Punjab farmer committs suicide on bank premises after being denied Rs. 50 crore loan

On Monday while failing to get a loan of Rs. 50 crore from a bank, an indebted farmer committed suicide by consuming poison in the bank premises.

Vinod Kumar Yadav, a resident of Ramsara village in Abohar sub-division of Fazilka district, in his three page suicide note, written in Panjabi, held Bank Manager, Ravinder Pal Singh and field officer Neeraj Kumar Aneja of Punjab Agriculture Development Bank, responsible for his death. He accused them of not sanctioning  him a loan of Rs. 50 crore as promised to him earlier.

The suicide note claims that the bank officials had assured him an agricultural loan of Rs. 50 crore to purcahse some agriculture land. The victim was later on asked to deposit a certain percentage of the loan amount, which he had arranged by selling his agriculture land and later on by taking loan from private lenders.

According to the suicide note, the bank officials had agreed to sanction hima loan of Rs. 30 crore from NABARD, Chandigarh and Rs. 20 crore from the local branch of the bank. Yadav also alleged that the bank officials had also taken some amount as their commission from him. But later the officials started started taking extreme steps.

The note has the detail of the amount Yadav took as loan from his relatives and friends. His brother Vijay Pal Yadav claimed that apart from taking loans from his friends and relatives, the victim had recently sold his agricultural land for Rs. 75 lakh and deposited the amount in the bank to avail the loan.

A case under Section 306 of IPC has been registered against Ravinder Pal Singh and Neeraj Kumar. The officials rebutted the allegations of having taken any bribe money from the victim.

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Pak's alleged IM operative held in Bihar

Police said that an alleged Pakistani operative of terror outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM) has been arrested from a village in Bihar's Purnia district. Purnia Superintendent of police Amit Lodha told the reporters that acting on a clue from the Intelliegence Bureau (IB), a special branch team of Delhi police, raided Khatahaat village under Jalalgarh police station yesterday and nabbed the Pakistani IM operative identified as Aftab alias Farooq alias Roshan.

He said that Arif had entered Araria district in Bihar from Nepal a few months ago and visited Purnia district from where he was arrested.

Lodha said that the IM operative was taken away by Delhi police team to Delhi for interrogation but refused to provide details of alleged subversive activities of the operative.

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Sarpanch who slapped woman teacher arrested, released on bail

The Akali Dal sarpanch, Balwinder Singh who brutually slapped a woman teacher at a public function in in Punjab yesterday, was arrested this evening under the provisions of Section 323 (slapping) and Section 341 (wrongful restraint) of Indian Penal Code.

Mr. Singh, was however granted bail within hours of his arrest after a bond of Rs.50,000 was deposited.

The FIR was filed against him yesterday after protests by teachers and other political parties. The Punjab government also ordered a probe into the matter.

The woman teacher, Barinder Pal Kaur, wanted to submit  memo demanding permanent jobs to Harsimrat Kaur Badal, an MP and daughter-in-law of Punjab's Chief Minister. Balwinder Singh, the sarpanch of Daula, was among those trying to force a group of teachers to leave the function.

Barinder said that, all of a sudden, Balwinder hit her and that there was no provocation.

She told the reporters that the sarpanch still hasn't committed anymistake and has not apologised so far.

Mrs. Badal said that Harsimrat Kaur promised to take action against the sarpanch.

Reported by

    AR

Mining Scam: Reddy's bail hearing adjourned

Andhra Pradesh High Court today adjourned till December 12 hearing on the bail application moved by the former Karnataka minister Janardhan Reddy, theprime accused in the Obulapuram illegal mining case.

The application was heard by Justice NRL Nageshwar Rao. The counsel for CBI, which probed the case, sought time for filing its reply to the plea.

Janardhan Reddy pleaded before the court that the investigation in the case is over and he is entitled for bail.

On December 3,  CBI filed a chargesheet in a local court against Janardhan Reddy and four others in the illegal mining case involving Obulapuram Mining Company.

Besides Janardhan Reddy, who owns OMC, other accused in the case include his brother-in-law and OMC Managing Director B.V Srinivas Reddy and former A.P Director of mines and geology V.D. Rajagopal.

The Reddy's who were arrested in September, are currently in judicial custody. The case was filed by the CBI in 2009.

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Supreme Court upholds life term for kidnappers

The Supreme Court on Monday called for deterrent punishment of life imprisonment  in cases relating to kidnapping for ransom, particularly in cases involving children.

A bench of justices comprising of P. Sathasivam and  J. Chelameshwar said that it is relevant to point out that the punishment in Section 364 A of IPC (kidnapping for ransom) had been introduced by virue of an amendment in 1993. It is clear from the statement of objects and reasons the concern of Parliament in dealing with the cases realting to kidnapping for ransom, a crime which called for a deterrent punishment, irrespective of th fact that kidnapping has not resulted in death of the victim.

Writing the judgment, Justice Sathasivam pointed out that considering the alarming rise in the kidnapping  of children for ransom, the legislature in its wisdom provided for stringent sentence. The Bench said that, they are of the view that in those cases whoever kidnaps or abducts young children for ransom, should not be given any leniency while awarding sentence, on the other hand, it must be dealt  with in the harshest possible manner and an obligation rests on the courts as well.

The prosecution case is related to kidnapping of a young boy named, Vicky Prasad Rajak, from his lawful guardian Mahendra Prasad Rajak, and then keeping him in detention. Thereafter, the appellant Akram Khan and six other accused persons started giving threat calls demanding Rs. 7 lakhs as ransom from the boy's guardian. This was later reduced to Rs. 3 lakhs. They said that if he failed to respond to the calls, the boy would be murdered.

The police in Kolkata raided and apprehended the accused and a fast track court, while acquitting the three accused, awarded life sentence to four of them, including the appellant. This was later on confirmed by the Calcutta High Court. The appellant filed the present appeal against this judgment.

The Bench said that it is a settled legal position that the punishment must fit the crime. It is the duty of the court to impose proper punishment depending upon the degree of criminality and desirability to impose such punishment. As a measure of social necessity and also as a means of deterring other potential offenders, the sentence should be appropriate befitting the crime.

While dismissing the appeal, the Bench said that they are satisfied that the High Court was right in maintaining the order of conviction and sentence of the appellant. They are satisfied that the impugned judgment of the High Court does not suffer from any infirmity to warrant interference.

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Parliamentary panel seeks more time to submit more report on Lokpal

Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee, Abhishek Manu Singhvi looking into the drafting of the anti-corruption Lokpal bill, has asked for one more weeks time  to submit its report in the Parliament.  The Parliamentary panel was supposed to submit its report  by December 7 in the House. This has arouse at the time when Anna Hazare and his team have decided to protest against the government for a strong Lokpal Bill.

Earlier on Friday, Anna Hazare had blamed the Central Government of prolonging the Parliament deadlock over the issue of foreign equity in retail as an excuse not to bring the Lokpal Bill.

A civil society member said that Team Anna will meet in the capital city for two days in the second week of December to plan strategy for the proposed protest demanding a strong Lokpal Bill.

Team Anna member Manish Sisodia said that after the one-day protest by Anna Hazare at Jantar Mantar on December 11, the team members are proposing to sit together and hold talks and thereafter to hold a core committee meeting on December 14 and 15 to plan and to decide the mode of protest which Anna Hazare is to conduct from December 27.

The activist has warned of a major agitation from December 27 to January 5 at Ramlila Maidan in Central Delhi, if changes were not made to the propsed anti-corruption bill.

Sisodia also expressed his displeasure over the lower bureaucracy being kept out of the ambit of Lokpal.

He added that the Parliamentary Standing Committee examining the Lokpal Bill  had decided to include the Group-C employees, the bottom layer of the government officials. But the panel on Thursday decided to  exclude them from the proposed purview of Lokpal Bill.

The Parliamentary panel studying the Lokpal Bill on Thursday favoured exclusion of Group-C employees, the bottom layer of government officials. This led to 10 members submitting a note of dissent on the draft report.

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NHRC defers hearing on Mullaperiyar issue till March

The National Human Rights Commission today deferred till March, the hearing on the matter of Mullaperiyar  Dam issue and said that it will wait until the Supreme Court appointed Committee's submit its report.

A senior NHRC official said that the decision was taken at a meeting of the full commission of the NHRC on the dam issue.  

The official added that, the Commission has decided to wait until the empowered committee submit its report on February 29.

The NHRC has last week decided to refer the case to the Full Commission following a representation by Kerala MP's.

The Mullaperiyar Dam in Kerala's Iddukki District has been a sparring point for the state with Tamil Nadu for quite some time. While Tamil Nadu wants to increase the water-level in the reservoir, Kerala has been insisting that it has been reduced from 136 feet to 120 feet.

Kerala is willing to construct a new dam for supplying water to Tamil Nadu, which is opposing the move concerned over losing control over the functionality of the dam.

Various groups in Kerala had been arguing that the dam cannot withstand higher magnitude earthquakes and posed a threat to lives and properties of over three million people in the states of Iddukki, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Alappuzha and Pathanamthitta districts of Kerala state.

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Legendary Hindi Actor Dev Anand passes away

Dev Anand, the Evergreen Romantic Superstar of Indian Cinema, has passed away on Saturday night in London following a cardiac arrest. He was of 88 years old.

Dev Anand, owing to continuous illness, went to London for medical check up. His son, Sunil was him when he took his last breath.

Dev Anand made his first debut as an actor in the movie Hum Ek Hain in the year 1946. By the time, his Ziddi was released in 1947, he had become a superstar and has never looked back in his acting career.

Versatile actor Dev Anand was given countless hits like Paying Guest, Baazi, Jewel Thief, CID, Johny Mera Naam, Amir Garib, Warrant, Hare Rama Hare Krishna and Dev Pardes.

For his outstanding performance in the Indian cinema, he was honoured with the prestigious 'Padma Bhushan' in 2001 and 'Dada Saheb Phalke Award' in 2002.

Later in the year 1949, he established his own Film Production company in the name 'Navketan International Films' and has produced more than 35 movies.

Dev Anand has won two filmfare in the year 1958 for the movie Kala Paani and 1966 for the movie Guide for his outstanding performance.

Guide went on to win Filmfare Awards in five other categories including Best Film and Best Director and was sent as India's entry for the Oscars in the foreign film category the same year.

He co-produced the English version of Guide movie named The Good Earth with Nobel Laureate Pearl S Buck.

In the year 1993, he received Filmfare 'Lifetime Achievement Award' and in the year 1996 he received a Screen Videocon 'Lifetime Acheievement Award'.

Of late, he was involved in the direction of a new all American Film Project Song Of Life – a musical love story which was to be shot in the United States.

He was to play the central character in the movie which was to have a predominantly American star cast.

Dev Anand is the second of three brothers who were active in Bollywood. His brothers are Chetan Anand and Vijay Anand. Their sister, Sheela Kanta Kapur, is the mother of film director Shekhar Kapur.

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Cops beat boy to death: UP pays Rs.5 lakh on NHRC's order

The Uttar Pradesh Government, on the orders of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), has paid Rs. 5 lakh to the family of a boy, Durgesh aged 12 years, who was beaten to death and later on hanged by a police sub-inspector and four cops.

The boy was picked up for an interrogation in a theft case in Data Ganj of Badayun District of the state. The U.P government had also informed the Commission that a criminal case had been registered and a charge-sheet was filed in the court against the police personnel and the annual increment for the sub-inspector had been withheld for a year.

The incident took place on January 20, 2008, and the Commission enquired into the matter following a complaint lodged by Human Rights Observer Editor R.H. Bansal.

Durgesh was not only badly beaten up and later on hanged by the cops, but also his house was ransacked by the police personnel, the complainant alleged.

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2G Case: Delhi High Court stays Chandolia's bail

The Delhi High Court on Friday stayed the grant of bail to former Telecom Minister A Raja's private secretary R.K. Chandolia, an accused in the 2G case.

Justice V.K Shali stayed the grant of bail after taking suo moto cognisance of media reports in that regard.

Chandolia, who was granted bail by a Special CBI Court, however, had walked out of the Tihar Jail yesterday evening.

Special CBI judge O P Saini had enlarged him on bail, saying that being the private secretary of Telecom Minister A Raja, Chandolia did not exercise any independent powers and there was no allegation that he himself had accepted any bribe.

He had said Chandolia's case cannot be equated with that of Raja and former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura, who are the only two accused in the case who are still behind the bars.

The court had also taken into account that 11 co-accused, including DMK MP Kanimozhi and Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Usman Balwa, had already been granted bail in the case.

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Bhanwari Case: Maderna arrested, CBI files charge sheet

Sacked Rajasthan water resources minister Mahipal Maderna was on Friday arrested by the CBI along with the brother of a ruling Congress MLA in Bhanwari Dev abduction case, hours after the agency filed a charge sheet against the other three accused. CBI sources said that Maderna, aged 59 years, who was sacked from Ashok Gehlot cabinet on October 16 after his name cropped up in the case, and Parasram Bishnoi, brother of ruling party MLA Malkhan Singh, were taken into custody today evening after another round of questioning.

The arrest came after the agency filed its first charge sheet in a sensational case in the court here, charging the three accused namely Shahabuddin, Baldev Jat and Sohan Lal, who are in the judicial custody, under the charge of conspiracy to abduct the 36-year-old nurse with an intention to murder her.

In its charge sheet filed before the Judge Jagdish Jyani, CBI has accused them of abducting the nurse with an intention to kill (Section 364 IPC), Criminal Conspiracy (Section 120 B IPC) and various sections of SC and ST Act.

The agency in its charge sheet named Maderna and absconding suspect Sahiram.

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Tamil Nadu asks Supreme Court to restrain Kerala on Mullaperiyar issue

The Tamil Nadu government today moved the Supreme Court accusing Kerala Government of whipping up fear psychosis on Mullaperiyar row and sought the court's direction, restraining the state from making any controversial statement on the issue.

In an application to the Supreme Court, Tamil Nadu alleged that Kerala, despite a status quo order by the Supreme Court, was making public statements on issues of pulling down the century-old dam and constructing a new one in its place.

According to Tamil Nadu, the statements originating from Kerala were creating deep-rooted animosities between the people of two states and posing grave threat to the peace and order and law system in the two neighbouring states.

While Kerala wants to demolish the dam situated in the Idukki district due to the consistent ecological threat and possible collapse of the dam, Tamil Nadu wants the dam to be protected as it caters to the irrigation and drinking water needs of a dozen of its districts.

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2G case: Raja's private secretary Chandolia gets bail

Former Telecom Minister A Raja's erstwhile private secretary R.K. Chandolia, arrested for his alleged role in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case, has been granted bail by a Delhi Court on Thursday.

Judge O.P. Saini, while accepting Chandolia's bail plea said that the bail application is allowed.

In the 2G spectrum scam case, all the 12 accused who were arrested in the case, have been granted bail by the court except for Mr. Raja and Sidharth Behura have been left back in jail.

Mr. Chandolia, who has been in jail since February 2, 2011, was granted the relief on furnishing a personal bond of Rs. 3 lakhs with two sureties of the like amount.

The court had on Wednesday, reserved its order on Mr. Chandolia's bail plea after hearing counsel for the accused and Central Bureau of Investigation.

The CBI had opposed Mr. Chandolia's bail plea saying he, Mr. Raja and Mr. Behura were public servants and formed the core sector of conspiracy and stood on a different footing  from those who are granted bail in the case.

Special Public Prosecutor U U Lalit had said that the core sector of conspiracy comprises of these three men and they fall in the same category which is different from those who are granted bail.

He added that these three men are standing on a different footing and it is unrealistic to draw parity with those who are released on bail.

Vijay Aggarwal, the counsel appearing for Mr. Chandolia, however contended that even the Supreme Court has not scrutinized thecase and granted bail not to the individual who is accused but in the 2G case.

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Ex-Union Minister Swami Chinmayanand accused of rape, assault and attempt to murder

The Uttar Pradesh police lodged a complaint of rape, assault, forced abortion and attempt to murder against the former Union Minister of state for home, Swami Chinmayanand on Wednesday. The FIR was lodged against the complaint of a girl who had spent a long time in his ashram in Shahjahanpur before she moved to Badaun sometime back. The complaint was lodged with the city Kotwali.

Subesh Kumar Singh, Additional Director General of Crime said that a complaint has been lodged against the girl's complaint and the investigation on the matter was going on.

As per the reports, a few days ago Shahjahanpur District Police Chief received a detailed and signed complaint from a resident of Badaun in which she accused Chinmaya of rape, assault and attempt to murder. Since the charges were leveled against a former Union Minister, the police asked the complainant to personally appear before a senior police officer for a preliminary inquiry into the allegations. On Wednesday, the victim appeared before the police. She told the senior police officers that the crime was committed against her during her stay at the Chinmayanand's Mumukh Ashram in the district.

The victim told the police that she lived in the Mumukh Ashram for several years and after persistent abuse, decided to flee from the premises. During her stay at the ashram, she was allegedly raped by Chinmayanand. The victim told the police that when she threatened him to lodge a complaint against him, he tried to kill her. She added that she was too scared to open her mouth for the fear of consequences till she fled the ashram.

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