New Delhi: The Supreme Court today expressed concern over delay in trial against people involved in demolition of Babri Masjid. The apex court has said that joint trial of the accused could be held in the matter to speed up the judicial process.

The Supreme Court’s observation today may brew trouble for BJP veterans LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti. They are likely to face conspiracy charges along with others.

The apex court is likely to club two separates cases going on in Lucknow and Raebareli.

The Supreme Court bench of Justices PC Ghosh and RF Nariman made the observation today while hearing two petitions filed by the CBI and Haji Mahboob Ahmad.

The CBI has challenged the Allahabad High Court’s ruling to acquit Advani, Joshi, Uma Bharti, the then UP Chief Minister and present Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh and others.

The apex court had sought responses from all the accused during the last hearing. The Supreme Court is likely to give final ruling in the matter in the next hearing on March 22.

Babri Masjid, a 16th century mosque, was built by one of the generals of Mughal emperor Babar. It was demolished by a mob on December 6, 1992. Advani and Joshi were present at the site when the mosque was pulled down.

(Agencies)

Shaheen Raaj

This is to inform to all concerned that our Entertainment Editor Shaheen Raaj aged 65 has recently suffered 2 major tragedies.

15 days ago he had a fall from a first-floor spiral staircase and fractured his right forearm. And last Friday midnight he suffered a paralysis on the left side of his body.

Right now he is in a private hospital in Virar. He will have to undergo treatment for both at least for a month and then complete bed rest for 3 months. The total expected cost is about Rs. 1 lakh. So here is an ardent appeal to help him out in this hour of crises.

Shaheen Raaj is a senior film Journalist serving the film industry since last 40 years. He was in Bangalore for 10 years and now he is settled in Mumbai.

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Bengaluru: Congress leader, former minister Kumar Bangarappa has resigned as Congress party member to join BJP on Friday. Speaking to the press reporters he said, “I have sent my resignation letter to state congress party president today and have written a lengthy letter to the party stating the reasons forced me to leave congress.” Kumar Bangarappa criticised senior congress party leader Kagodu Thimmappa for playing hatred politics against him as it had turned into a major hurdle for his political career in the state. Meanwhile, senior BJP leader KS Eshwarappa has already informed that Kumar Bangarappa is scheduled to join BJP in March 09 and his entry could strengthen the party further in the state.

(Agencies)

Sarnac Lake: A 24-year-old Indian snowshoe racer who competed last weekend at the World Snowshoe Championships in New York is accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl.

The incident comes after Hussain was given a US visa after huge public outcry.

Police say 24-year-old Tanveer Hussain, of Kashmir, is charged with sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

Saranac Lake Village police Sgt. Casey Reardon tells the Adirondack Daily Enterprise that the girl is under the age of 13 and that she and her parents reported the abuse to police.

Police say the assault happened Monday in the village in the Adirondack Mountains.

Hussain was in jail today on USD 5,000 cash bail. His attorney entered a not-guilty plea for him. The attorney, Brian Barrett, says because of the limited communications he’s had with Hussain, he hasn’t been able to properly evaluate the case.

(AP)

Kolkata: The Bengal unit of BJP on Wednesday removed Juhi Chowdhury from the post of general secretary of the party’s Mahila Morcha (women’s wing) following her arrest in connection with the Jalpaiguri child trafficking case.

The party also expelled her father, Rabindranarayan, from the state unit in which he was a committee member.

Juhi was arrested from near the Indo-Nepal border on Tuesday night. She had been absconding for the past 10 days, after the prime accused in the trafficking racket told the CID that she had promised to help them get favour from the Union government by using her clout in the central leadership in Delhi. The decision was announced by state BJP president Dilip Ghosh.

Ghosh, however, did not rule out the possibility of the party providing legal help to Juhi. Meanwhile, many in Bengal BJP feel she was removed in haste after the prime accused in the case made a statement on Tuesday that Juhi had accompanied her to Delhi and held talks with senior party leaders like Kailash Vijayvargiya, while she waited in an adjacent room.

“Bengal leadership had no option left before it than to remove Juhi from the party as names of our senior leaders are flashed in the media in connection with the child trafficking case,” said a senior BJP leader, requesting anonymity.

BJP workers said Vijayvargiya is set to visit Kolkata on March 9 to discuss with party members the child trafficking case and the alleged involvement of party leaders in it.

Some party leaders the removal as a damage control exercise to protect the entire state unit leadership from being grilled by the central leadership. “One of our state leaders, Joyprakash Mazumdar, was also arrested by police for his alleged involvement in a bribery case, but the party is yet to remove him from the organisation… Juhi’s act has embarrassed not only the state leadership, but also put the central leadership in a critical situation and our state leaders were virtually forced to remove her to save the entire party from future embarrassment,” said the senior BJP leader.

On Wednesday, Juhi was produced before a Jalpaiguri court, which remanded her to CID custody for the next 12 days.

(Agencies)

Tirunelveli: Upset over the Madras High Court order allowing Pepsi and Coca Cola to draw water from the Thamirabarani river for their bottling plants in this district for manufacturing soft drinks, a large number or persons today stood in knee deep water in the river to express their ire.

They also protested against the “laxity” on the part of the authorities in handling the case.

The protesters also shouted slogans against the state government for not taking necessary steps to prevent the carbonated water companies from drawing water from Thamirabharani, when the farmers in the state were facing acute water shortage for their farming activities.

The High Court today allowed the Cola majors to draw water from the Thamirabarani river for their bottling plants in Tirunelveli district for manufacturing soft drinks besides packaged drinking water.

The Court had in November last year banned the firms from drawing water from the river.

The soft drinks companies sought a direction on lifting the ban on the ground that they were using only the surplus water in the river.

The order has come even as a call by the Traders Federation in Tamil Nadu to ban sales of Coca Cola and Pepsi soft drinks came into effect yesterday with its President A M Vikrama Raja declaring drinks as ‘toxic’ for consumption.

(PTI)

New Delhi: Banks including HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank began charging a minimum amount of Rs 150 per transaction for cash deposits and withdrawals beyond four free transactions in a month.

The charges would apply to savings as well as salary accounts effective from today, leading private sector player HDFC Bank said in a circular. The bank would also cap the third party cash transactions at Rs 25,000 per day, while cash handling charges would be withdrawn effective today, the circular added.

The move was seen in some quarters as aimed at discouraging cash transactions and furthering the digital payment drive. For the basic no-frills accounts, maximum four cash withdrawals would continue to remain free and there would be no fees for cash deposits.

In case of ICICI Bank, the charges are same as they were before the demonetisation move announced on November 8, while there is an increase in such fees in case of some others.

According to details on ICICI Bank website, there will be no charge for first four transactions a month in home branch while Rs 5 per thousand rupees would be charged thereafter subject to a minimum of Rs 150 in the same month. The third party limit would be Rs 50,000 per day.

For non-home branches, ICICI Bank would not charge anything for first cash withdrawal of a calendar month and Rs 5 per thousand rupees thereafter subject to a minimum of Rs 150.

For anywhere cash deposit, ICICI Bank would charge Rs 5 per thousand rupees (subject to a minimum of 150) at branches, while deposit at Cash Acceptance Machine would be free of charge for first cash deposit of a calendar month and Rs 5 per thousand thereafter.

ATM intercharge charges have also been re-introduced. At Axis Bank, the first five transactions or Rs 10 lakhs of cash deposits or withdrawals would be free and charged at Rs 5 per thousand rupees or Rs 150, whichever is higher.

It could not be ascertained whether the public sector banks have also begun imposing such charges. When contacted, a senior official said there has been no directive from the government to the banks regarding levy of such charges.

(Agencies)