01-11-2020 The Asian Independent

www.theasianindependent.co.uk
15 Delhi Police officers get
Special Operation Medal
New Delhi : On the occasion of the birth anniversary of
India's first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, 15 officers
of the Delhi Police Special Cell have been awarded Union Home
Minister's Special Operation Medal.
Out of 15 officers, 11 were awarded for their role in
''Operation PAMIR'' in which a team of Special Cell had busted
an international drug cartel. "Operation PAMIR also successfully
uncovered a hitherto unknown modus operandi of using the
land route from Afghanistan through Iran and then via sea to the
ports of western India for narco-smuggling," a police officer
said.
The team had recovered a total of 330 kg of heroin valued in
the international market around Rs 1,320 crore, and apprehended
nine accused persons, including five Afghanistan nationals. It
was the largest-ever heroin haul seized in Delhi's crime history,
and the police forces of Delhi, Mumbai and Haryana were taken
into confidence, besides convincing their senior formations
about the urgency and seriousness of the operation.
Officers awarded in the case are Neeraj Thakur, Special
Commissioner of Police/Special cell (then Joint CP/Special
Cell), DCP Manishi Chandra, ACP Hridaya Bhushan, Inspector
Vinod Kumar, Sub-Inspector Manoj Kumar, Sub-Inspector
Sunder Gautam, sub-inspector Yashpal Singh, sub-inspector
Amit Kumar, sub-inspector Arvind Singh, sub-inspector
Shamsher Singh and assistant sub-inspector Brijpal. "Four officers
including ACP Lalit Mohan Negi, inspector Sunil Kumar
Rajain, inspector Ravinder Joshi and sub-inspector Pankaj Singh
Chauhan were awarded Union Home Minister's Special
Operation Medal for their role in busting of an ISIS-TN module,"
an officer said.
In December 2019, a group of ISIS terrorists from Tamil
Nadu, who killed Hindu Munnani leader KP Suresh Kumar and
were on conditional bail, had fled under mysterious circumstances.
This group of terrorists was also involved in the killing of a
Special Sub Inspector of Police (SSI) Wilson of Kaliakavilai
Police Station in Tamil Nadu. Wilson was on duty at police
check point on January 8, 2020, it stated. In this pan-India operation,
the Special Cell of Delhi Police arrested the kingpin of
this ISIS module Khaja Moideen along with his two associates
in Delhi after a brief exchange of fire, the statement said.
A total of 39 officers were awarded Union Home Minister's
Special Operation Medal, out of which 15 were bagged by the
Delhi Police Special Cell.
NEWS
Jagan writes to Modi for clearing
Rs 55k crore for Polavaram
Amaravati : Andhra Pradesh Chief
Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on
Saturday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra
Modi to accord investment clearance for
the Polavaram project's second revised cost
estimate (RCE) of Rs 55,549 crore at the
earliest so that the project could be completed
by December 2021.
Reddy said the second RCE has been
recommended by the Central Water
Commission (CWC), Technical Advisory
Committee (TAC) and Revised Cost
Committee (RCC), all Government of
India (GoI) entities. The Chief Minister
explained Modi about all the developments,
delays and cost overruns, highlighting
that there was some communication
gap, resulting in confusion on the cost of
the project.
Reddy said Polavaram project has been
declared a national project by the central
government at the time of Andhra Pradesh
bifurcation and enshrined as a solemn
promise in the AP Reorganisation Act,
2014. According to the Act, the Central
government shall execute the project and
obtain all requisite clearances, including
environmental, forests and R & R norms.
He said the expenditure of Rs 5,136 crore
incurred by the undivided state on
Polavaram Irrigation Project till April 1,
2014 was considered as the share of the
state government as per paragraph 5.3 of the
cabinet note dated April 29, 2014. For the
purpose of executing the project, a special
purpose vehicle, PPA, was notified in the
gazette on May 28, 2014, which will execute
the project, preferably through the concerned
state departments or any other expert
agency. The Chief Minister mentioned that
the original cost of the project as per 2005-
06 price levels was Rs 10,151 crore, which
was revised under first RCE as Rs 16,010
crore at 2010-2011 price levels, which was
also changed to Rs 28,920 crore by the
Revised Cost Committee as per 2013-14
price levels. However, Reddy differed with
the Ministry of Finance's September 30,
2016 decision which was communicated by
01-11-2020 to 15-11-2020
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GDSF could play a kingmaker's ...
25
Man held in Raj for sharing army's
secret information with Pak
Jaipur : Rajasthan Police, based on
intelligence inputs provided by the Military
Intelligence (MI) Jaipur, have arrested a
civil defence employee of the Military
Engineering Services (MES) in Rajasthan's
Niwaru on charges of working as an "espionage
agent" for a Pakistani intelligence
agency. It was reported in September this
year that the MI Jaipur learnt about an
"espionage agent" in Niwaru, who was
passing military-related information to his
handlers in Pakistan. The individual was
identified as Ramniwas Gaura, 28, a civil
motor driver working with the MES.
It was learnt that Gaura was in contact
with one Pakistan Intelligence Operator
(PIO) namely Ekta @Jasmeet Kour
through Facebook and WhatsApp. During
his two years of contact with the PIO, he
shared the information about units and formations
at Niwaru and Jaipur as also information
about various offices and personnel
in these two places.
The case details were shared with the
police headquarters in Jaipur, following
which and a joint operation was planned to
apprehend Gaura. A joint team of Jaipur
Police Intelligence and MI Jaipur was
formed, and all the findings were analysed
again. Further details were acquired and
conclusive evidence was gathered.
Gaura was eventually detained on
Friday. During questioning, he reportedly
confessed that he had received a friend
request from the PIO's Facebook profile,
"Ekta", in February/March 2020, and
accepted it. They soon became "very
friendly", shared their WhatsApp numbers
with each other and started chatting, apart
from interacting over audio/video calls.
The PIO used to use an Indian WhatsApp
number and had claimed that she was
the Ministry of Water Resources with a condition
that the balance irrigation component
cost at latest price levels should be borne by
AP, even as 100 per cent cost of the project
after April 1, 2014 would be borne by GoI.
Reddy said the state government somehow
failed to bring this complete ad hoc departure
from gazette notification on May 28,
2014 to the notice of GoI for the reasons
best known to it.
As the last approval of investment clearance
was done at 2010-11 price level, he
said PPA asked AP to submit a realistic
RCE to complete the project.
"Accordingly, the government of AP
submitted second RCE for Rs 57,297 crore
at 2017-18 price level and the reasons for
increasing the cost of the project are due to
time overrun, change in design, price escalation
and adoption of LA, R & Ra," he
said. However, he highlighted that the cost
of LA and R & R alone is Rs 28,191 crore
out of the second RCE, therefore capping
the entire expenditure for the project at Rs
20,399 crore at 2013-14 price levels for
irrigation component only is unrealistic
and not in accordance with the GoI guidelines
for national projects and also violation
of APR Act, 2014.
The Chief Minister told the Prime
Minister that any further delay would only
further increase the cost of the project,
which will do no good to the notional interests
of a national project.
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working with the Principal Controller of
Defence Account (PCDA), Shimla. After
the initial friendly chats, Ekta started asking
Gaura about information of "military
nature" which he readily shared. For monetary
favours, he shared his account details
with Ekta and in March 2020, demanded
Rs 10,000. Further details are being examined
by the Jaipur Police Intelligence and
MI. Other agencies have also joined the
investigation following Gaura's arrest.
Rajasthan Police Additional Director
General (Intelligence) Umesh Mishra told
the media that the team received a tip-off
about Gaura passing secret information of
the army to Pakistan for the last several
days. The intelligence team started monitoring
his activities and the investigation
revealed that the accused was in contact
with an account created on social media
with a fake name (Chhadam).
The secret information of the Indian
Army was being sent by the accused
through this account and money was also
being demanded by him. In fact, he also
shared the details of his bank account with
the "Pakistani officer". Gaura is likely to be
produced at a local court soon by the
police. A police remand may be requested
for further examination. More leads are
expected to emerge, officials said.
Sean Connery dies at 90 : Global...
A real character and for me, the best Bond. James Bond should be immortal. RIP."
Star Trek actor George Takei wrote on Twitter: "Sean Connery was a movie legend,
even far into his golden years. Our strongest Bonds were formed by him, and he was
Untouchable. He passed today at age 90, a suave hero to the end."
Lord Sugar, who hosted the British version of "The Apprentice" called Connery a
"Great actor, great 007". He added: "RIP Sir Sean Connery." Former first minister of
Scotland Alex Salmond said: "The world's greatest Scot, the last of the real Hollywood
stars, the definitive Bond. Sean Connery was all of these things but much more. He was
a staunch patriot, a deep thinker and an outstanding human being." As James Bond,
Connery shot to global superstardom as Bond in 1962, with the first film of the 007 series,
"Dr. No", and then went on to work in "From Russia with Love" (1963), "Goldfinger"
(1964), "Thunderball" (1965), "You Only Live Twice" (1967), "Diamonds Are Forever"
(1971) and "Never Say Never Again" (1983). American Film Institute has voted James
Bond as portrayed by Connery as the third-greatest hero in cinema history.
"RLSP strength is well recognised in the alliance and among
other political parties. Kushwaha had pointed out to 'Padhai,
Kamai, Dawai, Sinchai aur Kamai'. Now, the same tagline is used
by Tejashwi Yadav in his political rallies at places where voting in
the second phase is scheduled for November 3. It indicates that
something is cooking between these two alliances," Sharma
opined. The BSP too has stronghold in districts such as Gopalganj,
Rohtas, and Kaimur. The BSP had won six seats in 2005. It gave
tickets to 228 candidates in the 2015 elections, but none won. The
party however gained 2 per cent votes.
Mayawati and Kushwaha have done two joint rallies in
Bhabhua and Karadhan, the stronghold of these two parties.
AIMIM contested the 2015 elections and managed to open its
account in the Assembly by winning a seat from Muslim-dominated
Kishanganj. Kushwaha and Asaduddin Owaisi have jointly
addressed around 20 rallies, mostly in Muslim-dominated
Seemanchal areas. Ranbir Kushwaha, a member of Kishanganj
Market Association said: "The AIMIM can cash in on Muslim
votes in Seemanchal area like Kishanganj, Araria, Purnia and
Katihar. These are Muslim-dominated districts and AIMIM has
good chances of winning more seats. It is also a threat to the RJD
and the JD-U." The SBSP has good hold in some constituencies in
Kaimur and Rohtas. Similarly, the JPS has stronghold in Ghoshi
constituency and the SJDD in some constituencies in Darbhanga
and Madhubani.
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Tejashwi slams Nitish over Niti ...
"I challenge him to come on a common platform and discuss
any issue. The discussion will be similar to the presidential election
debates in the US where people can watch and judge who is
right and who is wrong," he added.
In most of his rallies, Nitish Kumar, a senior Janata Dal-United
leader, has criticised the RJD government's performance in Bihar
between 1990 and 2005 when the party was in power .