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Malegaon blasts: NIA files chargesheet, clean chit to Sadhvi Pragya

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Sadhvi Pragya Thakur

Mumbai: In a complete U-turn, the NIA today dropped all charges against Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and five others in the 2008 Malegaon blast case while charges under the stringent MCOCA law have been given up against all the other 10 accused including Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit.

During investigation, “sufficient evidences have not been found against” Pragya Singh Thakur and five others, the NIA said, adding it has submitted in the chargesheet “that the prosecution against them is not maintainable”.

Today’s development in the case, in which seven people were killed in twin blasts when people were coming out of prayers during Ramzan in September 29, 2008.

There have been a lot of twists and turns in the probe into the Malegaon blast which was described as a handiwork of people associated with Hindu right wing groups.

The case was investigated initially by Joint Commissioner of Mumbai’s ATS Hemant Karkare who was killed during the 26/11 Mumbai attack. Before the NIA took over the case in 2011, ATS had booked 16 people but filed charge sheets on January 20, 2009 and April 21, 2011 against 14 accused in a Mumbai court.

Purohit and Pragya had moved several applications before Bombay High Court and Supreme Court challenging the charge sheet and applicability of stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in the case.

Shiv Narayan Kalsangra, Shyam Bhavarlal Sahu, Praveen Takkalki, Lokesh Sharma and Dhan Singh Choudhury are the other five accused against whom charges have been dropped besides Sadhvi.

The agency also said during investigation that it has been established that no offence is attracted in this case under the Maharashtra Control of Crimes Act (MCOCA), in which any statement given before a SP level officer is admissible as an evidence.

“In furtherance of same, the confessional statements recorded under provisions of MCOC Act by ATS Mumbai have not been relied up on by the NIA in submitting the present Final report,” the agency said in its chargesheet.

Lt Col Purohit and nine others will now be tried for charges including murder and conspiracy under the provisions of anti-terror law UAPA, IPC, Arms Act and Explosives Substance Act.

Director General of NIA Sharad Kumar told reporters today there was no dilution in the case.

Asked about the stand taken by the agency in the past when it had opposed the bail plea of Sadhvi and others even in the Supreme Court, he said “till our investigation was not complete, we had to go by the probe done by the ATS. Now that we have completed the investigations, we have submitted our final report (chargesheet)”.

The chargesheet was today submitted by public prosecutor Geeta Godambe before Special Judge S D Tekale here.

Special Public Prosecutor in the case Avinash Rasal said he was not informed about the filing of the chargesheet (by the NIA). “I am hurt and I may resign from the case”, Rasal said.

The Congress attacked the NIA decision to drop charges against Sadhvi Praygya and five others besides diluting the case against Lt Col and nine other accused.

Senior leader Digvijay Singh said “as I had predicted BJP and RSS have started the process of saving the Sangh Activists involved in Terror Cases.”

“Was the DG of NIA given extension for this?” he asked.

Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju dismissed the allegation saying government does not interfere in the investigation by the agencies. “We allow agencies to work independently,” he said.

(Agencies)

 

Rajan unfit to be RBI Guv, should be removed: Subramanian Swamy

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subramanian swamy

New Delhi: BJP leader Subramanian Swamy today suggested that Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan be removed from the post as he was responsible for “unemployment and collapse” of industrial activity.

“In my opinion, RBI Governor is not appropriate for the country. I don’t want to speak much about him. He has hiked interest rates in the garb of controlling inflation that has damaged the country,” he told reporters in Parliament House.

The Governor’s actions have “led to collapse of industry and rise of unemployment in the economy”, he said. “The sooner he is sent back to Chicago, the better it would be.”

Rajan is the on-leave Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.

After assuming charge as RBI governor in September 2013, Rajan gradually raised the short-term lending rate from 7.25 per cent to 8 per cent and had retained the high rates throughout 2014.

He kept the rates high, citing inflationary concerns despite intense pressure from the Finance Ministry and the industry for softening them with a view to boosting growth.

The Governor began the process of lowering the rates in January 2015 and since then it has come down by 1.50 per cent to 6.50 per cent.

(PTI)

Doctors demand removal of Karnataka State Ayurvedic and Unani Practitioners’ Board registrar Dr Thimmappa Shettigar

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dr-thimmappa-shettigarBengaluru: The Karnataka State Ayush Associations’ Joint Action Committee has demanded a CBI probe into the widespread corruption in Karnataka State Ayurvedic and Unani Practitioners’ Board (KAUPB) and sought immediate transfer of board’s registrar Dr Thimmappa Shettigar. Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru on Wednesday, the committee members alleged that the KAUPB was formed to protect the interest of the Ayurveda and Unani practitioners but was instead acting against the doctors and ending up harassing and embarrassing them.

Corrupt practices

Speaking at the press conference, National Integrated Medical Association (NIMA) Karnataka chapter president Dr Bhusanurmath said, “The KAUPB registrar Dr Thimmappa Shettigar was involved in corrupt practices and refused to vacate the registrar’s post despite being transferred on April 21. An FIR has been lodged against Dr Shettigar in Bhadravati police station for his involvement in the death of District Ayush officer Dr Mohammed Hussain. Yet, no action is taken against Dr Shettigar so far. Though he has been transferred from his post, he has been clinging to his seat and not allowing his incumbent to take over. He is also using all the political influence to stall his transfer. We request the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Health Minister UT Khader to immediately shift him out of the Board and initiate action. If the government fails to take action, then we will be forced to organise mass protests across the state. We also demand the State Government to immediately hand over the corruption scandal in KAUPB to CBI for a fair enquiry.”

No action against fake doctors

NIMA’s ex-All-India president Dr KC Ballal said, “Dr Shettigar has been at the helm of affairs at KAUPB for the last five years. He is not only holding all the administrative control but also acting with a personal vendetta. He has been directly accused in the death of honest Shivamogga District Ayush Officer Dr Mohammed Hussain. Hence, he should be immediately transferred. Despite complaints related to the fake doctors, Dr Shettigar failed to take any action yet he never left a chance to harass the honest doctors with a personal vendetta. Dr Shettigar is also treating registered medical practitioners as criminals and termed them as ‘mafia’ for demanding a fair enquiry into the death of District Health Officer Dr Mohammed Hussain. His language is unbecoming of a registrar’s post. Dr Shettigar is also not following the decisions of KAUPB and instead implementing according to his whims and fancies.”

State-wide protest if Dr Shettigar is not removed

Akhila Karnataka Ayurvedic Medical Association president Dr Bharadwaj said, “In March 2016, Dr Shettigar pressurised Dr Mohammed Hussain to file a police complaint against registered medical practitioners under false charges. When Dr Hussain refused to do so citing government regulations that the a complaint cannot be filed in the police station and can be done only at a magistrate court (as per KAUPB rules and regulations, section 40), Dr Shettigar forced Dr Hussain to do so at the police station itself. Under severe pressure, Dr Hussain collapsed and died at Bhadravati police station immediately. We wonder why did Dr Shettigar pressurise Dr Hussain so much? A case has been filed in Bhadravati police station against Dr Shettigar and three others for their involvement in the death of Dr Hussain. Even during so called raids, Dr Shettigar choreographs the raids in such a way to gain maximum media coverage for himself and showing the doctors in poor light. While Dr Shettigar is not taking any action against thousands of fake doctors, he is constantly targetting the registered and authorised post-graduate Ayush doctors.”

Remove Dr Shettigar from registrar’s post

The Association members said that they have brought the whole issue to the notice of Health Minister UT Khader who initially didn’t take action but later formed a committee which found Dr Shettigar guilty of corrupt practices. Subsequently, on April 21, Dr Shettigar was transferred from the post. However, he refused to move out of his job and never allowed his incumbent to take over. He is also now producing a letter by the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah saying that he has got the sanction to continue in the post. “We wonder why the politicians are promoting this corrupt officer who is harassing thousands of doctors in the state. We demand his immediate ouster from the job failing which we will be forced to launch a state-wide agitation against him and the corrupt practices, “Dr Bhusanurmath demanded. The association, with the help of media, request the State Government to immediately interfere in the issue and provide justice to thousands of doctors.

Bihar government orders arrest of JD-U legislator Manorama Devi

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Manorama Devi mla

Patna: A day after Janata Dal-United (JD-U) legislator Manorma Devi was suspended by the party, the Bihar government issued an arrest warrant against her following the recovery of liquor bottles from her residence in Gaya town, police said on Wednesday.

Manorma Devi’s son Rocky Yadav, who was arrested on Tuesday from a house in Bodh Gaya for murdering a teenager, was later sent to 14-day’s judicial custody by a Gaya court, police said.

“The state government has issued an arrest warrant against Manorma Devi and sealed a room of her residence where some liquor bottles were seized during a police raid on Monday night during a search for her son,” a district police officer in Gaya said.

Meanwhile, Manorma Devi has gone underground after the arrest warrant was issued against her.

Principal Secretary of Registration and Excise Department, K.K.Pathak said the legislator would soon be arrested.

“Legal action as per the new excise law was taken against her following recovery of liquor bottles from the residence,” he said.

According to excise official Vikash Singh, six bottles of liquor were recovered.

Gaya senior Superintendent of Police Garima Malik said that Rocky had confessed to the fatal shooting of businessman’s son Aditya Sachdeva on Saturday night for overtaking his car on the Bodh Gaya-Gaya road.

Police have also seized the pistol used in the crime, she said. The licence for the pistol was issued in Delhi.

Malik said a separate case will be filed on charge of violation of the liquor ban in Bihar.

With Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar asserting that no guilty will be spared, police promised to file a charge sheet within a month.

Additional Director General of Police (Headquarters) Sunil Kumar said: “Police have been working to complete investigations in the case within three weeks. The charge sheet will be filed within a month to ensure speedy trial.”

Aditya’s family has demanded a speedy trial to ensure justice.

(IANS)

Democracy won in Uttarakhand, its a lesson for Modi: Rahul Gandhi

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Rahul-Gandhi

New Delhi: BJP did its worst but democracy won in Uttarakhand, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi said today, hoping that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will “learn” his lesson that people of India will not tolerate “murder” of democracy.

Rahul’s strong reaction came as Congress is set to return to power in the state one-and-half months after President’s rule was imposed.

Earlier, the Centre told the Supreme that there is no doubt that Harish Rawat has proved majority on the floor of the Assembly, following which the court said he will assume office as Chief Minister after President’s rule is revoked.

“They (BJP) did their worst. We did our best. Democracy won in Uttarakhand!,” Rahul tweeted.

He said people and institutions built by the founding fathers of the country will not tolerate “murder of democracy”.

“Hope Modiji learns his lesson-people of this country and the institutions built by our founding fathers will not tolerate the murder of democracy!,” he said.

The Supreme Court allowed the Centre to revoke President’s rule.

It said Rawat got 33 votes out of 61 in the floor test yesterday.

(Agencies)

Siddaramaiah vision group to make Bengaluru better place to live

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siddaramaiah

Bengaluru: The state government has issued an order to constitute a Bengaluru Blue Print Action Group headed by CM Siddaramaiah.

The Action Group will have several industry leaders, retired bureaucrats and urban experts as members, like N.R. Narayana Murthy, founder of Infosys, Azim Premji, Chairman of Wipro Ltd., Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw of Biocon, and new-age entrepreneur Sachin Bansal of Flipkart, among others.

Bihar teenager’s murder accused Rocky confesses to crime

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Rocky Yadav

Patna: Rocky Yadav, accused in the murder of teenager Aditya Sachdeva, has confessed to his crime, police said on Tuesday. With Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar asserting that no one will be spared in the case, the police promised to file a chargesheet within a month.

Rocky, son of a Janata Dal-United legislator, was arrested on Tuesday from a house in Bodh Gaya, police said. He has confessed to his involvement in the murder, Gaya’s Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Garima Malik told reporters.

Rocky allegedly shot dead Aditya, the teenaged son of a businessman, on Saturday night for overtaking his car on the Bodh Gaya-Gaya road.

Aditya’s mother Chanda Sachdeva and his father Keshav Chand Sachdeva have demanded a speedy trial in the case to ensure that justice is done.

Additional Director General (police headquarters) Sunil Kumar said: “Police have been working with a time frame to complete investigations in the case within three weeks. The chargesheet will be filed within a month to ensure speedy trial of the accused.”

The police have recovered the pistol used in the crime, SSP Malik said. “The licence for the pistol was issued in Delhi,” she added.

Rocky will now be presented in court, the SSP said.

Malik said some liquor bottles were recovered from the house of Rocky’s mother Manorama Devi, who is a JD-U member of the state legislative council.

“A separate case will be filed in this connection for violation of the liquor ban in Bihar,” Malik told reporters.

Rocky’s father Bindi Yadav is a criminal-turned-politician. He and his bodyguard were arrested and sent to judicial custody by a local court.

(IANS)

Panama Papers: New ICIJ data shows about 2,000 Indian links

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panama_papers

New Delhi: The ICIJ has published a massive trove of ‘Panama Papers’ information on detailed offshore holding of companies in various tax haven nations including thousands of documents related to India linking close to 2,000 individuals, entities and addresses from the country.

“The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) publishes today (Monday) a searchable database that strips away the secrecy of nearly 214,000 offshore entities created in 21 jurisdictions, from Nevada to Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands.

“The data, part of the Panama Papers investigation, is the largest ever release of information about offshore companies and the people behind them. This includes, when available, the names of the real owners of those opaque structures,” the consortium said in its latest message.

A random check of the database for India displays about 22 offshore entities, 1,046 officers or individual links, 42 intermediaries and as many as 828 addresses within the country ranging from the tony and posh locations of metropolitan cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai to mofussil locations like that in Haryana’s Sirsa, Bihar’s Muzaffarpur and Madhya Pradesh’s Mandasaur and state capital Bhopal.

The global body that brought out the first edition of the ‘Panama Papers’, by way of secret offshore data sourced from a Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, said the information about a particular country could have “duplicates” as it reiterated that “there are legitimate uses for offshore companies and trusts.”

“We do not intend to suggest or imply that any persons, companies or other entities included in the ICIJ Offshore Leaks Database have broken the law or otherwise acted improperly,” the body said on its web portal as part of the disclaimer on the release of the offshore “leaks” database.

India, taking note of over 500 entities figuring during the release of the first set of names last month, had created a Multi-Agency Group (MAG) comprising officers from various central investigative agencies like the Income Tax department, FIU, RBI and Foreign Tax and Tax Research (FT and TR) under the Central Board of Direct Taxes apart from the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money reviewing the probe in these cases.

Government has also said in the ongoing session of Parliament that the IT department has issued notices to a number of entities named in the list.

Indian investigators had said they “will be looking into” into as much fresh information that comes in this case including the latest revelations.

While stating that the ICIJ was releasing these additional details on names and addresses in “public interest”, it added that the latest action was also an effort to “find out who’s behind almost 320,000 offshore companies and trusts from the Panama Papers and the offshore leaks investigations.”

A cursory glance of the names and addresses put up on the website of the body not only shows, in a graphic detail, Indian names and addresses along with the identities of their holding company but also specifies the date of incorporation of the firm in some cases.

The group said the “new data that ICIJ is now making public represents a fraction of the Panama Papers, a trove of more than 11.5 million leaked files from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, one of the world’s top creators of hard-to-trace companies, trusts and foundations.

“ICIJ is not publishing the totality of the leak, and it is not disclosing raw documents or personal information en masse. The database contains a great deal of information about company owners, proxies and intermediaries in secrecy jurisdictions, but it doesn’t disclose bank accounts, email exchanges and financial transactions contained in the documents.

“The leaked data covers nearly 40 years, from 1977 through the end of 2015,” it said.

The Supreme Court also had yesterday sought response from the Centre on a plea seeking CBI inquiry against Indian offshore bank account holders named in the Panama papers.

(PTI)

Rawat appears to have clinched numbers in floor test

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Harish Rawat

Dehradun: Sacked Chief Minister Harish Rawat today appeared to have clinched the numbers in the floor test in the Uttarakhand Assembly with 33 of the 61 MLAs said to have voted for him.

With nine disqualified Congress MLAs kept away, Congress MLA Rita Arya claimed that 33 MLAs voted for Rawat while BJP MLAs conceded that their side got only 28 in a House with an effective strength of 61.

“The cloud of uncertainty hovering over Uttarakhand will disappear tomorrow,” an elated Rawat said after the voting in assembly.

Under the Supreme Court-monitored proceedings, the result of the vote will be given to the court tomorrow morning in a sealed envelope.

Both sides claimed that one MLA from each side had cross voted.
Independent MLA Harish Chandra Durgapal claimed that all six PDF (two BSP, 1 UKD and three Independents) members have voted for Rawat. BJP’s Bhimlal Arya’s vote also went to Congress. Likewise, Rekha Arya of Congress voted for the rival side, he said.

Ganesh Joshi of BJP claimed that it was a victory for BJP constitutionally because nine MLAs of Congress had voted for the BJP in the past and now one more MLA has voted for BJP. Everyone saw how Congress tried to buy votes with money and “that is why we were left behind in numbers in the Assembly,” he said.

Principal Secretary (Legislative Assembly and Parliamentary Affairs) of Uttarakhand government oversaw the conduct of the floor test for which President’s Rule was kept in abeyance for two-and-a-half hours from 10:30 AM.

Ahead of the floor test, Rawat sporting a ’tilak’ on his forehead had exuded confidence that he would comfortably win the trust vote.

“The people are with us. The Gods Kedarnath, Gangotri, Yamunotri, Badrinath — all are with us. We are all together, the people who are supporting us, we have their blessings.PDF, BSP, UKD.BJP can claim anything they want, winner will be Uttarakhand,” he said outside the Assembly.

Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Ajay Bhatt had said he was confident that the MLAs will listen to the voice of their conscience.

“On March 18 when the trouble erupted in the House, some members joined hands with us hearing the voice of their conscience. Today also some MLAs will pay heed to the voice of their conscience and join us,” he said.

Congress leader Ambika Soni had said, “We have the numbers and will win the floor test without any difficulty.”

She also alleged that huge amounts had been offered by the opposite side to lure legislators “on our side”.

The trust vote comes a day after the High Court yesterday dismissed the petition of nine Congress MLAs challenging their disqualification and the Supreme Court refusing to give any relief to them.

BJP MLAs, who were the first to come out of the assembly premises which was out of bounds for the media, said they could bag 28 votes.

The legislative exercise was conducted for nearly an hour with heavy deployment of security personnel around the Assembly and people other than members of the House and its employees not allowed into its precincts.

The entire media was kept waiting outside the gates of the Assembly.
Nainital MLA Sarita Arya said, “The floor test was conducted strictly as directed by the Supreme Court. I have shared only our victory in the floor test with the media from whom nothing can be hidden.”

Soon after the BJP members left one after another including Ajay Bhatt, Yatishwaranand, Bishan Singh Chufal, Tirath Singh Rawat, Pushkar Dhami and Dilip Singh Rawat,
President’s Rule was lifted for two hours to allow the exercise to take place in the state assembly which was under suspended animation ever since the state was brought under central rule on March 27.

The trust vote comes a day after the High Court yesterday dismissed the petition of nine Congress MLAs challenging their disqualification and the Supreme Court refusing to give any relief to them.

Umar Khalid taken to AIIMS, withdraws hunger strike

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Umar Khalid

New Delhi: JNU student Umar Khalid, who is out on bail in a sedition case and was on a hunger strike for the last 11 days, was taken to AIIMS in wee hours today after his sugar. sodium and potassium levels fell significantly.

Khalid, who has been rusticated by the university for one semester for his involvement in the controversial February 9 event during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised, also had to withdraw the hunger strike due to bad health.

“Umar Khalid was forced to discontinue the hunger strike owing to acutely failing health. He had severe cramps in the evening because of low sodium-potassium level in his blood following which he was taken to AIIMS post midnight for saline drips,” a JNU Students Union statement said.

Seven students, including JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar, have withdrawn from the fast against the punishment by the varsity in connection with the event while 13 others are still continuing with their hunger strike which entered the 12th day today.

JNU Teachers Association (JNUTA), university alumni and mothers residing on the campus have come out in solidarity with the fasting students by going on a one-day relay hunger strike on different days.

The university administration has appealed to the students not to invite outsiders on the campus and resort to “constitutional” means of putting forward their demands.

Kanhaiya, Umar and Anirban Bhattacharya were arrested in February in a sedition case over the event and are out on bail now.

While Kanhaiya has been slapped with a penalty of Rs 10,000, Umar, Anirban and a Kashmiri student, Mujeeb Gatoo have been rusticated for varying durations.

Financial penalty has been imposed on 14 students. Hostel facilities of two students have been withdrawn and the university has declared the campus out of bounds for two former students.

Saurabh, who is the lone ABVP member in JNU Students Union, has also been slapped with a fine of Rs 10,000 for blocking traffic.

Five ABVP members including Saurabh, who were also on a hunger strike, had last week called off their fast claiming they have an assurance from the JNU administration about consideration of their demands.

(IANS)

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