Sunday, 20 March 2022

Dead Body Politics & Sanjiv Bhatt

Sanjiv Bhatt and the case of custodial death

The reopening of a 21-year-old custodial death case against Bhatt shows how Modi’s government is victimising honest police officers


Sayema Sahar 

Delhi

 

I am talking about the so called best administered state of our country, at least such are the claims! I am talking about "Vibrant Gujarat".  A state which under its capable ruler is boasting of good governance, foreign capital inflows, shining skyscrapers, road connectivity, etc.

All these do matter but are of little or no meaning when the system is designed to manipulate justice. I am talking about Chief Minister Narendra Modi who uses law to his advantage to prosecute anybody who dares to go against him.

It's a sorry state to see our capable police officers, getting victimized, cases with little or no merit being slapped against them, chargesheet, FIRs or even a term in the jail is what they get for not adhering to the rule book of their political masters.


From RB Sreekumar, Kuldeep Sharma, Rajnish Rai, Satish Verma to Rahul Sharma and Sanjiv Bhatt, all of them had to face the wrath of Chief Minister Narendra Modi for speaking the truth. Sanjiv Bhatt apparently tops the hit list of Modi, as he refuses to bend upon his stand of speaking the truth, the truth of Gujarat genocide.

Despite all the pressure tactics applied on him by the state, this upright officer refuses to budge from his stand, an officer who has the guts to call the chief minister of the state he is serving in, a common criminal for his involvement in the 2002 pogrom.

Sanjiv Bhatt is currently under suspension, has served a term in the jail on an allegedly concocted FIR filed by a constable who was assisting him in the Intelligence Bureau during the Gujarat riots of 2002.

The much talked about custodial death case against Sanjiv Bhatt dates back to the communal riots of 1990 followed by the arrest of LK Advani by Lalu Yadav in Bihar and a simultaneous attack on Babri Masjid. Riots broke out in most parts of the country and Gujarat too was burning in communal frenzy. The communal stir intensified followed by a Bharat Bandh call by the BJP and VHP.

Riots intensified in Jamnagar, Jamjhodpur, like most parts of the country. The young ASP of Jamjhodpur, Sanjiv Bhatt was sent by the State Police Control Room to control the riots and the rioters. Sanjiv Bhatt, a young dynamic officer with his small but a very determined force went ahead to control the BJP/ VHP activists who had torched a mosque and 12 Muslim houses. Curfew was enforced and 133 VHP activists were arrested, 33 of the rioters got injured in the lathicharge and were sent for medical treatment by the police.

It's hard to think that this discharge of duty that resulted in arrests and some injuries to contain a volatile situation would become the fodder for a reactive witch hunt campaign by a government trying to clean its tracks by creating a case of custodial death of one Prabhudas Vaishnani who was amongst those who were sent to judicial custody following the police actions to contain the rioters. The list of injured did not have the name of Prabhudas Vaishnani.


The following day all the arrested activists including Prabhudas Vaishnani were produced before the judicial magistrate, and subsequently sent to judicial custody.

He did not complain of any torture before the magistrate and was sent to judicial custody in perfect health with no injury external or internal as examined by the jail doctors. Prabhudas Vaishnani stayed in jail for three days and then on the fourth day he complained of severe back pain and pain in his legs, after which he was sent to the government hospital, he was treated as an out-patient and was sent back. He was released from the jail after seven days.  

Post three four days of his stay at home he again complained of back pain and had problems in urination. The doctors of Jamjodhpur referred him to a nephrologist in Rajkot where he was diagnosed with irregular functioning of his kidney and was put on dialysis.

He succumbed to his ailment on the fourth or fifth day of his treatment and the body was handed over to his elder brother without any postmortem. Rhabdomyolysis was told as the cause of death.

Prabhudas's brother, while on his way back with the body of the deceased was intercepted by BJP/ VHP activists who wanted a post-mortem of the deceased and simultaneously an FIR against the police officers. 


The matter was investigated by the CID which submitted a closure report saying there was nothing against Bhatt and other police officers. The post-mortem report also did not say anything against the police officers The investigating agency sought an expert opinion on Rhabdomyolysis by one Dr Trivedi, to ascertain if it was a case of Rhabdomyolysis. Custodial torture could still stand true to some extent but Dr Trivedi ruled it out saying there was no evidence of it. Thus it was proved that the death of Prabhudas Vaishanani was not because of custodial torture.


A court, however, refused to accept the closure report in the case and the government filed a revision application in the session court requesting that the charges be dropped against Bhatt and other police officials.

The CID then wrote to the state government, seeking permission to prosecute the police officials involved. The government, however, refused sanction for IPS officer Bhatt's prosecution, saying that the police was acting in discharge of their duty, so they are required to be protected against any such prosecution, and filed an application for closure of the case.

There exists a government resolution too which states, "that the police officers are required to be protected by way of filing a criminal revision application by the state". Meanwhile, there was a parallel development in the case. In 2003, when Sanjiv Bhatt was superintendent of the Sabarmati Jail, the main accused of Haren Pandya murder case, Asghar Ali, was in his custody. Asghar Ali confessed before the jail authorities that Haren Pandya was killed by Tulsi Prajapati and not by him. Sanjiv Bhatt immediately wrote to the home ministry about this confession and subsequently he was transferred.

This incident dates back to November 2003, and in the year 2004 the state government wrote for withdrawal of revision petition, filed for not prosecuting the police officers who were acting on behalf of the state and were discharging their duties.

However, in 2005, the government changed its stand again and let the petition continue. On September 27, 2011, Sanjiv Bhatt filed an affidavit in the Haren Pandya murder case. And following the affidavit, Modi's team resurrected the 21-year-old custodial death case, changing its stand once again, this time to let the officer face prosecution.


Bhatt says that all these moves are desperate attempts of a desperate government, and their desperateness is giving strength to his resolve to continue fight against the atrocities of the arrogant ruler and his cohorts.

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Monday, 12 May 2014

             In Memory of Mikhail Bulgakov
This, not graveyard roses, is my gift;
And I won’t burn sticks of incense:
You died as unflinchingly as you lived,
With magnificent defiance.
Drank wine, and joked – were still the wittiest,
Choked on the stifling air.
You yourself let in the terrible guest
And stayed alone with her.
Now you’re no more.  And at your funeral feast
We can expect no comment from the mutes
On your high, stricken life.  One voice at east
Must break that silence, like a flute.
O, who would have believed that I who have been tossed
On a slow fire to smoulder, I, the buried days’
Orphan and weeping mother, I who have lost
Everything, and forgotten everyone, half-crazed –
Would be recalling one so full of energy
And will, and touched by that creative flame,
Who only yesterday, it seems, chatted to me,
Hiding the illness crucifying him.
                                                                       ----Anna Akhmatova
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Sunday, 2 February 2014

Katta Panchayat

Mr. A was engaged to be married to Ms. B by the family elders. Ms. B had in the past suffered from Tuberculosis and was completely cured. This was made clear to the family of  A who accepted it. As marriage date approached, A developed cold feet, and the marriage was called off. The family of B who had    incurred some financial loss towards marriage expenses in addition to loss of face approached the Katta Panchayat, who ruled that family of A pay a compensation of Rs. 200,000 to the family of B and family of B donate Rs, 50,000 out of that to the village temple. Thus the matter was settled.

 I listened to this story involving some distant relatives with amazement during a family get together. I was not aware of existance of Khap panchayat type structures in TN. Then later, I was watching Justice Verma place the report in Vigyan Bhawan live. He mentioned


To augment the police force, there is need to
develop community policing by involving the
local population. Willing volunteers should be
properly and intensively trained before being
able to police the community. This would also
motivate them to perform their duty as
citizens. Respectable persons in each locality
could also be appointed Special Executive
Magistrates under Section 21, Cr.P.C. and
invested power to deal with the traffic offences
and other minor offences including eve-teasing.
In addition, to assisting the maintenance of law
and order in the locality, their presence would
inspire greater confidence of safety in their
locality.
In this regard, the Government may like to also
consider maximizing the use of volunteer
forces which are already constituted after
ensuring proper training of the kind needed to
tackle the offences which are the subject of this
report. The Committee does not have the
capacity to study the training, number or
jurisdiction of these forces such as the Home
guards in detail and make recommendations
but this is something which is left to the
Government to consider as an option after
further thought and research.
14. The protection of women from harassment and
threats of a sexual nature as well as all other sexual
offences is dependent on the quality of policing in
our country. The people trust the police for
prevention and investigation of sexual offences. It
is necessary to make systemic changes as
suggested. This would inculcate Constitutional
values in the police force and the moral vision
required for the performance of its statutory duties
in a Republican democracy; where the political
sovereignty ultimately vests in the people.
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Wednesday, 25 September 2013

Nellie


Some events in history just refuse to fade from public memory. The partition of India and Pakistan, for instance. That bloody event in history continues to inspire several novels, academic studies and even films - even now. But there are some dark chapters in independent India's history that many people - protagonists, by-standers and even those who had nothing to do with the event per se - want buried in the sands of time. The infamous Nellie massacre in Assam in 1983 is one such gory episode.
There are conflicting figures about exactly how many people - women, infants and men - were killed on that fateful day of 18 February 1983, but no one disputes the fact that at least 2,000 people lost their lives. For years, the Nellie massacre became a metaphor for everything that has gone wrong with Assam over the past three decades. Those who worry about the unabated influx of foreigners from across the international border say Nellie was a manifestation of the pent up anger among the indigenous people.
Others, apologists for the migrants, portray the victims of the Nellie massacre as just that - victims.
http://hemendranarayan.hubpages.com/hub/Assam-Nellie-Massacre-Eyewitness-Journalist


In Nellie, earlier, more people died in a single day (3,300) than in any riot after Partition. But the police were not helping along the murderers. It happened in a distant, hidden patch of dry Brahmaputra bed in a dark corner of Assam, and while the police and the state government were guilty of ignoring early warnings they were not participating in the killings and loot. I reached Nellie when killings and hackings were still on and the wounded were crying, crawling, carrying their dismembered limbs, trying to push back entrails hanging out of stab holes in their children’s bellies. There was just half a platoon of the CRPF there, led by a very honourable head constable called H.B.N. Appa who was crying bitterly that he did not have enough people or firepower to stop the killings. He was by no means egging the killers on. He must have still saved a few thousand lives. He resurfaced in my reporting life a year later, in Amritsar during Operation Bluestar, at the head of a CRPF patrol, his lonely heroism at Nellie having earned him the reward of the single pip of a sub-inspector which he flaunted at me and asked: “So what did you get for reaching there ahead of the others?” And then he talked about how many lives he could have saved if only he had a full platoon.
One of my abiding memories of Nellie is the bitterly dejected, forlorn face of the then DIG of Nowgong district, under whose charge the village fell, the day after the massacre. “If only we were here a few hours earlier... if only we were here a few hours earlier,” he kept on mumbling. That pain returns to his face even today when I sometimes cruelly pull his leg by reminding him I beat him and his police to the Nellie story. You can check with the gentleman if I am speaking the truth. He is P.C. Sharma, the current director of the CBI. 
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Wednesday, 10 April 2013

Human development Index

http://hdr.undp.org/en/humandev/


http://hdr.undp.org/xmlsearch/reportSearch?y=*&c=n%3AIndia&t=*&lang=en&k=&orderby=year
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Saturday, 30 March 2013

Yakub Memon


A Tear For Yakub Memon

Maseeh Rahman Sat Aug 04 2007, 13:06 hrs


Yakub Memon fell into CBI hands partly by chance and partly on his own volition. He had flown from Karachi to Kathmandu in July 1994 for a second consultation with a lawyer cousin from Mumbai. (The first meeting, also at Yakub's insistence, had taken place earlier in Dubai.) He wanted to return to India, he said, "to clear his name". A majority of the other Memons, with the exception of two brothers—Tiger and Ayub—also wanted to do the same.
His cousin advised caution. While Yakub may believe that the rest of the Memons had nothing to do with Tiger's bomb conspiracy, the 'atmosphere' in India was strongly against the family, he was told.
Yakub though had come prepared to surrender. He was travelling light—his luggage primarily consisted of a cache of documents, video and audio cassettes establishing Pakistan's complicity in protecting the Memons after the bombings, if not revealing its actual role in masterminding the conspiracy.
Until Yakub's totally unexpected arrest, India had given up hope of ever nabbing the Memons. Or of producing evidence to indicate a Pakistani hand behind the bombings.
Immediately after the return of the Memons in three separate batches spread over several weeks, then home minister SB Chavan told me in an interview published in India Today: "It was by chance that we got Yakub Memon, but his arrest has helped us clearly establish beyond doubt that Pakistan was fully involved."
India's prime concern at that time was to try and convince Washington about the Pakistani hand. Thanks to the return of the Memons, the Home Ministry finally had something to show. "In a three-hour presentation, my officers gave a complete briefing to the new US Ambassador Frank Wisner," added Chavan. "I don't think any objective person could reach any other conclusion (about Pakistan's involvement)."
Yakub had carried the evidence to Kathmandu in a burgundy briefcase (his favourite colour). After his cousin advised caution, he was walking through airport security to fly back to Karachi when a large bunch of keys in his briefcase showed up in the X-ray image looking suspiciously like a handgun.
The briefcase was opened, and out tumbled the Memon family's Indian passports. Yakub was detained, and eventually landed in CBI hands on August 4th.
Yakub's failure to return to Karachi days earlier on July 24, however, had triggered a pre-arranged signal for the rest of the Memons. For them it meant Yakub had gone to India and surrendered, and if they were to follow suit they had to flee Karachi before the ISI woke up. They immediately flew to Dubai using the Pakistani passports issued to them under assumed names.
This created a huge challenge for the CBI. Especially in those days, Dubai was like a city out of a Graham Greene novel—crawling not just with South Asian gangsters and ex-Soviet Bloc prostitutes, but also with sinister operatives from various national security agencies. To complicate matters, Yakub's wife Rahin had delivered their first child after landing in Dubai. It wouldn't have taken the ISI too much time to ferret out the Memons and bundle them back to Karachi.
The CBI had to get to the Memons first. In a remarkable cloak-and-dagger operation lasting three tense weeks, CBI officers located the Memons in Dubai, kept them hidden from the ISI, and safely brought them to New Delhi in two groups—first Yakub's father, mother, three brothers, and a sister-in-law, along with two children, and then his wife and new-born daughter.
Only Tiger and Ayub stayed back in Karachi. The CBI then heard the Memons' incredible story. They were frequent visitors to Dubai, and some, like Rubina and Ayub, had become permanent residents. In March 1993, Ayub insisted that the close-knit family celebrate Id together in Dubai, and they left Mumbai shortly before the bombings.
After the bombings, Tiger turned evasive, and it gradually dawned on them that the reports from Mumbai were true—a Memon was behind the outrage. Barely a week later, when Tiger suddenly rushed them to Karachi, where they got entry without visas, they also realised that Tiger had done it at Pakistan's behest.
This provoked father Abdul Razzak to physically thrash Tiger in front of the others soon after they landed in Karachi. The strongly built, hot-tempered Tiger took the beating quietly (just as he later accepted their decision to return to India, though, as Yakub said in court, Tiger warned him: "Tum Gandhiwadi ban ke ja rahe ho, lekin wahan atankwadi qarar kiye jayo ge (You are going as a Gandhian, but over there you will be labelled a terrorist)."
In Karachi, the Memons got new identities, a 20-room mansion to live in, and money to start new businesses. But all the Memons, except Tiger and Ayub, felt troubled at being branded back home as terrorists and traitors. They also felt out of place in Pakistan, forced to conceal their past and suppress their real persona. They had to pretend they were Urdu-speaking Mohajirs instead of what they really were—Gujarati-speaking Sunni Muslims from the Kutchi Memon community.
Initiated by Yakub, the idea gradually took root that since they were not involved in the bomb conspiracy, they should go back to Mumbai and clear their names. "They had a kind of naive faith that since they were innocent, they would be acquitted," an official recalled.
The Memons felt only Yakub may get punishment for secondary offences stemming from his involvement, as a chartered accountant, in Tiger's silver smuggling business. But even this could get offset by the fact that the Memons had brought crucial evidence implicating Pakistan.
"Yakub naively thought the country would feel indebted and he would get lenient treatment," the official added.
The circumstances of the Memons' return though were so amazing that the media soon began alleging a "deal" with the family, or even with Pakistan. The CBI's then Director K. Vijay Rama Rao angrily said to me in an interview: "There is no deal with anyone. Absolutely." He also made it clear the CBI did not intend to turn the Memons into approvers.
Accusations of a deal put Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao's administration completely on the defensive. It was, therefore, decided to ignore the circumstances of the Memon family's return and instead throw the anti-terror act at them. All the returnee Memons ended up in jail, including the parents, the daughters-in-law, and the mentally challenged youngest brother Yousuf. They were all arraigned as terrorists, and no mention was made of how and why the Memons had come back.
Vijay Rama Rao was right: there had been no deal with the Memons. This is what made their return even more extraordinary. The Memons came back because they believed in their innocence. More importantly, they were convinced that since India was a democracy their rights would be protected, that the government would be even-handed and that they would get a fair trial.
They have been proved wrong on all counts.
Rubina got rigorous life imprisonment only because a Maruti van used by Tiger's men was registered in her name. But she wasn't even living in Mumbai at the time of the bombings—she had shifted to Dubai six months earlier.
Essa, who was hospitalised with a brain tumour and suffers from morbid obesity, and Yousuf, diagnosed as a schizophrenic, also got life only because the flats and garage where the bomb conspiracy was hatched by Tiger and his men were registered in their names. There is nothing otherwise to link them to the conspiracy.
Yakub has been condemned to death. He was found guilty of arranging money for the purchase of vehicles used by the bombers and organising air tickets to Dubai for some of them. (From the Gulf, these men flew to Pakistan for arms training, using tickets arranged in Dubai by the absconding Ayub.) But such activity was normal for Yakub, since he had access to Tiger's hawala bank accounts linked to silver smuggling. It does not necessarily show knowledge of or participation in the bomb conspiracy.
A trickier charge is that he asked his driver to give a bag containing hand grenades to one of Tiger's men. Yakub denies it, but his driver and two of Tiger's men confessed. Gun-running has always been a part of the Mumbai underworld's business, so even if Yakub is guilty on this count it doesn't necessarily establish advance knowledge of the bomb conspiracy.
The offence, like Sanjay Dutt's, merits conviction under the arms act, with a maximum of 10 years imprisonment. For the same grenade bag incident, Kode has given seven years to Yakub's driver, and 10 years to Tiger's travel agent. Only Tiger's manager got death—not for handling the bag of grenades but for planting an RDX-packed vehicle outside a cinema theatre.
In contrast to the Memon convictions, a Tiger gang member who was involved in all three aspects of the conspiracy—arms training in Pakistan, smuggling of arms and explosives to India, and loading and deploying of bomb vehicles (his car near the Shiv Sena headquarters killed four people)—was pardoned by Kode. Badshah Khan (an assumed name; his real identity is protected) got married after the bombings, has three children and lives comfortably in an upmarket Mumbai suburb.
The 1993 Mumbai serial bombings were the result of a heinous conspiracy, and the guilty must pay for their actions. But India is a democracy, and democracies normally don't submit to lynch mobs. The treatment of the Memons does suggest that the government failed in its duty, choosing not to take a politically unpopular path and play fair with the family.
Our leaders have often said that not a single Indian Muslim joined the al-Qaeda in the past because India is a democracy. An open and fair society with a robust judicial system, they said, does not produce jihadis. So it's all the more ironic that India's most notorious Muslim family which voluntarily returned to the country to face trial because of its faith in the system today feels that it made a big mistake.
The Government can still make amends. I have a small proposal. The Congress vetoed the BJP's demand for a special screening for MPs of an authentic film on the bomb conspiracy, Black Friday, which was based on a well-researched book by The Indian Express reporter S. Hussain Zaidi. They should go ahead with the screening. And after the MPs have seen the film, the Government should get officials who were directly involved with the return of the Memons to tell the full story of their homecoming.
It's an exemplary tale, one that a leadership with imagination and courage could have turned into a celebration of our open and pluralistic society. Instead, the fate of the Memons now threatens to strain one of India's age-old faultlines.
The author is a senior journalist based in New Delhi. In March 1993, at the time of the serial bombings, he was the Mumbai bureau chief of India Today.
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Tuesday, 26 March 2013

Haren Pandya


Former Gujarat home minister
Haren Pandya shot dead

March 26, 2003 22:15 IST


Former Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya was shot dead on Wednesday morning, about two km from his residence in Ahmedabad [ Images ]. Pandya (43) was hit by five bullets fired from close range at his chest, neck and lower abdomen.
The assailant, riding a motorcycle, opened fire at Pandya as he sat in his car for the drive back home after finishing his morning walk at the Law Garden locality. The incident occurred around 1030 IST.
Pandya lay in a pool of blood for about 30 minutes as no one came forward to help him, police sources claimed.
He was rushed to the V S hospital where doctors discovered he had received multiple bullet injuries.
After he was declared dead, Pandya's body was sent for post mortem, the Resident Medical Officer said.
He is survived by his wife and two sons.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi [ Images ] and senior BJP leaders, including former chief minister Keshubhai Patel, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ashok Bhatt, MLA Maya Kodnani and Minister of State for Home Amit Shah, were among those who rushed to the hospital as news of the incident spread. The government later ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into the incident.
Pandya's distraught supporters raised anti-Modi slogans at the hospital and accused him of not providing adequate security to the departed leader.
Mediapersons also faced their wrath and some photojournalists were roughed up.
Shopkeepers in the area downed their shutters in protest against Pandya's killing and demanded the arrest of the assailant.
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee [ Images ] expressed shock over the killing. He spoke to Modi immediately after getting the news. Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani [ Images ] and BJP president M Venkaiah Naidu are expected to reach Ahmedabad in the evening, official sources said.
Hearing the news of Pandya's death, his parents and other family members rushed to the hospital. His aged father fainted on hearing the news and had to be hospitalised.
Pandya's parents also voiced their anger against Modi and his 'poor handling' of the law and order situation in the state.
Police Commissioner K R Kaushik said that a red alert had been sounded throughout Gujarat and all measures were being taken to maintain peace. He said a manhunt had been launched for the assailants.
He said a .32 caliber revolver had been used to commit the murder.
Born on August 27, 1961, Pandya was first elected to the Gujarat assembly in 1993. He was minister of state for border security (independent charge) prior to his elevation as home minister in 1998.
An engineering graduate, Pandya was a well-known student leader and is a former corporator of Ahmedabad.
Considered one of the party's bright prospects in Gujarat, Pandya represented the Ellis Bridge assembly constituency for three consecutive terms and was a minister in the Keshubhai Patel cabinet.
He was dropped after Narendra Modi became chief minister following bitter factionalism in the BJP's Gujarat unit. The outspoken politician was denied a BJP ticket for last December's assembly election.
Among other things, Pandya had attracted Modi's ire after appearing before a tribunal probing the post-Godhra communal riots in Gujarat last year.
Pandya defended himself when asked by the state leadership to explain his actions.
The Keshubhai Patel loyalist had a running feud with Modi and had become the symbol of the cold war between Patel and Modi.
Even after quitting the Modi cabinet, Pandya had taken on the chief minister on a number of occasions.
Police said there appeared to be some similarity with the attempt on the life of state VHP leader Jaideep Patel after the Gujarat assembly elections.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani briefed the Cabinet Committee on Security about the assassination, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha [ Images ] said, after an hour-long meeting of the CCS, chaired by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
With inputs from the Press Trust of India [ Images ]
Vikram Vakil

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PANDYA COUNTERS HIS CHIEF’S QUERY       



EXPRESS NEWS SERVICEPosted: Aug 05, 2002 at 0000 hrs IST
GANDHINAGAR, AUGUST 4

Gujarat Revenue Minister Haren Pandya has responded to the state BJP chief’s demand to know if he deposed before an inquiry panel of retired judges on the Godhra carnage.

Pandya had reportedly told the panel that on February 27 night CM Narendra Modi instructed officials to let justice be done for the Godhra attack.

In the letter, he tells state BJP chief Rajendrasinh Rana: ‘‘I request the person (Modi), who has sought my explanation through you, to clarify if Haren Pandya was present at the said meeting? And if not, on what basis could we seek his explanation. If that person gives more details, I will give more clarification.’’

Pandya is clearly referring to Modi in the letter. He says: ‘‘I have read the magazine very carefully and there is no reference whatsoever in it to the effect that, ‘Haren Pandya

had deposed before the (Concerned Citizens’) tribunal. (So) I don’t understand your reason to seek my clarification about reports which have not even named me.’’

He takes a potshot at Modi too. ‘‘Somebody insisting on my explanation on the basis of baseless information is harmful for the party. And this is why I send this clarification through the media.’’
------------------------------------------------------------------

Keshubhai man Haren Pandya quits Modi govt

TNN Aug 6, 2002, 10.20pm IST
AHMEDABAD: Minister of state for revenue Haren Pandya, a confidant of former chief minister Keshubhai Patel, today resigned from the Narendra Modi government.
Haren Pandya has been in the news since Mr Modi took over from his mentor Keshubhai Patel. He was recently served a show-cause notice for his reported deposition before a citizen's tribunal on the riots.
Last Sunday, he wrote an open letter to state BJP president Rajendrasinh Rana, taking strong exception to him being asked to explain his conduct. He had alleged Mr Rana had sought his explanation under pressure from Mr Modi.
Mr Rana had sought clarification whether he had told the citizen's tribunal that Modi had instructed the state police officials on February 27 not to interfere with any post-Godhra violence.
It was also rumoured that Mr Modi may ask Mr Pandya to vacate his Ellis Bridge constituency in his favour. Mr Modi is said to be reluctant to contest the assembly polls from Rajkot II. The Ellis Bridge constituency is considered the safest bet for any BJP legislator in the state and with recent communal riots, it would be even more easier for a BJP man to win assembly elections from this constituency.
A high-profile minister, Mr Pandya came into limelight during the attacks on Christians at Dangs during the tenure of Keshubhai. His tenure as home minister was marked by burning of the Bible and attack on Centre for Environment and Planning allegedly by Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists.
Mr Pandya had also resigned from the Keshubhai Patel ministry following a fracas with minister of state for fisheries Purushottam Solanki. Solanki had during a cable operators' war, alleged Mr Pandya was carrying out vendetta against his brother, Bharat Solanki.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Haren Pandya not in BJP's second list too

PTI Nov 20, 2002, 07.13pm IST
NEW DELHI: The BJP on Wednesday released the second list of 11 party candidates for the Gujarat Assembly polls. The list does not include the name of Narendra Modi detractor and former state home minister Haren Pandya or his constituency Ellisbridge.
Pandya is also a prominent loyalist of former chief minister Keshubhai Patel. Patel is unlikely to contest the Assembly elections, party sources said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. Witnesses deposing before us testified to the fact that the chief minister called a meeting of senior police and other officers on that very night of February 27, 2002. At this meeting specific instructions were given by him in the presence of state home minister on how the police should deal with the situation on the bandh day. We were informed that instructions were given in this meeting by the chief minister specifically not to take action against any Hindu reaction to Godhra.

Earlier in the evening, his two cabinet colleagues, Ashok Bhatt and Pratap Singh Chauhan, had met at Lunavada in Panchmahal District and in this meeting, the manner and methods of unleashing violence on the Muslims were planned in detail.

It appears from what happened in Ahmedabad and its environs on February 28 and all over the state on March 1, 2 and 3 and thereafter, was with the deliberate connivance and support of the Government.  (CCT Vol 2, page 249)
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Pandya suspect, not witness
Express news service : Ahmedabad, Fri May 11 2012, 03:43 hrs


The SIT has dismissed late minister Haren Pandya's May 13, 2002, testimony before the Concerned Citizens Tribunal, which itself had dismissed his deposition. On the other hand, the SIT has picked out excerpts from the tribunal report implicating Pandya in the riots.
Pandya was murdered in 2003. He reportedly alleged that Narendra Modi had instructed officials not to take action against Hindu rioters. Tribunal members P B Sawant and Hosbet Suresh, retired judges, told the SIT that his deposition had not been recorded.
The SIT concluded in the preliminary report of 2010: "In view of the version of all senior officials of the home and police departments, the testimony of late Haren Pandya before the tribunal becomes unreliable."
The SIT probed IPS officer R B Sreekumar's entry about a supposed secret inquiry on the minister. This is backed up by the testimony of then DSP (intelligence) S M Pathak. The SIT final report says, "Pathak has also confirmed having conducted secret inquiries, which revealed that Pandya had deposed before them and that this fact was reported to R B Sreekumar orally."
On Pandya's alleged complicity in the riots, one excerpt taken by the SIT final report from the tribunal's report says, "Three eyewitnesses, who deposed before the tribunal, saw Pandya setting fire to Apna Bazaar Medical. 'Let us burn these Muslims', he was shouting, after he had burnt it down himself... Just outside Ellisbridge police station, Pandya was overheard telling the PI, even as Hotel Ellis was aflame, 'This community does nothing'." Another excerpt is "Eyewitnesses testified to seeing Pandya leading mobs who committed arson."
The SIT probed the call records of Pandya's number (9825039852) which showed he was in Ahmedabad till 10.46am on February 27, 2002. The SIT final report says, "His location at Ahmedabad city again comes at 4:24:24pm and thereafter he remained in the city till 10:52:07pm, and this would conclusively establish that Pandya did not attend the meeting that took place at the CM's residence at about 11pm."
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Pandya did speak on Modi's complicity in riots

Ahmedabad | Monday, Feb 27 2012 IST

Justice Hosbet Suresh, a retired Bombay High Court judge, today reiterated his earlier claim that former Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya had said before a fact-finding team that Chief Minister Narendra Modi had allegedly instructed police to allow the Hindus to vent their anger and let Muslims be taught a lesson on February 27, 2002. Addressing a press conference here at Gulberg Society, where a memorial exhibition was opened for public to mark the 10 years of the riots, Justice Suresh said the fact-finding tribunal comprising him and Justice Sawant alongwith former Supreme Court judge Justice V R Krishna Iyer, as its head, had recorded the statement of Mr Pandya and in a deposition before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that probed Gujarat government's role in the post-Godhra riots of 2002, he had given the tribunal's evidence in this regard to the SIT. He said the tribunal had an audio recording of Pandya's statement in which he said Modi had called a meeting on the night of February 27, hours after the Godhra train attack where he allegedly told the police to look the other way during the riots. But he further said that now the audio recording is not in his possession. He said Pandya's statement was relevant and 'cannot be ignored' in a court of law. Mr Pandya was murdered on March 26, 2003. The SIT has recently submitted its final report to a local court on its probe into allegations of the Modi government's involvement in the riots and it is rumoured to have given a clean chit to the Chief Minister.

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Thursday, 21 March 2013

Price of Vegetables in Mumbai

When prices of vegetable were high a couple of years ago, that was news. I have been noticing that the vegetable prices have been falling. Considering the draught etc, let me see if I can track down the reason for it..

Mumbaikars to soon get fruits, vegetables cheaper

RAHUL WADKE

Maharashtra developed a scheme, in which private companies would soon be allowed to source vegetables and fruits from farmers and sell directly to consumers across the Mumbai metropolitan region, using mobile vans.
Maharashtra developed a scheme, in which private companies would soon be allowed to source vegetables and fruits from farmers and sell directly to consumers across the Mumbai metropolitan region, using mobile vans.
MUMBAI, OCT. 26:  
If plans of the Maharashtra Government fructify early 2013, Mumbaikars would soon be able to buy fruits and vegetables way below market rates.
The State Government has developed a scheme, in which private companies would soon be allowed to source vegetables and fruits from farmers and sell directly to consumers across the Mumbai metropolitan region, using mobile vans.
The Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board (MSAMB), the apex body of the State Government for promoting agriculture products in the State, is to enter into a memorandum of understanding with several companies for directly sourcing and selling fruits and vegetables.
Speaking about the scheme, a senior MSAMB official told Business Line on the condition of anonymity, that for selling the agriculture produce, the companies are expected to target large residential colonies and other captive customers. If the scheme is successful in the Mumbai region, it would be replicated in other cities such as Nagpur, Pune and Nashik, the official said.
The MSAMB aims to eliminate the middlemen by paying more to the farmers and selling cheaper to the consumers.
For MSAMB, this is to be a non-profit venture, the official said.
The company that would do the selling needs to have delivery vans, mobile marts and back-office operations.
It also needs to have over five years experience in running a fleet of 2,000 vehicles, which is a requirement by the MSAMB.
The company in question should also have an automobile workshop and fleet management technology, which is critical for faster operations, the official added.
With the Maharashtra Government keen to develop the post-harvest sector in the State, opening up of the sector to corporate houses is bound to increase competition and even bring in some foreign players into the market.
rahul.wadke@thehindu.co.in
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The actual price of vegetables and fruits in the market are much cheaper than given here. (except for onoin and coconut and water melon) Today I bought green grapes @Rs 60/Kg and black grapes at Rs 80/ Kg.  To give an idea, I bought assorted vegetables for Rs 70/- today. If I had bought it online, as per their list, it would have costed me Rs.104/- Why is no one mentioning about price dip? I hope it is not because of draught.



1) VEGETABLESThere are 65 products.

Here are fresh and best quality vegetables for a more healthy You. 
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