New Delhi, The CBI today registered a fresh case of alleged irregularities in laying down of synthetic tracks in five stadia for the 2010 Commonwealth Games and carried out searches at 20 locations. CBI sources said searches were going on at 20 locations across the NCR, Kolkata and Siliguri. The alleged irregularities have caused a loss of about Rs 30 crore to the exchequer, they said. The search locations include residential premises of officials of CPWD, DDA and also premises of a private sports equipment manufacturer, the sources ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, A team of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has gone to the office of Army chief General VK Singh and recorded his statement in the matter of alleged bribery offer. Singh had alleged that Lt Gen (Retd) Tejinder Singh had met him at his office on September 22, 2010 and offered a bribe of Rs 14 crore on behalf of Vectra group chairman Ravi Rishi, for clearing a deal of substandard Tatra trucks for the Army. The Army chief made this allegation in a media interview that developed into a major controversy. Defence minister AK Antony promptly ordered the CBI to probe the matter ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday conducted search operations at the homes of two former army officers in Delhi and Noida and recovered key documents related to its probe into alleged irregularities in the procurement of Tatra trucks, sources said. CBI sources said searches were also being conducted at the residence of an official of the Britain-based Vectra group that supplies the all-terrain heavy duty Tatra trucks to the Indian Army through defence public sector undertaking Bharat Earth Movers Ltd. (BEML). The sources said raids were conducted at the homes of Brig (retd) P.C. Das in Delhi and Col (retd) Anil Datta in Noida. Searches were also conducted at the home of Vectra employee Anil Mansaramani. The sources said three teams of CBI sleuths conducted the searches that began early on Wednesday morning. Some crucial documents expected to help in investigating the scam-tainted truck deal have been found, the sources claimed. The CBI search operations come a day after the agency questioned three people, including former BEML director V Mohan, the company's present chief V R S Natarajan and Vectra group chief Ravinder Rishi, in ...
Read Full Story

Lyon, The Interpol has issued red-corner notices against four Iranians believed to be behind the bombing of an Israeli embassy car on Feb 13 this year in the national capital. Interpol, acting on a request from India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), has issued the Red Notices for four suspects wanted in connection with the bomb attack on an Israeli diplomat’s car in New Delhi. Details of the suspects Mohammadreza Abolghashemi, Houshang Afshar Irani, Seyed Ali Mahdiansadr and Masoud Sedaghatzadeh who are all wanted for terrorism related offences including criminal conspiracy and attempted murder, have been transmitted to Interpol's 190 member countries, said the international police organization on Thursday. The attack left a 42-year-old female diplomat with serious injuries and also wounded her driver and two bystanders. Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said India’s request for the Red Notices would make it extremely difficult for the suspects to travel internationally in an attempt to evade capture. “Through requesting INTERPOL Red Notices, India has ensured that law enforcement officials around the globe are alerted to the wanted status of ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, Former TRAI Chairman Nripendra Mishra on Thursday told a special CBI court that the telecom regulator did not know if availability of 2G spectrum in 2007 was "limited" and added it had no "authentic information" about it. "Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) did not have any authentic information regarding availability of the spectrum in 2007 as this subject matter is dealt with by the Department of Telecom (DoT). TRAI was not aware about the limited availability of the spectrum," he told Special CBI Judge O P Saini. During his cross-examination by Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra's counsel, Mishra said TRAI had written to DoT for the details of spectrum availability "perhaps" in 2007-08. "It is correct that information on availability of spectrum was not in public domain at that time. It is wrong to suggest that TRAI had authentic information about the availability of spectrum during my tenure as its chairman," he said. He also said after TRAI's August 2007 recommendations "there was a spurt in the number of applications (for the 2G licences). However, the actual status of applications was in the DoT," he added. Mishra, who was TRAI chairman between ...
Read Full Story

Lucknow, The CBI searched the office of inspector general (prisons) V K Gupta for the original suicide note that was recovered from the belongings of deputy chief medical officer Dr Y S Sachan after his body was found in a pool of blood inside Lucknow jail on June 22, 2011. Having failed to trace the original note, the CBI is contemplating how to proceed with the search for the piece of paper which Gupta claims was taken away from him by a very senior bureaucrat. The CBI is probing the Dr Sachan's death on the orders of the high court. CBI officers, on the basis of the photocopy of the suicide note, have admitted that it has no bearing on the sequence of events that led to Dr Sachan's death inside the jail. However, the agency says the importance of the note arises from the fact that the state authorities did not tell CBI that such a note existed when they handed over the documents related to the case. "Why did they not tell us about it? This needs to be explained beyond doubt before we go ahead with the investigations," a senior CBI officer supervising the probe said. The suicide note is believed to have been recovered from a notebook found in the bag containing Dr ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court here Friday issued fresh summons for Feb 22 to the promoters of Essar Group and Loop Telecom, accused in the 2G spectrum scam case, after they failed to appear before the court. The summons were issued to corporate honchos Ravi Ruia, Anshuman Ruia, I.P. Khaitan and Kiran Khaitan. Special CBI Judge O.P. Saini, issuing the summons, said: "The serving officer shall visit the given addresses at least on three different dates and in case of unavailability of accused or any male member of the family at the given address, shall effect the service by affixation during the last visit." The court also directed that summons can be issued by sending SMS and making telephonic calls. The court has issued summons to five corporate honchos Dec 21, 2011 after taking cognisance of the third set of charges filed in the 2G case alleging criminal conspiracy and cheating by three more firms and five people, including some promoters of the Essar Group. The court had asked the five accused to appear before it Jan 27. None of the corporate honchos appeared in the court Friday. Counsel appearing for accused told court that ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court Saturday reserved its order on a plea by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy to haul Home Minister P. Chidambaram to court in the 2G spectrum case. "The order is reserved for Feb 4," said special CBI judge O.P. Saini. Swamy had said: "This evidence reveals the connivance, collusion and consent of the then finance minister Chidambaram in the decision taken by the then telecom minister A. Raja on the matter of fixing prices of spectrum licences and the matter of permitting companies who received licences." Swamy said two companies which received the telecom licences sold their shares to others even before the rollout of their services. He had said the evidence brings on record a commission of offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Chidambaram was the finance minister in the first United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government when the spectrum saga began. Swamy sought to prosecute Chidambaram in the case, saying the decision on spectrum pricing was taken in 2008 jointly by him and Raja, who has been lodged in the Tihar Jail here since Feb 2, 2011. He alleged that Chidambaram and Raja were ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi: The Centre on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that the PIL filed by NGO 'Centre for Public Interest Litigation' in the 2G scam had become a political interest litigation with the petitioner attempting to personally target ministers, the attorney general and officers of the CBI. "It is common knowledge that some of the office-bearers of CPIL are consistently opposed to the ruling party and have been adopting the device of filing applications ostensibly seeking permission to bring certain facts on record but, in the applications or the affidavits filed in support thereof, targeting individual ministers or the attorney general or the officers of CBI by name...in flagrant breach of principles of natural justice," the telecom ministry said in response to an application filed by CPIL accusing the Salman Khurshid-headed law ministry of stalling investigation. "A proceeding which started as public interest litigation is now turning to be a political interest litigation," it said. CPIL was instrumental in bringing the 2G scam to the apex court's notice in September 2010 resulting in court monitoring of the probe and subsequent filing of chargesheet against former telecom ...
Read Full Story

New Dehli: Wrapping up its probe in the Bhanwari Devi murder case, the CBI claimed on Monday that it had corroborative evidence to establish that the 36-year-old nurse was murdered and burnt allegedly at the behest of a political leader. Agency sources said they were now looking for the alleged mastermind of the murder - Indra Bishnoi (sister of Congress MLA Malkhan Singh) - and a member of Bishna Ram's gang, identified as Ashok. The sources said that some of the political leaders in the state were aware of the conspiracy to murder her. One of the accused had told the CBI that her watch was also dumped in the canal, prompting the agency to seek help of the Rajasthan government in stopping the water flow to enable the investigators with the state police to look for the evidence. Sources also added that Bhanwari had been strangulated and later burnt. Her ashes along with belongings were dumped in the nearby Rajiv Gandhi canal. CBI sources said Bhanwari's son Sahil (18) was called to the agency's camp office at Jodhpur Circuit House and was shown the recovered articles, out of which he identified at least four. Around 35 divers were involved in an extensive search in the ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, The Supreme Court Friday allowed the trial of dentist couple Rajesh and Nupur Talwar for the murder of their teenaged daughter Aarushi. The Talwars had approached the Supreme Court to overrule the verdict of a lower court that ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to make them the main accused in the case. A bench of Justice A.K. Ganguly and Justice J.S. Khehar said there was nothing wrong in the magistrate's order taking cognizance against the Talwars and putting them on trial. "We dismiss the appeal," the bench said. Fourteen-year-old Aarushi, a student of Delhi Public School, was found with her throat slit in her parents' Noida apartment May 16, 2008. The family's domestic help, Hemraj, whom the police initially thought to be the prime suspect, was also found killed on the apartment's terrace a day later. The couple's counsel Rebecca John said: "There is nothing beyond this. They have to face the trial." "All the legal battles have ended as the Supreme Court is the apex body," John told ...
Read Full Story

New Dehli: With the arrest of Bishna Ram Bishnoi, one of the key accused in the Bhanwari Devi's murder, on Wednesday, the CBI has found hard material evidence to crack the case. Agency sources claim that after checking for several hours in Jaloda village and Rajiv Gandhi Link canal area, they have recovered the "gunny bag" in which Bhanwari's remains were packed and was thrown into the water body. Another important recovery is that of a "sharp edged weapon made of iron" that was found inside the gunny bag and could prove to be a useful DNA evidence. Also, source added that they have found some 'fossils'. Investigators have also taken the samples of the soil where Bhanwari was burnt. The agency has sent all the samples and seized articles for forensic examination. The CBI is on the verge of solving the case as the arrested persons - Om Prakash Bishnoi and Kailash Jakhar - have confessed that "they had thrown Bhanwari's remains in the canal after burning her ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi/Shimla, Former telecom minister Sukh Ram, who was to surrender in a graft case, has slipped into coma, his counsel told a Delhi court Friday. The 84-year-old has been undergoing treatment at a hospital in the capital. Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) judge Ramesh Sharma listed the matter for Saturday as the concerned judge is on leave. On Thursday, Sukh Ram's counsel said the former minister could not surrender as he was undergoing medical treatment following angiography. The 1993 telecom scam involved award of a contract to a Hyderabad firm for supplying telecom equipment to the government at exorbitant rates. Sukh Ram was accused of showing undue favour to a cable supply company and accepting Rs.3 lakh bribe, along with an accomplice. In 2002, Sukh Ram was awarded a three-year jail term under the Prevention of Corruption Act. In another case, he was held guilty of possessing disproportionate assets worth Rs.4.25 crore in 2009. The former minister's son Anil Sharma, who is a legislator from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, told IANS that his father has been feeling drowsiness since he underwent a procedure in hospital in Delhi ...
Read Full Story

NEW DELHI: The CBI had recently received a complaint through CVC against Aseervatham Achary, a key witness against former telecom minister A Raja in the 2G case, accusing Achary of amassing disproportionate assets. The complaint was sent to the agency on an MP's letterhead, but investigations have revealed that the letter was forged to implicate Achary. Sources in the CBI said the complaint was sent to it and Achary's employer, railway ministry, in November. On receiving the complaint, the CBI had initiated a probe against Achary, and also spoke to the MP whose letterhead was used to file the complained. The MP denied sending any such complaint to either the CBI or the railway ministry, prompting the agency to shift focus on the person who could have forged it. Raja had raised a point in his defence during the trial on Monday that Achary decided to become a CBI witness because there was a disproportionate assets' complaint against him. But during the cross-examination, Raja's lawyer Sushil Kumar failed to make him concede that Achary implicated Raja, or that he decided to become a CBI witness because there was a disproportionate assets' complaint against him. Kumar ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, The CBI today arrested Amar Chand, the husband of missing nurse Bhanwari Devi, allegedly for not cooperating in the probe. "Amar Chand has been arrested this evening. He was not cooperating in the probe and was giving different versions in interrogation," a CBI official said. Amar Chand had yesterday allegedly attempted to escape from the CBI questioning centre in Jodhpur when confronted with some crucial questions by the sleuths regarding the case of alleged abduction and murder of Bhanwari Devi. The 36-year-old Bhanwari Devi, posted as auxiliary nurse and midwife at a sub-centre in Jaliwada village, around 120 km from Jodhpur, went missing on September 1. Amar Chand had alleged she was kidnapped at the behest of sacked Rajasthan Minister Mahipal Maderna who has been arrested by the agency. Maderna was being questioned by the CBI in Delhi. Maderna and Congress MLA Malkhan Singh Bishnoi's brother Parasram Bishnoi were remanded in CBI custody till December 9 by a Jodhpur court on Saturday. ...
Read Full Story

Ludhiana, January 19 (DNS)- Joginder Singh, former CBI director, said the agency was not an independent body and it had been used continuously by the successive governments to serve their “political” purpose. The former CBI director was in the city today to attend a meeting of the Ludhiana Citizens Council to discuss civic issues. Talking to reporters here, he said, although the agency needed to be independent, unfortunately it was not. He maintained that the CBI was not above the government and it was difficult to believe it functioned independently. Speaking on the Bofors controversy, he said, “Rajiv Gandhi was never a part of the Bofors controversy and, more importantly, he was never an accused. Terming him as an accused was most unfortunate in the Bofors case. Favouring the freedom of the Press, Joginder Singh said the government should make the sting operations legal so that many more corrupt bureaucrats and politicians could be arrested, provided the sting operations were conducted in public interest. Taking a jibe at former Telecom Minister Sukh Ram, he said such politicians were making full use of the slow judicial process. While referring to the slow judicial ...
Read Full Story