Kolkata, October 27
The CBI officials inquiring the mysterious death of Rizwanur Rahman are now convinced that a conspiracy was hatched at the highest level with the involvement of “a nexus of the police, promoter and mafia” for breaking the marriage of the Hindu-Muslim couple and getting Priyanka back to the Todi family.

After a week-long interrogation of some 30 witnesses and examining official records and other valuable documents and evidences, the CBI has ruled out the possibility of Rizwanur being killed in a train accident. But it was yet to be ascertained if he was murdered or he himself had committed suicide.

The CBI will start a second round of inquiry in which the CBI director, VijayShankar, might be involved.

According to official sources, the director, accompanied by the joint-director, Arun Kumar, who is leading the special inquiry, will be coming to the city on Monday morning from Delhi.

Kumar returned back to the capital from Kolkata on October 24 to apprise the director about the progress of the inquiry and discuss with him the strategy for further proceedings.

It is likely that Vijay Shankar himself will be present during the interrogation of Ashoke Todi, Priyanka’s father who is the prime accused, the former police chief and two other senior IPS officers allegedly involved in the case. The director also wants to talk to Priyanka and the Rizwanur’s mother and brother.

The CBI inquiry was ordered on October 16 by Justice Saumitra Pal following a writ petition filed by, Kishwar Jahan, Rizwanur’s mother who said she did not have any faith in the CID inquiry and the judicial probe ordered by the Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. In the writ petition she demanded a CBI inquiry for unearthing the mystery of her son’s death.

Accordingly, the CBI took up the investigation on October 17 and immediately a team of officials headed by the joint-director, Arun Kumar was sent to Kolkata from New Delhi.

Mumbai, October 27
More than a decade after an official of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation, G.R. Khairnar, virtually nailed Maharashtra strongman Sharad Pawar on corruption issues similar allegations have surfaced to dog the veteran politician who is now union agriculture minister.

Earlier this week, the Bombay High Court issued notices in a public interest litigation petition, which alleged that Pawar and his relatives had benefited from land allotment made by public sector institutions in Maharashtra. Those under the scanner include Pawar himself, his nephew and state irrigation minister Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar's son-in-law Sadanand Sule. All of them have been accused of illegally availing of plots belonging to Krishna Valley Corporation (KVC) in western Maharashtra.

The PIL was filed by Shamsunder Potare, a resident of Baramati, which is Pawar's stronghold.

As per the petition, plots belonging to the KVC were illegally allotted to Vidya Pratishthan headed by Sharad Pawar, the Anant Smruti Pratishthan and Sanshodhan Kendra founded in memory of Pawar's brother Ajit's father. Another party accused in the petition is the Lavasa Corporation, a private hill station promoted jointly by Sharad Pawar's son-in-law Sadanand Sule and the Hindustan Construction Company. State irrigation minister Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar, who heads the KVC, has also been named in the petition. The petitioner pleaded that the allotments made to these institutions be cancelled on the grounds that the property should exclusively have been used for the purpose of irrigation and distribution of water under the project.

Nearly 20 hectares of land have been allotted by the KVC to these organisations in addition to 13 hectares for the Lavasa Corporation project.

The matter is before a Division Bench of the Bombay High Court comprising Justices J. N. Patel and Amjad Sayyad.

Sharad Pawar and Nimbalkar have been avoiding the media on the issue ever since the HC issued notices in the matter.

The Krishna Valley Corporation will now have to furnish records of every single acquisition and allotment of land it has made since 1996, the year of its inception, according to an order issued by the court.

Expectedly, the BJP and the Shiv Sena are preparing to throw another big challenge at Pawar. Leaders of both parties say they are studying the matter closely and may take up the issue before the people.

New Delhi, October 27
The ballistic expert accused of giving false evidence in the Connaught Place shooting case today claimed innocence before a court here saying that he did not introduce any bullet head in evidence to support the convicts’ case.

Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Kumar had ordered criminal proceedings against Roop Singh on October 16 after noting that he (expert) had deliberately introduced a bullet head (7.65 mm) while recording his evidence.

Notably, the convicted policemen, including the then ACP S S Rathi, had claimed during the trial that a bullet of 7.65 mm was shot at one of them from the victims’ car on March 31, 1997, forcing them to retaliate, which had led to the killing of two innocent Haryana-based businessmen.

Taking into cognisance Singh’s submission, the court asked the ballistic expert whether he would like to examine any witness in support of his claim.

The court issued notices to CBI counsel Brij Bhushan and defence lawyer K K Sud, senior advocate, for October 31 after Singh expressed his willingness to examine them.

Singh filed his reply to a notice under Section 344 of

the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) for allegedly giving false evidence in the case.

“Vivek Singh, one of the advocates of Rathi produced the bullet head representing to the court that it was lying on the floor. Thereupon the defence counsel enquired from me about the calibre of the bullet head, whereupon I said that it was 7.65 calibre,” the ballistic expert added.

Singh, shifting blame on Rathi’s counsel, claimed that it was not he who had introduced any bullet head in the evidence. — PTI

Guwahati, October 27
Sixty passengers had a close shave when a mob of agitating tribal students set the bus in which they were travelling on fire at Golukganj in Dhubri district of Western Assam today.

SP Parthasarathi Mahanta said 22 passengers in the ill-fated bus, which was travelling from Cooch Behar in West Bengal to North Lakhimpur in eastern Assam along the National Highway 37, sustained burn injuries.

Condition of three of the injured was serious. At least 38 of the passengers managed to escape unscathed as they could alight from the bus on time as it was set on fire by about 50 protestors from Assam Koch Rajbongshi Students’ Union (AKRASU).

“The protestors locked the door and poured petrol before setting the vehicle on fire. Twenty two passengers had been injured before they could be evacuated from the burning bus,” the police official said.

The police arrested 14 protestors following the incident. Two cops have been put under suspension on charges of dereliction of duty. The SP said an internal inquiry had been instituted to find out how the bus could pass through police barricade set up to check plying of any vehicle along the highway at night hours in view of the agitation launched by the AKRASU.

The police are in the look out for the AKRASU president Bishwajit Rai to arrest him on charges of fomenting trouble. The tribal students’ body called for a 300 hours National Highway blockade beginning on October 18 last in protest against Government of India’s refusal to accord Scheduled Tribe (ST) tag to the Koch-Rajbongshi community in Assam.

The AKRASU stated that the call for blockade of the national highways also marked the beginning of their current phase of ‘intensive agitation’.

Patna, October 27
For a moment one may mistake it as another episode of Indian Idol or Jhalak Dikhla Ja. The fault of such a wrong notion perhaps is not unjustified as the blame lies with none other than the railway minister and RJD supremo Lalu Pradad.

Known for his unending ability to offer surprises punched with a strong sense of wit, Lalu has announced a cash award of Rs 5,000 and a trophy to tone up the spirit of both party workers and leaders before his first-ever political showdown in the form of a ‘chetawani’ (warning) rally against the Nitish government slated to be held in the historic Gandhi Maidan here tomorrow.

The Nitish Kumar- led NDA would complete its two years in office on November 24.

State president of RJD Abdul Bari Siddiqui told the media that as desired by Lalu Prasad, the party was holding a ‘slogan-writing competition’ for its supporters to select the best slogan to expose the Nitish government at the rally.“The contest has reached its final stage”, he quipped.

RJD’s cultural cell chief Tanveer Akhtar, who is responsible for identifying the best slogan, said Lalu Prasad himself would hand over Rs 5,000 cash award to the best slogan writer. “The response has been encouraging.We have received quite a large number of entries.Around 15-20 slogans, besides the best one, will be used in the rally”, said Akhtar, a stage artist-turned-political activist.

Besides,Lalu has also announced a trophy to the leader in the party who would bring the maximum crowd at the Gandhi Maidan. Bihar CM Nitish Kumar reacted saying, “Laluji has always given people of the state and his party workers jhunjhunas (toys)”.