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Crime
& Casualties Al-Umma Leader, 12 Others
Jailed in Bomb Blast Case CHENNAI: A special court in Chennai on Monday sentenced SA Basha, leader of banned Al-Umma outfit, and 12 others to four years' rigorous imprisonment in connection with planning a series of bomb blasts in 1998. Basha and others who were convicted by L Rajendran, judge of the special court, were sentenced to varying jail terms. In all, 24 persons were arrested for planning to disrupt normal life by planting bombs in and around Chennai in 1998, after the serial blasts in Coimbatore which claimed 58 lives. The Coimbatore serial blasts took place in 1998 during the campaigning of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Lal Krishna Advani, who is now the deputy prime minister. Basha was charged with conspiracy under Section 120-B of the IPC (Indian Penal Code). The blasts in Chennai were planned by Al-Umma outfit to show their protest against the arrest of Basha. A court last month sentenced four members of Al-Umma outfit to death for their role in communal riots in Tamil Nadu. Shoot-out in Corbett Park,
Poachers Flee (Go
to Top) UDHAMSINGNAGAR (Uttaranchal): A shoot-out took place when a search team came under fire from poachers in Jim Corbett National Park, forest officails said on Sunday. Shankar Ram, park warden, said the encounter took place on Saturday night. The poachers managed to escape under the cover of darkness but left behind their vehicle. "A team was sent to this park to nab these poachers. These officials went to the park and hid in a bush. The poachers somehow came to know about their presence and started firing. In retaliation, even our forest official started firing. Taking advantage of the night hours, the poachers fled the scene but left their jeep," Ram added. The forest officials received a tip-off that five poachers had been planning an operation in the area. They recovered a knife and an iron wire used by the poachers to trap the animals. Official worry over poaching increased after several incidents of hunting and killing of protected animals came to light in various wildlife sanctuaries across the country. Ram added that anti-poaching operations in the park, which is also a tiger reserve, are slow due to the difficult jungle terrain. Although trafficking of wildlife products is banned in India, poaching of animals for their skin, bones and other body parts, which are used in Chinese medicine, continues. A few years back, several male elephants were found dead with their tusks removed which prompted the officials to intensify patrolling. Environmentalists say the Indian Government is not doing enough to protect the wildlife, particularly the dwindling tiger population, which has decreased to around 3,000 from 50,000 in 1947. Spread over 1,000 square miles on the foothills of the Himalayan mountains, the Corbett park, named after the famous British hunter-turned-conservator Jim Corbett, is famous for tigers, elephants, deer and crocodiles. Naxals
Blow Up Patna Police Picket (Go
to Top) WARA (Bihar): An outlawed leftist group set off a bomb at a police picket in Bihar, killing one policeman and critically injuring two others, police said on Friday. Police officials said at least 200 extremists belonging to the banned People's War Group (PWG) attacked the police picket at Wara village, 50 km from Patna, in the wee hours and blew it up using explosives. The ultras also looted some firearms and ammunition before fleeing, police said. AC Verma, Inspector-General of Police, Patna range, said the extremists attacked the picket, taking advantage of the dense fog. In May 2000, 35 policemen had died in landmine explosions by the leftist rebels in the village. PWG is fighting upper-caste landlords in the State to gain more power for the area's peasants. Salman's
Plea for Return of Car Rejected (Go
to Top) MUMBAI: Film actor Salman Khan's plea for a direction to the police to return his car - which rammed into a pavement killing one person and injuring four others in September last year - was rejected by a metropolitan magistrate on Wednesday. He has now referred his case to sessions court for trial. In keeping with a directive, the actor appeared before magistrate SY Sishode today after the magistrate rejected the request made by Salman's lawyer HS Anand to exempt the actor as he was unwell. However, the court took a serious view of his continued absence from the proceedings following which Salman made his appearance in the afternoon. In a dramatic twist to the case, police informed the court that Regional Transport Office had cancelled the registration of the vehicle involved in the mishap and had also asked Salman to return RC book forthwith. The magistrate held that he had no powers to issue a direction on Salman's plea because it's only the trial court i.e. the sessions court, which was competent to entertain his petition in this regard. The prosecution argued that the vehicle was a valuable piece of evidence as it had dashed against a wall and its bonnet was smashed. The bend of the bonnet would indicate the speed in which the car was travelling and hence it was necessary to retain it. Salman's lawyer HS Anand argued that Mohammed had mortgaged the vehicle with the actor and his client had an agreement to prove his claim. Salman, arrested on 28 September last year, was granted bail on the same day but re-arrested on the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. He was eventually released on bail by sessions court on October 24. Kidney Racket Accused Sent
to Judicial Custody Till Jan 31 (Go
to Top) AMRITSAR: Arrested kidney transplant surgeon Dr Parveen Kumar Sareen has been sent to judicial custody till January 31. He was presented in the court of judicial magistrate Sanjiv Joshi on Sunday. Later talking to mediapersons an agitated Sareen gave vent to his anger both on media and the law and enforcement agencies. He fumed that there was 'gunda raj' in the State and advised budding doctors not to be kidney transplant surgeons. Sareen was arrested on January 11 along with the principal of Government Medical College, Amritsar, Dr OP Mahajan. Earlier, he was remanded till January 17 and the remand was extended to January 18. Supporters and relatives of Dr Sareen who gathered at the court complex raised slogans in his favour. Seven Bangla Nationals Arrested
Near Punjab Border(Go
to Top) TARAN TARAN: Seven Bangladeshi immigrants, including a woman, have been arrested by para-military forces in the Khemkaran sector when they were trying to cross over to Pakistan. Though the arrests were made on Thursday, the accused were handed over to Punjab police on Friday, sources said. The arrests assume significance since they come close on the heels of the declaration by Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani that Bangladeshi immigrants are a threat to the country's internal security and firm action would be taken against them. Tarn Taran SSP Narendra Bhargava said they were interrogating the arrested persons to gather more details from them. "On January 14 night at around 10 p.m., these people had reached the border. They were trying to cross the border. BSF men spotted them and nabbed seven people. Their motive was to cross over to Pakistan. Interrogation is on," Bhargava told reporters. Security has been beefed up along the border areas following this incident. India says millions of Muslims from Bangladesh who have migrated in search of work to India are typically employed as domestic servants, rickshaw-pullers and labourers This has altered demographic patterns leading to tension among communities. Missionaries
Attacked in Kerala Recovering (Go
to Top) THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A 67-year-old American missionary and his Indian colleagues seriously injured in a gang attack by suspected Hindu hardliners near Thiruvananthapuram are stable and recovering fast. Christian missionary Joseph Cooper, his Indian colleague, Benson, and Benson's wife and two daughters were walking home from a gospel meeting on the outskirts of Kerala's Capital late on Monday (January 13) when the attack occurred. A dozen suspected activists from the radical Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of India's ruling Hindu nationalist party, Bharatiya Jan Sangh, attacked the missionaries with swords and sticks after setting off a crude bomb. "It was time to leave and we were making our way to our automoblies when we were set upon by some very angry fellows. They beat us severely. We all tried to get away but I fell down and they began beating me," Cooper said. "We were moving back to our cars, there were some people hiding. They attacked us with swords and sticks and some country-made bombs," said Benson, an Indian pastor who was attacked along with Cooper. Cooper, visiting Kerala for the eleventh time, had one of his fingers badly sliced off by the attackers but doctors were able to ensure he did not lose it. Three men have been arrested over the attack and police are hunting for the other attackers. Christian missionaries have been attacked by Hindu activists in the past. Two pastors were seriously injured in Kerala in 1999 after an attack by RSS activists. That same year, a mob of Hindu fanatics burned alive Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons as they slept in their jeep in a remote Orissa village. Hardline Hindu groups accuse minority Christians of forcibly converting poor Hindus. But missionaries say they only offer charity. More than 80 per cent of India's one billion people are Hindus and less than three per cent are Christians. Militant
Plotting to Kill Top Politicians Shot
(Go to Top)
AHMEDABAD: Police in Gujarat on Monday shot dead a suspected Islamic militant who they alleged was plotting to kill top politicians including the deputy prime minister. Saddiq Jamal, who police said was a Dubai-based member of the outlawed Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, was killed in a shoot-out with police in Naroda, on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. "Our constable moved forward to catch him (Saddiq Jamal) ... Saddiq started firing with the revolver he had. Due to this the other police officials who were present there also started firing to save the constable. During the firing the militant fell to the ground and he was taken to a hospital where he was declared brought dead," said PP Pande, Joint Police Commissioner, Crime Branch, Ahmedabad. Jamal was the second suspected militant to be killed by police in Gujarat in the last three months. Samir Khan, an Indian national linked by police to another outlawed Pakistan-based militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammad, and also accused of plotting to kill top politicians, was shot dead in October when he tried to flee from police custody. Police say they are on alert against attacks by Islamic groups seeking to avenge the killings of Muslims in Gujarat after the Bharatiya Janata Party swept State elections last month. At least 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, died in clashes with Hindus last year after a Muslim mob torched a train in the town of Godhra, killing 59 Hindus. 60 kg RDX Seized from Militant Hide-outGo
to Top JAMMU: Security forces seized 60 kg of RDX from a militant hide-out in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir, official sources said on Sunday. The security forces had launched the search operation in the upper reaches of Banihal area on Saturday evening on a tip-off and busted the militant hide-out and seized the improvised explosive devices containing 10 kg RDX each, they said. Officials said the militants had planned to use the IEDs to cause explosions on the Banihal-Qazigund stretch of the national highway. Six IED switches, 20 metres of cordex wire, 135 battery cells, ten grenades, six jackets and four blankets were also recovered from the hide-out, they said. -ANI |
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