Daily News (In Short)-31-August-2015

#* Fresh charges of attempt to murder to be filed against Indrani, Sanjeev, driver for trying to kill Mikhail

Mumbai: Indrani Mukerjea, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and her driver Shyam Rai will be produced before a local court on Monday where the police probing the sensational Sheena Bora murder case are likely to seek extension of their police custody.
Police will slap fresh charges of attempt to murder against Indrani, Sanjeev and the driver for allegedly trying to kill Mikhail Bora, officials in the investigating team said on condition of anonymity.Guwahati-based Mikhail had earlier told police that Indrani tried to kill him thrice. Mikhail had also said that just hours before Indrani and Sanjeev met Sheena on April 24, 2012 and took her for what would be the last drive of her life, Indrani allegedly drugged him but he managed to escape from the spot and averted becoming the second murder victim.
The murder case took another turn yesterday when police seized a suitcase from the residential premises of Indrani and Peter Mukerjea in Mumbai's Worli area, apparently lending credence to Mikhail's claim about his mother's plan to kill him.
Police on Sunday took Sanjeev and Indrani's driver Shyam Rai to the forest in Raigad district where Sheena's body was allegedly dumped, to 'recreate' the crime scene. During sustained interrogation here on Saturday, Indrani and Sanjeev had blamed each other for the crime. Indrani accused Khanna of committing the murder and dragging her into the crime. However, he said he only assisted Indrani as she had promised to help him financially.

#* Is Arvind Kejriwal CM Nitish's counter to BJP in urban Bihar?

Nitish Kumar is reticent, so is Arvind Kejriwal about their terms of engagement in the upcoming Bihar polls. But they’ve pow-wowed openly at public functions in Delhi and Patna to send out signals, fuel speculation that they stand together in the key battle against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

That the Delhi chief minister has reservations about sharing dais with Nitish’s allies in Bihar, Lalu Yadav and the Congress, is well known. For that reason, his presence, if at all, at election rallies would be restricted to being seen with his Bihar counterpart.

Short of going the whole hog into the campaign, Kejriwal is keen to share with Nitish the tactics he deployed to fight and squarely defeat the BJP in the Delhi assembly polls. The routing came within nine months of the Gujarat strongman logging a national imprint in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Except perhaps the optics of being seen with allies with doubtful probity, the challenge before the Nitish-led alliance is no different: the saffron charge piloted by Modi with no chief ministerial candidate; the rival side led, as was the case in Delhi, by a blemish-free contender for power. In this backdrop, the Bihar CM’s companionship with Kejriwal could be geared to counter in urban Bihar the ‘tarred’ downside of his otherwise formidable poll alliance.

In sum, Patna and cities such as Gaya, Bhagalpur and Muzaffarpur are obvious focal areas for showcasing the AAP leader as a proximate stakeholder in Nitish’s battle against Modi, said sources privy to Kejriwal’s thinking. The broad contours of the plan will soon emerge, now that the JD(U)-RJD-Congress front has staged its first mega show of strength in Patna’s Gandhi Maidan.

In AAP’s assessment, the anti-BJP formation appeared a trifle disadvantaged in the state’s urban hubs where  — together with Kejriwal’s popular appeal — the promise of free Wi-Fi could click with young voters the way it did in the Delhi polls. The idea found traction with youth turning out in big numbers during his visit to Gaya in Nitish’s company. It makes good political sense as the literacy rate in most Bihar cities is between 70-80%.

Hold as he does the JD (U) leader in high esteem, Kejriwal might convey to him his appraisal of the three-party front’s campaign strategy through a Delhi-based interface. He’s reluctant to take up pragmatic ideas directly with him “out of sheer regard for his seniority and long experience in politics.”

For instance, the Delhi CM finds Nitish’s statistical ripostes to Modi’s financial package for Bihar as scholastically impressive. But he believes a catchy one-liner could work wonders to debunk on the ground the saffron parivar’s trumpeting of the package as an El dorado the Centre has ceded to the state. Nitish’s description of the package as “counterfeit currency” at the Patna rally could end perhaps the search for the coinage Kejriwal wants to ‘discredit’ the BJP’s celebratory chants.

On the financial assistance issue, the two leaders could at once raise their shared principles of federalism being ‘disregarded’ in Patna and Delhi by the Modi regime: No special status for Bihar; no statehood for Delhi. In what promises to be the best argued contest for the mandate of a people known for their political savvy, Kejriwal’s in-the-face rhetoric would be a perfect counterfoil to Nitish’s oratorical finesse enriched by a keen sense of history.

A force-multiplier! That’s what Kejriwal hopes to be for his Bihar counterpart.

#* The mystery man in Bangkok bomb probe who 'never said a word'

Thai police said Monday they discovered bomb-making materials during a raid of a second apartment on the outskirts of the capital, as authorities widened their search for suspects behind Bangkok's deadly bombing.
The evidence seized by police investigating the bombing includes an apparently damning trove of explosives, fertiliser, and piles of fake passports, but the shabby-looking foreigner they arrested on Saturday remains a mystery.

There has been no word of his nationality, affiliation or whether the evidence seized in a shabby Bangkok apartment block amounts to a smoking gun for the attack on a crowded downtown shrine that killed 20 people two weeks ago.

Reuters interviews with neighbours, investigators and the community in the city suburb of Nong Chok paint a picture of a reclusive and secretive Muslim who seldom ventured beyond the four rooms he occupied in the grimy orange and cream-coloured building.

Police have been tight-lipped - at times cryptic - about the man they indicate is the chief suspect caught on camera leaving a bag at the site of a bombing that shook Bangkok's bustling commercial heart.

They are checking DNA samples and calls made from his phone, but have not indicated the man has said anything since his arrest. According to a couple who rent a room on the same floor, the suspect was not alone and shared the accommodation with a man of similar ethnicity, who was last seen on Friday.

"There's another; he's much taller," said the man, who requested anonymity because he feared for his safety. The couple said they instantly recognised the images on newscasts that went viral on social media of the thin, bearded man with a pale complexion and tightly cropped hair. They had seen him sometimes kneeling and praying in the corridor. On the rare occasions he was spotted outside, he appeared focused and walked with purpose.

"They're very quiet neighbours," said the man. "The taller man buys food for them." A person matching the second man's description had spoken only a few words of English while at a nearby food stall, according to vendors who last saw him on Thursday.

Transient community

Many Thai Muslims and foreigners live in Nong Chok, an area of cheap rents and short leases, where there are colleges, factories, rice paddies, mosques and streets dotted with halal restaurants.

Residents said the suspect was inconspicuous in a transient community of foreigners and university students in the sprawl of one of Asia's most cosmopolitan capitals.

"The building often has foreigners renting rooms," said Khantree Srisombat, 42, who lives in the same block. "It's normal here." The building owner who gave only his first name, Anant, said the lease contracts were signed using Turkish identification, but not by the arrested man.

When security forces burst into the building to make the arrest, the man declined to speak, even through a Turkish translator, according to a plain-clothes special branch officer who joined the raid. The officer spoke to Reuters on condition his name be withheld and said two rooms were strewn with bomb-making materials, including urea fertiliser, TNT, C4, sodium carbonate, large plastic and steel containers, a fuse line, flashlights, screwdrivers and tape.

"The suspect never said a word," the officer added. Among the passports seized, some had images of the same man, bearing the name Adem Karadag, purportedly Turkish, with birth dates of 1987 and 1985. Official comments about the man have been opaque, and assessments given often without explanation. Thai police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang on Saturday insisted the bombing was not terrorism and declared the man's motive was "taking personal revenge for his comrades".

On Sunday security forces searched a low-budget building used by many Muslim residents in nearby Min Buri district. Deputy district police chief Susak Parakkamakul declined to say whether any evidence was found.

Across the road, worshippers at the Al Madanee Mosque, the largest in the area, said they had never seen the suspect. "I pray here five times a day, every day, and I've never seen him," Qasim Ghulam Mohammad said after prayers on Sunday. "It's a very bad crime. If he is the bomber, he has to go to jail."

#* MM Kalaburgi - Murder of a fearless public intellectual and rationalist of Karnataka

Bengaluru - Eminent Kannada Scholar Dr MM Kalaburgi who was shot dead at his house in Dharwad on Sunday morning was a multifaceted personality. He was a researcher who studied inscriptions and ancient Kannada literature, a popular Kannada professor, a fearless public intellectual and an advocate of primacy of Kannada and Karnataka.
Kalaburgi taught at the famous Karnataka university Dharwad for almost 30 years. He guided several research students in their PhD programme.
He later served as the vice chancellor of Kannada university at Hampi, the capital of the Vijayanagara empire.
He had also presided over the prestigious All India Kannada Literary Conference held at Dharmasthala.
Kalaburgi had produced over 400 research papers over the past 50 years. He had authored over 50 books.
A plain speaking Kalaburgi was a critic of the right wing thinking and politics.
His comments on certain customs in the Hinduism had led to a furore several times.
Kalaburgi was a fearless public intellectual. He never minced his words. He always spoke with clarity. He was not afraid of anyone or anything.
He had always opposed the right wing politics. Took on many religious heads and questioned several customs and beliefs which he thought superstitious or exploitative.
He was a strong supporter of proposed anti superstitions bill.
Some of his public comments were too strong. He once said that there was nothing wrong in urinating on the idols of Hindu gods and goddesses. He had even questioned the Bhagavad Gita.
These things made him an enemy of several people.
We really don't know who murdered him and for what.
It is too early to come to a conclusion. Some anti-right wingers are already blaming the right wing fringe elements for this dastardly incident.
Some are comparing this incidents with the murder of rationalists Dhabholkar and Pansare in neighbouring Maharashtra.
What happened?
An early morning murder shook peaceful city of Dharwad in north Karnataka.
Dr MM Kalaburgi, Eminent Kannada scholar, researcher, writer and former vice chancellor of the Kannada university at Hampi was shot dead by an unidentified gunman in Dharwad at 6-30 am in the morning.
This incident has shocked Karnataka. The literary circles across the state have expressed shock over the incident.
Dr Kalaburgi was shot dead at his house in Kalyananagara in Dharwad in the morning. He was 78 years old.
According to his wife, somebody rang the bell at 6-30 am. When she opened the doors, gunman asked for her husband saying that he had some personal work with him. When Kalaburgi came to the verandah, the gunman shot at him from point blank range. He died on the spot.
Eye witnesses claim that the murderers escaped on a motorcycle.
Former Chief minister, local MLA and leader of the opposition Jagadish Shettar has described the incident as an Inhuman act. He has demanded the strictest possible action.
The police have launched a probe from all angles.
Kalaburgi's family has ruled out family issues being reasons for the murder of him.

#* 'Pak talking out of its head, should remember its defeat at hands of India'

New Delhi: Issuing a strong condemnation of Pakistan defense minister's inflammatory statement, an Indian defense expert has lambasted Islamabad for spouting war threats despite its defeats at the hand of India.
 
Launching a vitriolic verbal attack on India, Pakistan Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif yesterday threatened of 'heavy losses' that 'they would remember for decades' if India tried to impose war on Pak.

"If India tries to impose war on Pakistan, heavy losses will be inflicted on India which it will remember for decades," the minister said.

Talking to the ANI, Defence expert Major General (retired) SR Sinho reprimanded Pakistan for issuing statements like these saying, "I am shocked and surprised that the Defence Minister of Pakistan has made a statement that if a war like 1965 takes place, India will have to suffer the consequences, much worse than what had happened in 1965".

Sinho said that Pakistan was talking out of its head and should keep in mind its defeats when dealing with New Delhi.

"Pakistan is talking out of their head. They don`t have any sense. They don`t see the history what has happened... They should read the history and keep it at the back of their mind when dealing with India," he added while talking to the ANI.

It is not the first time Pakistan has spouted such threats.

Pakistani National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz too, has in past boasted that Pak is a nuke power and will retort strongly to India.

Pak defense minister's comments come in the backdrop of heightened tensions along the border and LoC after Pakistan called off NSA-level talks set for August 23 when India made it clear that discussions on Kashmir and a meeting with separatists will not be acceptable.

#* Patel agitation: Will fight till the end for justice, says mother at funeral of Shwetang Patel

Ahmedabad: Amid tight security, the funeral of a 32-year-old man from Patel community, who allegedly died in custody after being caught by police during the quota violence, was held here.
The funeral procession of Shwetang Patel started from his house in Matrushakti Society of Bapunagar area at around 8.25 AM. Initially, around 300 locals and relatives joined the procession, including Swetang's mother Prabhaben and his sister Palak.
Before the funeral procession started, former state Home Minister and senior BJP leader Gordhan Zadafia met Shwetang's family at his house and conveyed condolences. Local MLA Vallabh Kakadia along with some leaders and corporators also remained present during the procession.
Image courtesy: ReutersImage courtesy: Reuters
To avoid any untoward situation, around 600 personnel from local police, State Reserve Police (SRP), Rapid Action Force (RAF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have been stationed along the 1-km route from Swetang's house till the crematorium in Lila Nagar area, Bapunagar police inspector K D Nakum said. Since early morning, senior police officers including Joint Commissioner of Police (JCP) Manoj Shashidharan, Deputy CP Shweta Shrimali and Assistant CP K D Pandya along with their staff arrived at Bapunagar and supervised the arrangements.
Hardik Patel, the convener of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti, who earlier said that he will remain present during the last rites of Swetang, did not turn up today as he flew to Delhi on Sunday morning.
As the procession went ahead, a large number of locals living near the route came on the road to pay homage to the deceased. Some of them also joined the procession, taking the total number to more than 1,000. Since the route passes from NH-8 at Thakkarnagar area, police stopped the traffic for around 20 minutes.
"The procession reached peacefully at the crematorium without any untoward incident. We have not imposed any curfew in that area. Locals have also cooperated and refrained from shouting any inflammatory slogans," said Nakum.
Since Swetang was the only son of Prabhaben, his sister Palak performed the last rites by lighting his funeral pyre.
Talking to mediapersons after the rituals, Prabhaben vowed to fight for justice. "I demand suspension of all the responsible police officers. They must be given life imprisonment for killing my son. I will fight till the end to get justice," she said.
When asked if the family received any assurance from the government, Palak said no one has approached them yet. "We are not given any assurance of any kind from the government yet. No one from the government has approached us," she said.
Swetang was allegedly taken away forcibly by police on August 25 during violence in Patel community's agitation demanding reservation under OBC category. A plea was moved by Prabhaben Patel in the Gujarat High Court which said he was allegedly beaten by the police and ultimately he succumbed to the injuries.
After the postmortem, the High Court had ordered a second autopsy of the body which stated that he had died due to severe head injury. Observing that prima facie it was a case of homicide, the HC had on Friday directed the administration to file an FIR and also ordered a CID probe into Swetang's death.

#* Never been involved in administration of Ziqitza: Karthi

Karthi Chidambaram, who was named among others in a case of alleged irregularities registered by CBI in the award of an ambulance service contract to Ziqitza Health Care by Rajasthan Government in 2010, on Saturday said he was never been involved in the administration of the company.

“I was an independent non-executive director of Ziqitza only till February 24, 2012. I had never been involved in the administration of the company”, Mr. Karthi, son of former Union Minister P. Chidambaram, told PTI here.

“I was an independent director (Ziqitza) only till February 2012. Never was a shareholder. Many international funds have invested in the company and are represented in the board. Kirit Somaiya, who made the allegations, has been sued by the company,” he said.

Mr. Karthi said he had never held any share in the company at any point of time. The company has other independent directors who continue in their position.

“It is pertinent to note that Ziqitza is a company wherein reputed international and Indian Funds have invested — Acumen Fund, Emergency Medical Services Corporation, HDFC, IDFC to name a few. These funds also take an active part in the Board of the Company, he said.

CBI had on Friday re-registered FIR of the state police naming former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, former Union Minister Sachin Pilot, Karthi Chidambaram, Ravi Krishna among others as accused.

The investigating agency had also carried out searches at the office of Ziqitza Health Care in Jaipur and Mumbai against which a case has been registered.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje had asked the Centre last year to order a CBI probe into the scam.

Rajasthan Police’s FIR, filed in June last year immediately after BJP returned to power in the state, has named Mr. Gehlot and alleged directors of the company Pilot, Karthi Chidambaram, Ravi Krishna (son of former Union Minister Vayalar Ravi), Ziqitza Health Care, its Director Sweta Mangal, the then Health Minister of the state Duru Mirza and the Director National Rural Health Mission.

#* 11 dead, dozens injured in fire at Saudi oil giant housing complex

Riyadh: At least 11 people were killed and 219 injured in Saudi Arabia today when a fire broke out at a residential complex housing employees of oil giant Saudi Aramco, authorities said.
In this image released by the Saudi Interior Ministry’s General Directorate of Civil Defense, smoke billows from a residential complex . APIn this image released by the Saudi Interior Ministry’s General Directorate of Civil Defense, smoke billows from a residential complex . AP
The fire started in the basement of a tower in the eastern city of Khobar, the kingdom's civil defence said on Twitter.
It added that several of the injured were in a "critical condition" and that the casualties were from "various nationalities," without giving details.
Photographs published on the civil defence website showed plumes of black smoke rising from the windows of one of the buildings.
Authorities said that residents of nearby towers were evacuated as helicopters took part in the firefighting operations.
Firefighting teams "are combing all towers to ensure there are no people" trapped inside, said the civil defence.
"The incident is currently under control and cooling operations are ongoing," it said in another tweet later in the afternoon.
Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil company in terms of crude production and exports, released a statement confirming the fire at the residential complex, adding that the incident was being investigated.
The company says it employs more than 61,000 workers worldwide from 77 countries.

#* IS destroys part of Syria's ancient Temple of Bel: monitors

The extremist Islamic State group has destroyed part of another ancient temple in Syria's Palmyra city, a group monitoring the conflict said on Sunday.

The militants targeted the Temple of Bel, a Roman-era structure in the central desert city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

It is the second temple Islamic State has targeted in Palmyra this month. The group detonated explosives in the ancient Baal Shamin temple on August 25, an act that cultural agency UNESCO has called a war crime aimed at wiping out a symbol of Syria's diverse cultural heritage.   

The extent of the damage at the Temple of Bel was not known, the Observatory said, citing its contacts on the ground.

Activists on social media also reported the destruction at the temple, one of Palmyra's most important structures.

Islamic State seized Palmyra in May from government forces in a sudden offensive and is tightly controlling communications in the city, according to activists.

The group, which has proclaimed a caliphate in territory it holds across Syria and Iraq, has regularly demolished monuments it considers sacrilegious as well as carrying out mass killings.

This month the group beheaded the 82-year-old Syrian archaeologist who had looked after Palmyra's ruins for four decades, and hung his body in public, according to Syria's antiquities chief.

#* Instagram finally allows users to shoot pictures in landscape mode; Square mode also stays on

Instagram has added new layout options in addition to its signature square for pictures and videos in a bid to attract more advertisers and to stop users defecting to more flexible services such as Snapchat.

The move is the first major alteration to the photo-sharing, social media service since Facebook Inc bought it for $1 billion in 2012, and addresses the wishes of many of its 300 million users, who have been constrained by the square format.

“It boils down to giving advertisers and users more options,” said Debra Aho Williamson, a social media marketing and advertising analyst. “You want people to be able to see more of your ad. It’s something advertisers are definitely going to be interested in.”

One in five photos and videos posted on the service do not fit the square format, Instagram said in a blog post. “Friends get cut out of group shots, the subject of your video feels cramped and you can’t capture the Golden Gate Bridge from end to end,” it said.

From Thursday, Instagram’s web-based service and its mobile apps running on Google Inc’s Android system and Apple Inc’s iOS will allow portrait and landscape formats, giving both users and paying advertisers more options.

The move should help Instagram in its battle with newer rivals such as Snapchat for users in the fast-moving messaging and media-sharing market.

At the same time, it should attract more advertising revenue for Instagram, which said in June it would open its platform to all advertisers by the end of the year, rather than just to select brands.

Instagram is expected to generate nearly $600 million in advertising revenue by the end of this year and $2.8 billion in 2017, according to projections from research firm eMarketer.

By comparison Facebook, the world’s most popular online social network, generated more than $12 billion in revenue in 2014. The growing service hit one billion users in a single day for the first time on Monday.

To promote the new formats on Thursday, Walt Disney Co released exclusive footage of its upcoming film, “Star Wars, The Force Awakens,” using the new landscape option.

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