Patna:
The Election Commission's special observer, K.J. Rao,
arrived in Patna on Wednesday to look into allegations of
violations of the Model Code of Conduct by the Railways
Minister and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav. Lalu has been
charged with attempting to bribe the electorate after he
was caught on camera, distributing money to people in Bihta
in Patna District. An FIR has already been filed against
Lalu for attempting to bribe the electorate ahead of assembly
elections in February. Rao, accompanied by Patna District
Magistrate Goutam Goswami, went around the city enquiring
about hoardings, banners and posters which had been put
up for December 23 rally, a day after it was cancelled.
The EC special observer also went to the Patna Railway Junction
and collected details about postponement of inauguration
of a platform by Prasad after the model code came into the
force. He also gathered information about booking of buses
for the rally from the bus stand. He later held a high-level
meeting with the district officials on measures taken to
check model code violations. Rao will be making an independent
assessment to check whether the government machinery was
being misused in the poll process. Rao will also be going
to Bihta later today. The ruling RJD has already postponed
its controversial rally scheduled for December 23. Bihar,
along with Jharkhand and Haryana is going for assembly polls
in February.
Govt
notifies 32 outfits as 'terrorist groups' (Go
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New
Delhi: The Government of India today announced a list
of 32 terrorist organisations or groups, operating mainly
in Jammu and Kashmir, the north east and in Naxal-affected
states. The Minister of State for Home Affairs, Sri Prakash
Jaiswal, made this announcement in a written reply to the
Rajya Sabha today. "A number of terrorist groups operating
in Jammu and Kashmir and North-East have their hideouts
in neighbouring countries. Some of these groups, he said
have hideouts in the hinterland or in the higher reaches
of hills, which they keep changing," Jaiswal said in his
reply. The organisations have been notified as terrorists
under POTA 2002 (since repealed) and they continue to remain
as a banned outfits under the unlawful Activities (prevention)
Amendment Ordinance, 2004. Prominent among groups featuring
in the aforesaid section are Hizbul Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Toiba,
Jaish-e-Mohammad, Harkat-ul Mujahideen, Harkatul-Jejad-e-Islami,
Jamiat-ul- Mujahideen, Jammua and Kashmir Islamic Front,
Al-Badr, Tehrik-e-Mujahideen and Al Umar. All of the above
are operating out of Jammu and Kashmir. United Liberation
Front of Assam, All Tripura Tiger Force, National Democratic
Front Bodoland and People's Liberation Army are operating
in the North-East region and are reportedly receiving funds
from foreign countries, Jaiswal said.
Govt
pursuing Rajiv Gandhi murder case (Go
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New
Delhi: The UPA government today assured Rajya Sabha
members that the 1991 Rajiv Gandhi assassination case is
being pursued effectively. Responding to a question on the
need to expedite the 13-year-old investigation, the Minister
of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Suresh Pachouri, said,
"We are pursuing the case effectively." A huge number of
Congress members led by party MP V Narayanasamy pressed
for the demand. Narayanasamy while demanding the quick expedition
said, 13 years have passed since the assassination of the
late Prime Minister and there was a need to effectively
pursue the case to bring the culprits to book. The Congress
MP said that new revelation by the CBI showed that the agency
had collected a lot of evidence against those involved in
the crime. The government should also investigate the involvement
of foreign hand as pointed out by the Justice MC Jain Commission
findings. The assassination Rajiv Gandhi took place at Sriperumbudur
in Tamil Nadu on the night of May 21, 1991. Gandhi, who
was on an election campaign of his Congress party to Tamil
Nadu was a victim of a human bomb explosion at a public
meeting. On hearing the tragic news, the Cabinet under the
chairmanship of the then Prime Minister Shri Chandra Shekhar
met on May 22, 1991 and decided that a Commission of Inquiry
presided over by a Judge of the Supreme Court should be
set up to go into the circumstances of the assassination.
It was later decided that the composition and terms of reference
of the Commission may be approved by the Prime Minister.
So far, two Commissions of Inquiry have been appointed with
regard to the case. The first was the Justice J.S.Verma
Commission of Inquiry and the second was the Justice M.C.Jain
Commission of Inquiry.
Bijnaur
doc in pornographic dock (Go
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Bijnaur
(Uttar Pradesh): With the MMS pornographic scandal in
the Indian capital yet to die down, police in Uttar Pradesh's
Chandpur district near the town of Bijnaur, have arrested
a doctor for making pornographic videos of his female patients
and later using it to blackmail them. Dr. Munish Chand has
an x-ray clinic in the Chandpur district in Bijnaur where
he had installed a hidden camera to make blue films of his
female patients. "Once a woman came to us and complained
to us about the doctor. She said that he was not a good
man, as he was taking undue advantage of women by blackmailing
them. Now, that we have read the newspapers, his crime is
proved and the doctor should be severely punished", said
Roshi Garg, Chairman, Women's organisation, Chandpur. A
police case has been registered against the accused doctor.
"We received information that this doctor used to make blue
films of women. He used to stay in Dubai earlier and from
there only he is engaged in this business. He has some men
who bring girls to the clinic and then the doctor used to
make blue films of the women", said R S Dhama, Chandpur's
Station House Officer. Dr. Munish used to take money from
many people in the wake of providing them employment but
this never happened. He used to do the same with the women
and used to exploit women physically and mentally. Locals
of the area are angry with the doctor and are demanding
that his degree be confiscated. "We don't know since when
the profession is going on in our city. We are requesting
the government that the degree of this doctor should be
confiscated. After coming in this profession you should
respect your patients otherwise people would not trust the
doctors," said Dr. Munendra Singh. The doctor, however,
denies all the allegations made against him. "There are
some photographs of me and my wife while I was abroad. The
photographs were shown to me by the police. They were stolen
from my house. The person who sold the photographs made
a film out of it and sent it to me and demanded 10 lakh
rupees from me. Then I was afraid and I did not report the
incident and after that all this happened. If I make pornographic
movies, I will make it with a third person and not with
my wife and now you can judge the truth from this", said
Dr.Munish Chand Gupta, the accused doctor. The police has
recovered many cassettes and CD's of pornographic films
from the doctor. The doctor had been booked under section
292 and was put behind bars. But due to some legal constraints,
the accused has been released on bail and is moving freely
in the city.
Delhi
juvenile court reserves order on MMS accused (Go
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New
Delhi: A Delhi juvenile court finished hearing the bail
plea of the boy allegedly involved in the MMS case today
and has reserved its verdict on the bail plea of the boy.
Delhi police opposed the plea saying there was every possibility
of him tampering with the evidence and blackmailing the
girl involved in the incident. The police said that the
boy has been continuously tampering with the evidence, including
destroying the cell-phone with which he recorded the objectionable
pictures and changing the decor of the room in which the
incident took place. Delhi police also asked the court to
deny bail to the accused as his conduct was not good, then
police said that he tried to flee from the country immediately
after the incident came to public knowledge. Police also
suspected that the release of the boy on bail could hamper
the investigations, which were at an advanced stage. However,
the counsel for the accused boy pleaded for bail saying
the boy would abide by any condition imposed by the court
while granting this relief. He promised that his client
would also cooperate with the investigation. Meanwhile,
ACP M K Sharma has informed the court that the girl in the
clip has been located and her statement would be recorded
as soon as possible. The 17-year-old accused, a student
of the prestigious Delhi Public School used his cellphone
to shoot a clip of what the police discreetly called an
intimate moment with a classmate. It ended up drawing peeks
for just under three dollars on Baazee.com, India's biggest
Internet auction site, which is owned by San Jose-based
EBay Inc.
Kanchi
seer to be produced in court on Thursday (Go
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Chennai:
The Kancheepuram Judicial Magistrate and the Saidapet
23rd Metropolitan Magistrate Court will tomorrow hear the
plea regarding the extension of the remand of Kanchi Sankaracharya
Jayendra Saraswati in connection with the two cases against
him. The judicial officers concerned are likely to use the
video- conferencing facility for the proceedings. The respective
courts had on December 9 and 10, respectively, extended
the seer's judicial remand till tomorrow. The seer is currently
lodged in the Vellore Central Prison. The Madras High Court
will hear the Acharya's bail plea in the 2002 Radhakrishnan
attack case tomorrow. While the High Court had twice refused
him bail in the September 3, 2004 Sankararaman murder case,
the Principal Sessions court had rejected his bail plea
in the assault case. The bail plea in the Sankararaman murder
case is slated to come up for hearing before the Supreme
Court on January 6.
