Centre stays hanging of Balwant Singh Rajoana after Badal meets President

New Delhi/Chandigarh:  The Centre has stayed the hanging of Babbar Khalsa terrorist Balwant Singh Rajoana, who was sentenced to death for the assassination of then Punjab chief minister Beant Singh in 1995. The decision follows a mercy petition filed by Sikh body, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), that has been actively backed by the Punjab government and other political parties in the state.

A court in Chandigarh had ruled on Tuesday that Rajoana should be hanged as scheduled on March 31. The court was hearing a plea from the Patiala Jail Superintendent.

"Taking into consideration our appeal, the President had referred the matter to the Home Ministry, which has stayed the execution of Balwant Singh till the matter is clear in the Supreme Court or mercy plea is considered by the President," Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said after meeting with President Pratibha Patil today. Mr Badal, alongwith his son and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, also handed over a mercy petition on behalf of the state government seeking clemency for Rajoana. The President's office later forwarded his petition to the Union Home Ministry, which will decide on the matter in due course of time. As per law, the petition would then be sent to the Law Minsitry and the Punjab government for comments after which, it would be forwarded to the President with recommendations of the Home Ministry. The President's office already has 18 mercy petitions pending with it.

Mr Badal has been under immense pressure in the last few days with radical Sikh groups demanding clemency for Rajoana. Sukhbir Singh Badal, who is also the President of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), had said today, "We are not politicising the issue. We want clemency for Rajoana. We are meeting the President. We have also sought time from the Prime Minister." Mr Badal stressed that not just the Akalis but the Congress, and other political parties in Punjab, were also supporting the SGPC's demand.

The matter of two other terrorists, Jagtar Singh Hawara and Lakhwinder Singh, convicted in the same case, is pending before the Supreme Court. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has approached the Supreme Court in Hawara's case as his death sentence, awarded by the CBI special court in 2007, was commuted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2010 to life imprisonment. The appeal of Lakhwinder Singh against his conviction is also pending.

However, the High Court had upheld Rajoana's death sentence in the case as he had refused to defend himself. Kamaljeet Kaur, Mr Rajoana's sister, who met him in jail earlier today reiterated that he is not interested in asking for mercy.

Meanwhile, a bandh in the state today, called by radical Sikh groups to protest against the scheduled hanging, threw normal life out of gear - forcing schools and shops to shut down. Saffron-coloured flags could be seen flying on buildings, houses and shops. In Patiala, Shiv Sainiks clashed with protesters, and National Highway 1 was blocked. Trains between Ferozepur and Jalandhar were also blocked with protesters sitting on the rail track near Ferozepur station.

Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Law and Order, S.K. Sharma told IANS there were no major incidents of violence during the shutdown.

Authorities in Punjab had beefed up security arrangements across the state in view of the latest orders of the court directing that Rajoana be hanged. Nearly 60,000 Punjab police personnel and 15 companies of para-military forces had been put on alert. The security forces had taken out flag marches in some cities and towns since Monday. Security has also been tightened around the jail to handle any untoward incident. Prohibitory orders are in place across Chandigarh to stop assembly of groups.

A former Punjab Police constable, Mr Rajoana has refused to defend himself in the Beant Singh assassination case saying that he was involved. Beant Singh, Punjab chief minister between 1992 and 1995 and largely credited with wiping out terrorism from the state, was assassinated by a human bomb, Dilawar Singh, at the high security Punjab civil secretariat in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995.

While Hawara was the mastermind of the assassination, Rajoana was the second human bomb to be used in case the first assassin failed. Rajoana, during the entire 11-year trial, had admitted that he alone was responsible for the killing of Beant Singh. The family members of Beant Singh have also stated that they had forgiven Rajoana and that his death sentence be converted to life imprisonment.

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Army chief explains why he didn't file case after offer of 14-crore bribe

New Delhi:  The Army Chief has accepted that when a bribe was offered to him for 14 crores, he should have done more than just informing the Defence Minister. General V K Singh has said that he was offered the kickback in 2010 by a retired defence officer if he cleared a sub-standard consignment of trucks.

"I think it would have been better had I complained against him. The way it was said, I could not understand what he was saying," said General Singh, who claims the retired officer told him, "Everyone takes it, what is your problem?" General Singh has not named who offered him the money, or what company he represented.

In an interview to The Hindu newspaper, the General said that the offer was made to him six months after he took over as the Army chief. The Congress and the BJP have both asked why he did not file a police case against the alleged bribe giver. "It was not like he was giving me bribe in my hand. This was an indirect method and that is why no arrest was made," was the General's explanation.

The Defence Minister has reportedly ordered a CBI inquiry into the Rs. 14-crore bribe. The allegations have been seized by the opposition to attack the government in Parliament. Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were adjourned, with the opposition demanding an explanation from the government. 

Earlier this month, amid a huge controversy over whether the Army's intelligence wing had bugged offices in the Defence Ministry, a press release from the Army blamed Tejinder Singh, who retired as a Lieutenant General, for trying to create a rift between the government and the Army chief. Tejinder Singh had also served as chief of the Defence Intelligence Agency. The Army chief said he had been interrogated earlier about purchasing off-the-air interceptors without required clearances. The Army's statement added that Tejinder Singh had offered bribes on behalf of a company named Tatra and Vetra, which supplies vehicles to the Army.

"I do not think VK Singh has said that I made or did not make this sort of offer," said Tejinder Singh to NDTV today. General Singh was allegedly offered the bribe to sanction the Army's purchase of a new consignment of vehicles from the same company. He also said that he would initiate "legal action against the people concerned".  

The retired officer who has denied the charges has also been allotted a flat in the Adarsh Society, a high-rise building in Mumbai whose apartments were intended for war veterans and widows, but were instead given to politicians, bureaucrats and defence officers. Tejinder Singh told NDTV that he met with the Army chief once after he retired, but said he would disclose the circumstances of that meeting later.

The government and the chief will now have to answer whether the company was blacklisted once the bribe was offered, and why it has taken so long to commission a formal inquiry.

Top Army sources have told NDTV that the man who allegedly offered the bribe to the army chief objected to the open tender for trucks because that could have hurt Tatra's monopoly.

But, the Defence Ministry today they haven't received any compliants against Tatra. "We have never received any complaint from the armed Forces," Joint Secretary (Land Systems) in the Defence Ministry Rashmi Verma said.

She was asked to comment on the performance of these trucks and whether the forces ever complained on their serviceability and availability of spares in light of Army chief's remarks. Ms Verma said that trucks now are bought on the basis of competitive bids.

The Congress today suggested that the Army chief's own actions were wanting. "If someone offered him a bribe, as a government servant, he should have filed a case against the person under the Prevention of Corruption Act," said the Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari.

The Congress-led coalition at the Centre has been entangled in a maze of financial scandals, with the opposition accusing it of serving as a "government of scams" and of creating an environment that lends itself to graft as the Standard Operating Procedure.

In January, General Singh became the first serving military chief to take the government to court. He wanted the Defence Ministry to accept that he was born in 1951 and not 1950 - records with the Army list both years. The Defence Ministry had refused the General's claim, stating that he had accepted many promotions on the basis of his seniority as established by the documents that showed he was born in 1950. The chief withdrew his petition in the Supreme Court after the judges, through their remarks, indicated they would not side with his claim. He is scheduled to retire at the end of May.

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Odisha hostage crisis: Talks with Maoists suspended indefinitely after MLA's abduction

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Uttarakhand: 5 killed after bridge collapses

Srinagar Gharwal:  Five labourers were killed after an under construction bridge collapsed early today at Chauraas in Srinagar Gharwal, Uttarakhand.

At least 30 more labourers are feared to be trapped under the collapsed structure.

Rescue operations have been underway since 3 am.

More details are awaited.

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No consensus on Lokpal Bill after all-party meet: 10 big facts

New Delhi:  Will India get the new anti-corruption law it has been waiting for? The Lokpal Bill - named for a national anti-graft agency that it creates - was passed by the Lok Sabha. But the Winter Session of the Rajya Sabha ended before the bill could be put to a vote. The Prime Minister called an all-party meeting today to build consensus before the bill is scheduled for discussion in the Rajya Sabha. The Left says the meeting ended without any consensus. Here are 10 facts on this big story:
1) What is the Lokpal? This is a national agency of nine members, who will be selected by a committee that includes the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition. The Lokpal will investigate complaints of corruption against all government servants.  A state-level branch of the Lokpal is called a Lokayukta. 
2) Why did the PM call an all-party meeting today? In December, opposition parties moved close to 200 amendments on the Bill in the Rajya Sabha. They want many changes to the Bill.  The ruling coalition is in a minority in the Rajya Sabha.  In December, the debate on the bill proved that the government would not be able to get the bill passed. Opposition parties say the government therefore orchestrated chaos and delays so that the bill could not be put to a vote which it would have lost. At today's meeting at the PM's house, it was decided that the Lokpal Bill will be taken up during the second half of this Budget Session of Parliament. On March 30, Parliament breaks for three weeks and the union budget has to be passed before this financial year ends. 
3) Before bringing the bill to the Rajya Sabha, the government will work on re-wording contentious parts of the Bill. The BJP, Left and parties like Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress all agree on the need for a Lokpal but have serious objections to the bill in its current form.
 
4) What do opposition parties want?  There are many points of difference among the main parties on the Lokpal Bill. The biggest is whether the bill, in its current form, violates the federal structure of India.  The bill asks for Lokayuktas or ombudsman agencies to be set up in every state to tackle cases of corruption.  Parties like the BJP say this violates the autonomy of state governments. They say that the centre should provide an enabling framework that provides the guidelines for how the ombudsman should be selected and what its powers should be. But it cannot force states to create a Lokayukta.
 
5) How do allies feel about this? The ruling coalition, led by the Congress, has two senior allies - the DMK from Tamil Nadu and Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress from Bengal. Both are needed for the government's survival.  Because both parties are regional, they have joined the BJP in objecting to the references to Lokayuktas, even in the title of the bill.  Mamata Banerjee wants this part of the bill deleted completely.  If the BJP pushes for a vote on this issue, the Trinamool and DMK will vote against the government they belong to.  That means not just embarrassment for the Congress; the government will have been defeated on landmark legislation, allowing the opposition to point out that it does not have the right to stay in office.
6) What powers will the Lokpal have?  This is a major argument among different parties.  Those like the Left say that the Lokpal should supervise the CBI which will be assigned to investigate the complaints received by the ombudsman.  The government says the CBI cannot be made accountable to the Lokpal because this would amount to creating an executive structure outside Parliament.  The bill currently allows the Lokpal to refer complaints to the CBI, which will keep it updated on those cases.   The BJP says the government's control over the CBI should be reduced. The rationale is that as long as the government decides the CBI's budget, and the postings and transfers of its officers, the agency is vulnerable to governmental influence. 
7) Does everyone agree on the need for the Lokpal?  Parties like the BJP have said they want the Lokpal to be introduced as quickly as possible. "I think they should present an amended bill in Parliament; they have got the message loud and clear," BJP leader Arun Jaitley told NDTV today. They blame the government for delaying the legislation in the Rajya Sabha. But others like the Samajwadi Party and Lalu Prasad Yadav's RJD say a Lokpal as currently envisaged creates a new autocratic body. They want the Lokpal Bill to be studied and revised by a parliamentary committee.
 
8) The Anna Hazare factor: The fact that the Lokpal Bill was debated and passed in the Lower House or Lok Sabha was due almost entirely to the efforts of anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare.  With activist-aides like Arvind Kejriwal, he turned India's attention to this legislation through a series of hunger strikes.  It was his 16-day fast in August last year that brought thousands of people in support every day to his camp at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan.  Anna, who is 74, ended his fast after Parliament assured him that it would consider the Lokpal Bill urgently.  However, Anna says the bill in its current form is pointless.   In particular, his group feels that the Lokpal has no real authority and has been reduced to a "post office" where it will distribute complaints of corruption filed by the public to different officials or departments over whom it has no real control.
9) How the Lokpal will be selected is also contentious: The opposition says that the five-member selection committee for the ombudsman gives the government too much representation. That, they argue, will ensure the Lokpal goes soft on any investigation that the government does not favour.
10) The Prime Minister is covered by the Lokpal - he can be investigated while in office if approved by two-thirds of the Lokpal's nine members.

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'No Coca-Cola, Pepsi': Sri Lankan protestors demand ban on American goods after UN resolution

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Drunk SUV driver runs over 28-year-old after argument, arrested

Lucknow:  The drunk SUV driver, who ran over a 28-year-old man in Lucknow following an argument, was arrested today. The accused, Rajesh Tiwari, had fled from the scene after the incident on Thursday night.

Tiwari had rammed the victim's car parked outside his house in Gomti Nagar area of the city. When the man demanded money for repairs, the SUV driver reversed his car hurriedly and ran over him - not once, but twice.

The victim, identified as 28-year-old Arjun Bahadur, was rushed to a nearby hospital. He later succumbed to his injuries. Mr Bahadur worked as a driver with a private company. He is survived by his wife and three daughters - the youngest of them is six months old.

According to reports, there were two more men in the SUV. They too were allegedly drunk.

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Where are the numbers, Mr Prime Minister, asks Sushma after vote on anti-terror centre

New Delhi:  The government won a vote today on its proposed National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), but that victory, according to the BJP, exposes that the government is in a minority. The opposition has also highlighted that ministers of the Trinamool Congress, headed by Mamata Banerjee, walked out of the House before the vote.  

After the vote, the BJP's Sushma Swaraj tweeted, "There were 227 votes in favour of the Government. It is 45 less than the majority. The Government's majority claim has been exposed." She added, "They have been saying - 'We have the number, we have the number'. Mr Prime Minister Where is the number?" Referring to the fact that the Trinamool did not vote in favour of the government, she said, "It is for the first time that even Ministers of alliance partner (TMC) walked out of the House. It is huge embarrassment for the Government."

The BJP and the Left had pushed for votes against the government for violating the federal structure of the country via the NCTC. A simple majority is 272 in the Lok Sabha which has 543 seats. The government came in under that mark, but members of the Trinamool Congress and Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) walked out during the vote, reducing by 40 the number of MPs present and voting. Mulayam Singh Yadav, who today denied reports that he will formally join the ruling coalition, also lent assistance by voting along with the government. But 60 MPs from the UPA - including 12 from the Congress, which leads the ruling coalition - were absent during the vote. The Congress had issued a whip to its MPs, ordering them to be present. Those who were missing are likely to be served a showcause notice with the party demanding an explanation.

Ms Banerjee, who is both Trinamool chief and West Bengal chief minister, has led a contingent of 10 chief ministers who objected to the NCTC. By walking out during the vote, her MPs were not forced to vote against the government alongside the BJP and the Left. At the same time, they avoided voting in favour of a policy that they have criticised fiercely. Sources in the Trinamool Congress say that this was part of a strategy worked out with the Congress this morning. But the BJP was quick to point out that Trinamool ministers like Mukul Roy and Sudip Bandyopadhyay were among those who left the House.    

The vote on the contentious NCTC today was held in the form of amendments moved by the Left and the BJP to the Motion of Thanks given by the Prime Minister this morning for the President's address. Last week, President Pratibha Patil inaugurated the Budget session of Parliament with her speech in which she outlined the agenda of the government. The NCTC was mentioned. The opposition wanted that reference to be deleted. The Prime Minister in his Motion of Thanks said that consultations with state governments will continue about the plans and powers for the NCTC.

He also reiterated that the Home Minister will meet with all chief ministers on April 16 to discuss their concerns. The NCTC has the right to arrive in any state, conduct searches for suspects, and make arrests. State governments say this impedes upon their right to handle law and order, and that the state police force must play a larger role in the NCTC's operations.

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Moroccan girl commits suicide after being forced to marry her rapist

Rabat, Morocco:  Outrage has been building in Morocco's online community over the case of a 16-year-old girl who committed suicide after being forced to marry her rapist.

According to the local press, Amina Filali died after taking rat poison on Saturday. She had been married for the last five months to a man who raped her a year earlier.

The Moroccan penal code allows for a rapist to marry his victim to escape prosecution and preserve her family's honour, according to traditional practice.

The victim's father said in an interview with online Moroccan newspaper goud.ma that the court pushed the marriage on her.

Activist Abadila Maaelaynine tweeted that Amina had been "triply violated," first by her rapist, then by tradition and then by the Moroccan penal code.

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Rail Budget: Fares hiked after 9 yrs; focus on safety, fiscal prudence

New Delhi: 

Dinesh Trivedi, presenting his first rail budget, had his task cut out. His focus, he said, was three-pronged: "Safety, safety, safety."  Following very closely behind were consolidation, decongestion and modernization.
So aided by poetry, quotable quotes and many mentions of his party chief and predecessor Mamata Banerjee, the railway minister today proposed the first hike in passenger fares in nine years and the highest ever annual plan outlay for the railways at Rs 60,100 crore, of which Rs 15,000 crore he said, would be from market borrowing.
The passenger fare hike is a bold step. The rail minister has proposed a 30 paisa per km hike for AC first class travel, a 15 paisa per km hike for AC second tier and a 10 paisa per km hike for AC third tier. Platform tickets would now cost Rs 5.

"The proposal to rationalize the fares will cause minimum impact on the common man," the minister said. Passenger fares are likely to add Rs 36,073 crore to the railway's revenue in the next fiscal.

The hike in fares snaps a populist trend to help mend the finances of a creaking network that is a bottleneck for growth in Asia's third-largest economy. The refusal by successive ministers to raise fares has strained the ministry's finances, which in turn has sapped the amount of money available to lay new track and modernise services.

Clogged freight lines, slow delivery times and overcrowded ports have dented Indian companies' competitiveness and slowed the pace at which crucial commodities such as coal are transported -- aggravating India's power shortages.

"Indian railways are passing through a difficult phase," Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi told parliament.

"If we do not strengthen Indian railways, I'm afraid we weaken our country," he added, in a speech that was littered with poetry and occasionally interrupted by jeers and laughter.

Mr Trivedi’s big emphasis will be on safety. This would include setting up an independent Railway safety authority and phasing out level crossings in five years among other initiatives.  

Time now, said the minister, for a national policy on railways, as he sought big financial support from the government for the world’s second largest railway network. The minister says he needs to modernize 19000 km of rail tracks; also new tracks are needed, he says, in tribal areas and backward regions of the country need to be connected. The bill for this will be an estimated Rs 6,467 crore.

The minister said that 725 km of new lines will be completed in this year and proposed 700 km of new line to be built in 2012-13. 100 stations via the public-private partnership route have been planned over the next 5-years, he added.

The minister announced the introduction of 75 new express trains and 21 new passenger trains. The introduction of Guru Parikarma train covering Amritsar, Patna and Nanded was also announced.

Addressing the key issue of rising operating ratio, Mr Trivedi proposed to bring down the operating ratio from 95% currently to 84.9% in 2012-13. Operating ratio is the amount of money spent for every rupee earned and it has been rising to alarming levels.

Subsidies vs investment debate:

Successive railway ministers have belonged to powerful regional allies of the ruling party in New Delhi, who have tended to subsidise passenger fares at the expense of freight traffic, making goods transport expensive and slow.

Earlier this month, the government raised rail freight rates by nearly 20 percent.

India's railway network is one of the world's largest, but years of low investment and populist policies have crimped growth and hindered private investment in a sector seen as crucial to the country's economic expansion.

"We need to have a system that delivers," Trivedi said.

From 1990 to 2007, which parallels India's economic rise, the country built 960 km of tracks compared with China's 20,000 km over the same period.

Rail Budget at a glance:

Passenger fares:

*Passenger fares to be hiked by 2 paise per km for suburban and ordinary second class travel; 3 paise per km for mail/ express second class; 5 paise per km for sleeper class; 10 paise per km for AC chair car/AC 3-tier and First Class; 15 paise per km for AC 2-tier and 30 paise per km for AC 1-tier.
*Minimum fare and platform tickets to cost Rs 5.

Amenities:

* The open discharge toilets on trains to be replaced with green (bio) toilets.
*Steps to improve cleanliness and hygiene on trains and stations within six months. A special housekeeping body will be set up to take care of both stations and trains.
*New passenger services include escalators at major stations; alternative train accommodation for wait-listed passengers, laundry services, AC lounges, coin/currency operated ticket vending machines.
*On board passenger displays indicating next halt station and expected arrival time to be introduced.
*Introduction of regional cuisine; Book-a-meal scheme to provide meals through SMS or email.
*Specially designed coaches for differently-abled persons to be provided in each Mail/Express trains.
*Wellness programme for railway staff at work places.
*Institution of Rail Khel Ratna Award for 10 rail sports-persons every year.

New trains:

*75 mew Express trains to be introduced, along with 21 new passenger services, nine DEMU services and 8 MEMU services trains.
*Route of 39 trains to be extended and frequency of 23 trains to be increased.

Hiring:

*Railways to hire more than one lakh employees in 2012-13; 80,000 persons hired last year.

Infrastructure:

*Indian Railways Stations Development Corp to be set up to re-develop stations and maintain them like airports.
*To provide rail connectivity to neighbouring countries, a new line from Agartala to Akura in Bangladesh to be set up.
*Double-decker container trains to be introduced.
*National High Speed Rail Authority to be set-up; Pre-feasibility studies on six high speed corridors completed; study on Delhi-Jaipur-Ajmer-Jodhpur to be taken up in 2012-13.
*A wagon factory at Sitapali, Odisha, rail coach factory at Palakkad, two additional new coach manufacturing units in Kutch (Gujarat) and Kolar (Karnataka); component factory at Shyamnagar (West Bengal); new coaching terminal at Naihati, the birth place of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.

Safety:

*To set up an independent Railway Safety Authority as a statutory body.
*All unmanned level crossings to be abolished in next five years; to target zero deaths due to rail accidents.
*Two new members, one for marketing, and other for safety, to be inducted into Railway Board.

Financials:

*Railway Tariff Regulatory Authority to be considered.
*Freight loading of 1,025 MT targeted; 55 MT more than 2011-12; Passenger growth targeted at 5.4 per cent.
*Passenger earnings to increase to Rs 36,200 crore.
*Gross rail traffic targeted to increase by Rs 28,635 crore to Rs 1,32,552 crore in 2012-13.

(With inputs from Reuters and agencies)

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After man spends 7 months in jail, real killers found

Mumbai:  Seven months after Deepak Pawar (32) was arrested for scripting a robbery at his employers' shop, in which two people were shot dead, Crime Branch officers allege that VP Road police made a wrongful arrest.

According to the Crime Branch, a different group, who were arrested while attempting to commit a crime yesterday, were responsible for the murder of the owner of Bharat Steel Yard, Lalchand Vishnoi, and his cousin, Ratna Ram on July 6, 2011.

"The accused were arrested with firearms in their possession from Sane Guruji circle, Tardeo. The dacoits were meeting to commit a crime, when we arrested them.

During interrogation, they have revealed that they were involved in firing at Vishnoi and Ram," said an officer from the Mumbai Crime Branch. The individuals arrested have been identified as Govindutta Rajput (28), Nauseb Khan (26), Mohmmad Alam (28), Rabiullah Khan (30) and Mohmmad Shakeel Khan (20).

Arrest in haste?
VP Road police had then claimed to have solved the double murder case within 24 hours of the incident with the arrest of Pawar, who had been working in Bharat Steel Yard, an iron-and-steel trading firm, for the past seven years.

On learning of the fresh arrests, Senior PI Rajendra Chavan of VP Road police station said, "Two robbers who acted on the behest of Pawar are yet to be arrested and this is the reason why we have not been able to file a chargesheet.

There is a possibility that those arrested by the Crime Branch are the attackers who acted on Pawar's instructions.

Once we get the custody of the accused we will be able to get a clearer picture." However, when Crime branch officials were informed about the VP Road police comments, they claimed that these dacoits were not familiar with Pawar.

The incident
On July 6, 2011, two men entered the shop in the 7th Lane of Khetwadi, V P Road. Pawar asked them what they wanted. One of the robbers slapped him and he fell down.

When manager Lalchand Vishnoi intervened, one of the robbers fired at him. Later, they fired at his cousin, Ratna Ram. Both were declared dead before they were admitted to the hospital.

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Vijay Bahaguna sworn in as new Uttarakhand Chief Minister after Harish Rawat rebels

Dehradun/New Delhi:  Vijay Bahuguna has been sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. It was a short ceremony on Tuesday evening, with only Mr Bahuguna taking oath. Getting his government together is likely to be less simple - in resolutely appointing Mr Bahuguna the Congress has ignored the loud rebellion of veteran leader Harish Rawat, who says he should be CM and claims he has the support of many Congress MLAs. Less than half of the Congress' 32 MLAs attended the ceremony in Dehradun.
Many of them were reportedly in Delhi with the sulking Mr Rawat, who has been looked over before by the party leadership, and has written to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. He is said to have threatened to quit the party. Mr Rawat scoffs at his party saying that not too many MLAs support him. "The Congress General Secretary said Harish Rawat has the support of just six MLAs...so if that were true how come only eight Congress MLAs attended the swearing-in ceremony? Where were the rest? My point has been proved," he said to NDTV on Tuesday evening.
Mr Bahuguna, whose problems seem to have only just begun, said before being sworn in, "This is a family matter and will be solved within the family...We will convince everyone...This party is like the Himalayas, it can't be broken."
The BJP clearly thinks differently. It got one seat less than the Congress' 32 in the state and still smells a chance; BJP leaders in the state say they will still form the government in Uttarakhand. Towards that objective, the party is happy to fuel the Congress fire. Sources say Harish Rawat has already met BJP chief Nitin Gadkari; if Mr Rawat quits the Congress, the BJP is said to not be averse to supporting a government led by him.
Both the BJP and Mr Rawat's camp have officially denied any meeting, but BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan said before Mr Bahugana was sworn in, "Bahuguna does not enjoy majority support among Congress MLAs. The Congress is breaching constitutional norms. If the Governor administers oath to Bahuguna, it will allow the Congress to indulge in horse trading to whip up support."
Here are the top 10 facts of this moment in this fast-developing story:
1) Harish Rawat, a veteran Congress leader from the hill state, has written a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi protesting against the "injustice meted out" to him. Mr Rawat contends that he should be the Chief Minister and says he has the support of a majority of the Congress's 32 MLAs. Mr Rawat is a Union Minister and he has reportedly asked Mrs Gandhi to relieve him of his ministerial duties if the party does not believe in him. There are reports that the sulking Mr Rawat might leave the Congress to form his own party along with the MLAs who support him.
2) Though Mr Rawat was a front-runner for the CM's post, the Congress picked Vijay Bahuguna for CM. Vijay Bahuguna is the brother of Rita Bahuguna Joshi, the Congress' president in neighbouring UP. Sources say though  Mr Rawat enjoys the support of many MLAs, the party leadership did not pick him for CM as he had put up many rebel candidates in these elections, which the Congress had expected to win comfortably, but did not.
3) Mr Rawat is in his home in Delhi right now. He says he has the firm support of at least 11 MLAs. With him at his house are 17 Uttarakhand MLAs. Rawat supporters have been raising slogans today demanding that the party leadership do a rethink on who should be CM.   
4) The Congress leadership has held an emergency meeting but has been firm that it will not change its mind. The message from Delhi is that Vijaya Bahuguna will be the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. For the Congress, it is not as easy as making problems vanish by picking Mr Rawat instead of Mr Bahuguna. Both of these local leaders and another one, Harak Singh Rawat, enjoy pockets of influence and the party will face problems whoever it picks.     
5) Harish Rawat did not attend the swearing-in ceremony in Dehradun. 24 MLAs stayed away too.
6) It is a numbers game in Uttarakhand. In the 70-seat House, neither of the two main parties got the 35 seats needed for simple majority. The Congress got 32 and has managed to stake claim with the support of seven others including three BSP MLAs and four Independents, who have made it clear that only Vijay Bahuguna is acceptable to them as CM.
7) The BJP is breathing down the Congress' neck with 31 seats. And still thinks it is in with a chance at forming the government in the state. "We have said from day one that BJP will form the government in Uttarakhand," said BJP leader Bhagat Singh Koshiyari today, from the sidelines of the Congress high drama.
8) The Congress announced that Mr Bahuguna would be CM after three days of deliberation, on Monday. The factional feud then came out in the open with Mr Rawat's supporters protesting against the announcement. Raising slogans, angry supporters of Mr Rawat gathered at his house here last night, wanted to know why he was ignored for the top slot and egged him to split the party.
9) This is the second time that Mr Rawat's claim has been ignored. About ten years ago, ND Tiwari was made the Chief Minister almost at the 11th hour by the party leadership.
10) In a bid to placate a sulking Mr Rawat, Mr Bahuguna, his sister and UPCC chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi met the union minister at his residence. Asked what transpired at the meeting with the brother-sister duo, Mr Rawat said, "They had come to console a loser".

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After Delhi, another suspected terrorist arrested in Jharkhand

New Delhi:  When two alleged members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba were arrested yesterday in Delhi, the police said they were part of a group that was planning a major attack in Delhi.  Today, a third man has been identified and arrested in Hazaribagh in Jharkhand. One of the men arrested yesterday was also from Jharkhand.
Home Minister P Chidambaram said the men arrested yesterday were planning to bomb a crowded area of Delhi. The police said their plans had progressed to an advanced stage.  Both men had been trained in Pakistan and were found with flash drives that showed videos of how to assemble bombs.  The Delhi Police had said that more arrests were imminent- they said they were locating other members of the same terror cell.

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