Sarabjit files fresh clemency appeal

May 29, 2012

sarabjit


Islamabad, May 29: Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh, convicted for alleged involvement in bomb attacks in 1990 in Pakistan, has sent a fresh clemency appeal to President Asif Ali Zardari, a media report said today.

This is the fifth mercy petition from Sarabjit, who was sentenced to death for alleged involvement in a string of bombings in Punjab in 1990 that killed 14 people.

The 49-year-old Indian is currently being held at Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore and has been on death row for over 20 years. Sarabjit's fresh petition, which includes a document with the signatures of 100,000 Indians, urges Zardari to reciprocate the recent release of Pakistani virologist Khalil Chishti by India, The Express Tribune reported.

Chishti, who was convicted of involvement in the murder of a man in Ajmer in 1992, was recently freed on bail by India's Supreme Court. The court subsequently allowed him to visit Pakistan to meet his family.

Attached to Sarabjit's mercy petition are two letters addressed to Zardari by Delhi's Jama Masjid Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari and Syed Muhammad Yamin Hashmi, the caretaker of the shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti.

Sarabjit's counsel Owais Sheikh said his client wrote a two-page letter to be sent to the President. "I've forwarded both the petition and the letter to President Zardari," Sheikh said.The petition states Chishti's release by India has rekindled hopes for Sarabjit. "This has given my client a new hope for freedom," said Sheikh.

Sarabjit has maintained that his was a case of mistaken identity, since even the FIR was not registered in his name. "I have spent 22 years in prison for a crime I have not committed," he wrote in the petition.

The FIR had nominated Manjeet Singh for carrying out four bomb blasts in different cities of Punjab, according to the petition.

Sarabjit's lawyer said he had documentary proof that his client was in India at the time of bombings.

"Manjeet Singh was indeed a terrorist but the authorities have mistaken Sarabjit for Manjeet," Sheikh said.

In his letter to the President, Maulana Bukhari of the Jama Masjid pointed out that Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur had met him personally and provided "vital evidence" which proved Sarabjit's innocence.

"Singh should be freed on humanitarian grounds, which will not only help in promoting goodwill between the two neighbours but will also result in promoting communal harmony among Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims of India," Bukhari wrote.

Sarabjit, imprisoned since 1990, was given the death sentence under Pakistan’s Army Act for alleged involvement in the bomb blasts.

A mercy petition sent by him to the army chief rejected with a direction that it should be forwarded to the President. Though Sarabjit was set to be hanged in 2008, Pakistani authorities put off his execution indefinitely after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani intervened.

His family has said he wandered across the border in an inebriated condition and that he was arrested by Pakistani authorities after being mistaken for Manjeet Singh.

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April 16,2020

New Delhi, Apr 16: South Delhi District Magistrate Brij Mohan Mishra on Thursday said that the administration is investigating how the pizza delivery boy contracted the coronavirus.

"In the last 15 days, we discovered houses he had delivered food. We contacted people living in 72 houses and they have been asked to stay in-home quarantine. No symptoms have been seen in people related to him. 

Testing of his roommate has been done and his reports are awaited. The rest of the people don't have any symptoms, they have been placed under institutional quarantine. Those in-home quarantines are also asymptomatic," Mishra said.

"Unless a positive case comes, we feel that transmission has not taken place. The boy told us that he was continuously wearing a mask while delivering the food. We are also finding out how he got infected. We are getting the information about the places he visited for delivery. He was tested on the basis of the doctor's advice. Later, he tested positive," he said.

72 families have to stay in home quarantine in the Malviya Nagar area after the delivery boy tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain said that 17 other delivery boys linked with the infected person have also been placed under institutional quarantine.

"A pizza delivery boy has been detected with COVID-19 here. 17 other delivery boys linked with him have been placed under institutional quarantine and 72 people have been placed under home quarantine," Jain said.

Food delivery app Zomato said that the staff of the infected person's restaurant has delivered some orders which were placed on its platform.

"We've been made aware today that a restaurant's employee, who has been recently tested positive for COVID-19, had delivered food in the past to a few customers in the Malviya Nagar area in Delhi. All these customers have already been contacted by the govt authorities... We are not sure whether the rider was infected at the time of delivery," the company said in a statement.

Zomato also claimed that colleagues of the delivery boy have tested negative for COVID-19.
"This restaurant had instructed their riders to wear masks and follow strict hygiene to keep customers safe from any unintended mishap.

All co-workers of the said rider have been tested negative. And as a precaution, the restaurant where this rider worked has suspended operations," read the statement.

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News Network
March 9,2020

New Delhi, Mar 9: The Delhi Police Special Cell on Monday arrested a PFI member Danish from UP''s Moradabad for allegedly spreading fake propaganda during anti- CAA protests.

"Danish was the head of the Counter Intelligence Wing of PFI and has been actively participating in the anti-CAA protest across the city," sources in the Delhi Police Special Cell said.

Sources further claimed that his arrest has given clues regarding the Information war by the Popular Front of India (PFI).

The FIR related to the protest was filed by the Crime Branch but since the larger conspiracy regarding the Delhi riots is being probed by the Cell, the matter has been transferred to them.

Delhi Police Special Cell had on Sunday arrested a Kashmiri couple from Okhla for alleged links with Islamic State (IS) Khorasan module.

The couple have been identified as Jahanjeb Sami (husband) and Hinda Bashir Beg (wife). The police have seized some objectionable material from them and were interrogating them.

When asked about the couple, the sources said, "Officers of CERT-In are analysing the Eight Mobile phones and Laptop of the couple to question them further."

The couple being an active member of ISJ&K was operating from the Valley but later shifted their base to Delhi post internet clampdown.

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Agencies
June 10,2020

New Delhi, Jun 10: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday brought back over 2,300 kg of polished diamonds and pearls worth Rs 1,350 crore of firms belonging to Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi from Hong Kong, officials said.

Out of the 108 consignments that landed at Mumbai, 32 belong to overseas entities "controlled" by Modi while the rest are of Mehul Choksi firms.

Both the businessmen are being probed by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with an over USD 2 billion alleged bank fraud at a PNB branch in Mumbai.

The valuables include polished diamonds, pearls and silver jewellery, and is worth Rs 1,350 crore. 

The ED completed "all legal formalities" with authorities in Hong Kong to bring back these valuables, the agency said.

These will formally seized under the PMLA now, it said.

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