raised doubts over the police claim that he committed suicide, saying that he was under “political pressure”.

(Agencies)

Kannada actors among hundreds of farmers arrested for anti-Modi protest

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Photo Caption

Bengaluru: Veteran Kannada actor Leelavathi and her son, Vinod Raj, were arrested and later released by the city police as they tried to march with protesting farmers towards the hotel where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was put up for the BJP national executive in the city.

The farmers, led by Kodihalli Chandrashekar, had been on an indefinite fast for three days protesting against the ordinance passed by the Union government on the Land Bill Nine farmers have reported ill and are being treated at Bowring Hospital.

Ms. Leelavathi said that she had chosen to be a farmer and was appalled at the ordinance, which she termed “anti-farmer”, which prompted her to support the farmer’s agitation.

Mr. Vinod Raj said that in their village — Soladevanahalli, the Forest Department had been trying to evict farmers claiming the land belonged to it.

“We have been seeing the plight of the farmers for possession of their land; their lifeline has been threatened. So we have come to the streets to protest the new ordinance,” he said.

Along with them, hundreds of farmers were arrested and later released. Mr. Chandrashekar was critical that Mr. Modi did not meet any farmer delegation from the State.

(Agencies)

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