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Dawood Ibrahim wanted to surrender: former Delhi Police chief

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New Delhi: Former Delhi police commissioner Neeraj Kumar has claimed that underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, the mastermind of the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai that claimed around 300 lives, wanted to surrender but the CBI did not agree to it.

Neeraj Kumar also claimed to have spoken to Dawood Ibrahim three times in June 1994.

“I spoke to a jittery Dawood three times in June 1994… He seemed to be toying with the idea of surrendering but had one worry – his rival gangs could finish him off if he returned to India. I told him his safety would be the responsibility of the CBI,” Neeraj Kumar has told Hindustan Times.

“Dawood was worried that his rivals may kill him if he would come back. I played along and told him that the CBI would take care of his safety if he were to return but before we could actually talk terms of surrender, my bosses in the CBI told me to back off,” Neeraj Kumar says in the HT interview.

In June 1994, Neeraj Kumar was with the CBI and he was leading the agency’s probe into 1993 Mumbai blasts.

Reacting to Neeraj Kumar’s claims, former CBI director Vijay Rama Rao said, “No such offer of surrender came from Dawood Ibrahim. If it’s the case, it was not brought to my knowledge.”

“Let all facts come out. Without entire facts be known, it would be premature and incorrect to say anything,” BJP leader Nalin Kohli said.

Last December, the Modi government, in bilateral talks with Pakistan, had sought custody of Dawood Dawood Ibrahim.

Intelligence sources also said that Dawood is a special guest staying in Pakistan’s much guarded defence area and so much is the secrecy that Pakistan sees that Dawood and his kin fly to Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage in charter flights.

(Agencies)

Punjab Minister kicks up row, says Moga victim's death God's will

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Moga: Punjab Education Minister Surjit Singh Rakhra today triggered a controversy by making an insensitive comment that the death of the teenage girl, who was molested and thrown off a bus belonging to the ruling Badal family, was God’s will. ‘Nobody can stop accidents. Whatever happens does so by God’s will.

“We can always meet with an accident. We will do more for the people….What has happened is unfortunate. You cannot go against nature’s will,” he said.

Rejecting government compensation and demanding action against the owners of the vehicle, family members of the girl have refused to perform her last rites.”There is no headway on this issue (on the cremation),” Moga SSP Jatinder Singh Khehra said.

The body of girl has been kept in a mortuary at Singhawala village here.All attempts by the state authorities to persuade the bereaved family to cremate her proved futile after they rejected a compensation of Rs 20 lakh, a government job for her mother, her free treatment and holding trial of the case in a fast track court.

The family was insisting that the owners of the bus, Orbit Aviation, be booked in connection with the offence and its road permits be cancelled, a demand vociferously supported by AAP.

“I want justice. I want justice for my daughter. FIR should be registered against those whom the bus belonged to,” victim’s father had said yesterday.

When he was asked whether he wanted registration of FIR against Sukhbir Badal, he had said, “FIR can be lodged against him (Sukhbir) after all he is a human being.””Is there nobody in the world who can lodge FIR against him (Sukhbir),” he had questioned yesterday.

The 13-year-old victim and her mother were thrown off the moving bus by a group of men, including the conductor, after they resisted molestation attempts on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Punjab Congress led by its chief Partap Singh Bajwa has given a call for ‘Rail Roko’ agitation for an hour starting at noon to protest against the “deteriorating” law and order situation in the state and to draw attention to the farmers’ problems.

“The deteriorating law and order situation will be part of the ‘Rail Roko’ agitation whose main focus will be the demands of the farmers,” he said.

Congress Spokesperson Randeep Surjewala charged that the family has refused to cremate the victim as the police is pressuring them to arrive at a compromise.

“Ministers of Akali Dal-BJP government are giving out insensitive statements. This is inhuman and completely reflects the arrogance of power that has surpassed the basic tenets of humanity,” he said.

SAD MLA Joginder Singh Jain accused the opposition parties of adding fuel to the fire.

“The government has taken all action possible within its limits till now. The opposition parties including AAP and Congress are simply adding fuel to the fire.

They are misleading the family and bringing disrepute to the girl’s modesty,” he said.

As far as the compensation issue is concerned, he said “It has been given as ex-gratia and not as a bribe. The opposition is watching the drama        and doing nothing. They (family) have not refused to take compensation from us. Infact they were the ones who demanded money and a job.”

“We got a special exemption from the government to give a job in the corporation to their 16-year-old son,” he said.

(PTI)

Agra Muslims who were lured to convert to Hinduism, revert to Islam

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Meerut: A group of Muslims in Agra, who converted to Hinduism on Christmas last year became Muslim again on Friday.

About 17 members of ‘Nat’ community, an extremely backward community in Mahuar Lathiya village in Achnera block, who became Muslim, alleged that a Hindutva group leader had pressured them to become Hindu and had promised them a piece of land.

All those who reconverted belong to the same family and used to live in a settlement of fellow ‘Nat’ community on a public land.

Fifty-year-old Rahmat, the eldest of the group, told the media that Ali Mohammad had pressured the rest of the family members after the Hindutva leader had allegedly promised them a piece of land. After they had become Hindu last year, they faced boycott by their fellow community members.

They didn’t get invitation for marriages and other community functions of the closely knit Nat community in the village.

(Agencies)

US panel slams Modi government over attacks on minority communities

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Washington: Religious minorities in India have been subjected to “violent attacks, forced conversions” and “Ghar Wapsi” campaigns by groups like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) after the Modi government assumed power in 2014, a US Congress-established panel has said.

In its 2015 annual report, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) asked the Obama administration to press the Indian government to publicly rebuke officials and religious leaders who make derogatory remarks about communities and to boost religious freedom standards in India.

The panel said that despite the country’s status as a pluralistic, secular democracy, India has long struggled to protect minority religious communities or provide justice when crimes occur, which perpetuates a climate of impunity.

Incidents of religiously-motivated and communal violence reportedly have increased for three consecutive years, the panel said in its key findings.

The government on Thursday dismissed the latest report of the USCIRF, which noted that religious minority communities in India had been subject to derogatory comments by politicians linked to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party since the parliamentary elections in 2014.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued a statement dismissing the report and stating that it was based on limited understanding of India.

“Our attention has been drawn to a report of the USCIRF which has passed judgment on religious freedom in India. It appears to be based on limited understanding of India, its constitution and its society,” said Vikas Swaroop, official spokesperson of the MEA. “We take no cognizance of this report,” added Swaroop.

(Agencies)

Mekedatu dam row: Siddaramaiah leads all-party delegation to PM

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New Delhi/Bengaluru: Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah led an all-party delegation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking the Centre’s “cooperation” for implementing the Mekedatu dam project in his state, which is being opposed by neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

“We sought support from the Government of India to go ahead with the project,” Siddaramaiah told reporters outside Parliament House after meeting Modi.

Terming Tamil Nadu’s opposition to the project as “politically motivated”, he stressed that interests of the neighbouring state would not be affected by this project.

“We are planning to construct a dam across the Cauvery river, which is in our territory. This project will not affect the interest of Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu people’s opposition to the project is politically motivated,” he said.

Siddaramaiah said that Karnataka was releasing 192 TMC of water to Tamil Nadu as per the award of the tribunal and asserted that construction of hydro electric project was “within the rights of Karnataka”.

Asked about Modi’s response, Siddaramaiah said, “Prime Minister has not given any assurance. He said that he would examine it.”

The Karnataka chief minister also urged Modi to convene a meeting of chief ministers to discuss about making respective regional languages as medium of instruction in primary schools.

Union Ministers Ananth Kumar and Sadananda Gowda, MPs including senior BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa and Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge were also present during the meeting.

The Karnataka all-party delegation’s meeting with Modi comes in the wake of Tamil Nadu chief minister O Pannerselvam and opposition parties from the state calling on the Prime Minister separately over the issue recently.

Siddaramaiah in his budget speech, presented on March 13, has proposed preparing a detailed project report for construction of balancing reservoir on the upstream of Mekedatu across the Cauvery river.

(Agencies)

Bangalore railway station to be re-named 'Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna'

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Bangalore City Railway Station

Bengaluru: The Centre approved the name change of the Bangalore city railway station as ‘Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna’ railway station on Thrusday April 30.

The decision came following a request of the Karnataka government, which sought the name change of the railway station.

In September 2014, the central government had cleared renaming 12 cities and towns of the state including Belgaum as Belagavi and Bangalore as Bengaluru.

The other cities and towns whose names were changed then include Mangalore (to Mangaluru), Bellary (to Ballari), Bijapur (to Vijapura), Chikmagalur (to Chikkamagaluru), Gulbarga (to Kalaburagi), Mysore (to Mysure), Hospet (to Hosapete), Shimoga (to Shivamogga), Hubli (to Hubballi) and Tumkur (to Tumakuru).

(Agencies)

Tortured in jail for 7 years, all 17 accused in 2008 'terror-link case' acquitted

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Hubballi: The First Additional Sessions Court, Hubballi, has acquitted all 17 so called “terror suspects” accused of being part of a “sleeper cell” of the outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) including three doctors, one final year MBBS student and two engineers.

The helpless youth were facing charges of waging war against the country, sedition and manufacture and possession of huge amount of explosives. The court heard the case for seven years and recorded statements of 278 witnesses.

The Thursday’s acquittal by the court followed the prosecution’s failure to prove charges against the youths.

The CID had investigated the case and chargesheeted all the 17 youth during BJP rule in Karnataka. The agency alleged that the accused had links with SIMI and possessed “jihadi” literature.

The CID charge sheet ran into 1,624 pages. The CID probe was headed by then DIG and current Bengaluru additional commissioner of police Alok Kumar. DA Bandekar, public prosecutor said that he is waiting for the judgment copy. “After going through it, I will file an appeal in the high court,” he said.

Syed Sadiq, one of the 17 accused, is out on bail already. Two of the accused, Yahya Kammukutty and Allah Baksh, will walk out of jail once the procedures of acquittal are formalized. The remaining 14 have been charged in various other cases by police from other states.

In the two cases registered in 2008, three charge sheets were filed against 18 persons, including medical students and professionals. Apart from Section 121 (waging, or attempting to wage war against the Government of India.) of the IPC, the accused were charged under Section 122, 124, 153, 379, 465, 471, 201, Section 10(B) of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Section 5 of the Explosive Substances Act.

Of the 18 accused, the name of accused no. 11, Sayyad Nayeem of Gurppanapalya, Bengaluru, was dropped subsequently citing lack of evidence, while Syed Sadiq of Gurappanapalya, Bengaluru, was granted bail four years ego. The rest were in prison for the last seven years.

At the time of arrest, Mohammad Asif of Raichur, Mirza Ahmed Baig of Humnabad and Allabaksh Yadwad of Hubballi were pursuing medicine at the Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) in Hubballi. The other arrested were from Vijayapura, Dharwad, Bengaluru, Belagavi, Kalaburagi and Udupi in Karnataka, and from different places in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh.

After the verdict, the lawyers for the accused, K.M. Shiralli and Ismail Jalagar, said “justice has prevailed”, while Additional Public Prosecutor D.A. Bhandekar said he would study the verdict after getting the certified copy, and give his opinion to his superiors. “The State government will decide on going for an appeal after consulting legal experts,” he said.

In the wake of the “busting” of the sleeper cell, activists of right-wing organizations had set on fire the Hubballi office of the lawyer, who was defending some of the accused.

(Agencies)

Earthquake in Andaman and Nicobar, no danger of Tsunami, say experts

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Port Blair: An earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale hit the Andaman and Nicobar Islands this afternoon at 2.30 pm. There is no tsunami warning, said experts.

The small chain of islands lie hundreds of miles east of India in the Indian Ocean.

Today’s quake comes as Nepal is struggling with relief operations after more than 6,200 people were killed after the capital of Kathmandu was devastated last weekend by an earthquake of 7.9 magnitude.

A massive quake in the Indian Ocean in 2004 caused a tsunami that killed some 228,000 people, the majority in the Indonesian province of Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra island.

In 2012, a few thousand people were evacuated to higher ground from parts of Andaman and Nicobar Islands following earthquakes in Indonesia, as the islands prepared for tsunami waves of up to 3.9 metres high. The warning was later cancelled.

The ecologically fragile islands, known for their sparkling beaches, tropical forests, coral reefs, tribal cultures and emerald Indian Ocean waters, are 1,200 km from the mainland, and are closer to south-east Asia than India.

Tourism, farming and fishing are the main sources of income for the islands, which can be reached only by air or a three-day ship journey from the mainland.

The 2004 tsunami hit the isles badly, killing about 3,500 people, and displacing 40,000.

(Agencies)

​Filthy foam from lake raises health concern

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Varthur Lake

Bengaluru: Varthur lake, considered one of the biggest water bodies in the city, has been filled with a pile of froth after recent rains mixed with untreated sewage were let out into it, raising health concerns among people living nearby.

Such was the effect of this piled up froth that it spilled over to a road adjacent to the lake, causing hindrance to traffic movement on the busy road even as an unbearable stench hung in the air.

Stating that the accumulation of froth is common in this lake, locals said this was the first time they were seeing it in such huge quantity and blamed authorities for letting in untreated sewage water.

“….froth has come on the road, it is troubling the localites….please save the lake as well as the citizens staying in the nearby area,” a local resident said.

Another localite said “where are all the government officials? Where are all the local bodies which are supposed to regulate, restrict and sanitise the flow of untreated water from the residential area, apartments…”

Officials stated that formation of froth was due to detergent content in the untreated sewage water let into the lake and said Bangalore Water Supply and Sewage Board’s proposed treatment plant near the lake would solve the issue.

Karnataka State Pollution Control Board Chairman Vaman Acharya said there are no industries in the area and whatever was flowing into the lake was sewage from households.

Varthur lake, the second largest in Bengaluru, is at the tail end of a chain of lakes and sewage from different localities flows into it in large quantities.

A few locals even blamed rampant encroachment along the boundaries of the lake as one of the important reason for the lake being polluted.

M A Khan Head of K K High School nearby said “We have been monitoring the lake water quality for the past 14 years. Over a period of time we have seen that the quality of water is depleting in the sense the content of salt and phosphate nutrients has increased.”

“If you see the PPM (Permissible Particulate Matter) per milliliter is 2500 here in this lake and simultaneously we have seen that the oxygen demand of the lake has gone to zero at many places. Also biological oxygen demand has also gone, simultaneously the the dissolved oxygen level has also gone down. The lake has also become a eutrophic lake.”

Another woman resident in the area said the stench was just “unbearable.” “Foul smell is emanating from the froth.”

(Agencies)

All-India transport bandh: KSRTC, BMTC buses and autos stay off roads

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Bengaluru: The BMTC and autorickshaw unions will be taking part in the all-India bandh, in protest against higher penalties for drivers proposed in the Road Transport & Safety Bill. Most private cabs are booked, while the autorickshaws that will ply the city roads are expected to charge you more – as they already had late Wednesday!

With Friday (Labour Day) too being a holiday, much of the city has decided to skip work on Thursday and travel out of the city on Wednesday evening, leading to a big rush at several bus-stations across Bengaluru.

The all-India transport bandh on Thursday is expected to bring life to a standstill in Bengaluru and other parts of the state, as all state-run transport corporations – BMTC, KSRTC, NWKRTC and NEKRTC – will go off the road from 6 am to 6 pm.

The bandh has been called to protest against the Road Transport & Safety Bill, which imposes higher penalties on drivers. The bill has been proposed by the Union Transport Ministry. Some autorickshaw drivers and owners unions in the city too are taking part in the bandh. With over 1.2 lakh employees of state-run corporations going on strike, daily commuters in the city and across the state will be affected.

With Friday too being a holiday for Labour Day, many employees in the city are planning a long weekend. Eager to beat Thursday’s bandh, they rushed to several bus-stations across the city on Wednesday. Passengers, who had booked their tickets in KSRTC buses for Thursday, will be refunded. “We will start plying the services from Thursday night though,” a KSRTC official said.

Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy said, “As almost all the unions are participating, we have to stop the service. About 7-8 months ago, all transport ministers from South India had a meeting with Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, where he said he wanted a corruption free transport services and roadside amenities, and his suggestions were welcomed by us. He spoke about penalties for accidents as well and we were agreeable to it, but the quantum of punishment proposed in the bill is very high. It has to be redrafted reasonably.”

City Police Commissioner M.N. Reddi has urged Bengalureans not to treat Thursday’s strike as a bandh. “It is a transport strike being observed by trade unions. All KSRTC and BMTC buses will run and no one can force the strike on unwilling people. Also, essential transport services will run in the city and public can use their own transport without any fear. Bengalureans are requested not to treat this as Bandh, and try to go about their lives normally.”

Alok Kumar, Additional Commissioner of Police (West), said: “To ensure a peaceful strike, a platoon of 30 Karnataka State Reserve Police, 30 platoons of City Armed Reserve police, 500 Home Guards, 300 Civil defence personnel and other civil police officers will be deployed to ensure law and order situation on Thursday.”

(Agencies)

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