Devyani Khobragade case: Full statement issued by US attorney Preet Bharara
[Editor: A spoof video which takes a dig at Indian Deputy Consul General, Devyani Khobragde in the US has been placed below. This video is not in very good taste, as far as Hindus and Hinduism are concerned]

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara

December 19, 2013: In a highly unusual move for a federal prosecutor, US Attorney Preet Bharara issued a lengthy statement on Wednesday explaining the arrest of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade and saying she was accorded courtesies most other defendants wouldn't get.

Here's the full statement:

There has been much misinformation and factual inaccuracy in the reporting on the charges against Devyani Khobragade. It is important to correct these inaccuracies because they are misleading people and creating an inflammatory atmosphere on an unfounded basis. Although I am quite limited in my role as a prosecutor in what I can say, which in many ways constrains my ability here to explain the case to the extent I would like, I can nevertheless make sure the public record is clearer than it has been thus far.

First, Ms. Khobragade was charged based on conduct, as is alleged in the Complaint, that shows she clearly tried to evade U.S. law designed to protect from exploitation the domestic employees of diplomats and consular officers. Not only did she try to evade the law, but as further alleged, she caused the victim and her spouse to attest to false documents and be a part of her scheme to lie to U.S. government officials. So it is alleged not merely that she sought to evade the law, but that she affirmatively created false documents and went ahead with lying to the U.S. government about what she was doing. One wonders whether any government would not take action regarding false documents being submitted to it in order to bring immigrants into the country. One wonders even more pointedly whether any government would not take action regarding that alleged conduct where the purpose of the scheme was to unfairly treat a domestic worker in ways that violate the law. And one wonders why there is so much outrage about the alleged treatment of the Indian national accused of perpetrating these acts, but precious little outrage about the alleged treatment of the Indian victim and her spouse?

Second, as the alleged conduct of Ms. Khobragade makes clear, there can be no plausible claim that this case was somehow unexpected or an injustice. Indeed, the law is clearly set forth on the State Department website. Further, there have been other public cases in the United States involving other countries, and some involving India, where the mistreatment of domestic workers by diplomats or consular officers was charged criminally, and there have been civil suits as well. In fact, the Indian government itself has been aware of this legal issue, and that its diplomats and consular officers were at risk of violating the law. The question then may be asked: Is it for U.S. prosecutors to look the other way, ignore the law and the civil rights of victims (again, here an Indian national), or is it the responsibility of the diplomats and consular officers and their government to make sure the law is observed?

Third, Ms. Khobragade, the Deputy General Consul for Political, Economic, Commercial and Women's Affairs, is alleged to have treated this victim illegally in numerous ways by paying her far below minimum wage, despite her child care responsibilities and many household duties, such that it was not a legal wage. The victim is also alleged to have worked far more than the 40 hours per week she was contracted to work, and which exceeded the maximum hour limit set forth in the visa application. Ms. Khobragade, as the Complaint charges, created a second contract that was not to be revealed to the U.S. government, that changed the amount to be paid to far below minimum wage, deleted the required language protecting the victim from other forms of exploitation and abuse, and also deleted language that stated that Ms. Khobragade agreed to "abide by all Federal, state, and local laws in the U.S." As the Complaint states, these are only "in part" the facts, and there are other facts regarding the treatment of the victim - that were not consistent with the law or the representations made by Ms. Khobragade -- that caused this Office and the State Department, to take legal action.

Fourth, as to Ms. Khobragade's arrest by State Department agents, this is a prosecutor's office in charge of prosecution, not the arrest or custody, of the defendant, and therefore those questions may be better referred to other agencies. I will address these issues based on the facts as I understand them. Ms. Khobragade was accorded courtesies well beyond what other defendants, most of whom are American citizens, are accorded. She was not, as has been incorrectly reported, arrested in front of her children. The agents arrested her in the most discreet way possible, and unlike most defendants, she was not then handcuffed or restrained. In fact, the arresting officers did not even seize her phone as they normally would have. Instead, they offered her the opportunity to make numerous calls to arrange personal matters and contact whomever she needed, including allowing her to arrange for child care. This lasted approximately two hours. Because it was cold outside, the agents let her make those calls from their car and even brought her coffee and offered to get her food. It is true that she was fully searched by a female Deputy Marshal -- in a private setting -- when she was brought into the U.S. Marshals' custody, but this is standard practice for every defendant, rich or poor, American or not, in order to make sure that no prisoner keeps anything on his person that could harm anyone, including himself. This is in the interests of everyone's safety.

Fifth, as has been reported, the victim's family has been brought to the United States. As also has been reported, legal process was started in India against the victim, attempting to silence her, and attempts were made to compel her to return to India. Further, the Victim's family reportedly was confronted in numerous ways regarding this case. Speculation about why the family was brought here has been rampant and incorrect. Some focus should perhaps be put on why it was necessary to evacuate the family and what actions were taken in India vis-a-vis them. This Office and the Justice Department are compelled to make sure that victims, witnesses and their families are safe and secure while cases are pending.

Finally, this Office's sole motivation in this case, as in all cases, is to uphold the rule of law, protect victims, and hold accountable anyone who breaks the law - no matter what their societal status and no matter how powerful, rich or connected they are.

Courtesy: NDTV Ltd

Was Devyani’s maid an American Spy? 

~RSN Singh

When the senior officer in R&AW MrRavinder Singh was spirited away with his family by the Americans, the then National Security Advisor of India had commented that the issue was not that there was a mole but why was he so important to the US establishment.

In the instant case the same question becomes relevant, i.e. why Sangeeta Richard, a domestic help of the Deputy Consul General (DCG) DevyaniKhobragade, was so important to the Americans that her family was whisked away to the US two days before the criminal treatment meted out to the DCG by the authorities in that country.

Was Sangeeta recruited by the US Intelligence Agencies to gain information of Indian diplomatic mission in the US?

The desperation to protect Sangeeta Richard and her family by the US authorities says it all. Such desperation betrays that possibly Sangeeta had been recruited and had been converted into what is called in Intelligence parlance ‘asset’.

Plausibly this asset was discovered and uncovered by the Consul General. It could be this fact that compelled Devyani to seek intervention of Delhi High Court, which issued an interim injunction against Sangeeta, preventing her from taking legal action in the US.

Further the Metropolitan Magistrate of the South District Court issued an arrest warrant against her and requested the US government to locate her. The sudden grant of Visa and escape of Sangeeta’s family members to the US implies that the authorities in that country were closely monitoring the situation with regards to its ‘asset’ and its family.

This abrupt development may have been engendered by the imminent possibility of the Indian judiciary tightening its noose on the family members of Sangeeta.

It is therefore evident that Sangeetawas not absconding but in the safe-custody of the American authorities. The exposure of such assets, it must be remembered compromises the entire espionage framework of the hostile country. Any price therefore to protect the framework is less.

Devyani, it seems has paid the price.

The entire family could not have been spirited out of India, the manner in which it was done, without engineering some extremely sensational diplomatic incident, which carried both the stamp of morality and the object of provocation.

In any country in the world such incidents involving diplomats is rare of the rarest. Say in India, if a diplomat, at any level, of any country were to be involved in an accident, for instance running over a pedestrian by an automobile the matter would be reported right up the chain, i.e. from constable to SHO to Assistant Commission to Deputy Commission to Commissioner of Police to Home Secretary to Home Minister and finally to the Prime Minister.
It is because the factor of ‘diplomatic immunity’ is of overwhelming consideration.

In Devyani’s case, therefore, it was not a matter of ‘law taking its natural course’, but a clear case of deliberate provocation which entailed hand cuffing and stripping her. India has been provoked and outraged, the Americans have tried to gain a moral high-ground and the US intelligence ‘asset’ or ‘assets’ (Sangeeta and her other family members) have gained sympathy and credibility. A perfect script!

The attempt by the US to acquire a high-moral ground is nauseating. The morality part in favour of the Devyani has been more than upheld by the stance of the Court's in India.

They would not have taken the position, they did, if it was a matter only confined to wages.

The espionage angle seems to be very strong in the instant case.

Morality and the US diplomacy have always been contradiction in terms, rather antagonistic. If the US was so concerned about the sensitivities and laws of other countries, it would have extradited David Headley to India.

If it was so sensitive about disparity in wages, it would not have outsourced the job of call centers to other countries.

Indian youth working in these call centers spend sleepless nights to make America move during the day, for pittance.

Moreover the discerning people of India have abundantly understood the consummate skill with which American spin-doctors create agendas for destabilizing a country so that the economic and other strategic agendas could be pursued.

It began with a concept called 'march of democracies'. It then graduated to 'human rights'.

Then many countries like India were told that they were sitting on the mountain of 'AIDS bomb'. Now the latest in the inventory is a concept called 'modern slaves'.

This theme is being flogged on Western television channels. It seeks to say that 50 percent of India constitutes 'modern slaves', who are hostage to the remaining.

This is clever device to drive a wedge right through the middle of the Indian population. It is also a propaganda to convey the impression in the world that most countries including India are despotic, cruel and uncivilized.

With regards to slaves, it is another matter that the Father of America, George Washington, bequeathed his property to his wife, which included 'slaves'.

The purpose of this article is not to delve into the details of the wages angle being justified to outrage the diplomatic and personal sanctity of Devyani.

Nevertheless, it would be pertinent to mention that the arrangement and contract between the DCG and the Sangeeta Richard is laudable by any standards, and anybody who questions it is doing so due to motivated considerations.

The US has used this device of Sangeeta Richard to propagate this concept of 'modern slaves' and thus cause disaffection in the Indian society. In this bid they are being served by many Indian-Americans, who love to decry their motherland at the slightest behest of their adopted fatherland.

Echoing the same 'modern slaves' concept but in different tenor, is a newly created political party, known to be receiving huge funding from American entities. Apart from the Maoists, the Church and the jihadis this is a new political US leverage.

This author has taken the opportunity to stick his neck out and proclaim with all the emphasis that Devyani issue is only a veneer to protect a espionage network.

(All views expressed in this article are the author's personal opinion.)

Courtesy: www.sify.com

Father aspired for berth in RS, daughter has Adarsh flat & more

Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade’s
father Uttam Khobragade
Photo: The Hindu

Mumbai, Thu Dec 19 2013: Uttam Khobragade, a 1984-batch IAS officer and father of India's deputy consul-general in New York, Devyani Khobragade, aspired to become a Rajya Sabha MP following his retirement. Khobragade, who was BEST General Manager, FDA Commissioner, MHADA CEO and suburban Mumbai collector, had approached political parties soon after his retirement early last year.

He is not affiliated to any party but confirmed that he is "in talks with some parties". Khobragade, 62, has been vocal about the alleged ill-treatment meted out to his daughter by US authorities.

He comes from a scheduled caste family in Chandrapur district. He approached the Republican Party of India (Athawale) in the hope of a Rajya Sabha nomination from the party.

While RPI(A) president Ramdas Athawale said Khobragade approached him first, Khobragade claimed it was the party that got in touch with him offering to make him its executive president.

"Ramdas Athawale approached me to become the executive president of the party. I asked for a Rajya Sabha nomination which he was not willing to promise. So the talks ended there," said Khobragade.

Athawale, who is himself known to be seeking a Rajya Sabha nomination, said Khobragade was offered a Lok Sabha seat from Ramtek in Latur which he rejected. Sources said Khobragade is believed to have approached several factions of Dalit parties.

Asked if he has joined Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Jan Shakti Party, he said: "I did have talks with them but the party has no presence in Maharashtra so I opted out. I am in talks with some parties at present whose names I am not willing to disclose right now."

Khobragade's name had also figured in the Adarsh Housing Society scam and he was accused by the CBI of helping Adarsh use higher FSI than permitted by allegedly transferring an adjoining plot reserved for a BEST bus depot to Adarsh. He and Devyani, it was alleged, had got a flat each in the society as quid pro quo.

Khobragade, who had denied any wrongdoing in the case, Wednesday said he and Devyani would not return the apartments.

"We purchased the flat under the reserved quota after paying the correct price. Why should we return the flat?" he asked.

Devyani, who already owned a house in Mumbai — which too was allotted under the state government's 10 per cent quota — got the Adarsh flat after she applied for it.

The Adarsh apartment is one of 11 immovable properties listed by Devyani in her returns for the year ending December 31, 2012, on the external affairs ministry website.

The other 10 comprise 25 acres of farmland (inherited) in Chandrapur district, 8 acres of farmland (inherited) in Ratnagiri district, 2 acres of farmland (inherited) in Raigad district, a 5,000 sq ft plot (purchased) in Alibaug, an 800 sq ft flat (purchased by father, inherited) in Pune district, a 500 sq ft flat (purchased) in Aurangabad district, a 10,000 sq ft plot (purchased by father, inherited) in Raigad district, a 200 sq m plot (purchased) in Greater Noida, a 3.97-are plot (transferred by father) in Kerala's Ernakulam district, 2-02 and 2-70 ares of land (gifted by father) in Ernakulam district.

— with inputs from ENS, New Delhi.

Courtesy: The Indian Express

India judge ordered to release daughter held over lover

Chittorgarh Fort, Rajasthan, India

NEW DELHI, December 17, 2013: India´s top court Monday ordered a judge release his 30-year-old daughter who was being detained because he disapproved of her marrying her boyfriend from a different caste.

The Supreme Court ordered Supriya Rathore be reunited with her boyfriend who was forced to take legal action to have her released from her father, a high court judge in the northwestern state of Rajasthan. “She is a major and has the liberty to make her choice in marriage,” judges H.L. Dattu and C. Nagappan told the couple, who were in the court in New Delhi for the ruling.

The boyfriend, Siddharath Mukherjee, had petitioned the court, saying the father, who belongs to the Hindu Rajput warrior caste, opposed his daughter marrying a man from the Bengali-speaking Brahmin caste. Rathore herself had also emailed police and the courts during her month-long detention at the family home in Jaipur city, seeking their help to get her released and reunited.

Acting on the boyfriend´s petition, the court ordered police on December 12 to transport Supriya to New Delhi for Monday´s hearing.

“I have no complaints against anyone including my parents,” Supriya told the court during the hearing. “I love them all but I want to go with Siddharath Mukherjee as I want to marry him,” she said, as the court offered her protection if she felt threatened in any way.

India has officially banned its hereditary caste hierarchy but the rigid system still exists. Young couples are targeted by their families, clans or communities who disapprove of relationships outside of their own castes.

Courtesy: International The News

You know I am attracted to you' Justice AK Ganguly told intern & kissed her arm

[Editor: It seems that the best way to remove a person from an important positions is to bring in a sexual harassment case and then BUY the GREAT INDIAN MEDIA; half the job is done. If any case has to be initiated against any former judge of the honourable Supreme Court of India, then it has to be done by the application of standard procedures and not by publishing the affidavit of the "alleged victim". The office of the Additional Solicitor General of India has gone BONKERS or what?]
New Delhi, Dec 16, 2013: The law intern who has accused Justice AK Ganguly of sexual harassment told a court panel that the ex-SC judge kissed her and said that he loved me.

Following the allegations, the Chief Justice announced that he had set up a committee in his administrative capacity, of three judges, two being incumbent chief justices and a woman judge, to investigate and give a report to the Chief Justice.

Justice Ganguly, who now heads the West Bengal Human Rights Commission, had expressed “shock” over the allegation and said he was “shattered“.

“I am denying everything. I have told the committee that all the allegations levelled by the intern are wrong. I don’t know how such allegations have been levelled against me,” he told

According to Indian Express, in his statement before the court, apart from denying the allegations, Ganguly said the new law of 2013 making sexual harassment an offence did not apply to him as the alleged incident was of 2012, forgetting that outraging the modesty of a woman was always an offence, a law under which K P S Gill was prosecuted successfully by Rupan Deol Bajaj.

Courtesy: The Daily Bhaskar

Need to Rethink Article 370: Sunanada Pushkar Backs Modi

Photo: www.filmitadka.in

New Delhi | Dec 03, 2013: BJP prime ministerial candidate and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who in his recent rally in Jammu said that there was a need for debate on Article 370 has received unexpected support from Congress MP and Union Minister Shashi Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar.

In an interview to CNN-IBN, she said that Article 370, which gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir, needs to be reconsidered because it discriminates against women.

She said that there is definitely a need to rethink beacuse there is a lot of discrimination against women. "My friends from Kashmir called me and said that we girls do not get government jobs once we marry someone who is a non-Kashmiri. The girls who get married into Kashmiri families, who are not Kashmiri girls, they get government jobs and their children have all of the rights," she added.

However, she said that Article 370 has not impeded development in the in J&K, adding that she agrees that the Kashmiri Pandits need to be rehabilitated.

Courtesy: Outlook

Rare thalassaemia gene detected in Bengal family

Kolkata, Nov 29, 2013, 03 A rare thalassaemia gene mutation that could be specific to Bengali Brahmins has been detected by researchers in Kolkata.

The 'Fannin Lubbock' mutation is a silent one, which cannot be detected in regular thalassaemia screening and has so far only been traced in a group of thalassaemia carriers in the Mediterranean region of Europe.

 What the discovery means is that unwitting carriers of the gene can now get a confirmatory test so that they don't end up marrying another carrier and putting their child at risk of this deadly disease. A team of experts under the guidance of senior scientist Jayasree Basak is researching the mutation and its origin.

Fannin Lubbock mutation had not been reported from anywhere else in the world till scientists at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) chanced upon four thalassaemia carriers of a single family in Bandel last month.

The three women and a child had the rare mutation. Since no member of the family - a conservative Brahmin one belonging to the Barendra sect - has ever married outside the caste, scientists are intrigued about the source of the mutation and a study has been launched.

Fannin Lubbock mutation alters the beta globin gene structure in haemoglobin and is impossible to detect in blood count tests. It's only revealed on molecular analysis. The defect doesn't lead to thalassaemia. It merely makes the person a carrier but a child of two thalassaemia carriers has a 25% chance of being born with the ailment.

The discovery of the gene in the Barendra sect was almost by accident. A female member of the family visited NCRI for treatment after she had post-natal complications and a low haemoglobin count. While regular tests didn't show anything abnormal, molecular analysis revealed an alteration in the haemoglobin structure.

"It was strikingly similar to Fannin Lubbock that has so far been detected only in Europe. We compared her mutation to the past cases and found that the origin was not the same," said Deboshree M Bhattacharyya, a senior research fellow at NCRI.

Intrigued, the researchers launched into an intensive study. They screened all 16 members of the family and studied their clinical history. "We were surprised to find that the woman's mother was a carrier and had the mutation, too. Her aunt had Fannin Lubbock as well and she passed on the gene to her young son. We are trying to trace the source of the gene since it has never been reported anywhere in the sub-continent, let alone Bengal," said Jayasree Basak.

It's all the more intriguing since a very small percentage of Bengali Brahmins are thalassaemia carriers, compared to the rest of the Bengali population, she added.

Around 2-3% of Bengali Brahmins are carriers, compared to 10-11% of the non-Brahmins. "This particular family hasn't had an inter-caste marriage in at least four generations. So, the source remains a mystery. Non-Brahmins in Bengal have a higher percentage of thalassaemia carriers because they marry outside the caste more often," said Deboshree Bhattacharyya.

Bengal now has more than 1 lakh thalassaemia patients and 10% of the population in Kolkata is believed to be carriers. Secretary of the Thalassaemia and Aids Prevention Society Sailen Bose, however, refused to accept that thalassaemia could be caste-specific. "It would be wrong to conclude that fewer Brahmins have the disease since there has been no authentic study. Irrespective of caste, the number of thalassaemia patients has been spiralling. If this latent gene is detected it would be a boon. Or else carriers would go undetected," said Bose.

Courtesy: The Times of India

Men under a state of siege

~Palash Krishna Mehrotra

Photo: The Guardian

New Delhi, December 1, 2013: First, this is not a piece about the incident(s) in the elevator. This is not about the morality of what happened between Tarun Tejpal and the 'victim' at Think festival. The matter is sub-judice. Let the courts decide.

Instead, this is a piece about the new enlarged definition of rape (and what it means for men); what Tejpal stands for as a person; the witch-hunt against him; and the larger link between writers and criminality.

The new legal regime, put in place after the December 16 gangrape, though well-intentioned, certainly seems draconian, and full of grey areas. The police are duty-bound to register a case as soon as they receive information, even if the complainant hasn't come forward. The definition of sexual harassment has been widened to include 'sexual overtures' (like sending an email or a text message), demanding 'sexual favours' and 'forcible disrobing.'

New laws

Frighteningly, the new law makes it clear that consent given under intoxication does not translate into informed consent. This means that a drunken consensual tumble with a woman can come back to haunt the man the next day, or even ten years later. This seems grossly unfair. And what about demanding sexual favours? Clinton, for example, was clearly demanding a sexual favour of Monica Lewinsky. But if a man offers to 'go down' on a woman - is he offering a submissive sexual favour or demanding one? Many Indian men admit privately that they feel they are under a state of siege. The bedroom has been criminalised. Is it going to be impossible to form relationships from now on? Have we as a society, yet again, swung from one extreme to another?

Let's not forget that iconic feminists themselves have criticised hysterical feminism in the West. Doris Lessing once said, and I quote, "I find myself increasingly shocked at the unthinking and automatic rubbishing of men which is now so part of our culture that it is hardly even noticed… The most ill-educated and nasty woman can rubbish the nicest, kindest and most intelligent man and no one protests. What is happening to men?... Why did this have to be at the cost of men?"

Point two. About the witch-hunt. It's something that Tejpal suffered when Tehelka broke the Operation Westend story about the Indian Army. The company's finances were squeezed, other media organisations shunned Tehelka and regular raids were the norm at their Soami Nagar office. I experienced this firsthand since I worked there. This time it's been worse. As I said at the outset, let the law take its course. But what about the other stuff? How were news channel cameras allowed into the plane that was to bring Tejpal and family to Goa? How can an incident in an elevator be blown so out of proportion that an entire organisation is brought to its knees? It doesn't seem right that several people are now going to lose their jobs because of what one man might have done. It wasn't their fault. Why punish them?

Also, why wait till now to dig up dirt on Tejpal - all this stuff about shares being sold at inflated prices, PF and health benefits not being paid to employees, properties bought at different locations. It smacks of going after a fallen man. It seems to me that by doing so, the media is trying to cleanse itself of its own sins committed in the past. It's the most convenient way of absolving itself of all wrongs.

Maverick

Point three. Something about Tarun as a person. He represents south Delhi culture at its best (and, maybe, its worst - depending which side of the fence you are on.). He was brash, flamboyant, in-your-face. He knew how to get money out of moneybags. He rose from the ashes of the dotcom days with two print magazines, a festival and a clutch of best-selling novels. We don't take kindly to mavericks. There was bound to be tremendous jealousy. People were waiting for him to sink. That explains the glee. If anything one should feel sad, but glee? I'm not so sure.

Future

Christopher Hitchens's mother said of him that 'Chris always wanted to get to know everybody.' The fast-talking Tejpal was similar. He was ambitious, charming and confident, and he could get along with a swathe of people, as varied as Sir Vidia, Robert de Niro, even Ponty Chadha, whom he convinced to make a heavy investment in his M Block club called Prufrock. Here was a maverick who could not only wheel-n-deal with dodgy Ponty, but also someone who wrote fine literary reviews in his thirties, and displayed sound literary judgment as a publisher, publishing the likes of Irwin Allan Sealy and Arundhati Roy.

Finally, if convicted, Tejpal will go to jail. This might mark the end of his career in journalism but certainly not as a writer. The morality of art and society's morality have little in common. In fact, writers and jail seem to enjoy a productive relationship. The list is long and illustrious: John Bunyan wrote Pilgrim's Progress in prison; Ezra Pound worked on his Cantos here; Gramsci, Wittgenstein, O Henry and Oscar Wilde - the roll call goes on. Jean Genet's The Thief's Journal, his account of his days in prison, is regarded as a classic. Let's not write Tejpal off yet. He might just write himself in.

(The writer is the author of The Butterfly Generation)

Courtesy: India Today

Lok Adalat tells man to spend equal time with wife and live-in partner

Khandwa, December 01, 2013: A lok adalat held in Khandwa has brokered a unique agreement among a man, his wife and his live-in partner, granting the latter an exclusive 15-day access per month to the man in question.

The court also asked the man to spend another half of the month exclusively with his wife.

As per the order issued by judge Ganga Charan Dube on Saturday, the wife and the live-in partner will live under the same roof and share space with the man they love for a fortnight each, following a mutual agreement between them.

The house of the man, who retired recently as a state electricity department employee in Omkareshwar, has three rooms and as per the agreement, he will stay in the middle while remaining two rooms will be occupied by his wife and his woman friend, separately.

"The middle room will have an access to both the rooms and the court directed the man to spend a fortnight each with both of them," said government advocate Ashwini Bhate.

As per the agreement, the live-in partner will also have equal share in movable and immovable properties of the man they love.

His wife had filed a complaint with Lok Adalat alleging that her husband spends most of the time with his woman friend and for the last two years she has been staying with them at their house.

Courtesy: The Hindustan Times

Ladies' gang uses molest trap for cash

Dec 1, 2013, Kolkata: If you are a pedestrian or use the public transport system, beware of a gang of women that traps innocent people as molesters and extorts them.

At a time when sexual harassment cases are shaking the nation, this bunch of women has seized upon the fear psychosis to make some quick money, regardless of what effect it might have on women who are actually victims of molestation and rape.

Such incidents have been reported over the past few weeks but no one had dared go to police until the all-lady gang targeted a lawyer on Wednesday, without realizing his wife was with him or that there were legal clerks around as witnesses.

Lawyer Asim Kumar Maity was returning home when the incident occurred in the busy Dalhousie area.

"It was around 5.30 pm, after the day's work. I, my wife and some law-clerks were looking for a taxi in front of Mughal Garden Restaurant. My wife was a little away chatting with the law clerks. I had just had an altercation with a cabby over refusal. All of sudden, a woman, who looked to be in her late 40s, swung towards me and held me by my collar. I was stunned. I had never even dreamt of being in such a situation," recounted Maity.

The woman charged Maity aggressively and accused him of molesting her. "Why did you touch me," she demanded to know and threatened to "drag him to Hare Street police station".

The commotion quickly attracted a crowd. And as it happens in such cases, people instinctively trust the woman.

"She was hurling filthy abuses to unnerve my husband. In no time, three other women emerged from a nearby alley and joined the first one. By the time I had overcome my initial bafflement and rushed to rescue my husband," said Kaberi Sengupta Maity.

Maity, too, had shaken off his initial shock and shouted back. That his wife was with him gave him added support.

"They were not only abusive but were threatening to put me behind bars. When my wife came to my rescue, they grew more desperate and tried to draw public sympathy by 'showing' how I molested her. From their words, my legal brain could pick up that they knew of Section 354-IPC (molestation) and that it had been made a non-bailable offence," Maity said.

The gang backed off only when they realized Maity was a lawyer and he not only had the support of his wife but a bunch of legal clerks as witnesses.

"Other lawyers also came to our rescue, so did law-clerks. I told them that I was ready to go to any police station and demanded to see their identity. They were still hurling abusive words. By then, a law-clerk brought a cab and we boarded it. The women banged on the taxi as we were about to leave," Maity said.

Since they were all women, Maity and his group decided not to confront them any further. "But later, I felt I must record a complaint as they can harass an unsuspecting citizen and extort him in the name of an out-of-police-station settlement. Police must be proactive to nab the gang before they trap others," he said. Hare Street police are investigating the complaint.

The women are aged between 38 and 50. There have been rumours of women suddenly accusing men of molestation and dragging them to police but stopping short of it and agreeing to "settle" it for cash. Maity is the only one to file a complaint so far.

Courtesy: The Times of India

Humans emerged from male pig and female chimp, world's top geneticist says 

London, Nov 30, 2013: Humans are actually hybrids, who emerged as an offspring of a male pig and a female chimpanzee, according to one of the world's leading geneticist. 

Turning the theory of human ancestry on its head, Dr Eugene McCarthy — one of the world's leading authorities on hybridization in animals from the University of Georgia has suggested that humans didn't evolve from just apes but was a backcross hybrid of a chimpanzee and pigs. 

His hypothesis is based on the fact that though humans have many features in common with chimps, there are a lot more that don't correspond to any other primates. He then suggests that there is only one animal in the animal kingdom that has all of the traits which distinguish humans from our primate cousins. 

"What is this other animal that has all these traits? The answer is Sus scrofa - the ordinary pig" he says. 

He explains: "Genetically, we're close to chimpanzees, and yet we have many physical traits that distinguish us from chimpanzees. One fact, however, suggests the need for an open mind: as it turns out, many features that distinguish humans from chimpanzees also distinguish them from all other primates. Features found in human beings, but not in other primates, cannot be accounted for by hybridization of a primate with some other primate. If hybridization is to explain such features, the cross will have to be between a chimpanzee and a non-primate - an unusual, distant cross to create an unusual creature." 

Dr McCarthy suggests that Charles Darwin told only half the story of human evolution. 

"We believe that humans are related to chimpanzees because humans share so many traits with chimpanzees. Is it not rational then also, if pigs have all the traits that distinguish humans from other primates, to suppose that humans are also related to pigs? Let us take it as our hypothesis, then, that humans are the product of ancient hybridization between pig and chimpanzee," he said. 

According to Dr McCarthy, if we compare humans with non-mammals or invertebrates like the crocodile, bullfrog, octopus, dragonfly and starfish, pigs and chimpanzees suddenly seem quite similar to humans. 

Pigs and chimpanzees differ in chromosome counts. The opinion is often expressed that when two animals differ in this way, they cannot produce fertile hybrids. This rule is, however, only a generalization. While such differences do tend to have an adverse effect on the fertility of hybrid offspring, it is also true that many different types of crosses in which the parents differ in chromosome counts produce hybrids that capable themselves of producing offspring. 

There is substantial evidence supporting the idea that very distantly related mammals can mate and produce a hybrid. 

Another suggestive fact, Dr McCarthy says is the frequent use of pigs in the surgical treatment of human beings. Pig heart valves are used to replace those of human coronary patients. Pig skin is used in the treatment of human burn victims. "Serious efforts are now underway to transplant kidneys and other organs from pigs into human beings. Why are pigs suited for such purposes? Why not goats, dogs, or bears - animals that, in terms of taxonomic classification, are no more distantly related to human beings than pigs?," he said. 

"It might seem unlikely that a pig and a chimpanzee would choose to mate, but their behaviour patterns and reproductive anatomy does, in fact, make them compatible. It is, of course, a well-established fact that animals sometimes attempt to mate with individuals that are unlike themselves, even in a natural setting, and that many of these crosses successfully produce hybrid offspring," he adds. 

Dr Eugene McCarthy says that the fact that even modern-day humans are relatively infertile may be significant in this connection. 

"If a hybrid population does not die out altogether, it will tend to improve in fertility with each passing generation under the pressure of natural selection. Fossils indicate that we have had at least 200,000 years to recover our fertility since the time that the first modern humans (Homo sapiens) appeared. The earliest creatures generally recognized as human ancestors (Ardipithecus, Orrorin) date to about six million years ago. So our fertility has had a very long time to improve. If we have been recovering for thousands of generations and still show obvious symptoms of sterility, then our earliest human ancestors, if they were hybrids, must have suffered from an infertility that was quite severe. This line of reasoning, too, suggests that the chimpanzee might have produced Homo sapiens by crossing with a genetically incompatible mate, possibly even one outside the primate order," he said.

Courtesy: The Times of India

Meet the Woman Who Is Slowly Calcifying Into a ‘Human Statue’

Ashley Kurpiel, although her movement is becoming
limited with an extremely rare disease, isn’t letting
it debilitate what she wants to do in life.
(Photo credit: Ashley Kurpiel)

Ashley Kurpiel traveled to Russia to meet Olesya,
a woman with FOP who saw her story and was inspired.
(Image source: Ashley Kurpiel/Facebook)

November 28, 2013: When Ashley Kurpiel was 3 years old, doctors amputated her arm thinking she had cancer. A few months later, doctors found out they were wrong, and Kurpiel’s family learned her condition was much worse.

Over the years, the muscles, cartilage, ligaments and tendons in Kurpiel’s body have been slowly turning into bone.

“I am turning into a human statue,” Kurpiel told TheBlaze.

Kurpiel has a condition known as fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), which affects only a few hundred people worldwide. The genetic disorder results from a mutation in the ACVR1 gene. Physically traumatic events, like a fall or other injury, can cause muscle swelling and a speeding up of the ossification process.

But if you think this disease is slowing Kurpiel down, it’s actually doing just the opposite.

At 31 years old, Kurpiel surfs, travels as an inspirational speaker and watches her niece.

“I have energy, so I’m going to go do it,” Kurpiel said. “Tomorrow, I might not have this mobility. Everyday I do what I can while I can.”

In fact, Kurpiel recently got back from a trip to Russia after a woman with FOP contacted her, saying recent media coverage of Kurpiel’s lifestyle inspired her.

The trip to Russia was eyeopening to Kurpiel. Not just traveling to a different country, but traveling to one without the accommodations for disabled persons.

“If you are physically disabled, you are put away,” Kurpiel said of those in Russia.

“Everyone was looking at me like I was a freak show,” she continued.

Kurpiel and the woman she traveled to Russia to meet appeared on “Let Them Talk,” a talk show Krupiel said was like the Russian equivalent of “Oprah.”

On the show, Kurpiel said she and her friend David, a travel buddy, sang a song called “Beautiful Creature,” which he had written for Kurpiel, to 29-year-old Olesya.

“It was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done,” Kurpiel said of signing the song acoustically on stage for the TV show. “(Olesya) loved it though.”

Talking with Kurpiel it is hard to believe that she “was a very shy and reserved little girl.” In her youth, she wasn’t impacted by the symptoms associated with FOP. She was, however, an amputee.

In terms of her current mobility, Kurpiel said she has limited movement in her neck, she can only walk short distances because her hips and thighs are fused and she can’t lift her arm normally, but she can feed herself with anything that’s “fork friendly.”

If you touched Kurpiel’s back, she said it would feel like a rock. But unlike a statue or a person who is paralyzed, even though she can’t move, she can feel.

The calcification process, according to Kurpiel, is horribly painful.

“The pain– I tried every narcotic known to man,” she said when her legs began calcifying in late 2006.

She said she wanted her mobility to be taken away — “let me be rock fused,” she said — as opposed to suffering through it.

Watch Kurpiel talk about herself and her condition:


Last month, Kurpiel traveled to Denver, Colo., to be fitted for a prosthetic arm. Being both a patient with FOP and an amputtee, Kurpiel feels she is in a unique position and works to raise awareness and support both communities.

Her main message?

“Life’s not over. It’s different but it’s not the end of the world.”

Courtesy: The Blaze

Starving Syrians 'forced to eat lion from Damascus zoo'

Picture appears to showing starving rebels
with a slaughtered lion

Friday, 29 November, 2013: An image of Syrians cutting up a lion is being shared widely on social media, with activists pointing to the picture as proof that the nation's besieged citizens are now so hungry they are having to kill zoo animals to survive.

The picture shows three men next to a dead lion, with one man cutting up the animal's hind quarters and another next to the lion, holding up its head.

The image has not been independently verified, but many are reporting they slaughtered the lion from Al-Qarya al-Shama Zoo, in East Ghouta, for food. It is being circulated as an example of the levels of sheer desperation many have reached in the war-torn capital.

The exact circumstances surrounding the animal's death are not known. Some reports claim the men are skinning the dead animal to use its coat for warmth as temperatures drop. Others have suggested the seemingly emancipated animal was already dead. As the Arabic word for lion is 'Assad', there is also conjecture that this a message to the regime.

Last month, a group of Syria clerics issued a fatwa allowing people living in besieged suburbs to eat meat normally forbidden under Islamic law. The Muslim clerics said people could eat cats, dogs and donkeys in a bid to reduce growing hunger in the agricultural belt of Ghouta. They called the move a cry for help to the whole world and warned the living would be forced to eat the dead if the situation were to continue deteriorating.

The eastern Ghouta district has been under siege by the Syrian Army for six months and residents have reported food shortages. The area was among other regions in Damascus affected by a chemical weapons attack in August.

Over 100 people died in the eastern suburbs on Friday after fierce fighting broke out when Syrian rebels tried to break a month long blockade. According to local and international aid workers, President Assad’s forces appeared to be trying to starve out residents. This latest bloodshed comes as the Oxford Research Group – a think tank – says that a total of 11,420 children have now been killed in the conflict.

Courtesy: The Independent

Afghanistan plans stoning adulterers to death

Draft revision of penal code includes public punishment for married adulterers, a move harking back to Taliban rule.

Human rights groups have called on President
Karzai to reject the plan

25 Nov 2013: Afghanistan's government is considering restoring stoning for adultery, a punishment used by the Taliban during its time in power.

"Men and women who commit adultery shall be punished based on the circumstances to one of the following punishments: lashing, stoning [to death]," states article 21 of a draft of the new penal code.

Article 23 of the draft, being drawn up by the ministry of justice, specifies that the stoning should be public.

Unmaried adulterers would face 100 lashes under the changes.

The revision would need to be approved by parliament and the president of Afghanistan for it to become law. Under current laws, adulterers face long prison terms.

Brad Adams, the Asia director for Human Rights Watch, condemned the plan and called on the president, Hamid Karzai, to reject the plan.

"It is absolutely shocking that 12 years after the fall of the Taliban government, the Karzai administration might bring back stoning as a punishment," he said Brad Adams.

"President Karzai needs to demonstrate at least a basic commitment to human rights and reject this proposal out of hand."

HRW said that $16 billion in aid promised to Afghanistan last year was tied to progress on human rights issues.

"Donors need to make clear that international support to Afghanistan's government is not a blank cheque," Adams said.

In Afghanistan, an extremely conservative Muslim country, extramarital sex and sex before marriage are taboo and can lead to bloody conflicts between families.

Stoning was widely practised during the years of Taliban rule, and is used in areas still controlled by the movement. In July last year, a 21-year-old woman was stoned to death in a Taliban-controlled village just 60km north of Kabul.

Courtesy: Aljazeera

Angola accused of 'banning' Islam as mosques closed

Human rights activists condemn crackdown though officials in largely Catholic nation insist reports of ban are exaggerated

Palestinians burn Angola's flag in a protest amid
reports that the country has banned Islam and
destroyed mosques. Photograph: APA/REX

Thursday 28 November 2013: Angola has been accused of "banning" Islam after shutting down most of the country's mosques amid reports of violence and intimidation against women who wear the veil.

The Islamic Community of Angola (ICA) claims that eight mosques have been destroyed in the past two years and anyone who practises Islam risks being found guilty of disobeying Angola's penal code.

Human rights activists have condemned the wide-ranging crackdown. "From what I have heard, Angola is the first country in the world that has decided to ban Islam," said Elias Isaac, country director of the Open Society Initiative of Southern Africa (Osisa). "This is a crazy madness. The government is intolerant of any difference."

Officials in the largely Catholic southern African nation insist that worldwide media reports of a "ban" on Islam are exaggerated and no places of worship are being targeted.

The UK has just named Angola as one of its five "high-level prosperity partners" in Africa and the two countries have a burgeoning trade relationship. The Angolan president, José Eduardo dos Santos, Africa's second-longest serving head of state at 34 years, has long been accused of corruption and human rights abuses.

Religious organisations are required to apply for legal recognition in Angola, which currently sanctions 83, all of them Christian. Last month the justice ministry rejected the applications of 194 organisations, including one from the Islamic community.

Under Angolan law, a religious group needs more than 100,000 members and to be present in 12 of the 18 provinces to gain legal status, giving them the right to construct schools and places of worship. There are only an estimated 90,000 Muslims among Angola's population of about 18 million.

David Já, president of the Islamic Community of Angola (ICA), said on Thursday: "We can say that Islam has been banned in Angola. You need 100,000 to be recognised as a religion or officially you cannot pray."

There are 78 mosques in the country, according to the ICA, and all have been closed except those in the capital, Luanda, because they are technically unlicensed. "The mosques in Luanda were supposed to be closed yesterday but because of an international furore about reports that Angola had banned Islam, the government decided not to," Já said.

"So, at the moment, mosques in Luanda are open and people are going for prayers."

Já said the government began shutting mosques in 2010, including one that was burned down in Huambo province, "a day after authorities had warned us that we should have not built the mosque where we had and that it had to be built somewhere else. The government justified by saying that it was an invasion of Angolan culture and a threat to Christian values."

Another mosque was destroyed in Luanda earlier this month, Já said, and 120 copies of the Koran burned.

Muslims have been instructed to dismantle mosques themselves, he added. "They usually issue a legal request for us to destroy the building and give us 73 hours to do so. Failure to do so results in government authorities doing it themselves."

Women who wear the traditional veil are also being targeted, Já said. "As things stand, most Muslim women are afraid to wear the veil. A woman was assaulted in hospital in Luanda for wearing a veil, and on another occasion, a young Muslim lady was beaten up and told to leave the country because she was wearing a veil.

"Most recently, young girls were prohibited from wearing the veil in Catholic schools and, when we went there to confront the nuns, they simply said they couldn't allow it. Although there is not an explicit written law prohibiting the use of veil in Angola, government has prohibited the practice of the faith and women are afraid to express their faith in that sense."

The ICA's complaints were supported by Rafael Marques de Morais, a political activist and leading investigative journalist in Angola. "I've seen an order that says Muslims must destroy the mosques themselves and clear away the debris, or they will be charged for the cost of the destruction."

He suggested the government was seeking to find a convenient diversion from growing public hostility towards Chinese and Portuguese workers in Angola. "The government need to deflect attention. They are trying to find a scapegoat for economic pressures and saying Islam is not common to Angolan values and culture.

"They believe a blanket law against Islam will get the sympathy of both Angolans and those in the international community who equate Islam with terrorism."

Asked about the potential for Muslims to protest, Marques replied: "If the Muslims try to show any anger, they will be deported the following day."

But the Angolan government denies any attempt to ban Islam. "There is no war in Angola against Islam or any other religion," Manuel Fernando, director of religious affairs at the culture ministry, . "There is no official position that targets the destruction or closure of places of worship, whichever they are."

A statement from the Angolan embassy in the US concurred: "The republic of Angola ... it's a country that does not interfere in religion. We have a lot of religions there. It is freedom of religion. We have Catholic, Protestants, Baptists, Muslims and evangelical people."

Courtesy: The Guardian

Nigeria sharia police smash 240,000 bottles of beer

Wednesday, 27 November 2013: Police enforcing Islamic law in Nigeria's city of Kano publicly destroyed some 240,000 bottles of beer today, the latest move in a wider crackdown on behaviour deemed "immoral" in the area.

The banned booze had been confiscated from trucks coming into the city in recent weeks, said officials from the Hisbah, the patrol tasked with enforcing the strict Islamic law, known as sharia.

Kano's Hisbah chief Aminu Daurawa said at the bottle-breaking ceremony he had "the ardent hope this will bring an end to the consumption of such prohibited substances".

A large bulldozer smashed the bottles to shouts of "Allahu Ahkbar" (God is Great) from supporters outside the Hisbah headquarters in Kano, the largest city in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north.

Kegs containing more than 8,000 litres of a local alcoholic brew called "burukutu" and 320,000 cigarettes were also destroyed.

"We hope this measure will help restore the tarnished image of Kano," said Daurawa.

Since September, the Hisbah have launched sweeping crackdowns and made hundreds of arrests in Kano following a state-government directive to cleanse the commercial hub of so-called "immoral" practices.

The 9,000-strong moral police force works alongside the civilian police but also has other duties, including community development work and dispute resolution.

Sharia was reintroduced across northern Nigeria in 2001, but the code has been unevenly applied.

Alcohol is typically easy to find in Kano, including at hotels and bars in neighbourhoods like Sabon Gari, inhabited by the city's sizeable Christian minority. But the Hisbah boss vowed that this was set to change.

Courtesy: The Siasat Daily

Assam gangrape: Now, cops say woman wasn't raped

Guwahati, November 27, 2013: Police in Assam Wednesday said a woman whose death sparked widespread protests was not raped.

Superintendent of Police P.K Bhuyan ruled out the "rape" angle and said the woman died due to severe head injuries in Lakhimpur district.

"I am yet to physically receive the post mortem report. However, my officers who are in Guwahati obtained the post mortem report today (Wednesday), which ruled out any rape angle. The woman died due to severe head injuries," Bhuyan said.

Police recovered the woman with multiple injuries from near Boginadi police station in the district Friday. The woman later died at a hospital in Guwahati.

Local people and organisations have taken to the streets of Lakhimpur town since Sunday, terming the incident as a rape and murder.

They protested against the failure of police to identify and arrest the culprits.

Some of the agitating organisations have even compared the incident with Dec 16 gang rape in Delhi last year.

Police said they could not record the statement of the victim as she was not in a position to speak.

"It's a incident of crime and we have registered a case in this regard. Investigation is on to find out the culprits. It could be a planned murder or an accident," Bhuyan said.

Courtesy: India Today

Officers scared to appoint women as their PAs: Samajwadi Party leader

NEW DELHI, Nov 27, 2013, : In remarks that could stoke a fresh controversy, Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agrawal on Wednesday said that officers are "scared" to appoint women as their personal assistants after the passage of the bill to prevent sexual harassment of women at workplace.

Agrawal, whose remarks have led to controversies in the past, though refrained from commenting on the rape case against Tarun Tejpal till the probe is completed, he recalled that when the law in favour of women was being brought, he had expressed concern over it.

"I had apprehended that this law may also be misused like the anti-dowry law and may result in a situation in which the women themselves are deprived of justice.

"I have got this information from many people that a number of senior officers are not appointing women as their personal assistant. They are scared of having to face any kind of allegation after this," Agrawal, who is a Rajya Sabha MP, said.

The SP had also opposed the provisions of anti-rape bill this year.

However, on the Tejpal case in specific, Agrawal said that nothing can be said right now when the matter is under investigation of Goa Police and hence one has to wait for the legal process to culminate.

Responding to another question about the incident of a rape incident in UP, Agrawal said that "such incidents are happening in every part of the country...such incidents are happening frequently in Delhi" and wondered why media was "so concerned this time".

Agrawal, at the same time, maintained that he was hopeful that the government will ensure punishment to culprits and that action was being taken.

Courtesy: The Times of India

SIMI planned to strike pilgrim train from Delhi-Bodh Gaya, Shia mosque: Police

Dr Mohammad Ahmadullah Siddiqi, founding president
of the now outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India
Photo: Rediff.com

Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013: Suspected Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) operative Umer Siddhiqui, who was recently nabbed here, had planned to attack a Delhi-Bodh Gaya special train and the Shia mosque at Lucknow, police said today.

Police added that along with the recent Patna blasts accused Haider Ali alias 'Abdulla', Siddhiqui (35), had also trained youth to make bombs and carry out suicide attacks on political leaders.

"During interrogation, Siddhiqui confessed that they had planned to execute blasts on the Delhi-Bodh Gaya VIP special train for pilgrims, targeting people from foreign countries like Japan and Sri Lanka," Additional Director General (ADG) of Police (Intelligence), Mukesh Gupta, told reporters here.

Police also recovered a letter written by former SIMI head Safdar Nagori, who is presently being held at Sabarmati Jail, from Siddhiqui's possession.

Siddhiqui and his associates had also reconnoitred Sirpur, a Buddhist historical site located around 90km from the Chattisgarh state capital, Gupta added.

Siddhiqui, said to be the mastermind of the July 7 blasts at the Bodh Gaya temple complex in Bihar, is one of the 13 alleged SIMI operatives who have been arrested over the last two weeks in Raipur.

Police also claim to have recovered several video clippings and documents from the arrested SIMI operatives which are "anti-Indian" in nature.

"We have seized clippings of hate speeches and attack strategies in the form of CDs. These clippings resemble those used by extremist outfits working in Pakistan," he said.

During his interrogation, Siddhiqui admitted that the Kashmir issue, atrocities against Muslims, co-operation from Laskhar-e-Taiba, Jaish-E-Mohammed and Indian Mujahideen were issues which SIMI would discuss during their weekly meetings in Raipur.

He said that SIMI activists were inspired by terrorist organisations based in Afghanistan.

According to ADG Gupta, SIMI members had planned to leave the country after building a terror network here.

"A Pakistani visa application form was also seized from Siddhiqui," the ADG said.

On November 15, Sidhhiqui, who ran a coaching centre at Raja Talab, and autorickshaw driver Abdul Wahid Khan (54), were arrested for their alleged links to SIMI.

Later 11 others — Sheikh Habibullah (34), Roshan Sheikh (35), Hayat Khan (45), Abdul Aziz (45), Sheikh Azizullah (38), Moinuddin Qureshi (37), Mohd Dawood (38), Mohd Aslam (28), Sheikh Subhan (48), Mohd Saeed Abdul Jaleel (50) and Azharuddin Samshuddin Qureshi (19) — were picked up by police.

According to police, four absconding Patna serial blasts accused — Haider Ali alias Abdulla, Noman Alam alias Feroze, Taufiq alias Asif and Mujibullah — had after the incident reached Raipur from Rourkela.

Siddhiqui and his associates had put them up at a rented house in the Sanjay Nagar area. But by the time police could carry out a raid, the four accused had already fled.

Siddhiqui, who planned the Bodh Gaya temple complex blasts, had also been plotting an attack on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi during one of his rallies at Kanpur, Delhi or Ambikapur in Chhattisgarh, police claimed.

Courtesy: DNA India