NEW DELHI, Jan 4:
A Delhi court today fixed January 25 for hearing five cases including three in which Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and members of his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were charge sheeted for alleged unlawful assembly and other offences during their protest in 2012.
Kejriwal is charge sheeted for allegedly violating prohibitory orders during the protest and leading a march to the residences of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on the coal blocks allocation scam.
Metropolitan Magistrate Jay Thareja fixed the cases for January 25 and directed both the Delhi Police and the accused persons including Kejriwal’s ministerial colleague Manish Sisodia to examine the evidences filed along with the charge sheets.
“Both the sides have been directed to examine the evidence collected by the state (police) and identify instances of individual acts of the accused persons resulting in criminal offences,” the court said.
It also allowed the pleas of Kejriwal, Sisodia and various other accused for exemption from personal appearance before it for today.
The court was hearing five separate cases lodged in 2012 against various members and top leaders of AAP in connection with the protests staged by them.
They were charge sheeted for various offences relating to rioting, unlawful assembly, use of force to obstruct public servants from discharging their duty and damaging public property during their protests in August 2012.
During the hearing today, advocate Rahul Mehra, who appeared for the accused, argued that the statements of witnesses which have been filed along with charge sheets were “concocted” and the police have concealed the videos which exonerates most of the accused persons.
Kejriwal and his supporters, who were protesting at Jantar Mantar on August 26, 2012, had allegedly violated prohibitory orders by marching towards the residences of the Prime Minister, the UPA Chairperson and then BJP President Nitin Gadkari.
Separate FIRs were registered against several accused for various offences including rioting and unlawful assembly during their protests.
Out of the five cases, Kejriwal is named as accused in three cases.
The accused persons had earlier filed an application for discharge, saying it was illegal, “clear abuse of process by police” and it was “designed to harass them”. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Jan 4:
Facing criticism, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today announced his decision not to take up the two five-bedroom duplex flats he has been alloted.
He told the media that he has asked the Government to look for smaller accommodation for him.
“Since yesterday my friends, supporters have been calling me and sending messages saying I should not move into the five-bedroom flat. So, I have decided to forego them. I am asking the Government to look for smaller accommodation for me,” he said at a party strategy meeting.
He said till then, he would function from his Ghaziabad residence.
Kejriwal has been allotted two five-bedroom duplex flats on Bhagwan Das Road one of which is to be used as his office.
Questioning the Aam Admi party credentials, his opponents including the BJP had attacked him for taking up the flats.
BJP MLAs had yesterday come down hard on Kejriwal in the Delhi Assembly on the issue, saying his decision to accept the two flats was in “total contradiction” of AAP’s claim that it will practice austerity.
Asked about the attack on him for choosing a big apartment, Kejriwal said, “It is actually important. We have come to cleanse dirty politics. Like Caesar’s wife we have to be above suspicion and we have to subject ourselves to scrutiny”.
The Delhi Chief Minister had said yesterday, “I have been given two separate houses, each having five bedrooms. You can take your camera and check the houses. I will be living in one of those with my family while using the other as my office where we can work till late hour”.
“Now, I will live with my family in the five-bedroom house. Earlier, I was living in a four-bedroom apartment, that’s the only difference,” he had said.
He said the party will today discuss the strategy for Lok Sabha elections but ruled out coming out with any names of candidates.
Asked if any big announcement is expected today, Kejriwal said he has already made one today.
Kejriwal has been living in a society flat in Kausambi and had refused to shift to a Type-Seven bungalow which he is entitled to after taking oath as the Chief Minister on December 28.
His team had finalised the two flats on Bhagwan Das Road after scanning a number of Government flats near the Delhi Secretariat around Indraprastha Extension.
Delhi Government ministers are entitled to Type-Six or Type-Seven bungalows with three-bedrooms. Sheila Dikshit has since 2003 been staying at a Type-8 bungalow on 3, Motilal Nehru Marg in Lutyens Delhi. (PTI)

CHENNAI, Jan 4:
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set for the launch of GSLV-D5, carrying the 1982 kg communication satellite GSAT-14, from its spaceport at Sriharikota, about 80 km from here, tomorrow, with the commencement of the 29-hour countdown.
ISRO sources told reporters the countdown for the launch began at 1118 hrs this morning and progressing well.
The home-made rocket, with its own cryogenic stage, would lift off from the Second Launch Pad at 1618 hrs tomorrow.
If the mission succeeds, India will join a select group of space-faring countries in mastering the complex cryo technology.
During the countdown, the process of filling up liquid propellants in the second stage and in the four strap-on motors attached to the first stage and the cryogenic stage would be carried out.
All mandatory checks would also be carried out during the countdown, the spokesperson said.
The 49.13 m tall three-stage vehicle, with a lift off mass of 414.75 tonnes, is the eight flight of GSLV and the fourth development flight of GSLV.
During this Mission, the first GSLV Mission in four years for ISRO after the twin failures in 2010 including the maiden test flight of Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS) in April, the indigenously developed CUS would be flight tested for the second time.
The sources said 17 minutes after the lift off, the GSAT-14, India’s 23rd geostationary communication satellite, would be injected into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) with a perigee (closest to earth) of 180 km and an apogee (farthest from earth) of 35,975 km with an inclination of 19.3 deg.
After reaching the GTO, GSAT-14 would use its own propulsion systems to reach its geostationary orbital home.
It would help in providing many satellite-based communication services to the country, including tele-education and telemedicine.
After its injection into the GTO, ISRO’s Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan would take control of GSAT-14 for performing the initial orbit raising manoeuvres in three steps, firing the satellite’s Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) and finally placing it in the circular Geostationary Orbit.
After this, the deployment of the antennae and three axis stabilisation of the satellite will be performed. The GSAT-14 will be positioned at 74 deg East longitude and co-located with INSAT-3C, INSAT-4CR and KALPANA-1 satellites.
The 12 communication transponders onboard GSAT-14 would further augment the capacity in the INSAT/GSAT system.
The much-awaited launch was earlier scheduled for August 19 last year but was called off following a leak observed in the UH25 fuel system of the second stage during the pre-launch pressurization phase on the vehicle just two hours before the scheduled lift-off.
All the propellants from the Cryogenic Upper Stage and the second stage were drained out following the leak and the second stage was developed afresh with a different metal and some critical components were changed in the four strap-on motors attached to the First Stage.
The cuboid shaped GSAT-14 is the 23rd geostationary communication satellite built by ISRO. Four of GSAT-14’s predecessors were launched by GSLV during 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2007 respectively.
After its commissioning, GSAT-14, with a mission life of 12 years, would join the group of India’s nine operational geostationary satellites.
The main objectives of GSAT-14 mission were to augment the in-orbit capacity of Extended C and Ku-band transponders and to provide a platform for new experiments.
Some of the new experiments being flown on GSAT-14 included Fiber Optic Gyro, Active Pixel Sun Sensor, Ka-band beacon propagation studies and Thermal control coating experiments.
With its second indigenously developed cryo stage, this would be the first GSLV mission for ISRO in four years after the twin failures in 2010.
The first indigenous cryo stage, developed by ISRO, failed on April 15, 2010 due to a problem in the fuel booster turbo pump.
It was mixed luck for ISRO as far as the GSLV was concerned as two of its previous launches ended up in failure.
After the flight test of India’s own cryo engine failed on April 15, 2010, the next GSLV-F06 mission (using Russian cryo stage) to place GSAT-5P satellite on Christmas Day the same year was aborted after the vehicle veered off the trajectory due to failure of connectors.
In this context, the success of this GSLV mission was all the more crucial as it would not only propel the Indian Space Agency in joining select club of space faring nations in mastering the cryo technology but would also give a major boost to the country in developing the GSLV-Mark III vehicle to launch heavier satellites.
GSLV-Mark III was conceived and designed to make ISRO fully self-reliant in launching heavier communication satellites of INSAT-4 class weighing 4500 kg to 5000 kg. (UNI)