Srinagar, May 23 : Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said the UPA government at the Centre should not be linked with the IPL spot fixing scandal as it had nothing to do with it.

“What has the UPA got to do with IPL? You can hold the UPA responsible for other things but in IPL, players took the money and bookies paid them…people gambled on it,” Omar, whose National Conference is part of the UPA, told reporters here.

Responding to a question about involvement of UPA members in the spot-fixing scandal, Omar suggested that the ruling alliance at the Centre was unnecessarily linked to every wrong that takes place in the country. “What are you talking about? Wherever you see any wrongdoing, you bring the UPA into it,” he retorted. Omar said, since there was no specific law to deal with spot fixing and match fixing at the moment, the Centre has decided to enact a new law to deal with the problem.

“The (Union) Law Minister and (Union) Sports Minister have decided to bring a new law, which will provide for strict punishment for (those involved in) match fixing and spot fixing,” he added.

Jaipur, May 23 : Accusing the Gehlot government in Rajasthan of not acting promptly in the sexual harassment case of speech and hearing impaired orphan girls, Opposition BJP today demanded a high court monitored investigation into it.

“Firstly, the case was kept under wraps due to the visit of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi. Then when the matter came to light, the government took no serious action and there is still no statement from the Chief Minister,” BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitaraman said at a press conference here. “We have no faith in CBI, so the party demands that the matter be probed by a special investigation team monitored by the high court,” she said adding, “CBI must be independent, but the agency is being misused by Congress.”

Allegations of sexually harassing several speech and hearing impaired girls by male employees of a residential school run by an NGO here, came to light last week. Expressing confidence that the BJP would form the next government in poll-bound Rajasthan, Sitaraman said people will give a fitting reply to Congress. Refuting the UPA-II government’s report card on completion of four years, she said it was based on half-truth.

“Newer corruption cases are tumbling out every month, but the government does not say who is accountable for it,” Sitaraman said. She accused the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of misusing public money by launching the recent campaign for political reasons at public expense.

Accusing the Congress of not acting against its corrupt ministers, the BJP spokesperson said, “The Supreme Court issued notices against six Congress ministers of Andhra Pradesh government for corruption, but no action has been taken against them.

” BJP state vice-president Arun Chaturvedi informed that the party would organise ‘Jail Bharo’ agitation on June 1 in the state to protest against misuse of CBI. Claiming that the party’s senior legislator and Leader of Opposition Gulabchand Kataria was implicated in Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case at the behest of Congress, he added that Kataria is innocent.

New Delhi, May 23 : Finance Minister P Chidambaram today sought to assuage the stock market, after it declined by over 350 points, by asserting that there was no need for any “nervousness” and the participants should read the situation correctly rather than be influenced by external developments. “…there is no need for any kind of nervousness.

I am looking forward to June and the second quarter with much greater confidence. I think the Indian market should read the situation correctly rather than being influenced by something which is happening elsewhere”, he said.

The Minister was reacting to sudden crash in Indian stock markets in response to a statement by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in which he had talked about scaling back of stimulus with improvement in economic conditions. The BSE sensex slipped by 365 points to 19,697.44 points during the intra-day trade. The markets later recovered. “We have been looking at what is happening in the market.

We think that Bernanake’s statement has been misunderstood or misinterpreted. “If we read the statement carefully, he has clearly indicated that he will continue with quantitative easing in the foreseeable future at about USD 85 billion a month or so”, Chidambaram said.

The Minister further said that quantitative easing is continuing in Japan and Europe and there have been no change whatsoever and the flows into India during May have been extremely copious.

Islamabad, May 23 : A bomb blast ripped through a bus carrying security personnel in Quetta city of southwest Pakistan today, killing 12 people and injuring more than 20, police officials said. The bomb, planted in an auto-rickshaw, went off as the bus carrying Balochistan Constabulary personnel was passing through Bhosa Mandi area on the outskirts of the city this morning. Deputy Inspector General of Police Fayyaz Ahmed Sumbal said 10 security personnel and two civilians were killed.

The injured were taken to the nearby Civil Hospital. Those with serious injuries were later shifted to a military hospital. Officials said five of the wounded were in a critical condition. Police officials said the bomb was detonated by remote control while the bus was passing through the area. Members of the bomb disposal squad said an estimated 100 kg of explosives were used in the attack.

Footage on television showed that the bus was destroyed by the blast. Debris lay scattered over a wide area. Local residents and rescue teams rushed the dead and injured to hospital. Law enforcement agencies, including the Frontier Corps and police, cordoned off the area and launched a search operation. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

New Delhi, May 22 : Apparently exasperated by BJP’s attack, Congress today said leaders of the opposition party should visit cataract camps organised by the government to “correct their vision”.

   “Even an opponent has to be a competent one…But they have a problem in their vision. They should go to cataract camps organised by the government and correct their vision,” party spokesperson Renuka Chowdhary told reporters here.

   Coming down heavily on the BJP, she said, “We lack a responsible opposition. History will judge BJP for the negative role being played by it consistently and persistently. They will be for the third time in the opposition after 2014 polls.”

   Speaking separately, Information and Broadcasting Minister and Congress leader Manish Tewari saw the BJP criticism as a case of “sour grapes” for being out of power for nine long years.

   The comments of Chowdhury and Tewari came close on the heels of BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley targeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the “failures” of the UPA-II government in the last four years and dubbing the UPA model as “structurally defective”.

   The BJP leaders claimed that the presence of two power centres and the Prime Minister’s “indecision, inability and silence” have led to an environment of “gloom and pessimism” in the country. They said there is nothing to celebrate for the UPA-II government on its fourth anniversary today.

   Tewari lamented that the BJP has touched a new low in politics by the way it has targeted the government on its anniversary. He said it would have been better if the opposition would have given its evaluation and assessment after going through the report to the people being presented by the Prime Minister today.

Hyderabad, May 22 : The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has reduced gas-based power generation target for the current year by almost 46 per cent to 43.6 trillion units, a senior official of the power body said. The official said based on the output last year and projected production of natural gas this year the target has been reduced.

“Last year the target was 80.3 trillion units. We achieved 64.9 trillion units. There is a drop of 19 per cent. We have taken the gas availability into consideration and fixed target. The same will be submitted to the Planning Commission for approval,” the official told PTI.

The CEA last year had said no new gas-based power plants will be set up in the country till 2015-16, as the natural gas output is expected to fall considerably.

The CEA in a letter to states had indicated that as per Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas’s reportsIndia’s natural gas production is likely to fall by 35 per cent to 27.64 million metric standard cubic meters per day (MMSCMD) in 2012-13 and may further dip by another 12 per cent to 24.22 MMSCMD in 2013-14.

Over 15,000 MW gas-based capacity is said to be stranded in the country due to non-supply of natural gas from RIL’s KG basin.   The gas-based capacity, which is lying idle due to want of fuel, comprises central, state as well as private power plants.

   The CEA is a statutory body responsible for technical coordination and supervision of power generation programmes ofIndia.

Mumbai, May 22 : A relative of the owner of IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings with whom actor Vindoo Randhawa, arrested in connection with the spot-fixing scandal, was in frequent touch, is under the scanner of Mumbai Police, Crime Branch sources said today.

“Vindoo made several calls to this relative of the Chennai IPL owner. We may call the person in question to ascertain the reasons why these frequent calls were made,” an officer involved in the investigation told PTI. He, however, said it was “too premature” to conclude that the relative of the high-profile owner of the Chennai franchise had links with the betting syndicate.

Asked if Vindoo had named any Bollywood celebrity who was involved in the betting racket, the officer said, “Vindoo is himself from the film industry and it is natural that his phone contains numbers of several people from the industry. We have not yet got evidence of involvement of anyone of them in betting or spot-fixing.”

On whether Vindoo was involved in betting or fixing in earlier seasons of the Indian Premier League, the officer said, “everything is under investigation.”   
The 49-year-old actor was arrested yesterday for his alleged association with bookies. Vindoo, winner of reality tv show Bigg Boss season 3, was allegedly in touch with some bookies arrested in the scandal. He was on many occasions spotted watching IPL matches and attending post-match parties.

Pune, May 22 : In a hush-hush pre-dawn operation, Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt was shifted to city’s Yerwada jail today from Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail to undergo 42 months remaining sentence in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.

53-year-old Dutt was taken fromArthur Roadjail aftermidnightin a well-guarded operation by authorities who wanted to avoid the media hype and glare during the three-hour travel between Mumbai and Pune, a jail official said.

“Sanjay Dutt was escorted to Pune jail at about4 AMfrom Mumbai. There were three police vans that took him to the Pune jail,” the official said. Security reasons were also cited for the secret operation.

According to sources, Dutt would be kept in a high security cell in Yerwada jail.

Dutt had been lodged at the ‘Anda Cell’ (Egg-shaped) in the high security block in theArthur Roadjail since May 16 after his surrender before the TADA court in Mumbai.

Meeran Borwankar, Additional Director General (Prisons),Maharashtra, when contacted did not give any details about the arrangements being made, if any, inside the Yerwada jail.   The Supreme Court in its March 21 verdict reduced Dutt’s jail term from six years to five years for illegal possession of arms. The actor had already served 18 months behind bars.    Dutt surrendered before a designated Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) court as the apex court on May 14 refused to grant him more time to give himself up for undergoing the remainder of his five-year jail term.    On May 10, the Supreme Court had dismissed Dutt’s plea seeking review of its judgement on his conviction and the five-year jail term.

New Delhi, May 21 : Arrested Indian pacer S Sreesanth and 10 others, including two more cricketers of Rajasthan Royals franchise, were today remanded to police custody for five more days by a Delhi court for interrogation in connection with the IPL spot-fixing scandal case. Metropolitan Magistrate Saumya Chauhan extended the police custody of Sreesanth, who looked tense during the court proceedings, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila till May 26 after Delhi Police said it needed to make more recoveries and the accused are required to be confronted with each other.

The court sent four arrested bookies–Rakesh Oberoi, Dipit Garg, Ajay Goel and Amit Gupta–to jail till June 4 as the Special Cell of Delhi Police submitted their custodial interrogation was over. The three cricketers and 11 bookies were produced in the court after expiry of their five-day police custody while the 15th accused, former Ranji player Baburao Yadav, was arrested this morning.

Seeking five days more custody of the accused, the police said the probe is going on in the case and it also needs to analyse all the recorded conversations of the players and the bookies. Investigators also told the court that they have taken the voice samples of the accused to match them with their recorded conversations.

Public Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan told the magistrate that during the investigation, several new names have cropped up in the case and their details will be submitted in the court in a sealed cover tomorrow. The prosecutor told the court that police have also recovered a mobile phone allegedly bought by Sreesanth for one of his female friends from the bribe money. He also said section 409 of the IPC, which deals with criminal breach of trust and entails a maximum of life imprisonment, has been invoked against all the accused.

Senior advocate Rebecca John, appearing for Sreesanth, opposed the plea for further police custody saying that in the past five days the agency has recovered everything and except Yadav, all other accused have already been arrested and they were also confronted with each other. When confrontation was being done for the past five days, then for what purpose police requires their custody, she said.

Mumbai, May 21 : BJP MLA Jaykumar Rawal, who had been suspended among other legislatures for allegedly beating up a policeman on the premises of Maharashtra Legislature, has been made one of the general secretaries by the state unit president Devendra Phadnavis. Besides Rawal, BJP MLA Chainsukh Sancheti, the elder brother of Ajay Sancheti, purportedly a close aide of former BJP president Nitin Gadkari, has been made one of the 14 vice-presidents of the state unit. Chainsukh Sancheti represents Buldhana Assembly constituency in eastern Maharashtra.

The new team announced by Phadnavis comprises 14 vice-presidents, six general secretaries and 15 secretaries, and will have a fixed tenure of three years, a party statement said today. The new set of leaders is put in place in view of the Assembly and General elections slated in 2014.

“Among those who have been appointed as vice-presidents include sitting BJP MLAs Chainsukh Sancheti, Chandrakant Patil (Kolhapur), Girish Mahajan (Jalgaon), Prakash Anna Shendge (Sangli), Mangal Prabhat Lodha and Prakash Mehta (Mumbai) and Suresh Khade (Sangli)”, the release said.

Rawal, a Shindkheda MLA, was suspended by Speaker, along with four other legislators, for allegedly thrashing a traffic sub-inspector, Sachin Suryavanshi on the Vidhan Bhavan premises here on March 19.

New Delhi, May 21 : The Delhi High Court today agreed to hear tomorrow a PIL seeking banning of the Indian Premier League (IPL) till foolproof corrective measures are taken to stop alleged corrupt practices in it. A bench headed by Chief Justice D Murugesan said it will fix the matter for hearing tomorrow after Additional Solicitor General Rajeeve Mehra, appearing for Sports Ministry, apprised the court that a similar petition was listed for hearing before the apex court.

The PIL, filed by NGO Association for Social and Humanitarian Affairs, has also sought a direction that Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) be taken over by the Sports Ministry. The NGO, which moved the court through its President Kuldeep Singh Bhogal, has also sought judicial supervision of the investigation into the IPL spot-fixing scandal case in which 18 people — three IPL players, four former players, 11 bookies and their assistants — have been arrested so far. “The IPL’s model seems to be designed specifically to suit the requirements of the mafia to quickly and efficiently churn huge sum of money using the routes of hawala,” the petition, filed through advocate Rahul Raj Malik, alleged.        “The strategic time out of two to three minutes while the game is being played is misused, as being the only opportunity, for interactions between the players and the bookies to influence the result of the match and session and thereby cheat the nation…,” it alleged, adding that the whole nation has been “cheated” by some unscrupulous players, bookies and others.             The petition also quoted various newspaper reports to say that the bookies are operating from Karachi and Dubai.

New Delhi, May 21 : Vice President Hamid Ansari today left on a four-day visit to Uzbekistan during which issues of cooperation in counter-terrorism, Afghanistan and development projects in the region will come up for discussion. Ansari is travelling with a high-level delegation to Tashkent where he will meet Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov. Issues relating to Afghanistan will come in for “serious discussion” in the backdrop of withdrawal of US troops in 2014 and economic reconstruction projects undertaken by New Delhi in that region.

Terming terrorism as a “common and pressing concern” for the two countries, Joint Secretary (Eurasia) Ajay Bisaria has said several radical elements of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, now called Islamic Movement of Turkistan and Hizb-ut Tahrir, have found shelter in the region.                Then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao had visited Uzbekistan in 1993 followed by present incumbent Manmohan Singh in 2006. Karimov had visited India in 1991 as leader of the Communist Party, and later in 1994, 2000, 2005 and 2011 as Uzbek President.

The visit will give fillip to bilateral relations between the two countries. India and Uzbekistan have a bilateral trade worth USD 200 million with the balance of trade tilted in favour of New Delhi. At least 15 Indian pharmaceutical companies are represented in Uzbekistan where India is also involved in the IT sector. The Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for IT Excellence there is set to be upgraded in the coming days.                 India is also setting up a power transmission line which will send power from Uzbekistan to Afghanistan. Besides Tashkent, Ansari would also visit the historic cities of Samarkand and Bukhara where he will meet the heads of the regions. Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan, MPs K N Balagopal, Shivanand Tiwari, Sumitra Mahajan and E M S Natchiappan are accompanying the Vice President.

Mumbai, May 20 : Maharashtra police today said it would take at least 15 days to decide whether to keep actor Sanjay Dutt in the high security Arthur Road jail here where he is presently lodged or to shift him elsewhere.
Dutt is currently lodged in the ‘anda’ (egg-shaped) cell after he was brought to the Arthur Road jail last week to serve his sentence in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case. The actor has been restless at nights, reading religious books, police said.
“We will take some more time to take a call on whether to shift Dutt or not. He will not be shifted anywhere in the near future,” Additional Director General of Police (Prisons) Meera Borwankar told PTI. Another jail official said dilemma to shift the actor or not will continue for at least another 15 days.
Reasons attributed for this were that the prison department has been gathering information such as number of convicts, security conditions, presence of inmates linked to underworld in various jails in the state like those located in Taloja (Navi Mumbai), Yerwada (Pune), Thane, Nagpur and Nashik.
“The authorities are studying various aspects, particularly security ground before taking any decision on the actor’s shifting,” the jail official added.
Though there are some convicts lodged in the city jail, usually it is used to house undertrials.
Dutt has to serve 42 more months in jail following his conviction in the 1993 bomb blast case being upheld by the Supreme Court, which, however, reduced his sentence by one year (to five years from six) in March this year.
He has already served 18 months of his sentence.

Beijing, May 20:Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has said his current India visit is to show the world that Sino-India political mutual trust is being strengthened and there are more common interests in bilateral ties than differences, dismissing the impression that the recent border stand off had cast a shadow on their relationship. Li told Prime Minister Mamohan Singh during talks that his visit toIndiais to show to the whole world that China-India political mutual trust is being strengthened and their practical cooperation has been expanded, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hong Lei told media here while briefing about Li-Singh meeting inNew Delhi.

“I want this visit to show the whole world that the mutual political trust betweenChinaandIndiais rising, practical cooperation is expanding and there are more common interests than differences,” Hong quoted Li as telling Singh. Their common benefits far out way their disputes and differences, Li told Singh, Hong said without any reference to the recent incursion by the Chinese troops in Depsang valley in Ladakh that figured Singh-Li talks yesterday.

“The two countries have the will, wisdom and capability to jointly nurture new bright spots in cooperation among Asian countries, create new engine of the world economy, provide huge growth potential and market demand for Asia and the world, and push forward China-India strategic cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity,” Li told Singh.      Singh told Li that the Indian government and people feel honoured for Li makingIndiaas the first stop of his maiden trip abroad.

According to Hong, Singh said there is enough space in the world for the common development ofIndiaandChina, adding that the two countries are partners, not opponents. Singh said cooperation between India and China has much significance for world peace and prosperity.

Indiahighly values its ties withChinaand is ready to work withChinato advance their practical cooperation, manage and control border disputes, and lift their strategic cooperative partnership to a new level, Singh said.

Patna, May 20 :A ruling JD(U) legislator in Bihar today filed a criminal defamation suit against RJD President Lalu Prasad for allegedly using unparliamentary language against him. JD(U) Legislative Council member Sanjay Singh filed the criminal defamation suit against the Rashtriya Janata Dal president in the court of Chief Judical Magistrate R K Yadav. It was admitted and listed for hearing tomorrow. 
Singh has alleged that Prasad had made a drogatory reference to him and and another former MLC Sanjay Jha at a ‘Parivartan rally’ here on May 15. Singh, who had crossed over to Nitish Kumar’s party from the LJP of Ramvilas Paswan, told PTI that Prasad was “using unparliamentary language against his opponents and lowering the dignity of politics out of frustration”.