Bharat Rakshak

In the year 2009, the number of terror financing cases were recorded at 200. However in the year 2012 this figure saw a phenomenal jump to 1400 cases. This is the statistic that has been put out by the Financial Intelligence Unit in India.

This massive jump in the number of such cases is only an indicator as to how well terror groups have channelized their resources and with each passing day they have been finding ways to beat the Indian agencies.

When the FIU had put out a report in the year 2009 with the help of the RAW and also the Intelligence Bureau, it had stated that the ISI in Pakistan manages to raise Rs 1800 crore annually to fund terrorist activities especially against India. Today the Intelligence units say that the amount has shot up to Rs 2400 crore as the intensity of their programme against India too is expected to see a rise.

The ISI is known to deploy various tactics in order to raise funds for terror financing. They have adopted to circulating fake Indian currency in a big way. While fake currency has been a major draw for the ISI, they also ensure that a certain amount of money through hawala transactions, extortions and also funds earned through drug trade is handed over to them.

As per the latest report of the FIU, there have been 1444 cases of terror financing last year. In the year 2011 there were 428 cases reported while in the year 2010 it was 316.

Sources in the Intelligence Bureau tell rediff.com that out of the 1444 transactions that have been reported, almost 65 per cent of the cases are related to fake currency. Last year there were around 320000 fake notes in the denomination of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 were found while the year prior to that there were around 250000 such notes that were found. Now these are notes that have been detected in the banks and sent to FIU. This figure does not include the other notes which are in circulation in the market.

Sources say that while fake currency accounted for a major chunk of the share, it was hawala which was next. Hawala transactions have accounted for at least 30 per cent of terror financing. It has been noticed that in almost every hawala deal, 10 per cent of the amount goes towards terror funding. The biggest hawala transactions have been found from the Gulf directly into Kerala. Proof of such transactions being used for terror related activities was found during the 2006 train bombings in which an amount of Rs 4.5 lakh was handed over to execute the attack. Since that incident, hawala transactions have become a common factor in terror related activities. Money has been sent in from the Gulf for specific operations. The Indian Mujahideen in particular has a dedicated network through which it collects money at Delhi. The money is wired from Gulf into Kerala and then to New Delhi.

The rest of the terror financing comes in through extortion and drug deals, sources point out.

In addition to terror financing, the Intelligence Bureau is also probing the sudden rise in suspicious transactions. The year 2012 saw 69000 such cases when compared to the 20000 cases the previous year. Intelligence sources say that these transactions are under the scanner and are being probed. This could do with black money or transactions by some elements trying to park their money in banks. We have told all banks to maintain due diligence and report such matters immediately so that the probe can be easier.

He noted that many such people were from the minority community because of ‘suspicions and preconceived notions that all persons of that community are terrorists’.

The Court of last Resort’ — of which Justice Katju would be the patron — would ask States about details of both undertrails and convicts who have been in prisons for long; examine whether there has been injustice and apply for bail if necessary; apply for ‘pardon, respite, suspension or reduction of sentence’ to the President or Governor; and ‘educate the police.’ Others behind the initiative include film-maker Mahesh Bhatt, and lawyer Majeed Memon.

Gerard wrote:Katju to set up ‘Court of Last Resort’

Some flowers strewn outside his room and a few dim candles were the only trappings of an otherwise muted birthday for an ailing Kersi Bapuji Adajania, who turned 83 by the Parsi calender on Tuesday. In the two decades since he helped actor Sanjay Dutt dispose of an AK-56 rifle at his foundry, Adajania has not received a single call or heard from the actor, his family says.

"Two years ago on Friendship Day, I saw some reports on television on how Sanjay Dutt had helped his friends. What has he done for his friends I wonder... In these 20 years, he has not called my father even once," Adajania's son Viraf, 52, told The Indian Express.

While delivering its verdict on Dutt's appeal on March 21, the Supreme Court also reduced the TADA court's two-year sentence to Adajania by a year.

Questioning the calls for Dutt to be pardoned, Viraf said, "Dutt has spoken of how he is 52 and works for a living, but what about my father? He is over 82 years old, partially deaf and has serious coronary problems. His movement is restricted. How can a man be reformed at such an old age by serving a prison term now?

Pratyush wrote:

Gerard wrote:Katju to set up ‘Court of Last Resort’

Has he lost his mind. What is his competence for this action?

chetak wrote:he desperately wants to become governor of J&K

Questioning the calls for Dutt to be pardoned, Viraf said, "Dutt has spoken of how he is 52 and works for a living, but what about my father? He is over 82 years old, partially deaf and has serious coronary problems. His movement is restricted. How can a man be reformed at such an old age by serving a prison term now?

...
With friends like these ....



Justice Markandey Katju slipped up on law when he dashed off a letter seeking pardon for Sanjay Dutt to the Maharashtra Governor. Legally, the President, and not the state Governor, has the power to pardon Sanjay since he was convicted under the Central arms act. But then Katju in his overweening desire to stay in news can be relied upon to put his big foot in his even bigger mouth. Whenever the former apex court judge opens his mouth, and it is painfully most frequent, the air is filled with foulness. The Press Council chief seems to be competing with the rent-a-quote Mahesh Bhatt, the maker of B-Grade Bollywood films.

Notwithstanding the carefully choreographed act put up by Sanjay and his sister, Priya, for the benefit of the gullible — the two were not very close, though — there is no denying that people like Katju and Bhatt have done more harm than good to the actor's cause by pleading for pardon within minutes of the Supreme Court judgement. Anyone who would care to read the case diary would know that Sanjay not only helped himself to a couple of prohibited assault weapons, grenades, etc., but also kept the deadly RDX in his own garage which was later used to kill and maim over a thousand innocent Mumbaikars. The delinquent son of Nargis and Sunil Dutt who spent two years in a rehab centre in the US in order to be rid of his drug habit deserves no sympathy.

Had he acted as a good citizen and informed the police what his underworld friends were about to perpetrate he would have redeemed himself. Instead, he became an accessory to that horrendous crime and deserves to undergo the full five-year imprisonment given by the apex court. Only because of the goodwill of Sunil Dutt and his sob act before various people, including the Shiv Sena boss, Bal Thackeary, that was Sanjay saved from conviction under the TADA. Therefore, there is no reason to tom-tom that he was not convicted under TADA. It was the miscarriage of justice that he was not.....

Shonu wrote:CBI to honour ISI founding member
I'm not sure this is the right thread, but wtf??? Now we are going out of our way to be slapped. Frankly, I don't know what to say - nothing this govt is doing surprises me anymore. Its just a bunch of traitors running the show.

The Mumbai police, with the aim to sniff out 'undercurrents' as well as understand and appreciate the cultural nuances of the Muslim community, enlisted the help of a former Intelligence Bureau officer to take classroom lectures on Islam. The orientation exercise comes at a time when the city police has drawn flak for an internal circular that directed its officials to keep an eye on certain Islamic organisations.

Carl wrote:X-post from Islamism and Islamophobia thread:

After fiasco, Mumbai police get 'schooled' in Islam

The Mumbai police, with the aim to sniff out 'undercurrents' as well as understand and appreciate the cultural nuances of the Muslim community, enlisted the help of a former Intelligence Bureau officer to take classroom lectures on Islam. The orientation exercise comes at a time when the city police has drawn flak for an internal circular that directed its officials to keep an eye on certain Islamic organisations.

Former IB officer holds lecture on cultural nuances, issues Muslims face.

The Mumbai police, with the aim to sniff out 'undercurrents' as well as understand and appreciate the cultural nuances of the Muslim community, enlisted the help of a former Intelligence Bureau officer to take classroom lectures on Islam. The orientation exercise comes at a time when the city police has drawn flak for an internal circular that directed its officials to keep an eye on certain Islamic organisations.

The day-long closed-door session at Sindhi Gymkhana was conducted by former IB officer B M Khanapure, who also trains the Special Branch and ATS. The first session saw 72 personnel from 10 police stations across Zone VI of the Eastern Region. DCP Lakhmi Gautam (Zone VI) said this was the first such initiative to sensitise field officers.

"Some of us are not adequately informed on the subject of Islam. There is so much to know and understand on the points of differences between various sects. Sometimes this leads to conflict," said Gautam. "The lecture was designed to help understand the undercurrents and identify tell tale signs. This helps in identifying what can lead to law-and-order situation and be better equipped."

The zone though avoided involving a preacher in the first lecture as they could come with "coloured perceptions" which might give a biased view. "Besides, we wanted someone who has worked in conflict areas. The IB officer has worked in conflict areas in J&K and Kerala," he added.

The lecture dealt in issues in the communities and differences between various sects. It also gave special emphasis on cultural nuances. "Many a time, small triggers have just been about not being aware of the customs, which can inadvertently hurt the community's sentiments," said Gautam.

A majority of residents in the eastern suburbs, especially in zone VI, is Muslim. "This helps officers to know the community and read their issues better," said Quaiser Khalid, Additional Commissioner of Police.

The lecture saw the participation of constables, select field and senior officers. The topics most discussed were regarding Deobandis and Barelvi sects and the Wahhabi movement. Specific questions raised included rituals surrounding Kaaba and issues regarding Haj subsidy.

Cops open to Jamaat taking classes

Days after issuing a circular asking its officers to keep a watch on the activities of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Mumbai Police has accepted the organisation's proposal to take orientation classes about Islam for the police force.

"When we met Mumbai Police on Monday, they apologised for the circular being leaked. We offered to hold orientation classes for policemen so that they can understand the principles of Islam," Taufiq Aslam Khan, president, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (Maharashtra Zone) said. He said Additional Commissioner, Special Branch, Naval Bajaj accepted the proposal.

Bajaj said the police was open to Jamaat taking classes for its officers.

The Jamaat-e-Islami was founded by noted but controversial theologian Abul Ala Maududi in 1941 who was born in Aurangabad but played a defining role in the history of Pakistan. An organisation has a strong cadre base and its state unit presently operates from a dingy 700-sq ft office in Madanpura.

The Jamaat was angered after a leaked internal circular of the Special Branch stated that its sister organisation, Girls Islamic Organisation, needs to be monitored as it was working towards radicalising Muslim youth.

Khan said GIO was working towards creating a strong moral fibre among young girls. It has more than 450 full-time members who are under 25. An additional 2,500 are associate members. The organisation, which has a substantial following in Marathwada, is trying to find a footing in Mumbai and nearby areas.

A belligerent rally in Kolkata by 16 Islamic organisations in support of Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, one of the prime accused in the 1971 genocide in Bangladesh, is indicative of West Bengal’s liberal space shrinking, says Dr Anirban Ganguly.

Something unprecedented happened on March 30 in Kolkata. Sixteen Islamic organisations came together at the Maidan, the second largest public ground in the city, in protest against the ongoing war crimes trial in Bangladesh, against the Shahbag sit-in and in support of the vice-president of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, one of the prime accused in the 1971 genocide in Bangladesh.

It was astounding to see a huge and belligerent crowd gather from all over the state to support one of the best known razakars and collaborators with the Pakistan Army in its genocide against Muslims and Hindus in East Pakistan.

Speakers addressing the gathering attempted to whip up hysterical support for the Jamaat and its leaders and pledged that just as West Bengal’s Muslims prevented Salman Rushdie from the entering the state and hounded out Taslima Nasreen. In 2007 they would generate a movement against the pro-war crime trial bloggers in Bangladesh and would take on their supporters with the same zeal. They even threatened to block any future visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India.

But most shocking was their brazen support for Sayeedi, a known vocal anti-India preacher, a rabid anti-Hindu who has been active in organising pogroms against minorities in Bangladesh over the years and one of the most avid collaborators in Pakistan’s genocide against fellow Muslims.

They openly declared their support for Sayeedi saying that a death sentence for Sayeedi in effect meant a death sentence for the Koran and Islam. These speakers chose to ignore the fact that Sayeedi was being tried for killing in cold blood their fellow religionists. It was for the first time that such a mobilisation took place in Kolkata and it simply reinforced an emerging mindset which has begun trying to consolidate a pan-Bengal Islamic identity.

Incidentally, it was from the Maidan in August 1946 that the call for ‘direct action’ was given by the Muslim League. The result of that call on the history of both parts of Bengal is too well known to even require a passing reiteration. But our politicians have deliberately chosen to ignore that past.

Not a single political party, and in them especially those who at the first opportunity, jump to dissect delusional dimensions of Hindu fascism and habitually get into describing various conjured Hindutva theatres of genocidal experiments or pontificate on the need to maintain the secular and syncretic texture of our nationhood, came forward to condemn the positions taken in the meeting.

Not one political party even recalled that Sayeedi and his ilk were part of those criminal groups which selectively hunted out and massacred Hindus, fellow Bengali Muslims and helped to sustain Pakistani resistance to Indian soldiers. The Shahbag protesters have been calling for the establishment of a truly secular and constitutional Bangladesh where religious bigots would be reined in and their anti-national tendencies curbed and yet they find no support from our political secularists.

Both the Left Front and the Trinamool Congress have maintained a studied silence having mortgaged over the years their politics to Islamic fundamentalist elements in the state. Comrades who jump at every opportunity to display their secular credentials in order to keep communal forces at bay through organising rallies, sit-ins, and seminars have not issued even as much as a statement.

In fact Sayeedi himself had a very clear benchmark for Communists, “Leftists are not Muslims. They don’t believe in prayers,” he had declared. It has always been an axiomatic truth for him that no non-Muslim could be allowed to live in Bangladesh. He assiduously worked for it ever since the War of Liberation in 1971. No wonder comrades in Bangladesh find it difficult to survive on their own and have prudently sided with Sheikh Hasina.

The Congress believing that it shall gain space with the electorates’ gradual disillusionment with the TMC has obviously kept quiet. Its studied silence is part of its larger grand design of mobilising country wide minority support. Nor has the Indian media come forward to debate the phenomenon; it is still incapable of visualizing its status once congregations such as these begin spawning Sayeedi clones all over India.

For the media and journalists Sayeedi had a simple equation, “Journalists write lies. They are the enemies of Islam”. It is well documented as to what Sayeedi did to those whom he considered as enemies of Islam. It is this stoic silence in face of a rising vocal Islamic fundamentalism which is worrisome and condemnable. The liberal space in Bengal is fast shrinking and we have paid a heavy price for such a constriction in the past.

Those in whose support the Maidan congregation was organised were at their vicious best when it came to treating minorities in their own country. Sayeedi himself, as head of the local Al Badr and Al Shams, has been convicted of killing Hindus, burning their homes and businesses and of forceful conversion. He assisted the Pakistan army in its operation of decimating Hindus.

Sydney Schanberg, then correspondent of the New York Times, noted this selective approach, ‘the [Pakistani] army is now concentrating on Hindus, the killing is more selective, [and] has not stopped.’ Schanberg further recorded how the Pakistan army had ‘painted big yellow H’s on the Hindu shops to identify the property of the minority, eighth of the population that it has made it special targets.’

Archer Blood, the ‘dissenting diplomat’, then American Consul General in Dhaka cabled on March 29, 1971 on how the ‘Hindus [were] particular focus of [the] campaign and how the army was ‘going after Hindus with a vengeance.’

Veteran Pakistani journalist Anthony Mascarenhas, who fled to London in order to tell the truth about the Pakistan army wrote in exasperation in his columns in the Sunday Times that the Pakistani military operation had two distinctive features: ‘ One, the cleansing process’, the other ‘rehabilitation effort’ -- ‘turning East Bengal into a ‘docile colony of West Pakistan.’ Sayeedi and his political colleagues had wholeheartedly facilitated all of these; the Maidan congregators were silent on that.

It was Sayeedi who had once said of the Hindus of Bangladesh, ‘Why should we feel sad when the Hindu brothers choose to leave our country? Do we mourn when we have indigestion and materials leave our bodies?’

Do we then assume that those in West Bengal who have organised the Maidan rally in Sayeedi’s support and those who have, through their silence given consent to their demands, really support that line?

Dr Anirban Ganguly

ramana wrote:We are seeing the creation of the women's wing of Ind Mujhdeen.
Is Marathwada a former Nizami area?

Maududi is the soul/sole of TSP's N-e-P dogma.


its good for everyone to know the differences between the three main branches of Sunnis in India. There is Ahle hadiths too in Lucknow area.
Salman Khurshid is one per his wife.

I once made a ppt chart on Islam before British and after. Its part of a Understanding TSP package.

In order of green to greenest

Barelvi<Deobandi<Wahabi


Deobandi is Indian origin school.

Wahabi is branch of Hanafi is one step lower in pecking order but the greenest.

KSA is funding them.

This has reignited the revenge motive and police sources close to the development states that various terror groups are waiting for a chance to attack the state.

Some people are known more for their alleged acts of omission and commission rather than their splendid success, thanks to the media. If there is one such person in Indian politics today, it is Amit Shah, 50, the newly-appointed national BJP general secretary and Narendra Modi loyalist, who is known for his sharp poll-related strategic skills and also for being a key accused in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case.

Very few people know that if terror attacks in India are under check today, Shah's role in solving the 2008 Ahmedabad bomb blasts by Indian Mujahideen terrorists as Gujarat Minister of State for Home is one of the main factors responsible for it. Gujarat Police officials, who probed the terror attack that left 56 people dead and 200 injured, openly admit even today that it was Shah's intelligence and diligence and Modi's unstinted guidance that enabled them in solving that case in 21 days flat, a record of sorts when compared with the murky record of Indian police in probing terror cases. The solving of that crucial case immediately brought down the frequency of IM attacks since its flanks stood exposed. No wonder then that Shah could be in the Home Ministry at the Centre If Modi becomes PM in 2014.

On the flip side, however, Shah's strategic skills are often viewed in the realm of intrigue by his adversaries in the political arena as well as Gujarat Police. His critics, who are by no means in small numbers, allege that Shah encouraged a culture of factionalism and vengefulness in the force because of his obsession with keeping total control over the force and for his political objectives. In the end, he found himself trapped by it when he was arrested in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case. Shah left his flanks exposed before a politically vengeful CBI which wanted to fix him by hook or crook. Shah, of course, claims that he was the victim of a conspiracy hatched by some police officials in collusion with the Congress which was targeting Shah and through him Narendra Modi. The evidence marshalled by the CBI to fix Shah in the case is not only thin but also questionable.

The scion of a business family of Mansa near Gandhinagar, Shah began his career in the RSS and soon caught the fancy of Narendra Modi for his intelligence and vision, which is not easily found in the highly regimented RSS. The images of two greatest Hindu icons, Chanakya and Adi Sankara, adorn his private office chamber. In the battle between Keshubhai Patel and Narendra Modi, which began in the late 1990s, Shah stood by the latter which ultimately paved his way for him to become the Minister of State for Home when Modi became chief minister for the second time in December 2002. Shah's skill in political strategy and vision are almost legendary. The way he evaluates Modi's 12-year rule in Gujarat in economic terms is better than a good economist. Says a party leader, "The way he brought the entire cooperative sector of Gujarat from Congress to BJP's fold is a tribute to his result-oriented strategy-making skills."

One unmistakable trait about Shah is that despite his personal loyalty to Modi, he is seen as more of an RSS man for his strong commitment to Hindutva ideals. As Minister of State for Home, Shah took a strong stand against the activities of the radical ultra Wahhabi Muslims and kept them under check while being very flexible with moderate Muslim sections. It was at his behest that Gujarat's Deobandi Madrasas stopped admitting Kashmiri students after some of them were found to have taken to terrorism upon returning to Kashmir after their studies. However, Shah has one big flaw that has hindered his rise and could do so in future: He has a habit of remaining incommunicado for long periods. This, in turn, keeps him disconnected at crucial times and ends up inflaming even his friends.

ramana wrote:Bob Schieffer of CBS News on his show Face the Nation said;
Forces that shape human events

March 31, 2013 10:57 AM
Schieffer on the forces that shape human events
By Bob Schieffer (CBS News)

(CBS News) I have been a working reporter for more than half a century, and the other day someone asked me what all those years had taught me.
What I've learned, I think, and am convinced, is there are four powerful forces in the world, and human events come down to which one prevails.
Those forces are love, knowledge, ignorance and hate.
There is no more powerful force than love -- a parent's love for a child may be the most powerful force of human nature.
Yet hate is also powerful, and has always been with us. I have never quite come to terms with how Hitler could have come to power, not hundreds of years ago but in my lifetime. How did civilized people let that happen?
What I do know is that hate is the product of ignorance and intolerance. Love is strengthened by knowledge.
On this weekend, which is a time of reflection for so many on the purpose of life, I recall what the historian Will Durant once wrote: "Barbarism, like the jungle, does not die, but only retreats behind the barriers that civilization has thrown up against it, and waits there always to reclaim that which civilization has taken from it."
Knowledge, tolerance and understanding are civilization's barriers, and they remain in place only so long as the forces of good are there to maintain them.

I think Islam provides the sanctuaries in the form of kabila or gathering/barriers where these forces can retreat and sally forth to ravage civilization.

ManjaM wrote:Just curious, what happens to the CBI/CID afsars who were instrumental in nailing opposition when opposition comes to power?

Carl wrote:Interestingly, that there is a genuine sentiment in the Veda that calls Indra for help in liquidating those crackpots who wield power by virtue of being high-born, esotericists, TFTA, chosen ones, etc, and who instigate or mobilize large numbers of orcs when favourable:

RV 6.042.04:
To him, Adhvaryu! yea, to him give offerings of the juice expressed.
Will he not keep us safely from the spiteful curse of each presumptuous high-born foe?

RV 6.019.12:
Give up the people who are high and haughty to these men and to me, O Thunder-wielder!
Therefore upon the earth do we invoke thee, where heroes win, for sons and kine and waters.

This "high-born foe is apparently the "Dasyu", who often lead the "Dasas".

brihaspati wrote:^^^The problem starts with development of personality-cults, whether in the form of deities or their spokespersons on earth. Elite sense of entitlement to power, but marginalization within the elite, leads to search for mobilization outside elite. Once the non-elite has been mobilized to destroy intra-elite competitors, the new-power goes back to older elite drives. This is when personality cult develops - and a new elite base forms, often accompanied by sequential purges to reduce the number of competitors for power, and a coterie reinforces the personality cult.

Net result - a society of "dasas" under an elite super-personality. A slave society in more ways than one.

anmol wrote: Anyone have any idea, who is this Governor whose son is a prominent member of IB ?

Phone tapping at whose orders?

A prominent member at the IB has a big role to play in the phone tapping case of Opposition leaders and its allies. His father is the governor of a north-eastern state, and the official is considered to be close to 10, Janpath, and among those few who are close to Sonia and Priyanka Gandhi. It is being said that it was on his orders that phones of Jaitley and his son Rohan, his two drivers, Nitin Gadkari, his personal secretary Vaibhav Dangey, Sitaram Yechury, Vijay Goyal and 15 others were tapped. Now no matter if the government says that it had no knowledge of it, does it really hold water?

Is Anurag Singh a covert operative gone Rogue?

A cyber snoop’s arrest for trying to access BJP leader Arun Jaitley’s call records could open a can of worms
G Vishnu
G Vishnu , Tehelka
2013-03-16 , , Issue 11 Volume 10
The arrest last month of a self styled snoop on charges of illegally accessing mobile phone records of BJP leader Arun Jaitley is causing anxiety among New Delhi’s Who’s Who. The reason is that the alleged culprit, Anurag Singh, 37, has over the last decade pulled deals for prominent politicians and businessmen, and worked unofficially with police and intelligence officials in a bunch of cases. That Anurag might spill all the beans during the investigation is what is causing the anxiety.

Jaitley was just one of the people whose call records Anurag tried to access; allegedly, there were around 60 others, including former BJP president Nitin Gadkari, BJP leader Sudhanshu Mittal, businessman turned cricket administrator Lalit Modi, and two businessmen from Delhi. This scandal, however, might just be the proverbial tip of the iceberg, and could expose many in Delhi’s political circles, the Delhi Police and the Intelligence Bureau (IB), besides some prominent business tycoons, given the alleged deals made by Anurag over the past decade.

For the BJP, the scandal threatens to reveal the differences within the party — with the police claiming that Mittal, known for his proximity to party president Rajnath Singh, could be one of the conspirators and will be questioned. Mittal has not denied his acquaintance with Anurag and admits having met him a few times over the past four years. “Anurag used to make courtesy calls to me. He came from a good background and I never imagined he could be involved in something like this and hatch a conspiracy against me,” Mittal said in a press conference after Anurag’s arrest.

Anurag was arrested by the Delhi Police Special Cell on 19 February after it came to light that one of his accomplices posed as a policeman to obtain Jaitley’s call records from telecom company Airtel. Three others were also arrested, including a Delhi Police constable and a private detective, Neeraj Nayar. Anurag was allegedly trying to procure the call records of several politicians and businessmen on behalf of Neeraj, charging Rs 1,500 per CDR (call data records) and Rs 200 for the subscriber details. The operation went undetected until Airtel’s nodal officer asked the ACP (Operations), Delhi Police, to confirm a request made through e-mail for obtaining Jaitley’s call records. Apparently, most requests for obtaining cell phone records are made unofficially by various investigating agencies; Anurag and his associates took advantage of this lacuna until they were caught.

So who is Anurag Singh? Anurag’s name came under the spotlight after he was first arrested in January 2006 for allegedly tapping Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh’s phone along with an aide, Dipender Singh. Anurag and Dipender were allegedly assisted by another person who is currently employed with an international corporate risk management company known for corporate espionage and has in its ranks several former FBI officials. Back then, it was startling to know how an MBBS dropout, coming from a well-off family (his father was a Customs officer and his mother still works in the same department), had the wherewithal, the technical know-how and, more importantly, the motive, to illegally tap a prominent politician’s phone. Soon ‘Dr’ Anurag Singh came to be seen as the well-mannered, technically suave face of illegal espionage.

‘V-Detect’, the agency that Anurag ran with an office in New Delhi’s Connaught Place, provided, among others, the following services (according to its website):

• Counter-Surveillance Equipment
• Electromagnetic Interference and Radio Frequency Interference
• Materials Handling Risk and Safety Analysis

The list suggests Anurag had access to high-end surveillance equipment — the kind used by intelligence agencies. Anurag seems to have had a penchant for tapping politicians’ phones, but there’s no clarity on his motives.

Responding to the uproar in the Rajya Sabha over the Jaitley case, Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde spelt out the details of how the police cracked it. “During the course of the investigation, the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and logging details of the official e-mail ID of ACP (Operations) were obtained and it was found that it was accessed from an IP address belonging to one Constable Arvind Kumar Dabas (No. 892/ND), posted at Parliament Street Police Station.” The minister also clarified the difference between phone-tapping and obtaining call records. “Telephone tapping refers to looking at the content of the conversation whereas the CDRs pertain to the data regarding the numbers which were called or received.”

But Anurag has a history of phone-tapping as well. Amar Singh has some bitter memories from 2006 when tapes of some of his telephonic conversations were leaked to sections of the media by unknown persons. Though Singh claims the tapes were doctored, it did create a buzz in political circles. For Singh, the Jaitley case is yet another instance of bad karma haunting his political opponents. “I’m not saying Jaitley was in the know when my phone was tapped. But when the doctored tapes were leaked, giving people the wrong idea that I was talking to, among others, movie actress Bipasha Basu, the transcripts were distributed at a dinner hosted by Jaitley. Today, Jaitley is the target. Anurag Singh was a mercenary who made deals with businessmen and politicians to bring others down,” Singh told TEHELKA.

Interestingly, a lot of information in the affidavit filed in 2011 by Singh regarding the phone-tapping case in the Supreme Court was sourced from Anurag Singh alias “Rahul”. Speculation in the power corridors suggests that a Delhi businessman — allegedly close to Anurag and his family as well as some very prominent politicians — facilitated Amar Singh in learning from Anurag that his phone was being tapped “at the behest of 32 political opponents”, including some of India’s most prominent businessmen. But why would Anurag share the information with Singh after targeting him? That is anybody’s guess.

Delhi Police admits that Anurag had helped them carry out surveillance and obtain phone records. He had allegedly helped the Special Cell to crack the cricket match-fixing scandal that involved former South African skipper Hansie Cronjeas well as the Parliament attack case of 2001. However, soon after his arrest in 2006 following the Amar Singh phone-tapping scandal, Delhi Police claimed that he was an asset who had gone rogue.

“He was a snoop, not an investigator. He had approached us in 2005 and indeed impressed us with his hacking skills. He had applied to become a member of the Association of Private Detectives and Investigators (APDI), but we never gave him membership. We only recognise ex- servicemen and former security professionals,” says APDI president Kunwar Vikram Singh.

What remains unanswered is why did someone like Anurag, with his alleged links to senior officials in the IB and Delhi Police, go rogue? Some even say that the right question would be whether he went rogue at all. A former IB official believes that Anurag is a wasted national asset. “If someone was cracking cases for you using his skills, when your own intelligence set-up could not do it, you would have recognised him as a national asset. You must know how not to let your asset go rogue.”

Despite TEHELKA’s efforts to get a response, Delhi Police remained tight-lipped on the case. Anurag’s brother, Arun Singh, a lawyer, too refused to comment.

^This Anurag Singh who is being made scapegoat used to definitely work for IB, he helped in cracking the Match Fixing case, Parliament Attack case, was behind Amar Singh tapes....I wont be shocked if he was also behind Radia Tapes... Seriously, this is not possible without sanction from Queen Bee.

A week into the Emergency when the relationship between the Congress government at the Centre and the DMK government in Tamil Nadu was becoming increasingly hostile, Labour and Housing Minister K. Rajaram asked a U.S. diplomatic representative in Chennai whether the U.S. would give assistance to the State if it decided to secede from India. In a diplomatic cable dated July 3, 1975, obtained by WikiLeaks ( 1975NEWDE08889_b, secret ), the representative said his direct answer to this question was that the U.S. would not support such a move.

“This was an internal affair of India and we supported the territorial integrity of India and other countries,” the representative said.

To the diplomat’s query whether the DMK regime was seriously considering independence from the Union, Rajaram is reported to have said: “No, not at the highest levels.”

The conversation was taking place 13 years after the DMK abandoned separatism. A separate Tamil Nadu was a key demand of the DMK’s parent organisation, the Dravidar Kazhagam (DK).

It was also part of the DMK’s platform but during the India-China war, the party’s founder, C.N. Annadurai, gave up the demand after the Nehru government passed a strong anti-sedition law in 1963. The party has since advocated federalism. {But, whenever it is under pressure, it makes ambiguous references to secession couched in appropriate language, but easily understandable} It sent its first ministerial representatives to the Centre in 1989 and has been a member of coalition governments in the 2000s.

Rajaram, who died in 2008, told the U.S. representative at the 1976 meeting held at his residence that while no such move was in the offing, young people within the DMK were talking about separation.

“The USSR and other communist countries are backing Mrs. Gandhi in her efforts to kill democracy here. If this succeeds, communist influence will grow and [the young party workers felt] Tamil Nadu should secede.” {What a lie ! Karunanidhi and even Annadurai and MGR have had soft corner for the communists all through. Karunanidhi had always proudly proclaimed that had he not been part of the DMK, he would have been in the Communist party ! His youngest son was named Stalin because of his admiration for that Communist leader. They never had any reservations about allying with the communists, in fact, welcomed that !} Rajaram said that was his reason for floating the trial balloon.

The U.S. diplomat notes in the cable that despite the talk among the younger elements secession is not something “that is now being seriously considered by the higher echelons of the party.”

The cable also details a meeting between the same diplomat and a “local educator” who said he had told the then Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi, “that if the rest of India were under a communist-influenced dictatorship, the U.S. might help.”

But Mr. Karunanidhi reportedly told the educator that after Vietnam he did not think the U.S. would take on anything new in Asia.

chetak wrote:Poor guys, we should expedite group visas and senior citizen visas to help them out. After all they seem to be fascinated with us kaffirs.

This is all kurshit's and mms's ideas of aman


8,000 Pakistanis staying illegally in India: RTI enquiry

As many as 8,037 Pakistani nationals are staying illegally in India, according to an RTI enquiry from a Haryana advocate and rights activist.

The whereabouts of these Pakistani nationals are unknown. Bangladesh nationals tops the list of people staying illegally in India with over 24,000 overstayed for long. The information, received on March 18 this year, tends to expose the arguably lax functioning of intelligence and other agencies.

chetak wrote:8,000 Pakistanis staying illegally in India: RTI enquiry

As many as 8,037 Pakistani nationals are staying illegally in India, according to an RTI enquiry from a Haryana advocate and rights activist.

...Bangladesh nationals tops the list of people staying illegally in India with over 24,000 overstayed for long.

SP denies accusations of 'witch hunting' of Muslims and 'kangaroo court'. The president of the Jamaat of V.Kalathur demanded that the Muslims be given protection from the 'deliberate' actions of the police.

The State Minorities Commission was witness to a poignant scene involving the Muslims and the Hindus of V.Kalathur, a village in Perambalur district, on Tuesday. When the commission headed by Bishop M. Prakash had a sitting at the Perambalur collectorate, the president of the Jamaat of V.Kalathur demanded that the Muslims be given protection from the “deliberate” actions of the police. He pointed out that four streets in the village had a predominantly Muslim population and hence all that they wanted was that the Hindu processions avoid these streets.

“Almost once in 15 days some festival or other is organised by the Hindus and procession is taken through our streets. We are afraid that something untoward against us could take place then.” When there was a complaint, 103 Muslims, including those studying and those about to leave abroad for jobs, were arrested, while it was only three persons on the Hindus’ side who were taken into custody.

Ramaswamy, speaking on behalf of the Hindus at V.Kalathur, lamented that “Hindus have become minorities at V.Kalathur and our fundamental rights are trampled upon when we are not allowed to take our processions through the routes through which we have been traditionally taking our processions. But for the protection offered by the district administration, we will find it difficult to live in the village and I am in half a mind to get myself converted.”

Superintendent of Police T.K.Rajasekaran said there had been no problem at all between the two communities living in for ages. It all started only when a section of the Muslim community objected to the Hindus taking out processions through “their streets”. They even moved the High Court. “All that the police did was to ensure smooth movement of the procession without any untoward incidents and we have conducted a number of peace meetings as well.” The police started working out the number of processions taken out per annum and how the religious processions could be avoided through these streets. “But even as the discussions were going on, a marriage procession of Hindus was stopped by the Muslims. Then the police were left with no other option but to arrest 70 Muslims as it apprehended serious unrest.”

When hardly half a dozen policemen are required for bandobust, why police should seek the presence of an IG, a DIG and two SPs, but for the situation turning grave, he asked. The SP also said that though invitations were sent to Muslims nine times for talks, none responded.

He dismissed the allegation that the police were indulging in “witch hunting” of Muslims and running a “kangaroo court” (katta panchayat).

The Muslims said that they were prepared to live in harmony with other communities, but there was an attempt to drive a wedge

At Tipu Sultan Mosque at Calcutta’s Esplanade, Imam S.M. Noorur Rahman Barkati led the funeral prayers for Osama after the Friday prayers. A mosque official said about 5,000 people participated.

“Since Osama did not get a proper burial, I decided to perform the prayers for him,” Barkati said.