Modi ally Vaiko, 100 others detained over Rajapaksa visit
New Delhi: Vaiko, leader of the MDMK that is an ally of the incoming government of Narendra Modi, and about 100 of his Tamil party supporters were detained here on Monday while protesting against the visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, police said. Police rounded up the vocal protesters in the heart of the capital when they began marching from near the Jantar Mantar observatory towards parliament, waving black flags. The group halted near the Parliament Street police station where police had erected steel barricades. “We have come to Delhi to protest against the visit of the butcher of Tamils,” Vaiko screamed, referring to Rajapaksa who is accused of ordering the killing of thousands of Tamils during the civil war. This is the second time Vaiko has visited New Delhi to register his opposition to Rajapaksa. He is a BJP ally, and earlier met BJP leaders to urge them to spike the invite to the Sri Lankan president. A Delhi Police spokesman said Vaiko, a former MP and a long-time supporter of the now vanquished Tamil Tigers, had been taken to Parliament Street police station for preventive detention. (IANS)
2G case: Raja, Kanimozhi move bail application
New Delhi: Former central telecom minister A. Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and seven others, who are accused of money laundering in the 2G spectrum allocation case, on Monday moved their bail application in a court here. DMK chief M. Karunanidhi’s wife Dayalu Ammal, who is Another accused in the case, did not appear before the court and sought exemption from personal appearance as she is not in a “fit mental condition”. Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge O.P. Saini allowed Dayalu Ammal’s plea for exemption. Raja, Kanimozhi, Swan telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt. Ltd. (KFVPL) directors Asif Balwa and Rajiv Agarwal, Bollywood producer Karim Morani, Kalaignar TV director Sharad Kumar and P. Amirthan appeared before the court in pursuance of summons issued against them on May 2. They moved their bail application before the court of Justice Saini, who has summoned them after taking cognizance of the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) charge sheet in the case on May 2. The court Monday directed the ED to provide documents to all accused and fixed May 28 as the next date of hearing. (IANS)
Midnight raid on women: Court seeks final status report
New Delhi: A court here on Monday issued notice to an Investigating Officer of Delhi Police, probing the former Delhi minister Somnath Bharti’s purported raid on some African residents, to remain present “in person” with final status report after he failed to turn up on Monday. Metropolitan Magistrate Chetna Singh on January 29 had asked Delhi Police IO to file status report, while refusing to order lodging of a separate FIR on a plea by another African woman seeking registration of a case against unknown persons. However, it had asked Delhi Police that the Ugandan woman be made co-complainant in the first FIR lodged on January 19 as she was also “the victim” of the same incident. When the IO did not turn up with the status report, court directed him to remain present “in person” on August 2. The FIR was lodged on court’s direction after a Ugandan woman had approached it on January 18 seeking to file a criminal case against unknown persons. Around five foreign women had recorded their statements before a magistrate in which they alleged that Bharti, the MLA from Malviya Nagar in south Delhi, had barged into their house along with his supporters on the intervening night of January 15-16, the court sources had said. (PTI)