Timeline India

Author: NewsDesk

  • Special NIA judge Ravindra Reddy who delivered the Mecca Masjid Verdict resigns.

    Judge who delivered MeccaMasjidBlast verdict this morning K Ravinder Reddy has reportedly resigned for ‘personal’ reasons; timing leading to lot of speculation about why he has chosen to quit after delivering verdict in such a high-profile case



    Dramatic development in MeccaMasjid case. Judge Ravinder Reddy who gave the verdict today, acquitting all accused including Aseemanand, is reported to have resigned.

    Ravinder Reddy who is also part of the Telangana Judges Association as president, was suspended by the Hyderabad High court in 2016, after he was part of an agitation against provisional allotment of judicial officers between Telangana and Andhra

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
    Legal sources in Hyderabad say that Judge Ravinder Reddy has political ambitions and intends to join one of the political parties in Telangana soon. Which is why the resignation.

    The president of All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen Party (AIMIM) called the resignation “Intriguing” and tweeted: “Judge who gave acquittal to all accused in Mecca Masjid Blast RESIGNS very intriguing and I am surprised with the Lordship decision.”


    Earlier today, all the five accused in the Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid blast case, including Swami Aseemanand were acquitted due to lack of clinching evidence.
    “The judge in his order observed that not a single allegation levelled by the prosecution could be proved, and hence he declared all the accused acquitted,” said JP Sharma, the defence advocate.
    A powerful blast, triggered by remote control, had ripped through the over four-century-old mosque here on May 18, 2007, when devotees had gathered for Friday prayers, killing nine people and wounding 58.
    The case was initially probed by the local police before being transferred to the CBI, and finally in 2011 to the NIA, the country’s premier anti-terror investigation agency.
    Altogether, 10 persons owing allegiance to right-wing organisations were named accused in the case.
    But only five of them, Lokesh Sharma, Swami Aseemanand alias Naba Kumar Sarkar, Devendra Gupta, Bharat Mohanlal Rateshwar alias Bharat Bhai and Rajendra Chowdhary were arrested in the case. 
    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  • Angry over ticket distribution, Congress workers vandalise party office – Video

    Mandya: The Congress workers on Monday vandalised the party office here, to protest against the distribution of tickets for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly Elections.
    The Congress Party released its first list of 218 candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections on April 15.

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    The party’s chief ministerial candidate Siddaramaiah will contest from the Chamundeshwari constituency.
    Siddaramaiah’s son Dr Yatheendra will contest from Varuna constituency.
    Karnataka Home Minister R Ramalinga Reddy will contest from BTM Layout, while his daughter Sowmya Reddy will contest from Jayanagar
    The Congress is yet to release candidate list for five seats.
    Karnataka will go to polls on May 12 to elect its representatives for the 225-member assembly. The results will be out on May 15. 

    (with inputs from ANI)

  • Special NIA judge Ravindra Reddy who delivered the Mecca Masjid Verdict resigns.

    Judge who delivered MeccaMasjidBlast verdict this morning K Ravinder Reddy has reportedly resigned for ‘personal’ reasons; timing leading to lot of speculation about why he has chosen to quit after delivering verdict in such a high-profile case





    Dramatic development in MeccaMasjid case. Judge Ravinder Reddy who gave the verdict today, acquitting all accused including Aseemanand, is reported to have resigned.


    Ravinder Reddy who is also part of the Telangana Judges Association as president, was suspended by the Hyderabad High court in 2016, after he was part of an agitation against provisional allotment of judicial officers between Telangana and Andhra


    Legal sources in Hyderabad say that Judge Ravinder Reddy has political ambitions and intends to join one of the political parties in Telangana soon. Which is why the resignation.


    The president of All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen Party (AIMIM) called the resignation “Intriguing” and tweeted:
    “Judge who gave acquittal to all accused in Mecca Masjid Blast RESIGNS very intriguing and I am surprised with the Lordship decision.”



    Earlier today, all the five accused in the Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid blast case, including Swami Aseemanand were acquitted due to lack of clinching evidence.
    “The judge in his order observed that not a single allegation levelled by the prosecution could be proved, and hence he declared all the accused acquitted,” said JP Sharma, the defence advocate.
    A powerful blast, triggered by remote control, had ripped through the over four-century-old mosque here on May 18, 2007, when devotees had gathered for Friday prayers, killing nine people and wounding 58.
    The case was initially probed by the local police before being transferred to the CBI, and finally in 2011 to the NIA, the country’s premier anti-terror investigation agency.
    Altogether, 10 persons owing allegiance to right-wing organisations were named accused in the case.
    But only five of them, Lokesh Sharma, Swami Aseemanand alias Naba Kumar Sarkar, Devendra Gupta, Bharat Mohanlal Rateshwar alias Bharat Bhai and Rajendra Chowdhary were arrested in the case. 

  • Angry over ticket distribution, Congress workers vandalise party office – Video

    Mandya: The Congress workers on Monday vandalised the party office here, to protest against the distribution of tickets for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly Elections.

    The Congress Party released its first list of 218 candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections on April 15.

    The party’s chief ministerial candidate Siddaramaiah will contest from the Chamundeshwari constituency.
    Siddaramaiah’s son Dr Yatheendra will contest from Varuna constituency.
    Karnataka Home Minister R Ramalinga Reddy will contest from BTM Layout, while his daughter Sowmya Reddy will contest from Jayanagar
    The Congress is yet to release candidate list for five seats.
    Karnataka will go to polls on May 12 to elect its representatives for the 225-member assembly. The results will be out on May 15. 


    (with inputs from ANI)

  • BJP releases second list of candidates for Karnataka polls

    The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday released its second list of 82 candidates for elections to the 224-member Karnataka Assembly.

    The names were finalised by the party’s Central Election Committee headed by party President Amit Shah and has Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda among its members.

    No Muslim or Christian candidate has been given a ticket by the BJP.

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    The BJP had released the first list of 72 candidates on April 8.

    BS Yeddyurappa to contest from Shikaripura

    The party has still not announced the name of its candidate from Udupi against Congress candidate Pramod Madhwaraj, though it is almost certain that the ticket may go to former BJP MLA Raghupati Bhat. The BJP has not named its candidate from Kaup either, where Congress has fielded sitting MLA Vinay Kumar Sorake. It has however announced in its list that Sukumar Shetty will contest from Byndoor.

    The saffron party, which is striving to return to power in Karnataka after a gap of five years, has announced Yeddyurappa as its chief ministerial candidate, with a target of winning 150 out of 224 assembly seats.

    The Congress, too, had announced its first list of 218 candidates on Sunday for the state assembly polls.

    Meanwhile, Janata Dal Secular has already announced candidates for 126 constituencies. The party is in alliance with Bahujan Samaj Party for Karnataka Polls
    With polling day inching closer, Karnataka has turned into a political battleground with both the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP extensively campaigning across the state.

    The southern state goes to polls on May 12 to elect its representatives and results will be out on May 15.

  • BJP releases second list of candidates for Karnataka polls

    The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday released its second list of 82 candidates for elections to the 224-member Karnataka Assembly.

    The names were finalised by the party’s Central Election Committee headed by party President Amit Shah and has Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda among its members.


    No Muslim or Christian candidate has been given a ticket by the BJP.

    The BJP had released the first list of 72 candidates on April 8.

    BS Yeddyurappa to contest from Shikaripura

    The party has still not announced the name of its candidate from Udupi against Congress candidate Pramod Madhwaraj, though it is almost certain that the ticket may go to former BJP MLA Raghupati Bhat. The BJP has not named its candidate from Kaup either, where Congress has fielded sitting MLA Vinay Kumar Sorake. It has however announced in its list that Sukumar Shetty will contest from Byndoor.

    The saffron party, which is striving to return to power in Karnataka after a gap of five years, has announced Yeddyurappa as its chief ministerial candidate, with a target of winning 150 out of 224 assembly seats.



    The Congress, too, had announced its first list of 218 candidates on Sunday for the state assembly polls.

    Meanwhile, Janata Dal Secular has already announced candidates for 126 constituencies. The party is in alliance with Bahujan Samaj Party for Karnataka Polls
    With polling day inching closer, Karnataka has turned into a political battleground with both the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP extensively campaigning across the state.

    The southern state goes to polls on May 12 to elect its representatives and results will be out on May 15.

  • Income Tax raid on Congress MLA and candidate in K’taka Assembly polls, B Shivanna

    According to preliminary reports, the MLA’s office and residences were raided by I-T sleuths.

    Sitting Congress MLA B Shivanna from Anekal (Bengaluru Urban) constituency who is set to contest the May 12 polls from the same seat was raided by Income Tax sleuths on Monday.
    There has been no official confirmation from the I-T Department yet on the findings.
    The raid comes incidentally a day after the ruling Congress announced its first list of candidates for the upcoming elections.  The MLA could not be reached for a comment.
    According to preliminary reports, the MLA’s office and residences were raided by I-T sleuths.
    In March, Congress MLC Raghu Achar had also faced raids by the I-T Department.  MLC Raghu is known to be a close aide of KPCC President G Parameshwara.
    The Congress in the state has maintained that the BJP-ruled centre was misusing central agencies to carry out political vendetta.
    It all started with raids carried out by the I-T Department in properties across the country owned by Energy Minister DK Shivakumar and his associates.
    The raids became contentious due to its timing.
    The raids were in August, 2017 just after Shivakumar was credited with keeping a flock of Congress MLAs from Gujarat in a resort to stop them from being poached by BJP ahead of Rajya Sabha polls.
    Minister Sivakumar who is incidentally the richest among state ministers had secured bail in March with regards to the I-T Department cases against him.
    I-T Department said that they had conducted the raids based on torn notes found on Shivakumar which suggested crores of rupees of unaccounted transactions at the Eagleton resort where the Gujarat MLAs were housed.
    The I-T officials had claimed that the raids had nothing to do with the Gujarat Rajya Sabha polls but rather a continuation of ongoing investigations.

  • Income Tax raid on Congress MLA and candidate in K'taka Assembly polls, B Shivanna

    According to preliminary reports, the MLA’s office and residences were raided by I-T sleuths.

    Sitting Congress MLA B Shivanna from Anekal (Bengaluru Urban) constituency who is set to contest the May 12 polls from the same seat was raided by Income Tax sleuths on Monday.
    There has been no official confirmation from the I-T Department yet on the findings.
    The raid comes incidentally a day after the ruling Congress announced its first list of candidates for the upcoming elections.  The MLA could not be reached for a comment.
    According to preliminary reports, the MLA’s office and residences were raided by I-T sleuths.
    In March, Congress MLC Raghu Achar had also faced raids by the I-T Department.  MLC Raghu is known to be a close aide of KPCC President G Parameshwara.
    The Congress in the state has maintained that the BJP-ruled centre was misusing central agencies to carry out political vendetta.
    It all started with raids carried out by the I-T Department in properties across the country owned by Energy Minister DK Shivakumar and his associates.
    The raids became contentious due to its timing.
    The raids were in August, 2017 just after Shivakumar was credited with keeping a flock of Congress MLAs from Gujarat in a resort to stop them from being poached by BJP ahead of Rajya Sabha polls.
    Minister Sivakumar who is incidentally the richest among state ministers had secured bail in March with regards to the I-T Department cases against him.
    I-T Department said that they had conducted the raids based on torn notes found on Shivakumar which suggested crores of rupees of unaccounted transactions at the Eagleton resort where the Gujarat MLAs were housed.
    The I-T officials had claimed that the raids had nothing to do with the Gujarat Rajya Sabha polls but rather a continuation of ongoing investigations.

  • Sedition case against trio to be closed as Republic TV didn’t submit raw tapes on ‘sting’

    Hyderabad: Three men were booked for sedition after the news channel had aired clips in which they can purportedly be heard pledging their allegiance to the Islamic State.


    The Hyderabad Police have decided to close a sedition case against three men, nearly a year after news channel Republic TV aired a supposed sting operation in which the trio purportedly pledged their allegiance to the Islamic State group, The Indian Express reported on Monday.
    Deputy Commissioner of Police (Detective Department, Central Crime Station) Avinash Mohanty told the newspaper that Republic TV had not submitted the unedited versions of the clips despite several requests. He said the channel had also refused to turn in the original devices used to record the conversations with the three men.
    Republic TV aired the footage on May 16, 2017. In the videos, Abdullah Basith, Salman Mohiuddin and Abdul Hanan Qureshi – who were detained earlier on their way to join the Islamic State group and later released – can purportedly be heard saying they were ready to join the terror outfit and also plan attacks in India if they failed to reach Syria.
    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwX1v0vsxUw?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0&w=560&h=315]
    Based on these clips, a Special Investigation Team of the Hyderabad Police had registered a case against the three, charging them with sedition and waging war against the state as well as under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. When they were questioned, the trio claimed that Republic TV had taken their statements out of context and only aired portions in which they were seen talking about the Islamic State group.
    “So we sought the unedited tapes from Republic TV to understand the context and gave them enough time,” the deputy commissioner of police told The Indian Express. “But they did not respond, so we referred the case to the court [to file a closure report].”
    Republic TV “categorically denied” these allegations and said it had “physically handed over the entire unedited footage of the sting operation to the Hyderabad Police”
    “Our reporter also offered, in writing, that her statement be recorded by the Hyderabad Police,” the news channel said in an email to The Indian Express. “If the Hyderabad Police does not want to act against radicalised elements, it is their concern and a matter of public concern as well.’’

  • 5, including Swami Aseemanand, acquitted in 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case

    The NIA had originally charged 10 persons with plotting and carrying out the attack using an improvised explosive device (IED) on May 18, 2007.



    A National Investigation Agency (NIA) Special Court at Nampally in Hyderabad on Monday, citing lack of evidence, acquitted five accused, including Naba Kumar Sarkar alias Swami Aseemanand, in the case of the bomb attack on the Mecca Masjid 11 years ago.

    The blast, using an improvised explosive device, killed nine persons inside the masjid near the historic Charminar of Old City.

    The spot inside the Mecca Masjid complex where the bomb blast took place 11 year ago.   | Photo Credit: G. Ramakrishna




    The others acquitted are Devendra Gupta, Lokesh Sharma, Bharath Mohan Lal Rateshwar and Rajendra Choundary as reported by The Hindu.

    The NIA had originally charged 10 persons with plotting and carrying out the attack on May 18, 2007.

    Accused Sunil Joshi of Madhya Pradesh, a former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharak, was murdered when the case was investigated.

    Two other accused, former RSS pracharak Sandeep V. Dange and RSS activist and electrician Ramchandra Kalsangra, also from Madhya Pradesh, have been eluding the investigators.


    Investigations against two others from the same State, Tejram Parmar and Amith Chowhan, are continuing.

    Tight security:

    The verdict was pronounced amidst tight security around the Nampally Courts Complex. where all the accused were present.

    Police restricted the movement on roads leading to the court. Vehicles were directed to be parked more than a kilometre away from the court hall.


    Earlier, mediapersons staged a sit-in outside the court’s gates after being restricted by police from entering the complex.