Relief for Chidambaram, Supreme Court says no evidence against him in 2G case

August 24, 2012

CHIDAMMBARAM

New Delhi, August 24: The Supreme Court has dismissed two petitions against P Chidambaram asking for him to be investigated by the CBI in the telecom scam and to be made co-accused along with former Telecom Minister A Raja.
The verdict offers significant relief for the Finance Minister, whose resignation has been demanded by the main opposition party, the BJP, in the 2G scam, described as India's biggest swindle. "The BJP has wasted the court's time," said senior minister Ambika Soni. She said that the opposition has been dealt "blow after blow" in its attempts to indict Mr Chidambaram.
The cases against Mr Chidambaram had been filed by Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy and lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan; they wanted the minister's role in the telecom scam to be studied by the CBI, and for him to be prosecuted. The CBI has repeatedly said there is no evidence to merit an inquiry against the minister in the allocation of mobile network licenses and spectrum in 2008, when A Raja was Telecom Minister. The Supreme Court has said that it has been given no evidence that there was a criminal conspiracy between Mr Chidambaram and Mr Raja, or that the Finance Minister abused his office. "Poor management in allocation of spectrum cannot be said to be the product of criminal conspiracy," the judges said.
They also said that there was no evidence that Mr Chidambaram benefitted financially from any aspect of the scam.

Mr Swamy has said he will seek a review of today's judgement. "I will get the judgement copy and seek a review. This judgement is based on something I did not argue. It says I haven't given evidence of conspiracy, but I have only argued that Chidambaram caused loss to the exchequer," he said.

In 2008, Mr Chidambaram was Finance Minister when then Telecom Minister A Raja allegedly broke the rules to help companies who were ineligible land valuable mobile network licenses at throwaway prices. They were not charged separately for the second-generation or 2G airwaves they would use. Mr Raja ignored advice to conduct an auction for the licenses; he said he would follow a first-come-first-serve policy, but was later jailed for allegedly pushing companies to the head of the line in return for kickbacks. Mr Raja has said in his trial that he kept Mr Chidambaram and the PM informed of all his decisions.

The national auditor has said the telecom scam was worth Rs. 1.76 lakh crore, giving it star billing on a list of scandals that have engulfed the ruling UPA coalition. In February, the Supreme Court cancelled 122 of the licenses given by Mr Raja.

That has allowed the BJP to accuse Mr Chidambaram of dereliction of duty, and the Prime Minister of being permissive of corruption within his cabinet. In the Winter Session of Parliament, the BJP announced a "boycott" of Mr Chidambaram, preventing him from speaking in the House by drowning him out with shouts.

Earlier this week, the BJP walked out of a parliamentary committee studying the telecom scam; its members said that the PM and Mr Chidambaram must be summoned and questioned by the panel. Without their deposition, the BJP said, the committee's attempts to fix accountability for the scam amounted to a charade.

In February this year, a CBI court in Delhi rejected Mr Swamy's request to try Mr Chidambaram for his alleged role in the telecom scam. Mr Swamy then challenged the verdict in the Supreme Court. In his appeal, he said that Mr Chidambaram was as culpable as Mr Raja for the losses caused by the 2G swindle because he was involved in deciding the price of spectrum, and in permitting two companies who received licenses to dilute equity by bringing foreign partners on board, making huge profits virtually overnight.

Mr Swamy said that there was evidence to show that as Finance Minister, Mr Chidambaram's actions merited his prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act and other criminal laws.

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Agencies
January 16,2020

New Delhi, Jan 16: The Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government on Thursday rejected the mercy plea of Mukesh, one of the convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya case.

The mercy plea was then forwarded to Lieutenant Governor, who has now sent it to Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

The convicts were sentenced to death for raping a 23-year-old woman in a moving bus in the national capital on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012.

The victim, who was later given the name Nirbhaya, had succumbed to injuries at a hospital in Singapore where she had been airlifted for medical treatment.

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News Network
January 1,2020

Jammu, Jan 1: As many as 160 terrorists were killed in Jammu and Kashmir this year, while 250 terrorists, including 102 of Pakistani origin, were active in the Valley, Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbag Singh said on Tuesday, noting that terror incidents and the number of local youths turning towards terrorism have decreased.

"250 terrorists have been active in Jammu and Kashmir. There is a decrease in number of active terrorists as compared to last year," Mr Singh said at the annual press conference at police headquarters in Jammu.

The DGP said that there is 30 per cent fall in terrorist incidents, less civilian killings and 36 per cent decrease in law and order incidents as compared to 2018.

"218 such (local) youths joined militant outfits in 2018 but only 139 joined in 2019," he said. Out of these new recruits only 89 have survived.

"The rest have been eliminated as their shelf life is between 24 hours to 2-3 months after joining militancy. There are hardly few old terrorists surviving, which include Jehangir Saroori and Riyaz Nayikoo", he said.

There have been only 481 law and order incidents this year as compared to 625 last year, he said.

There were 80 per cent successful anti-terror operations in which 160 terrorists, including foreigners, have been killed during the year.

Mr Singh said 102 terrorists have been arrested and 10 terrorists surrendered during the year.

He said that 102 Pakistan origin terrorists are still operating in Kashmir.

"Eleven valiant police personnel from Jammu and Kashmir besides 72 from other other security forces have been martyred," he said.

There was no collateral damage during anti-terror operation as people fully cooperated. "There was zero law and order problem this year (during anti terror operations)," he added.

The DGP said that "there has been a high degree of incidents of infiltration attempts from across the border this year and also ceasefire violations. But security forces have successfully foiled these attempted as 130 infiltrators have entered in 2019 as compared to 143 last year".

He said Jammu and Kashmir Police has set an example by handling the law and order situation in the most "exemplary" way following the abrogation of Article 370 provisions.

It was the biggest challenge faced by the force in 2019, but "we handled the most critical phase in the best way" and there was no civilian casualty during the period, he said.

Dismissing claims of minors being arrested by police in Kashmir, he said that it is being used as propaganda by some people and asserted that the J-K police has acted within the limits of law.

"We are open to scrutiny. The issue reached the Supreme Court which referred it to Jammu and Kashmir high court. The matter was inquired by the HC committee. The SC said that there is no misuse of law by law enforcement agency. J-K police has acted within the limits of law," he said.

Replying to queries on restoration of internet, the DGP said it is under consideration. "I think J-K is moving towards such a situation (on law and order front). Very soon you will hear positive announcement," Mr Singh said.

He said that though some people will try to misuse internet, "in the past, we took care of them and we will take care of such people in the future too".

Internet services in all government-run hospitals and SMS to all mobile phones will be restored from December 31 midnight in the Kashmir Valley, Jammu and Kashmir official spokesman Rohit Kansal said on Tuesday.

On December 10, some short message service (SMS) were enabled on mobile phones in order to facilitate students, scholarship applicants, traders and others. It has now been decided to fully restore the service throughout Kashmir from midnight of December 31, Kansal said.

Mobile Internet services were restored in Kargil district of Ladakh on Friday after remaining suspended for 145 days in the wake of the Centre abrogating provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution, officials said.

Internet services were suspended on August 4, a day before the Centre announced abrogation of Article 370 and division of the state into the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

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News Network
June 20,2020

Jun 20: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remark that neither is anyone inside India's territory nor has any of its posts been captured, alleging that the PM has "surrendered" Indian territory to Chinese aggression.

In a statement on the all-party meeting called by Modi on Friday to discuss the situation at the India-China border, the government said, "At the outset, prime minister clarified that neither is anyone inside our territory nor is any of our post captured."

Tagging PM's remarks with his tweet, Gandhi said, "PM has surrendered Indian territory to Chinese aggression."

"If the land was Chinese: 1. Why were our soldiers killed? 2. Where were they killed?" Gandhi said.

The categorical statement by the prime minister came in the wake of reports that Chinese military has transgressed into the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control, the de-facto border, in several areas of eastern Ladakh including Pangong Tso and Galwan Valley.

Soon after Gandhi's tweet, Union Home Minister Amit Shah posted video of father of a soldier, who was injured in Galwan face-off, and hit out at the Congress leader, accusing him of indulging in "petty politics".

"A brave armyman’s father speaks and he has a very clear message for Mr. Rahul Gandhi. At a time when the entire nation is united, Mr. Rahul Gandhi should also rise above petty politics and stand in solidarity with national interest," Shah wrote.

The prime minister's assertion came even as Congress president Sonia Gandhi, at the all-party meet, questioned the government's handling of the situation, asking if there was any intelligence failure, and seeking assurance that China will "revert" to its original position.

Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused senior ministers in the government of "lying" to protect the prime minister and that the Centre was "fast asleep" while martyred jawans paid the price in Ladakh.

The former Congress chief also tagged a one-minute video of a jawan's father saying the Indian soldiers were unarmed when they were attacked by Chinese troops.

He has been questioning the government on the LAC standoff and asking how the Chinese occupied Indian territory and why Indian soldiers were sent "unarmed to martyrdom" in Ladakh.

Twenty Indian Army personnel, including a colonel, were killed in a clash with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh on Monday night, the biggest military confrontation in over five decades that has significantly escalated the already volatile border standoff in the region.

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