The Madras High Court on Tuesday ordered a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the police firing in Tuticorin in which 13 people were killed on May 22. The victims were taking part in a protest against the Sterlite copper smelter plant.

The court also quashed the charges slapped against six protesters under the National Security Act for their role in the violence.

The copper smelter plant owned by Vedanta Ltd is located in Tuticorin around 650 km from here.

About 60 persons were injured in the police firing.

Earlier Chief Minister K. Palaniswami told the media that people in Tuticorin had been protesting peacefully for long against the company, alleging that it was causing health hazards and depleting the water table, but this time, the opposition and “anti-social elements” had turned the movement violent.

“It is because of this instigation that so many people have died. And we are really saddened by the deaths,” he said.

According to an FIR lodged by Tuticorin police, a Deputy Tehsildar has claimed that he had ordered police firing on May 22 against the anti-Sterlite Copper protesters.

The FIR filed by the police on May 22 says that Sekar, Deputy Tehsildar in Tuticorin, admitted that it was he who had ordered the police firing at the protesters after all the other steps to restore law and order failed.

As per the FIR, Sekar said he had at first warned the protesters that force would be used and when this did not work, he ordered a baton charge. When this proved inadequate and the crowd kept surging forward menacingly and attacked the police personnel, he had ordered the firing of tear gas shells after due warning.

The official said when tear gas shells failed to disperse the violent mob, which was destroying public property and attacking the police personnel near the Collectorate, he ordered firing as the last resort. Twelve persons were killed in police firing on May 22 and later one more person died in a fresh firing.

Militants abducted and killed a civilian in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district, police said on Monday.

“Terrorists on Sunday night barged into the house of Gulzar Ahmad, a resident of Murran village and abducted him,” a police officer said.

Later, his body riddled with bullets was recovered from nearby fields, he added.

“Initial investigation suggest that the Zahoor Thokar and Showkat Dar-led group of proscribed terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen are involved in the killing,” the officer said.

India and Switzerland discussed on Friday various aspects of bilateral ties, including the issue of curbing black money, as well as regional and multilateral issues during a meeting between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis.

According to a statement issued by the External Affairs Ministry, the two ministers took stock of the progress made in key areas of interest such as trade and investment, education, information technology and tourism.

Bilateral trade between India and Switzerland stood at $20 billion in the last financial year.

“Closer cooperation in the areas of skill development, renewable energy, traditional Indian medicine and climate change has the potential of mutual benefit and positive contribution at the global level,” the statement said.

Following on the Indian government’s drive to curb black money, the ministers discussed the activation of automatic exchange of information.

India’s negotiations with the EU for a free trade agreement also came up in the discussion.

“A review was undertaken on the progress of the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement, which India and the European Free Trade Area countries are currently negotiating,” according to the statement.

“The two ministers reiterated their strong commitment to early finalization of the agreement while showing flexibility on each other’s concerns.”

Both sides also had detailed talks on Ayurveda, which Switzerland recognizes as a system of medicine.

“The aspect of enhanced people to people interactions through facilitation of tourist and business visas was also discussed at length,” the statement said.

The Supreme Court was on Friday informed by the Centre that the convicts of the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case cannot be released, holding that setting them free will set a “dangerous precedent”.

The Tamil Nadu government’s proposal to release the convicts is not acceptable to the Centre, Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand, appearing for the Centre, told a bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi.

“Releasing the killers of a former Prime Minister will set a very dangerous precedent.

“The case has been decided by various forum of judiciary and executive and the prisoners do not deserve to be set free,” said the Centre in its report.

Placing before the bench the decision of the Ministry of Home Affairs, taken on April 18, Anand said the Centre has taken a decision not to release the seven convicts on the state government’s proposal.

It said that the Central Bureau of Investigation has opposed the Tamil Nadu government’s proposal to release the convicts in the “interest of justice”.

“The case has been reviewed, scrutinised by various forums of judiciary and executive and both the highest judicial and executive forum have evaluated the case and decided the matter.

“Releasing the four foreign nationals who had committed the gruesome murder of the former Prime Minister of this country along with 15 others, most of who were police officers, in connivance with three Indian nationals will set a dangerous precedent and lead to international ramifications by other such criminals in the future,” the Centre’s document stated.

“The Centre, in pursuance of Section 435 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) does not concur to the proposal of Tamil Nadu government for grant of further remission of sentence to the seven convicts,” said the union government.

The Centre filed the report in compliance of the top court order directing it to take a call on the Tamil Nadu government’s proposal within three months.

Janata Dal-United’s Harivansh Narayan Singh was elected the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson on Thursday.

The National Democratic Alliance candidate got 125 votes as against 105 of Opposition candidate B.K. Hariprasad.

 Minister of State for Communications Manoj Sinha on Wednesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) on August 21 to provide financial services to people in underserved areas.

“The Department of Posts reaches every nook and corner of the country including rural and remote areas. With the upcoming nation-wide launch of IPPB, the trusted postman will now become a banker to millions of unbanked and under-banked Indians who have so far had no access to financial services,” Sinha told reporters here.

It will leverage the vast network of the Department of Posts (DoP), which has more than three lakh employees and 1.55 lakh post offices, to turn into access points for the new payments banks. Its reach will be further strengthened by Grameen dak sevaks.

“Of the 1.55 lakh post offices, 1.30 lakh are in rural areas and with the transformation of all post offices into payments banks by December, the number of bank branches in rural areas would more than double from 49,000 to 1.30 lakh,” the Minister said.

The postal bank will offer savings and current accounts, money transfer, direct benefit transfers, bill and utility payments, and enterprise and merchant payments.

The Postal Department already has 37 crore accounts across the country including 17 crore postal savings bank accounts. These accounts would be linked with the IPPB and all services provided by IPPB would be available to exist DoP customers.

The IPPB accounts, which will give four percent interest rate, will not hold savings of more than Rs one lakh. Any money above that limit would automatically be transferred to the old post office accounts with which the IPPB accounts will be linked.

“IPPB will also offer services including credit, insurance and mutual funds by leveraging its tie-ups with third parties like Bajaj Allianz for life insurance and Punjab National Bank for loans,” DoP Secretary A.N. Nanda informed.

The products and services will be offered across multiple channels — counter services, micro-ATM, mobile banking app, SMS and IVR. On the day of launch, IPPB will have 650 branches at district level and 3,250 access points across the country, Nanda said.

India Post MD and CEO Suresh Sethi said that the aim is financial inclusion and the key objective is financial literacy with prime focus on ease of banking.

“We are bringing the simplest form of banking which will be paperless. A QR card will be given to the villagers which along with biometric verification will enable them for all the financial services. The doorstep services will come at a nominal cost,” Sethi said.