NIA chargesheet: NSCN got arms from Chinese firms

NIA chargesheet: NSCN got arms from Chinese firms

In the first-ever direct evidence linking Northeast insurgent groups to China, the National Investigation Agency, which is probing the NSCN (IM) case, has found that the outfit had struck deals with several Chinese firms to procure sophisticated arms and ammunition to wage war against India.

The NIA arrested Anthony Shimray, the Naga insurgent outfit’s chief arms procurer, last year and investigations that followed revealed the role of foreign individuals and firms. After a six-month investigation, the NIA filed a chargesheet recently against Shimray and three others, including a foreign national, at a Delhi court.

The agency has detailed the money transactions, arms and ammunition procurements and conversation between the accused persons as part of its evidence.

Apart from Shimray, the other accused are T R Cavlin, Hangshi Ramson Tangkhul — both from NSCN (IM) — and Willy Naruenartwanich, an arms dealer of Thai-Chinese origin based in Bangkok. All three are wanted in the case.

According to NIA, Willy runs a spa business in Bangkok. He was introduced to Shimray by one of the middlemen. This person is now a key witness for the NIA and his statement has been recorded. According to the chargesheet, Shimray told Willy that he wanted to procure 1,000 firearms, including AK series automatic rifles, light machine guns, rocket launchers and 5 lakh rounds of ammunition.

The chargesheet says that Willy in 2007 introduced them to a Chinese firm TCL. They got in touch with Yuthna, who was a representative of TCL, an authorised company selling arms in China.

The deal was to be done at $2 million but after consultation with the NSCN (IM) leadership in New Delhi, TCL agreed to sell arms for $1 million. Shimray took the approval for the list of weapons from Cavlin, who was stationed at Dimapur. The communication was done through e-mail, which has been established by the NIA.

“The cost for shipment was fixed at USD 200000 which was to be arranged by Willy. It was further decided that the arms and ammunition will be offloaded at Beihei Port of South China near Vietnam and the delivery would be at Cox’s Bazar in the high sea of Bangladesh,” states the chargesheet. “From high sea, the goods would be shifted in smaller fishing trawlers.” According to the chargesheet, Shimray paid $100,000 to Willy in May 2009 which was sent to TCL which issued an electronic receipt of this payment.

Investigation further revealed that Shimray received $800,000 in Bangkok from NSCN (IM) Bangkok office out of which $700,000 was paid to TCL through Willy while $100,000 was paid to shipping agent Kittichai of Intermarine Shipping Company of Bangkok.

However, agency claimed in the chargesheet that delivery of arms was postponed as in September 2010 Shimray realised that the situation in Bangladesh was not favourable to NSCN (IM). Shimray planned to visit New Delhi to brief his leaders about the development. He was caught by the Indian agencies near Patna.

The chargesheet also traces NSCN (IM) links to another Chinese arms supply company, NORINCO, from 1991 to 1999. Shimray was instrumental in striking a $1.1 million deal with NORINCO during this period.

Pak hardliner survives another assassination bid; 12 others killed

Pak hardliner survives another assassination bid; 12 others killed

Pakistan's hardline JUI chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman today had a narrow escape for the second day in a row when a suicide bomber targeted his motorcade in the country's restive northwest, killing at least 12 people and injuring over 30 others.

The bomber struck just after the motorcade of 57-year-old Rehman, a member of the National Assembly or lower house of Parliament, entered Charsadda town in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, where he was to address a gathering at Darul Uloom Islamia seminary.

The powerful blast occurred near a government office and a private school, witnesses said.

Twelve people, including two members of Rehman's security detail and a woman, were killed while over 30 others, including policemen and Ja miat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) workers, were injured, officials said.

"I am fine. There was a powerful explosion near my car and the windscreen was shattered. Another car in my motorcade was damaged," Rehman told the media.

He said he had seen several policemen who were injured by the blast.

Rehman cancelled his meeting in Charsadda after the blast.

A car in which senior JUI leaders Akram Khan Durrani and Azam Swati were travelling too was damaged in the attack, though they escaped unhurt.

The seriously injured persons were taken to a hospital in Peshawar.

Footage on television showed several cars that were damaged by the blast.

The walls of a nearby mosque were pitted by ball bearings that were packed into the bomber's explosive vest.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Rehman escaped an attempt on his life yesterday as well when a suicide attacker tried to target his motorcade at Swabi in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. That attack killed 10 people, including two policemen.

The attacks have surprised political observers as the JUI is perceived as being pro-Taliban.

Rehman has repeatedly called on the federal government to halt military operations against the militants.

Rehman told the media today that he had not received any threats. He refused to say who could be behind the two attempts on his life.

Earlier this month, Rehman had said in the National Assembly that a perceived misuse of the blasphemy law could be discussed, a statement which was welcomed by the Presidency and minorities and civil society representatives.

He had earlier led rallies that had forced the government to abandon possible changes in the country's blasphemy law.

Critics of Pakistan's blasphemy law have complained that it is often misused for settling personal scores or to persecute the country's minority communities.

Two top leaders of the ruling PPP -- Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer and federal minister Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian -- were assassinated this year for challenging the blasphemy law.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik today condemned the attack on the JUI chief and formed a joint investigation team to conduct an inquiry.

The team, which includes officials of the police, Federal Investigation Agency and Intelligence Bureau, will submit its report in a week.

Don’t ban book: Gandhi’s grandson

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Don’t ban book: Gandhi’s grandson

A long time ago, in 1927 in fact, when a pro-empire American woman called Katherine Mayo wrote an India-damning book called Mother India, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi called the book “a drain-inspector’s report”. To Mayo, the drains were India, Gandhi said, but he added that Indians could read her book with profit.

Joseph Lelyveld damns Gandhi not with direct attacks but with an overdose of scepticism. He seems sceptical of everything about Gandhi. Whenever he looks at Gandhi’s confrontation with his adversaries — the governments of South Africa of his time, India’s British rulers, Jinnah, Ambedkar, Hindu militants, or whoever — the benefit of his doubt seems in each case to go to the adversary.

Thus, he accepts the Hindu extremist line that the decision to kill Gandhi was triggered by Gandhi’s insistence, in mid-January 1948, on the payment to Pakistan of the stipulated Rs 55 crore, when it is a well-established fact that the conspiracy was hatched long before that issue ever arose.

Those who would like to believe that Gandhi was a Hindu casteist vis-à-vis the Dalits, or an Indian racist vis-a-vis African Blacks, or a pro-violence radical vis-à-vis the Empire, or a foe of Muslim rights, or an appeaser of extremist Muslims, can all find some supporting material here.

Lelyveld also throws in an innuendo, without offering evidence or his own conclusion, about a possible homosexual affair with Gandhi’s close South African friend, the remarkable Jewish architect, Hermann Kallenbach. There is no doubt that Gandhi wrote uninhibitedly about his love for Kallenbach, even more warmly than what he wrote about other men dear to him like Nehru, Patel, Rajapopalachari, or Andrews. But Lelyveld himself seems to admit that friendship rooted in self-control was always Gandhi’s goal, and one to which he hoped to win the talented Kallenbach as well.

To think of banning the book would be wrong from every point of view, and doubly so in the light of Gandhi’s commitment to freedom of speech. In fact, extreme scepticism too should be welcomed, especially in the case of Gandhi, who wanted to live and die for the truth and wanted his life to be an open book.

But for scepticism’s sake we must also ask why some strive to undermine Gandhi’s influence in the world. I am not alleging that this is Lelyveld’s motive. However, there is evidence already that those disliking some of Gandhi’s stances – on uncompromising opposition to imperialism, for instance, or for friendship between the world’s Muslims and non-Muslims — have gleefully used the Lelyveld book to mount an attack on one who not only gave his life for Hindu-Muslim amity but wrote as far back as in 1920 of the interest of empires “in the oil of Mosul”.

Gandhi was a human being who, like all of us, lived with contradictions. But he united and emboldened Indians of all kinds like no one before him or after, and he offered the world a hope that the human conscience can triumph against long odds.

Today — more than six decades after his death — he serves as a reminder that irrespective of race, caste, gender, or religion, the world’s peoples must and can live together in peace and equality.

For the long run, we need not mind the Lelyveld book. The more light thrown on Gandhi, the better. Did he not say again and again that he wanted to turn the searchlight inwards? Closer study of his life is only likely to show that whether the subject is caste in India, or race in South Africa, or Hindu-Muslim relations, or relations between a colonised people and those of an empire, Gandhi’s heart was far closer to liberty, equality and, yes, fraternity, than his adversaries were willing to concede. Imperfect yet extraordinary, that heart can still speak to us.

Rajmohan Gandhi is a biographer and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. He is a research professor at the Centre for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Illinois, US.

Patriotism benefited punters by Rs 3,000 cr - Hindustan Times

Patriotism benefited punters by Rs 3,000 cr - Hindustan Times

Patriotism benefited punters who made around Rs 3,000 crore in the India-Pakistan World Cup semi-final, which was played at Mohali on Wednesday. But the punters gain turned out to be bookies' loss. The match witnessed around Rs 6,500 crore worth betting with bets coming from India, Pakistan and various Gulf nations.

There was also huge spot betting on fall of wickets, boundaries, runs scored by batsmen of both the teams and total scores of the teams. Bookies said that despite the men in blue struggling at one moment, a majority of the punters in the country placed bets on India's win.

Before the start of the match, the rates were in India's favour with its win quoted at 62 paise per rupee bet. Pakistan's win was quoted at Rs 1.51 per rupee bet. The lower the rate, the more are the chances of that result taking place.

Bookies said after India won the toss and decided to bat the odds further went in its favour.

After Virender Sehwag's fiery batting, the odds rose in India's favour with 32 paise, while Pakistan's chances became poorer with a huge rate of Rs 3 per rupee bet.

But when India lost quick wickets, Pakistan turned favourite with a rate of 80 paise per rupee bet, while India's win was quoted at Rs 1.1.

A good start by Pakistan's batsmen made the bookies favour them, who quoted its win at 70 paise per rupee bet. The odds on India went up to Rs 1.45 per rupee bet.

"However, at that time, too, around 95% punters in the country placed their bets in India's favour," said a bookie from Mumbai, on condition of anonymity because betting is illegal in India.

But after Pakistan started losing wickets at short intervals India emerged as clear favourite with a rate of just 10 paise whereas the odds on Pakistan was Rs 5 per rupee bet.

India favoured to lift World Cup

India is favourite in the World Cup final against Sri Lanka on Saturday. Bookies have quoted India's win at 67 paise per rupee bet while the rate for Sri Lanka is Rs 1.45.

"Earlier we had planned to open equal rates, of 95 paise per rupee bet, for both the teams, but looking at India's performance against Pakistan - their disciplined bowling and fielding - we gave India an edge over Sri Lanka," the bookie said.

Balwa subsidiary paid Rs 4.5 crore to Congress leader's son: PIL - Hindustan Times

Balwa subsidiary paid Rs 4.5 crore to Congress leader's son: PIL - Hindustan Times

Dynamix Realty, a subsidiary of D B Realty, which has come under the probe agencies' scanner in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, had deposited Rs 4.5 crore in the bank account of the son of Congress MLA Kripashankar Singh, facing a court case for allegedly amassing huge illegal wealth. According to bank documents annexed to a PIL filed in Bombay high court against the MLA, the statement of Samata Sahakari Bank account in the names of his son Narendra Mohan Singh and daughter-in-law Ankita, showed four deposits made by Dynamix Reality, totalling Rs 4.5 crore during 2008-2009.

The first deposit of Rs 50 lakh was made on August 23, 2008, in the joint bank account of Narendra and Ankita. The second entry of Rs 2 crore was made on January 1, 2009 in Narendra's account, while the third and the fourth deposits of Rs one crore each (also in account of Narendra) were made on February 10 and 27, 2009 respectively.

A statement by the depositor, meanwhile, said, "Dynamix Realty had given a loan to Mr Narendra Mohan Singh which has been repaid to the company on March 12, 2010".

The Bombay high court had on March 3 come down heavily on state Anti-corruption Bureau, Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate for not sharing information among themselves and asked the agencies to probe the source of transactions reflected in the bank accounts of Kripashankar Singh and his relatives.

The court noted, "When the petition contains serious allegations about inaction on the part of respondents in not taking any action against Kripashankar and his kins and the specific details of bank accounts provided by petitioner, we find it difficult to accept that enquiries cannot be completed in the matter in spite of passage of nine months".

The court said, "For instance, in para 9, petitioner has given specific details of bank accounts and mentioned that there were several deposits amounting to Rs 3.3 crores and more than Rs 30 crores were also deposited in the concerned bank accounts. The total turnover in the said account over a period of two years was about Rs 60 crores. The bank statements are not disputed by Singh and others".

The PIL, filed by Sanjay Tiwari, a social worker, has also alleged that Kripashankar, a former state minister and currently the Mumbai Pradesh Congress Chief was close to former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, allegedly involved in a multi-crore hawala scam. It also alleged that a lot of transactions took place between the two. ED, however, has said it had not found any links between Koda and Singh.

Meanwhile, reacting to the allegations Singh said his son had business transactions with (Vinod) Goenka, (chairman of DB Realty) but denied any wrongdoing.

"He (Singh's son) recieved the amount in cheque and paid (back) in cheque. There is nothing objectionable in the transaction," the Congress leader told PTI.

"An amount of Rs three crore was received from Dynamix Realty through two cheques and was meant for business purpose as recorded in books of accounts and my IT returns," Singh's son Narendra Mohan Singh said.

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"As the business transactions did not materialise the amount was refunded in March last year. The refund reflected in books of accounts," Narendra said in a statement.

DB Realty's managing director Shahid Balwa is under the lens of investigative agencies for his alleged role in the 2G spectrum allocation scam and resigned from the board of directors of the company after his arrest.

2G scam: Dawood threat to CBI headquarters? - Hindustan Times

2G scam: Dawood threat to CBI headquarters? - Hindustan Times

A few days before the mysterious death of Sadhick Batcha in Chennai, the CBI was passed on information in Mumbai that Dawood Ibrahim’s D Company might target the probe agency headquarters to destroy the 2G scam papers. After getting this information, the CBI top brass immediately swung into action to put more security measures in place at its headquarters here.

A very senior CBI official told HT on condition of anonymity, “A source in Mumbai passed on information to our officials a few days ago that D Company is planning to target the CBI headquarters with the intention to destroy the 2G probe papers. We have taken all the required precautions. An alert has been sounded out at all the agency offices. The investigation team has been asked to be careful.”

Sources said Swan Telecom (now Etisalat DB) promoter and scam accused Shahid Usman Balwa is under the scanner of intelligence agencies to check his alleged links with Dawood’s gang. Besides these intelligence inputs so far, there is nothing that directly connects D Company with the 2G scam.

Balwa was arrested by the CBI in connection with its probe into the 2G scam on February 8. He is now in judicial custody.

According to sources, Balwa is likely to be named in the first chargesheet itself which is to be filed by the CBI by March 31.

According to sources, apart from Balwa, the first chargesheet will also name former telecom minister A Raja, his former personal secretary RK Chandolia, former telecom secretary Sidharth Behura and two telecom companies.

Sources also disclosed that so far, the probe agency has completed 10% probe in the 2G scam.

After filing the first chargesheet by March 31, the CBI will proceed further in the matter.

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Balwa subsidiary paid Rs 4.5 crore to Congress leader's son: PIL - Hindustan Times

Balwa subsidiary paid Rs 4.5 crore to Congress leader's son: PIL - Hindustan Times

Dynamix Realty, a subsidiary of D B Realty, which has come under the probe agencies' scanner in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, had deposited Rs 4.5 crore in the bank account of the son of Congress MLA Kripashankar Singh, facing a court case for allegedly amassing huge illegal wealth. According to bank documents annexed to a PIL filed in Bombay high court against the MLA, the statement of Samata Sahakari Bank account in the names of his son Narendra Mohan Singh and daughter-in-law Ankita, showed four deposits made by Dynamix Reality, totalling Rs 4.5 crore during 2008-2009.

The first deposit of Rs 50 lakh was made on August 23, 2008, in the joint bank account of Narendra and Ankita. The second entry of Rs 2 crore was made on January 1, 2009 in Narendra's account, while the third and the fourth deposits of Rs one crore each (also in account of Narendra) were made on February 10 and 27, 2009 respectively.

A statement by the depositor, meanwhile, said, "Dynamix Realty had given a loan to Mr Narendra Mohan Singh which has been repaid to the company on March 12, 2010".

The Bombay high court had on March 3 come down heavily on state Anti-corruption Bureau, Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate for not sharing information among themselves and asked the agencies to probe the source of transactions reflected in the bank accounts of Kripashankar Singh and his relatives.

The court noted, "When the petition contains serious allegations about inaction on the part of respondents in not taking any action against Kripashankar and his kins and the specific details of bank accounts provided by petitioner, we find it difficult to accept that enquiries cannot be completed in the matter in spite of passage of nine months".

The court said, "For instance, in para 9, petitioner has given specific details of bank accounts and mentioned that there were several deposits amounting to Rs 3.3 crores and more than Rs 30 crores were also deposited in the concerned bank accounts. The total turnover in the said account over a period of two years was about Rs 60 crores. The bank statements are not disputed by Singh and others".

The PIL, filed by Sanjay Tiwari, a social worker, has also alleged that Kripashankar, a former state minister and currently the Mumbai Pradesh Congress Chief was close to former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, allegedly involved in a multi-crore hawala scam. It also alleged that a lot of transactions took place between the two. ED, however, has said it had not found any links between Koda and Singh.

Meanwhile, reacting to the allegations Singh said his son had business transactions with (Vinod) Goenka, (chairman of DB Realty) but denied any wrongdoing.

"He (Singh's son) recieved the amount in cheque and paid (back) in cheque. There is nothing objectionable in the transaction," the Congress leader told PTI.

"An amount of Rs three crore was received from Dynamix Realty through two cheques and was meant for business purpose as recorded in books of accounts and my IT returns," Singh's son Narendra Mohan Singh said.

"As the business transactions did not materialise the amount was refunded in March last year. The refund reflected in books of accounts," Narendra said in a statement.

DB Realty's managing director Shahid Balwa is under the lens of investigative agencies for his alleged role in the 2G spectrum allocation scam and resigned from the board of directors of the company after his arrest.

related stories

Trevor Bayliss

Pawar used Balwa's craft

Maha, Centre differ on 2G terror link

2G scam: Dawood threat to CBI headquarters?

Balwa wants name cleared of D-link, says speed up case