Thane: The city police has booked former Maharashtra cabinet minister and NCP MLA of Kalwa-Mumbra MLA Jitendra Awhad as well seven Thane Municipal Corporation corporators for allegedly defying prohibitory orders and leading a protest rally, police sources said here on Sunday.
Police sub inspector A M Kolekar of the Naupada police station told PTI that protesters wearing black bands around their mouths had marched towards the Gadkari Rangayatan on Friday evening.
They were charged under Section 37(3) of the B P Act and Section 135 which was clamped in the city during the period.
Others who have been booked include NCP corporators including Nazeeb Mullah, Milind Patil, Ameet Sarayya, Manohar Salvi, Suhas Desai, Shannu Pathan and Mukund Kini.
Also booked were around 100 activists who had joined the protest rally.
In a related development, the city police had refused permission to a symposium organised by the Muslim Youth Forum about Shivaji Maharaj.
The police claimed that allowing such a symposium which dealt Shivaji’s views on Muslims would give rise to law and order issues, due to which permission to the event was denied.
Organisers had never asked permission for the event which the police learnt about through the media.
Meanwhile, Awhad and others condemned the police for not allowing the symposium and termed it “crushing democratic rights”.
PTI
Mumbai: Firing a fresh salvo against the BJP-led government, Shiv Sena on Monday said nothing has changed in Maharashtra despite change of regime and ridiculed the Devendra Fadnavis government over the failure to arrest killers of communist leader Govind Pansare.
In a veiled attack on the Chief Minister, an editorial in the Sena mouthpiece said, “What has changed with the new government? If someone knows please tell us.”
The Sena ridiculed the state government over failure to arrest the killers of the anti-toll tax campaigner, who died on Friday after being shot at in Kolhapur.
“This is a repeat of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar’s murder,” the Sena said.
“The Chief Minister and the government have changed but the system is the same. People are asking for the Chief Minister’s resignation as he is the Home Minister,” it said.
“Fadnavis said if police put in all their might they may catch the killers,” the Sena said, adding the remarks tantamount to distrust of police.
The latest remarks indicate the unease in the BJP-Sena alliance. After BJP snapped the 25-year alliance ahead of October 15 Assembly polls, Sena joined the government on December 5 as BJP with 122 MLAs did not have a clear majority in the 288-member House.
PTI
LONDON: HSBC chief executive Stuart Gulliver, who vowed to reform the scandal-hit bank, kept millions of dollars in a Swiss account, the Guardian newspaper reported.
It is the latest in a stream of so-called “Swissleaks” allegations that have hit the reputation of the British banking giant and caused a political storm ahead of a general election in May.
The report claims the chief executive was a client of the Swiss private banking arm accused of helping wealthy clients evade tax.
In a statement here, chief minister Tarun Gogoi said that the state government has all along been opposing anti-people and anti-farmer policies.
“Our government stood against anti-people and anti-farmer policies. The land acquisition ordinance is anti-people and anti-farmers and meant to serve only the interests of the rich, affluent and industrialists,” Gogoi said.
“Our government is dead against such an anti-people and anti-farmer policy and is not going to implement it. Our government expresses its strong opposition to the ordinance and extends full support to social activist Anna Hazare in his crusade against it”, he added.
The chief minister also said, “I attended the swearing-in ceremony of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar to express my solidarity with all like minded secular and progressive parties in their fight against divisive forces and lend support for pro-poor policies”.
Mumbai: Maharashtra Governor and Chancellor of universities in the state C Vidyasagar Rao has convened a meeting of Vice-Chancellors of non-agricultural universities on Tuesday.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Finance and Planning Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, Higher, Technical and Education Minister Vinod Tawde, Ministers of State and senior government officials will attend the meeting, which will be held in Sahyadri State Guest House at 5 PM, a Raj Bhavan spokesperson said.
The meeting comes after Mumbai University Vice-Chancellor Rajan Welukar was on February 19 removed from his post after being found that he did not qualify for it.
The previous meeting of the Joint Board of Vice- Chancellors was held on September 3, 2013.
The governor will also present President’s Police Medals and Police Medals for Distinguished and Meritorious Service to 57 police officers and personnel at Darbar Hall in Raj Bhavan tomorrow evening.
The police medals were announced on the Republic Day in 2013. Fadnavis and senior police officers will be present on the occasion.
PTI
Itanagar: Political parties in Arunachal Pradesh have taken exception to China objecting to the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the state on February 20 to attend the 29th Statehood Day celebration.
China had opposed the visit of the PM to the bordering state which they termed as ‘disputed territory’.
Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) President Padi Richo today said that Beijing had forgotten that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India.
“It is a fashion of China to object when President or Prime Minister visit our state,” Richo said.
The state BJP unit also assailed Beijing for objecting to the PM’s visit saying that under any circumstance the neighbouring country cannot oppose the visit of any central leaders to the state.
“We are very happy and proud to be Indian and there is no ambiguity in our status,” BJP state president Tai Tagak said.
“A state delegation will visit Delhi soon to take up the issue,” Tagak said reiterating his party’s stand on the issue.
“China should give up its expansionist policy because the world of today does not accept it”, Tagak said.
Meanwhile, Arunachal Civil Society (ACS) has also criticised China for its objection to Modi’s visit to the state.
“China has no right to object in the internal affairs of India or term Arunachal Pradesh as disputed zone. The state is the part and parcel of India since time immortal,” ACS chairman Patey Tayum said in a statement.
“Such attitude of China is not new as in 2008 when the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited, they showed the same resentment and claimed Arunachal Pradesh as disputed land besides Southern Tibet,” he added.
Chinese vice-foreign minister Liu Zhenmin on Saturday summoned India’s ambassador to China, Ashok K Kantha to lodge a protest over Modi’s visit to the state.
Modi during his visit flagged off two trains including an AC Express train from Naharlagun to New Delhi and an inter-city express between Naharlagun and Guwahati besides inaugurating the Itanagar Water Supply project and laying foundation of the 132 KV power transmission project.
PTI
New Delhi: A court here Monday granted interim protection from arrest to RK Pachauri, director general of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), against whom a sexual harassment complaint has been registered by a research associate working in his office.
Additional Sessions Judge Raj Kumar Tripathi granted interim relief from arrest to Pachauri till Feb 26 in the case.
The court`s direction came while hearing the anticipatory bail application of Pachauri.
The court also issued notice to Delhi Police to file a reply on the bail plea of the TERI director.
The Delhi High court had earlier granted Pachauri interim protection from arrest till Feb 23 after he had moved high court following a police summon for questioning him with regard to the allegations.
In the FIR, the complainant has claimed that Pachauri had sexually harassed her for nearly two years since she joined the organisation in September 2013. She also alleged that Pachauri had engaged in “sexually-laden conversations” with her over email and SMS.
The FIR was based on a complaint filed by the woman at the Lodhi Colony police station Feb 13, and included sexual harassment, stalking and criminal intimidation charges.
In the wake of the complaint, Pachauri, also the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, had to cancel the plenary session of the top scientific body on global warming that he was scheduled to attend in Nairobi Feb 22.
On Saturday, some senior lawyers held a press conference and claimed that another former woman employee of TERI had sent them a letter complaining about Pachauri`s behaviour with her 10 years ago, when she worked there.
IANS
New Delhi: The Delhi Police is likely to summon the seniors of the five corporate officials arrested in the Petroleum Ministry document leakage case for questioning, sources said on Monday.
“We will soon be sending notices to the seniors of all five arrested officials. We want them to join the probe,” a police officer said.
In addition, the police were also on the lookout for an employee of the Petroleum Ministry named Lokesh, who was part of the multi-tasking staff (MTS) in Shastri Bhawan.
Police said it is likely that Lokesh, who is missing at the moment, was working for another group of private companies and leaking information to them.
“We are probing all the angles and may register a new FIR in this regard,” said the officer.
Police have already arrested two government employees – Asharam, 58, and Ishwar Singh, 56 – who too were working as MTS in Shastri Bhawan.
Meanwhile, the five officials have been sent to three days` police custody as police raided two places in the city as part of its investigations.
Those sent to police custody till February 24 are – RIL corporate affairs manager Shailesh Saxena, Jubilant Energy senior executive Subash Chandra, Reliance ADAG DGM Rishi Anand, Essar DGM Vinay and Cairns India GM K.K. Naik.
All were arrested on Friday and booked under sections dealing with criminal conspiracy and use of stolen property. Their arrest took to 12 the number of those behind bars in the case.
Around a dozen teams of the Delhi Police`s crime branch are working on the case.
With IANS inputs
New Delhi: Indian Jesuit priest Father Alexis Prem Kumar, who was abducted by the Taliban in June last year, on Sunday thanked the Government of India for its effort to secure his release from Afghanistan.
“I want to thank almighty first. I also sincerely thank Prime Minister Modi as it is because of him that I am here, as well as all the officials of the Foreign Ministry; they have done a great job. The Government of India, especially the External Affairs Ministry, has taken a lot of effort to take care of me, to console me. Thirdly, I thank my own family and society of Jesus,” said Father Alexis.
Earlier in the day, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had confirmed the release of Father Alexis.
The 47-year-old Indian Jesuit priest was kidnapped by unknown gunmen from Herat in June last year and was being held as a captive in Afghanistan.
ANI
Manama: France deployed an aircraft carrier in the Gulf on Monday as part of the US-led military campaign against the Islamic State jihadist group in Iraq, a defence ministry official said.
“The integration of the Charles de Gaulle in the operation… (in Iraq) begins this morning,” a member of Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian’s staff told AFP as his entourage made its way to the carrier.
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