Five persons were killed and several others injured when suspected ULFA militants triggered two blasts close to a police station here on Sunday.
Three persons were injured when a bomb, planted in a bicycle, went off at a spot adjacent to the police station at around 9:30 am, Superintendent of Police Jitmol Doley said.
Four persons were killed in the similar blast which occurred minutes after in front of a mobile phone shop, about 20 metres away from the police station, as people were trying to flee from the area, he said.
At least 17 others were injured in the second blast and taken to the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, over 100 km from here.
Vehicles parked in the busy and crowded area were damaged due to the impact of the blasts. The areas where the blasts took place have been cordoned off by the police, which was carrying out a combing operation in the area. Prima facie the blasts seemed to be the handiwork of ULFA, according to police sources.
Another blast was reported a few minutes later from the busy Gopalbazaar area of the Nalbari district.
The deceased have been identified as Keshab Das, DipuDas and Ganesh Das, all local residents, and Pavan Thakur from Bihar, Doley said.
A high alert has been sounded across the state in view of the blasts and people have been asked to remain indoors by the district administration.
Killing innocents for jehad is not what my Islam teaches me: Kasab's lawyer
MUMBAI: Abbas Kazmi, the lawyer defending India’s most hated terrorist, Ajmal Kasab, is in an unenviable position. For months, he’s been fighting a frustrating battle to give his client as good a defence as possible, given the special circumstances of this case. Now, with a list of 232 witnesses given to him by the prosecution, he fears accusations of delaying the trial being flung at him if he cross-examines them all; however, he has made up his mind.
Kazmi has been virtually ostracised, but says that he believes in the Constitution which guarantees every accused a fair trial. “We are a civilised country,’’ he says. “Our criminal law doesn’t believe in lynch mobs.’’
If professional integrity wasn’t so dear to Kazmi, the last six months would’ve been a breeze. He could have sat back, declined cross-examination, and been a defence attorney only in name. The Rs 2,500 being paid to him for every hearing would then have actually meant something. Instead, he has been fighting a frustrating battle to give his client as good a defence as possible, given the special circumstances of this case.
“I’ve been under immense pressure from Day One,’’ says Kazmi. “Work pressure—hardly any time given to study the 14,000-page chargesheet; the humiliation of being frisked thrice before I enter the courtroom; not being allowed to carry either my laptop or my briefcase (The FBI agents were allowed both), so the bulky
charge sheet remains in my office while I’m in court. My other cases have almost had to be abandoned.’’
As soon as he accepted the brief, Kazmi was removed from trusteeship of the Islam Gymkhana. Last week, two strangers at a chemist’s shop asked him why he had agreed to defend Kasab whom the entire world had seen committing the crime. Why hadn’t he instead used the opportunity to pump bullets into Kasab’s head?
“I’ve said it before: I believe in the Constitution. When I watched the events on TV, I wanted the severest punishment to be given to the terrorists. I too am a patriot. That’s precisely the reason I believe we must give Kasab a fair trial. Our Constitution declares that every accused is innocent until proven guilty. The entire world is watching us, we are a civilised country. Our criminal law doesn’t believe in lynch mobs.’’
In court, he has been derisively called “Abu Abbas’’—a reference to the many Abus who trained Kasab, and been mockingly told that he’d be given Pakistan’s highest award. But none of this has prevented him from doggedly doing his duty. Kazmi’s cross-examination has brought out incredible facts. “One hundred and nine men of the Railway Police Force, Government Railway Police and Home Guards were at CST, 30 of them armed, when Kasab and his companion landed. Twenty officers, a few armed with AK 47s, carbines and some with bullet-proof vests, were around Cama later. The police commissioner’s office is a twominute walk away. The Control Room knew what was happening. Yet two young men with barely six months’ training, who had two AK-47s but no bullet-proof vests, could do what they wanted from 9.30 to 12.30 that night!’’
One of Kazmi’s many frustrations is that the layperson knows hardly anything about what his cross-examination has brought on record. For instance, a SIM card used by the terrorists was issued to one Suresh Prashad by the Government of India, Ministry of Urban Development, and though his electricity bill is on record, the police say he is untraceable. Another loose end is the silence on Abu Jindal, whom Kasab has described as an Indian who had trained him.
Apart from the prosecution, Kazmi is the only person to meet Kasab regularly. What does he think of him? “I have not been able to build the rapport a defence lawyer needs with his client. I am only allowed to talk to him in court, when he is in the dock, under the watchful gaze of his guards and the court staff. I feel he doesn’t trust me; he has not consulted me on any step he has taken, specially confessing in court. That’s why I offered to withdraw from the case.’’
Whenever Kazmi has conveyed Kasab’s requests to the court—a newspaper, some itar—a hue and cry has ensued. To Kazmi, Kasab comes across as a young man easily swayed, given to mood swings.
As a Muslim, the trial has affected Kazmi deeply. “I have become even more of a believer in secularism. I would really like to contribute in this field in whatever way I can. Listening to those handlers sitting in their safe hideouts, encouraging these boys not to lose courage, I can only say. ‘Your Islam is not my Islam. Killing innocents in the name of jehad is not what my Islam teaches me.’’
Calls link Headley-Rana to 26/11’s Lashkar handlers
Over a month after the FBI disclosed its findings in the David Coleman Headley- Tahawwur Rana case, Indian investigators have obtained a lead that could link the duo to the 26/11 attacks.
Top sources confirmed that New Delhi has sought some additional information from Washington which could help piece together this crucial evidence.
It’s learnt that the response from US authorities has been positive and India was hoping for quick results. This link, sources said, relates to a Pakistan contact of one of the two accused. This contact was involved in the 26/11 attacks and there is some evidence of him being in touch with either Headley or Rana.
Government sources have confirmed to The Sunday Express in New Delhi that the National Investigative Agency (NIA), after scanning call records, has found that the duo had made calls to the same numbers that were in touch with the LeT attackers in Taj Palace Hotel and Towers and Trident Hotel during 26/11.
According to the 26/11 chargesheet, Abdul Rehman Bada, Javed, Abu Shoaib and Abu Umer were holed up in Taj Hotel while Abdul Rehman Chotta and Fahadullah attacked Trident Hotel. These terrorists, the chargesheet says, called four numbers (012012531824, 43720880764, 43720880767 and 43720880768) to get in touch with their handlers in Pakistan. A total of 41 calls (8,834 seconds) were made from the Taj and 62 calls (5,705 seconds) were made from the Trident to Pakistan using VOIP provided by the Callphonex company.
In fact, the NIA has also found that Headley, who stayed nearly for 13 months during his nine visits to India, and Rana tried to cover their tracks by using public phone calls booths and mobiles of their friends during that period.
It was a challenge to keep Kasab alive: Maria
Mumbai: If capturing Ajmal Kasab on the night of 26/11 was a mix of pure luck and raw courage for the Mumbai Police, keeping him alive during the first few days after that in the face of the extreme anger within the force is believed to have been a challenge. The constabulary was incensed that he was one of the two men responsible for killing top officers Hemant Karkare, Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar and was not interested in seeing the jihadi alive.
“The feeling of the constabulary and the officers was pretty hostile,” Rakesh Maria, the Joint Commissioner of Mumbai Police (Crime Branch) who had the responsibility of investigating the attack and questioning Kasab, told The Sunday Express.
“Remember it was just a couple of hours after some of our best officers and men had died. The general feeling was no need to keep him, kaay upyog honar nahi (no purpose will be served), that sort of thing,” he said. Maria, who was put in charge of the Mumbai Police Control Room on perhaps its worst night in history, said there was a lot of “angst” in the force after Kasab was captured after a shoot-out on Marine Drive in which his accomplice Abu Ismail was killed.
“Officers were dead, men were dead and this was the group that had done it,” he said, but added that the discipline in the force ultimately prevailed.
Nevertheless, the Crime Branch was not willing to take chances. Kasab was lodged in a first-floor room of the Crime Branch inside the Mumbai Police headquarters and only a handful of trusted officers had access to the floor and even fewer to the terrorist. But even they had extreme revulsion for the Pakistani national and Kasab could gauge it, said Maria, adding that this helped break him and extract information. “He could gauge the animosity which was there, this also worked as an advantage for us. He realised what it was and we told him it is better that you talk... the entire people (sic) are just waiting to tear you apart and don’t think you are going to die very early.”
'Equipment, better intelligence could have altered 26/11 operation'
New Delhi: The 60-hour-long operation that neutralised the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists during the Mumbai attack last year could have been handled in a different way had there been a "certain type" of equipment and better intelligence, says the chief of the anti-terror force which fought them.
The terrorists, who were in "top physical fitness", knew the topography of the three locations -- Taj, Trident and Nariman House -- so well that he feels the LeT men who undertook the operation could have themselves done the recce of the targets under assumed names.
J K Dutt, then the chief of National Security Guard (NSG), said the Mumbai's elite Anti Terrorist Squad, which was then headed by slain IPS officer Hemant Karkare, was a "young force" and the state police had failed to realise for long that the gunmen throwing grenades and firing at innocent people in various parts of the city were not part of any gang war as they believed and that it was a terror attack.
Dutt, who retired as the force chief in February this year, said in an interview that till the last moments of the three-day operation the NSG did not have any concrete intelligence on the number of men holed up in each of the premises or even initially that the hotels had more than one building.
"In hindsight, whether this operation could have been faster or could have been handled in a different way? Yes, I believe so. If we had certain type of equipment which is now available in the market, it would definitely had been useful," said Dutt.
Indian Business News
Gold rises, silver crosses 29-K level
Mumbai: Gold prices sky-rocketed to yet another historic peak in the bullion market, sparked by frantic buying spree from stockists and traders amid supportive overseas cues.
Silver too conquered another milestone by crossing over the psychological Rs 29-K level on intense industrial buying.
The white metal achieved the Rs 29,000 mark from Rs 28,000 in short span of just five straight trading session.
Standard gold (99.5 purity) strengthened by Rs 160 per 10 grams to close at Rs 17,455 from overnight closing level of Rs 17,295.
Pure gold (99.9 purity) also rose by a similar margin to end at Rs 17,540 per 10 grams as against Rs 17,380 yesterday.
Silver ready (.999 fineness) spurted by Rs 335 per kg to finish at Rs 29,190 from yesterday's closing level of Rs 28,855.
In the International market, gold futures rose on Friday in New York for a sixth straight session to a new record high.
Gold for December delivery firmed up by USD 4.90 to conclude at USD 1,146.80 an ounce.
However, December silver fell slightly to USD 18.44 an ounce.
RIL submits bid for LyondellBasell
New Delhi: Country's most valued firm Reliance Industries said it has submitted a bid to acquire US petro-chemical giant LyondellBasell that has a market valuation of USD 55 billion.
"RIL confirms that it has submitted to LyondellBasell a preliminary non-binding offer to acquire for cash a controlling interest in LyondellBasell upon its emergence from chapter 11 reorganisation," RIL said in a statement.
If successful this will be the biggest acquisition by any Indian company overseas. LyondellBasell is the world's third largest petro-chemical company, with a market capitalization of USD 55 billion.
It had filed for Chapter 11 protection in January 2009 after it was impacted by high leverage, adverse market conditions and liquidity issues.
"The offer is preliminary and subject to customary conditions, including conduct of due-diligence, documentation and receipt of creditors support," RIL added.
LyondellBasell has confirmed having received a non-binding offer from RIL but did not disclose the bid price.
Indian Sports News
New Delhi: The Indian Cricket Board is under pressure from the Congress party to revoke the life ban on former skipper Mohd Azharuddin for his alleged involvement in the 2000 match-fixing scandal.
Azharuddin, who is now a Congress MP from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, was banned for life after the BCCI found him guilty of being involved in the scandal that rocked Indian cricket.
But Congress leaders from Uttar Pradesh argue that the ban on the former captain should be lifted now because several other players, who faced similar charges, have been allowed back into the game.
In fact, some of these MPs, including Jitin Prasad, BCCI's Finance Committee chairman Rajiv Shukla, who is also a Congress spokesman, and actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar met ICC vice-President and former BCCI President Sharad Pawar on Friday to put forth their demand.
"I spoke to BCCI President Shashank Manohar and he said that if Azhar himself shows interest in wanting the ban lifted then it can be moved forward to the Annual General Meeting and the the AGM will decide," Shukla said.
"The ban on Azharuddin can be lifted only if the BCCI AGM deems it fit," he added.
Azaharuddin, an elegant right-hand batsman from Hyderabad, played 99 Tests and scored 6215 runs at an average of 45. He played a whopping 334 one-dayers, accumulating 9378 runs at an average of 36.92.
Jeev tied 15th after Rd3 of Dubai World C'ship
Dubai: Seasoned Indian golfer Jeev Milkha Singh hopped back into contention for a top-10 finish after a brilliant four-under 68 in the penultimate round gave him a share of the 15th spot in the Dubai World Championship.
The Chandigarh golfer, who had slipped to tied 24th yesterday, is six-under 210 after three rounds at the Earth Course of Jumeirah Golf Estates.
The opening hole bogey was one of the just two blots on his card as he went on a birdie-firing spree in the front nine, picking up four between the second and ninth hole, to make the turn three-under.
On his way back, Jeev picked up back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th holes before a dropped stroke on the 16th pulled him back slightly.
At the top, overnight leader Lee Westwood held on to the number one spot on the leaderboard, turning in a six-under 66 to total 15-under 201 after three rounds.
Another Englishman Ross McGowan, who also shot a 66 today, took the sole second spot with a total of 13-under 203.
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