President gives assent for SC inquiry into charges against Lalli

NEW DELHI: The President has given her assent for a Supreme Court inquiry into charges of financial mismanagement against controversial Prasar Bharti CEO B S Lalli.

Official sources said President Pratibha Patil's assent came on a reference made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as required under the Prasar Bharti Act.
Pending inquiry, the chief executive officer can be placed under suspension as per the provisions of the Act.

The Presidential reference to the apex court for instituting an inquiry into the charges against him sets in motion his removal process.

The controversial 1971 batch IAS officer of UP cadre, Lalli has been having a feud with the Prasar Bharti Board on running the organisation.

Lalli, who assumed the CEO's office in December 2006, was indicted by the Central Vigilance Commission which accused him of breach of Parliamentary privilege, giving undue favours to some broadcast companies and financial mismanagement.

Searches at Raja's house yield diary with 'incriminating' data

NEW DELHI: A diary with "incriminating" details is believed to have been recovered during the searches conducted by the investigating agency yesterday from the residence of former Telecom Minister A Raja, who will be questioned soon. 
The "diary", according to sources privy to the probe, has some details pertaining to the allocation of 2G spectrum among other incriminating details. 

They said the former Minister will also be questioned by the agency soon. 

CBI sleuths spent considerable time in understanding the entries made in the diary which consist of names of some politicians and corporate honchos, sources said. 

Efforts to contact Raja for his reaction did not fructify as he was not available for comments. 

Meanwhile, the CBI continued to question former Telecom officials and a Chennai-based businessmen whose premised were raided by the agency yesterday. 

Besides Raja, the CBI had conducted searches at premises of R K Chandolia, his former personal secretary, Siddhartha Behuria, then DoT secretary, K Sridhar, then Member, Telecom Commission, A K Srivastava, then Deputy Director General, Access Service Wing, DoT, and his business partner Sadiqui Batcha, Managing Director of Chennai-based Greenhouse Exports. 

Raja was forced to resign as minister on November 14 in the wake of CAG's report that the rates at which 2G spectrum was allotted resulted in a possible loss to the exchequer to the tune of Rs 1.76 lakh crore. 

Besides being accused of undervaluing 2G spectrum, Raja has also been blamed for circumventing the rules to favour companies that did not meet the eligibility criteria for getting spectrum licences. 

The CBI action comes close on the heels of Supreme Court coming down heavily on the CBI on November 22 for failing to question Raja and the Telecom Secretary over the scam, saying it was "beating around the bush". 

The CBI had registered a case on October 21, 2009 against unknown Department of Telecom officials and private persons and companies for allegedly causing loss of thousands of crores of rupees to the exchequer
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Gadkari files defamation suit against Manish Tewari

MUMBAI: BJP president Nitin Gadkari today filed a criminal defamation complaint against Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari for accusing him of owning a "benami" flat in the scam-tainted Adarsh Housing society here. 
Terming Tewari's statement as "false, reckless and malicious," Gadkari filed a complaint under Section 500 of IPC for defamation in a metropolitan magistrate court here, which directed the Congress leader to file his reply by January 24. 

After the Adarsh scam came to light, Tewari, in a press conference on November 10, had alleged that Gadkari too owned a flat in the plush society in the name of his driver. 

"Tiwari, in order to harm my clean and impeccable reputation and party's image, intentionally indulged in defaming me," Gadkari has said in the complaint. 

"These are unfounded assertions of a beleaguered spokesperson of the ruling party discredited by corrupt practices," he stated. 

In his reaction, Tewari said the BJP chief should "look within". 

"It is an irony that a person who calls Afzal Guru the son-in-law of Congress, the person who uses unparliamentary language for Lalu Prasad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav, and criticised the Congress in words which can't be repeated, he goes and files defamation cases against us," Tewari said in Delhi. 

The 31-storey Adarsh Society at Colaba in south Mumbai, originally meant for Kargil war heroes, came into controversy after media reports revealed that several politicians, bureaucrats and defence personnel had booked flats there
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Jagan's primary aim is to stop Rahul from becoming PM: aides

Former Congress MP Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy's primary aim is to ensure that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi doesn't stand a chance in becoming the prime minister, his close followers claim.

"Becoming Andhra Pradesh chief minister is now secondary for Jagan. His prime target is Rahul Gandhi. The objective is to win considerable number of Lok Sabha seats in the state and dent Congress' aspirations of making Rahul Gandhi the prime minister," a close confidante of Jagan said.

According to sources, Jagan is hoping to rally the anti-Congress parties at the national level and emerge as a potent force so as to dictate terms to Congress.

If claims of his key aides and strategists are to be believed, Jagan has already "made some friends" notably in Bihar through his "generous contributions" during the recent assembly elections in the state.

The ex-Congress MP already has good friends in the Reddy brothers (Gali Janardhan and Karunakar) of Karnataka through whom he hopes to enlarge his circle in BJP as well.

In Andhra Pradesh, Jagan is reportedly in consultations with some key leaders of the TRS for possible support in the region in future by assuring them that he would indeed support a separate Telangana state.

"We are still working on various strategies. We shall start putting them in practice after the party is formally launched probably around Sankranti festival," another close confidante of Jagan said.

NDA framed 2G rules but questioning us: Sibal

New Delhi: Ruling Congress party on Wednesday put the ball back into the BJP’s court after the Supreme Court asked investigating agencies to look into the 2G policy framed during NDA rule in 2001. 

“Why there were four (telecom) ministers in quick succession during NDA regime. Government has nothing to say on this. The investigating agency will find it out,” said the Telecom Minister and Congress leader Kapil Sibal reacting to the SC’s observation. 

“You (BJP) frame the rules and then question us,” he added 

Slamming the Opposition for stalling the Parliament, he rued that “lot of important legislations are pending in the Parliament. The BJP is blocking these legislations which would benefit the people.” 

“What sort of Parliamentary democracy is this,” Sibal asked. 

The Parliament was again adjourned today, for the 19th time in a row, following persistent agitation by the Opposition parties in and out of the Parliament. 

Varanasi blast masterminds identified

New Delhi: In what can be termed as the first success in the Varanasi blast case, investigators Wednesday identified the masterminds as Dr Shahnawaz and Assadullah, both believed to have had a hand in the 2008 Delhi blasts and are now holed up in Sharjah. 

Sources told Zee News that Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terror Squad has detained three persons early Wednesday and is questioning them about their involvement in the blast that occurred yesterday evening at 6.30 pm when thousands of devotees and some foreign tourists had assembled at the Sheetla ghat for the Ganga arti ritual. One child died in the explosion, while 37 others were left injured. 

As per the information available, Dr Shahnawaz and Assadullah are part of the same terror cell that carried out the serial blasts in Delhi on September 13, 2008, which led to the infamous Batla house encounter on October 24 of the same year.

Dr Shahnawaz is said to have worked in a nursing home in Lucknow and belongs to Sanjarpur – the same village from where most of the dead in Batla House belonged to – 20 kilometers from Azamgarh. His brother Saif is said to be in custody of Gujarat Police in connection with a blast case. 

He is also said to be have played a key role in 2008 Jaipur serial blasts which left more then 60 dead. 

Assadullah is the son of Dr Javed. He alongwith Dr Shahnawaz had escaped to Dubai after their name surfaced in the Delhi blast case; they are also said to be close to Indian Mujahideen founder Riyaz Bhatkal. 

The banned terror outfit has in a mail sent shortly after the blast yesterday claimed responsibility for the blast and said it "attributed" the attack to the demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992.

After e-mail was traced to Mumbai, the police have quizzed a father-son duo. Details are awaited. 

In Varanasi blast of 2006 and Lucknow blast of 2008 the same module was used, sources in the UP police say. 

Meanwhile, Home Minister P Chidambaram is in Varanasi to take a first hand account of the situation – Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has sought a report from the Home Ministry. 

No shrapnels in Varanasi bomb? 

The low-intensity bomb used in the blast here did not have shrapnels in it and all the injured were hit by pieces of wall that broke following the explosion, police sources told a news agency said today. 

They said the bomb kept near the steps leading to the Dashashwamedh Ghat was placed in such a way that the maximum impact was directed to the ground where the 'arti' was being held yesterday evening. 

Though the nature of explosives is yet to be ascertained, the sources said there were no burn or shrapnel injuries. 

However, some other reports have claimed that ammonium nitrate mixed with aluminum shells was used and to maximize the impact. 

An Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was recovered from a metal dustbin at the site of the blast.

Opposition will not rest till nod for JPC probe in 2G scam:Jaya

Chennai, Dec 8 : AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa today said the Opposition would not rest till a JPC probe was ordered into the multi-crore 2G spectrum scam involving former Telecom Minister A Raja and accused Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi of 'blackmailing' its ally Congress on the issue.

''There is no alterative to a JPC probe. The Opposition will not rest until it is cleared,'' she said in a statement here.

Referring to Mr Karunanidhi defending Mr Raja reportedly stating he alone could not have perpetrated a scam of such enormity on his own, she alleged it was a tacit and inadvertent admission that there were more people behind the scam.

''It is a veiled threat to the Congress leadership to go slow on the spectrum investigation,'' she alleged adding if precipitate steps were taken to corner Mr Raja, Mr Karunanidhi had warned he would not hesitate to reveal the names of some others directly or indirectly involved in the scam.

Ms Jayalalithaa said ''the implication is that such a revelation could be unpalatable to the Congress and this is Mr Karunanidhi's way of blackmailing his alliance partner.''