Excelsior... Nation

Troops on maximum
alert in Assam

GUWAHATI, June 20: Troops were put on maximum alert in Assam today as the situation remained tense with the authorities apprehending a ‘Manipur like situation’ in the wake of extension of Naga ceasefire to the state. ....more

WB Assembly witnesses uproarious scenes,
walkout by opposition

KOLKATA, June 20: Opposition Trinamool Congress and Congress today staged a noisy walkout in the West Bengal Assembly . ...more

Jet Airways installs
caller Id facility to
check hoax calls

NEW DELHI, June 20: Following several instances of hoax bomb threats, Jet Airways has installed ‘caller identity’ facility at all stations across its ....more

Gulshan Kumar

Another star witness
in Gulshan case
identifies 2 killers

MUMBAI, June 20: A star prosecution witness today disclosed before a Sessions Court that he had witnessed the murder of audio King Gulshan ....more

False claim of Rs 955 & 14-year-long CBI probe

NEW DELHI, June 20: Fourteen years after CBI booked an Under-Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat for...more

Ramvilas Paswan

Paswan holds BSP
responsible for killings
of Dalits in UP

LUCKNOW, June 20: Rashtriya Lok Janshakti supremo and Tele-communications Minister Ramvilas Paswan has held the Bahujan...more

Netaji Subhas Chandra

Freedom fighter claims
seeing Netaji years after
crash

KOLKATA, June 20: The Justice Manoj Mukherjee.more

NHRC asks UP to pay
Rs 50,000 to victim of
custodial torture

NEW DELHI, June 20: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has....more

Troops on maximum alert in Assam

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said Army, paramilitary forces and police had been put on ‘maximum alert’ in view of the tense situation in the state.

Gogoi, who was addressing his first press conference after assuming office a month ago, also directed the District Deputy Commissioners and Superintendetnts of Police "to remain alert and deal firmly with anybody breaking the law of the land so that a Manipur like situation does not arise".

Stating that there was no justification in extending the ceasefire without territorial limits, Gogoi said during his recent meeting with Union Home Minister L K Advani, he requested him to withdraw extension of the ceasefire to Assam as "the NSCN(I-M) activities were confined only to Nagaland and never in other places."

"If the ceasefire was extended to all the other insurgent outfits, it would have been a different thing and would have been good for all. I want peace in Nagaland but I am also concerned with solving the problems in my state," he said.

On the Centre’s claim that it had twice consulted the then Chief Minister Prafulla Mahanta before the May Assembly election and taken his approval for the extension, he said, "I had not been consulted".

"Our stand is very, very clear from before. We oppose the ceasefire extension to Assam", he added.

Asked how he and Nagaland Chief Minister S C Jamir had differences on their stand on extension of the ceasefire when both belonged to the Congress, Gogoi said "differences are there. Inter-state border disputes are there though we belong to the same party".

On the Bodo Liberation Tiger (BLT)-centre parleys, the Chief Minister said, "we want the talks to resume".

Meanwhile, the volatile situation in Manipur has had its bearing in Assam with a bandh call given in Naga dominated north Cachar hill district even as two powerful student bodies opposed the extension of the ceasefire to other areas in the north eastern region.

Normal life was hit in the border district by the 48-hour district bandh called by the Autonomous State Demand Committee (Progressive), Dimasa Students Union (DSU), North Cachar Hill Students Federation and Dimasa Women Society.

The Assam Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) and the powerful All Sssam Students Union (ASSU) have opposed the move of the Centre which they claimed would go against the interest of the state.

Meanwhile, the All India Youth Federation, Democratic Youth Federation of India and the All India Students Federation have opposed the extension and urged the Centre for its revocation. (PTI)

WB Assembly witnesses uproarious scenes,
walkout by opposition

KOLKATA, June 20: Opposition Trinamool Congress and Congress today staged a noisy walkout in the West Bengal Assembly demanding statement of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on the police firing outside a jute mill at Bansberia in Hooghly district as the house witnessed uproarious scenes on the issue.

Raising the issue of police firing in the house, leader of opposition Pankaj Banerjee claimed that two workers of the jute mill were killed and 20 others injured when the trigger-happy police opened fire on them. Banerjee said the workers gathered in front of the closed mill and demanded their dues when the jute mill authorities called in the police, who later opened fire.

The opposition leader demanded an immediate statement by the Chief Minister on the incident and action against those responsible for the firing. The Chief Minister was, however, not present in the house.

The house then witnessed uproarious scenes as Banerjee was supported by Trinamool Congress and Congress members.

Congress member Abdul Mannan also demanded an immediate statement by Bhattacharjee.

Speaker Hasim Abdul Halim then adjourned the house.

Members of Trinamool Congress and Congress again raised the demand when the house re-assembled.

The opposition members staged a walkout when the speaker rejected their demand saying the Chief Minister would speak on the issue during his reply on the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address in the house tomorrow.

Later, Banerjee told newsmen that the front Government had adopted "anti-worker" policies. The opposition leader regretted that the speaker adjourned the house when they demanded Chief Minister’s statement.

The Trinamool Congress leader alleged 14 industrial units, including five jute mills, were closed after the new front ministry assumed office a month ago.

He said his party would continue to raise the issue in the house and launch a movement outside the Assembly.

Congress member Abdul Mannan said they might move an adjournment motion in the house tomorrow if the Chief Minister did not make a statement on the police firing in the Assembly today. (PTI)

Another star witness in Gulshan case identifies 2 killers

MUMBAI, June 20: A star prosecution witness today disclosed before a Sessions Court that he had witnessed the murder of audio King Gulshan Kumar four years ago and promptly identified two alleged killers who were sitting with other accused in the dock.

The witness, Sahibrao Gaibu Fuke, deposing before judge M L Tahilyani, pointed at Abdul Rashid Daud and Abdul Rauf Daud Merchant and said they had shot dead Gulshan Kumar outside Shiva Temple at Jeet Nagar in Suburban Juhu on August 12, 1997.

He is the second eyewitness to identify the alleged killers.

On June 18, Ramachandra Lavangare, a resident of Jeet Nagar, had identified these two accused as the persons who had shot at Gulshan Kumar.

Sahibrao said he was a rickshaw driver and was about to leave his residence when he saw the duo firing at Kumar.

"I shouted for help. The killers fired at the victim and ran away. I returned home and told my wife that I had witnessed the murder", the witness told special public prosecutor Ujjwal.

The witness said police came to his house on the same day to record his version, and statement was recorded by the cops. Later, he identified both the accused separately in the parade conducted by police.

Earlier, he complained to the court that he was feeling giddy. He was provided a chair in the witness box. Sahibrao sought permission to vomit and said he was undergoing treatment. He was allowed to take a break. (PTI)

False claim of Rs 955 & 14-year-long CBI probe

NEW DELHI, June 20: Fourteen years after CBI booked an Under-Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat for allegedly claiming Rs 955 on the basis of false vouchers, the premier investigating agency has now decided to close the matter.

According to CBI sources, accused B S Gupta, who was posted as Under-Secretary at Radio Research Centre, Patparganj in 1987, has already retired in July, 1990.

In its FIR registered on September 25, 1987, the agency had alleged that Gupta, while functioning as Under-Secretary (Telecom) in 1987, had made false claims to the tune of Rs 375 and Rs 225 being the cost of silver plates and repair of 5 kw switches.

Gupta had allegedly submitted these claims in April 1987 in order to seek adjustment of an advance of Rs 600. He had also preferred another claim for Rs 355 on the basis of a forged cash memo, CBI alleged.

During investigation of the case it was disclosed that a firm had denied having issued one of the first vouchers while the second one belonged to a non-existent firm. However, CBI said that the advance of Rs 600 was returned by Gupta on April 16, 1987, much before the case was registered.

Regarding the third voucher of Rs 355, another man in Gupta’s office admitted that he, and not Gupta, had got that receipt, the sources said.

However, after failing to gather sufficient material to file a chargesheet against Gupta, CBI had recommended Regular Departmental Action (RDA) major against him and he was punished in the form of reduction of pension, CBI sources said.

This is for the second time that CBI has sought to close the case against accused Gupta, as its first closure report was rejected by the court of V S Agrawal on the ground that the agency must approach the sanctioning authority concerned before coming to the court, the sources said.

However, on the basis of a 1992 Delhi High Court ruling CBI has concluded that there was no need for the prosecution to go to the sanctioning authority, if sufficient material for prosecution was not there, they said.(PTI)

Paswan holds BSP responsible for killings of Dalits in UP

LUCKNOW, June 20: Rashtriya Lok Janshakti supremo and Tele-communications Minister Ramvilas Paswan has held the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) responsible for the killings of Dalits in Uttar Pradesh claiming that it wanted to gain political mileage before the Assembly polls.

"There was no doubt about BSP’s involvement in these henious incidents and to get the sympathy of Dalits, it was shedding crocodile tears", Mr Paswan told newsmen here today.

Can the BSP answer why it was supporting the Government of Ms Rabri Devi in Bihar which had made a record of sorts by eliminating over 35,000 Dalits, he questioned. "The double standards of the BSP would not be accepted by the people, particularly the Dalits, who have now got to know the real face of the political outfit", he said adding "how did their morals allow them to demand the resignation of Mr Rajnath Singh when they are supporting someone like Ms Rabri Devi".

The Rashtriya Lok Janshakti leader also quipped over the timing of these killings, which he said was also aimed to defame the NDA Government in the state and woo the vote bank.

Cautioning the people of the state about the conspiracy hatched by some vested political parties, he regretted that only innocent Dalits were being killed for political reasons.

He, however, said he would meet Chief Minister Rajnath Singh and ask him to punish the culprits involved in the incidents and provide more compensation to the affected families. Mr Paswan is slated to visit Aligarh tomorrow to meet the Dalits, whose family members were killed by upper caste members.

Announcing that his party would contest the coming assembly elections in UP in a big way in alliance with the partners of the NDA, Mr Paswan said the party’s state unit was identifying the seats to be contested by the party. He, however, refused to divulge the number of seats the party would contest.

He said the party would launch a nation-wide agitation from august one to nine, during which the workers would hold demonstration and dharna programmes to highlight the right to work, free and compulsory education, right to health as well as the unemployment problem in the country.

To a query whether the party was fighting to snatch the Dalit vote bank from the clutches of BSP, the Lok Janshakti president termed his party as "DDT" for any other party which proclaims itself to be a champion of Dalits. The BSP till date was gaining on the Dalit vote bank as there was no other party raising their issues, he said claiming that several BSP corporators have joined the party recently, particularly in western up.

Commenting over the recent agitation in Manipur following the cease-fire row, he said the situation would not have been so serious, if there was a democratic Government. (UNI)

Freedom fighter claims seeing Netaji years after crash

KOLKATA, June 20: The Justice Manoj Mukherjee Commission probing the mysterious disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose has recorded an affidavit by a freedom fighter who claimed to have met Netaji in Myanmar in 1954, years after Bose reportedly died in the Taihoku air crash.

Mubarak Mazdoor, who described himself as a freedom fighter and close associate of Jawaharlal Nehru and Rafi Ahmed Kidwai, said in the affidavit that Netaji was living in the guise of a Buddhist monk named ‘Mong’ in the ‘Golden Pagoda’ in Myanmar when he met him.

Stating that he was visiting Myanmar to negotiate rice import at the instance of the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Mazdoor said, "I met Netaji thrice in Rangoon at the tombs of Bahadur Shah Zafar and Zeenat Mahal."

The then burmese Prime Minister Thakin Nu had confirmed that Netaji was alive long after the air crash and was living in that country as a Buddhist monk in the Golden Pagoda, Mazdoor said in his affidavit submitted on June 13.

In the affidavit, Mazdoor said he met Netaji for the first time at Enna Lake in Myanmar where he found the leader clad in the attire of a Buddhist monk.

"After a few days I met him again at the tombs of Bahadur Shah Zafar and Zeenat Mahal where I found him crying behind the tombs," he said.

Later that night, however, the ‘Buddhist monk’ came calling at Mazdoor’s residence, tracing the address he left in the visitors’ book at Bahadur Shah’s tomb.

"I then asked him: May I know your nationality? he answered: What is the nationality of a man after his death?," Mazdoor said, adding that the reply, besides the confirmation of premier Thakin Nu, lent credence to his belief that the `monk’ was none other than Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

"While leaving the hotel room at strand road in Rangoon, the Buddhist monk asked me to convey his regards to the rivers, Ganga and Jamuna and to ask them why have they gone silent and where have their high waves gone," Mazdoor said. (PTI)