Tokyo, An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.9 jolted northeastern Japan on Saturday, but no tsunami warning was issued, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. Tokyo Electric Power Co's two nuclear plants in Fukushima reported no new irregularities after the quake, Kyodo news agency said. Onagawa nuclear plant in Miyagi prefecture further north also detected no irregularities, operator Tohoku Electric Power Co said. In Miyagi prefecture, where the shaking was the strongest, there were no information on injuries, Kyodo added. The United States Geological Survey recorded the quake at 6.1, with a depth of 20.5 miles. The epicentre of the quake was off the coast of Fukushima prefecture, more than 200 km (125 miles) northeast of Tokyo, where buildings also shook. A magnitude 9 earthquake in March 2011 in the northeast triggered a tsunami which killed about 16,000 people, with a further 3,000 still missing. The disaster caused meltdowns and crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear ...
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New Delhi, The Delhi high court on Thursday ordered setting up of a medical board to examine the health condition of former Haryana minister Om Prakash Chautala, who along with 54 others is serving a jail term in the 2000 teachers' recruitment scam. Justice Siddharth Mridul asked the Director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to constitute a board which will examine 78-year-old Chautala, chief of Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), and submit its report on May 21. The medical board will comprise a doctor of Tihar Jail and one specialist each from AIIMS, RML Hospital and GB Pant Hospital here. The order came after the counsel for Chautala sought bail on the ground of various ailments of the former Haryana CM. Senior advocate U U Lalit, appearing for Chautala, referred to a medical report of AIIMS and said, "He deserved to be released on bail on medical grounds as he is suffering from various ailments including heart and cervical problems". The court has now posted the matter for further hearing on May 21. Meanwhile, the court allowed co-convict Durga Dutt Pradhan to attend a marriage function in his family on May 18 and asked the Delhi Police to ...
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Shimla, A day after clash between students of Himachal Pradesh University that left at least 20 of them injured, the authorities on Tuesday constituted a committee to probe the incident and sources said that authorities are of the view that students having multiple criminal cases registered against them should be suspended from the university. Vice-chancellor A D N Bajpai said, "An inquiry committee constituted under the chairmanship of the dean of studies along with the registrar, dean student welfare, chief warden and other officials has been formed to investigate the matter. The committee has also sought video CDs from security officials to identify students involved in Monday's clash." The committee has also invited complaints from students, student organizations, employees, teachers and commoners. Besides checking involvement of students in Monday's incident, the varsity will also probe crime records of students involved in violence in the campus earlier as well and such students are to face suspension." The committee is expected to submit its report within one week. Bajpai added, "We want students to cooperate to maintain peaceful academic atmosphere in the campus. ...
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New Delhi, Criticizing Congress leader Digvijay Singh's "unwarranted advice" to the judiciary, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said the motivation behind his criticism was the "frustration of a loser". The "ill-advised" suggestion made to the judiciary by Singh has come when corruption of UPA government is being investigated by the CBI and monitored by the Supreme Court and did not come when the apex court had ordered monitoring of Gujarat riots cases, Jaitley said. "The likes of Digvijay Singh welcomed that monitoring. It is only when the corruption of the UPA government is being investigated by CBI and monitored by the Supreme Court that monitoring of investigation is now being termed as constitutionally unacceptable. Such arguments of convenience have very little place in a meaningful public discourse," Jaitley said in an article. He was commenting on Singh's reaction to the apex court's stinging criticism of the CBI for vetting of probe report on coal mines' allocation scam. "CBI gets belittled when it bends before to political pressure and conducts a pliable investigation. On the contrary, when the court discovered this pathetic plight of ...
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Hyderabad, Two Andhra Pradesh police personnel including an IPS officer were named accused in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. The third additional supplementary chargesheet filed by the CBI in a Mumbai court on Tuesday has named 1994 batch AP cadre IPS officer N Balasubramanyam and another state police personnel as accused. Among the others named in the supplementary chargesheet are former Rajasthan minister of state for home Gulab Chand Kataria and Vimal Patni, a Rajasthan-based marble trader. CBI's senior counsel Ejaz Khan submitted a 500-page supplementary chargesheet to the CBI judge KS Khan. The court issued summons to the four accused and asked them to be present before the court on the next hearing scheduled on June 4. Presently, Balasubramanyam is IG, intelligence, while the second person named is of the rank of inspector. The CBI chargesheet says that these two cops helped the Gujarat police in carrying out the operation. It is being contended that Balasubramanyam obtained intelligence about the whereabouts of Sohrabuddin as well as provided logistics support in the form of vehicles and other aspects to the Gujarat police team. Based on the information, ...
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Pratapgarh(UP), Former Uttar Pradesh minister RaghurajPratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya was questioned by the CBI on Wednesday in connection with the murder of a village head and KundaDSPZia-UlHaq. CBI sources said 44-year-old Raja Bhaiya appeared at the makeshift agency office for his questioning. Last month, CBI had arrested one Bhulle Pal, a security guard with the then state minister Bhaiya, who allegedly led a mob, enraged by the killing of Balipur village head Nanhe Yadav, to kill the police officer. Bhaiya has denied any association with Pal. CBI has also taken into custody Rajeev Singh and Guddu Singh who are considered close to the minister. In the FIR filed on the basis of a complaint by the slain DSP's wife Parveen Azad, it has been alleged that "on the directions of Bhaiya, Nagar Panchayat Chairman Gulshan Yadav, minister's representative Hari Om Srivastava, his driver Rohit Singh and supporter Guddu Singh first assaulted my husband with sticks and rods and later shot him dead." The allegations have been denied by Bhaiya. : Former Uttar Pradesh minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh, alias Raja Bhaiya appeared before the CBI on Wednesday for questioning in ...
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Washington, A US court in Wisconsin has reserved its decision in the alleged human rights violation case against Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal after completing hearing in the matter. The district court had taken up a petition filed by New York-based rights body 'Sikh for Justice', which had alleged that Badal committed "grave human rights violations" against the community in India. Attorneys appearing for Badal have argued that he never received any summons from the court, whereas Sikh for Justice claims that its authorized person served the court summons. 'Sikh for Justice' in a statement said that it would now approach the recently created American Sikh Congressional Caucus seeking their help in asking the State Department to withdraw its support to Badal, and will demand a Congressional hearing to discuss ban on the entry Shiromani Akali Dal leaders to US. Notably, the recently formed Caucus has said it will only raise domestic issues related to Sikhs and not foreign issues. Members of 'Sikh for Justice' were present on the occasion of announcement of the Caucus in Washington last ...
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Jalandhar, Even though the Union government has granted citizenship to 1,210 foreign nationals from 2009 to 2012, Hindus who migrated from Pakistan two decades back are still waiting for it. Some have even died while waiting for the citizenship. On May 8, the Union home minister, in reply to questions asked by BJP MP Avinash Rai Khanna about the migration of Hindus and Sikhs in India, had revealed that although Hindus and Sikhs had migrated to India from Pakistan, statistical data about their numbers was not being maintained by the Centre. Khanna had also asked how many Hindus and Sikhs had been granted citizenship during the last three years. In reply, the minister had stated that 1,210 persons had been granted citizenship but he did not specify whether this number was for Hindu or Sikh migrants. "The government should expedite the process of granting citizenship to these migrants who, in any case, are not going to return to Pakistan as they had come here under compelling circumstances," Khanna had remarked. "We migrated here in 1993 and there were 32 members of the extended family. While some of our members have already passed away, including my father, uncle (father's ...
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New Delhi, Railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, under a cloud over his nephew's alleged involvement in bribery for a plum railway board posting, did not attend office till Friday afternoon, fuelling speculation that he was on his way out. Bansal, who also skipped the cabinet meeting on Thursday, is under pressure following the arrest of his nephew Vijay Singla by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with his alleged acceptance of Rs 90 lakh as part-payment of a bribe for the promotion of an official to the Railway Board. Law minister Ashwani Kumar is also facing the heat from the opposition over accusations that he vetted - and changed - the draft CBI report on the coal blocks allocation controversy. Sources said there is unease in the Congress over the controversies surrounding the two ministers, and a meeting of the core group was expected on Saturday. They said the core group could also informally meet on Friday to take stock of the situation. Party sources said Bansal's continuation in office would become untenable if the CBI decides to question him in the bribery case over the railway posting. They said CBI investigators seem to be closing ...
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New Delhi, The Supreme Court will on Friday take up Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt's plea seeking review of its March 21 judgement upholding his conviction under the Arms Act and sentencing him to five years in jail in 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case. A bench of P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan, which had delivered March 21 verdict, will take up the review plea in chamber. It will also consider similar pleas made by other six convicts in the case. Other six convicts, who filed review petitions are Yusuf Mohsin Nulwalla, Khalil Ahmed Sayed Ali Nazir, Mohamed Dawood Yusuf Khan, Shaikh Asif Yusuf, Muzammil Umar Kadri and Mohd Ahmed Shaikh. A day before the deadline for his surrender ended, the Supreme Court had on April 17 granted Dutt four weeks time to surrender before jail authorities to undergo 42 months remaining sentence in the case. The apex court had on March 21 upheld his conviction in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case which it said was organised by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and others with the involvement of Pakistan's ISI. However, the apex court had reduced to five years the six-year jail-term awarded to him by a designated TADA court in 2006, ruling out ...
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Amritsar, Sarabjit Singh's sister Dalbir Kaur will demand handing over of her brother's personal belongings by Pakistan government so as to preserve them for his daughters. Dalbir Kaur told TOI on Wednesday that she would write to Pakistan President to direct authorities of Kot Lakhpat jail to send Sarabjit's belongings, including clothes, chappals, etc., which he was wearing at the time of arrest in 1990, besides his other belongings like spectacles, watch, clothes, diary and books, which he used before being attacked by fellow inmates on April 26. "I had given him clothes and other items of personal use. I want them back. I will write to Prime Minister of India and President of Pakistan," said Dalbir, adding that she would also personally urge President of India to intervene to bring back the belongings of her brother from Pakistan. She said that during her visit to Kot Lakhpat jail in 2011, Sarabjit Singh had told her that he writes a daily diary, mentioning who and how jail inmates and staff behaved with him on that particular day, what and how much he ate, etc. Sarabjit had told her that his clothes and other belongings which he had on at the time of his arrest were ...
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New Delhi, The body of Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah Ranjay, who succumbed to injuries at a Chandigarh hospital on Thursday, will be handed over to Pakistan. "We will hand over the body to Pakistan," home minister Sushilkumar Shinde said. Shinde said the ministry of external affairs is coordinating with the Pakistani authorities to complete the formalities to send back his body home. "Once the formalities are done, we will hand over the body," he said. Sources said a detailed post-mortem of Sanaullah, 52, would be done in Chandigarh and the travel arrangements would be made as per the request made by Pakistan. Government has been informed that Pakistan is arranging an aircraft to fly his body back home, the sources said, adding "If they arrange a non-military registered plane, the clearance would be prompt". Sanaullah, a convicted terrorist serving life sentence, was injured in a scuffle with another inmate in the high-security Kot Balwal jail in Jammu and rushed to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh on Friday ...
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New Delhi, The Pakistan high commission has requested the Indian government to institute an international probe into the death of Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah Ranjay, who died on Thursday at a Chandigarh hospital after being attacked in Jammu jail last week. "We have requested the government of India for an international inquiry into the brutal attack on the Pakistani citizen. We request the government of India to immediately give his body to his family members so the funeral can take place according to Islamic rituals," Manzoor Ali Memon, one of the three diplomats granted consular access to the prisoner, told a TV channel. Sanaullah, who had been at the PGIMER hospital after his attack in Jammu's Kot Bhalwal jail May 3, died just before 8am on Thursday. "We are in deep grief and we are shocked. We express our deep condolences to Sanaullah's family and people of Pakistan for the brutal and extra judicial killing of the innocent citizen of Pakistan. The killing has taken place under the nose of Jammu and Kashmir jail authorities," Memon said. The Pakistani had been in deep coma since he had been flown to Chandigarh from Jammu last Friday. Sanaullah had suffered ...
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New Delhi, Beleaguered railway minister, Pawan Kumar Bansal, earned another sobriquet in the Rajya Sabha on Monday he could have done without. Bansal was repeatedly addressed as "mamu" by Opposition MPs as they again prevented the House from functioning by vociferously insisting on their demand for action against not just Bansal and law minister Ashwani Kumar, but also PM Manmohan Singh. The minister was repeatedly addressed as "mamu" by Parshottam Rupala (BJP), a close aide of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, while his party members stormed the Well of the House seeking his ouster along with that of PM Manmohan Singh. The minister's nephew has been arrested for taking a bribe of Rs 90 lakh from a railway board member. Without naming Bansal, Rupala repeated "mamu" numerous times amid sloganeering by his party colleagues. "O Mama...desh ko mat banao mamu...Mama isteefa do (Uncle, Don't befool the nation...Please resign uncle)," were Rupala's terse comments on Bansal, sending many in the visitors' galleries into laughter. This happened in the presence of a Parliamentary delegation from the Maldives which seemed thoroughly amused by the melee. Rupala kept shouting "Mamu...mamu" ...
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Washington, Asserting that China has signed agreements for arms exports worth USD 11 billion from 2007 to 2011, the Pentagon has said that Pakistan remains Beijing's primary customer for conventional weapons. "From 2007 to 2011, China signed approximately USD 11 billion in agreements for conventional weapons systems worldwide, ranging from general purpose materiel to major weapons systems," the Pentagon told the Congress in its annual report on China. In 2012 and the coming years, China's arms exports will likely increase modestly as China's domestic defence industry improves, it said, adding that Chinese defence firms are marketing and selling arms throughout the world with the bulk of their sales to Asia and the Middle East/North Africa. In 2012, China unveiled the Yi Long tactical unmanned aerial vehicle, which will probably be marketed to developing countries, it said. Pakistan, it said, remains its primary customer for conventional weapons. "China engages in both arms sales and defence industrial cooperation with Islamabad, including co-production of the JF-17 fighter aircraft, F-22P frigates with helicopters, K-8 jet trainers, F-7 fighter aircraft, early warning ...
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Jammu, A Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah serving a life term was attacked inside the high-security Kot Balwal jail by a fellow inmate this morning and his condition is stated to be serious, official sources said. It was not immediately known whether the attack on the 52-year-old convict with a sharp weapon was a backlash against the death of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh in a hospital in Pakistan yesterday after being comatose for nearly a week following a brutal assault by fellow inmates in a high-security Lahore jail, officials said. Official sources said the Kot Balwal jail superintendent Rajni Sehgal has been suspended by the Jammu and Kashmir government which also ordered a probe. The sources said Sanaullah, a resident of Pakistan, was admitted in Government Medical College hospital in an unconscious condition with serious injuries on his head after being hit by a fellow inmate in the morning. A case of assault was registered against Vinod Kumar, an ex-serviceman who is also serving a life term in the jail in the outskirts of Jammu. Kumar hails from Uttrakhand. The sources said the health condition of Sanaullah was stated to be very critical as he was hit ...
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Chandigarh, Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal today demanded an independent probe by an international agency into the circumstances leading to death of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh in Pakistan. Badal also criticised the Centre's approach towards the matter. "Government of India too dithered and dilly-dallied in reacting to the attack on him (Sarabjit). Was enough done to save him? Steps by government of India to secure his release earlier were weak and totally inadequate," he said in a statement. Badal asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take highest diplomatic initiative to bring Sarabjit's body back to Punjab. He said the Punjab government will give a state funeral to Sarabjit. Demanding that his body be brought back to India for a "dignified funeral", deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal promised government jobs to Sarabjit's ...
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New Delhi/Amritsar, India on Thursday reacted with anger and dismay on hearing the news of death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh in Lahore's government-run Jinnah Hospital this morning. Sarabjit had been admitted to the intensive care unit of the hospital with a severe head injury and injuries to his neck and torso last Friday. He had been attacked by six Pakistani prisoners while on a stroll inside Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail. In an official statement, ministry of external affairs spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said: "It is with great anguish that we have received the news of the demise of Sarabjit Singh who has succumbed to injury after the brutal attack on him in a jail." "It was simply a killing of our citizen in jail. We demand the government of Pakistan should conduct a thorough investigation to identify those who are guilty," he added. "We share deep condolences with the family. We have demanded that the Pakistani officials release his body so that he can be given funeral in India amongst his people," Akbaruddin said. Bharatiya Janata Party spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi described Sarabjit's death in a hospital in Lahore as "condemnable". "This is a shameful ...
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New Delhi, Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde today met the family members of Sarabjit Singh, who died in a Pakistani hospital after being comatose for nearly a week, and assured them to make all efforts to bring back his body. "We are trying our best to get his body as soon as possible. The Ministry of External Affairs is in touch with the Pakistan government," he told reporters after meeting Sarbajit's sister Dalbir Kaur and other family members here. The home minister said that once the body is received, the last rites will be performed as per the wishes of the family. "We are trying to get the body. But it will depend on Pakistan government. We will have to wait," he said. Shinde said India was talking to Pakistan till the very end to ensure better treatment for 49-year-old Sarabjit, who was brutally attacked in a high-security Lahore jail by fellow inmates on Friday, but could not succeed. The home minister said he has expressed to Sarabjit's sister the condolences of the whole country. "We are sad Sarabjit is no more with us. It is a very sad incident," he said. Shinde said India had raised the issue of Sarabjit with Pakistan in different forum and ...
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Lahore, Reports about the suspension of several Pakistani jail officials after the brutal assault on Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh last week have turned out to be an eyewash as authorities are yet to take action against anyone in Kot Lakhpat Jail. Immediately after the assault on Sarabjit by other prisoners on Friday, officials had told the media that three or four prison officials, including the assistant superintendent, had been suspended. However, official sources told PTI that not a single official of the prison has been suspended from service so far. The caretaker government of Punjab province has only issued notices to seven Kot Lakhpat Jail officials, including superintendent Mohsin Rafiq and additional superintendents Ishtiaq Ahmed Gill and Sawar Sumera, to explain why action should not be taken against them for failing to protect Sarabjit. To the surprise of many, an inquiry into the incident by deputy inspector general of police (prisons) Malik Mubashir pinpointed several security lapses but did not fix responsibility on any one. Punjab's caretaker chief minister Najam Sethi and his administration have been tight-lipped about the incident and no ...
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