Madrid blast: David Beckham gave b'day card
to suspect
London:
Soccer superstar David Beckham had come face-to-face
with Madrid bomb suspect Mohamed Bakkali weeks before the
gruesome massacre that killed 190 people in Spain. According
to the Sun, Beckham met the 31-year old Real Madrid fan
at the team's training camp near the Spanish Capital. He
even signed a birthday card to Bakkali, since charged with
murder over the attack and also linked to Al-Qaeda. Spanish
cops found the card in Bakkali's Madrid flat when they arrested
him two days after the bombings. Beckham, 28, signed his
card "To Mohamed" and wrote "Happy Birthday". The mobile
phone repair mechanic, whose sister Sharafa showed off his
Beckham replica shirt, regularly visited Real's Las Rozas
training camp for autographs.
"David
tries to sign autographs whenever fans ask. Lots of them
turn up at training sessions hoping to meet him. It's terrifying
to think he met one of the bombers face-to-face," the report
quoted a close friend of Beckham as saying. Moreover, Bakkali's
cousin Zaki, 38, also confirmed that the suspect was a training
ground regular. He said, "Mohamed knew Real's history like
a sports commentator. He went to all their matches and training
sessions." Real spokeswoman Marta Sant Estaban also confirmed
that Bakkali visited the training camp, near Beckham's home
in El Plantio. "I knew he'd been here but we can't stop
people waiting for the players," she said. The report adds
that Morocco-born Bakkali, whose birthday is in June, faced
court last week over the March 11 bombing.
18
Karbi villagers killed in Assam (Go
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Guwahati:
At least 18 Karbi villagers were gunned down by suspected
Kuki militants today near Bokajan, official sources said.
Police said the armed Kuki militants raided a village located
25 km from Bokajan early this morning. They dragged each
of the villagers out of their homes, lined them up and then
shot at them indiscriminately. The militants later fled
away under the cover of darkness. According to an official
report, about 20 inhabitants received serious bullet injuries
and have been admitted to Bokajan and Diphu Civil Hospital.
Simranjit
Singh Mann detained (Go
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Sangrur:
The Punjab police on Wednesday took into preventive
custody Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) president Simranjit
Singh Mann at Dirba in this district as he had threatened
to disrupt and not allow the Bharat Uday Yatra of Deputy
Prime Minister L K Advani in the state. DIG (Patiala Range)
Iqbalpreet Singh Sahota said Mann was detained under Sections
107 and 151 of the IPC soon after he addressed an election
rally. Sahota said Mann was taken into preventive custody
as he had threatened not to allow the Yatra through Punjab.
The Yatra will enter the state from Mohali from Chandigarh
tomorrow morning. Mann is seeking re-election from the Sangrur
Lok Sabha constituency against Union Minister SS Dhindsa.
Best
Bakery: SC reserves judgment (Go
To Top)
New
Delhi: After hearing the prosecutors and defence counsels
connected with the infamous Best Bakery case for two consecutive
days, the Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its judgement
on the question whether additional evidence should be recorded
against the acquittal of 21 accused. A two-judge bench of
the apex court comprising Justices Doraiswamy Raju and Arijit
Pasayat passed the order. The question on which the court
reserved its judgement arose during the hearing of two appeals
- one by Zaheera Sheikh, the ket witness in the case, and
the other by Gujarat government against the January 13 judgement
of the Gujarat High Court upholding the acquittal of all
the accused in the case.
Earlier,
appearing for some of the accused, senior counsel KTS Tulsi
supported the Gujarat High Court judgement upholding the
verdict of acquittal recorded by the trial court in the
case in which 14 people, including nine family members of
Zaheera Sheikh were charred to death during the post-Godhra
riots. Tulsi said that under Section 391 of the CrPC the
apellate court could direct recording of additional evidence
only in exceptional cases and not in a case of this nature,
particularly to fill up the lacunae in the prosecution case.
He alleged that there had been a systematic complaint in
the media against the accused and this would cause prejudice
to their case. Tulsi claimed that the accused persons had
saved many people during the riots in the case.
During
the hearing, the court observed that it seemed that the
prosecution had led evidence as if to prove that the accused
were innocent instead of proving its case against them.
In the apex court's hearing of the case on Tuesday, both
the Gujarat Government and Zahira Shaikh had appealed to
the SC to consider the additional evidence given by the
witnesses in the case. They had also urged the apex court
to decide whether the trial court and the High Court, which
had acquitted all the 21 accused, were justified in their
decision. The witnesses had alleged that they were threatened
by the accused to lie before the lower court.
In
fact, many of the witnesses, including Zahira had changed
their versions on what had happened in the Best Bakery case.
Zahira had in her statement to the police said that the
incident had happened during the post-Godhra riots, but
when the trial commenced, retracted it. Tuesday's hearing
came 11 days after the apex court had issued a notice to
all the 21 accused in the case on an appeal filed by the
Gujarat Government. The court had said then that if it felt
that a re-trial in the case needed to be ordered, then,
it would not go into the merits of the case.
On
March 1, 2002, rioting mobs had burnt to death 14 persons
in the Best Bakery in Vadodara when Gujarat was engulfed
in a communal frenzy following the 27 February 2002 train-burning
incident in Godhra in which 59 Hindus were killed. On June
27, 2003, a fast-track court had acquitted all 21 persons
accused in the Best Bakery case for lack of evidence after
37 out of 73 witnesses turned hostile. On September 29,
2003 the Gujarat government filed a 'amended' appeal challenging
the acquittal and seeking a retrial after being chastised
by the Supreme Court. On December 23, 2003, the Gujarat
Government pointed out the lapses by the police in 'registering
and recording of FIR' and on the part of the prosecution
in 'recording of evidence' of witnesses in the Best Bakery
case.
Pak
develops Anza-III to answer India's Akash (Go
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Islamabad:
Pakistan has developed a new air defence system consisting
of a missile that could be fired by a mobile or fixed launcher.
A newer version of the Anza missile, it is said, to be an
answer to India's Akash missile. According to a report in
the Nation, the Anza-III can destroy any air target within
10-15 km. Successfully developed by Kahuta Research Laboratories
of Pakistan, it is basically an anti-aircraft missile, and
with further research it could be modified as an anti-missile
weapon. The report further said that the missile is lifted
in the air by a booster with solid fuel, while the heat
guidance system, armed with infrared equipment, leads it
to the target.
