The court while granting bail imposed conditions on Raja that he will not visit Tamil Nadu without its prior permission and will not go to the office of the Department of Telecom (DoT). The court, in its 14-page bail order, also said that Raja would not try to influence any witnesses while on bail. Raja was arrested on February 2, last year.
All the co-accused in the case have already been granted bail and his further detention would not serve any purpose, the special CBI judge O P Saini said.
“In the end considering the progress of the trial, period of the custody of the accused and the fact that all other accused have been released on bail, I am of the opinion that further detention of the accused would not serve any purpose and for these reasons, I am inclined to admit the applicant/ accused (Raja) to bail,” the special judge said. On the apprehension of the CBI that if granted bail Raja may influence witnesses and tamper with evidence, the court said it addressed them by imposing conditions and restrictions on the accused. The court noted that entire evidence in the case was documentary and was in its custody.
“Moreover, this apprehension of the prosecution (that Raja may influence the witnesses and tamper with the evidence) can be addressed by imposing conditions and restrictions on the accused.
“Furthermore, almost entire evidence in the case is documentary in nature and the same is in the custody of the court,” the judge said.
The court also directed Raja to surrender his passport as a prerequisite for bail. Special CBI Judge OP Saini had on May 11 reserved his order on Raja’s bail plea for today after hearing arguments from the CBI and counsel for the DMK MP.
Raja had sought bail, after over 15 months of his arrest, on the ground of parity with 13 other co-accused who have already secured it from the Supreme Court, Delhi High Court and the trial court.
In his bail plea, Raja had contended that case against him is “false and fabricated” and “not sustainable in law.”
The CBI had vehemently opposed Raja’s bail, saying he cannot be released on the ground of parity as the charges levelled against him are of ‘serious nature’.
During the probe, it has come to light that Raja and others received bribe of over Rs 200 crore in connection with the spectrum scam, it said.
The CBI prosecutor had raised questions on Raja’s alleged links with Mauritius-based Delphi Investment Ltd, in which Reliance Telecom Ltd had allegedly transferred its shares and said if released on bail at this stage, he might tamper with the evidence.
“It is suspected that there may be involvement of public servants, including accused A Raja and his family members etc, in the affairs of the said companies (Delphi),” the prosecutor had said.
Raja had sought bail saying the Supreme Court, while granting bail to former Telecom Secretary Sidharth Behura, had not distinguished the case of public servant with others.
Raja’s counsel had also said that he and Behura are facing similar charges of abatement, conspiracy and criminal breach of trust.

Among the others booked include Yeddyurappa’s sons BY Vijayendra and BY Raghavendra, and son-in-law RN?Sohan Kumar.
A special nine-member team of the CBI will probe the charges against Yeddyurappa and others.
The development comes three days after the Supreme Court ordered a CBI probe against the BJP leader for “serious illegalities” in mining activities in which he allegedly “misused his public office” for monetary benefits by extending favours to mining barons and corporates.
The apex court noted there was “an unfortunate state of affairs” prevailing for a “considerable time” during which the forest and minerals were illegally exploited involving politicians and corporate entities which require probe by a competent and independent agency uninfluenced by the stature of the persons.
“The CBI shall undertake investigation in a most fair, proper and unbiased manner uninfluenced by the stature of the persons and the political or corporate clout, involved in the present case. It will be open to the CBI to examine and inspect the records of any connected matter pending before any investigating agency or any court,” a special Forest bench headed by Chief Justice SH Kapadia said while passing the order.
The bench, also comprising justices Aftab Alam and Swatanter Kumar, stayed all pending proceedings before all judicial forums in connection with the case.
“The CBI shall complete its investigation and submit a report to the court of competent jurisdiction with a copy of the report to be placed on the file of this court within three months,” the bench said posting the matter for perusal of CBI report on August 3.
The report of the court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) had pointed out “undue favour” in respect of a land purchased by close relatives of Yeddyuruppa for 40 lakh in 2006 and subsequently sold to South West Mining Ltd, an alleged “front company of JSW Steels Ltd” in the year 2010 for Rs 20 crores.
The CEC report said Yeddyurappa’s family members had received Rs 6 crore in kickbacks from a mining firm.
Vijayendra had said that the amount was not a kickback but a loan taken through cheques.
The allegation is that Praveen Chandra, a mine operator, had given Rs 2.5 crore to a firm run by Sohan Kumar and Rs 3.5 crore to another firm owned by Vijayendra and his brother Raghavendra as a favour for facilitating license.

‘25 Management Stratagies for Delhi Metro’s success – The Sreedharan Way, a book that provides interesting insights into important project execution requirements such as leadership, man management and contractor management that went into the construction of the Phase I and Phase II of the Delhi Metro.
Releasing the book at an event in the Capital, Managing Director of the DMRC Mangu Singh said, “This wonderful book reflects the unique work culture of the DMRC and the core values established and strengthened by Dr E Sreedharan which have helped Delhi Metro to become so successful.
All aspects necessary for successful project management have been adequately covered in this book. Therefore, this book will be very informative for those readers who want to know more about the Metro.” Mr Singh said the book, which has been written by CPRO of DMRC Anuj Dyal, was a result of the practical experiences gained by the author and not a theoretical document.
“It has been written in very easy language and makes for interesting reading,” he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Professor Biju Varkkey of the Indian Institute for Management said, “Reading this book would make all of us proud of our country as at Ahmedabad it shows how projects can be successfully implemented if executed with integrity.” About the author of the book, Anuj Dyal, he said, “Mr Anuj Dayal has been with the DMRC for a long time and has seen this organisation develop from very close quarters. This experience has helped him to deeply analyse the management strategies and present them very lucidly and interestingly in the form of this book.

Addressing at a National conference on Financial Inclusion: Integrating Insurance into Total Package organised by ASSOCHAM here, Mr Narayan said the future growth of the insurance industry lies in bringing out products based on the rural population’s needs and aspirations.   ‘We have already a proposal to Insurance companies on Single product, he said, adding unless products make sense to the people in rural areas, the penetration of insurance portfolios will not grow.
The IRDA chairman said the concept of a combination of life and non-life features had become important as the rural population and those in low income strata would benefit from a single product that could take care of all their exigencies.
It was also needed to establish ‘ lead Insurance’ on the lines of lead bank, he said and added the claiming rate in insruance was very low due to lack of either awarness among the people or poor communication from the insurance companies. It is also necessary to minimise the documentation, but due to various reasons including legal aspects, inumerable pages of documentation were being maintained by the companies, he said. He said for instaance ‘funeral insurance’ product delivered by one insurance company in Afirca and S.Africa, was become popularised their and the people are waiting in queues to take the policy.

New Delhi: Veteran actress Rekha became the latest member from the Hindi film industry to enter politics as she took oath in the Parliament on Tuesday.

Looking elegant in a sari, the actor was sworn in as a member of the Rajya Sabha.  Few days back, President Pratibha Patil had approved her name and that of cricketer Sachin Tendulkar for the Upper House.   57-year-old Rekha was one of the top heroines of the 80s in Hindi films and has won several awards in her acting career.  Sachin Tendulkar is expected to take the oath on Wednesday. The terms of both Rekha and Sachin Tendulkar as Rajya Sabha members began on April 27.

Trouble broke out immediately after the House met in the post-lunch session, resulting in the first adjournment for 15 minutes till 1435 hrs and then 1500 hrs within minutes of the House reassembling.
Rejecting the statement given by the Home Minister earlier in the day, Mr D Raja, CPI, Ravi Shankar Prasad, BJP, Dr V Maitreyan, AIADMK, and NK Singh, JD-U, were on their feet seeking that the Finance Minister should personally clarify the issue.   They rejected Mr Chidambaram’s statement denying any involvement of his family.
Stating that neither he nor his family had any connection with Aircel or any other telecom company, an emotional Home Minister P Chidambaram Monday said: “Plunge a dagger in my heart rather than question my integrity.”
He was giving a clarification in the Rajya Sabha on allegations that his son’s company was transferred money, before the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) cleared a proposal from Aircel pertaining to its telecom service venture in 2006.
Chidambaram, who was finance minister at that time, said there were no illegitimate transfers were made to any company involving any of his family members. “Neither I, nor any member of my family has any equity in any telecom company.”  The issue was raised in the Upper House by Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley. He did not take any names, but alluded that Oxbridge — in which Advantage Consultancy, partly owned by Chidambaram’s son Karthi — received money from Aircel.
Seeking to give more details, Kaitley said Maxis, the Malaysian company which acquired shares in Aircel, had declared to Malaysian stock exchange that it acquired more than 99 percent shares in Aircel.  But the Indian policy permits no more than 74 percent share to foreign investors in telecom ventures. The money was allegedly transferred by Aircel Chief C Sivasankaran on the eve of FICB clearance to the Aircel-Maxis deal.
The Home Minister, however, said his “family” had nothing to do with Oxbridge.
“It is true my son had shares in Advantage consultancy. But young men have all the right to a start business. He invested Rs.1.8 lakh in the company, which had another share holder — Rajesh,” the home minister said.
The minister, however, said Karthi had sold his share in the firm to his friend and has no holdings in the company. He further clarified that Advantage took shares in Oxbridge only in 2011, much after the 2006 clearance to the Aircel-Maxis deal.
The Leader of Opposition questioned how both Oxbridge and Advantage had the same e-mail address in 2006, to which Chidambaram said he was not aware “if they shared the same web address”.
“I don’t deny that the promoters of Oxbridge and Advantage did know each other. All are doing business in Chennai,” he said.
He also said whether or not the Malaysian company gave wrong information to some other country could be examined by the finance ministry. But the FIPB gave its clearance in 2006 for a stake below 74 percent.   He also dismissed allegations for delaying the process of clearance.

Addressing a meeting of the party MPs, its former MPs, Legislators and office-bearers Mr Prasad said here there  is complete anarchy in the state and the present NDA government had failed on all fronts.   He said the promises of judicious development made by Nitish Kumar government has nose dived and had been proved to be a farce.
Mr Prasad said when Mr Kumar’s government came to the power for the second term, he had promised not to open his mouth for six months, but now a year has almost passed and being the leader of the main opposition party he was duty bound to apprise the people with the reality and the failures of the state government.
The present ruling party leaders joked terming RJD leader Rabri Devi as an ‘ NRI’, however their own leader Mr Kumar is planning to go to Delhi, said Mr Prasad and pledged to uproot the present government in Bihar. The RJD leader described the on going Seva Yatra of Mr Kumar as preparation for the coming Lok Sabha polls to be held in the year 2014 and maintained that Mr Kumar is trying to strengthen his organization in the garb of the yatra. He alleged that the present Nitish Kumar government is neck deep involved in scams and added that the government is far away from its development targets.
The RJD leader said the crime graph has increased in the state where even the public representatives were not safe and were being targeted by the criminals who were demanding extortion from them.

He alleged that the BJP fails to act on its assurances to address the plight of Hindu migrants after the elections are over and rakes up the issue in every pre-poll move.
A day after Mr Gadkari made a case for Indian citizenship to persecuted Hindu migrants here, Mr Gogoi said, ‘The BJP leaders come and rake up the issue in Assam. Now they have their eyes on next Lok Sabha elections.’ He questioned the BJP-led NDA’s failure to grant citizenship to the migrants when in power at the Centre and claimed that the BJP had failed to raise the issue in Parliament even.
Mr Gogoi pointed out that BJP leader Atal Behari Vajpayee, as the then prime minister in 2004, had advocated work permit for illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators, which was vehemently opposed by Mr Gogoi as the chief minister as it would make it virtually impossible to push back the infiltrators at any stage.
As a reply to Mr Gadkari’s proposal for Hindu migrants, Mr Gogoi said he has already made a representation before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for granting citizenship to all Indian-origin people who are compelled to return to their ancestral land after being persecuted in their adopted nations.
‘Our case is based on humanitarian ground and is for people following any religion,’ the chief minister added.

Lingayat strongman BS Yeddyurappa on Monday blamed Karnataka Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda and BJP general secretary Ananth Kumar for the ongoing crisis in Karnataka.

Addressing a press conference here, Yeddyurappa said he has temporarily postponed the decision to resign from the party.
“I have the support of 71 MLAs. My loyalists are with me even nine months after the change of Chief Minister. I am grateful to those who stood by me. I will continue to fight my battle within the party”, he said.
The BJP’s Karnataka strongman was addressing the media after holding a crucial meeting with his loyalists to decide his future course of action.
Ahead of his meeting with his followers, the defiant Lingayat leader visited the famous Siddaganga mutt in Tumkur early morning.
Earlier in the day, Yeddyurappa spoke to senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley and discussed the ongoing crisis in Karnataka.
Yeddyurappa’s outburst came as the ruling BJP was hit by a fresh crisis after nine ministers loyal to him submitted their resignations to him yesterday and gunned for Gowda’s removal.

“The manner in which we have conducted our affairs…has created a sense of frustration and disillusionment among the people,” Manmohan Singh said, addressing the Lok Sabha on the day Indian parliament completed its 60 years.
Manmohan Singh lamented frequent disruptions in the houses that blocked many key legislations and also led to hundreds of business hours being wasted every time parliament was in session.  “The daily routine of disruptions, adjournments and shouting in the house are leading many to question the efficacy of this institution,” Manmohan Singh said.
He urged MPs to think over their conduct “as we look ahead, this occasion should also become the moment for some candid and serious introspection”.
“I am optimistic that the innate wisdom of our people and the strength of our democratic institutions will guide us on the right path,” the prime minister said.
He said his government had empowered citizens by providing them the rights to information, education and minimum employment.
“What the constitution envisioned, parliament translated into action…But this is an unfinished agenda,” he said, adding more needed to done by lawmakers to realise the dreams of the framers of the constitution.
Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha Sunday held a special sitting to commemorate the day when parliament sat for the first time May 13, 1952.

Raghavan had also doubted Modi on the presence of two of his then ministers, I K Jadeja and Ashok Bhatt in state and city police control rooms and on Modi visiting Godhra on the same day of train burning incident but taking 5-6 days to go to the riot-hit areas.
He also found that the allegations on appointment of public prosecutors “politically connected, either to the ruling party or orgnisations sympathetic to it” in the riots cases and that Modi did not issue orders against the bandh call by Hindu organisations (VHP) on February 28, 2002 were true.
However, in the final report submitted before a local court on February eight this year, Raghavan’s SIT not only exonerated Modi of all the charges, but said that he did his job of controlling the riots well.
Raghavan’s comments in the 2010 report were made available for public by NGO – Citizen for Justice and Peace, which got them from complainant Zakia Jaffery, wife of former Congress MP Ehsaan Jaffery who was killed in the 2002 riots.
The SIT chief has observed in the report that, “his (Modi’s) statement accusing some elements in Godhra as possessing a criminal tendency was sweeping and offensive, coming as it was from a chief minister and that too at a critical time when Hindu and Muslim tempers were running high.”
“But taking an overall view of this statement and his subsequent appeals for peace, it is difficult to opine that Shri Modi’s intention was to provoke Hindu feelings against the Muslim community,” Raghavan had said in the report prepared by investigation officer in the case A K Malhotra.
Raghavan appreciated the job done by inquiry officer Malhotra who, in the primary investigation report, had said that eight allegations are substantiated against Gujarat administration and Modi.
Raghavan said he recommended departmental inquiry against some police officers, but went on to say that “the other substantiated allegations did not throw material that would justify further action under the law.”
As per the SIT report, in an interview given to a television channel on March 1, 2002 in connection with the riots Modi said, “What happened in Godhra day before yesterday, where 40 women and children were burnt alive, this country and even foreign countries are shocked. People of that area of Godhra have criminal tendencies, they had earlier killed a lady teacher and now have committed this heinous crime, reactions to which are being felt.”
The SIT report further says that when Modi was asked to comment on this particular point, he said that “if his words cited in this question are considered in the correct perspective, then it would be evident that there is a very earnest appeal for people refraining from any kind of violence…..”
In his comments, Raghavan has doubted Modi on the presence of two of his then ministers Jadeja and Bhatt in state and city police control rooms, respectively, saying, “Although there is no evidence that this was directly at the instance of Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the fact that he was the cabinet minister for Home would heighten suspicion that the decision had his blessings.”
However, the final report gives clean chit to Modi on the same issue saying that though presence Jadeja was established in state control room, he had not interfered with police work.
Raghavan also expressed surprise on Modi’s prompt visit to Godhra on the same day of train burning incident, but not visiting riot-affected areas of Ahmedabad even after 5-6 days.
“Shri Modi visited Godhra promptly on the same day as the incident. Surprisingly, however, he took as many as 5-6 days to do the same in the riot affected areas of Ahmedabad, where Muslims were victims,” Raghavan said in his comments in 2010.
However, SIT final report in 2012 said that Modi had visited riot sites as early as March 3 and the allegation of partiality on the part of the chief minister is not established.
SIT chief also said that the allegation, that Modi has not issued orders against the bandh call given by the Hindu organisations (VHP) on February 28, 2002, was true as per the admission of the state Home department.
He further said that the public prosecutors appointed in the riots cases had connections with BJP and VHP.
“Though there is a transparent procedure for appointment of public prosecutors, it has been found that a few of the past appointees were in fact politically connected, either to the ruling party or organisations sympathetic to it,” Raghavan’s report said.

President Pratibha Patil on Sunday said Indian democracy “cannot be allowed to falter” at a time when democracies of the world are operating in the complex situations including fractured mandates and explosion of the media.

“The big challenge is for democracy to proceed towards being a vibrant but health democracy. It is therefore necessary to walk ahead carefully, with determination,” she said addressing a function in the historic Central Hall of Parliament to mark its 60th anniversary.
Noting that democracies of the world are operating in complex situations, she said, “There is always the requirement of finding a balance between various expectations. There are no fractured mandates. Governments are mostly coalitions and legislatures are composed of many parties.”
She said, “There has been regional aspirations as well and the last decade has also seen the explosion of the media.”
She said elections are the foundation stone of any democracy and added, “we must constantly improve our systems and remove all corrupt and other malpractices from our electoral processes and from our society.”
“Democracy cannot be allowed to falter, for it is the very essence of our nationhood,” she noted.
She said, “Discussions can be difficult and divergent but yet solutions have to be found through discussions in Parliament and resolved through established Parliamentary practices.”

Upping the ante, Yeddyurappa also attacked his successor Sadananda Gowda calling him a “betrayer” for not vacating the chief ministership in six months to pave the way for his return to the post from which he quit after the Lokayukta report on illegal mining indicted him in July last year.
Yeddyurappa’s outburst came as the ruling BJP was hit by a fresh crisis after nine ministers loyal to him submitted their resignations to him yesterday and gunned for Gowda’s removal.
“I have to praise Sonia Gandhi. I noticed that Congress party and its people are united and supportive if any one of their party members gets into trouble. They help each other and resolve the problems,” he said addressing a gathering at a function here.
Venting his anger over BJP not being supportive of him after the Supreme Court ordered a CBI probe into his alleged involvement in illegal mining during his tenure, Yeddyurappa said: “In Congress whenever a prominent leader faces allegations, that party rises to protect him and tell people that law will take its own course.”
“But in BJP, people will be waiting for a person to get into problems and to sideline him. In BJP, people try to pull the chair and grab someone else’s position also,” he said.
70-year old Lingayat strongman, who is entangled in a spate of corruption cases, has made repeated attempts to regain chief ministership but the central leadership had made it clear that he has to come clean in the charges levelled against him for his reinstatment.

Lucknow: An FIR was registered against godman Nirmal Baba at Gomti Nagar police station here, following direction by a local court.  The case against Nirmal Baba has been registered under various Sections of the IPC, including 417, 419, 420 and 508.

He has been accused of cheating and fraud in the name of faith.
Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Rajesh Upadhyaya, while accepting an application moved by two children – Tanya Thakur and Aditya Thakur, had directed the Gomti Nagar police to lodge a case against Nirmal Baba.
The applicants alleged that Baba was fooling lakhs of people by creating fear of religion and his acts were promoting superstition.
The complainants had alleged that ‘darbars’ or ‘samagams’ (meetings) of Nirmal Baba were being held in different cities, including Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai, and these were being aired through various channels across the country.  They accused Nirmala Baba of cheating the poor and illiterate people who come with their problems in these meetings.  The petitioners alleged that a fee of Rs 2000 was being charged from every person attending the darbar.

A day after the row over Dr BR Ambedkar’s cartoon hit Parliament, several workers of the Republican Panthers Party on Saturday afternoon created ruckus at the Pune office of former advisor to NCERT, Prof Suhas Palshikakr.

As per reports, around five to six workers of RPP attacked the office located at Pune University campus and began ransacking and damaging furniture while shouting slogans.  Palshikar was unharmed in the incident, Pune police said.
Police said the persons involved in the incident had been invited by Palshikar for discussion in his office after they raised objections on the cartoon.    Police have detained three persons in connection with the incident.
After the incident, Palshikar told a news channel, “I haven’t asked for police protection although police were very prompt in arriving at the office.”
Later, an RPP spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the cartoon amounted to an “insult” to the Dalit icon.
Palshikar, a former head of Pune University’s Department of Politics and another chief adviser of the committee, Yogendre Yadav had resigned on Friday in the wake of the row over Ambedkar cartoon in school text books.
While resigning from his NCERT post, Palshikar had described the ruckus in both Houses of Parliament over the cartoon row as “unfortunate”.
He added that “space for debate in democracy is shrinking”.
Dr BR Ambedkar’s cartoon was published in XI Class NCERT books which led to an uproar in Parliament on Friday on which HRD Minister Kapil Sibal had tendered an apology.
Palshikar was a member of the HRD Ministry’s Textbook Development Committee, which had approved the Class XI social science textbook that contained the cartoon.

Kochi, May 12: Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy today said he will examine what measures could the state government take to implement central labour laws in the media in the state also. 

Addressing a gathering after inaugurating renovated building of the Press Club here, he said though the Centre had issued certain guidelines that the state government’s had the right to implement the labour laws in media, he didn’t know much about it and how to implement it in the state.

However, he assured that he would look into the matter of implementing the wage board recommendations in the media here on the basis of the Centre’s remarks in this regard.  Though he had the opportunity to know about the formation of the wage board during the period of Mr Oscar Fernandez, it was quite unfortunate to note that it was not implemented in the media, he added.
Stating that the Media had a great role in democracy, he said while standing as a corrective force, it should keep in mind to avoid unnecessary controversies. Earlier, the Chief Minister inaugurated the renovated building of the press club at a function, in which Union Minister of state for Food Prof K V Thomas, Kerala Excise Minister K Babu and Civil Supplies Minister Anoop Jaccob, KUWJ president K C Rajagopal and General Secretary Manoharan Morai, MLA Hibi Edan and senior Journalist K M Roy.

New Delhi: Human Resource Minister Kapil Sibal tendered an apology in the Lok Sabha after a cartoon of B R Ambedkar in Class XI NCERT text book created a storm in Parliament on Friday.

Sibal said, “I apologise, the whole nation respects Ambedkar. There won’t be any further distribution of books with the cartoon.”

Siban said that a committee, formed by the HRD Ministry, is already reviewing all such objectionable matters in textbooks and such content will be removed from NCERT text books next year.

The cartoon, by renowned cartoonist Shankar, depicts Nehru, with a whip in his hand, chasing Ambedkar, who is seated on a snail. In the cartoon, Nehru is asking Ambedkar to speed up the work on the constitution.

The issue was raised by Thol. Thirumavalavan of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal, a Tamil Nadu-based party, which led to members of BSP, SP, RJD, AIADMK and CPI rushed into the Well in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha carrying photocopies of the cartoon. Both Houses were repeatedly adjourned over the issue.

“This is an insult on Indian democracy. The government should intervene and take strong action against those, who are involved in this. If it failed to do so, we will wait for two to three days or else our party will not allow the House to run,” Mayawati told reporters outside Parliament.

Earlier, leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee, said the printing of the cartoon in the textbook was “totally wrong” and that he “entirely” agreed with the sentiments of all sections of the House.

He said it would not have been possible for the constitution to be ready in the short span of three years without the tireless work of Ambedkar.

New Delhi: In a major decision aimed at giving a boost to the armed forces, the government on Friday approved the deal to buy M-777 ultra light howitzers from the United States.

The purchase of M777 ultra-light howitzers has been cleared nearly 27 years after the controversy over the purchase of howitzers from Switzerland-based AB Bofors.

As per reports, the government aims at buying at least 145 guns at a total cost of USD 650 million. The purchase of the guns will be reportedly made through the US government’s Foreign Military Sales program.

The Ultra-light weight Field Howitzers (UFH), designated M777 in the USA, was selected in 1997 by a joint US Army / Marine Corps initiative to replace the existing inventory of M198 155mm towed howitzers.

The M777 was deployed by the US Army and Marine Corps to Afghanistan in December 2007 and to Iraq in 2008.

In July 2008, Australia requested the foreign military sale of 57 M77 howitzers.

The gun developed by BAE Systems is half the weight of all 155mm howitzers in the world but matches their fire power making it a deadly weapon in the hands of good artillery unit.

The maximum firing range of the gun is 24.7km with unassisted rounds and 30km with rocket-assisted rounds. After procurement, the M777 will be deployed in Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh.

The M777, which can be easily transported through a helicopter, can fire up to five rounds a minute.

New Delhi: Nearly three weeks after recording his statement, the CBI has sought certain clarifications from Army Chief Gen VK Singh with regard to the bribery allegation levelled against Lt Gen (Retd) Tejinder Singh in connection with a truck deal.

A CBI team visited the Army Chief’s office last evening as the agency was of the opinion that some more clarifications were required in connection with his bribery allegation, official sources said.

The sources said the CBI also wanted clarity on the issue of delay on part of the Army Chief in approaching the agency as the incident had taken place at least one-and-a-half years back.

The CBI has recorded a Preliminary Enquiry against Tejinder Singh on a complaint filed by the Army Chief in which he has alleged that the retired Army officer had offered him a bribe of Rs 14 crore for clearing a ‘sub-standard’ consignment of Tatra trucks.

The CBI has already questioned Tejinder Singh, who has filed a defamation case against the Army Chief for levelling baseless allegations against him.

The CBI had first recorded the statement of the Army Chief on April 20 during which the agency had sought to ascertain the circumstances that led to the offer of bribe to him by Tejinder Singh.

The Army Chief had assured the CBI that he would provide some “clinching” evidence to buttress his complaint that the retired officer had allegedly offered him a bribe of Rs 14 crore to clear supply of a tranche of the vehicles.

The agency will also examine various documents including the visitor’s register, record of discussion of Army and documents related to Tatra, they said.

Kozhikode: A special team investigating the murder of former Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader T.P. Chandrasekharan has issued a “lookout circular” for eight suspects, police said Friday.

The circular, containing secret information to help round up the suspects, has been handed over to all the major airports, said police.

Chandrasekharan, 51, was killed in Onchiyam near here, Friday night as he was returning home on a motorcycle. Police said he was attacked with a bomb and then murdered. His face was disfigured.

Meanwhile, the first eyewitness to the crime came forward Friday with the details of what he saw.

“I saw a vehicle gong fast and suddenly it came back on the wrong side and we heard a loud sound and found a motor cycle on the ground. Then we saw three people standing outside with one person brandishing a sword and another one had a stick. Seeing us, they threatened us and we backed off after a country bomb was hurled. After a few minutes, they went away,” Ramachandran told reporters.

“When their (the assailants) vehicle went away, we rushed to the place and saw a person very badly butchered and I had a doubt if it was TP (Chandrasekharan). Soon he was taken to the hospital,” added Ramachandran.

Police seem to have made through a breakthrough when they identified a sticker at the back of the vehicle as a popular one used by the Muslim community.

They, however, contended that this was done purposely to mislead the investigation, but said they have identified the place where this particular sticker was made.

Meanwhile, Chandrasekharan’s father-in-law, K.K. Madhavan, a local CPI-M leader told the media that his son-in-law never had any enemies other than in his former party. He hinted at leaving the party if its role is proved in the crime.

“So to doubt the CPI-M is not wrong. But if it is proved right (the role of the CPI-M), then the future will have to be worked out,” he said.

Chandrasekharan was an active CPI-M leader in his hometown Onchiyam nearKozhikode till 2008. Later he formed the Revolutionary Marxist Party which unseated his old party in village councils around his home town.