Ranchi: The Central
Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) on Monday framed more charges
against Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in relation with
the Bihar fodder scam case. The chargesheet was framed in
the case pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 182 crore
(41million dollars) from Ranchi and Doranda treasuries.
The charges were framed in a special CBI court, headed by
special CBI judge, Sanjay Prasad, Sources also revealed
that the Railway Minister might be charge sheeted in another
fodder scam case in the CBI court of R Sengupta. In May
this year, the CBI court had framed charges against Lalu
in another fodder scam case alleging him of fraudulent withdrawal
of Rs 3.13 crore (712,335 dollars) from Dumka treasury between
December 1995 and January 1996. The first charge was framed
on April 25 this year, against Lalu and 69 others in a case
relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37 crore (8.4 million
dollars) in 1996 from Chaibasa treasury.
The
fodder scam, which amounts about Rs 950 crore (216 million
dollars), was unearthed in Bihar in 1996. Following which,
the then Chief Minister of the State Lalu had resigned in
1997 after a court issued an arrest warrant against him
in one of the cases. Earlier on September 21, the special
CBI court had announced a six-year imprisonment and fine
of Rs.30.000 (684 dollars) for each of the eleven accused
for fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 20 lakhs (40,000 dollars)
from Hazaribagh treasury. The CBI has, so far, filed charge
sheets in 64 fodder scam cases, out of which 53 are being
tried in the courts at Ranchi and seven in the capital of
Bihar.
LJP
to contest on 190-195 seats in Bihar (Go
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Patna:
The Lok Janshakti Party on Monday announced that it
would contest on 190 to 195 of the total 243 seats in the
upcoming Assembly polls in Bihar. Talking to media, party
Spokesman Sanjay Singh said: "We will contest 190-195 seats
in complete alliance with third front partners CPI, RSP
and forward bloc in the coming Bihar assembly polls". Singh
further said that a perfect seat-sharing formula had been
sorted out in the third front and LJP would fight under
this arrangement. The exact seat-sharing formula would be
formally announced by the party chief Ramvilas Paswan on
Tuesday or Wednesday in the presence of the leaders of CPI,
Forward Bloc and RSP, he said.
Independent
Kashmir impossible: Ex-PoK premier (Go
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New
Delhi: Former Prime minister of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir
(PoK) Sardar Abdul Qayyum on Monday said an independent
Kashmir was a distant dream and could remain so after the
bitter experience of Muslim nations in Central Asia. Qayyum
is in India with a 16-member delegation from Pakistan Administered
Kashmir for an intra Kashmir dialogue aimed at boosting
ties and holding direct talks with the people on either
side of border. The former premier while speaking at an
interactive session at the conclusion of his weeklong visit
said that the West did not want one more sovereign Muslim
nation. "I have been saying that for at least for the coming
100 years its not possible for another independent, sovereign,
recognised state to be created, particularly a Muslim state
after the experience they had with Central Asian Muslim
states. I think everybody in rest of the world is averse
to another Muslim State. So let's not bother about independent
state. That's just for the sake of reassurance," he said.
Qayyum reiterated the demand as made by many separatist
organisations that Kashmirs should be consulted before any
final settlement is made on the vexed issue. "I like many
other friends believe that Kashmiris whatever the level
of their party position are a party to the dispute and they
must be associated and their opinion must be sought," he
added.
Ties between
India and Pakistan have improved since they launched a peace
process in January 2004, but they have still to make substantive
progress on a core dispute over the divided territory of
Kashmir, which both claim in full. Prime minister Manmohan
Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf while attending
the 60th session of the UN General Assembly in New York
had agreed they would not let terrorism impede their peace
process and would remain committed to a peaceful resolution
of all their disputes, including Kashmir. The separatist
All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) had also visited
Pakistan and later held talks with Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh. The Hurriyat has advocate tripartite talks once India
and Pakistan have held talks.
Pak
officials visit their prisoners lodged in Jaipur jail (Go
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Jaipur:
A three-member Pakistani delegation visited Jaipur city's
central jail on Monday after India granted consular access
to prisoners from the neighbouring country in accordance
with the recently concluded foreign secretary level talks.
During their visit to the prison, the Pakistani authorities
identified six of its citizens who were transferred the
Jodhpur jail. New Delhi has said once the identity is confirmed,
the jailed men will be repatriated. Some of the prisoners
have been serving for over 15 years in various Indian jails.
Cyris Qazi, Councillor, Pakistan High Commission, accompanied
by the officials from interior and foreign ministry, said
they were optimistic of a positive response thanks to the
ongoing peace process between the two neighbours. Pakistan
and India swapped hundreds of prisoners at a border post
on September 12 to foster goodwill as South Asia's nuclear
rivals sought to push forward their sluggish peace process.
Pakistan released 435 Indian prisoners while Indian freed
152 Pakistanis, some as young as 12 years. In March, Pakistan
released more than 500 Indian prisoners, mostly fishermen.
One
injured in bomb blast as Kerala civic polls end (Go
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Thiruvananthapuram:
The second and final phase of the civic elections in
Kerala saw about 55 per cent turn out in six northern districts
of the State on Monday. According to a report, one person
was injured in a bomb blast in Kannur district, in otherwise
peaceful voting in Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad,
Kasaragod and Kannur. In the first phase of polling on Saturday,
eight southern districts of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam,
Pathanamthitta, Idukki, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam and
Thrissur had voted for 583 Grama Panchayats, 97 Block Panchayats,
33 Municipalities and four corporations for which 46,199
candidates have tried their luck. Counting of votes in all
districts will take place on September 27 and the newly
elected bodies would be sworn in on October two. Meanwhile,
early information suggests that the wheel of fortune may
swing towards the CPI (M)-led opposition, Left Democratic
Front (LDF), as it has emerged as a more stronger party
than the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF). LDFs tie-up
with veteran leader K Karunakaran's new party, the Democratic
Indira Congress (Karunakaran) just before the elections
is also seen as crucial factor of the result if it comes
in favour of the opposition. Interestingly, the outcome
of the civic polls is also important for all the parties
for the reason that the Assembly election in the State is
just seven-month away.
SC
cancels Amarmani, wife's bail (Go
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New
Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the two
prime accused of the Madhumita Shukla murder case, former
Uttar Pradesh minister Amarmani Tripathy and his wife Madhumani
to surrender before the court. Justice Ashok Bhan, in an
order, cancelled the bail granted to them by the Allahabad
High Court and issued a directive to surrender, failing
which the State would be allowed to take steps to take them
in custody. Madhumita was shot dead at her Paper Mill Colony
residence in Lucknow on May 9, 2003. Central Bureau of Investigations
(CBI) probe in to the case and DNA test of Amarmani had
indicated that the 24-year-old poet was carrying a seven-month-old
foetus allegedly fathered by the former minister. Peeved
over the liaison, Madhumani had planned Madhumita's killing.
The two alleged killers of Madhumita-Santosh Rai alias Satya
Praksh Tripathi and Prakash Chandra Pandey -- had confessed
before the agency that Amarmani's maternal cousin Rohit
Chaturvedi had allegedly paid them Rs two lakh to carry
out the killing at the behest of Madhumani. CBI had arrested
Amarmani on September 22 after his DNA sample matched with
a sample from Madhumita's foetus.
Sweden
swamps India 3-1 in Davis Cup tie (Go
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New
Delhi: Sweden, which has won the Davis Cup on seven
occasions, today retained their Davis Cup World Group berth
by beating India 3-1 at the R K Khanna Stadium. World number
14 Thomas Johansson needed just over two hours to beat Prakash
Amritraj 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 in the reverse singles to give the
visitors the unassailable lead. Earlier, Indian Captain
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi had won their doubles tie
against Jonas Bjorkman and Simon Aspelin 3-6, 6-3, 6-4,
6-3, giving the home team some semblance of hope of making
it to the World Group rankings. After Amritraj's defeat,
the inconsequential second reverse singles was abandoned.
Amritraj struggled with his serves and had too many unforced
errors at the net, his movement on the court too left much
to be desired. Sweden, who were forced to play the qualifier
against India after losing to France early this year.
