Removal proceedings against Dinakaran stayed for two weeks

P.D. Dinakaran

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday stayed all further proceedings of the three-member committee probing corruption and other charges against Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court P.D. Dinakaran.

A Bench of Justices H.S. Bedi and C.K. Prasad granted the stay for two weeks, after senior counsel Amarendra Saran and counsel Romy Chacko, appearing for Justice Dinakaran, pointed out that the committee had passed orders without even hearing the petitioner, raising the question of bias. Mr. Saran said the committee had started day-to-day hearing.

The petition also raised an important constitutional issue: whether the committee, comprising Supreme Court Judge Aftab Alam, Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court J.S. Khehar and senior advocate P.P. Rao, could go beyond the motion admitted in the Rajya Sabha.

The Bench issued notice to the Registrar of the inquiry committee, the Rajya Sabha Chairman and Mr. Rao, seeking their response in two weeks and directed that the matter be listed thereafter for hearing by a vacation Bench.

In his petition, Justice Dinakaran challenged the April 24 order of the committee rejecting his plea that Mr. Rao recuse himself from the committee, on grounds of bias. Once the apprehension of bias was raised against a member, he said, an order compelling him/her to continue to serve was fraught with disastrous consequences, impinging on his fundamental rights. Mr. Rao, he said, was part of a delegation that met the then Chief Justice of India, K.G. Balakrishnan, and urged him that he be not elevated a Supreme Court judge. Alleging that the committee was rushing through the proceedings despite his objections, Justice Dinakaran said he had sought the documents referred to in the notice, but they were yet to be given.

He said the committee could not go beyond the allegations mentioned in the motion. However, in the present case “it appears that charges are framed beyond the ground mentioned in the motion and based on alleged evidence other than the material forming the basis of the admission of notice of motion. Any investigation before framing of charges was beyond the jurisdiction of the committee, and all further proceedings pursuant to such charges should be dropped forthwith.”

He rejected as unjust and baseless the committee's remarks in its April 24 order that he was trying to delay the proceedings. Seeking to quash the order, he sought an interim stay on the proceedings

Plea of YSR party leaders for security turned down

April 25: Justice Ashutosh Mohunta of the AP High Court on Monday dismissed the petitions of YSR Congress Party leaders including former chairman of the TTD, Mr B. Karunakar Reddy, to restore their personal security. The judge was dealing with four petitions filed by Mr Karunakar Reddy, Mr R. Siva Prasad Reddy. Mr P. Mallikarjuna Reddy of Kadapa and Mr Gangula Subhash Reddy of Kurnool district. The advocate-general, Mr Sudersan Reddy, opposing the petitions categorically said that the High Court has no machinery to determine the threat perception of a person.

He said that a state-level high power committee comprising senior police officers and security experts is the competent body to determine threat perception of a person. The committee which has examined 298 cases, recommended the continuation of security in 110 cases and the remaining were rejected. The judge agreeing with the contentions dismissed the plea of Karunakar Reddy and Mallikarjuna Reddy and reserved the orders on the plea of Mr. Siva Prasad Reddy. The judge disposed of the plea of Mr Subhash Reddy.

Status quo on Wakf land at Shaikpet

The High Court on Monday directed the GHMC authorities to maintain status quo with regard to laying roads across a burial ground at Shaikpet in the city. The court was dealing with a petition seeking a direction to restrain the GHMC from laying the road. The petitioner brought to the notice of the court the land in question was declared as Wakf land and also had a mosque.

HC notice to GHMC over mobile tower

The HC on Monday issued a notice to the GHMC for its failure to remove a cellphone tower from the Hyderguda. Mr Nissaruddin Ahmed Jeddy, a practising lawyer in the city, along with another person filed a petition for removal of the tower.

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Sathya Sai Baba passes away, leaves behind Rs 40,000-cr worth empire with no clear succession plan

A portrait of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, who died in the age of 86 in Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh on Sunday. (PTI Photo)

HYDERABAD: Sri Sathya Sai Baba , whose message of love, peace and humility, resonated with millions of people including politicians, dictators, businessmen and cricketers, breathed his last on Sunday. He was 85.

Baba, as he was popularly called, was in poor health for the past one month and died after multiple-organ failure, doctors at his home town, Puttaparthi, about four hours east of Bangalore, said.

Sai Baba leaves behind an enormous spiritual legacy, a wide network of charitable institutions, hospitals, schools, colleges, which some estimate to be worth about Rs 40,000 crore, and a void in the hearts of many people who consider him to be a living god.

"My family and I are deeply shocked to hear that Baba is not going to be with us physically to guide us....Baba brought all of us belief, an understanding of right and wrong and taught us to live peacefully with every being," KV Kamath, non-executive chairman of ICICI Bank , and one of India's most powerful bankers, said.

"I pay my tributes to Pujya Satya Sai Baba on his nirvana," Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat, tweeted. Prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh is expected to visit Puttaparthi on Monday afternoon to pay his last respects.

Thousands of devotees thronged Puttaparthi and the hospital where Baba was being treated on Sunday as news of his death of spread. Police are expecting a huge turnout on Monday and Tuesday. "We are expecting not less than 1-2 lakh people per day and have made arrangements," B Janardhan Reddy, district collector of Anantpur, told ET. The funeral will be held on Wednesday.

Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh's Anantpur district, owes its place in history to Baba, who transformed it from a dusty, poor hamlet and put it on the global tourist map. Today, it is a bustling town with modern colleges, hospitals, good roads, a railway station and an airport. Many people here such as middle-aged Mushtaq Ahmed, owe their well-being to Baba.

A refugee from Kashmir, Mushtaq and a group of about 100 people left the Valley in the early nineties, in search of a new home. "About 100 of us, we found a place here in Puttaparthi. We came to know of the place through newspapers," Mushtaq told ET.

"We ended up settling here after many months of searching," he added. Mushtaq and his group run shops and small businesses in Puttaparthi. "Most of our families are here and we visit the Valley more often these days," he adds. "We grew spiritually and we could feed our families," he says.

The Andhra Pradesh government has declared a three-day mourning while Anantpur will be closed on Wednesday. Sai Baba was born on November 23, 1926, in Puttaparthi, but his spiritual journey actually began 14 years later when he announced to his stunned villagers that he was the reincarnation of Sai Baba of Shirdi, who had passed away in 1918.

The story quickly became a legend and Baba acquired god-like status after he started performing miracles which drew enormous number of followers. Controversy ensued when rationalists and scientists questioned the basis of his miracles and his refusal to allow himself to be tested. An incident at his ashram when police killed four intruders into his room and a BBC documentary which alleged widespread incidents of child molestation at his ashram threatened to sully his image.

A portrait of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, who died in the age of 86 in Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh on Sunday. (PTI Photo)

Politicians skip poll campaign

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April 24: Political leaders from various parties suspended their election campaign in Kadapa for a day due to the sudden death of Satya Sai Baba. The Telugu Desam president, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, who was scheduled to take a three-day campaign for the Kadapa elections had boarded the Venkatadri Express on Saturday night and reached Tadipatri in Anantapur district early on Sunday for a brief halt.

After a four-hour stay, when he about the start his campaign from Jammalamadugu Assembly segment adjacent to Tadipatri, the news of Sai Baba’s demise came in. Mr Naidu contacted the Satya Sai Trust members at Puttaparthi to confirm the news and cancelled his campaign in Kadapa. He later left for Puttaparthi. TD sources said that Mr Naidu will hit the campaign trail from Monday and attend Sai Baba's funeral on Wednesday. The YSR Congress party president and former Kadapa Lok Sabha MP, Mr Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and his mother, Ms Y.S. Vijayalakshmi, who is contesting from the Pulivendula Assembly seat, were attending the Easter celebrations in Pulivendula church. They cancelled their campaign for the day. Mr Jagan rushed to Puttaparthi to pay homage to the departed soul. The former chief minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, former minister, Mr J.C. Diwakar Reddy, who were also in Kadapa, cancelled their election meetings and left. Reports from Kadapa said that several Congress and TD leaders also suspended their electioneering for today.

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Binayak Sen walks out of jail after bail

Binayak Sen being brought to a court in the central Indian city of Raipur in this photo from last year - Reuters

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Rights activist Binayak Sen, whose life sentence on charges of sedition and links with Maoists triggered a global outcry, walked out of his jail cell here on Monday, three days after the Supreme Court granted him bail saying he was at best a Maoist sympathiser.

There was jubilation and enormous relief amongst the crowd waiting outside the Raipur jail, where the 61-year-old medical doctor had been undergoing his life imprisonment.

As Sen walked out of the prison, his family, including his elderly mother, wife and daughter, hugged him. So did some other supporters as emotions ran high.

He was sentenced by a Chhattisgarh trial court Dec 24, 2010 for sedition. Sen was accused of acting as a courier between Maoist ideologue Narayan Sanyal and Kolkata-based businessman Guha, both of whom have been jailed for life.

Sen had challenged the Feb 10 order of the high court rejecting his bail plea.

On Friday, the Supreme Court backed him and said in a scathing observation that a person does not become a Gandhian just because he is found with a biography of Mahatma Gandhi.

Stating categorically that there was no case of sedition against Sen, the apex court bench of Justices Harjit Singh Bedi and Chandramauli Kumar Prasad had said: "We are in a democratic country. At best he (Binayak Sen) is a sympathiser. There are many sympathisers of a cause."

The court ridiculed the state's submission that Sen was actively involved in spreading disharmony and disaffection against the state.

"Distribution and circulation and even possession of (Maoist ideology and propaganda material) does not amount to sedition," the court said.

"Even in the worst case scenario, that he (Sen) was in possession of these documents, does not make him guilty of sedition," it had said.

Granting bail to Binayak Sen, the court said, "Even if we take your (state government's) case at its very best, can it amount to to sedition?"

The state government, in its reply to Sen's petition in the high court, said he 'has the same ideology as that of CPI-Maoist (Communist Party of India-Maoist) and he is addressed as comrade by hardcore Naxalites (Maoists)'.

Fidel Castro resigns from Cuba party leadership

Fidel Castro confirmed he had resigned from the top leadership of the Cuba Communist Party in an article published on Tuesday, after the party approved a raft of economic reforms.

"Raul knew that I would not accept a formal role in the party today," Castro said in an article on the Cubadebate.cu portal, referring to his brother Raul and his own absence from the party's new Central Committee, elected on Monday.

Castro, 84, had served as first secretary in the Central Committee of the party -- which underpins the country's Communist government -- since the party's creation in 1965.

Fidel said he had handed over the functions of the party head to Raul when he ceded power to his brother because of his own declining health in 2006, though he retained the first secretary title.

"(Raul) has always been who I described as First Secretary and Commander in Chief," Fidel wrote in the article.

"He never failed to convey to me the ideas that were planned," he added.

The move came after the sixth Communist Party Congress approved a flurry of measures on Monday aimed at keeping Cuba's centrally planned economy from collapse but without any broad embrace of market-oriented economic change.

The changes inject a modicum of the free market into the island's economy ahead of a vote Tuesday expected to officially relieve 84-year-old Castro of his position as party head after more than four decades.

The 1,000 delegates gathered in Havana for the four-day party congress approved some 300 economic proposals and elected a new central committee leadership.

Reforms include the cutting of, eventually, a million state jobs, and decentralizing the agricultural sector.

Many of the measures have already been adopted over the past year, with the Congress now formally approving them.

Results of the voting on leadership term limits will be presented Tuesday, when Fidel, who ceded power to his brother when he fell ill in 2006, would be finally, officially replaced as party chief.

Raul, who turns 80 on June 3, likely would officially become the party's new first secretary.

Raul Castro said on Saturday that he backed political term limits of 10 years at most for the top leadership spots, in a country he and his brother have led for more than five decades.

Focus will be also on the party's number two position, which could possibly signal the direction of eventual transfer of power in the years to come.

Raul has rejected broader market-minded reforms like those adopted by China, saying they would be "in open contradiction to the essence of socialism... because they were calling for allowing the concentration of property."

Kilvelur witnesses highest voter turnout at 91.89 percentage

Kilvelur, a reserved Assembly constituency in Nagapattinam district, has recorded the highest voter turnout in the State at 91.89 per cent .

Totally, 1.29 lakh persons in the constituency cast their votes in the Wednesday's Assembly elections, of whom 62,463 were men and 67,219 were women.

Kilvelur has set one more record, as it registered the maximum turnout of women voters —95.57 per cent.

In yet another way, this constituency is notable as Tirukuvalai, where Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M. Karunanidhi was born, forms part of Kilvelur.

Dairy Development Minister U. Mathivanan, who represents the Tiruvarur constituency in the outgoing House, is in the fray and his main rival is P. Mahalingam of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

Second place

In terms of overall voter turnout, Kilvelur is followed by Veerapandi of Salem district, where 89.07 per cent polling was registered.

In total, 1.79 lakh voters exercised their franchise, of whom 91,839 were men and 87,633 women.

Here, the sitting MLA and Agriculture Minister Veerapandi S. Arumugam's son A. Rajendran is taking on former MLA and AIADMK nominee S.K. Selvam.

This constituency has a record to its credit with the maximum turnout of men voters – 89.44 per cent.

Third place

Kulithalai in Karur district comes third, where 88.66 per cent polling has been registered.

Represented by Mr. Karunanidhi during 1957-62, this constituency sees a contest between former Minister and AIADMK nominee Pappa Sundaram and R. Manickam of the DMK.

As regards constituencies having lesser turnout, Harbour in Chennai saw the minimum turnout of 63.65 per cent.

Killiyoor and Colachel of Kanyakumari district recorded 64.07 per cent and 64.13 per cent polling.

Tiruvarur

Tiruvarur, a constituency in which Mr. Karunanidhi is contesting for the first time, witnessed 82.13 per cent polling.

About 1.71 lakh persons had exercised their franchise, of whom men were 83,292, women – 88,633 and transgender – 2.

Srirangam

Srirangam, where AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa is in the fray, had recorded 80.95 per cent polling.

Totally, 1.78 lakh persons had voted, of whom men were 89,916, women – 88,951 and transgender – 1.

Rishivandiyam

In Rishivandiyam, where Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam founder Vijayakant is taking on the sitting MLA and Congress nominee S. Sivaraj, the voter turnout was 82.75 per cent with 74.32 per cent of men voters and 91.76 per cent of women voters exercising their franchise.

Around 1.71 lakh voters had cast their votes.

The constituencies, where sitting Ministers are contesting and which have witnessed higher turnout than the State average of 78.12 per cent are Kurinjipadi (86.38 per cent); Tiruchuli (83.91 per cent); Athoor (83.81 per cent); Aruppukottai (83.06 per cent); Villupuram (82.04 per cent); Madathukulam (81.22 per cent ) Tiruvannamalai (80.71 per cent), Alangulam (80.68 per cent) and Katpadi (80.14 per cent). M.R.K. Paneerselvam, Thangam Thennarasu, I. Periyasamy, K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran, K. Ponmudy, Vellakoil M.P. Saminathan, E.V. Velu, Poongothai and Durai Murugan are contesting from these constituencies respectively.

Senior AIADMK leaders, K.A. Sengottaiyan and O. Paneerselvam, are contesting from Gobichettypalayam and Bodinayackanur, where 83.29 per cent and 81.07 per cent poling have been registered. Aranthangi, through which former Minister and Congress nominee S. Thirunavukkarsar is seeking to enter the Assembly after a gap of 12 years, has registered 74.81 per cent.

Mettur

Mettur, where Pattali Makkal Katchi president G.K. Mani is in the fray, has recorded 79.46 per cent.

Dindigul, from where the CPI (M) legislature party leader in the outgoing Assembly K. Balabharathi is trying to secure one more term, has witnessed 76.61 per cent polling.

A total of 134 transgendered persons have voted, of whom Tiruchi district accounts for 29; Karur – 26; Chennai – 22, Tiruvallur – 19, Ramanathapuram – 10, Villupuram – 8, Salem – 6 Erode – 4, Nammakal – 3, Tiruvarur, Theni and Tirunelveli – 2 each and Cuddalore – 1.

Lokpal Bill drafting committee to meet Saturday

• April 15, 2011
• IANS
• New Delhi

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Anna Hazare, Lokpal

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Anna Hazare with Kiran Bedi after breaking his fast-unto-death for Jan Lokpal Bill - PTI

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The joint committee for drafting the anti-graft Lokpal Bill will hold its first meeting here on Saturday, government sources said.

The meeting of the 10-member committee, comprising five ministers and five civil society representatives, will begin at 11.30 am, sources added.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is the chairman of the committee while social reformer Anna Hazare, who went on a 97-hour fast here to demand a stronger Lokpal (ombudsman) Bill to tackle corruption, is one of the five members from the civil society.

Law Minister Veerappa Moily, Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal and Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khursheed are the other ministerial members.

Former law minister Shanti Bhushan, representing the civil society, is the co-chairman.

Besides Hazare and Shanti Bhushan, lawyer Prashant Bhushan, Right To Information activist Arvind Kejriwal and former Supreme Court judge N. Santosh Hegde are also on the committee.

All members of the committee are likely to attend the meeting, sources said.

ED to question Puducherry Lt Guv in Hasan Ali case

The Enforcement Directorate will question Puducherry Lt Governor Iqbal Singh and Uttar Pradesh Principal Secretary Vijay Shankar Pandey in connection with the passport procured by stud farm owner Hasan Ali Khan and some investments done by him abroad.

Sources said summons have been already issued to Iqbal while the same to Pandey will be issued next week following questioning of a Bihar politician Amalendu Pandey by the Directorate in Mumbai.

They said the two will be questioned with regard to procurement of passport by Ali and some investments that he did at foreign shores.

The ED is mulling to question Ali's aide Kashinath Tapuria, presently in the agency's custody, after similar leads emerged in the case following the questioning of the politician. Pandey was grilled on April 14 by the ED for allegedly procuring passport from Patna for Ali by forging documents.

The ED, which summoned Pandey to appear before it, had mentioned in its remand application that it was necessary to question Pandey regarding transactions of Khan in Singapore and also to find out the reasons for obtaining the second passport from Patna.

Ali, Pandey and Tapuria had allegedly travelled to Singapore in 1997 to open an account in the United Bank of Switzerland.

Ali is accused of massive money-laundering, tax evasion and stashing away huge amounts in foreign banks. According to a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), Hasan Ali and Tapuriahs owe the government about Rs 75,000 crore in taxes.

Joint drafting committee on Lokpal Bill meets for first time

Eight days after Gandhian Anna Hazare called off his fast demanding a stronger Lokpal law, the joint committee to draft the bill met here today for the first time amid a controversy over a CD allegedly involving eminent lawyer and panel co-chairman Shanti Bhushan.

The meeting chaired by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was held at North Block and attended by Ministers P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, M. Veerappa Moily and Salman Khurshid and Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal, Santosh Hegde, Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan from the civil society side.

The deliberations came in the backdrop of a controversy over a CD in circulation which purpotedly has conversations with senior Bhushan, a former Law Minister, and politicians Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh. Bhushan has termed the CD as 'clearly fabricated'. Hazare had on Saturday last called off his fast-unto-death agitation after government conceded his demand for a Joint Drafting Committee on the legislation.

Both the sides had finetuned their strategy during separate meetings last evening.

Government said it had an open mind on the proposed legislation and hoped that discussions will pave the way for a convergence of ideas. The activists on their part said they would want the Jan Lokpal Bill to be the base for the discussions and would press for videographing of the proceedings. The activists' side also made it clear that they would press for bringing within Lokpal's ambit Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India and bureaucrats.

They, however, added that the government's objections were negotiable. Though Hazare was of the view that the higher judiciary should not be under the ambit of Lokpal, the activists rejected his argument and decided to argue for pressing its inclusion in the legislation.

Kejriwal said only criminal misconduct by the judges is being sought to be probed under the Lok Pal bill and not not professional misconduct.

Eight days after Gandhian Anna Hazare called off his fast demanding a stronger Lokpal law, the joint committee to draft the bill met here today for the first time amid a controversy over a CD allegedly involving eminent lawyer and panel co-chairman Shanti Bhushan.

The meeting chaired by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was held at North Block and attended by Ministers P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, M. Veerappa Moily and Salman Khurshid and Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal, Santosh Hegde, Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan from the civil society side.

The deliberations came in the backdrop of a controversy over a CD in circulation which purpotedly has conversations with senior Bhushan, a former Law Minister, and politicians Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh. Bhushan has termed the CD as 'clearly fabricated'. Hazare had on Saturday last called off his fast-unto-death agitation after government conceded his demand for a Joint Drafting Committee on the legislation.

Both the sides had finetuned their strategy during separate meetings last evening.

Government said it had an open mind on the proposed legislation and hoped that discussions will pave the way for a convergence of ideas. The activists on their part said they would want the Jan Lokpal Bill to be the base for the discussions and would press for videographing of the proceedings. The activists' side also made it clear that they would press for bringing within Lokpal's ambit Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India and bureaucrats.

They, however, added that the government's objections were negotiable. Though Hazare was of the view that the higher judiciary should not be under the ambit of Lokpal, the activists rejected his argument and decided to argue for pressing its inclusion in the legislation.

Kejriwal said only criminal misconduct by the judges is being sought to be probed under the Lok Pal bill and not not professional misconduct.

ight days after Gandhian Anna Hazare called off his fast demanding a stronger Lokpal law, the joint committee to draft the bill met here today for the first time amid a controversy over a CD allegedly involving eminent lawyer and panel co-chairman Shanti Bhushan.

The meeting chaired by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was held at North Block and attended by Ministers P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, M. Veerappa Moily and Salman Khurshid and Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal, Santosh Hegde, Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan from the civil society side.

The deliberations came in the backdrop of a controversy over a CD in circulation which purpotedly has conversations with senior Bhushan, a former Law Minister, and politicians Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh. Bhushan has termed the CD as 'clearly fabricated'. Hazare had on Saturday last called off his fast-unto-death agitation after government conceded his demand for a Joint Drafting Committee on the legislation.

Both the sides had finetuned their strategy during separate meetings last evening.

Government said it had an open mind on the proposed legislation and hoped that discussions will pave the way for a convergence of ideas. The activists on their part said they would want the Jan Lokpal Bill to be the base for the discussions and would press for videographing of the proceedings. The activists' side also made it clear that they would press for bringing within Lokpal's ambit Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India and bureaucrats.

They, however, added that the government's objections were negotiable. Though Hazare was of the view that the higher judiciary should not be under the ambit of Lokpal, the activists rejected his argument and decided to argue for pressing its inclusion in the legislation.

Kejriwal said only criminal misconduct by the judges is being sought to be probed under the Lok Pal bill and not not professional misconduct.

Black money: ED questions Cong leader Amlendu Pandey

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday questioned Amlendu Pandey, a Congress leader from Bihar, in connection with the money laundering case against Hasan Ali Khan and others.

According to ED officials, Pandey had played a key role in procuring a passport for Khan from Patna in 1997 using forged documents. Pandey, who was then an officer on special duty (OSD) to foreign minister I.K. Gujral, had written a letter on his letterhead to Patna regional passport office requesting to expedite Khan's passport application.

Pandey also allegedly travelled with Khan and Kolkata-based businessman Kashinath Tapuria, whose role is also being probed in the black money case, to Singapore to open a bank account. ED officials suspect that the Singapore account was used to park Khan's black money.

A few days ago, ED officials had raided Pandey's house in Delhi to ascertain his links with Khan. The sleuths had seized documents related to an account in United Bank of Switzerland, a diary containing Khan's phone numbers, a key to a bank locker and two GPS sets from Pandey's house.

U.S. saw Indian ‘hidden agenda' in Mauritius

CHENNAI: Did India have any “ulterior motive” in seeking to help Mauritius? The answer, according to a cable sent from the U.S. Embassy in Port Louis on December 15, 2006, citing Mauritian and Indian diplomats, was that India indeed had a subtext to its moves, and oil prospecting was one of them. Surprisingly, Mauritians, as the cable noted, were not only aware of this, but also ready to let India have its way, even indicating “willing subordination” ( 89644: confidential).

The Indian Ocean archipelago and India have strong cultural-historical links. Between the 18th century and the mid-20th century, the French and British colonisers of Mauritius brought Indians to work in the plantations or build its cities. Many of them settled in the island, and today more than half of the country's population is of Indian origin. Bilateral trade has been growing: in 2008 India exported goods worth Mauritian Rupees.31.76 billion (about $1 billion).

In 2006, reports appeared in the press alleging that Mauritius was thinking of ceding to India the 2,600-hectare twin Agalega islands, which are located 1,000 km north of Mauritius, en route to the Seychelles. Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam categorically denied these reports in the Mauritian Parliament. He stated that the “Government of India was willing to develop an economic development plan for the islands,” and might improve an unusable landing strip.

However, after speaking to top aides of Mr. Ramgoolam, who apparently denied the reports, the U.S. diplomats recorded that Mauritian officials “displayed an unusual degree of nervousness and word parsing, which might indicate that there is more to these reports that the government has admitted.”

There were also additional reasons for U.S. diplomats to suspect India's hidden interest in Mauritius.

The cable said: “Capt. Guy Adam, the President of the Seychelles Petroleum Company, told Conoff [consular officer] that he suspects there is exploitable oil reserves in the region between Seychelles and Agalega, and that this explained India's interest.”

In October 2006, a three-member team from India visited the islands and assessed it. In addition, India, on its own initiative, carried out a hydrographic survey of the Agalega region, “at no cost to Mauritius.” None of these assessments were handed over to the Mauritian government at least till the date on which the cable was sent. To Mauritian politicians, according to the cable, it was increasingly becoming evident that the motivation for India's assistance did not stem “from cultural affinity or magnanimity.” Indian diplomats too confirmed to U.S. diplomats that ‘Mother India' was not offering help “for cultural or sentimental reasons.”

None of these seem to have been a matter of concern either to the government or the opposition parties. “The Leader of the Opposition privately told the DCM [Deputy Chief of Mission] in early 2006 that he supported the government's tilt towards India because ‘India is the wave of the future and Mauritius is going to ride that wave',” the cable noted. It added that “India's domination of this relationship is skewed further by Mauritius' sense of economic vulnerability,” partly caused by the EU's sugar pricing policy.

For the U.S., Mauritius has particular strategic importance because of Diego Garcia, the largest of the Chagos islands, where it has a military base. In 1965, these islands, which once belonged to Mauritius, were ‘separated and retained by Britain.'

(This article is a part of the series "The India Cables" based on the US diplomatic cables accessed by The Hindu via Wikileaks.')