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CBI Chennai office likely to handle DK Ravi's case

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D-K-Ravi

Bengaluru: The Chennai office of the CBI has a homicide and burglary squad which is likely to handle the case of DK Ravi once referred by the state government to the CBI HQ through the MHA, which may take another couple of days. This is subject to the headquarters not appointing any special team for the purpose, sources said.  “But given the heat generated by Ravi’s death, a special team handling the matter cannot be ruled out,” they added.

“Normally, in such cases, the case will be either handed over to the CBI office nearest to the place of crime, or a special team will be formed,” police sources familiar with the way the CBI works said. The nearest CBI office in Bengaluru is headed by an officer of the rank of superintendent of police but this chapter specializes only in ‘anti-corruption and banking frauds’ and officials are not well equipped to investigate cases like the one on hand, the sources pointed out.

A fresh line of inquiry?

CBI sleuths will start afresh from the scene of crime and parallel question officials from the CID and city police, and forensic science laboratory experts who have handled the case till now, sources said. Advocates say they can register a case of murder under section 302 and start the investigation from that angle till they reach a conclusion.

Investigating officials will collect all material evidence, documents, statements and related things from the CID and local police. The video CD of the postmortem will also be taken by the CBI.

If required, the CBI may go in for another postmortem, send viscera samples to special labs in Delhi and Hyderabad. Ravi’s call detail records (CDR) for the past six months have been already taken by the CID and if needed, the CBI will get more CDR, sources said.

The investigators will also keep an eye open for any tampering or destruction of evidence, if any, during the course of investigation by local authorities.

(Agencies)

Mars Orbiter mission extended for another six months

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Launch of PSLV C25

Bengaluru: India’s maiden Mars Orbiter mission was extended for another six months on Tuesday to further explore the Red Planet and its atmosphere, a senior official said here.

“As the 1,340 kg Mars Orbiter has sufficient fuel (37 kg) to last longer than it was intended earlier, its mission has been extended for another six months,” the senior official of the Indian space agency told IANS.

The historic mission has completed six months of orbiting the Red Planet.

India created history by becoming the first country to enter Mars orbit in maiden attempt on September 24, 2014 after a nine-month voyage through the inter-planetary space from Earth.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present on the occasion at the Indian space agency’s Mars Orbiter Mission centre in this tech hub.

India also became the first Asian country to have entered the Mars sphere of influence (gravity) in maiden attempt, as a similar mission by China failed to succeed in 2011.

The Rs.450-crore ($70 million) ambitious Mars mission was launched on November 5, 2013 on board a polar rocket from spaceport Sriharikota off Bay of Bengal, about 80 km of Chennai.

“The five scientific instruments onboard the spacecraft (Orbiter) will continue to collect data and relay it to our deep space network centre here for analysis,” state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) director Devi Prasad Karnik said.

Of the five payloads (instruments) onboard, the Mars Colour Camera (MCC) has been the most active, taking several stunning images of the red planet’s surface and its surroundings, including valleys, mountains, craters, clouds and dust storms.

“The camera has beamed to us several breathtaking pictures of the Martian surface and its weather patterns such as dust storms. We have uploaded many pictures on our website (www.isro.gov.in) and our Facebook account for viewing,” Karnik said.

The other four instruments have been conducting experiments to study the Martian surface, its rich mineral composition and scan its atmosphere for methane gas to know if it can support life.

The four instruments are Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM), Lyman Alpha Photometer (LAP), Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser (MENCA) and Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (TIS).

MSM measures the natural gas in the Martian atmosphere with PPB (particles per billion) accuracy and map its sources.

LAP is studying the atmospheric process of Mars and measure the deuterium (isotope) and hydrogen ratio and neutral particles in its upper atmosphere.

MENCA and TIS are analysing the neutral composition and measure the temperature during day and night to map the surface composition and mineralogy of Mars.

“As methane is an indicator of past life on Mars, the sensor is looking for its presence in the Martian orbit. If available, we will know its source in terms of biology and geology. The thermal infrared sensor will find out if the gas is from geological origin,” Karnik pointed out.

Scientists at the mission control centre here are monitoring the orbital movement of the spacecraft around Mars and checking health of its instruments round the clock.

“Health and other parameters of the spacecraft are fine and all the essential functions continue to perform normal,” Karnik asserted.

Orbiter takes 3.2 Earth days or 72 hours, 51 minutes and 51 seconds to go round Mars once while orbiting at a distance of 500 km nearest and over 80,000 km farthest from its red surface.

Success of the Mars mission has made India join the elite club of the US, Europe and Russia, which reached the red planet after initial failures.

ISRO became the fourth international space agency after National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the US, Russian Federal Space Agency (RFSA) and European Space Agency to have undertaken successful mission to Mars.

Besides Orbiter and NASA’s Maven, two other NASA orbiters, Europe’s Mars Express orbiter and two NASA rovers have been exploring the red planet.

Maven, which reached the Martian orbit on September 22, 2014, is an acronym for Mars atmosphere and volatile evolution. It has been designed to study the red planet’s thin atmosphere in attempt to learn what happened to Mars’s water.

As the fourth planet away from sun, Mars is the second smallest celestial body in the solar system. Named after Roman god of war, it is also known as red planet due to the presence of iron oxide in abundance, giving it a reddish appearance.

(IANS)

Govt asked me to go to Pak National Day celebration: V K Singh

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General-VK-Singh

New Delhi: Shortly after representing the Government at the national day reception at Pakistan High Commission tonight which kicked up a storm, Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh issued a series of intriguing tweets defining “disgust” and “duty” indicating that he may have been unhappy at being deputed to it.

In the first of the five quick tweets, Singh, a former Army Chief, said, “To offend the moral sense, principles, or taste of”.

This was immediately followed by another which said, “To sicken or fill with loathing”.

While the third tweet said, “A job or service allocated,” the fourth one said,”The force that binds one morally or legally to one’s obligations”.

The last tweet said,”A task or action that a person is bound to perform for moral or legal reasons”.

Earlier tonight, Singh told reporters after attending the reception that he was asked by the government to represent it at the function.

“The Government of India has to send an MoS. They sent me and I went there and came back,” he said replying to a question about his presence at the reception.

Asked specifically whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked him to attend the event, he said, “The Government of India asked me to go there.”

Singh attended the event where several Kashmiri separatist leaders including Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Yaseen Malik were also present.

The Minister’s visit to the Pakistani High Commission came on a day India and Pakistan sparred over Hurriyat leaders’ meeting Pakistani envoy Abdul Basit with government making it clear that there was no role for a third party.

Mirwaiz, Chairman of Hurriyat Conference, along with Abdul Gani Bhat, Maulana Abbas Ansari, Bilal Gani Lone, Aga Syed Hassan, Mussadiq Adil and Mukhtar Ahmad Waza had held talks with Basit last night.

Basit, who invited them to the Pakistan National Day celebrations, said that India was not against these interactions. However, India hit out, saying “the Government of India prefers to speak for itself”.

(PTI)

Supreme Court scraps Section 66A of IT Act

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Supreme Court India

New Delhi: In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court on Tuesday, struck down section 66A of the IT Act, which gives power to arrest a person for posting offensive contents on web, as unconstitutional.

The verdict came in the hearing of a batch of petitions challenging constitutional validity of certain sections of the cyber law including section 66A.

A bench of justices J Chelameswar and R F Nariman had on February 26 reserved its judgement after Government concluded its arguments contending that section 66A of the Information Technology Act cannot be “quashed” merely because of the possibility of its “abuse”.

Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had said that the Government did not want to curtail the freedom of speech and expression at all which is enshrined in the Constitution, but the vast cyber world could not be allowed to remain unregulated.

However, the court had said that terms like ‘illegal’, ‘grossly offensive’ and ‘menacing character’ were vague expressions and these words were likely to be misunderstood and abused.

The first PIL on the issue was filed in 2012 by a law student Shreya Singhal, who sought amendment in Section 66A of the Act, after two girls — Shaheen Dhada and Rinu Shrinivasan — were arrested in Palghar in Thane district as one of them posted a comment against the shutdown in Mumbai following Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray’s death and the other ‘liked’ it.

The apex court had on May 16, 2013, come out with an advisory that a person, accused of posting objectionable comments on social networking sites, cannot be arrested without police getting permission from senior officers like IG or DCP.

The direction had come in the wake of numerous complaints of harassment and arrests, sparking public outrage.

(Agencies)

Shashi Kapoor to receive Dadasaheb Phalke Award

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shashi-kapoor

New Delhi: Veteran actor-producer Shashi Kapoor has been named for the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke Award.

The actor who turned 77 on the 18th of this month is known for his performances in films like ‘Jab Jab Phool Khile’, ‘Deewar’ and ‘Kabhi Kabhie’. He stepped into the world of acting at the age of four, when he used to perform in plays directed by his father Prithviraj Kapoor.

Shashi Kapoor has got the National Award for best actor for the film New Delhi Times in 1986, National Film Award – Special Jury Award / Special Mention (Feature Film) for Muhafiz (1993) and the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi (as Producer) for Junoon in 1979.

Along with acting in movies, he has worked as a film director and assistant director. He worked as an assistant director for the debut movie of Sunil Dutt titled ‘Post Box 999′.

He has appeared in 160 movies all together, 12 being in English and the rest in Hindi. He was also honored with the Padma Bhushan Award by the Government of India in the year 2011.

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award will be given out with the National Film Awards this year. The previous recipient was lyricist-director Gulzar.

Pursue Hashimpura massacre case in higher court: CPI-M

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Hashimpura massacre

New Delhi: The CPI-M on Monday said the acquittal of all the 16 accused in the massacre of 42 Muslims at Hashimpura in Uttar Pradesh in 1987 should be pursued in the higher court.

“The acquittal by a Delhi court of all the 16 accused in the Hashimpura (Meerut) massacre has angered those who had wanted to see that justice is done in this police atrocity,” it said in a statement.

“The acquittal due to insufficient evidence highlights the callous manner in which the prosecution of those guilty for communal killings are being conducted,” the Communist Party of India-Marxist said.

The party demanded that the verdict be appealed and the case “strongly pursued” in the higher court.

Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) personnel rounded up the 42 Muslims from Hashimpura locality in Meerut on May 22, 1987 during Hindu-Muslim riots, shot them dead and dumped their bodies in water canals.

This triggered a long legal battle in courts. On Saturday, a lower court in Delhi acquitted all the surviving accused for lack of evidence.

(IANS)

Sania-Hingis win BNP Paribas Open title

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Sania-Hingis

Indian Wells: Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza have completed a dream first tournament together, beating Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 6-3, 6-4 to win the BNP Paribas Open women’s doubles title here.

The No.1 seeds, Hingis (Switzerland) and Mirza (India) didn’t lose more than four games in any set all fortnight.

After cruising through the first set, they fell behind 2-4 in the second to No.2 seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina. But they flipped the script from there with four straight games to end it 6-3, 6-4 on Saturday.

Hingis has won 11 Grand Slams in the team discipline (nine in women’s and two in mixed) while Sania has claimed three Grand Slams (all in mixed) — and their doubles partnership was eagerly awaited in the tennis circuit.

“This is something we were hoping for,” Hingis said after the win.

“She hits a big forehand, especially on the right side, and I can move and finish off the point. She prepares, I finish. That’s pretty cool to me,” she added.

Hingis expressed her satisfaction at the performance of the pair in the tournament.

“I’m very happy we made this move. Obviously, we had partners we played well with, like me last year with Flavia, and changing was a big move.”

“I’m very happy it worked out, because you never know what to expect. Winning the tournament in our premier, it’s new energy, and hopefully we can keep it up,” Hingis said.

Mirza echoed Hingis’ sentiments but admitted that she didn’t expect to win in such a dominating fashion.

“On paper, obviously we are supposed to be a good team, but it doesn’t always turn out that way when you step on the court,” Sania said.

“So, we’re really happy we weren’t just able to win, but win in such dominating fashion, not losing a set and being down just two times in the whole two weeks.”

Sania was asked what makes them such a good team in terms of strategy on the doubles court.

“She’s one of the best people who can complement the way I play,” the Indian said.

“She’s got probably some of the best hands in the world at the net. For me, I need that. I need someone who can finish the balls off where I set them up.”

“And that’s really it. Like I said, on paper everything looks great, but you still have to go out there. Names don’t do anything. You have to go out and win.”

(IANS)

AFSPA to be gradually scrapped: Mufti Mohammad Sayeed

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Mufti Mohammad Sayeed

New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on Monday said his government would initiate the gradual process of scrapping the Armed Forces Special Powers Act from the state.

His comments came two days after twin terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir killed three security personnel.

“There are certain reservations as far as the Defence Ministry and some army officials are concerned, but we will try to start the gradual process (of scrapping AFSPA),” Mufti told the state Assembly.

“Until you completely revoke AFSPA, make your people accountable,” he said.

Referring to his recent discussion with GOC-in-C Northern Command Lt Gen DS Hooda, Mufti said, “I told him that you have to have a standard procedure.”

(ANI)

Gujarat : 7 year old girl child raped by school principal

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RAPE

Surat: A seven year old girl, student of class II, was raped by her school principal in the school campus in Navsari, Gujarat.

Daughter of a labour family from Songadh in Tapi district, the survivor was staying with her uncle in Chikhli for studies. Due to financial crisis her parents could not pay her six month fees of Rs 3,000 on time. The principal started pressurizing her for paying the fees. Then one day he took her to the school’s bathroom at around 11am on Friday and for almost an hour did not allow her to come out, the complaint states. After the crime, the accused threatened to thrash if complained.

The 37-year old accused principal was booked by the police on Saturday afternoon.

“The survivor is in deep shock and has minor injuries, but she could describe the entire incident in detail. Police questioned her with care and she described even minute details of the crime,” said DK Patel, police inspector.

“The investigation so far revealed that she was raped and attempts were made for intercourse. She was made to do oral sex twice removing her clothes. Police have arrested the accused and he will be produced in court,” said Patel.

The survivor has been sent to New Civil Hospital (NCH) Surat for detailed physical examination.

(Agencies)

Siddaramaiah government refers DK Ravi case to CBI for investigation

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D-K-Ravi

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday decided to handover the death case of IAS officer D K Ravi to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for investigation.

“I have decided to handover the case to the CBI for investigation. I had said that CID will investigate and a senior official of CID had started the investigation. We will give a status report on the investigation while the assembly is in session, but even that is not acceptable to the opposition,” said Siddaramaiah in the Karnataka State Assembly.

Before calling for a CBI probe in the case, he said the government’s objective was not to cover up anything and that it is not trying to protect anybody. “This government wants to give fearless environment for officers to work efficiently. We have faith in our police. I have not criticized the CBI and not said anything against it. The CBI is an institution that works independently, so does the CID,” he added.

He further said that he has faith in the police, the CID and democracy. “One shouldn’t do politics over death. We are not here to make political capital over deaths,” he added. The chief minister’s political capital remark was met by an opposition uproar in the assembly.

Earlier in the day, Congress president Sonia Gandhi wrote a letter to Ravi’s wife assuring her of a fair probe in the death case of her husband. Karnataka Pradesh Congress president G Parameshwara had earlier on Saturday requested Siddaramaiah to order a CBI inquiry into the case and had said that the truth in this matter should come to the fore without any confusion.

Ravi, posted as Joint Commissioner in Commercial Tax Department, was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his apartment by his wife on March 16. The police suspect it to be a case of suicide, though no note was found from around the officer’s body.

The state government, which ordered a probe by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in the case, has so far ruled out a CBI inquiry.

(Agencies)

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