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Shoot-at-sight orders in two Rajasthan districts
Jaipur, Jun 1 (PTI) Shoot-at-sight orders have been issued by the Rajasthan government against rioters in Sawai Madhopur and Bharatpur districts to control the violence by Gurjar protestors demanding Scheduled Tribe status.
These directives were issued last night along with prohibitory orders under section 144 of CrPC will remain in force till June six in the two districts, a senior police officer said today. PTI
BMW case: RK Anand serves legal notice to NDTV
New Delhi, Jun 1 (PTI) Senior advocate R K Anand today said he had served a legal notice seeking Rs 50 crore as damages from NDTV, accusing the news channel of defaming him by telecasting a sting operation relating to the sensational BMW case.
"NDTV should apologise for misrepresentation of facts. I have inititated legal action against them and the notice has been served to them for damages of Rs 50 crore," he said in a statement.
Contacted for NDTV's reaction to Anand's allegations, the channel's Managing Editor Barkha Dutt said NDTV has already handed over all unedited footage to the trial court as well as to the Delhi High Court and "we will follow the legal process in this case," she said.
Anand, who is defending the main accused Sanjeev Nanda, grandson of former Navy Chief S M Nanda and senior advocate I U Khan, now dropped as Special Public Prosecutor, were shown as purportedly trying to influence Sunil Kulkarni, a witness in the case.
Demanding apology for "misrepresentation" of facts, Anand said "I regretfully state that NDTV has put its reputation at stake by relying upon a person like Sunil Kulkarni, whose character and intentions have been doubted not just by media, courts and police but by the NDTV itself".
"No money has been paid or any attempt is made to influence any of the witness. I am made to pay the price of my background and status. This is most unfortunate and aimed at influencing the courts of law by a side and motivated trial in the media," the lawyer said. PTI
1993 Mumbai blasts: Sanjay Dutt's gun supplier sentenced
Mumbai, Jun 1 (PTI) The special TADA Court hearing the 1993 serial blasts case today sentenced five persons, including Bollywood producer Samir Hingora who supplied AK-56 rifle to actor Sanjay Dutt, to rigorous imprisonment ranging from eight years to life.
Niyaz Ahmed Shaikh, who obtained training in Pakistan, attended conspiracy meetings and made a survey of the BMC building, was sentenced to life imprisonment and asked to pay a total fine of Rs 50,000 on charges of conspiracy and aiding and abetting a terrorist act.
Special judge P D Kode observed that Shaikh was involved in the conspiracy till the last date but was not involved in the commission of terrorist acts leading to death and destruction.
Hingora, who had supplied AK-56 rifle to Dutt on January 19, 1993 at the instance of Anees Ibrahim, brother of prime accused Dawood Ibrahim, was sentenced to nine years rigorous imprisonment (RI) and imposed a fine of Rs two lakhs.
Shahrukh Motorwala, who went to Dubai on a forged passport and participated in a conspiracy meeting was sentenced to RI of 13 years and asked to deposit a total fine of Rs 50,000 on two counts of conspiracy and aiding and abetting a terrorist act. PTI
Amar declines to comment on UP court order on Big B
New Delhi, June 1 (PTI) Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh today declined to comment on an Uttar Pradesh local court order cancelling transfer of a land to megastar Amitabh Bachchan saying he has not not been authorised to say anything on the issue.
"I am not going to make any comment on it....I have not been authorised to say any thing", Singh told reporters when asked to comment on the Barabanki court order rejecting the petition filed by the actor against district magistrate's order cancelling the transfer of the plot.
Asked if Bachchan was not his brother as he claims, Singh said "Yes, I am his brother. But I have not been authorised to say anything".
He also parried questions about the decision taken by erstwhile Samajwadi Party government headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav to transfer the land to Bachchan and said he had never been in government in the state.
Asked about the move to downsize his "Z" plus security provided by previous Mulayam Singh government, Singh said "I don't know whether it is right or wrong. But all these things are politically motivated by the present government".
The Samajwadi Party leader said he had never sought security for himself and Mualayam Singh government had provided it in the wake of security threat reports received from central and state agencies.
On Mayawati government's recommending a CBI inquiry into NOIDA land allotment during SP government, Singh said the then Chief Minister himself had cancelled all the allotment when he came to know that the process of lottery was not adhered to and appointed a commission of inquiry into the matter. PTI
Devastating fire in Topsia slums, 100 shanties gutted
Kolkata, June 1 (PTI) About 100 shanties were gutted in a devastating fire that swept through a slum at Topsia on the eastern fringes today, as enraged local people assaulted firemen and damaged a fire engine alleging that they arrived too late.
Altogether 25 fire engines were deployed to fight the flames which reached a height of 50 metre with a huge column of smoke rising on both sides of the canal that passed through the area.
The blaze was brought under control after four hours, the fire brigade said, adding there was no casualty.
Fire Service minister Pratim Chatterjee said that locals assaulted some firemen when they were busy dousing the fire.
Three firemen were injured in the assault, the fire brigade and police said.
The slum dwellers then blocked the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass for some time, but were dispersed by the police and the Rapid Action Force personnel.
The cause of the fire and the extent of damage were yet to be ascertained. PTI
Gilchrist open to quit ODIs to prolong Test career
Melbourne, June 1 (PTI) Adam Gilchrist, one of the most destructive ODI batsmen with a staggering strike rate of 96.65, is considering retirement from the shorter version of the game to prolong his Test career.
The explosive Australian batsman, with 9038 runs including 15 hundreds from 268 one-dayers, has all along maintained that he would not quit one form of the game for the sake of extending the other.
And the swashbuckling left-hander was in supreme form in his last one-day innings, in the World Cup final in the Caribbean a little more than a month ago, when he hit a cracker of century to decimate the Sri Lankan attack.
But the birth of his third child and the uniform exit of his teammates - Glenn McGrath, Justin Langer and Shane Warne - from the international scene seem to have triggered a change of opinion.
"Up until the last 12 months, I had never been a guy to consider phasing out one form of the game and just focusing on one," 35-year-old Gilchrist was quoted as saying by 'The Sydney Morning Herald'.
"But I am open to thinking about that now. I have been quite firm on playing both forms in the past, but I guess that things have changed a little," he added. PTI
Top Pak snooker player faces lawsuit over dual citizenship
Karachi, June 1 (PTI) Top Pakistani snooker player Saleh Mohammad may be barred from representing the country at the upcoming Asian Championship after a petition was filed against him for also holding the citizenship of Afghanistan.
The petition, filed before the Sindh High Court, has asked for a ban on Saleh representing Pakistan as he chose to play for Afghanistan during the Doha Asian Games last year.
The petitioner, Mohammed Javed, said the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) should not let Saleh be the country's representative at the event as he had chosen of his own free will to go to Afghanistan and settle there.
Reacting to the petition, Saleh said he was born in Peshawar and had played for Pakistan in many international events and also won the World Amateur snooker championship in the green colours.
"I went to Afghanistan to do business but returned from there as the conditions were not conducive there for doing business. During that period I played a few matches under the Afghan flag," he admitted.
The Asian championship due to begin from June 11 in Karachi has attracted entries from a dozen countries including India and after some efforts the PBSA has also managed to find a title sponsor for the event.
A PBSA official admitted that preventing Saleh from playing in the Championship would be a big setback for Pakistan's chances as he was a key player for the country. PTI
Gilly considering ODI retirement to extend Test career
Melbourne, June 1 (PTI) After maintaining for long that he would not give up any form of cricket, Australian stumper Adam Gilchrist now says the increasingly gruelling international schedule is forcing him to contemplate ODI retirement in order to prolong his Test career.
Gilchrist said the birth of his third child has also made him re-think his previous stand of continuing with all forms of the game.
"Up until the last 12 months, I had never been a guy to consider phasing out one form of the game and just focusing on one," Gilchrist was quoted as saying by 'The Sydney Morning Herald'.
"But I am open to thinking about that now. I have been quite firm on playing both forms in the past, but I guess that things have changed a little," he added.
The World Cup star said continuing with his Test career was a priority for him and he was prepared to quit the shorter version of the game for this.
"When a few of the guys started retiring last year, it made me stop and reflect on where I was at personally. And, while the appetite is still very strong to keep playing, I've just noticed the hunger and the drive for Test cricket that guys like Warney and Justin Langer had when they didn't have one-day cricket to consider," he explained. PTI
Sensex rises by modest 26 pts in volatile market
Mumbai, Jun 1 (PTI) Volatility continued to rock the stock markets on the first day of June series as the benchmark Sensex surrendered major part of initial gains and closed with a modest 26 points gain with help from some IT and banking counters.
The S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) advanced just 1.25 points to a new closing high of 4,297.05, though it touched 2,325.80 points in intra-day trade.
The 26-point gain registered by the 30-share Sensitive Index (Sensex) was also the key index's third highest closing. It opened strong at 14,610.28 and gyrated in a range of 14,682.10 and 14,539.89 before concluding the day at 14,570.75 from last close of 14,544.46, a gain of 26.29 points or 0.18 per cent.
Dealers attributed selling to week-end profit-booking and mixed Asian markets.
IT shares, which were at the receiving end due to rising rupee, recovered on fresh buying support despite rupee inching toward a fresh new 9-year high.
Initially, the sentiment got a boost after overnight news that the Indian economy grew by a whopping 9.4 per cent in 2006-07, the fastest rate in 18 years, after signs of slowing at the end of the fiscal.
Sustained buying by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) also aided the firm trend. FIIs picked up shares worth Rs 168.86 crore (provisional) on Thursday while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) also pumped in Rs 32.19 crore on the same day. PTI
DLF, Fortis JV to set up hospitals, invest Rs 6,200 cr
New Delhi, Jun 1 (PTI) Ahead of its initial public offer, real estate giant DLF has entered into an agreement for floating a joint venture with Ranbaxy group company Fortis Healthcare to set up hospitals across the country with about Rs 6,200 crore of investments.
Fortis Healthcare Managing Director Shivinder Singh told PTI that Fortis will have a majority holding with 74 per cent stake and the rest will be with DLF in the proposed joint venture.
Industry sources said an agreement for the proposed JV has already been signed.
The JV plans to set up a chain of 200-450 bed hospitals in 31 cities in India within three to five years, the sources added.
While the joint venture will mark DLF's foray into the healthcare segment, for Fortis the move is a part of its strategy to become a pan-India player in the healthcare segment and resolve real estate problems for setting up new hospitals.
The planned investment of Rs 6,200 crore would go toward meeting cost of land, construction and medical equipments, the sources said.
The JV plans to build hospitals in cities where DLF has a presence. Already DLF has a land reserve of 10,255 acres in 31 cities. PTI
TVS motorcycle sales in May dip 36 per cent
New Delhi, June 31 (PTI) Two-wheeler maker TVS Motor Company today reported a 36.56 per cent decline in its domestic motorcycle sales during May at 49,651 units compared to 78,271 units in the corresponding month previous year.
The company attributed the decline in motorcycles sales to the slowdown experienced by the industry in the last few months, TVS said in a statement.
The Chennai-based firm said the decrease in two-wheeler sales was mainly due to reduced availability, increased cost and stringent norms being followed by retail financiers, which account for more than 60 per cent of sales.
The total two-wheeler sales declined 13.2 per cent during May at 1,08,151 units compared to 1,24,678 units in the same month last year.
Exports in May were up 15 per cent at 9,849 units, while sales of TVS Scooty during the month grew 24 per cent at 25,280 units as against 20,396 units sold during May 2006, the statement said.
The company said it anticipated significant sales during marriage season had supplied adequate two wheelers in the market.
"Consequent to the lower than anticipated sales during marriage season, the company is reducing the stock of motorcycles held in the market to keep the stocks under control," the statement said.
The company is planning to introduce an upgraded version of TVS Apache with several new features of a high-end motorcycle.
It is also developing a motorcycle to increase its presence in the executive segment, which would be launched in the second half of this year. PTI
BSNL, MTNL cut roaming charges
New Delhi, June 1 (PTI) State-run telecom operators MTNL and BSNL have slashed national roaming charges to Re 1 for incoming calls and Re 0.40 for outgoing calls within any visiting network as part of a new post-paid plan to be launched on June 3.
The monthly rental for the plan has been fixed at Rs 550. The subscribers will also get 300 minutes of free talktime for receiving calls.
The users after exhausting the free talktime would have to shell out Re 1 for incoming calls and Re 0.40 for outgoing calls within any visiting network, BSNL CMD A K Sinha and his MTNL counterpart R S P Sinha told reporters here today.
However, outgoing calls to networks outside the visiting state will be charged at Re 1.
Both the operators are expecting 20-25 per cent jump in their traffic with this scheme.
Communications Minister A Raja, who was present on the occasion, said private operators are expected to follow BSNL and MTNL in reducing roaming charges.
Asked if roaming charges would become zero, Raja said: "It will be done in future. Today is the first step towards it." Raja's predecessor Dayanidhi Maran had planned to abolish the domestic roaming charges on the occasion of his party (DMK) President M Karunanidhi's birthday on June 3.
BSNL also introduced a calling card -- Callnow, which will enable users to make ISD calls to the US and Canada at Rs 1.75 per minute and to the Gulf countries at Rs 6.75 per minute. The card is available for Rs 2,000 and comes with free talktime of the same amount. PTI
Inflation falls to 5.06 per cent
New Delhi, June 1 (PTI) Inflation fell for the fifth straight week to 5.06 per cent, its lowest in seven months, as prices of food items eased taking pressure off the government and Reserve Bank to tighten fiscal and monetary policies.
This was the first time in many months that the inflation rate -- at 5.06 per cent for the week ended May 19 -- moved close to the year ago level of 5.05 per cent. The inflation numbers had stood at 5.27 per cent in the seven days preceding the week under review.
Inflation declined despite rising of all the major indices, which determine it, due to base effect. In fact, the aggregate Wholesale Price Index went up by 0.1 per cent to 211.9 points during the week from 211.7 points a week ago.
At specific levels, Food Articles group index rose by 0.1 per cent, Non-Food Articles group index by 0.3 per cent, Minerals index by 0.1 per cent, Fuel, Power, Light and Lubricants index by 0.1 per cent and Manufactured Products index by 0.1 per cent.
But the inflation fell because price movements are compared with those of corresponding period last year. And on high inflation base of 5.05 per cent last year, even rising prices resulted in inflation of 5.06 per cent for the week under review.
Prices of some food articles declined -- cereals by 0.2 per cent, pulses by 0.4 per cent, processed tea by nine per cent, khandsari by four per cent, sugar by two per cent, butter and gur by one per cent each.
On the other hand, malted food was more expensive by 15 per cent, vegetables by 1.1 per cent and fruits by 0.5 per cent. PTI
Musharraf does not enjoys absolute immunity: Pak judge
Islamabad, June 1 (PTI) A Pakistan Supreme Court judge hearing the suspended Chief Justice's petition challenging the presidential reference against him has said President Pervez Musharraf does not enjoy absolute immunity under the Constitution and is answerable to the court.
"There is no cavil to the fact that the president enjoys no absolute immunity under Article 248 of the Constitution. What the law says is he cannot be made respondent by his name," Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday hearing the 13-member full bench said yesterday.
Ramday's observation questioned the basic premise of government lawyer's arguments. The prosecution lawyers opposing the petition argued that acts of the President cannot be challenged in the court He also said that Islam has given importance to justice similar to prayer and philanthropy. "Where there is an issue of justice, it becomes a matter of public importance and in this backdrop the CJP's case is also a matter of public importance".
Arguing for the petition, defence lawyer Hamid Khan said the Prime Minister should have sought approval from the cabinet before advising the president to file a reference against the CJP.
He said the cabinet had approved the reference 10 days after the president had filed it, in a meeting in Gwadar on March 19.
"The issue is that what should have been done earlier was done subsequently. By doing so the cabinet acknowledged the significance of the matter regarding the removal of a chief justice." Rasheed Rizvi, counsel of the Supreme Court Bar Association, which also supported Chaudhry's petition, said the Supreme Judicial Council was not a Constitutional court but a subsidiary forum. PTI
Pak ACJ declines to hear contempt case against Bar Assoication
Islamabad, June 1 (PTI) The Acting Chief Justice of Pakistan has declined to hear a contempt case against the lawyers of suspended top judge Iftikar M Chaudhry for using "derogatory" language against various Constitutional institutions, including the Army, at a seminar here last week.
"I have recently made observations on the lawyers' issue. Therefore, propriety demands that I should not hear this case. Let the matter be fixed before a full bench for Monday," ACJ Javed Iqbal said during the hearing.
He referred the case to a five-member bench to hear the case from June 4.
The case pertains to a contempt petition against SCBA President Munir A Malik and an Interior Ministry letter to the SC registrar seeking action against reported defamation of the judiciary and army in an SCBA seminar on May 26.
The complaint filed by Interior Secretary Sayed Kamal Shah included transcripts of the speeches made by some lawyers including Ali Ahmed Kurd and Hamid Khan - both in the panel of the defence lawyers of Chaudhry. It alleged that speeches and slogans violated the conditions set by Justice Rana Bhagwan Das while granting permission for the seminar. PTI
Former Pak PM Jamali floats new party
Islamabad, June 1 (PTI) Former Pakistan prime minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, who recently quit the ruling party, has floated a new political party, the Muttahida Muslim League (MML).
Making the announcement in Karachi yesterday, he said "the prevailing situation in the country demands reconciliation with political parties, including the Pakistan People's Party (PPP)".
Jamali advocated a two-party system in the country, saying the system existed in many countries, but at the same time stressed that different parties like the Muttahida Majlis-e-Ammal and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement have their specific role in the country's politics.
He said he did not see any possibility of elections this year despite repeated statements by the president, prime minister.
Talking about his tenure as prime minister, he said he strove hard to unite different factions of the PML but could not.
He rejected the notion that his move to form the MML was motivated by Musharraf, saying he had no backing from the General for the move.
Asked if he would mediate between Musharraf and the suspended chief justice Iftikar M Chaudhry, he said he was not fit for the task. PTI
Sedition cases registered against 200 lawyers in Karachi
Karachi, June 1 (PTI) Pakistan police have registered cases of sedition against 200 lawyers in Karachi, who took part in protests to express solidarity with the suspended chief justice during his visit to the port city last month.
A senior police official said the cases of sedition have been handed over to the investigation department.
"But no arrests have been made as yet as the investigations are still continuing but the charges have been made in the First Information Report against the lawyers," the official said yesterday.
The Pakistan Supreme Court yesterday decided to constitute a full bench to hear the government's complaint against the lawyers of suspended Chief Justice Iftikar M Chaudhry for using "derogatory" language against various Constitutional institutions, including the Army, at a seminar in Islamabad last week.
The full bench will start proceedings from Monday on the government complaint against the speeches made by several lawyers at the May 26 seminar organised at the apex court's premises by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) headed by Chaudhry's defence lawyer, Munir A Mallik.
The police official said the lawyers had been charged with inciting violence, trouble making and trying to damage public and private property.
The Pakistan government has come under increasing pressure due to the continued protests staged by the lawyers and opposition parties since March when Chaudhary was suspended as the Chief Justice on charges of misuse of authority.
A senior advocate and official of the Sindh Bar Council said the police cases would be challenged in court. PTI
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