It's SURJEET being released not SARABJIT, clarifies Pak

June 27, 2012

surjeet


Islamabad, June 27: Hours after reports emerged that Pakistan was to free Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh, the presidential spokesman tonight clarified that authorities had taken steps for the release of another Indian prisoner named Surjeet Singh who has been jailed for three decades.

"I think there is some confusion. First, it is not a case of pardon. More importantly, it is not Sarabjit. It is Surjeet Singh, son of Sucha Singh. His death sentence was commuted in 1989 by President (Ghulam) Ishaq (Khan) on the advice of (then premier) Benazir Bhutto," presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar told PTI.

Law Minister Farooq Naek today conveyed to the Interior Ministry that Surjeet Singh had completed his life term in jail and ought to be released and sent back to India, Babar said.

"Keeping him in jail any longer will be illegal confinement," he added.Any references to President Asif Ali Zardari in the entire matter were "out of context", the presidential spokesman said.

Surjeet Singh, currently being held in Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore, has been in Pakistani captivity for over 30 years.

He was captured near the border with India on charges of spying during the era of military ruler Zia-ul-Haq.

Earlier in the day, Pakistani news channels had reported that President Zardari had converted Sarabjit Singh's death sentence to life imprisonment and directed authorities to release him if he had completed his prison term.

Official sources too had said that steps had been initiated for Sarabjit's release.In New Delhi, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna had thanked Zardari for the steps purportedly taken for Sarabjit's release.

Sarabjit, 49, too is currently being held at Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore and has been on death row for over 20 years.

Sarabjit was convicted and sentenced to death for alleged involvement in a string of bombings in Punjab in 1990 that killed 14 people.

He had sent a fresh clemency appeal to President Zardari last month.Though Sarabjit was set to be hanged in 2008, Pakistani authorities put off his execution indefinitely after former premier Yousuf Raza Gilani intervened.

His family has said he wandered across the border in an inebriated condition and was arrested by Pakistani authorities.

A little over a month ago, ailing Pakistani virologist Khalil Chishti, detained in Rajasthan for nearly two decades on the charge of involvement in a murder, was freed on the orders of India's Supreme Court so that he could meet his family in Karachi.

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News Network
May 3,2020

New Delhi, May 3: Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Sunday said that India's COVID-19 mortality rate of 3.2 per cent is the lowest in the world and over 10,000 coronavirus patients have been discharged from hospitals after recovering from the disease so far.

"Today more than 10,000 COVID-19 patients have been discharged. Those still admitted at hospitals are on the road to recovery. If in last 14 days doubling rate was 10.5 days, then today it is around 12 days," the Minister told ANI after visiting Lady Hardinge Hospital.

"Our mortality rate of 3.2 per cent is the lowest in the world," he said.

With 2,644 more COVID-19 cases and 83 deaths in the last 24 hours, the number of people infected from coronavirus in the country has reached 39,980 including 1,301 deaths, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday.

Currently, there are 28,046 active cases while 10,633 COVID-19 positive patients have been cured/discharged.

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News Network
June 30,2020

New Delhi, Jun 30: With a spike of 18,522 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, India's coronavirus count now stand at 5,66,840, said the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry on Tuesday.

According to the Ministry, 418 deaths due to COVID-19 were reported in the last 24 hours. The number of deaths in the country now stands at 16,893.

There are 2,15,125 active coronavirus cases in the country while the number of cured/discharged patients stands at 3,34,821 and one patient migrated.

As per the Ministry, Maharashtra is the worst-hit state with regard to the COVID-19 cases and has reported 1,69,883 cases, including 73, 313 active cases 88,960 cured/discharged patients and 7,610 fatalities.

Tamil Nadu has a total of 86,224 cases including 1,141 deaths. Delhi's COVID-19 count stands at 85,161 cases and 2,680 fatalities.

The total number of samples tested up to 29 June is 86,08,654 of which 2,10,292 samples were tested yesterday, informed the Indian Council of Medical Research.

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Agencies
July 23,2020

Jaipur, Jul 23: Four days after the Special Operation Group (SOG) sent a notice to Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in connection with the purported audio clips indicating his alleged involvement in horse trading of MLAs in Rajasthan, a city court has directed the Rajasthan police to probe a complaint alleging Shekhawat's role in a credit society scam worth Rs 840 crore.

The additional district judge Pawan Kumar, on Tuesday, directed the additional chief judicial magistrate's court to send the complaint against Shekhawat to the SOG.

Shekhawat, his wife and other partners have been named in the complaint in the Sanjivani Credit Cooperative Society scam in which around 50,000 investors allegedly lost about Rs 840 crore.

The Jaipur unit of the SOG has been probing the scam since last year after an FIR was registered on August 23, 2019.

Now, Jaipur ADJ Court-8 ordered a fresh inquiry in the case against Gajendra Singh accepting the revised application filed by Lagu Singh and Guman Singh and said that "this is a serious matter and hence SOG should investigate this".

Both the applicants had invested a huge amount in Sanjivani credit cooperative society.

It is alleged in the complaint that a multi-storey building has been built with the money instead of a theatre which was proposed earlier and many properties were also bought in Ethiopia with the money.

An SOG investigation also reveals that a large amount of money has been deposited into accounts of Shekhawat and his wife at different time spans, said sources.

Earlier, Shekhawat was not mentioned in the chargesheet filed by the SOG in connection with the case. Later, a magistrate's court also rejected the application to include him in the chargesheet. The applicants then approached the additional district judge's court with a revised application.

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