Even more scary is that as per IE, the CDBT went in for a second sweep by a private company after IB concluded it was only chewing gum ( in 16 placesEither he needs to provide more trash cans or the chewing gum was used to place 16 bugs and which removed prior to the investigation.
)..So quite clearly it was the FM that was object of curiousity. The bugs were removed and the adhesivs left due to negligence or sign of the monitoring. I assume the adhesive pads were like the 3M contact pads for temporary hanging things on walls.NEW DELHI: Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday said investigative agencies found nothing during their probe of the alleged security breach at his office in the North Block, PTI reported.
Commenting on the reports of a possible breach of security in his and other senior officials' offices, Mukherjee told reporters on the sidelines of function, "In respect of news item, IB investigated into it and they found there is nothing."
According to a media report, Pranab Mukherjee had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last year asking him to order a secret inquiry into the serious breach of security in his office.
On September 7, 2010, the finance minister wrote to the Prime Minister asking him to order a "secret inquiry" about the presence of "planted adhesives" in 16 key locations in his office, the newspaper Indian Express reported.
These locations included the office of Mukherjee himself, the office of his adviser, the office of his private secretary Manoj Pant, and two conference rooms used by the finance minister.
However, in his letter to the Prime Minister, Mukherjee mentioned that no "live microphone" or recording devices were found.
Same doubt as what i was having..The reported bugging of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's office gave BJP a handle to allude to a "civil war" between him and Home Minister P Chidambaram, saying this seems to have led the former to ask for a probe by a private agency and not government sleuths.
]IndraD wrote:Pranab tries to down play bugging in FM
On aajtak; S Swamy alleges that bugging was done on behest of Sonia, executed bu Chidamabaram, they are scared of Hassan Ali case, Sonia trying to protect this man as big names likely to come out.
The home ministry has asked the Revenue Department to conduct a probe into the allegations of disproportionate assets against former Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan.
In a letter to the revenue secretary, the home ministry asked him to institute an inquiry through the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the investigative wing of the department.
The home ministry missive came after it received a petition alleging that Balakrishnan, currently chairperson of National Human Rights Commission, had acquired assets disproportionate to his known sources of income and some of these properties were purchased in the name of his close relatives.
"The petition with allegations has been sent to secretary of revenue department for inquiry," official sources said.
When contacted, Balakrishnan refused to comment, saying that he had already cleared the air about his assets.
The petition listed the income and properties of Balakrishnan and his relatives and also attached documents showing purchase of some of the properties and has demanded investigations by the CBDT.
"Since the CBDT has the expertise to probe into anyone's income and disproportionate assets, the task has been given to it," the sources said.
If the allegations against Balakrishnan are found to be true, the home ministry may move to President of India seeking sanction to prosecute him and also remove him from the post of NHRC.
Once Bharat mata has given her full backing, isnt this "NAC draft" almost 400% turning into a law soon?Sonia's word prevails: word ‘minorities' stays in the draft
Take it from me once the Idea of this draft is to create more communal incidents like Swami Lakminanada Saraswati Muder(As of today nobody offically is supposed to have killed him, no arrests, only some so called Maoists from thin air) and Keep the Congress Going. This sort of stuff is going to keep going until the seculars get caught in thier own web.Pranav wrote:NAC clears draft of Communal Violence Bill - http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/a ... 126748.ece
Sonia's word prevails: word ‘minorities' stays in the draft
This is reminiscent of how VP Singh started the Mandal Mania when he was in trouble over other issues.
Incidentally here is a study by Zenab Bano showing how many of the riots historically have been started by minorities - http://dadf.gov.in/dahd/reports/report- ... -ii-7.aspx
Interesting part:The Popular Front of India (PFI), the organisation with which KFD merged in 2006, has categorically denied any connection with the killings of the students. PFI has no connection with any such incident. We wish to make it clear that the source of finances for the PFI is monthly contributions from its members and donations from the public, said Elyas Muhammad, State president of the PFI.
Asked if the arrested youth were members of the organisation, he told The Hindu: We have thousands of people who come to our programmes as participants. We are now making enquiries in Mysore to find out if they were members at all. However, to link them and their criminal act to the organisation is part of the Government's ploy to divert attention from numerous charges of scandals it is facing today.
Wonder which this neighboring country was? Sri Lanka?While providing details about the KFD, police sources said the six arrested are active members of the outfit and operated from its Mysore and Hunsur branches. The KFD, a senior police officer said, works on issues related to minorities and backward communities and several of its activists were allegedly involved in communal riots in Mangalore and Udupi.
On August 15, 2010, some KFD cadres made an attempt to hoist the flag of a neighbouring country.
Wonder which this neighboring country was? Sri Lanka?[/quote]sum wrote:
On August 15, 2010, some KFD cadres made an attempt to hoist the flag of a neighbouring country.
Any doubts who that is??[/quote]ravi_ku wrote:Wonder which this neighboring country was? Sri Lanka?sum wrote:
On August 15, 2010, some KFD cadres made an attempt to hoist the flag of a neighbouring country.
He he, saar...sarcasm onlee... Have seen such flags being drawn/hoisted etc with eyeball Mk.1 in certain "sensitive" localitiesravi_ku wrote:Any doubts who that is??sum wrote:
On August 15, 2010, some KFD cadres made an attempt to hoist the flag of a neighbouring country.
Wonder which this neighboring country was? Sri Lanka?
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 970189.cmsRaj Kumar Singh, an IAS officer of the 1975 batch Bihar cadre, is all set to take over as the next Union home secretary. He will succeed G K Pillai who retires on June 30. Singh, currently secretary, defence production, in the ministry of defence, had last week appeared before home minister P Chidambaram for an interview, along with a few others including Punjab chief secretary S C Aggarwal.
ramana wrote:The NAC guys now they are on short leash. So they are enacting parallel structures in case INC doesnt come back to power. This is just like the Socialist coup in changing the Constitution.
Hmmm....nice point.. Never thought of it this way. So, the INC is insuring itself for future also.So they are enacting parallel structures in case INC doesnt come back to power. This is just like the Socialist coup in changing the Constitution.
sum wrote:Hmmm....nice point.. Never thought of it this way. So, the INC is insuring itself for future also.So they are enacting parallel structures in case INC doesnt come back to power. This is just like the Socialist coup in changing the Constitution.
This is also long term social engineering which once put in place will change the system. The process they put in place in the 1970s - secular, socialism has resulted in national debate in the 90s and later.ramana wrote: So they are enacting parallel structures in case INC doesnt come back to power. This is just like the Socialist coup in changing the Constitution.
Hmmm....nice point.. Never thought of it this way. So, the INC is insuring itself for future also.
Keep the mind open and it will reveal itself. The NAC gamut of laws are to bring about changes by law while their ilk is in power and to repeal will require quite an effort by later regimes.
Could Morarji and all others amend the Constitution to remove the Socialist vebiage brought in during Mrs G's excesses? Even after liberalisation/collapse of FSU, Rao nor ABV couldnt.
I was re-reading the book "Simply Khakhi" by E.Rammohan, an IPS officer who spent quite a lot of his time in North East and mainly in Assam. He explains the area quite nicely and specially mentions about these sort of islands, and low-lands next to the river (or wetlands) and how encroachers occupy these places. His book mainly talk about Bangladeshi Muslim immigrants barging in and occupying these areas (which other wise was used by Assamese folks for cultivation, when the river is not swelling with water). Looks like this has now become an "All caste, all religion affair".Singha wrote:guwahati has a bunch of wooded hilly areas and wetlands on periphery and some islanded in the middle. in last 20 yrs, migrant workers from other parts of the state had settled in these areas via encroachment. they cut the vegetation, built huts, then permanent housing.
This incident looks more like over-crowding + huge stress on arable land + long-held whinefests on "indigenous"ness that is already under attack with illegal immigration + self-appointed custodians of accountability, morality and democracy (alias civil society, alias RTI champions, alias 21st century satyagrahis, alias intelligentsia, alias peaceful protesters akin to the 'Nam era) acting as the lead actor to inflame opinions and make a reasonably handle-able situation difficult, tense and then extremely unsafe.This violence comes 10 days after the Garchuk incident when people blocked National Highway 37 for three hours and prevented forest department personnel from evicting settlers from the Fatasil reserve forest (a government owned wetland). The forest department had launched the eviction drive on city hills on June 10. Garchuk was part of a historic rampart with a biodiversity-rich forest called Garbhanga nearby.
The Congress may dismiss the BJP’s attack on the National Advisory Council’s draft Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence Bill as “communal propaganda”. But there’s mounting criticism from quarters it may find hard to shrug off — independent jurists with an impeccable record of having intervened in cases of communal discord or violence.
Their argument: existing laws need to be better implemented, access to justice needs to be expanded — another law isn’t the answer. Especially one which, just like the one for a Lokpal, sets up panels of eminent people of “good moral character” and expects to equip them with a magic wand.
Commenting on the Bill — its amended draft was released this week — former Chief Justice of India Justice J S Verma says: “No law can eradicate communalism in the country...We need to identify lacunae in present laws, if any, and make amendments. We have enough laws, in fact the maximum in the world. The problem is in faithful implementation. It is not the Constitution that has failed us but we who have failed the Constitution
...four such thugs, regular visitors to Uttar Nibra Panchanantala from Ankurhati in the vicinity, arrived as usual and started teasing Hindu girls and using foul languages to make the job more erotic. To be precise, at this time Hindu girls return to home from tuition classes. Finding no other way to stop them Malo Ram (26) and Babla Bera (27) strongly protested.
Within the next couple of minutes both were stabbed. While Malo Ram received severe injuries on his neck and hands, Babla Bera got injuries on the back. Both were rushed to the Howrah District Hospital. What followed these was nothing but a mass outrage. Angry locals got hold of two of four Muslim guys riding motorcycles and manhandled them. Malo Ram is still in hospital, Babla Bera has been released after treatments.
The two Muslim rowdies – Hasan Gazi (28) and Mukul Ali (27) – were then handed over to the police. They were remanded in police custody after being produced before a court.
Anindya wrote:Unfortunately, this kind of directed violence has become quite common in border areas of West Bengal - journalist friends tell me that at least people in the telegraph have been asked not to make too much of such violence, so as "not to cause trouble"...
From http://southbengalherald.blogspot.com/2 ... sting.html
...four such thugs, regular visitors to Uttar Nibra Panchanantala from Ankurhati in the vicinity, arrived as usual and started teasing Hindu girls and using foul languages to make the job more erotic. To be precise, at this time Hindu girls return to home from tuition classes. Finding no other way to stop them Malo Ram (26) and Babla Bera (27) strongly protested.
Within the next couple of minutes both were stabbed. While Malo Ram received severe injuries on his neck and hands, Babla Bera got injuries on the back. Both were rushed to the Howrah District Hospital. What followed these was nothing but a mass outrage. Angry locals got hold of two of four Muslim guys riding motorcycles and manhandled them. Malo Ram is still in hospital, Babla Bera has been released after treatments.
The two Muslim rowdies – Hasan Gazi (28) and Mukul Ali (27) – were then handed over to the police. They were remanded in police custody after being produced before a court.
sum wrote:http://www.indianexpress.com/news/polit ... er,%20bhai
Reform the Mumbai police? But how do you clean a cesspool of oceanic depth?
I do not claim to be an expert on the Mumbai police. But I’ve worked as a reporter in India’s richest metropolis for 25 years, and remained in close touch for another two decades. Some of this time has been spent in exploring the underbelly of Mumbai.
As a cub reporter, I was offered my first bribe on the steps of a magistrate’s court. I soon discovered that a senior reporter was running a lucrative business writing on crime. So before I learned about corrupt policemen or politicians, I was introduced to the venality of fellow journalists.If this theory turns out to be true, then it’ll only confirm what’s been said for some time — that now there’s little to distinguish the Mumbai police from the city’s legendary underworld.
Some of India’s phenomenally rich policemen, serving or retired, live in Mumbai. The list includes IPS officers, an elite bunch that commanded countrywide respect and admiration up to the ’80s. Many factors brought about the descent of the Mumbai police into corruption and criminality. To begin with, there were the policy blunders, both at the state and the national level. Prohibition and the ban on the import of gold, which helped create smuggling syndicates, immediately come to mind. But IPS officers generally remained outside this circle of infamy. What ultimately sucked everyone into the whirlpool was the crazy ’90s property boom.
Stupid policies — a draconian law protecting tenants; the decision to keep big business out of construction; the land ceiling law; and the failure to create housing for the poor — all helped bring the underworld into Mumbai’s real estate business in the ’80s, either as enforcers or as builders. The ’90s boom made many fabulously wealthy. Today, the builders and land sharks, straight or “history-sheeters”, have become so influential that they virtually run Mumbai. And preside over a vast empire of graft running into thousands of crores.It therefore surprises no one that occasionally the Mumbai police grapevine hums with rumours of the senior posts selling for as much as Rs 50 crore. These incredible amounts are allegedly paid to politicians by builders’ syndicates whenever they succeed in getting the top job for their chosen candidate — the primary qualification being willingness to serve the builders’ mafia. The builder-government nexus is so flagrant that not long ago a highly influential builder, now in jail, was virtually camped inside a bureaucrat’s office.
This sea of cash has introduced a totally new dimension to old rivalries between corrupt policemen. The stakes are now exceedingly high for everyone — politician, policeman, builder, gangster (“bhai” in Mumbai patois). As a result, top cops launch vicious campaigns against rivals in the race for senior executive posts.
In this internecine, intra-force lobbying, the capable cops become the victims. Two unquestionably brave officers didn’t get police medals for 26/11 as they don’t belong to any camp. Other honest and diligent officers are cooling their heels in non-executive posts. At the same time officers guilty of criminal dereliction of duty can be constantly rewarded. sAnd when the anti-corruption bureau wanted to investigate top officers with disproportionate assets, the request was summarily rejected. Is it any wonder then that, before he was slain on 26/11, a conscientious professional like Hemant Karkare wanted to return to RAW?How does one change such a seemingly hopeless state of affairs? As we’ve seen in other spheres, it’s still possible in India to salvage a doomed situation. Sometimes a few good officers can do the job, provided they get the right structural support. Everybody knows what’s to be done. The basic need is to create a buffer between politicians and the police, reduce ministerial interference, ensure good officers take command, and have a watchdog committee of officials, judges and eminent citizens to oversee police functioning.
Several expert committees and a national police commission have done extensive studies and made detailed recommendations. Soli Sorabjee also produced a model draft police act. Five years ago, the Supreme Court issued seven directives to state governments on instituting police reforms. Last November, it issued a notice to Maharashtra for “total non-compliance.”
The problem is compounded in Mumbai since under the coalition government, the spoils are divided — the Congress oversees the municipal corporation, and Sharad Pawar’s NCP the police. Pawar knows the Mumbai police like the back of his hand — he could begin clearing the cesspool on his own if he so desired. But who said the NCP chief is a reformer?
Shishir Gupta , Ritu Sarin
Posted: Tue Jun 28 2011, 02:56 hrs
New Delhi:
Its “corporate head office” is located in a farmhouse named Flower Valley in the capital’s Vasant Kunj. There is no signboard but once you step in, it’s clear: designed as a plush residence in the city’s green belt, it’s now a bustling office with at least 90 staffers on duty. This is BCL Secure Premises Private Limited, a security firm boasting an ISO certification, which in September last year, was chosen by the Central Board of Direct Taxes for the sensitive assignment of performing an electronic sweep of the office of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and those of his key aides.
As The Indian Express first reported, that sweep detected “plantable adhesives” at 16 key locations.
BCL’s website states that its Managing Director is S K Gupta who retired as Joint Director (Technical) of the Intelligence Bureau and has decades of experience in the security business. The company employs several former Army and Air Force officials and on its Board of Directors is Vikram Sood, the former head of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW).
On BCL’s “list of clients” are the Embassies of Argentina and Qatar, Gurgaon’s Gold Souk, Uttarakhand Police, Alacatel-Lucent and Videocon.
The hiring of the private firm — which has a large detective unit handling “market intelligence” for corporates — has raised key questions.
For one, under what financial guidelines was BCL paid for the assignment? Who cleared the payment? Why was a private security firm run by an ex-IB official brought into North Block and not the IB itself?
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Similarly, CBDT officials have refrained from divulging details about the operation. What is known is that around a year ago, the CBDT made a formal proposal to the Finance Ministry for the purchase of surveillance and debugging equipment and that the proposal was still in the discussion stage when the unprecedented request for a non-IB team to do a electronic sweep was made by the Finance Ministry.
Sudhir Chandra was then CBDT’s Member (Investigations) who called in BCL.
Sources said the company’s technical unit arrived in a strength of over 10 members with sophisticated surveillance equipment. After finding what the Finance Minister — in his September 7, 2010 letter to the Prime Minister — called “plantable adhesive substances”, it was S K Gupta who briefed the FM’s advisor, Omita Paul, and Chandra about the “porous points” in the FM’s office and possible points for planting bugs.
“For days after the sweeping operation, we were speaking in whispers even in our own office,” a CBDT top official told The Indian Express.
The security paranoia that gripped North Block had a multiple effect. For one, the CBDT investigation wing acquired the much delayed consignment of surveillance equipment (costing around Rs 25 lakh) and trained a team of inspectors to regularly sweep the chambers of the Finance Minister and his aides.
And after September 7, once the IB was assigned by the Cabinet Secretary to check the Finance Minister’s complaint, the Government agency, too, has left nothing to chance. The IB’s sweeping team, sources said, has since September last, been spotted in the chambers of the Finance Minister over a dozen times.
