Panaji: Two persons belonging to a religious group were detained on Saturday in connection with the explosion in Margao town in Goa in which two members of the outfit were killed.
Police were probing the links of right-wing group Sanatan Saunstha with the blast that took place at 9.30 pm on Friday night when explosives kept in a scooter went off on a busy street in Margao, 30 kms from Panaji. Police claimed the outfit is allegedly linked to Malegaon blast accused and right-wing activist Sadhvi Pragya Singh.
Home Minister Ravi Naik said the explosives may have got triggered before being planted at a designated spot.
Police raided Sanatan Saunstha headquarters at Ramnathi in Ponda town, 20 kms from Margao, following the blast. "Two people owing their allegiance to Saunstha have been detained for further interrogation," said Naik.
A person named Melgunda Patil, hailing from Maharashtra, was killed in the blast last night while another, Yogesh Naik, succumbed to his injuries this morning, hospital sources said.
Police said both belonged to the Saunstha and were riding the scooter. "The scooter which was carrying the explosives belongs to Saunstha's disciple Nishad Bakle," Naik said. Within half an hour of Friday's explosion, bomb disposal squad detected and defused another bomb with an electric circuit, a clock, four gelatin sticks and a detonator at Sancoale, 20 kms from the blast site.
Margao town was abuzz with people last night as it hosted 'Narakasur' effigy competition in the heart of the town, which is a tradition on the eve of Diwali. The blast took place only a few metres away from the competition venue.
J&K cricketer held for 'RDX' in bag
BANGALORE: The Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore was primed for some explosive Diwali action with four teams, inluding two from Australia and South Africa, set to clash in the T20 Champions League on Saturday evening. But the ‘fireworks’ started at dawn with RDX traces being detected in the kit bag of a player of the under-22 Jammu and Kashmir cricket team staying on the stadium premises.
The player was detained, triggering a terror scare that put a cloud over the Champions League. He was later released for lack of evidence.
After the stadium was sanitised and Bangalore police commissioner Shankar Bidari was satisfied that all was well, he got down to the task of convincing the foreign teams that the game could go on. Victoria Bushrangers (Australia) and Cape Cobras (South Africa) were initially reluctant, but finally made their way from the team hotel and reached the stadium at 5.40 pm for a curtailed match that started nearly two hours late. The second match(RCB vs Delhi Daredevils) at the same venue also started late thanks to the domino effect.
The Cobras arrived without Herschelle Gibbs, who had conveyed to the team that he would not be able to give his best under such circumstances. "It was a really a difficult situation as there were lots of reports flying around. As for Gibbs, we as a team respected the decision. If you are not comfortable, there is no use playing. I am really proud about how the guys turned up today and were able to focus quickly," said captain Andrew Puttick.
The drama at the stadium started early morning when the private agency tasked with security at the stadium reported that a detector was beeping, indicating the presence of explosives within 300 metres. Alerted, the Karnataka anti-terrorism squad moved into the stadium at 6.30 am and narrowed their search to the rooms in the Karnataka State Cricket Association Club House on the eastern side of the stadium, where on Friday night the J&K under-22 team had checked in.
They are here to take on Karnataka on October 21 in the Col C K Nayudu tournament.
During the search, the cops were led by sniffer dogs to room 105, occupied by Pervez Rasool and Mehrajuddin. One of the three detectors went off in the room and the cops zeroed in Rasool’s kit bag, which they suspected had traces of explosives. Immediately Rasool was taken in for questioning. Mehrajuddin was asked to accompany him.
After questioning, Rasool was released in the evening, but the incident drew angry protests from the J&K cricket association. Terming the incident as "shocking and unfortunate", it sought an apology from the Bangalore police.
The J&K team manager Bilal said 21-year-old Rasool, a resident of Brijbehara in south Kashmir, was the leading all-rounder for the state at the junior level and had been picked for the Ranji Trophy squad. He said the state cricket association president Farooq Abdullah, also a Union minister, had been informed and he was looking into the matter.
Furious J&K cricket association secretary Saleem Khan accused the police of harassment. "I don’t think they (the players) have any (terror) links. They have been playing for the last 4-5 seasons. They have been going to all states of the country. We are in touch with the team but the harassment is hundred percent. The police are harassing them to leave the stadium," he said.
Khan was echoed by team manager Bilal. "The police told us to sit downstairs and even asked us to vacate the club house. This is the first time that we are facing such a thing. When Mumbai or Karnataka come to play in J&K, do we give them a similar treatment? We are very upset over the entire incident. All the boys are mentally disturbed. We think that since our players come from the troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir, we are being treated in this fashion," he said.
The seized cricket kit bag has been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory here and a report on what exactly the substance was is awaited. Police sources said they suspect that the bag had at some point of time been used to carry explosives.
M R Pujar, additional commissioner in charge of law & order and security in Bangalore, said: "A young man was taken for questioning by police but he has subsequently been released without charge. Police and security experts have checked the stadium twice, as well as the suspicious bag, but nothing of concern has been found."
The all-clear for the Champions League matches was given by the police after the stands were also searched. Crowds, mostly unaware about the cause of delay, thronged the stadium much before the matches began but were surprised by the thorough frisking they were made to go through before being allowed in.
‘Players don’t have terror links’
The J&K team manager Bilal said 21-year-old Rasool, a resident of Brijbehara in south Kashmir, was the leading all-rounder for the state at the junior level and had been picked for the Ranji Trophy squad. He said the state cricket association president Farooq Abdullah, also a Union minister, had been informed and he was looking into the matter.
Furious J&K cricket association secretary Saleem Khan accused the police of harassment. "I don’t think they (the players) have any (terror) links. They have been playing for the last 4-5 seasons. They have been going to all states of the country. We are in touch with the team but the harassment is hundred percent. The police are harassing them to leave the stadium," he said.
Khan was echoed by team manager Bilal.
The seized cricket kit bag has been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory here and a report on what exactly the substance was is awaited. Police sources said they suspect that the bag had at some point of time been used to carry the explosives.
M R Pujar, additional commissioner in charge of law & order and security in Bangalore, said: "A young man was taken for questioning by police but he has subsequently been released without charge. Police and security experts have checked the stadium twice, as well as the suspicious bag, but nothing of concern has been found."
The all-clear for the Champions League matches was given by the police after the stands were also searched. Crowds, mostly unaware about the cause of delay, thronged the stadium much before the matches began but were surprised by the thorough frisking they were made to go through before being allowed in.
3 Indian-origin men in UK jailed for raping kin
LONDON: Three Indian-origin men, residents of Cardiff, who repeatedly raped a woman in their family for several years have been convicted and sentenced to long years in prison.
The three persons sentenced by the Cardiff Crown Court are the 27-year-old victim's step-father, step-uncle and brother-in-law. The step-uncle and step-father are illegal immigrants, and will deported at the end of their sentences.
The 55-year-old step-uncle, and 50-year-old step-father were jailed with minimum recommended terms of 20 and 15 years respectively, while her 27-year-old brother-in-law was jailed for 12 years.
The step-uncle admitted before the court that he was the father of the child conceived when the victim was 14 years old. He was convicted of seven counts of rape, three of indecency with a child, and one of indecent assault.
During the hearing, the court was told that the victim's ordeal began at the age of five when she was raped by her step-uncle. She became pregnant at 14, but was locked in a wardrobe so that visitors would not see her condition.
Prosecuting lawyer Marion Lewis told: "The girl was already seven months pregnant when she first saw a doctor about her condition. When the baby was born, the girl's parents told friends and neighbours it was their own, before flying their daughter to India for an arranged marriage."
Judge Patrick Curran told the step-uncle: "Not content with your own sexual abuse on her, you encouraged the others to treat her like an unpaid and unwilling prostitute. You all then involved yourselves in a group rape on her."
The judge said the continued presence of the two older men in the UK was "detrimental to public interest."
The prosecuting lawyer said the girl was frightened and also believed her mother knew what was going on.
"When aged 14 and still a pupil at school, her stomach was expanding and a scan revealed she was seven months pregnant," Lewis said.
"Her mother beat her all over her body apart from the face with a curtain pole. She was hidden, sometimes in a wardrobe and visitors were told she'd gone back to India."
The victim later told the jury that her mother beat her when it was found out that she was seven months pregnant. She said her mother had not believed her when she had tried to tell her that she was pregnant by a member of her own family.
"When she went to the doctors, checked me out, she realised I was seven months pregnant, she still didn't believe me. She hit me with a rod and stuff like that so she never believed me".
"She always said to me 'they can't do that to you, they're your family, they can't do it' but unfortunately they did," the victim said.
The step-uncle admitted in court he was the father of her child, but told the jury he had not found out until much later once DNA tests were carried out.
After the sentence was pronounced yesterday, detective inspector Chris Mullane of South Wales Police said the victim had been "extremely courageous" in approaching the police.
Three Indian students thrashed, robbed in Australia
MELBOURNE: In the backdrop of racial attacks against Indians, three students of the community were bashed and robbed when they were returning home at night.
The latest incident took place on Thursday night at around 10.30 pm (local time) when the victims were on their way home from Sunshine station along Anderson road, The Age reported.
Three to four persons approached the victims from behind near Derby Road Reserve demanding their wallets and cellphones, the police said in the report.
One of the victims a 26-year-old student from Sunshine handed over his wallets and mobile phone and escaped from the spot, the report said.
While the other two students aged 24 and 27 were thrashed by the offenders who also stole their cellphones.
The 24-year-old man received head injuries in the attack and the 27-year-old man suffered soreness to his upper body, the report said.
Indian Business News
Google Q3 profits jump 27 pct to $1.64 bn
New York: Internet search engine giant Google has reported a 27 per cent growth in net income at USD 1.64 billion for the third quarter on the back of higher advertising revenues.
The company had a net income of USD 1.29 billion in July-September last year, Google said in a statement.
Google registered revenues of USD 5.94 billion for the quarter under review, an increase of 7 per cent over that in the third quarter of 2008.
"Google had a strong quarter -- we saw seven per cent year-over-year revenue growth despite the tough economic conditions. While there is a lot of uncertainty about the pace of economic recovery, we believe the worst of the recession is behind us and now feel confident about investing heavily in our future," Google CEO Eric Schmidt said.
Google-owned sites contributed 67 per cent to the total revenues, generating USD 3.96 billion in the third quarter against USD 3.67 billion in the same period last fiscal.
The company's partner sites generated revenues, through AdSense programmes, of USD 1.80 billion in the third quarter, a 7 per cent increase same period last year.
Google reports its revenues, consistent with GAAP, on a gross basis without deducting traffic acquisition costs (TAC).
In the third quarter of 2009, TAC totaled USD 1.56 billion, or 27 per cent of advertising revenues.
Govt not to hike oil prices despite surge in global rates
New Delhi: The government is not considering revising petrol and diesel prices despite a sharp rise in oil rates in international markets, as the devaluation of dollar against rupee has helped neutralise the global impact.
"The situation is not worrisome now," Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said when asked to comment on the crude oil prices jumping to USD 78 per barrel.
"There is no distress situation as the strengthening of the rupee against the dollar has helped us... the dollar has devalued (against the rupee) by about 10 per cent," he said.
The dollar devaluation has seen revenue loss incurred by state-run oil firms on fuel sales trimming to about Rs 96 crore per day from Rs 124 crore a day in the first half of October.
Indian Oil Corp (IOC) Chairman Sarthak Behuria said the oil companies were "comfortable" at the current level of oil prices and rupee-dollar rate.
"We can sustain these rates," he said. IOC has seen its projected losses on fuel sales this fiscal coming down to Rs 19,790 crore from Rs 21,825 crore estimated earlier.
The company and its sister PSUs -- HPCL and BPCL, which have been barred by the government from revising fuel prices to keep inflation under check -- have almost broken even on diesel, on which they incur loss of Rs 0.07 per litre. They lose Rs 0.83 a litre on petrol.
On domestic LPG, these companies lose Rs 204.51 per 14.2-kg cylinder and Rs 16.14 on every litre of kerosene.
"We were till last month losing about Rs 52 crore per day on selling petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene," Behuria said.
Indian Sports News
Bangalore face Daredevils in the clash of IPL sides
Bangalore: Royal Challengers Bangalore will have to play out of their skins for a win while Delhi Daredevils would look to shrug off their inconsistent form when the two Indian sides lock horn in a potential high-voltage League B match of the Champions League Twenty20 in Bangalore on Saturday.
In a match which would see several cricketing stars in action, the Royal Challengers, who were thumped by Victorian Bushrangers in the League B opener yesterday, just cannot afford to lose tomorrow as that would confirm their ouster.
The Bangalore squad looked well-balanced on paper with world-class batsmen and bowlers in their ranks but they have not been able to put their act together in the tournament so far, having won just one game out of four.
Any side which has Robin Uthappa, Jacques Kallis, Rahul Dravid, Ross Taylor, Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey and Mark Boucher would be a formidable batting unit but they have not fired in unison in the two out of four matches.
In the bowling front also, Bangalore boasts of Anil Kumble, Kallis, Dale Steyn, Roelof van der Merwe and Praveen Kumar but here again, except for Kallis, none has been consistent.
Bangalore need an inspired performance from Kumble on Saturday against the likes of his former India teammates Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir.
Incidentally, Delhi Daredevils has a similar concern with its batting.
Their key player Tillakaratne Dilshan is struggling and more importantly, the burden of captaincy seems to have bogged down Gautam Gambhir.
Only Sehwag seems to be enjoying his game, while consistency eludes Dinesh Karthik.
Eyeing final-four berth, Victoria to take on Cobras
Bangalore: Virtually through to semi-final after a comprehensive win over Royal Challengers Bangalore, Victoria Bushrangers would strive to consolidate their position when they take on Cape Cobras in a Champions League match in Banaglore on Saturday.
Victoria put up an all-round performance to overcome the Bangalore team by seven wickets yesterday and would confirm their berth in the final-four stage if they defeat the South Africans in the league B encounter.
On other hand, Cobras who have entered second round as the Group C topper after beating both the Royal Challengers and Otago Volts, would like to maintain their victorious journey in the 12-team event.
Skipper Andrew Puttick, who has cracked a century and figuring second in the list of highest run getters in the USD six million tournament, would be the mainstay of Cobras' batting order.
But the captain would also rely heavily on the likes of middle-order batsman J P Duminy and experienced Herchelle Gibbs for some timely contributions in Saturday's match.
Duminy had scored an aggressive 52-ball 99 in his side's five-wicket victory over Royal Challengers in the tournament opener, while skipper Puttick had left Otago stunned with his breezy 62-ball 104 on Saturday.
Meanwhile, experienced Brad Hodge and David Hussey would lead the Victoria batting department with the trio of captain Cameron White, Aiden Blizzard and Andrew McDonald also have to chip in with the bat.
The Bushrangers looked a promising outfit when they went off to a winning start in the tournament, beating Delhi Daredevils, but soon lost their rhythm and suffered a 15-run defeat at the hands of otherwise inexperienced Wayamba Elevens of Sri Lanka.
No comments:
Post a Comment