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Sports: I have the killer instinct -- Anand Pg 18 Blessings never come in pairs; misfortunes never come alone -- Chinese Proverb
IN BRIEF Heat claims 3 CRPF men Three CRPF constables died due to heat stroke today while seven others were admitted to a hospital after collapsing during training, senior officials of the paramilitary force said. The victims were in the Weapons and Tactical pre-promotion course at the Central Training College. The incident took place at about one pm when the temperature was about 45 degree Celsius, they said. – (PTI)
The Voice of Goa — Since 1900 panjim, tuesDaY, maY 25, 2010
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Sanatan men tested IEDs at Ponda, Sangli: probe Had plans to trigger blasts at 5 places HERALD REPORTER MARGAO, MAY 24
Investigations by the National Investigating Agency (NIA) into the Margao bomb blast has revealed that the activists of Sanatan Sanstha had twice tested the Improvised Explosive Devises (IEDs) at Talaulim in Ponda and Sangli in Maharashtra and had drawn up plans to trigger bomb blasts in as many as five places in Goa during the narkasura competitions on the eve of last year’s Diwali festival. The chargesheet filed by the NIA against the 11 accused persons, including the six sadaks of Sanatan Sanstha reveals that the accused prepared the IEDs and conducted test blasts at Talaulim-Ponda hillock on three days, between August 26-28, 2009. It has come in evidence that the second test blast was conducted at Jath Sangli in Maharashtra during the last week of September 2009. A perusal of the chargesheet reveals that the criminal conspiracy was hatched by deceased accused Malgonda Patil, deceased accused Yogesh Naik, Vinay Talekar, Vinayak Patil, Dhananjay Ashtekar, Dilip Mangonkar, Jai Prakask allias Anna, Rudra Patil, Sarang Kulkarni and Prashanth Juvekar during the month of June 2009 to October 2009. The NIA has pointed in the chargesheet that accused Malgonda Patil, Dhananjay Ashtekar and Jai Prakash brought explosive materials like gelatin sticks and detonators and other accessories like Printed Circuit Boards, transistors, batteries,
wires etc for manufacturing the IEDs from difference sources. The IEDs were assembled at the residence of Laxmikant Naik, the elder brother of accused Yogesh at Talaulim-Ponda and also discussed about the actions to be taken against the Government, organizers and participants and viewers of Narkasur competitions on grounds such competitions are against Hindu religion and practices. In pursuance of the conspiracy, the accused formed two groups, one comprising of deceased Malgonda Patil and deceased accused Yogesh Naik to plant the IEDs at the narkasur competition at Margao and the second group consisting of Vinay Talekar and Vinayak Patil for planting the IEDs in a minilorry at Shanthadurga Temple, Sancoale. The NIA has charged accused Dhananjay Ashtekar, a native of Ratnagiri for downloading circuit diagrams using internet (Google search) and contacted
Court nod for further probe HERALD REPORTER MARGAO, MAY 24
The South Goa Sessions Court on Monday granted permission for the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to carry out further investigations into the Margao bomb blast case. The NIA had approached the court seeking permission to further investigate into the bomb blast, which the court on Monday granted under section 173 of the CrPC Five accused chargesheeted by the NIA in the Sessions court are still absconding. During investigations, their role and involvement in the criminal conspiracy has come out from the statements of accused Vinay Talekar, Vinayak Patil, Dhananjay Ashetkar and Dilip Mangonkar. The NIA has maintained in the chargesheet that their custodial interrogation is needed to unearth the larger conspiracy of this case.
No question of retirement: PM PTI NEW DELHI, MAY 24
Just into his seventh year in office, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today ruled out retirement since his tasks remain “unfinished” but offered to make way for a younger leader if the Congress party wanted that. At a 75-minute press conference, his third in the capital since he first became the Prime Minister in 2004, Singh scotched speculation of “mistrust and distrust” between him and party President Sonia Gandhi, saying that there was “not an iota of truth” in that. “No question of gap in thinking between me and the Congress President,” he said, pointing out that a coordination mechanism in already in place, meeting every week to take Sonia Gandhi’s advice. He was asked whether he would make way for Rahul Gandhi to take over during his current tenure which will end in 2014 and whether the thought of retirement came to his mind. In a carefully-crafted response, Singh told over 700 journalists, “I have been given this task (of Prime Ministership). It is still unfinished. Till I finish the tasks, there is no question of retirement.” At the same time, he said he himself felt sometimes that younger people should take over. “As and when, the Congress party makes that judgement, I will be very happy to make place for anybody chosen by the party,” he said. At another point, the 77-yearold leader said Rahul Gandhi was “very qualified” to join his Cabinet and he had talked to him about it several times but the young leader wanted to focus more on building the party. “Whenever he (Rahul) is ready, he would be an appropriate addition to the Cabinet,” the Prime Minister said. The Prime Minister also rejected the suggestion that the National Advisory Council (NAC)
Sai PCB shop at Kholapur for preparing of Printed Circuit Board for IEDs, purchased electronic items for assembling the IEDs from J B electronics shops, alarm clocks from Manoj Shopee at Ichalkarnji, Kolhapur, near to his DKTE college, two transistors from Keycee Electronics at Lamington Road, Chunaman Lane, Mumbai in July 2009. Incidentally, accused Vinay Talekar and Vinayak Patil purchased SIMs on fake and forged documents in the name of Amrin Sauji and Sonia Gaonkar from Ms Abbas Cellular Ponda and from Gonsalves Tours and Travels, Vasco. The duo also visited Margaobased Ms Cell Touch, which deals with sale of second hand mobiles. The NIA says that accused Vinay Talekar purchased second hand mobile of Nokia 1100 make for Rs 500 from Cell Touch with the intention to use those materials to hide their identity during police investigations.
Manmohan speaks his mind…
ON SONIA: He scotched speculation of “mistrust and distrust” between them, saying that there was “not an iota of truth” in that. ON RAHUL: He is “very qualified” to join the Cabinet. I talked to him about it several times but the young leader wants to focus more on building the party. ON RETIREMENT: I have been given this task (of Prime Ministership). It is still unfinished. Till I finish the tasks, there is no question of retirement. revived after lying in limbo for over three years, with Sonia Gandhi again as its chairperson, would hinder the government’s work as a “super cabinet,” asserting that it is no super cabinet but an advisory body that helps in getting important inputs of the civil society. Asked in a lighten vein as to whose advice he would weigh more and act upon it, his wife Gursharan Kaur ’s or Sonia Gandhi’s, Dr Manmohan Singh quipped that he was privileged to have benefit of advice by both, but hastened to add that “both deal different subjects and I welcome advice from both.” During the press conference that was telecast live nationwide and that coincided with the completion of one year of UPAII, Singh answered questions on a range of issues including price rise, naxalism, terrorism and relations with Pakistan.
Fire brigade personnel removing the occupants from the ill-fated car at Pernem.
Tragic Monday claims 7 in mishaps HERALD NEWS BUREAU PANJIM, MAY 24
Seven persons, including four members of a family from Ratnagiri-Maharashtra, died while two persons were injured in four separate road mishaps at Ugvem-Pernem, Bhatwadi-Korgao, Matve-Dabolim and at Bordem-Bicholim on Monday. PERNEM CORRESPONDENT ADDS: Four members of the Shetty family from Ratnagiri were killed, when the car in which they were traveling rammed against a mining truck along the highway at Ugvem. The deceased have been identified as Ratnamala Shetty and her three sons Yogesh, Suresh and Dinesh. According to Pernem police, the accident occurred at about 3.30 pm when a mining truck
(GA-03-T-9305) collided against oncoming Maruti car (MH-08U-3645), which was proceeding from Bangalore towards Ratnagiri. The impact of the accident was such that the front portion of the car was ripped. The car driver, Yogesh, and his brother Suresh died on the spot, while Dinesh died at GMC Hospital at Bambolim. Ratnamala breathed her last at Tuem Primary Health Centre. The police had a tough time in retrieving the bodies out of the mangled remains of the car. Residents from surrounding areas rushed to the site of mishap on hearing the loud sound. The Goa-based truck driver, who was operating the truck for a mine in Maharashtra, aban-
doned the vehicle and fled from the site. In the second accident, one Suhas Surayakant Naik (28) of Parsekarwado-Arambol died in a head-on collision involving a motorcycle and a stone-laden truck at Bhatwadi. According to Pernem police, the accident at about 3.15 pm when Suhas was proceeding on his Hero Honda motorcycle towards Korgao. On reaching near Bhatwadi, the tipper truck (GA03-T-1079), which was proceeding towards Korgao, collided against the motorcycle. Seriously injured Suhas was rushed to Tuem Primary Health Centre, where he breathed his last. Police said the truck driver, who had also abandoned the truck and fled from the site,
later surrendered at Pernem police station. VASCO REPORTER ADDS: A 22-year-old native of BagalkotKarnataka died, while the rider was injured, when a speeding KTC bus rammed the motorcycle near Matve-Dabolim. According to Verna police, Mahesh Subhash Chalwadi, who had come to Goa to attend a wedding ceremony of his cousin, was crushed under the rear wheels of the bus, after he fell down from Hero Honda Splendor motorcycle (GA-06-C-7150). Chalwadi died on the spot, while rider Ravindra Dodamani escaped with minor injuries. Verna police informed that the speeding KTC bus (GA-01X-0348) and motorcycle were proceeding towards Cortalim. (Continued on page 11)
‘Human error possible cause of crash’ Bus owners AGENCIES MANGALORE, MAY 24
Human error might have caused the crash of an Air India Boeing 737-800 plane that killed 158 people on Saturday, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Monday. Weather conditions and other factors at the time the plane reached its destination “looked absolutely normal for a regular touchdown and a safe landing,” Patel told a news channel. “You can’t rule out a human error factor,” Patel said. Only an inquiry could establish what exactly went wrong as the aircraft overshot the hilltop runway and crashed and plunged over a cliff and into a ravine at dawn on Saturday on the outskirts of Mangalore, he said. Of the 166 passengers and crew aboard, only eight people survived the crash. Patel said there was no rain in the area and visibility was good at the time of the plane’s landing. Investigators and aviation officials searched through the
Kenyon International Emergency Services of crisis management professionals arrived in Mangalore on Monday to assist and counsel those affected by the air crash.
wreckage of the Boeing 737-800 strewn across a hillside to try to determine the cause of India’s worst air disaster in more than a decade. They recovered the cockpit voice recorder, which they hope will give them important clues. A four-member US forensic team also arrived in India to help in the investigation, said Harpreet Singh, an Air India spokeswoman.
By Sunday evening, 146 of the 158 bodies had been identified and given to grieving relatives for burial, said Arvind Jadhav, Air India’s Chairman and Managing Director. Doctors were conducting DNA tests on 22 bodies that were so badly burned that relatives could not identify them, said Suresh Babu, an official at Wenlock hospital in Mangalore. They included a 2-year-old boy.
In nearby Uppala village, the relatives of brothers Mohammed Basheer and Aboo Backer Siddeeq were told it could take more than a week for the bodies of the two men to be identified, said their uncle BK Mohammed Haji. “For two days we waited at the airport for the bodies,” said Haji. “All the bodies were badly charred and very difficult to recognise.” The two men were returning home from Dubai for the wedding of their younger sister on Sunday. The wedding was canceled and instead friends and relatives joined the grieving family under a canopy erected for the wedding to pray for the dead men. The black box would be sent to New Delhi for decoding and further investigations, officials said. The flight from Dubai to Mangalore carried some of the millions of Indians who work as cheap labor in the Middle East back to their families for a rare visit during India’s summer holiday season.
Soren gets 7 days to prove majority PTI RANCHI, MAY 24
BJP today withdrew its support to the nearly five-month-old JMM-led Government in Jharkhand reducing it to a minority, following which Chief Minister Shibu Soren was asked by the Governor to prove his majority on the floor of the Assembly by May 31. Soren was summoned by Governor M O H Farooq this evening after BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Raghuvar Das handed over a letter withdrawing his party’s support to the Government, Raj Bhavan said. He has been given a week’s time to prove his strength in the House. With 14 MLAs, Congress saw a possible role in the formation of a stable government. “We are watching the developments. We are putting our minds together to save Jharkhand from collapse,” Congress in-charge for the State K Keshav Rao told reporters in New Delhi. In Ranchi, Congress
s p o ke s m a n Ra d h a k r i s h n a Kishore said, “If secular parties, including the JMM, send any proposal for formation of a secular dispensation, the party will look into it and place it before the Central leadership.” In the 82-member Assembly, the Soren Government now has support of 25 MLAs, including 18 of its own, five of the AJSU and two others. The BJP has 18 members. The JD(U), which has 2 MLAs, also decided to follow suit and withdraw support to the Government. JMM legislative party leader and Soren’s son Hemant said the Governor had acceded to the chief minister’s request to give him seven-days time to prove his majority in the Assembly. Soren took oath as chief minister on December 30 last year with the support of the BJP, AJSU and others. JD(U) spokesman Pramod Mishra said, “The JD(U) is a part of the NDA and our central leadership has directed us to go by the BJP’s decision.”
Frustrated over JMM backtracking on its power-sharing agreement, the BJP had yesterday decided to withdraw support after a defiant Soren asserted that he would continue as the chief minister and was in touch with Congress. The BJP parliamentary board had on April 28 decided to withdraw support to the JMM Government after Soren voted against the party-sponsored cut motion against the UPA Government in Lok Sabha a day ear-
lier. However, the decision was put on hold when Soren’s son Hemant wrote a letter to BJP chief Nitin Gadkari pledging support to a BJP-led Government. But, the JMM did a U-turn and demanded rotational power sharing with each party leading the Government for 28 months. This was agreed to by BJP on the understanding that Soren will quit as Chief Minister by May 25 after which former Chief Minister Arjun Munda will head a new coalition Government. As the deadline for his stepping down approached, Soren made it clear on Friday that he was not going to quit. The Chief Minister had on Saturday gone a step further saying he was weighing all options, including cutting a deal with the Congress to continue in power. Meanwhile, CPI-ML(L), which has one MLA, said it would vote against the government during the floor test.
call off strike HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, MAY 24
Private bus operators today called off their strike after Director of Transport Swapnil Naik assured them to consider and study their demands in next 15 days. The bus operators were upin-arms against the State Government as the earlier deadline of 15 days given by them expired today. They had threatened of having a day long strike on May 25 pressuring the Government to heed to their demands. “We met the director today and he has asked for 15 more days to sort out the issues”, All Goa Private Bus Owners Association’s General Secretary Sudip Tamankar said. Naik has recently taken over the charge as director after Venancio Furtado was relieved from his duties and transferred as managing director of Kadamba Transport Corporation. Tamankar said that the Transport Department has informed them that the ticket fare hike issue is already in process and will be decided soon. “We withdrew our strike as we did not want the passengers to be put to inconvenience”, Tamankar said. He stated that the bus owners will meet Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and Transport Minister Ramakrishna Dhavlikar in (Continued on page 11)
Brand new aircraft, experienced pilot, excellent runway, good weather, exceptional communication... then how did it crash?