Coal scam: MP Darda, three others summoned as accused by court
New Delhi: Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda and three others were on Wednesday summoned as accused by a Delhi court which took cognisance of the charge sheet filed against them by the CBI in a coal block allocation scam case. Special CBI Judge Madhu Jain summoned Darda, his son Devendra Darda, Nagpur-based AMR Iron and Steel Pvt Ltd and its Director Manoj Jayaswal for May 23. “I am summoning the accused for May 23,” the judge said. They were named as accused in the charge sheet filed by the CBI on March 27 in which it had alleged that they had fraudulently acquired the coal blocks. They were charge sheeted for the offences under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 420 (cheating) of the IPC and under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act. During the proceedings, the CBI sought more time to file reply on the plea filed by AMR Iron and Steel Pvt Ltd seeking its monitoring of the ongoing CBI probe in the case. CBI informed the court that they had done correction in the list of documents filed along with the charge sheet. In its plea filed through advocate Vijay Aggarwal, AMR Iron and Steel Pvt Ltd had claimed that CBI has not probed the matter properly and the charge sheet was filed on the basis of “biased investigation.” CBI, in its FIR lodged earlier, had arraigned AMR Iron and Steel Pvt Ltd, its directors Arvind Kumar Jayaswal, Manoj Jayaswal, Ramesh Jayaswal and Devendra Darda, son of Vijay Darda, along with unnamed officials of the Coal Ministry and other unidentified persons as accused in the case. (PTI)
Cong leader writes to Modi offering to take care of his mother
New Delhi: “Distressed” by Narendra Modi’s mother travelling in an auto rickshaw and living in a small room, a Congress leader on Wednesday wrote to the BJP PM candidate volunteering to look after her as Modi had not provided her a “comfortable” life despite his “wealth” and success. “I fail to understand how you could not provide a comfortable life for your mother who spent her entire life trying to ensure a brighter future for you.” “Your mother is like my mother. I have immense respect for her. I may not be as resourceful as you are, but I would request you to allow me to provide her all the necessary comforts of life according to my capacity,” Rashid Alvi said in a letter to Modi. Alvi lamented that Modi has been telling in his campaign all along that his mother raised him single handedly in the most difficult conditions. “You mentioned how she had to work in the neighbouring households to ensure that she could look after you properly.” “With her dedication and hard work, she brought you up in a way that you could not only rise to become the Chief Minister of a state like Gujarat, but also went on to become the PM candidate of your party”, he told Modi. (PTI)
Country needs a dose of ‘Modicine’ to treat all ills: Rajnath
Azamgarh/Ballia (UP): Praising BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, party president Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said the country needs a single dose of a drug, called “Modicine”, to treat all its ills. The BJP president also said his party has “launched Modi missile which will demolish all the problems”. Addressing a series of rallies in Azamgarh and Ballia, Singh said that “the way people use Crocin to treat fever and body ache similarly the country needs ‘Modicine’ to relieve itself of all the ills. A single dose of this drug will do the cure”. “The country is facing serious problems from inside as well as from outside. The country needed a strong hand to get rid of its problem. “After becoming the president of the party, I could not think of a better name than Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. We have launched Modi missile which will demolish all the problems,” he said. Slamming the ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, he said the party’s victory has resulted in dominance of mafias and its workers are indulging in ‘hooliganism’. Referring to Priyanka Gandhi’s “neech rajniti” remarks against Narendra Modi Singh said that “in BJP’s dictionary there is no place for the language used by Priyanka”. (PTI)
MP writes to AI for not announcing presence of army man’s body on flight
New Delhi: Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar has written to the Air India questioning why one of its crews refused to announce the presence of mortal remains of an Army officer on a flight carrying his body from Srinagar to Delhi. In a letter written to Air India Chairman Rohit Nandan, the MP said that on April 28, Air India carried the body of brave-heart Major Mukund Varadrajan, who was killed in an encounter with militants at Shopian in Jammu and Kashmir, from Srinagar to Delhi and then onward to Chennai where his family lives. “A request from the Army officer accompanying the body of the slain officer on the Srinagar-Delhi flight, that an announcement be made that his mortal remains were on board was turned down by the airline crew, citing aviation rules. “The Major sacrificed his life and future for the countrymen but the bureaucratic manner in which the airline crew responded to this request, is sad and shameful, and conveys an impression of callousness and disrespect towards brave men and women, on part of Air India,” Chandrasekhar said. The Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka urged the Air India chairman “to find out the people involved in this incident. (PTI)
‘ISI planned to target national assets’
Chennai: Suspected ISI agent Mohammed Zahir Hussain was part of a larger ISI mission to target critical national assets and some foreign establishments besides being convicted of offences related to human trafficking and imprisoned in Singapore, Thailand and in his own country Sri Lanka, highly placed police sources said. Mohammed Zahir Hussain told ‘Q’ Branch Police, handling cases related to national security, that he had spent close to four years in prison in Singapore, one year each in Thailand and Sri Lanka, sources said. It has also emerged now that the ISI handlers in Colombo decided to “use his services,” based on his “solid field work” in human trafficking. “ISI handlers wanted to use Hussain’s expertise in illegally ferrying people. They wanted to minimise the chances of getting detected by using his services,” an official said. It is clear that he was part of a larger ISI mission to target “critical national assets besides certain foreign establishments,” he added. Hussain had also told investigators that he had “absolutely no role” in the May 1 twin bomb blasts on the Kaziranga Express at Chennai Central Railway Station. He claimed that he was a textile trader who had been “importing lungis” from Tamil Nadu to his country. Sources said he had confessed to having gathered important details related to vital installations. (PTI)
