Batcha's driver fled with Rs 6 crore, wife tells cops

CHENNAI: Sadiq Batcha's driver had escaped with Rs 6 crore from his car last August, his widow Reha Banu told cops investigating the suicide of A Raja's aide on Wednesday, according to police sources. 

Police, questioning several people as part of the probe into the death of Batcha, quoted Reha Banu as saying that Batcha, who was found dead on March 16, was upset after his driver disappeared with the money but preferred not to file a police complaint. 

The investigation has revealed that Batcha spoke to a friend called Subbudu (Subramanian) 40 times on the day before he allegedly took his life. Subramanian is a partner in Sadiq Real Estate Agency based in Perambalur, Raja's hometown. 

A Mylapore police district officer said: "We have been instructed not to probe the 2G spectrum case. We have been told to only probe Batcha's suicide." 

Reha Banu appeared upset during the questioning, police said. They also quoted her as saying that the money he had dreamt of making claimed his life. "Driver Salim was very loyal initially and Batcha took him along on business trips. But when Batcha left his briefcase containing Rs 6 crore in his car and came home, Salim took it and never returned. I insisted that he file a police complaint but Batcha ignored it as the driver belonged to his hometown Lebbai Kudi Kadu near Perambalur," Reha Banu was quoted as saying by the police. 

Another police officer, assigned to look into Batcha's mobile call records, said, "Batcha spoke to his close friend Subramanian Subbudu at least 40 times on March 15, a day before his suicide. He even mentioned Subbudu in his suicide note, which was found in his room on March 16." 

Subramanian had also been questioned by the CBI in connection with the 2G spectrum scam case. "Subramanian and Batcha jointly started Sadiq Real Estate Agency on Elambalur Road in Perambalur. Batcha later moved to Chennai and started Green House Promoters and made Raja's wife and a few others directors of the company," the officer said.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Batchas-driver-fled-with-Rs-6-crore-wife-tells-cops/articleshow/7776622.cms

Doc who did Sadhick Batcha autopsy resigns

CHENNAI: Dr V Dekal, the forensic surgeon who conducted the postmortem on the body of Sadhick Batcha on Friday, has resigned from government service. 

Sadhick Batcha, 39, a close aide of former telecom minister A Raja and a person the CBI considered a vital link in the 2G spectrum money trail, was found hanging at his Chennai residence last Thursday. 

Dr Dekal, who heads the department of forensic sciences at the Madras Medical College, said he put in his papers on March 3, more than a fortnight before Batcha's suicide, to contest the Tamil Nadu assembly 

elections. 

"I am yet to make up my mind since the relieving order is yet to come. If it comes soon, I may contest as an independent," he said. Dr Dekal's father was a DMK member. 

Dr Dekal had said that asphyxiation was the cause of Batcha's death, but did not elaborate on the details since he was awaiting results of laboratory tests on Batcha's visceral organs. 

The immediate police reaction to the suicide had raised several,questions last Thursday. Though Batcha was declared 'brought dead' to Apollo Hospitals, Chennai at 1.20pm, the postmortem was not carried 

out the same day. 

The police said the process could not be initiated as by the time Batcha's wife came to sign the papers, it was too late. The body was taken to the Government Royapettah Hospital which does not have a forensic expert, and one had to be brought from the Madras Medical College the next day for the autopsy.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Doc-who-did-Sadhick-Batcha-autopsy-resigns/articleshow/7751952.cms

CVC case: CJI Kapadia's court revives activism, rattles power elite

NEW DELHI: The unseating of central vigilance commissioner PJ Thomas is the latest breakthrough made by the Supreme Court in the course of a resurgent judicial activism under the leadership of Chief Justice SH Kapadia. 

The ouster of Thomas, who was earlier telecom secretary, comes close on the heels of resignation of his minister A Raja, again on the Supreme Court's prodding through a public interest litigation (PIL) related to the 2G scam. 

The vigorous manner in which the SC has pursued a range of PIL cases in recent months has marked a new phase and a sharp contrast to the earlier phase when KG Balakrishnan was the chief justice. Many government leaders consider the court now a thorn in their flesh, while to the common man, the judiciary is once again seen as a source of hope — the sole institution that has the gumption to stand up to the high and mighty. 

Legal experts say under Kapadia the court's credibility has been restored after the damage it had suffered during the three-year tenure of Balakrishnan, whose kin are now under the scanner for amassing wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income. 

The renewed efforts to hold the influential to account have helped the institution put behind the unsavory controversies of the earlier regime — such as the reluctance to disclose the assets of judges and the abortive move to elevate a judge allegedly with disproportionate assets. 

The display of such extraordinary commitment to probity in public life was, in fact, consistent with a statement made by Kapadia at the time of his appointment as CJI in May 2010. "I come from a poor family. I started my career as a Class IV employee and the only asset I possess is integrity." 

But as regards the idea of PILs, Kapadia seems to have had a rethink while in office. For, on his very first day as CJI, Kapadia, far from extolling the virtues of PIL cases, struck a note of warning by declaring that those filing frivolous PILs would be charged huge penalties. He also said the procedures for PILs would be tightened. 

But as it has turned out, for PILs with merit, there hasn't been a more sympathetic court than the one headed by Kapadia. The petition against Balakrishnan, for instance, was entertained despite Kapadia's own acknowledgement that there were deficiencies in it. 

He made several administrative reforms to ensure that PILs received due attention. Among other things, he broke from the past practice of the CJI's bench monopolising PIL cases. Kapadia shared major PIL cases with other benches, including one headed by a judge who is 11th in the order of seniority, Justice G S Singhvi. It is the bench consisting of Singhvi and Justice A K Ganguly that has been relentlessly pushing the CBI to probe all the culprits in the 2G scam, from among politicians, bureaucrats and industrialists. 

Since the Radia tapes were connected with the 2G scam, Kapadia's administration ensured that Ratan Tata's petition raising concerns of privacy and other such related matters were all placed before the already charged-up Singhvi bench. In much the same spirit of optimizing judicial resources, Kapadia transferred to Singhvi's bench a long-pending petition of Amar Singh because of the phone tapping link. 

It is not just the freshly-filed PIL cases that have been taken up aggressively. The Kapadia bench, for instance, revived the police reforms case which had seen little action during the Balakrishnan years. In a bid to implement the radical verdict delivered five years ago by the then CJI Y K Sabharwal, the current bench for the first time fixed a time frame for states to report compliance of the reforms aimed at reducing political abuse of the police forces.

Read more: CVC case: CJI Kapadia's court revives activism, rattles power elite - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CVC-case-CJI-Kapadias-court-revives-activism-rattles-power-elite/articleshow/7623515.cms#ixzz1FbLolwM0

Nupur Talwar charged for first time, will seek anticipatory bail

GHAZIABAD: Summoning Nupur and Rajesh Talwar in the Aarushi-Hemraj double murder case, special CBI judge Preeti Singh on Wednesday observed, "There is enough evidence in the CBI report to prove that Aarushi's private parts were cleaned, the room was cleaned, no outsider could have gained entry into the house and that only the Talwars could have called the doctor conducting the postmortem." 

According to sources, the court relied on many points in the closure report like the internet router being switched off only around 3:30pm. "The surgical cuts on the neck of both victims were the work of professionally trained experts. They could only be the parents," the CBI had said. Rajesh Talwar's act of not identifying Hemraj's body also figures as circumstantial evidence in the CBI report. The court found all these points valid and accordingly passed the order. 

In doing so, it rejected Talwar's petition against the CBI report seeking fresh investigations to nail the real culprits. He had pointed a finger at the servants. Nupur Talwar, who has been vouching for her husband's innocence from day one, has been accused for the first time of murder and destroying evidence along with him. Rajesh was arrested by the Noida police in 2008 but given a clean chit by the CBI. 

The order paves the way for a trial in the case though the CBI had sought closure even after hinting at the involvement of the couple as accused. It had pleaded helplessness in pursuing the case any further for lack of proper evidence. 

The Talwars are expected to fight back. They had filed a point-by-point rebuttal of the CBI report. Among their main contentions were that CBI did not investigate the possibility of an intruder known to Hemraj, it ignored the results of the narco and brain-mapping tests conducted on Nupur and the servants, the blood samples found on a Scotch bottle were not sent for touch DNA test, the original autopsy report didn't mention any cleaning of private parts and that the 'surgical' marks on the neck of both victims could have been made by a khukri according to an expert panel of doctors. 

During the arguments on Tuesday, the CBI had said: "Our stand is that the probe by the investigating officer proves that no outsider was involved in this (Aarushi-Hemraj deaths). The servants are not involved in this and circumstantial evidence shows that the parents are behind the act.'' 

However, Talwar's lawyer Rebecca John said they were completely innocent and were likely to challenge the order. "There is no material against Rajesh and Nupur. We are waiting for a copy of the court's order after which we will decide our course of action," John said. She added they would seek anticipatory bail for Nupur Talwar. 

The parents will now be given copies of all annexures given by the agency along with the closure report. The annexures include statements by the witnesses and other documents that the CBI relied on during their probe.

Source:-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Nupur-Talwar-charged-for-first-time-will-seek-anticipatory-bail/articleshow/7463706.cms

Corrupt public servants may face summary dismissal

NEW DELHI: The Centre is mulling summary dismissal of public servants chargesheeted for corruption.

The move will ensure that government will not have to wait for long-drawn court battle to sack officials found guilty of corruption. But it is to be seen if such a provision will extend to politicians who are classified as "public servants" in the anti-graft law.

A GoM on tackling corruption will take a call on the issue while hammering out an action plan to plug graft and fast-track punishment, as announced by Congress Sonia Gandhi. Also on the GoM agenda is Lok Pal bill, state funding of elections and relevance of government sanction for registering a Preliminary Enquiry against joint secretaries and above.

There are doubts that the provision for summary sacking via "constitutional amendment" to Article 311 can run afoul of statutory guarantees and invite legal challenge on grounds of miscarriage of justice. The government has proposed an independent advisory board to vet chargesheets and evidence to decide if a case is fit for summary axing. "The safety filter is to shield the amendment from being ultra vires," a source said.

The Centre is considering compulsory seizure of assets of corrupt officials by making provisions in the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA).

The GoM will decide if the much-lauded legislation of Nitish Kumar government in Bihar on confiscation of assets is better than the provisions under Public Money Laundering Act 2002. It is a tricky issue. UPA-1 decided against giving investigating agencies the autonomy to move court for seizure of assets. A GoM mulling changes to PCA felt agencies could misuse such power.

The government's sole authority on assets seizure is a hurdle in cracking down on ill-gotten assets. The agencies, after government nod, move court under the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance 1944 to seize assets, which is way milder than compulsory seizure in corruption cases.

GoM will take a hard look at Madhav Menon committee's report on CrPC reforms to fasttrack graft trials. The Centre has come out against inserting in PCA a time limit for corruption trials, arguing "it will not help without systemic changes".

The Centre has suggested a committee to vet cases pending over 10 years — found to be 2,400 — and suggest ways for their speedy disposal.

Anti-graft camp is keen on fast-tracking trials as delays help the accused get away. Around 113 CBI cases are awaiting Centre's sanction for prosecution. The pendency in disciplinary action and vigilance probe is on the higher side.

Source :- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Corrupt-public-servants-may-face-summary-dismissal/articleshow/7330493.cms