Israeli embassy car blast: I was framed in the case, says Kazmi

October 22, 2012

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New Delhi, October 22: Journalist Syed Mohammad Ahmed Kazmi, who was released on bail after seven months in the Israeli diplomat car attack case on Friday, has claimed that he was framed because he use to regularly make phone calls on Iranian numbers for official purposes. "I was picked up because I use to call Iran every day for journalistic purposes. They needed a scapegoat living in the Lodhi Road area," he said.

Kazmi said that he is sure that the case will not result in conviction and that the "truth will prevail". "Generally bail is given when the court is satisfied that the case will not result in conviction. I am innocent and I will love to hear at the end of the case that I'm free from all charges," said the journalist. "I have definitely been framed. I have been in journalism for the last 30 years. I started with an Iranian news agency in 1983 and therefore it was natural for me to travel to Iran. All allegations are false. They tried to frame me because of outside powers," he added.

He, however, refused to comment on whether he knows Houshang Afshar Irani and Sedaghatzadeh Masoud - the two prime accused in the case. Irani was identified as the man who attached a magnetic charge to the car of the wife of the Israeli diplomat in Delhi and Masoud is believed to be the overall co-ordinator of the international operation. Kazmi alleged that all media reports in the case have been one-sided and now that he is free he is sure that the truth will prevail. "I'm ready for a long fight. I'm not going anywhere. I will fight till truth comes out," he said.

The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to Kazmi, who had been behind bars since March 6 in the Israeli diplomat car attack case. "We direct that the appellant (Kazmi) be released on bail to the satisfaction of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, upon such conditions as may be deemed fit and proper, including surrender of passport, reporting to the local police station, and not leaving the city limits where he would be residing without the leave of the Court, so as to ensure his presence at the time of the trial," a bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir said.

Kazmi, who claims to have been writing for an Iranian agency, was picked up after a probe showed that he had been in touch with the suspect who is believed to have stuck the magnetic bomb on Israeli diplomat Tal Yehoshua's car on February 13, according to the police. He is alleged to have helped the suspect in conducting the recce of the Israeli Embassy to keep a tab on arrival and departure of diplomats.

Israeli diplomat Tal Yehoshua Koren, 42, wife of Israeli Defence Attache Colonel Yossi Refaelov and an Indian driver of the embassy vehicle, were among four persons injured in the blast caused by the magnetic bomb. While allowing Kazmi's plea, the bench said, "We are unable to appreciate the procedure adopted by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, which has been endorsed by the High Court and we are of the view that Kazmi acquired the right for grant of statutory bail on July 17, 2012, when his custody was held to be illegal by the Additional Sessions Judge," the bench said.

Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Saturday questioned the bail granted to Kazmi saying that if he was given bail, why hadn't Sadhvi Pragya Thakur been granted bail yet. "Justice Kabir, CJI, said Kazmi, accused in the attack on an Israeli diplomat's wife in Delhi has statutory right to bail. He is released. What about Sadhvi Pragya? Is the Supreme Court setting another new precedent by granting bail to Kazmi against whom ample evidence of direct involvement in the plot is available?" said RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav Varanasi.

 


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News Network
February 29,2020

New Delhi, Feb 29: Amid the raging communal violence in the entire north-east Delhi earlier this week, there were people who were trying to save persons and families from the "other community" from the fury of the mobs of their own community.

Naeem Ali Pradhan, 34, from Shiv Vihar, helped at least 7-8 Hindus on the night of February 24 -- when the violence was at its peak-- escape to safer locations. Shiv Vihar is one of the worst affected areas in the violence.

According to Naeem Ali, that night mobs attacked dozens of shops on the road and later tried to enter inside the residential areas.

Suddenly, he spotted a group of youth who were looking hassled and frantically asking for directions.

"I saw them. Thye were Hindus who were trying to escape a mob looking to target them. They had lost their way inside the streets of our colony. I along with other Muslim men escorted them to the nearby Hindu locality," Naeem, who is also a member of the Aman Committee constituted by the Delhi police, told ANI.

"Several shops which were on the roads including some showrooms were attacked by a group. These Hindus were worried as a mob which was on the main road was attacking people. They asked me the address of a colony as they were unable to find their way," Naeem said.

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News Network
March 26,2020

Srinagar, Mar 25: A 65-year-old man hailing from Hyderpora area of the city died on Thursday, becoming the first fatality in Jammu and Kashmir due to coronavirus.
"As we share the sad news of our first #Covid19 fatality, my heart goes out to the family of the deceased. We stand with you and share your grief," Mayor of Srinagar Junaid Azim Mattu tweeted.
Government spokesperson Rohit Kansal also confirmed the death via Twitter.
"First death due to Coronavirus- 65 years old Male from Hyderpora Srinagar. Four of his contacts also tested positive yesterday," Kansal said.
Four people had tested positive for coronavirus in J-K on Wednesday, taking the total number of cases to 11.
Authorities in Kashmir have expressed apprehensions that the cases could be more than reported in the Valley as a significant number of people appeared to have concealed their travel history.
As per a government bulletin on Wednesday in Jammu and Kashmir, as many as 5,124 travellers and people who came in contact with suspected and positive cases have been put under surveillance.

Among them 3,061 are in home quarantine (including facilities operated by the government), 80 in hospital quarantine and 1,477 in home surveillance.
Restrictions on movement imposed in Kashmir to prevent the spread of coronavirus were tightened on Wednesday.

 

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News Network
February 13,2020

Guwahati, Feb 13: Hours after Assam's updated citizenship data disappeared from the website 'nrcassam.nic.in', an FIR was filed against a former NRC official for allegedly failing to submit the password to the sensitive document before quitting her job.

Talking to news agency on Thursday, NRC state coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma said the complaint against former NRC project officer was filed under Official Secrets Act in Paltan Bazar police station here, as she "did not provide the password to the document, despite written reminders".

"She failed to surrender the password even after tendering her resignation on November 11 last year. She was a contractual employee and no longer authorised to hold the password, after quitting her job. An FIR has been filed against the former NRC project officer on Wednesday for violating the Official Secrets Act," he said.

Sarma also stated that the NRC office had written to her on several occasions for submitting the password, but did not get any response.

"We knew (she had resigned) and, therefore, sent several letters to her for handing over the password. But as she did not respond all these months, we filed a complaint against her yesterday for violating the Official Secrets Act.

"We must know if she has tampered with the sensitive information, after resigning," he added. The NRC state coordinator, however, refuted allegations of "malafide intent" involved in the matter.

"...this (cloud service provided by IT major Wipro) was not renewed by the earlier coordinator. So, the data went offline from December 15 last year. I assumed charge only on December 24," Sarma, who had gone on leave for a weeks after being appointed as the NRC state coordinator, clarified.

He also said that the state coordination committee had discussed the issue in its meeting on January 30 and wrote to Wipro during the first week of February.

"Once Wipro makes the data live, it will be available to the public. We hope that people will be able to access it in the next 2-3 days," Sarma claimed.

Reacting to the development, Wipro had said: "The IT Services Contract was not renewed by the authorities upon its expiry in October, 2019. However, as a gesture of goodwill, the company continued to pay the hosting service fee until January-end, 2020."

In another FIR filed with state criminal investigation department on Wednesday, NGO Assam Public Works (APW) alleged that former NRC Assam coordinator Prateek Hajela tampered with the final NRC list - published on August 31, 2019.

APW member Rajib Deka, in his complaint, accused Hajela of disobeying orders and directions of the Supreme Court, forgery of public register and committed offences under cyber laws for altering or changing public records by misusing his powers and position.

The NGO also said that after publication of the final list, several social networks and sections of the media had reported anomalies, insisting that many 'doubtful' persons were able to insert their names in the final list.

The Centre on Wednesday asserted that NRC data in Assam was safe even though some technical issues have been detected, which would be resolved soon.

Senior journalist-cum-RTI activist Saket Gokhale had sent an application to the NIC, the IT wing of the government, seeking a copy of the contract with Wipro.

"The Assam NRC data suddenly vanishing from the website (& the lack of data security) is incredibly shady. I've filed an RTI with the NIC specifically asking about details of the contract with Wipro, name of the cloud service provider, & all contracts signed for hosting this," he tweeted, while attaching a copy of the RTI application.

Leader of the Opposition in Assam Assembly and Congress leader Debabrata Saikia has also written to the Registrar General of India, requesting him to look into the fiasco urgently.

"It is a mystery as to why the online data should vanish all of a sudden, especially as the process to file appeals was yet to begin, all because of the go-slow attitude adopted by the NRC Authority. There is, therefore, ample scope to suspect that disappearance of online data is a malafide act," he had insisted.

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