Recent arrests may help NIA crack other bomb blast cases

[email protected] (The Hindu)
December 27, 2012

malegaon

New Delhi, December 27: Three recent arrests by the National Investigation Agency may throw new light on the 2007 Samjhauta Express blasts, the May 2007 Mecca Masjid blast in Hyderabad and the Malegaon explosion in Maharashtra.

Rajendra Chaudhary alias Samandar, who was arrested last week from Ujjain district of Madhya Pradesh, had planted explosives aboard the Samjhauta Express. The train blast claimed 68 lives on February 18, 2007.

NIA sources said Chaudhary was also suspected to be behind the attack on Delhi University professor S.A.R. Geelani in February 2005 as well as involved in the killing of a witness in Madhya Pradesh in 2008.

Prof. Geelani, who was arrested and chargesheeted by the Delhi Police in the December 13, 2001 Parliament House terror attack case, was acquitted by the Delhi High Court in October 2003.

Investigators see Chaudhary’s hand also in the murderous attack on the former RSS pracharak, Sunil Joshi, who was eliminated in December 2007 allegedly to put the lid on a conspiracy by Hindu extremist groups.

The NIA arrested Tej Ram from Ujjain. He was suspected to have planted a bomb at the Mecca Masjid and carried out the explosion that killed nine people.

The third person, Dhan Singh, arrested from Chitrakoot on the Uttar Pradesh-Madhya Pradesh border, is suspected to have been involved in the second blast at Malegaon in 2008 as well as in the Samjhauta blast.

Chaudhary is believed to have told NIA investigators that he, along with Dhan Singh, Ramji Kalsangra and Amit alias Ashwini Chauhan, had planted bombs in Malegaon in 2006 in which 37 people were killed and more than 300 injured. Dhan Singh is also suspected to have planted the bomb in Malegaon in 2008 that killed seven people.

The Malegaon blasts in 2006, probed by Maharashtra’s Anti-Terrorism Squad, were blamed on nine Muslim men. The arrested men claimed that they had been framed. Most of them were freed on bail by court last year. Malegaon was chosen for bomb attacks twice as it has a sizable Muslim population.

In 2011, Swami Aseemanand admitted that radical Hindu and right-wing extremists were behind the 2006 blasts. He, however, retracted his confession.

The NIA is on the lookout for Ramji Kalsangra, Amit and Sandeep Dange, who was a close associate of the slain Sunil Joshi.

The investigators believe that the loosely-held module, comprising fringe elements of right-wing extremism, was also behind the blasts in Ajmer’s Dargah Sharif, the Mecca Masjid and the Samjhauta Express that provides a much sought-after rail link to Pakistan.

“Ramji Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange are two crucial missing links in these terror cases,” the investigators said. As the cases are more than five years old and were earlier probed by other agencies, including the Central Bureau of Investigation, gathering corroborative evidence to link and nail the arrested to the terror cases may prove an uphill task for the NIA.

“We hope to get some clarity in the ongoing probe in all these cases over the next 2-3 weeks,” NIA sources said on Wednesday.

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News Network
February 9,2020

New Delhi, Feb 9: Calling India a "long-standing friend", Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on Saturday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for visiting his country in the aftermath of last year's Easter Sunday terror attacks and outlined that New Delhi has always helped Colombo in its fight against terrorism.

In a joint press briefing with PM Modi, Mahinda Rajapaksa said he hopes that India will continue to help Sri Lanka fight terrorism.

Mahinda Rajapaksa expressed his gratitude to PM Modi for the neighbourhood first policy and the priority India gives to Sri Lanka.

"We had agreed that our cooperation is multifaceted and priority is given to a number of areas including security, economy, culture and social sectors. Part of our discussions centered on cooperation with regard to the security of the two countries. India has always assisted Sri Lanka to enhance our capacity, capabilities in intelligence and counter-terrorism. We look forward to getting continued support in this regard," he said.

"I thank the Prime Minister for visiting Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday terror attacks that provided us with immense strength to come to terms with the tragedy. We also appreciate Prime Minister Modi's $400 million line of credit to enhance the economy of Sri Lanka and another $50 million line of credit for fighting terrorism," he added.

The Sri Lankan president urged PM Modi to consider further assistance to expand housing projectS all over Sri Lanka to benefit people from rural areas.

"The Prime Minister and I discussed how Sri Lanka and India can work together in the field of economy. India is among the world's fastest growing economies. I discussed with PM Modi how Sri Lanka could benefit from certain economic sectors where India is in a strong position," he said.

Concluding his statement, Mahinda Rajapaksa said, "India is our closest neighbour and a long-standing friend. The close historical links...provided a solid foundation to our ties."

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Agencies
February 5,2020

New Delhi, Feb 5: Over five crore farmers were yet to get the third instalment of money under the Centre's ambitious PM-Kisan scheme, aimed at providing direct support of Rs 6,000 annually to them, according to the latest Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare data.

The total amount of the scheme, which came into effect on December 1, 2018, is to be paid in three equal instalments of Rs 2,000 every four months.

The data showed about 2.51 crore farmers have not got even the second instalment and 5.16 crore of them were yet to get the third instalment.

Over 9 crore farmers have registered themselves under the scheme between December 2018 and November 2019, it said.

Of these, 7.62 crore or 84 per cent of farmers have received the first instalment.

The money through the second instalment was given to nearly 6.5 crore farmers and the amount under the third instalment was given to 3.85 crore beneficiaries, according to the data received in response to an RTI query filed by this PTI journalist.

The agriculture ministry, in its response, gave three sets of data mentioning the benefits given to farmers under the scheme between December 2018 and November 2019.

It said 4.74 crore farmers were registered between December 2018 and March 2019.

Of them, 4.22 crore received the first instalment, 4.02 crore the second and 3.85 crore the third.

There was no mention why nearly 50 lakh, 70 lakh and 90 lakh registered farmers during this period did not get the first, second and third instalment respectively.

There was no registered beneficiary in West Bengal and Sikkim, hence no amount was disbursed during this period, according to the data.

Giving details of the 3.08 crore farmers registered between April and July last year, it said 2.66 crore and 2.47 crore beneficiaries have got their first and second instalments respectively.

The RTI reply did no mention why around 40 lakh and 61 lakh registered farmers during this period did not get their first and second instalment respectively.

"The beneficiaries are eligible for the instalment for the period in which he/she gets registered and subsequent periods, thereafter. Therefore, the third instalment is not due for the beneficiaries registered in the period April 2019-July 2019," the ministry said.

There was no registered beneficiary during this period in West Bengal, Punjab and Chandigarh and therefore nobody was paid first and second instalments.

The ministry said around 1.19 crore beneficiaries were registered between August and November 30, 2019, of these nearly 73.66 lakh farmers have been given the first instalment.

There was no mention of payment of first instalment to over 45 lakh eligible beneficiaries during the period.

"The beneficiaries are eligible for the instalment for the period in which he/she gets registered and subsequent periods, thereafter. Therefore, the second and third instalments are not due for the beneficiaries registered in the period August 2019 to November 2019," it said.

The ministry was asked to provide the total number of farmers, state-wise, and the amount received by them under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi or PM-Kisan scheme.

"PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme has been implemented from December 1, 2018. It is stated that PM-Kisan is a continuous and ongoing scheme, in which the financial benefits are transferred to the bank accounts of the identified beneficiaries as and when their correct and verified data is uploaded by the concerned states/union territories on PM-Kisan web portal," the ministry said in the RTI response vide its letter dated December 26, 2019.

The data of beneficiaries so uploaded by them undergoes a multi-level verification, including by banks, and only then the amount is released to the beneficiary, it said, adding that www.pmkisan.gov.in website can be accessed to get more details on the operational guidelines of the scheme.

According to the data updated on the website on February 3, around 8.82 crore farmers have been registered and 8.41 crore have received the first installment, 7.56 crore the second instalment, 6.19 crore the third and 3.03 crore have received the fourth installment.

In Assam, out of 16.97 lakh farmers registered during this period, 14.02 lakh got the first instalment, 13.72 lakh received the second and 9.87 lakh the third.

Of the 42.34 lakh registered beneficiaries in Maharashtra, 36.98 lakh got the first instalment, 31.53 lakh the second and 27.67 lakh got the third instalment.

As many as 23.83 lakh farmers in Kerala received their first instalment, 18.79 lakh got the second and 18.43 lakh the third. A total of 26.13 lakh beneficiaries were registered in the state between December 2018 and March 2019.

There was no beneficiary registered during the period from West Bengal, which has refused to implement the scheme, according to the ministry's response.

In Uttar Pradesh, nearly 9.57 lakh out of 19.64 lakh farmers have got the first instalment. In Gujarat, nearly 1.22 lakh out of 1.98 lakh registered farmers got the first instalment.

Around 9.78 lakh farmers out of the 17.18 lakh registered beneficiaries have received the first instalment in Madhya Pradesh. In Odisha, only 5,507 farmers out of 5.6 lakh registered farmers have got the first instalment, the ministry said.

None of the 7,326 farmers registered in Sikkim was paid the first instalment, according to the ministry's reply. In Delhi, 1,447 farmers out of 1,734 have got the first instalment.

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Agencies
June 28,2020

New Delhi, Jun 28: With 19,906 new cases, highest single-day spike so far, India's COVID-19 count touched 5,28,859 including 2,03,051 active cases, 3,09,713 cured/discharged/migrated, according to the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.

410 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours and the cumulative toll reached 16,095 deaths.

Coronavirus cases in Maharashtra have climbed to 1,59,133 while Delhi's tally stands at 80,188.

2,31,095 samples were tested yesterday and the total number of samples tested up to 27 June is 82,27,802, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

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