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Assam
Ministers' link with ultras From B L Kak
Narasimha Rao, Buta Singh may be send to jail today NEW DELHI, Oct 10: Former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao and his ex-cabinet colleague Buta Singh will be sentenced tomorrow for offences of corruption in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) MPs bribery case......more TN, K’taka send 3 more
CHENNAI, Oct 10: In a significant change of strategy aimed at breaking the stalemate in the Rajkumar kidnap crisis, the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka Governments have sent Tamils national movement leader P Nedumaran and two human rights ....more MUMBAI, Oct 10: The surgery performed on Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to replace his left knee joint.....more |
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Vajpayee enjoys MUMBAI, Oct 10: Exactly twelve hours before Prime Minister left knee joint replacement surgery here ......more India-UK bilateral trade LONDON, Oct 10: Trade and investment between India and UK are "disheartening", despite the fact ......more PM congratulates Haj NEW DELHI, Oct 10: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has congratulated Chairman....more
Bharti demands apology, NEW DELHI, Oct 10: Firebrand BJP MP Uma Bharti today marched to the local office of ‘The Week’...more |
Assam
Ministers' link with ultras From B L Kak NEW DELHI, Oct 10 : An intelligence agency, operating under the administrative control of the Union Home Ministry, has called for a high-level probe into serious allegations of warm flirtations between a section of ULFA and some Ministers of Assam. And as the needle of suspicion has also been directed towards the Assam Chief Minister, Mr Praful Kumar Mahanta, the agency has opined that it would be in fitness of things if he too was brought within the ambit of ''some kind of an independent probe''. Mr Mahanta's critics have often talked about the nexus between him and a section of ULFA on the one hand and warm flirtations between some of his Ministerial colleagues and ULFA and outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) on the other hand. And Mr Mahanta manipulated to shift the focus to different men after the Union Home Ministry announced a probe into the militant-politician nexus last month. Mr Mahanta also chose to equip the Home Minister, Mr L K Advani, with what one source termed as ''classified'' data with regard to certain individuals having a ''direct'' nexus with Assam militants. However, Assam Chief Minister's joy lasted only same days. A new element was injected into the situation, following a serious allegation from Assam Congress leader, Mr Tarun Gogoi, against at least four Ministers of the Mahanta Government. In a message to Mr Advani, Mr Gogoi has warned that things can further deteriorate if the Centre avoided launching an independent probe into the militant-politician nexus. That Mr Gogoi and company are not fully satisfied with the Home Ministry's announcement of a probe into the militant-politician nexus in Assam has been borne out by the demand for an inquiry by a judge of the Supreme Court. ''This will ensure fairness and impartiality'', Mr Tarun Gogoi told Excelsior. Mr Gogoi said that the Union Home Minister seemed to be playing politics-- ''pro-Assam Chief Minister politics''-- having attached little importance to the memorandum, which was submitted to Mr Advani by the Hindu Yuva Chatra Parishad in September 1998. The memorandum has inter alia contained the name of those Ministers who had direct links with the militants. According to Mr Gogoi, the banned outfit of Assam, namely, ULFA was ''instrumental'' in getting four Ministers of the Mahanta Government elected in the last Assembly elections. Mr Gogoi supported the allegation of the Hindu Yuva Chatra Parishad that the four Ministers-- Messrs Jagdish Bhuyan, Maidul Islam Bora, Pradip Hazarik and Rajendra Mushahary- have direct links with the militants. Interestingly, Mr Gogoi, too, finds himself in an awkward situation. In the first place, the Assam Chief Minister has accused him of having links with the militants. On the other hand, former Chief Minister, Mr Hiteswar Saikia's wife has already dashed off a communication to the Congress president, Ms Sonia Gandhi, alerting her on Mr Gogoi's links with ULFA. At a time when the Government of India has urged the Mahanta Government as well as police and other security agencies across Assam to intensify measures against the growing militant activity in several parts of the State, Red Horn Mountain Artillery Brigade has been reported to have come across evidence about the clandestine flow of huge sums of money to militant camps in Bhutan. These camps are run mainly by activists of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland. In fact, Brigadier Sukhdev Singh of Red Horn Mountain Artillery Brigade is said to have informed his higher-ups that most operations of the NDFB are engineered from Bhutan. And if the reports available with the Brigade are any indication, activists of the outlawed NDFB have revived their extortion drive in western Assam district to raise funds. Recently, Brigadier Sukhdev Singh's troops recovered about Rs 56,000 cash from an NDFB militant from Jharguri area. And the captured militant had confessed to have already sent Rs 4 lakhs to his camp in Bhutan. The money was collected through extortion. Brigadier Singh is looking after counter-insurgency in four lower Assam districts. |
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Narasimha Rao, Buta Singh may be send to jail today NEW DELHI, Oct 10: Former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao and his ex-cabinet colleague Buta Singh will be sentenced tomorrow for offences of corruption in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) MPs bribery case. Mr Rao’s lawyer is bracing up to keep him out of jail. Additional Sessions Judge Ajit Bharihoke will pronounce the sentence. The former Prime Minister has been found guilty for offences of corruption under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA). He can be sent to jail for maximum seven years and minimum six months. "If the sentence is for less than three years, then mr rao is entitled for an interim bail. We will also appeal for review in the trial court itself," said senior advocate R K Anand. "If it is for more, then he goes to jail and will approach the High Court for appeal against the trial court’s order." For Mr Singh, if the sentence is for more than two years, he can be barred from contesting elections for six years under the Representation of the People Act. On September 29, Mr Rao and Mr Singh were convicted for criminal conspiracy and corruption when a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court held them guilty in the JMM MPs bribery case and fixed October 11 for deciding the quantum of sentence. The case relates to the bribing of opposition MPs to defeat the July 28, 1993 no - confidence motion against the then Congress Government headed by Mr Rao. The verdict was in the light of the fact that about Rs two crore had been deposited in the Nauroji Nagar (South Delhi) branch of Punjab National Bank in the accounts of then four Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) MPs two days after the defeat of the no-confidence motion. The JMM leaders were subsequently discharged. Also, Mr Buta Singh had admitted in the court that he had arranged a meeting between mr rao and the then JMM MPs at the official residence of the Prime Minister few days before the vote. Mr Rao became the first former Prime Minister to have been convicted in the history of Indian judiciary and politics. If the sentence awarded is more than three years, the convicts will be arrested in the court room itself. If the term is less, they can be given a month to appeal against the verdict and, till that time, they can be out on bail. Mr Rao and Mr Singh have been convicted for having committed offences under Section 120b IPC (Criminal Conspiracy) read with Sections 7, 12, 13(2) and 13(1)(d) of the PCA as well as substantive offences under Section 12. JMM leader Shilendra Mahto’s confessional statement that money was deposited in all the accounts of the JMM MPs at Punjab National Bank account and Mr Singh’s confession that he took all the four MPs to the residence of the Mr Rao was the main ground for convicting Mr Rao and Mr Singh. The other accused were acquitted, giving them the benefit of doubt. They included former Union Ministers Satish Sharma and Ajit Singh besides former Chief Ministers Bhajan Lal of Haryana and Mr Veerappa Moily of Karnataka. The other acquitted persons are Mr V Rajeshwar Rao, a relative of Mr Narasimha Rao, Mr H M Revenna and Mr Ramalinga Reddy (former Karnataka Ministers in the Moily Cabinet), and Bangalore-based liquor barons D K Adikeshavalu and M Thimme Gowda. Mr Bharihoke had reserved his judgement on May 30 at the end of a three-year-long trial during which virtually all the key witnesses, among the 100-odd who deposed in the court, had turned hostile. The CBI had filed three chargesheets between October 1996 and January 1997, naming 21 as accused. While one of the accused, Shailendra Mahato, was allowed to become an approver, nine were discharged in the light of a Supreme Court order on April 17, 1998, ruling that MPs taking bribe to vote in Parliament enjoyed constitutional immunity against prosecution. Subsequently, the CBI also scaled down the number of the witnesses from about 250, stating that most of them had become irrelevant in the light of the Apex Court verdict. The nine accused discharged were the three former JMM MPs — Simon Marandi, Shibu Soren and Suraj Mandal (besides Mahato who was also JMM MP) — and former break-away Janata Dal (A) MPs — Ramlakhan Singh Yadav, who was also a Union Minister, Abhay Pratp Singh, Anadi Charan Das, Ram Sharan, Roshan Lal and Haji Ghulam Mohammed. During the final arguments in the trial court, the CBI contended that the "summary of clinching evidence/incriminating circumstances presented" had made it clear that "there is sufficient evidence" against all the eleven accused". The accused, in their individual statements and arguments through their counsel, however, maintained that no witness had deposed against them. (UNI) |
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TN, K’taka send 3 more emissaries with Gopal CHENNAI, Oct 10: In a significant change of strategy aimed at breaking the stalemate in the Rajkumar kidnap crisis, the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka Governments have sent Tamils national movement leader P Nedumaran and two human rights activists along with official emissary R R Gopal on his fifth jungle mission to secure the release of the Kannada star and two other hostages. A police press release said Nedumaran, Prof P Kalyani and G Sukumaran would go along with Gopal, while the three of them issued a joint statement saying they were treating the hostage crisis as a human rights issue and were acting in response to a request from the Chief Ministers of both the states. The present move coincides with the hearing slated to be held in Supreme Court tomorrow against the release of TADA detenues in the two states as demanded by Veerappan. Chief ministers of the two states had earlier rejected any move to change the emissary or allow anybody else to accompany Gopal. The profile of the new emissaries show that the Governments are now addressing not only Veerappan, but also his extremist associates from the Tamil Nadu Liberation Army. Nedumaran, espousing what he calls Tamil nationalism, has already been approached by the brigand through an audio cassette two weeks ago. The outlaw had then praised Nedumaran’s party for taking up issues like state terrorism and for supporting the LTTE. Veerappan had sought to strike a common chord with Nedumaran by claiming that he was pursuing through ‘armed struggle’ what the latter was doing within the democratic framework. Prof Kalyani is a college teacher radical leanings, while Sukumaran is a PUCL activist and journalist at Pondicherry. Both are members of the ‘People’s Rights Federation’ of which Nedumaran is convener. They said in their joint statement that they black laws’ like TADA and blamed the Governments’ refusal to concede ‘justified demands’ for the present crisis. They were apparently referring to the long-pending demand of Veerappan for the release of all those held in Karnataka on charges of supporting the outlaw in his operations and which has now been stayed by the Supreme Court. (PTI) |
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MUMBAI, Oct 10: The surgery performed on Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to replace his left knee joint at Breach Candy Hospital here today was ‘successful’, according to Dr Chittaranjan Ranawat. The operation, that started at 10.10 a.m. and was over at 11.05 am, ‘went off well’, he told mediapersons here. ‘The Prime Minister was conscious throughout the procedure and is comfortable’, Dr Ranawat, who performed the surgery, said adding Vajpayee had been shifted to ‘recovery room’. Dr Ranawat said Vajpayee will receive physiotherapy from today and start ‘walking a bit’ from tomorrow. He will be able to ‘walk out of the hospital sometime between 5 and 15 days’, the world renowned orthopaedic surgeon from New York said. Dr Ranawat also informed that Vajpayee suffers from osteoarthritis in his right knee also but ‘we do not have any immediate plans for its operation. Union Minister for Information Technology Pramod Mahajan told reporters that President K R Narayanan had telephoned and enquired about the operation. Mahajan said no visitor would be allowed for two to three days and the Prime Minister would not entertain any telephone calls. Union Home Minister L K Advani, who too was present at the press briefing said, ‘I met the Prime Minister after my arrival here last night and found him in good spirits’. Dr Ranawat said the Prime Minister was not receiving any sedatives while the pain was being relieved ‘regionally’. When asked about diet restrictions for Vajpayee, the surgeon said ‘everyone who undergoes this operation is on diet restriction for initial 2-3 days.’ On the extent of damage to the left knee of Vajpayee, Ranawat said ‘there was loss of cartilage and his femur and tibia bones were bare’. Elaborating on the osteoarthritis of right knee in Vajpayee’s case, the New York based surgeon said ‘it is hard to quantify the extent of damage to the right knee but it can be described as somewhere around moderate’. Dr Ranawat, who has performed over 3000 such surgeries, strongly recommended use of cane by Vajpayee. To a query, as to what Vajpayee said during the operation, Dr Ranawat’s cryptic reply was ‘a surgeon does not talk to his patient during operation. Vajpayee will be able to walk normally and indulge in moderate amount of squatting after full recovery, he said. The surgeon ruled out any limp following the operation saying ‘a limp is rare after such kind of surgeries’. Mahajan said henceforth health bulletins about progress made by Vajpayee following the surgery will be issued twice a day and there will be no further media briefings. (PTI) |
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Bharti demands apology, magazine stands by interview NEW DELHI, Oct 10: Firebrand BJP MP Uma Bharti today marched to the local office of ‘The Week’ demanding apology for an interview published by it quoting her to say that she was in love once with her party colleague K N Govindacharya but the weekly stood by the interview. In an unusual protest, the 41-year-old MP went to the second floor of the weekly’s office in INS building which houses the offices of several news organisations and said she would sit on dharna till the magazine apologised. Bharti, who denied having ever given such an interview, maintained that it was a "conspiracy" but Managing Editor of the publication Philip Mathew said The Week stood by the interview and there was no question of apology. After about five hours, during which the entrance to the weekly’s office was blocked by Bharti’s supporters, she called off her protest after talking to a representative of the publication. "The publication of the interview was the saddest day of my life after my mother’s death. But my faith in god and humanity has in no way lessened because of this", she said. Sources close to Bharti later said that she withdrew the dharna on the persuasion of S Gurumurthy, an activist of the pro-RSS Swadeshi Jagran Manch. (PTI) |
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