All the famous names involved in big scams.1. Ramalinga RajuThe biggest corporate scam in Indias come from one of the most respected businessmen.Satyam founder Byrraju Ramalinga Raju resigned as its chairman after admitting to cooking up the account books.His efforts to fill the “fictitious assets with real ones” through Maytas acquisition failed, after which he decided to confess the crime.With a fraud involving about Rs 8,000 crore (Rs 80 billion), Satyam is heading for more trouble in the days ahead.On Wednesday, India’s fourth largest IT company lost a staggering Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) in market capitalisation as investors reacted sharply and dumped shares, pushing down the scrip by 78 per cent to Rs 39.95 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.The NYSE-listed firm could also face regulator action in the US.“I am now prepared to subject myself to the laws of the land and face consequences thereof,” Raju said in a letter to SEBI and the Board of Directors, while giving details of how the profits were inflated over the years and his failed attempts to “fill the fictitious assets with real ones.”Raju said the company’s balance sheet as of September 30 carries “inflated (non-existent) cash and bank balances of Rs 5,040 crore (Rs 50.40 billion) as against Rs 5,361 crore (Rs 53.61 billion) reflected in the books.”2. Harshad MehtaHe was known as the ‘Big Bull’. However, his bull run did not last too long.He triggered a rise in the Bombay Stock Exchange in the year 1992 by trading in shares at a premium across many segments.Taking advantages of the loopholes in the banking system, Harshad and his associates triggered a securities scam diverting funds to the tune of Rs 4000 crore (Rs 40 billion) from the banks to stockbrokers between April 1991 to May 1992.Harshad Mehta worked with the New India Assurance Company before he moved ahead to try his luck in the stock markets. Mehta soon mastered the tricks of the trade and set out on dangerous game plan.Mehta has siphoned off huge sums of money from several banks and millions of investors were conned in the process. His scam was exposed, the markets crashed and he was arrested and banned for life from trading in the stock markets.He was later charged with 72 criminal offences.A Special Court also sentenced Sudhir Mehta, Harshad Mehta’s brother, and six others, including four bank officials, to rigorous imprisonment (RI) ranging from 1 year to 10 years on the charge of duping State Bank of India to the tune of Rs 600 crore (Rs 6 billion) in connection with the securities scam that rocked the financial markets in 1992. He died in 2002 with many litigations still pending against him.3. Ketan ParekhKetan Parekh followed Harshad Mehta’s footsteps to swindle crores of rupees from banks. A chartered accountant he used to run a family business, NH Securities.

Ketan however had bigger plans in mind. He targetted smaller exchanges like the Allahabad Stock Exchange and the Calcutta Stock Exchange, and bought shares in fictitious names.His dealings revolved around shares of ten companies like Himachal Futuristic, Global Tele-Systems, SSI Ltd, DSQ Software, Zee Telefilms, Silverline, Pentamedia Graphics and Satyam Computer (K-10 scrips).Ketan borrowed Rs 250 crore from Global Trust Bank to fuel his ambitions. Ketan alongwith his associates also managed to get Rs 1,000 crore from the Madhavpura Mercantile Co-operative Bank.According to RBI regulations, a broker is allowed a loan of only Rs 15 crore (Rs 150 million). There was evidence of price rigging in the scrips of Global Trust Bank, Zee Telefilms, HFCL, Lupin Laboratories, Aftek Infosys and Padmini Polymer.4. C R BhansaliThe Bhansali scam resulted in a loss of over Rs 1,200 crore (Rs 12 billion).He first launched the finance company CRB Capital Markets, followed by CRB Mutual Fund and CRB Share Custodial Services. He ruled like a financial wizard 1992 to 1996 collecting money from the public through fixed deposits, bonds and debentures. The money was transferred to companies that never existed.CRB Capital Markets raised a whopping Rs 176 crore in three years. In 1994 CRB Mutual Funds raised Rs 230 crore and Rs 180 crore came via fixed deposits. Bhansali also succeeded to to raise about Rs 900 crore from the markets.However, his good days did not last long, after 1995 he received several jolts. Bhansali tried borrowing more money from the market. This led to a financial crisis.It became difficult for Bhansali to sustain himself. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) refused banking status to CRB and he was in the dock. SBI was one of the banks to be hit by his huge defaults.5. Cobbler scam by Sohin DayaSohin Daya, son of a former Sheriff of Mumbai, was the main accused in the multi-crore shoes scam. Daya of Dawood Shoes, Rafique Tejani of Metro Shoes, and Kishore Signapurkar of Milano Shoes were arrested for creating several leather co-operative societies which did not exist.They availed loans of crores of rupees on behalf of these fictitious societies. The scam was exposed in 1995. The accused created a fictitious cooperative society of cobblers to take advantage of government loans through various schemes.Officials of the Maharashtra State Finance Corporation, Citibank, Bank of Oman, Dena Bank, Development Credit Bank, Saraswat Co-operative Bank, and Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait were also charge sheeted.6. Dinesh DalmiaDinesh Dalmia was the managing director of DSQ Software Limited when the Central Bureau of Investigation arrested him for his involvement in a stocks scam of Rs 595 crore (Rs 5.95 billion).Dalmia’s group included DSQ Holdings Ltd, Hulda Properties and Trades Ltd, and Powerflow Holding and Trading Pvt Ltd.Dalmia resorted to illegal ways to make money through the partly paid shares of DSQ Software Ltd, in the name of New Vision Investment Ltd, UK, and unallotted shares in the name of Dinesh Dalmia Technology Trust.

Investigation showed that 1.30 crore (13 million) shares of DSQ Software Ltd had not been listed on any stock exchange.7. Abdul Karim TelgiHe paid for his own education at Sarvodaya Vidyalaya by selling fruits and vegetables on trains.He is today famous (or infamous) for being he man behind one of .The Telgi case is another big scam that rocked India. The fake stamp racket involving Abdul Karim Telgi was exposed in 2000. The loss is estimated to be Rs 171.33 crore (Rs 1.71 billion), it was initially pegged to be Rs 30,000 crore (Rs 300 bilion), which was later clarified by the CBI as an exaggerated figure.In 1994, Abdul Karim Telgi acquired a stamp paper license from the Indian government and began printing fake stamp papers.Telgi bribed to get into the government security press in Nashik and bought special machines to print fake stamp papers.Telgi’s networked spread across 13 states involving 176 offices, 1,000 employees and 123 bank accounts in 18 cities8. Virendra RastogiVirendra Rastogi chief executive of RBG Resources was charged with for deceiving banks worldwide of an estimated $1 billion.He was also involved in the duty-drawback scam to the tune of Rs 43 crore (Rs 430 milion) in India.The CBI said that five companies, whose directors were the four Rastogi brothers — Subash, Virender, Ravinde and Narinder — exported bicycle parts during 1995-96 to Russiaand Hong Kongby heavily over invoicing the value of goods for claiming excess duty draw back from customs.9. The UTI ScamFormer UTI chairman P S Subramanyam and two executive directors — M M Kapur and S K Basu — and a stockbroker Rakesh G Mehta, were arrested in connection with the ‘UTI scam’.UTI had purchased 40,000 shares of Cyberspace between September 25, 2000, and September 25, 2000 for about Rs 3.33 crore (Rs 33.3 million) from Rakesh Mehta when there were no buyers for the scrip. The market price was around Rs 830.The CBI said it was the conspiracy of these four people which resulted in the loss of Rs 32 crore (Rs 320 million). Subramanyam, Kapur and Basu had changed their stance on an investment advice of the equities research cell of UTI.The promoter of Cyberspace Infosys, Arvind Johari was arrested in connection with the case. The officals were paid Rs 50 lakh (Rs 5 million) by Cyberspace to promote its shares.He also received Rs 1.18 crore (Rs 11.8 million) from the company through a circuitous route for possible rigging the Cyberspace counter.10. Uday GoyalUday Goyal, managing director of Arrow Global Agrotech Ltd, was yet another fraudster who cheated investors promising high returns through plantations.Goyal conned investors to the tune of over Rs 210 crore (Rs 2.10 billion). He was finally arrested.

The plantation scam was exposed when two investors filed a complaint when they failed to get the promised returns.Over 43,300 persons had fallen into Goyal’s trap. Several criminal complaints were filed with the Economic Offences Wing.The company’s directors and their relatives had misused the investors’ money to buy properties. The High Court asked the company to sell its properties and repay its investors.11. Sanjay AgarwalHome Trade had created waves with celebrity endorsements.But Sanjay Agarwal’s finance portal was just a veil to cover up his shady deals. He swindled a whopping Rs 600 crore (Rs 6 billion) from more than 25 cooperative banks.The government securities (gilt) scam of 2001 was exposed when the Reserve Bank of Indiachecked the acounts of some cooperative banks following unusual activities in the gilt market.Co-operative banks and brokers acted in collusion in abid to make easy money at the cost of the hard earned savings of millions of Indians. In this case, even the Public Provident Fund (PPF) was affected.A sum of about Rs 92 crore (Rs 920 million) was missing from the Seamen’s Provident Fund. Sanjay Agarwal, Ketan Sheth (a broker), Nandkishore Trivedi and Baluchan Rai (a Hong Kong-based Non-Resident Indian) were behind the Home Trade scam.

2008 Mumbai attacksFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"26/11" redirects here. For the date, see 26 November.

2008 Mumbai Terrorist Attacks

Map of the 2008 Mumbai attacks

Date 26 November 2008 – 29 November 2008

(IST, UTC +5:30)

Attack type Bombings, shootings, hostage crisis [1]

Death(s) Approximately 164[2]

Injured More than 308[2]

Belligerent(s) Indian Mujahideen

Suspected belligerent(s) Lashkar-e-Taiba [3] [4]

[show]v · d · e

Terrorist attacks in India

(since 2001)

The 2008 Mumbai attacks (often referred to as November 26 or 26/11) were more than 10 coordinated

shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, India's largest city, by terrorists[5][6] who invaded

from Pakistani seawaters.[7] The attacks, which drew widespread global condemnation, began on 26

November 2008 and lasted until 29 November, killing 164 people and wounding at least 308.[2][8]

Eight of the attacks occurred in South Mumbai: at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the Oberoi Trident,

[9] the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower,[9] Leopold Cafe , Cama Hospital (a women and children's hospital),

[9] Nariman House,[10] the Metro Cinema,[11] and a lane behind the Times of India building and St. Xavier's

College.[9] There was also an explosion at Mazagaon, in Mumbai's port area, and in a taxi at Vile Parle.

[12] By the early morning of 28 November, all sites except for the Taj hotel had been secured by Mumbai

Police and security forces. An action by India's National Security Guards (NSG) on 29 November (the

action is officially named Operation Black Tornado) resulted in the death of the last remaining attackers at

the Taj hotel, ending all fighting in the attacks.[13]

Ajmal Kasab,[14] the only attacker who was captured alive, disclosed that the attackers were members

of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based militant organisation, considered a terrorist organisation by India,

Pakistan, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the United Nations,[15] among others.[16] The Indian

government said that the attackers came from Pakistan, and their controllers were in Pakistan.[17] On 7

January 2009,[18] Pakistan's Information Minister Sherry Rehman officially accepted Ajmal Kasab's

nationality as Pakistani.[19] On 12 February 2009, Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik asserted that

parts of the attack had been planned in Pakistan.[20] A trial court on 6 May 2010 sentenced Ajmal Kasab to

death on five counts.

Contents

 [hide]

1 Background

2 Attacks

o 2.1 Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus

o 2.2 Leopold Cafe

o 2.3 Bomb blasts in taxis

o 2.4 Taj Mahal Hotel and Oberoi Trident

o 2.5 Nariman House

o 2.6 End of the attacks

3 Attribution

o 3.1 Cooperation with Pakistan

o 3.2 Investigation

o 3.3 Method

o 3.4 Arrests

o 3.5 Downgraded security

4 Casualties and compensation

5 Aftermath

o 5.1 Movement of troops

o 5.2 Reactions

o 5.3 Kasab's trial

o 5.4 Trials in Pakistan

6 Locations

7 Memorials

8 See also

9 References

10 External links

[edit]Background

[show]v · d · e

Insurgent attacks in Mumbai

One of the bomb-damaged coaches at the Mahim station in Mumbai during the11 July 2006 train bombings

There have been many bombings in Mumbai since the 13 coordinated bomb explosions killed 257 people

and injured 700 on 12 March 1993.[21] The 1993 attacks are believed to be in retaliation for the Babri

Mosque demolition.[22]

On 6 December 2002, a blast in a BEST bus near Ghatkopar station killed two people and injured 28.

[23] The bombing occurred on the tenth anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya.[24] A

bicycle bomb exploded near the Vile Parle station in Mumbai, killing one person and injuring 25 on 27

January 2003, a day before the visit of the Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee to the city.[25] On 13

March 2003, a day after the tenth anniversary of the 1993 Bombay bombings, a bomb exploded in a train

compartment near the Mulund station, killing 10 people and injuring 70.[26] On 28 July 2003, a blast in a

BEST bus in Ghatkopar killed 4 people and injured 32.[27] On 25 August 2003, two bombs exploded

in South Mumbai, one near the Gateway of India and the other at Zaveri Bazaar in Kalbadevi. At least 44

people were killed and 150 injured.[28] On 11 July 2006, seven bombs exploded within 11 minutes on

the Suburban Railway in Mumbai.[29] 209 people were killed, including 22 foreigners[30] and over 700 injured.

[31] According to the Mumbai Police, the bombings were carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba and Students

Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).[32][33]

[edit]Attacks

Main article: Timeline of the 2008 Mumbai attacks

The first events were detailed around 20:00 Indian Standard Time (IST) on 26 November, when 10 men in

inflatable speedboats came ashore at two locations in Colaba. They reportedly told local Marathi-speaking

fishermen who asked them who they were to "mind their own business" before they split up and headed

two different ways. The fishermen's subsequent report to police received little response.[34]

[edit]Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus

Bullet marks on the wall of the suburban terminus at CST

The Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) was attacked by two gunmen, one of whom, Ajmal Kasab, was

later caught alive by the police and identified by eyewitnesses. The attacks began around 21:30 when the

two men entered the passenger hall and opened fire,[35] using AK-47 rifles .[36] The attackers killed 58 people

and injured 104 others,[36] their assault ending at about 22:45.[35] Security forces and emergency services

arrived shortly afterwards. The two gunmen fled the scene and fired at pedestrians and police officers in

the streets, killing eight police officers. The attackers passed a police station. Many of the outgunned police

officers were afraid to confront the attackers, and instead switched off the lights and secured the gates. The

attackers then headed towards Cama Hospital with an intention to kill patients,[citation needed] but the hospital

staff locked all of the patient wards. A team of the Mumbai Anti-Terrorist Squad led by police chiefHemant

Karkare searched the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and then left in pursuit of Kasab and Khan. Kasab and

Khan opened fire on the vehicle in a lane next to the hospital and the police returned fire. Karkare,

Salaskar, Kamte and one of their officers were killed, though the only survivor, Constable Arun Jadhav,

was wounded.[37] Kasab and Khan seized the police vehicle but later abandoned it and seized a passenger

car instead. They then ran into a police roadblock, which had been set up after Jadhav radioed for help.

[38] A gun battle then ensued in which Khan was killed and Kasab was wounded. After a physical struggle,

Kasab was arrested.[39] A police officer, Tukaram Ombale was also killed.

[edit]Leopold Cafe

The Leopold Cafe, a popular restaurant and bar on Colaba Causeway in South Mumbai, was one of the

first sites to be attacked.[40] Two attackers opened fire on the cafe on the evening of 26 November, killing at

least 10 people (including some foreigners), and injuring many more.[41] The attackers fired into the street

as they fled the scene.[citation needed]

Bullet marks left at Leopold Cafe

[edit]Bomb blasts in taxis

There were two explosions in taxis caused by timer bombs. The first one occurred at 22:40 at Vile Parle,

killing the driver and a passenger. The second explosion took place at Wadi Bunder between 22:20 and

22:25. Three people including the driver of the taxi were killed, and about 15 other people were injured.[12][42]

[edit]Taj Mahal Hotel and Oberoi Trident

Main articles: Taj Mahal Palace & Tower and Oberoi Trident

The damaged Oberoi Trident hotel

Two hotels, the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower and the Oberoi Trident, were amongst the four locations

targeted. Six explosions were reported at the Taj hotel and one at the Oberoi Trident.[43][44] At the Taj Mahal,

firefighters rescued 200 hostages from windows using ladders during the first night.

CNN initially reported on the morning of 27 November 2008 that the hostage situation at the Taj had been

resolved and quoted the police chief of Maharashtra stating that all hostages were freed;[45] however, it was

learned later that day that there were still two attackers holding hostages, including foreigners, in the Taj

Mahal hotel.[46]

The Wasabi restaurant on the first floor of the Taj Hotel was completely gutted.

During the attacks, both hotels were surrounded by Rapid Action Force personnel and Marine

Commandos(MARCOS) and National Security Guards (NSG) commandos.[47][48] When reports emerged

that attackers were receiving television broadcasts, feeds to the hotels were blocked.[49] Security forces

stormed both hotels, and all nine attackers were killed by the morning of 29 November.[50][51] Major Sandeep

Unnikrishnan of the NSG was killed during the rescue of Commando Sunil Yadav, who was hit in the leg by

a bullet during the rescue operations at Taj.[52][53] 32 hostages were killed at the Oberoi Trident.[54]

A number of European Parliament Committee on International Trade delegates were staying in the Taj

Mahal hotel when it was attacked,[55]but none of them were injured.[56] British Conservative Member of the

European Parliament (MEP) Sajjad Karim (who was in the lobby when attackers initially opened fire there)

and German Social Democrat MEP Erika Mann were hiding in different parts of the building.[57] Also

reported present was Spanish MEP Ignasi Guardans, who was barricaded in a hotel room.[58] Another

British Conservative MEP, Syed Kamall, reported that he along with several other MEPs left the hotel and

went to a nearby restaurant shortly before the attack.[57] Kamall also reported that Polish MEP Jan

Masiel was thought to have been sleeping in his hotel room when the attacks started, but eventually left the

hotel safely.[59] Kamall and Guardans reported that a Hungarian MEP's assistant was shot.[57][60] Also caught

up in the shooting were the President of Madrid, Esperanza Aguirre, while checking in at the Oberoi

Trident,[60] and Indian MP N. N. Krishnadas of Kerala and Sir Gulam Noon while having dinner at a

restaurant in the Taj hotel.[61][62]

[edit]Nariman House

Main article: Nariman House

Front view of the Nariman House a week after the attacks

Nariman House, a Chabad Lubavitch Jewish center in Colaba known as the Mumbai Chabad House, was

taken over by two attackers and several residents were held hostage.[63] Police evacuated adjacent

buildings and exchanged fire with the attackers, wounding one. Local residents were told to stay inside.

The attackers threw a grenade into a nearby lane, causing no casualties. NSG commandos arrived

from Delhi, and a Naval helicopter took an aerial survey. During the first day, 9 hostages were rescued

from the first floor. The following day, the house was stormed by NSG commandos fast-roping from

helicopters onto the roof, covered by snipers positioned in nearby buildings. After a long battle, one NSG

commando and both perpetrators were killed.[64] Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivka Holtzberg, who

was six months pregnant, were murdered with four other hostages inside the house by the attackers.[65]

According to radio transmissions picked up by Indian intelligence, the attackers "would be told by their

handlers in Pakistan that the lives of Jews were worth 50 times those of non-Jews." Injuries reported on

some of the bodies indicate they may have been tortured.[66]

[edit]End of the attacks

By the morning of 27 November, the army had secured the Jewish outreach center at Nariman House as

well as the Oberoi Trident hotel. They also incorrectly believed that the Taj Mahal Palace and Towers had

been cleared of attackers, and soldiers were leading hostages and holed-up guests to safety, and removing

bodies of those killed in the attacks.[67][68][69] However, later news reports indicated that there were still two or

three attackers in the Taj, with explosions heard and gunfire exchanged.[69] Fires were also reported at the

ground floor of the Taj with plumes of smoke arising from the first floor.[69] The final operation at the Taj

Mahal Palace hotel was completed by the NSG commandos at 08:00 on 29 November, killing three

attackers and resulting in the conclusion of the attacks.[70] The security forces rescued 250 people from the

Oberoi, 300 from the Taj and 60 people (members of 12 different families) from Nariman House.[71] In

addition, police seized a boat filled with arms and explosives anchored at Mazgaon dock off Mumbai

harbour.[72]

[edit]Attribution

Main article: Attribution of the 2008 Mumbai attacks

See also: Erroneous reporting on the 2008 Mumbai attacks

Ajmal Kasab, the only perpetrator caught alive, at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus

The Mumbai attacks were planned and directed by Lashkar-e-Taiba militants inside Pakistan, and carried

out by ten young armed men trained and sent to Mumbai and directed from inside Pakistan via mobile

phones and VoIP.[16][73][74]

In July 2009 Pakistani authorities confirmed that LeT plotted and financed the attacks from LeT camps in

Karachi and Thatta.[75] In November 2009, Pakistani authorities charged seven men they had arrested

earlier, of planning and executing the assault.[76]

Mumbai police originally identified 37 suspects –-including two army officers-– for their alleged involvement

in the plot. All but two of the suspects, many of whom are identified only through aliases, are Pakistani.

[77] Two more suspects arrested in the United States in October 2009 for other attacks were also found to

have been involved in planning the Mumbai attacks.[78][79] One of these men, Pakistani American David

Headley, was found to have made several trips to India before the attacks and gathered video and GPS

information on behalf of the plotters.

[edit]Cooperation with Pakistan

Pakistan initially denied that Pakistanis were responsible for the attacks, blaming plotters in Bangladesh

and Indian criminals,[80] a claim refuted by India,[81] and saying they needed information from India on other

bombings first.[82]

Pakistani authorities finally agreed that Ajmal Kasab was a Pakistani on 7 January 2009,[18][83][84] and

registered a case against three other Pakistani nationals.[85]

The Indian government supplied evidence to Pakistan and other governments, in the form of interrogations,

weapons, and call records of conversations during the attacks.[3][86] In addition, Indian government officials

said that the attacks were so sophisticated that they must have had official backing from Pakistani

"agencies", an accusation denied by Pakistan.[74][83]

Under U.S. and UN pressure, Pakistan arrested a few members of Jamaat ud-Dawa and briefly put its

founder under house arrest, but he was found to be free a few days later.[87] A year after the attacks,

Mumbai police continued to complain that Pakistani authorities are not cooperating by providing information

for their investigation.[88] Meanwhile, journalists in Pakistan said security agencies were preventing them

from interviewing people from Kasab's village.[89][90]Home Minister P. Chidambaram said the Pakistani

authorities had not shared any information about American suspects Headley and Rana, but that the FBI

had been more forthcoming.[91]

An Indian report, summarising intelligence gained from India's interrogation of David Headley,[92] was

released in October 2010. It alleged that Pakistan's intelligence agency (ISI) had provided support for the

attacks by providing funding for reconnaissance missions in Mumbai.[93] The report included Headley's

claim that Lashkar-e-Taiba's chief military commander, Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi, had close ties to the ISI

Director General.[who?][92] He alleged that "every big action of LeT is done in close coordination with [the]

ISI."[93]

[edit]Investigation

Police looking for attackers outside Colaba

According to investigations, the attackers traveled by sea from Karachi, Pakistan, across the Arabian Sea,

hijacked the Indian fishing trawler 'Kuber', killing the crew of four, and then forced the captain to sail to

Mumbai. After killing the captain, the attackers entered Mumbai on arubber dinghy. The captain of 'Kuber',

Amar Singh Solanki, had earlier been imprisoned for six months in a Pakistani jail for illegally fishing in

Pakistani waters.[94] The attackers stayed and were trained by the Lashkar-e-Taiba in a safehouse

at Azizabad near Karachi before boarding a small boat for Mumbai.[95]

David Headley was a member of Lashkar-e-Taiba, and between 2002 and 2009 Headley traveled

extensively as part of his work for LeT. Headley received training in small arms and countersurveillance

from LeT, built a network of connections for the group, and was chief scout in scoping out targets for

Mumbai attack[96][97] having allegedly been given $25,000 in cash in 2006 by an ISI officer known as Major

Iqbal, The officer also helped him arrange a communications system for the attack, and oversaw a model of

the Taj Mahal Hotel so that gunmen could know their way inside the target, according to Headley's

testimony to Indian authorities. Headley also helped ISI recruit Indian agents to monitor Indian troop levels

and movements, according to a U.S. official. At the same time, Headley was also an informant for the

U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, and Headley's wives warned American officials of Headley's involvement

with LeT and his plotting of terrorist operations, warning specifically that the Taj Mahal Hotel may be their

target.[96]

U.S. officials believed that the Inter-Services Intelligence (I.S.I.) officers provided support to Lashkar-e-

Taiba militants who carried out the attacks.[98]

[edit]Method

The attackers had planned the attack several months ahead of time and knew some areas well enough for

the attackers to vanish, and reappear after security forces had left. Several sources have quoted Kasab

telling the police that the group received help from Mumbai residents.[99][100] The attackers used at least

three SIM cards purchased on the Indian side of the border with Bangladesh, pointing to some local

collusion.[101] There were also reports of one SIM card purchased in New Jersey, USA.[102] Police had also

mentioned that Faheem Ansari, an Indian Lashkar operative who had been arrested in February 2008, had

scouted the Mumbai targets for the November attacks.[103] Later, the police arrested two Indian suspects,

Mikhtar Ahmad, who is from Srinagar in Kashmir, and Tausif Rehman, a resident of Kolkata. They supplied

the SIM cards, one in Calcutta, and the other in New Delhi.[104]

Type 86 Grenades made by China's state-owned Norinco were used in the attacks.[105]

Blood tests on the attackers indicate that they had taken cocaine and LSD during the attacks, to sustain

their energy and stay awake for 50 hours. Police say that they found syringes on the scenes of the attacks.

There were also indications that they had been taking steroids.[106] The gunman who survived said that the

attackers had used Google Earth to familiarise themselves with the locations of buildings used in the

attacks.[107]

There were ten gunmen, nine of whom were subsequently shot dead and one captured by security forces.

[108][109] Witnesses reported that they looked to be in their early twenties, wore black t-shirts and jeans, and

that they smiled and looked happy as they shot their victims.[110]

It was initially reported that some of the attackers were British citizens,[111][112] but the Indian government

later stated that there was no evidence to confirm this.[113] Similarly, early reports of twelve gunmen[114] were

also later shown to be incorrect.[3]

On 9 December, the ten attackers were identified by Mumbai police, along with their home towns in

Pakistan: Ajmal Amir from Faridkot, Abu Ismail Dera Ismail Khan from Dera Ismail Khan, Hafiz Arshad and

Babr Imran from Multan, Javed from Okara, Shoaib from Narowal, Nazih and Nasr from Faisalabad, Abdul

Rahman from Arifwalla, and Fahad Ullah from Dipalpur Taluka. Dera Ismail Khan is in the North-West

Frontier Province; the rest of the towns are in Pakistani Punjab.[115]

On 6 April 2010, the Home minister of Maharashtra State, which includes Mumbai, informed the assembly

that the bodies of the nine killed Pakistani gunmen from the 2008 attack on Mumbai were buried in a secret

location in January 2010. The bodies had been in the mortuary of a Mumbai hospital after Muslim clerics in

the city refused to let them be buried on their grounds.[116]

[edit]Arrests

Main article: Ajmal Kasab

Ajmal Kasab was the only attacker captured alive by police and is currently under arrest.[117] Much of the

information about the attackers' preparation, travel, and movements comes from his confessions to the

Mumbai police.[118]

On 12 February 2009 Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that Pakistani national Javed Iqbal,

who acquired VoIP phones in Spain for the Mumbai attackers, and Hamad Ameen Sadiq, who had

facilitated money transfer for the attack, had been arrested.[85] Two other men known as Khan and Riaz, but

whose full names were not given, were also arrested.[119] Two Pakistanis were arrested in Brescia, Italy, on

21 November 2009, after being accused of providing logistical support to the attacks.[120]

In October 2009, two Chicago men were arrested and charged by the FBI for involvement in terrorism

abroad, David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana. Headley, a Pakistani-American, was

charged in November 2009 with scouting locations for the 2008 Mumbai attacks.[121][122] Headley is reported

to have posed as an American Jew and is believed to have links with designated terrorist outfits based in

Bangladesh.[123] On 18 March 2010, Headley pled guilty to a dozen charges against him thereby avoiding

going to trial.

In December 2009, the FBI charged Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed, a retired major in the Pakistani army, for

planning the terror attacks in association with Headley.[124]

On 15 January 2010, in a successful snatch operation R&AW agents nabbed Sheikh Abdul Khwaja, one of

the handlers of the 26/11 attacks, chief of HuJI India operations and a most wanted terror suspect in India,

from Colombo, Sri Lanka, and brought him over to Hyderabad, India for formal arrest.[125]

[edit]Downgraded security

Six days before the attack, barricades were removed along with metal detectors and frisking was stopped.

[126]

[edit]Casualties and compensation

Main article: Casualties of the 2008 Mumbai attacks

At least 166 victims (civilians and security personnel) and nine attackers were killed in the attacks. Among

the dead were 28 foreign nationals from 10 countries.[2][45][127][128][129] One attacker was captured.[130] The

bodies of many of the dead hostages showed signs of torture or disfigurement.[131] A number of those killed

were notable figures in business, media, and security services.[132][133][134]

The government of Maharashtra announced about  500,000 (US$10,850) as compensation to the kin of

each of those killed in the terror attacks and about  50,000 (US$1,085) to the seriously injured.[135] In

August 2009, Indian Hotels Company and the Oberoi Group received about $28 million as part-payment of

the insurance claims, on account of the attacks on Taj Mahal and Trident, from General Insurance

Corporation of India.[136]

[edit]Aftermath

Main article: Aftermath of the 2008 Mumbai attacks

The attacks are commonly referred to in India as "26/11", after the date in 2008 that they began.

A commission of inquiry appointed by the Maharashtra state government produced a report that was tabled

before the assembly over one year after the events. The report said the "war-like" attack was beyond the

capacity of any police force, but it also found fault with the city Police Commissioner's lack of leadership

during the crisis.[137]

The Maharashtra state government has planned to buy 36 speed boats to patrol the coastal areas and

several helicopters for the same purpose. It will also create an anti-terror force called "Force One" and

upgrade all the weapons that Mumbai police currently have.[138] Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on an

all-party conference declared that legal framework will be strengthened in the battle against terrorism and a

federal anti-terrorist intelligence and investigation agency, like the FBI, will be set up soon to coordinate

action against terrorism.[139]The government strengthened anti-terror laws with UAPA 2008, and the

federal National Investigating Agency was formed.

The attacks have damaged India's already-strained relationship with Pakistan. External Affairs

Minister Pranab Mukherjee declared that India may indulge in military strikes against terror camps in

Pakistan to protect its territorial integrity. There were also after-effects on the United States's relationships

with both countries,[140] the US-led NATO war in Afghanistan,[141]and on the Global War on Terror.

[142] According to Interpol secretary general Ronald Noble, Indian intelligence agencies did not share any

information with them.[143] However, FBI chiefRobert Mueller praised the "unprecedented cooperation"

between American and Indian intelligence agencies over Mumbai terror attack probe.[144]

[edit]Movement of troops

Pakistan moved troops towards the border with India border voicing concerns about the Indian

government's possible plans to launch attacks on Pakistani soil if it did not cooperate. After days of talks,

the Pakistan government, however, decided to start moving troops away from the border.[145]

[edit]Reactions

Main article: Reactions to the 2008 Mumbai attacks

Candlelight vigils at the Gateway of Indiain Mumbai

Indians criticised their political leaders after the attacks, saying that their ineptness was partly

responsible. The Times of India commented on its front page that "Our politicians fiddle as innocents

die."[146] Political reactions in Mumbai and India included a range of resignations and political changes,

including the resignations of Minister for Home Affairs, Shivraj Patil,[147] Chief Minister of

Maharashtra, Vilasrao Deshmukh,[148] and Deputy Chief Minister of Maharastra R. R. Patil.[149] Prominent

Muslim personalities such as Bollywood actor Aamir Khanappealed to the community members in the

country to observe Eid al-Adha as a day of mourning on 9 December 2008.[150] The business establishment

also reacted, with changes to transport, and requests for an increase in self-defense capabilities.[151] The

attacks also triggered a chain of citizens' movements across India such as the India Today Group's "War

Against Terror" campaign. There were vigils held across all of India with candles and placards

commemorating the victims of the attacks.[152] The NSG commandos based in Delhi also met criticism for

taking 10 hours to reach the 3 sites under attack.[153][154]

International reaction for the attacks was widespread, with many countries and international organizations

condemning the attacks and expressing their condolences to the civilian victims. Many important

personalities around the world also condemned the attacks.[155] Outgoing US President George W.

Bush said "We pledge the full support of the United States as India investigates these attacks, brings the

guilty to justice and sustains its democratic way of life."[156] Likewise, a spokesman for then President-

elect Barack Obama said that Obama "strongly condemns today’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai, and his

thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and the people of India."[157]

Media coverage highlighted the use of new media and Internet social networking tools, including Twitter

and Flickr, in spreading information about the attacks. In addition, many Indian bloggers

and Wikipedia offered live textual coverage of the attacks.[158] A map of the attacks was set up by a web

journalist using Google Maps.[159][160] The New York Times, in July 2009, described the event as "what may

be the most well-documented terrorist attack anywhere."[161]

In November 2010, families of American victims of the attacks filed a lawsuit in Brooklyn, New York,

naming Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pashathe, chief of the I.S.I., as being complicit in the Mumbai attacks.[98]

[edit]Kasab's trial

Kasab's trial was delayed due to legal issues, as many Indian lawyers were unwilling to represent him. A

Mumbai Bar Association passed a resolution proclaiming that none of its members would represent Kasab.

However, the Chief Justice of India stated that Kasab needed a lawyer for a fair trial. A lawyer for Kasab

was eventually found, but was replaced due to a conflict of interest. On 25 February 2009, Indian

investigators filed an 11,000-page chargesheet, formally charging Kasab with murder, conspiracy, and

waging war against India among other charges.

Kasab's trial began on 6 May 2009. He initially pleaded not guilty, but later admitted his guilt on 20 July

2009. He initially apologized for the attacks and claimed that he deserved the death penalty for his crimes,

but later retracted these claims, saying that he had been tortured by police to force his confession, and that

he had been arrested while roaming the beach. The court had accepted his plea, but due to the lack of

completeness within his admittance, the judge had deemed that many of the 86 charges were not

addressed and therefore the trial continued.

Kasab was convicted of all 86 charges on 3 May 2010. He was found guilty of murder for directly killing

seven people, conspiracy to commit murder for the deaths of the 166 people killed in the three-day terror

siege, waging war against India, causing terror, and of conspiracy to murder two high-ranking police

officers. On 6 May 2010, he was sentenced to death by hanging.[162] [163] [164] [165] However, he appealed his

sentence.[citation needed]

[edit]Trials in Pakistan

Indian and Pakistani police have exchanged DNA evidence, photographs and items found with the

attackers to piece together a detailed portrait of the Mumbai plot. Police in Pakistan have arrested seven

people, including Hammad Amin Sadiq, a homeopathic pharmacist, who arranged bank accounts and

secured supplies. Sadiq and six others begin their formal trial on 3 October 2009 in Pakistan, though Indian

authorities say the prosecution stops well short of top Lashkar leaders.[166] In November 2009, Indian Prime

Minister Manmohan Singh said that Pakistan has not done enough to bring the perpetrators of the attacks

to justice.[167]

On the eve of the first anniversary of 26/11, a Pakistani anti-terror court formally charged seven accused,

including LeT operations commander Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi.

[edit]Locations

[show]Map of all coordinates from Google

Map of all coordinates from Bing

All the incidents except the explosion at Vile Parle took place in downtown South Mumbai.

Oberoi Trident  at Nariman Point;  18.927118°N 72.820618°E

Taj Mahal Palace & Tower  near the Gateway of India;  18.921739°N 72.83331°E

Leopold Cafe , a popular tourist restaurant in Colaba;  18.922272°N 72.831566°E

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus  (CST) railway station;  18.940631°N 72.836426°E (express train

terminus),  18.94061°N 72.835343°E (suburban terminus)

Badruddin Tayabji Lane behind the Times of India building. 18.942117°N 72.833734°E

Near St. Xavier's College  18.943919°N 72.831942°E.

Cama and Albless Hospital ;  18.94266°N 72.832993°E

Nariman House  (Chabad House) Jewish outreach center;  18.916517°N 72.827682°E

Metro Cinema   18.943178°N 72.829474°E

Mazagaon  docks in Mumbai's port area;

Vile Parle  near the airport

[edit]Memorials

On the first anniversary of the event, the state paid homage to the victims of the attack. Force One—a new

security force created by the Maharashtra government—staged a parade from Nariman Point to

Chowpatty. Other memorials and candlelight vigils were also organised at the various locations where the

attacks occurred.[168]

On the second anniversary of the event, homage was again paid to the victims.[169] Security forces were

also displayed from Nariman Point.

Ruchika Girhotra CaseFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until thedispute is resolved. (June 2010)

The Ruchika Girhotra Case involves the molestation of 14-year-old Ruchika Girhotra in 1990 by

the Inspector General of Police Shambhu Pratap Singh Rathore (S.P.S. Rathore) inHaryana, India. After

she made a complaint, the victim, her family, and her friends were systematically harassed by the police

leading to her eventual suicide. On December 22, 2009, after 19 years, 40 adjournments, and more than

400 hearings, the court finally pronounced Rathore guilty under Section 354 IPC (molestation) and

sentenced him to six months imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1,000. The CBI had opposed Rathore's plea

and had sought an enhancement of his sentence from six months to the maximum of two years after his

conviction. Rejecting his appeal against his conviction by a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special

court, Chandigarh District Court on May 25 sentenced the disgraced former police official to one and a half

years of rigorous imprisonment, enhancing his earlier six-month sentence and immediately taken into

custody and taken to the Burail prison.[1][2] On 11 November 2010, the Supreme Court granted bail to S P S

Rathore on the condition that he should not leave Chandigarh.

Contents

 [hide]

1 Background

2 Molestation

3 Harassment

4 Suicide

5 Case Dropped

6 Ashu Case

7 CBI Inquiry

8 Impact

9 Attack on Shambhu Pratap Singh Rathore

10 Political interference and pleas-for-hanging

11 See also

12 External links

13 References

[edit]Background

Ruchika Girhotra was a student in Class X A (Batch of 1991) at Sacred Heart School for Girls in

Chandigarh. Her father, S.C Girhotra, was a manager with UCO Bank. Her mother died when she was ten

years old.[3][4] She had one brother, Ashu.

Ruchika, along with her friend Aradhna Prakash, was enrolled as a trainee at the Haryana Lawn Tennis

Association (HLTA).[5]

Aradhna's parents Anand and Madhu Prakash attended over 400 hearings, after Ruchika's father and

brother had to leave Panchkula due to harassment. Supreme Court lawyers Pankaj Bhardwaj and Meet

Malhotra fought the case for free since 1996.[5][6]

Born in 1941 and a 1966-Batch Indian Police Service officer of the Haryana Cadre, Rathore was on

deputation to Bhakhra Beas Management Board as Director, Vigilance and Security, when he molested

Ruchika. He was the founding president of the Haryana Lawn Tennis Association, and Rathore used the

garage of his house at 469 Sector 6, Panchkula, as its office.[7] The house used to have a clay tennis court

behind it, built by encroaching on government land. A few young girls played in this court.[5] Action by local

authorities later led to the tennis court being reduced to a badminton court.[8]

Rathore's wife Abha is an advocate. She defended his case from the beginning.[5] She practices law in

Panchkula and Chandigarh from her office in Sector 6, Panchkula.[9] Ajay Jain is another counsel for

Rathore.[10]

Rathore's daughter, Priyanjali, was Ruchika's classmate. She is now a practising lawyer.[3] His son, Rahul,

used to practice law at the Punjab and Haryana High Courts. He is an advocate with Cox & Kings in

Mumbai.[11]

Sub-Inspector Prem Dutt and Assistant Sub-Inspectors Sewa Singh and Jai Narayan of the Crime

Investigation Agency (CIA) Staff Office in Mansa Devi tortured Ashu under the directions of Rathore.[12][13]

Sewa Singh is currently the Assistant Station House Officer of Pinjore police station. He has not reported

for work since the sentencing of Rathore created national headlines.[14] He lives in Ratpur colony in Pinjore.

Ajay Jain is also serving as his counsel.[14][15]

[edit]Molestation

Ruchika was a promising tennis player. On August 11, 1990, Rathore visited Ruchika's house and met her

father S. C. Girhotra. As head of the Haryana Lawn Tennis Association, Rathore promised to get special

training for Ruchika. He requested that Ruchika meet him the following day in connection with this.[16]

On August 12 (Sunday), Ruchika, along with her friend Aradhana (Aradhana Prakash), went to play at the

lawn tennis court and met Rathore in his office (in the garage of his house). On seeing both of them,

Rathore asked Aradhana to call the tennis coach (Mr. Thomas) to his room. Aradhana left, and Rathore

was alone with Ruchika. He immediately grabbed her hand and waist and pressed his body against hers.

Ruchika tried to push him away, but he continued molesting her.[16]

But Aradhana returned and witnessed what was going on. On seeing her, Rathore released Ruchika and

fell back in his chair. He then asked Aradhana to go out of his room and personally bring the coach with

her. When she refused, Rathore rebuked Aradhana loudly, asking her to bring the coach. He insisted that

Ruchika stayed in his room, but she managed to run out.[16]

Ruchika told Aradhana everything that happened. Both girls did not tell anybody at first. The next day, they

did not go to play tennis. The following day, August 14, they changed the time of practice to avoid Rathore,

and played till 6:30 pm. However, as they were leaving, the ball picker, Patloo, told them Rathore had

called them to his office. It was at this point that the girls decided to tell their parents about the incident. [16][17]

Following this, Panchkula residents, mostly parents of tennis players, gathered at the residence of Anand

Prakash, father of Ruchika's friend Aradhana, and decided that some strong action must be taken by way

of bringing up the matter with higher authorities.

They could not contact either the Chief Minister Hukum Singh or Home Minister Sampat Singh, but met

Home Secretary J K Duggal, who, on August 17, 1990, discussed the matter with the Home Minister and

asked DGP Ram Rakshpal Singh to investigate.[18][19]

Rathore allegedly paid some residents of Rajiv Colony (a slum) in Panchkula and also garnered the

support of people from his community in Naraingarh, Ambala district. They staged dharnas outside the

office and home of R R Singh.[20]

On September 3, 1990, the inquiry report submitted by R R Singh to Home Secretary J K Duggal indicted

Rathore.[18] It recommended that an FIR be filed immediately against Rathore. Duggal forwarded the report

to the Home Minister Sampat Singh, who failed to forward it to the Chief Minister for necessary action.

[21] The Home Secretary who replace Duggal never followed up on the report.[21]

The report also revealed that an ex-MLA, Jagjeet Singh Tikka organised a large group of men to shout

slogans in front of Ruchika's house and harass her family.[21] Rathore enjoyed the patronage of both

the Hukam Singh and the Om Prakash Chautala governments.[22][23][24]

Instead of filing an FIR as recommended by the report, the government preferred departmental action, and,

on May 28, 1991, issued a chargesheet against Rathore. However, the government's legal remembrancer,

R. K. Nehru, suggested in 1992 that state government was not competent to issue the chargesheet,

insisting that an FIR be registered. Then, the C MBhajan Lal's office referred the case to the chief secretary

for advice. Eventually, no action was taken.[18]

Rathore was enjoying support from all the Chief Ministers and was using his influence and loop holes in the

system to escape possible conviction.[25][26][27]

[edit]Harassment

On September 20, 1990, two weeks after the inquiry indicted Rathore, Ruchika was expelled from her

school, Sacred Heart School for Girls, in Sector 26, Chandigarh. Ruchika had studied there from Class I.

The school actively plotted against Ruchika. The official reason for her expulsion was non-payment of fees.

The school had actually refused to accept her fees. No notice was given to Ruchika for non-payment of

fees, as is the school's normal procedure. The school's brochure states that non-payment of fees can only

lead to being disallowed to take exams. It is not grounds for expulsion.[28][29]

A magisterial inquiry has found that there were 135 similar cases of non-payment of fees at Sacred Hearts,

but Ruchika was the only student ever expelled on these grounds. Of the 17 cases of late fees in 1990, at

least 8 students paid their fees later than Ruchika did, but no action was taken against them. Ironically, the

defaulters included Rathore’s daughter Priyanjali.[30][31]

The principal of the school, Sister Sebastina, who still occupies the office, accepted to the magisterial

inquiry that she personally issued instructions for the removal of Ruchika's name from school register.[31]

Ruchika's expulsion from school was later used by Rathore's lawyers to question her character.

It has been alleged that Ruchika was expelled to avoid embarrassing Rathore's daughter Priyanjali, who

was her classmate.[32]

The school tried to stall the magisterial inquiry into Ruchika's dismissal. Sister Sebastina only appeared

before the inquiry after five days.[31] The Chandigarh authorities threatened the school with legal action if

they continued to stall the investigation.[7]

After her expulsion, Ruchika confined herself indoors. Whenever she went out she was followed and

abused by Rathore's henchmen.[33] Rathore deployed policemen in plainclothes in front of Ruchika's house

to keep an eye on the family.[13]

False cases of theft, murder and civil defamation were filed against Ruchika's father and her 10 year old

brother Ashu. Five theft cases against Ashu were registered by Sub-Inspector Prem Dutt and one case by

Assistant Sub-Inspector Sewa Singh.[12]

The cases were filed when KP Singh was the Superintendent of Police, Ambala. Singh has been named in

an FIR filed by Ashu.[34] Singh later provided Rathore's advocates a statement absolving Rathore.[35] Singh

is now the Inspector General of Police (Training) in Haryana and works at the Chandigarh Head Office.[21]

Cases were filed against Anand Parkash, his wife Madhu, and their minor daughter Aradhana.

Anand Parkash worked as Chief Engineer in the Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board and had a

spotless record until this incident. Rathore then instigated more than 20 complaints against him. He was

suspended from his job for some time and demoted to Superintendent Engineer. He was eventually given

premature retirement. He did, however, challenge the government orders and was given relief by the court

and cleared of all the complaints.[36][37]

Aradhana, who is the sole witness in the molestation case, had ten civil cases filed against her by Rathore.

She received abusive and threatening calls for months until she got married and left for Australia.[36] Pankaj

Bhardwaj, the lawyer who took up Ruchika's case, was slapped with two court cases by Rathore -a

defamation case and a case for compensation.[36]

When Rathore was heading the vigilance team in the Haryana State Electricity Board (HSEB), he sent

special teams from Bhiwani to raid houses of several of his complainants.[36]Rathore also filed two cases

against each of the journalists who had reported on the matter - one criminal and another civil - demanding

compensation of Rs. 1 crore each.[36]

On September 23, 1993, Ruchika's then 13 year old brother, Ashu, was picked up in the market place near

his house by police in plain clothes. They drove him in a jeep to the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) Staff

Office in Mansa Devi. There, he was tortured by Sub-Inspector Prem Dutt and Assistant Sub-Inspectors

Sewa Singh and Jai Narayan.[12][13]

His hands were tied on his back and he was made to bend. His feet were tied with a weight. He was kept in

this uncomfortable position for an extended period of time.[33]

After some time, Rathore also arrived there. Ashu was then tortured further. A roller, referred to by the

police as "Mussal', was rolled on his legs and thighs after four constables boarded the roller.[38][39]

While still in illegal confinement, Ashu was taken to his house and beaten mercilessly in front of Ruchika by

Rathore. Rathore then threatened her, saying that if she did not take back the complaint, her father, and

then she herself, would face the same fate.[40][41] Ashu was paraded in handcuffs in his neighbourhood.[42]

Ashu was picked up again on November 11, 1993. He was tortured again and was unable to walk due to

the beatings. He was not given food or water for days at a stretch and was beaten mercilessly. He was

repeatedly told to convince his sister to withdraw her complaint.[42] He was allegedly forced to sign on blank

papers, which were used by the police to show his "confessions" that he stole 11 cars.[38] He would not be

released until after his sister's suicide.[38]

No charges were ever framed in any of these cases filed against Ashu.[21]

The Panchkula Chief Judicial Magistrate exonerated Ashu in 1997, saying he had “no hesitation to pinpoint

that nothing is on record to prima facie indict the accused” and that the disclosure statement made by the

main accused, Gajinder Singh, was “just wastepaper”.[43]

Gajinder Singh, a resident of Bihar, had been arrested by the Panchkula Police for a car theft and police

claimed he had named Ashu as his accomplices. Singh later absconded and was named a proclaimed

offender.[43][44] He has been arrested by a team of Haryana Police assisted by their Pune counterparts on

January 9, 2010 from the Baner Road area, where he was running a dhaba.[45]

The Girhotra's one-kanal bungalow in Sector 6 Panchkula was forcibly sold to a lawyer working for

Rathore.[40] Ruchika's father was suspended from his job as bank manager, on charges of alleged

corruption, after coercion from Rathore.[36] They moved to the outskirts of Simla, and had to take up earth

filling to make a living.[46]

[edit]Suicide

On December 28, 1993, days after Ashu was paraded in handcuffs in his locality,[12] Ruchika consumed

poison. She died the next day. Rathore threw a party that night to celebrate.[47]

Rathore refused to release Ruchika's body to her father Subash unless he signed blank sheets of paper.

The blank papers were later used by the police to establish that the family had accepted Ruchika's forged

autopsy report.[48] Rathore also threatened to kill Ashu, who was still in illegal police custody.[13] At this time,

Ashu was allegedly unconscious in CIA lock-up. He had been stripped naked and beaten the previous night

by drunk policemen. He was brought back to his house, still unconscious, after Ruchika's last rites were

over.[38][39]

In the inquest and the postmortem report, the name Ruchika was replaced with her nickname Ruby, and

her father's name was changed to Subhash Chander Khatri.[49] This was to ensure that anyone reading the

report would not know it pertains to Ruchika.[50]

The government closed the case filed against Rathore less than a week after her death.[51]

Unable to bear the harassment, her family moved out of Chandigarh.[2]

Just a few months later, Rathore was promoted to additional DGP in November 1994, when Bhajan

Lal was the chief minister.[24]

[edit]Case Dropped

In November 1994, Rathore was promoted. No action was taken on the inquiry report. Anand Parkash

started trying to get copy of the report. After 3 years, he finally obtained it in 1997, and in November,

moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court. On August 21, 1998, the High Court directed the CBI to

conduct an inquiry.

In Oct 1999, the INLD government led by Om Prakash Chautala made Rathore the police chief (DGP) of

the state.[24] His name was even recommended for a President’s Police Medal For Distinguished Service by

the same government in November 1999.[52] Birbal Das Dhalia, who as then Home Secretary, defended the

decision, saying there was no chargesheet.[53]

Shanta Kumar, who was then vice-president of the BJP, in 2000, wrote a letter to Om Prakash Chautala,

urging him to take strict action against Rathore in the case.

However, instead of acting on the letter, Chautala complained to then Prime Minister Atal Bihari

Vajpayee about it. Shanta Kumar was the Minister for Consumer Affairs in the NDAgovernment at the time.

Chautala's Indian National Lok Dal was an alliance partner.[54]

[edit]Ashu Case

Ashu's case had reached before the HC following suo motu cognizance taken of a media report highlighting

his plight,[47] by justice Mehtab Singh Gill on December 12, 2000. The then chief justice had referred the

matter before a division bench comprising justice N K Sodhi and justice N K Sood.[49]

While deposing before the division bench, Ashu stated that he had undergone inhuman treatment at the

instance of Rathore and the Panchkula police. This was his first statement since the family was forced to

leave Panchkula. At the time of making the statement, the family was living in Sector-2, New Shimla.[49]

On December 13, 2000, the division bench voiced support for compensation to Ashu for the harassment

caused to him at the hands of Panchkula police.[44]

Rathore filed an affidavit in 2001 denying the allegations.[33]

The HC then referred the inquiry to sessions judge Patiala. On September 3, 2002, Ashu detailed the

torture he was put through to a Patiala Sessions Court.[33][49]

But Rathore approached the Supreme Court and got the high court order quashed on technical grounds.[39]

[edit]CBI Inquiry

On August 21, 1998, the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the CBI to conduct an inquiry.

The High Court had ordered completion of investigation of the case and filing of chargesheet expeditiously,

“preferably within six months”.[55] However, more than a year passed before the CBI filed a chargesheet.[55]

On November 16, 2000, the CBI filed a charge sheet against Rathore.

Despite the CBI chargesheet, the Chautala government allowed Rathore to continue as police chief.[24]

The case was put to hearing in the CBI special court in Ambala from November 17. The hearings in

Ambala would continue till May 2006.[24]

The chargesheet was filed only under Section 354 (molestation). Abetment to suicide was inexplicably not

included.[55]

On October 8, 2001, counsel for Anand Parkash moved an application demanding the addition of abetment

to suicide (306 of IPC) against Rathore. Rathore argued that Prakash had no standing to move the

court [1].

However, in a scathing judgment on October 23, 2001, Special CBI Judge Jagdev Singh Dhanjal

demanded that the offence be added. In his 21-page judgement, the CBI Judge underlined witness

statements, including those of Ruchika’s father, Anand Parkash, friend Aradhana and others in adding

Section 306 (abetment) of IPC against Rathore.[56][57] Dhanjal was forced to take premature retirement two

years later.[6]

However, in February 2002, Justice K. C. Kathuria of the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed the

CBI court's decision to register an FIR against Rathore for abetment to suicide, claiming the lack of a

complaint regarding harassment.[44] Justice Kathuria was a neighbour of the Girhotras, with whom he was

engaged in a property dispute.[6]

In another glaring conflict of interest, he was also a close relative of O. P. Kathuria who is an associate of

Rathore, had served as secretary of the Haryana Lawn Tennis Association which was floated by Rathore.[6]

Justice Kathuria is now the President of the Haryana State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.

Incredibly, after filing the chargesheet in 2000, the CBI took 7 years to record evidence from 16 prosecution

witnesses. On the other hand, the defence counsel took nine months to complete examination of 13 out of

the total 17 witnesses.[55]

Rathore tried to use his influence with the CBI. R M Singh, who was CBI Joint Director in 1998 and retired

in 2001, said Rathore was tracking the case. Once the file arrived at Singh's desk, he started getting

frequent visits to his office from Rathore. Rathore visited multiple times in 1998, trying to influence the CBI

to clear him on all charges. Rathore had learnt that Singh was constructing a house in Gurgaon, and

offered to provide building materials and other assistance. Singh also found out that Rathore had also

approaced the Investigating Officer for the case, Rajesh Ranjan, CBI's Deputy Superintendent of Police.

When he failed to influence the officers, Rathore had the case transferred. Rathore enjoyed access to all

levels of the CBI since he was DGP.[47][58]

Ruchika's was one of the few cases heard in three subordinate courts of three different states: Haryana,

Punjab and Chandigarh - apart from one in high court and the Supreme Court as well. Around 15

applications were accepted in Punjab and Haryana High Court on behalf of Rathore, a strategy meant to

delay the case.[59]

For example, on January 23, 2006, Rathore moved an application demanding transfer of trial from Ambala

CBI Special Magistrate Ritu Garg to any other court. The application was moved when evidence of only two

prosecution witnesses was remaining. The grounds claimed was that Rathore knew Ritu's father and that

Rathore's son Rahul was a friendly with Ritu.[60]Surprisingly, the CBI didn’t object. In his reply filed in

February 2006, S S Lakra, the then Additional Superintendent of Police, New Delhi, said he did not object

to the transfer, allegedly so the case would "conclude expeditiously". The case was then transferred to

Patiala.[60] Again when the case was at the last stage, Rathore accused the then Special CBI Judge of

Patiala, Rakesh Kumar Gupta, of overawing the defence witnesses and scolding Rathore. This time also

the CBI did not object to transferring the case to Chandigarh.[60]

Rathore also used other technical grounds like demanding that the trial be videographed to cause more

delays. Ironically, he later claimed that the long delays were grounds for a reduced sentence.[61]

On November 5, 2009, the case was transferred from the Ambala court to CBI Chandigarh. In December,

the court closed all final arguments, gave its verdict and on December 21, special judge J.S.

Sidhu[62] pronounced a six-month jail sentence and a fine of Rs 1000 to Rathore. The sentence has been

suspended until January 20, 2010.[63][7]

He was granted bail minutes after the sentencing, after furnishing a bail bond of Rs.10,000. Rathore's wife

Abha has said they will be appealing the sentence on January 4, 2010.[38]

[edit]Impact

The case was brought up for debate in Parliament. "After 19 years, the criminal has been found guilty but

all he got as punishment was 6 months in prison. Within 10 minutes of conviction, he was out on bail. Is it

not a shame for all of us?" asked CPI (M) leader Brinda Karat.[64]

Former Haryana C.M Om Prakash Chautala, when asked about the case, dismissed it as a "frivolous

issue". It was during his rule that Rathore was promoted to DGP for Haryana. After the public outcry over

the case, Chautala backtracked and accused the courts and the ruling Congress Government in Haryana

of "letting Rathore off with a light punishment."[65]Ruchika's father has blamed Chautala for actively

supporting Rathore as he harassed his family.[66]

Aradhna Parkash has started a signature drive to reopen the case. The email address is

‘joinaradhna4ruchika at gmail.com’.[67]

However, the power of the law seems to be limited to grabbing hold of the DGP SPS Rathore, who will be

stripped off his police medal. The decision to take back Rathore's police medal, given to the police officer

for meritorious service in August, 1985, was taken by a committee.

[edit]Attack on Shambhu Pratap Singh Rathore

On February 8, 2010, a man, identified as Utsav Sharma, a resident of Varansi, Uttar Pradesh, attacked

Rathore with a pocket knife as Rathore walked out of the court. Rathore was rushed to a nearby hospital

and the attacker was taken into custody. Television grabs show Sharma stepping up and stabbing Rathore

in the face 2 times while missing a third stab before being over powered by the police. Television grabs

also show a constable holding the weapon of attack with her bare hands with disregard for the sanctity of

its use as evidence.[68][69]

[edit]Political interference and pleas-for-hanging

Nine years after the molestation of Ruchika Girhotra, accused SPS Rathore had told then chief minister of

Haryana, Bansi Lal, in 1999 that three chief ministers had “saved” him while his “mala fide intentions had

led to the passing of adverse order by the high court against him”. Rathore had also charged Bansi Lal of

colluding with Madhu Anand, family friend of Ruchika who helped them fight the case. The Times of India is

in possession of a copy of the letter — dated August 9, 1999 — Rathore wrote to then financial

commissioner (home) and asserted as much.[70]

With support for this teenaged molestation victim Ruchika Girhotra coming from all quarters, her family and

friends are now seeking death penalty for former Haryana top cop S.P.S Rathore, who molested her and

allegedly hounded her till she killed herself. Ruchika's father Subhash Chander Girhotra said that Rathore

should be hanged till death.[71]

[edit]See also

Murder of Jessica LallFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jessica Lall

1965-1999

Born 5 January 1965

India 

Died 29 April 1999 (aged 34)

New Delhi   India

Occupation Actress, Model

Jessica Lall (1965–1999) was a model in New Delhi, who was working as a celebrity barmaid at a

crowded socialite party when she was shot dead on 29 April 1999.[1] Dozens of witnesses pointed to

Siddharth Vashisht, a.k.a. Manu Sharma, the son of Venod Sharma, a wealthy Congress politician

in Haryana, as the murderer.

In the ensuing trial, Manu Sharma and a number of others were acquitted on 21 February 2006.

Following intense media and public pressure, the prosecution appealed and the Delhi High Court

conducted proceedings on a fast track with daily hearings over 25 days. The lower court judgment was

found faulty in law, and Manu Sharma was found guilty of having murdered Jessica Lall. He was sentenced

to life imprisonment on 20 December 2006.

Contents

 [hide]

1 Background

o 1.1 The initial trial

2 Acquittal by Lower Court

o 2.1 Legal loopholes used

o 2.2 Aftermath

3 Appeal and conviction in high court

o 3.1 Judgement

o 3.2 Life sentence by Supreme Court of India

4 See also

5 In other media

6 References

7 External links

[edit]Background

This article reads more like a story than an encyclopedia entry. To meet Wikipedia's quality standards and conform with ourNeutral Point of View policy, please help to introduce a more formal style and remove any personally invested tone. (January 2011)

During the summer of 1999, leading socialite Bina Ramani had been organizing “Thursday Special” nights,

at her newly opened “Tamarind Court” restaurant, at Qutub Colonnade, a refurbished haveli overlooking

the Qutub Minar in Mehrauli.[2]

On 29 April 1999, it was the seventh and last Thursday Special of the season; also being celebrated was

the foreign visit of Bina Ramani’s Canadian husband Georges Mailhot, for a period of six months. Though

the restaurant was yet to receive its liquor license,[3] drinks could be bought through discreetly marked ‘QC’

coupons, and on that night, several models and friends were serving drinks at the 'Once Upon A Time' bar,

including Jessica Lall, Bina Ramani’s daughter Malini Ramani, friends Shayan Munshi, and others.[2]

Previously, at 10 p.m., Manu Sharma alias Siddharth Vashisht, the 24-year-old son of former Union

minister Venod Sharma, having skipped his planned visit to Chandigarh, drove up to the Friends

Colony house of Amrinder Singh Gill (Tony), 32, a general manager of the Coca-Cola bottling unit in Delhi,

where they were joined by 30-year-old Alok Khanna, a colleague of Tony, and Vikas Yadav, son of Rajya

Sabha member, D.P. Yadav, a politician from Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh. The four had a few drinks and

then drove down to Mehrauli in two separate cars. They reached Tamarind Court at 11.15 p.m. Manu

Sharma had already attended one of the special Thursday nights; subsequently they ordered a few drinks

and stayed on.[2]Elsewhere in the town, event management specialist Shahana Mukherjee picked up ramp

model Jessica Lall from her house at 10 p.m., and escorted her to a party, where she was to be the

celebrity bartender that night, as was Shayan Munshi.[4]

“"..I won't give you a sip even if you give me a thousand bucks!"– Jessica Lall to Manu Sharma, before she was shot at(overheard by Malini Ramani). [2]

”As it was a busy night, the drinks were soon over, at about 2 a.m. Manu Sharma asked for a drink, which

Jessica refused; he then tried to offer a thousand rupees, which she refused as well. Though there are

many versions of what happened next, sometime soon, the inebriated and enraged Manu Sharma shot at

Jessica twice at point blank range, the first bullet hitting the ceiling. The second one proved fatal, as it hit

Jessica, who was now kneeling over, on the temple and she fell unconscious immediately. Twenty minutes

later, she was rushed to the Aashlok Hospital (in Safdurjung Enclave) in a car but she succumbed to her

injuries that same night at the Apollo Hospital.[2] The police brought the body to AIIMS for post-mortem

examination. Dr. R.K Sharma and Dr. Sudhir Gupta were the AIIMS Autopsy Surgeons & gave important

forensic opinion to the prosecution in this case at various stages.

In the ensuing melee, as the 90-odd celebrity guests and Delhi’s glitterati scattered around, the culprits

Alok Khanna, Amardeep Singh Gill (Tony), and Vikas Yadav slipped away from the scene together in

Alok’s car, while Manu Sharma hid for a while in a nearby village, a kilometre away. The trio dropped Amit

Jhingan at his Vasant Kunj residence, and reached Tony’s ‘Friends Colony’ residence, where later Manu

Sharma also joined them, after hitchhiking his way there on a two-wheeler.

Next, Manu Sharma called Amit Jhingan, in whose white Maruti Gypsy Manu Sharma, Vikas Yadav, and

Amit went over to the Mehrauli area beyond Qutub Colonnade, and asked Amit to dig out the weapon from

a sand pile in a nearby village, where Manu had buried it. Thereafter, Jhingan dropped Manu at Tony’s

residence and returned home.

According to Police sources, Manu Sharma then called over another friend named Titu, who was visiting

India from the US for a wedding, to MP D.P. Yadav’s residence where Vikas Yadav had gone into hiding.

There he was given the weapon for hiding. Titu's whereabouts were never known and he ostensibly flew off

to the US, after hiding the weapon, a .22-bore pistol.[5] Manu Sharma spent the night at Vikas Yadav’s

Ghaziabad residence; later, their escape vehicle, a Tata Sierra, was found abandoned in NOIDA.[6]

While Manu Sharma and most of his family continued to abscond, as did Vinod Sharma and his family,[7]

[8] Alok Khanna and Amardeep Singh Gill (Tony) were arrested on 4 May. On 8 May, Bina Ramani, her

husband, George Mailhot and her daughter Malini, were arrested under the Excise Act for running an illegal

bar after interrogation; also arrested was Manu Sharma’s accomplice, Amit Jhingan, from Vasant

Kunj under Section 201 read with 120 (conspiring to destroy evidence), on the basis of disclosures made

by Manu Sharma during interrogation. A Delhi court granted bail to the Ramanis, though their passports

were seized, with Bina being a British national, her husband, a Canadian national, and Malini a US

national; and Amit Jhingan was remanded to judicial custody till 21 May.[5][9]

On 19 May, Vikas Yadav walked into the Delhi police headquarters and surrendered, but only hours later

he walked out, as he carried anticipatory bail papers from Imphal Court. The police chose not to arrest him

that day, as according to Manipur High Court orders, he was granted two months of bail as soon as he was

arrested. Through the press he said, “Manu (the main accused) came to my house and wanted to spend

the night there. I only allowed him to stay not knowing what had happened. [10] Vikas Yadav was finally

caught on 30 May.[6]Later, on 9 July, Delhi High Court cancelled his bail, yet Vikas Yadav managed to

elude police custody for a while [11] In September 1999, a sessions court granted Vikas Yadav interim bail

with the direction that he had to surrender before the trial court a week before beginning of the trial and

seek fresh bail; subsequently on 17 May 2001, he was sent into judicial custody, only to be given bail by a

Delhi city court four days later.[12]

On 3 August 1999, Delhi police filed the charge sheet in the court of Metropolitan Magistrate, wherein

Manu Sharma was named the main accused and charged under sections 302 (murder), 201 (destruction of

evidence), 120(b) (criminal conspiracy), and 212 (harbouring suspects) of the Indian Penal Code; and

sections 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act. While other accused, like Vikas Yadav, Coca-Cola Company

officials Alok Khanna and Amardeep Singh Gill (destroying evidence of the case and conspiracy); Shyam

Sunder Sharma, Amit Jhingan, Yograj Singh, Harvinder Chopra, Vikas Gill, Raja Chopra, Ravinder Krishan

Sudan and Dhanraj, were all charged variously under sections 120(b), 302, 201 and 212 of the IPC (for

giving shelter to the accused and destroying evidence) [6]

Manu Sharma gave a statement to the Police, which was taped, in which he admits shooting Jessica Lall.

"The idea at that time was to shoot in challenge. It was embarrassing to hear that even if I paid a thousand

bucks I would not get a sip of drink." This audiotape was obtained and aired by the TV channel NDTV, but it

does not constitute legal testimony. Subsequently, however, the confession was retracted, and a not guilty

plea was entered in the trial.

Manu Sharma is the son of one of the leading politicians in the state of Haryana, Venod Sharma, who

belongs to the Congress Party. Earlier a minister in the National Cabinet, Venod Sharma was a minister in

the Haryana government at the time the trial judgement was announced.

Subsequently, a sting operation by the newsmagazine Tehelka exposed how Venod Sharma paid bribes to

win over key witnesses, and Venod Sharma resigned from the Haryana Ministry on 6 October 2006.

One of Manu's aunts is a daughter of the ninth President of India, Shankar Dayal Sharma.

[edit]The initial trial

The Jessica Lall murder case went up for trial in August 1999, with Manu charged with murder and his

friends charged with related crimes such as destroying evidence and sheltering criminal suspects.

Four of the witnesses who had initially said they had seen the murder happen eventually turned

hostile. Shayan Munshi, a model and friend who was serving drinks beside Jessica Lall, changed his story

completely; as for earlier testimony recorded with the police, he said that the writing was in Hindi, a

language he was not familiar with, and it should be repudiated. On 13 May 2006, he was detained at

Calcutta airport as he was about to board a flight for Bangkok, along with his wife then Peeya Rai

Chowdhary.

Karan Rajput and Shivdas Yadav also had not seen anything, while Parikshit Sagar said he had left the

place before the incident. In a conversation with Jessica's sister, Karan Rajput is alleged to have played a

tape-recording [13] discussing with some friends how Venod Sharma's people had "won over" several

witnesses already.

Also, it appears that the cartridges used in the murder were altered. Although the gun was never

recovered, these cartridges were for some reason sent for forensic evaluation, where it turned out that they

had been fired from different weapons. This led to a further weakening of the prosecution's case.[citation needed]

[edit]Acquittal by Lower Court

After extensive hearings with nearly a hundred witnesses, a Delhi trial court headed by Additional Sessions

Judge S. L. Bhayana, acquitted 9 accused in Jessica Lall Murder case, on 21 February 2006. Those

acquitted were, Manu Sharma,Vikas Yadav, Manu's uncle Shyam Sundar Sharma, Amardeep Singh Gill

and Alok Khanna, both former executives of a multinational soft drinks company, cricketer Yuvraj Singh's

father Yograj Singh, Harvinder Chopra, Vikas Gill and Raja Chopra. In all, of the 12 accused, two, Ravinder

Kishan Sudan and Dhanraj, were absconding while the trial court discharged Amit Jhingan at the time of

framing of charges.

The ground for the acquittals according to the court was one, “The police failed to recover the weapon

which was used to fire at Jessica Lal as well as prove their theory that the two cartridges, emptied shells of

which were recovered from the spot, were fired from one weapon,; “all three eyewitnesses listed by the

police in its charge sheet, namely, Shiv Lal Yadav, an electrician at Tamarind Court, actor Shyan Munshi

and Karan Rajput, a visitor at the restaurant that night, turning hostile during the trial”, in addition to this the

police also failed to establish a complete chain of the circumstances leading to the incident and trace the

murder weapon which according to it, was used in the crime.[14]

Throughout his 179-page case verdict, Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) S L Bhayana said that police

sought to 'create' and 'introduce false evidence' against Sharma. The judgment repeatedly hints that the

prosecution may have attempted, from the very beginning, to fabricate the evidence and present false

witnesses, so as to render the case indefensible. In conclusion, he agrees with "the counsel for the

accused that on 30 April 1999 the police had decided to frame the accused," read the judgment.

The judgment faulted the police for deciding on the accused first and then collecting evidence against him,

instead of letting the evidence lead them to the murderer. Since the prosecution had failed to establish guilt

beyond doubt, all nine accused were acquitted.

[edit]Legal loopholes used

After the verdict many experts pointed fingers at the flaws in the Indian Evidence Act of 1872, especially

Sections 25-29: No confession made by any person whilst he is in the custody of a police officer, unless it

be made in the immediate presence of a Magistrate, shall be proved as against such person. Though, the

clauses were initially added for the protection of the defendants from giving confession under police torture,

it was later exploited by many a guilty defendants as well, as in this case, where many a witnesses

withdrew their testimony, after first giving it to the police during interrogation.[15]

[edit]Aftermath

In the immense uproar , hundreds of thousands of people e-mailed and SMS-ed their outrage on petitions

forwarded by media channels and newspapers to the President and others seeking remedies for the

alleged miscarriage of justice. Soon, NDTV, a news channel, received more than 200,000 cellphone text

messages urging retrial.[3] A poll conducted by the newspaper Hindustan Times showed that on a scale of 1

to 10, the public's faith in law enforcement in India was about 2.7 Public pressure built up with newspapers

splashing headlines such as "No one killed Jessica", and TV channels running SMS polls. Models, fashion

designers, friends, relatives and others held candle-light vigils at India Gate in New Delhi to protest the

verdict, followed by an even bigger candle light protest accompanied by a unique week long t-shirt

campaign (slogan: we support re-investigation of Jessica Lal's murder, let the truth come out) in Manu

Sharma's hometown, Chandigarh.The protest in Chandigarh was led by a young self-proclaimed activist

(who now heads a Fight for Justice and Rights Organisation called Human Rights Protection Group,

formerly known as "Middle Finger Protests"). Hundreds of students, MNC executives along with retired IAS

and Army officers participated in the protest.[1][3]

Surender Sharma, the police inspector responsible for the investigation, was transferred from the

plum Hauz Khas position to a bureaucratic post. The police have also launched an inquiry against the

possibly deliberate ineptitude of their own earlier investigation.

On 18 April 2006, the division bench comprising Justice Manmohan Sareen and Justice J M Malik

released Manu Sharma on Rs 1 Lakh (USD 2000) bail.[16] They also pulled up the Delhi Police and urged

them to ensure minimal delays in the re-trial process

[edit]Appeal and conviction in high court

On 25 March 2006, the Delhi High Court admitted an appeal by the police against the Jessica Lall murder

acquittals, issuing non-bailable warrants against prime accused Manu Sharma and eight others and

restraining them from leaving the country. This was not a re-trial, but an appeal based on evidence already

marshalled in the lower court.

On 9 September 2006, a sting operation by the news magazine Tehelka was shown on the TV

channel Star News, which stated how the witnesses had been bribed and coerced into retracting their initial

testimony. Venod Sharma was named in the expose as paying millions of rupees to some of the witnesses.

[17] Facing pressure from the central Congress leaders, Venod Sharma resigned from the Haryana cabinet.

[edit]Judgement

On 15 December 2006, the High Court bench of Justice R S Sodhi and Justice P K Bhasin, in a 61-page

judgement held Manu Sharma guilty based on existing evidence.

The judgement said that the lower court had been lax in not considering the testimony of witnesses such as

Bina Ramani and Deepak Bhojwani: "With very great respect to the learned judge, we point out that this

manner of testing the credibility of the witness is hardly a rule of appreciation of evidence... Obviously, this

reflects total lack of application of mind and suggests a hasty approach towards securing a particular end,

namely the acquittal." [18]

In particular, the key witness Shyan Munshi came in for serious criticism, and may be facing criminal

proceedings. The judgement says, of his repudiating his own FIR: "[Munshi] is now claiming that the said

statement was recorded in Hindi while he had narrated the whole story in English as he did not know Hindi

at all... We do not find this explanation of Munshi to be convincing." Regarding Munshi's testimony about

the two-gun theory, the judgement says: "In court he has taken a somersault and came out with a version

that there were two gentlemen at the bar counter. ... [W]e have no manner of doubt that on this aspect he is

telling a complete lie... " [19]

All 32 witnesses who turned hostile have been asked to appear before the court on 21 February to explain

why they should not be tried for perjury.

On 20 December 2006, Manu Sharma was awarded life imprisonment. The other accused, Vikas Yadav

and AmarDeep Singh Gill, were awarded four years of imprisonment for destroying evidence. [20]

Manu Sharma's lawyer, R K Naseem said the decision would be appealed in Supreme Court, because the

judgement was wrong in holding Bina Ramani to have been an eyewitness.

According to a widely circulated media report, Manu Sharma told a friend after the trial in Hindi: mere

bhaagya main yehi thaa. taqdeer kaa faislaa yehi thaa (Such was my fate. This was decided by destiny).[19]

There was widespread celebration of Manu's conviction on the media, where it was seen as evidence that

the people's voice could move the wheels of justice. Given the past record in India of cases such

as Sanjeev Nanda, it was felt that the Jessica Lall and Priyadarshini Mattoo convictions finally indicated

that even the most powerful were not above the law.

Delhi Government granted Manu Sharma 30 days parole ὖ

On 24 September 2009, Delhi Lieutenant Governor granted Manu Sharma 30-day parole from jail, on the

grounds that Sharma needed to attend to his ailing mother and also look after the family business which

was suffering in his absence. Some media reports also claimed that he has to perform rituals following the

death of his grandmother. But, they were founded totally untrue as Sharma's grandmother died in 2008.

[21] This parole was extended by another 30 days. Manu Sharma has been seen partying in a night-club

during this time also, his mother who was ill was seen at a media briefing on Saturday promoting a ladies

cricket tournament at the family-run hotel in Chandigarh, the Piccadilly Hotel.[22]

On 10 November 2009, following media uproar, the Delhi government, under criticism for granting and

extending parole without proper verification of reasons submitted by the accused for seeking parole, had

reportedly decided to look into whether his parole should be cancelled, because Sharma visited a Delhi

nightclub over the weekend. But Manu Sharma surrendered next day to Tihar jail, two weeks before his

parole expired.[citation needed]

Supreme Court upheld the HC verdict in the Jessica Lall murder case. Prime accused Manu Sharma had

challenged his conviction and life sentence awarded by the Delhi High Court on 19 April 2010.

[edit]Life sentence by Supreme Court of India

On 19 April 2010, the Supreme Court of India has approved the life sentence for the guilty.[23] The two judge

bench upholding the judgement of the Delhi High Court stated that, "The prosecution has proved beyond

reasonable doubt the presence of Manu Sharma at the site of the offence". Senior advocate Ram

Jethmalani, appearing for Manu Sharma alias Siddharth Vasisth, in the Supreme Court, assailed the High

Court verdict which had set aside the trial court judgement acquitting the accused. He alleged that the High

Court Bench had made up its mind to hold Sharma guilty. Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium submitted

that there was sufficient evidence against Manu Sharma for his involvement in the brutal crime. He should

be punished.

On the morning of May 16, 2008(Mon), Aarushi Talwar (May 24, 1993 - May 15, 2008), the 14-year-

old daughter of a successful dentistcouple, was found dead with her throat slit in her parents' home

at Jalvayu Vihar in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Suspicion immediately fell on the family's live-in man-

servant, Yam Prasad Banjade alias Hemraj, a 45-yr-old Nepalese national, who was found missing

from the home. Declaring Hemraj as the prime suspect, the Noida police announced a reward for

information leading to Hemraj's apprehension and arrest. In addition, a police party was dispatched to

his hometown in Nepal, in hopes of apprehending him there.

A post-mortem was conducted on Aarushi's body on May 17, 2008. A retired Noida police officer,

accompanying a relative of the Talwars, visited the Talwars' home to express his condolences, and

during his visit, detected blood stains on the stairs leading to the terrace of the flat. Following the trail

of blood, Noida police detected the dead body of the missing domestic help, Hemraj, on the terrace.

After a disorganised and long-drawn investigation, the police arrested Dr. Rajesh Talwar, the father of

the deceased girl, on May 23, 2008, charging him with having committed the double murder. His wife,

Dr. Nupur Talwar, accused the Noida police of framing him, and requested Uttar Pradesh chief

minister Mayawati to transfer the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The Central Bureau of Investigation took over the investigation into the murders of Aarushi and

Hemraj on June 1, 2008, forming a 25-member team in an attempt to crack the case. Soon after the

CBI took over the case, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati gave transfer orders to senior police

officers who were part of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that had previously been in charge of

the investigation, including the Noida Senior Superintendent of Police, Satish Ganesh,

and Meerut Inspector General, Gurdarshan Singh. In addition, the deputation of CBI officer Arun

Kumar, formerly a member of the Uttar Pradesh Police, who was in charge of the investigation also

ended in July, 2008.[1].

Contents

 [hide]

1 Significance of the Case

2 CBI: Getting there

3 Shaddy Investigation

4 Timeline of the Case

5 References

6 External links

[edit]Significance of the Case

The case received nation wide attention, and has become symptomatic of what most people believe

are recent unsavoury tendencies in the Indian media, such as sensationalism , the urge to "overkill"

and to carry out a public trial-by-media [2]. The Union Minister for Women and Child

Development, Renuka Chowdhury, condemned the police for what she called the "character

assassination" of a child victim and called for a commission of legal experts to investigate whether

specific legislation existed or needed to passed in order to allow filing of defamation suits against the

Noida police, a government agency.[3]. In addition, the focus by 24-hour cable news on speculative

aspects of the personal lives of the father and his dead daughter, and the media frenzy that

compromised the privacy of the families involved in the case has caused comparisons to be made to

the JonBenet Ramsey case in the United States[4]. The case has also attracted a lot of public attention

as a bizarre whodunit [5], with the CBI reporting that the agency had been receiving a large number of

telephone calls from members of the general public, giving investigators ideas and advice on how to

solve the case[6]. In addition, the story hit the blog-o-sphere in a major way with many Indian bloggers

avidly and enthusiastically blogging about the murder mystery[7]

The remainder of this article (content appearing below) may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Pleaseimprove this article if you can, and move or remove this notice if appropriate. (July 2010)

[edit]CBI: Getting there

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[edit]Shaddy Investigation

CBI investigators charged the Noida police with a shoddy investigation, which, it claimed, had resulted

in the destruction of 90% of the evidence on the crime scene.

Aside from not capturing the finger prints on the whisky bottles in Hemraj's room, the police allowed

the media to freely roam the crime scene rather than restricting access to the flat.

In addition, the police allowed doctors, not specifically trained in forensic pathology, to conduct the

autopsies of Hemraj and Aarushi. While it is established procedure to lift fingerprints (of both

murderers and victims) from the skin of the victims.[8] the doctors entrusted with the autopsies

neglected to call forensic scientists to lift fingerprints from the cadavers. On August 11, 2008, the CBI

reported that it had evidence pointing to the presence of a fifth person in the house at the time of the

murders, as finger prints not matching any of the suspects or occupants of the house were found on

the whisky bottles.

Experts at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), who are working closely with the CBI,

have raised questions over one entry in Arushi’s post mortem report. The report, dated May 16 and

prepared by Sunil Dore for the Noida police, mentions “whitish discharge” from the vagina which

AIIMS doctors say wasn’t investigated. They have raised this issue with the CBI.

“It is the duty of the doctors and the investigating officer to collect all biological evidence. As per law, it

is mandatory to write about it in the post mortem report which is legal evidence. But in this case no

further investigation was done on the evidence that they got from natural orifices,” Sudhir Gupta,

associate professor, forensic medicine, AIIMS, told The Indian Express.

The post mortem report says that various organs including stomach with contents, samples from small

intestine, gall bladder, spleen and one kidney were preserved, sealed and sent for examination to rule

out poisoning.

“However, the report doesn’t mention whether a vaginal swab was sent for further investigation,” said

Gupta. “The whitish discharge could be attributed to several causes, from a fungal infection, common

at this age, to even sexual assault. But in a murder case, this was a serious biological finding which

required deliberation. No such type of biological evidence was collected and sealed by the doctor who

prepared the autopsy,” he added.

[edit]Timeline of the Case

May 16, 2008

Aarushi Talwar, daughter of a dentist couple, found dead with her throat slit in the bedroom of her

flat in Jalvayu Vihar.

Based on the Talwars' claim, missing domestic help Hemraj (Nepalese national) suspected of

murder.

May 17, 2008

Hemraj's body found on the terrace of Talwar's house.

Noida Sector-20 police Station Officer (S.O.) Dataram Nauneria shifted for lapses in

investigations.

Autopsy report rules out sexual assault.

May 18, 2008

Police say murders done with surgical precision; insider job suspected.

Superintendent of Police (City) Mahesh Mishra transferred.

May 19, 2008

Talwar's former Nepalese domestic help Vishnu Sharma named suspect.

May 21, 2008

Delhi Police join murder probe; police say murder committed by a "doctor or a butcher".

May 22, 2008

Family under suspicion; honor killing angle probed

Police quiz Aarushi's close friend, whom she spoke to 688 times in the 45 days preceding her

murder.

May 23, 2008

Aarushi's father Dr. Rajesh Talwar arrested for the two murders.

June 13, 2008

The Nepalese compounder of Dr. Rajesh Talwar, Krishna (alias Kishan) arrested by CBI. The

arrest follows polygraph test and Narco Analysis test at Forensic Science Laboratory(FSL),

Bangalore the day before. He was earlier subjected to polygraph test twice at Central Forensic

Science Laboratory (CFSL), Delhi as well as psychological assessment test atAIIMS, New Delhi

on June 9, 2008; based on the test results, CBI arrested Krishna.

June 14, 2008

Krishna the compounder of Dr. Rajesh Talwar produced before the duty magistrate, district

courts, Ghaziabad. CBI requests for 14 days police custody of Krishna for further investigation.

The Magistrate grants 3 days police custody remand. He is to be produced before the Special

Magistrate for CBI cases at Ghaziabad on June 17, 2008. A CBI team had earlier conducted a

search at Krishna's former premises at Jalvayu Vihar, Noida and seized some clothing and other

materials for forensic examination. Rajkumar, the Nepalese domestic help of the Duranis, was

subjected to polygraph test at CFSL, Delhi.

June 19, 2008

Judicial custody of Dr. Rajesh Talwar extended up to July 2, 2008. An application is moved for a

second lie detection test of Dr. Rajesh Talwar, as his first lie detection test remained inconclusive.

A lie detector test is also conducted on Vijay Mandal, the domestic help of a neighbor of the

Talwars.

June 17, 2008

Krishna produced before special magistrate, CBI court, Ghaziabad. CBI applies for further 11

days police custody remand to continue the investigation. The magistrate grants 6 days police

custody. He is to be produced before the CBI magistrate, Ghaziabad on June 23, 2008.

A team accompanied by a forensic expert search the room where Rajkumar used to live in Sector

53, Noida. Material seized from the room on June 13, 2008 is forensically examined.

June 20, 2008

Lie detection test of Dr. Rajesh Talwar conducted at CFSL, Delhi.

June 23, 2008

Krishna produced before the special magistrate, CBI courts, Ghaziabad. CBI requests further

custody of Krishna for 4 days for further interrogation and recovery of weapon. The magistrate

passes an order extending his police custody by 4 days. He is to be produced before the Court on

June 27, 2008.

June 25, 2008

Second lie detection test conducted on Dr. Nupur Talwar. Her first lie detection test was found

inconclusive.

June 26, 2008

The CBI declares the case to be a "blind case". Dr. Rajesh Talwar refused bail by the special

magistrate, CBI courts, Ghaziabad.

June 27, 2008

Krishna taken to Talwars' residence by the CBI and thereafter produced before the special

magistrate, where his bail plea is rejected once again. The Talwars' family friends Duranis'

Nepalese domestic help Rajkumar arrested on the suspicion of involvement in the murder.

Washed T-shirts with faint human blood stains seized and sent for DNA matching. However, the

Duranis (doctors themselves) maintain that the stains could be from the boils that Rajkumar had

on his body. Rajkumar had already been subjected to polygraph test, psychological assessment,

brain mapping and narco analysis at FSL, Gandhinagar from June 23 to June 26, 2008.

June 28, 2008

Rajkumar produced before special magistrate, CBI court, Ghaziabad and is sent to police custody

for 14 days.

June 30, 2008

Krishna's lawyer approaches a Ghaziabad court for bail. Bail is refused as the court that was

approached does not have sufficient powers in this case.

CBI joint director in charge of the investigation, Arun Kumar, is recalled to his original cadre in

Uttar Pradesh.

June 31, 2008

News channel AAJ TAK, airs reports that Vijay Mandal, a new face, is also involved in the Noida

double murder.

July 2, 2008

Dr. Rajesh Talwar is produced before special magistrate, CBI court, Ghaziabad again. His bail

plea is rejected and his judicial custody extended till July 11, 2008. CBI says he is still among the

suspects.

July 3, 2008

The Supreme court of India rejects a public interest litigation (PIL) case challenging the

administration of narco-analysis test on the accused. A bench headed by Justice Altamas

Kabir refuses to hear the petion, as the petitioner, a lawyers' body, was an unregistered entity.

July 6, 2008

An English daily [9] reveals that on the night the murders were committed, the couple Dr. Rajesh

and Dr. Nupur left their flat around midnight and came back around 5 AM. They were at a high

society party for which 12 suites were booked in a posh South Delhi hotel.

July 7, 2008

Dr. Nupur Talwar refutes the allegations regarding their absence on the night of the murders. She

also expresses her intention to take legal action against the media house.

CBI releases an official statement on their site, stating, "A section of media has reported quoting

CBI sources that Dr. Rajesh Talwar and Dr. Nupur Talwar were not present in their house on the

night of 15th May, 2008 and more than a dozen rooms were booked in a hotel in Delhi. It is

clarified that the news item is speculative and not true. Investigation of the case is progressing

diligently."

Some other TV channels debate the merits of her and CBI's affirmations in the light of glaring

gaps in the Talwars' story.

July 9, 2008

Rajkumar, the domestic help of the Durranis, is subjected by CBI to a second narco-analysis test

at FSL Bangalore.

July 10, 2008

News reports on some TV channels suggest that the CBI has had a breakthrough on Rajkumar as

the culprit and has confessed during the narco-analysis test. He is learned to have committed the

murder along with Krishna, Sambhu and Hemraj. The reason for the first murder, as told by

Rajkumar, was lust and Hemraj was killed for fear that he might have disclosed information.

July 11, 2008

Vijay Mandal (alias Sambhu) the servant one of the neighbors of the Talwars is arrested by the

CBI.

In a press conference, Arun Kumar, Joint Director CBI, states that the CBI is awaiting DNA

matching of washed blood stains on Rajkumar's T-shirts. He confirms that the CBI still consideres

this a blind case and expresses the hope that the case will be solved soon.

Dr. Rajesh Talwar and Krishna appear before a special CBI court, Ghaziabad to seek bail. Their

petitions are heard and Dr. Rajesh Talwar is released on bail, for lack of evidence. Eminent

criminal lawyer R. K. Anand undertakes the defence of Krishna.

CBI believes two or three domestic helps and Krishna to be the prime suspects. However,

the forensic evidence is not admissible as evidence in the court.

The murder weapon and the two cellphones respectively of Aarushi and Hemraj are still missing.

July 12, 2008

Dr. Rajesh Talwar is freed on bail from the Dasna Jail in Ghaziabad. The news of his release

brings back widespread media attention to the case.

Vijay Mandal is sent to 3-days' CBI custody by the court of additional chief judicial magistrate

Dinesh Kumar in Ghaziabad [10]. Vijay Mandal has been accused under 302, 201, 120(B) of

the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

July 15, 2008

Vijay Mandal's police custody extended for four more days [11]. The CBI expected to find the

murder weapon and the cellphones of Aarushi and Hemraj with Mandal's help.

July 16, 2008

An association of Nepalese citizens alleges that Krishna and Rajkumar are being pressurized to

make confessional statements [12].

July 18, 2008

CBI has not seized any evidence and is yet to receive a crucial forensic report on accused

Rajkumar, according to media reports. It has weakened the case against the three prime suspects

— Krishna, Rajkumar and Vijay Mandal. The CBI claims near closing of the case when

preliminary reports from Hyderabad's Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, suggests

that identifying the blood on the T-shirt "may or may not be possible", according to media

reports [13]. Separating DNA from garments after a lapse of two months is not always possible,

because of the disintegration of the red blood cells on the cloth.

July 19, 2008

Vijay Mandal sent into police custody for four more days.

July 21

Rastriya Jana Morcha  (RJM) chairman Chitra Bahadur K.C. alleges that the two Nepalese

nationals Krishna Thapa and Rajkumar were falsely accused by the CBI in the case [14], in order to

save Dr. Rajesh Talwar. The party has decided to raise the issue in the Nepalese parliament. The

party will also approach the Nepalese government and the national human rights commission to

save the two.

July 22, 2008

A bench comprising of Justice Altmas Kabir and Justice Markandey Katju of the supreme court of

India instructs the media to be careful[15] in te context of the hearing of a public interest lawsuit that

has raises questions on the media coverage of the high-profile murder case. In the probe, the

character of the victim's parents was hotly debated, especially that of Aarushi's father Rajesh

Talwar who was arrested initially as the main accused. However, no adverse observations were

made about the compounder Krishna and the other two domestic helps Rajkumar and Vijay

Mandal. A distinction seems to have been made according to the accused persons' class and

national identities.

July 25, 2008

The Police custody of the accused Krishna, Rajkumar and Vijay Mandal is extended till August 8.

The three accused are brought to the Ghaziabad court handcuffed and linked by a rope. The

judge objects to the inhuman treatment of the accused and the police officer tenders his

apologies [16].

July 31, 2008

A Hindi channel Aaj Tak airs a news report alleging that Vijay Mandal was drilled with leading

information, prior to the narco-analysis tests. Further, there are allegations that Mandal's

confessions during the narco-analysis tests have many gaps.

August 8, 2008

The Police custody of the accused Krishna, Rajkumar and Vijay Mandal is extended for 14 more

days, as they are now considered the prime accused.

August 9, 2008

CBI director Ashwani Kumar says [17] the case is still unsolved, as many important corroborative

pieces of evidence are yet to be found. However, he fully accepts that it is important that Dr.

Rajesh Talwar be exonerated or the sanctity of our family structure will be been challenged.

September 4, 2009

The Central Forensic Laboratory in Hyderabad releases a report that Aarushi's vaginal samples were

substituted with those of an unknown woman. The correct samples could have helped to establish

who killed the teenager, and whether she was sexually assaulted before being stabbed. The clothes

that Aarushi was found in were soaked in blood. But the forensic lab received clean clothes.

September 14, 2009

Delhi police recovers Aarushi's mobile phone in Bulandshahr. (ref) India TV news 16/7/09 [18]

Jan 5, 2010.

CBI Moves Court to conduct Narco test on Talwar Couple.

May 16, 2010.

A prayer meet is conducted by the Talwars in remembrance of their dead daughter Aarushi who

was killed on May 16, 2008.

July 21, 2010.

Dr.Rajesh Talwar moves the court to have a restraint order passed against the unethical and

misleading information being published by some print media outlets.

CBI reportedly seeking help of foreign forensic labs to crack the two year old case.

December 29, 2010

CBI files closure report in Aarushi murder case. The closure report filed in Ghaziabad court says

Rajesh Talwar is the sole suspect, and that Krishna, Raj Kumar and Mandal are completely

cleared.

January 3, 2011

Ghaziabad court examines the validity of the closure report by CBI citing inadequate evidence

against the suspects in the double murder case.[19] As per CBI, the prime suspect is still Rajesh

Talwar however the motive of this killing is still unknown.

January 25, 2011

Arushi's father, Dr. Rajesh Talwar, is attacked outside court with a cleaver by a youth called Utsav

Sharma in protest against CBI's decision to recall the case and that Utsav was upset that Talwar

was not convicted. Utsav had also in protest attacked former police chief S.P.S. Rathore of the

Ruchika Girhotra case in February 2010 .[20]

[edit]References

CBI report blames Aarushi's dad http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/125209/India/cbi-report-

blames-aarushis-dad.html

1. ̂  "Deputation of CBI officer probing Noida case ends". The Times of India. 2008-06-03. Retrieved 2008-

07-03.

2. ̂  "Spotlight turns on media overkill". Gulf Times. 2008-06-06. Retrieved 2008-06-06.

3. ̂  Correspondent, Special (2008-06-03). "Give Child Victims Due Respect". The Hindu: pp. 11.

Retrieved 2008-06-06.

4. ̂  Singh, Madhur; New Delhi (2008-05-29). "India's JonBenet Ramsey Case?". Time

Magazine. ISSN 0040-718X. Retrieved 2008-06-06.

5. ̂  Bhattacharya, Priyanka (2008-06-16). "Aarushi case makes every Indian curious". NDTV.com,

NATION: pp. 1. Retrieved 2008-07-04.

6. ̂  Baweja, Harinder; New Delhi (2008-06-28). "Two Funerals And A Hundred Blunders". Tehelka

Magazine. Retrieved 2008-06-23.

7. ̂  "Blogs about: Aarushi Hemraj Murder Case". Wordpress.com. 2008-06-24. Retrieved 2008-06-24.

8. ̂  Trapecar M, Balazic J. "Fingerprint recovery from human skin surfaces." Sci Justice. 2007

Nov;47(3):136-40. PMID 18051035

9. ̂  Sharma, Aman (2008-07-06). "TALWARS WERE OUT PARTYING ON NIGHT OF KILLINGS". Mail

Today. pp. cover story. Retrieved 2008-07-07.

10. ̂  Khandelwal, Peeyush (2008-07-12). "Court sends Vijay Mandal to three-day CBI custody". Hindustan

Times. pp. Uttar Pradesh. Retrieved 2008-07-13.

11. ̂  IANS (2008-07-15). "Aarushi murder: Vijay Mandal in CBI custody for four days". The Times of India.

pp. Delhi. Retrieved 2008-07-16.

12. ̂  Dutta, Kapil (2008-07-17). "Nepalis bat for Krishna, Rajkumar". Hindustan Times. pp. Uttar Pradesh.

Retrieved 2008-07-17.

13. ̂  Parashar, Sachin (2008-07-19). "CBI still has no real proof in Aarushi case". The Times of India. pp.

Delhi. Retrieved 2008-07-19.

14. ̂  Roy, Barun (2008-07-21). "Nepal party sees a plot in Aarushi murder case". The Himalayan Beacon.

Retrieved 2008-07-23.

15. ̂  IANS (2008-07-22). "Apex court cautions media in reporting Aarushi murder case". The Economic

Times. pp. Politics/Nation. Retrieved 2008-07-23.

16. ̂  IANS (2008-07-25). "Judicial custody of Aarushi murder accused extended". Theindian News.

Retrieved 2008-07-26.

17. ̂  Parashar, Sachin (2008-08-10). "Probe still on in Aarushi case, says new CBI chief". The Times of

India. pp. Delhi. Retrieved 2008-08-10.

18. ̂  January 1, 2010 Police confirms that Arushi's parents Dr. Rajesh Talwar and Nupur Talwar will

undergo a Narco Test. "Aarushi murder: The huge cover-up". NDTV. pp. India. Retrieved 2009-09-04.

19. ̂  "Aarushi case: Court examine CBI report". IndiaVoice. 2011-1-3. Retrieved 2011-1-3.

20. ̂  "Aarushi's father attacked outside court with a knife". NDTV.

CBI VERSION (Mail Today Bureau | New Delhi, January 1, 2011 | Updated 08:02 IST) Crime scene

was dressed up. Suspicion on inmates of the house as no signs of forced entry Dimensions of the

injuries on Arushi and Hemraj - 8 by 3 cm - match with those of Rajesh's golf club Rajesh was surfing

the internet till 11.50 pm while Arushi was murdered between midnight and 1 am, the post-mortem

report says The door of Arushi's room could be opened from either side. The keys were always with

Nupur The Talwars got Arushi's room washed after asking the UP Police to rush to the railway station

to nab domestic help Hemraj

Candle light march to be held on 31st January, 5 p.m. at India Gate.

The story of the poor who lost their children

Nithari: The police did not file FIR because they lived in a rented house

-- A report by Dr. Pushkar Raj

For the last two years more than forty young children and women went missing from a small urban hamlet of Nithari, at the centre of Noida, a satellite town bordering Delhi (India). The local media regularly covered the incidents of missing children; the National women’s commission of India also took cognisance of the matter but the children continued to vanish in thin air. However, In the last week of the December 2006, by sheer chance some human remains were spotted at the backyard of a palatial house situated at the edge of the village of Nithari. When the spot was searched further what emerged was a chilling tale of cold blooded serial murders that perhaps qualify as the biggest serial killings any where in the world. 

What went wrong?

Dr. Pushkar Raj , National Secretary PUCL, conducted an investigation. 

Background of the incidentsBy the evening of 28 Dec 2006 the poor villagers of the Nithari came to know why there were so many police personnel and television OBs at the edge of the entrance of the road that led to the village. 

The police had found as many as eight human skeletons from the backyards of an imposing white bungalow that stood on the left side of the road. The house belonged to an industrialist Mohinder Singh Pandher, who owns spare part instrument factories. The crowd outside the bungalow looked seemingly numb as police hired workers began searching the drain in front of the house for more human remains. 

As many as 38 people disappeared from the Nithari village for the last two years. These included mostly children , majority of them female. However there were grown ups too who went missing. The poor families who had hoped for their dear ones to come back home looked crestfallen. Their pain increased with the slowly sinking news that their departed ones could be murdered and disposed off as was evident from the emerging human skeletons from the backyard and drain outside the house. 

The Place and People Nithari is a small urban village with a population of about 3500 surrounded by posh sector 30 and 31 bungalows in Noida, a satellite down adjoining Delhi that claims world class infrastructure and living surroundings. In fact the land where the bungalows are built today belonged to the villagers of Nithari. As the mansions around the village began to grow, Nithari began to be turned into a veritable slum. It became home to a huge migrant and floating poor population that included manual laborers, rickshaw pullers, roadside venders, domestic servants and those engaged in other menial jobs. These are the people who subsist on fringe spending of rich living in the areas surrounding the village. They work for them in various capacities from car cleaner to cook though invisible. The average income of these families is just enough to survive. Most of them live in one room rented house in a dingy narrow laned

village leading hand to mouth day-to-day existence. 

Role of the policeThe children began disappearing for the last two years. The parents would approach the police post barely two hundred meters away. There they would be shoed away; their complaint would not be registered, those who persisted would be directed to the police station in sector 20 around ones kilometer away. In the police station the first question that would be asked of the parents by the police personnel was `are you a tenant or have your own house in the village?’

The reason for asking the above mentioned question to the parents by the police to those whose wards went missing was to gauge the economic condition of the complainant and potential for possible community pressure that might follow if a formal complaint is not lodged by the police. It may be mentioned that one child whose parents own a home in the village disappeared from the village two years ago. He was the son of one Ashok Kumar. The villagers had jammed the road for a day then and the police was forced to register a FIR. In case of the rest there was no FIR, and therefore no action.

On hearing from the parents that they were poor, living on a rented accommodation and were asking for police assistance in finding their child not as a matter of right but as a token of benevolence, the police first would ignore them; those who lingered would be abused and ordered to go out of the police station. Those who insisted on registering the complaint would be even beaten up. 

As per the rules, however the police is supposed to register a case on a missing child if he/she is not traced within 24 hours. In that case the obvious presumption based on commonsense is that the said child has been kidnapped. But in the case of Nithari’s poor police neither made use of rulebook nor common sense. 

So there was no report registered and no investigation. The children because they were the children of hapless poor continued to be lured, kidnapped, raped and killed!

The police indifference to the pain and loss of the bereaved families was because of several reasons. One these people were poor and therefore had no courage and confidence to take their complaint further up to the senior officers. Their first and the last resort was the local police station. Two they received no solidarity from the neighbors owing to being migrant, living on a rented house that meant frequent change of accommodation. Three they received no political support. Most of these people have no voting rights. They did not count as electorates. Therefore They did not have a petty local political leader who could voice their complaint. And finally these people were semi- literate and ignorant in regard to their civil and legal rights.

Testimonies of families who lost their children

SoniaSonia is 35, mother of four children originally from west Bengal. She lost her 11 years old son. Her sunken eyes give a peep in her despair and pain as she speaks:

My son Shiekh Raja was nine years old. He studied in 3rd standard at Rosary public school. We ate once in the day but had dream of giving our child good education even beyond what our means permitted. On 29 December 2006 it is two years that he has disappeared. I immediately went to the chowki (local police check post). They told me to go and search for him in orphanages. When I went again they said the child is not in our pocket he will come at his own. When I asked them to register a report they told me to get out of the police station. They abused me in the worst possible language.

They said you people produce so many children and cannot take care of them; some of them are bound to disappear. Having got sick of abuses I stopped going to the police station. I could not take the insult of policemen along the pain of losing my child.

Sunita Sunita (w/o Jaggu Lal , who irons clothes in the locality) and resident of Unnav district of Uttar Pradesh held photograph of her daughter Jyoti when I met her. Tears in eyes with dry skin and eyes and torn slippers in feet she said:

My daughter Jyoti disappeared one year and seven months back. I went to police post on the corner of the chowk (crossing). The constable on duty told me that as the police will look for her and I should also search for her. When I asked him to register a report of disappearance he asked me to write an application giving details of my daughter. I went the next day with the application. He took it and told me to go. I think my application was put in dust bin by him. Later when I went there I could not find the policemen who had heard me earlier. I asked other police men who told me that they did not know about it.

Jaggu Lal (husband of Sunita)

Earlier when I heard that the children were disappearing from the locality I paid no attention on it. To me it was not a news. But when my own daughter disappeared I realized what it is like losing one’s child. I went to the local police station in charge, Superintendent of city police, senior superintendent of police; I even went to Akhilesh Yadav, the son of the Chief Minister and Mayawati, the former Chief Minister. Every one paid lip service. No one was gave a thought that where the children were disappearing. Imagine what else could I do? When SSP RKS Rathor took charge I went to him with some hope. He called the police station in charge. The police in charge lied to him that 15 people had disappeared and 12 of them have been traced. I nailed his lie by providing the SSP list of 17 people who had gone missing and took some of the relatives of the disappeared to meet him. He promised help. But that remained a promise. 

Many of the people whose wards went missing left the village. This was due to the police harassment. When police came visiting their house at odd hours at the pretext of asking information on disappeared ward, the house owner would ask them to vacate the room. No one wants their house to be visited by a police man. This happened to the two families of Rimpa Haldar and Bina Haldar, two girls in their late adolescence who had gone missing and police said that they had eloped.

Karamvir and SunitaMadhu Gautam was 20, daughter of Karamvir and Sunita of Nithari village. She went missing on 12 November 2006. Interestingly the young woman does not find mention in several reports that have surfaced on the incident. Her parents said:

We searched for her everywhere. In every house in the surrounding we went. We went to police too. They said, they could help if she was a child, they cannot do anything about a grown up woman. We felt scared of going to police station after a while because they talked dirty and treated us badly. We kept silent. What could we do?

Murari LalMurari Lal 24, works in a small garment-manufacturing unit. His brother Girdhari Lal 28, who lived in a village in Rai Barelli district of Uttar Pradesh came to visit him two years back. After barely four days when Murari Came back home he found his brother missing. The brothers had no relations in NCR

where Girdhari could go. Neither did he reach back home in village. The other brother went to the police station repeatedly. He said:

The policemen laughed at me. They said how can they find a grown up man; he must be insane. You should go and search in pagalkhana (mental disease asylum). Don’t bother us otherwise we shall lock you up.

SynthiaSynthia w/o James Thapa, a resident of Darjeeling who brought her sister’s daughter about 12 years of age to Noida for getting her better education rues the time when the idea to bring her niece, Nisha came her mind. Holding an infant of about six months in her lap in the course of conversation she defensively says that she is an Indian and not a Nepali. She said:

My niece Nisha went missing at around 9 in the morning. We searched for her till around 2 in the afternoon. At last we went to the police post at the crossing. There the policeman said that I should come to the police station at 8 o’clock in the evening with the photograph of the girl. My husband and I went to the police station. They gave us a piece of paper and said that the report has been written. Later when we would go to the police to find out about our niece they would say that they are trying to find her, and she would come back. How many times could I go alone in a police station to hear the same answer.

Nand LalThe father of another victim Payal whose cell phone call trace helped police to zero on to the house of the serial killer accused, had to face humiliation and threats as he persisted in getting a report registered on his daughter’s disappearance. He said:

My daughter went missing on 7 May 2006. She was carrying my phone. She told me that she was going to D-5 sector 31 for looking for a job for her brother. When till late night she did not come back, I went looking for her. Next day I went to the police station. I told them that she had gone to meet Surender at D-5 house. They paid no attention to me. I kept going to the police station. On fourth day they told me that my daughter was a characterless woman and mocked at me. They told me to run away from the police station and never come back to bother us. In the end I had to ago to the court. It was beginning of more trouble for the whole family. You will not imagine the humiliation that I have gone through. I don’t want to relive it again.

Dolly Dolly, a woman in early thirties came about 14 years ago from Nadia district of West Bengal. Her husband is a rickshaw puller. Her daughter Rimpa Haldar aged about 14, but looks elder in photograph that she holds, disappeared on one morning of January 2005. She does not know the date. She said questioningly:

Why does poor come to city? Only too earn and live. Who is ours in this big city. Who do we know? If anything happens to us we go to police. First time when we went to police they said they would look for her. They wrote her name and took her photograph. But later they did not listen to us. Once a police man asked us accusingly why do we come in big cities with grown up daughters (jinhe jaldi hee shahar kee havaa lag jaati hai aur ghar se bhag jaati hai )who get effected by the fast life of big city and elope with their lovers. They told us that they would inform us when they find her. Tell me what could we do after that?

Rita SarkarRita w/o Tarak Sarkar too lost a daughter. Her name is Deepali Sarkar. She does not remember the

month or the day when she disappeared. Her brother Amar added that it was 18 July 06. She showed me a photograph in pink frock that seemed to be clicked when the girl might have been about six years old. She said:

If Police wanted they could crack the case long back. But police is not for poor. They care if you live in a big house. If you go to police station it is scary. Policemen look at you with contemptuous looks. One police officer R N Singh or Yadav told me that my daughter was not in his pocket that he could give me.

Nageshwar YadavUmesh Kumar was s/o Nageshwar Yadav. He disappeared in March 2004, two days after holi (a popular Hindu festival that falls in the month of March every year). His father is a vegetable seller. Umesh used to study in fourth standard in Kanchan Public School.

Nageshwar left the village and shifted to another colony of Noida after the loss of the son. He came to the place looking for some news about his son when Nithari episode made head lines on television. He said:

It is all fate. I too went to police a few times like rest. They said it was not their job to go after looking for missing children. We are burdened with a lot of other work. However they took my address. They said they would inform me if they would find him.

Police version At the Noida police station, police men refused to entertain any queries regarding the case. The duty officer sub-inspector Yaduraj Singh said that only the command (SSP’s office) is supposed to comment on the case. However at the record section of the police station the in charge constable Ganga Ram admitted that as a rule there were no FIR’s in the cases of disappearances whether that be child or the adult. He provided PUCL with a yellow wall poster that mentioned names of twelve victims of disappearance. The poster mentions four disappearances during 10 April 2006 to 7 May 2006. It is notable that Payal, the victim whose cell phone record nailed the accused, disappeared on 7 May 2006.

Former police SSP Piyush Mordia denied that there was any negligence from police side. ` FIR on missing cases as an unwritten rule are not registered’, he said. The present police superintendent RKS Rathore admitted that there were lapses on the part of the police and the guilty have been punished. In any case the CBI is working out the case, he added.

Political leadership’s version All major political party representatives visited the village and expressed shock at the incident and demanded a through probe into the case. Some political parties called it a blot on civilisation and others demanded dismissal of the state government. However the ruling party’s minister and brother of the Chief Minister, Shiv Pal Singh Yadav who visited the site of the incident had words of praise for the police and termed it one of the many incidents that keep happening in a big state! 

Conclusion Nithari incident is a reflection of the functioning of the police system in the large part of our country. It highlights the deep rooted insensitivity among police personnel at various levels of the police organization. It assumes sinister proportions when a crime is committed against poor people. 

The incident of Nithari brings forth in open the criminal negligence and insensitivity of the local police towards the crime and the families of the victims. 

Many innocent lives could be saved had the local police took serious note of the regular disappearances from a small urban village of 3500 people. In between 7 May 2006 and 10 May 2006 as many as four people including Payal disappeared. It is unusual that police failed to see a pattern of disappearances. 

In two and half years as many as 9 heads changed as in charge of the local police station under whose jurisdiction was Nithari village. In a way no one felt responsible and accountable for what was going around. Each officer seemed to be biding his time to give way to another to preside over the police station that seemed to be run at the whim and fancy of unknown. 

The police did not take action because the victims belonged to poor families. They neither could bribe the police nor exert any other influence to prompt the police to act against their complaint. 

The families of the victims did not receive any community support because they were migrant workers and did not own a house in the village.

The lower level police official’s behaviors with the families of the victims was inhuman, pathetic and condemnable.

The senior officers failed to take note of the crime and failed miserably in their supervisory and leadership responsibilities.

Demands The incident of Nithari must prompt central government to look into the state of policing in the country. It must seriously initiate measures to bring police reforms as per the recent Supreme Court guidelines.

As we have the `crime against women’ cells so should there be created a `crime against children’ cell at the district level in all the police stations of the country, especially in the urban areas where crime against children are more rampant. This becomes pertinent in the light of the a UN sponsored report that states that as many as 45000 children went missing in the country in the year 2004; of these 11000 were never traced. 

The scope of the investigation by CBI should include the role of the police negligence in the incidence at all levels and the accountability must be fixed; the guilty policemen should be charge sheeted and punished within a specific time period so that it serves as an example for future. 

The incident shows that the institutions like National commission for Women (NCW) failed to take effective steps to stem the misery of the people. Two visits from the representative of a national level institution created to protect the rights of women did not bear any fruit. Is there something wrong in mandate, power and functioning of such statutory bodies? There institutions must be reformed positively so that they become useful to the people and do not remain paper tigers. 

As per the reports and deposition of the local people as many as more than 40 children went missing from Nithari. However the CBI has registered cases on only 19 cases. CBI must investigate all the cases and bring the truth of the matter.

2G spectrum scamFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 2G spectrum scam involved officials in the government of India illegally undercharging mobile

telephony companies for frequency allocation licenses, which they would use to create2G subscriptions

for cell phones. According to a report submitted by the Comptroller and Auditor General based on money

collected from 3G licenses, the loss to the exchequer was  176,379 crore (US$38.27 billion). The issuing

of the 2G licenses occurred in 2008, but the scam came to public notice when the Indian Income Tax

Department investigated political lobbyist Niira Radia and the Supreme Court of India took Subramaniam

Swamy's complaints on record.

In 2008, the Income Tax department, after orders from the ministry of Home and the PMO, began tapping

the phones of Niira Radia. This was done to help with an ongoing investigation into a case where it was

alleged that Niira Radia had acted as a spy[1].

Some of the many conversations recorded over 300 days were leaked to the media. The intense

controversy around the leaked tapes, became known in the media as the Radia tapes controversy. The

tapes featured some explosive conversations between Politicians, Journalists and Corporate Houses.

Politicians from Karunanidhi to Arun Jaitley[citation needed], journalists like Barkha Dutt and Vir Sanghvi and

Industrial groups like the Tata's were either participants or mentioned in these explosive tapes.

Contents

 [hide]

1 Parties involved

o 1.1 Politicians involved

o 1.2 Bureaucrats involved

o 1.3 Corporations involved

o 1.4 Media persons and Lobbyists involved

2 Shortfall of money

3 Relationship between media and government

o 3.1 Ratan Tata petitions over leak

4 Response to scam

5 References

6 External links

[edit]Parties involved

The selling of the licenses brought attention to four groups of entities - politicians who had the authority to

sell licenses, bureaucrats who implemented and influenced policy decisions, corporations who were buying

the licenses, and media professionals who mediated between the politicians and the corporations on behalf

of one or the other interest group.

[edit]Politicians involved

A. Raja , the Ex-Minister of Communications and Information Technology who was the minister when

the controversial second round of spectrum allocations took place. Mr.Raja, an MP of the Dravida

Munnetra Kazhagam from the Nilgiris constituency, was forced to resign following the public outcry.

Subramaniam Swamy , activist lawyer and politician, whose letters to the Prime Minister demanding

action and affidavits and cases in the Supreme Court bought the issue into the public limelight.

Arun Shourie , the minister for Telecom during 2003 in the previous BJP regime. It was Arun Shourie

who introduced the controversial technology neutral "Unified Access License", which allowed fixed line

operators who had paid much lower license fees to offer mobile phone services, at first in the limited

WLL mode (Wireless in Local Loop) and later, following an out of court settlement between mobile

operators and the BJP govt, full mobility. This gave an advantage to players like Reliance and Tata

Teleservices who managed to get mobile spectrum without paying the hefty fees that earlier operators

like BPL Mobile had paid.

Pramod Mahajan , the minister for Telecom between 1999 and 2003. Mr.Mahajan was the minister

when the BJP Government took the controversial decision to shift from a license fee based regime to a

revenue sharing model which was roundly condemned both by political parties and by economic

experts.[2] The Comptroller and Auditor General also filed adverse reports citing a loss of over 

64,000 crore (US$13.89 billion) caused by this decision. The crux of A. Raja's defence is that he was

following a policy of 2G allocations put in place by the BJP and it would be unfair to levy prices based

on 3G spectrum to 2G licenses. Pramod Mahajan, who was seen to be friendly with various corporate

houses, had been bought in to replace Jagmohan as Telecom minister just days before the decision

was announced. The biggest beneficiary of this abrupt shift in policy was Reliance Infocomm who

gained thousands of crores of spectrum without paying a dime in additional license fees. Pramod

Mahajan and his cronies are reported to have received benami shares of Reliance Industries as a

"gift"[3]

[edit]Bureaucrats involved

S Behuria , former telecom secretary who served in the DOT at the time of the 2G allocation.

Pradip Baijal , a bureaucrat who is alleged to have implemented policies that favored certain Telecom

companies when he was heading the TRAI. Post retirement, Baijal joined Noesis, a consulting firm

promoted by Niira Radia[4][5][6]. A Raja has made references to Baijal's decisions in 2003 as the basis for

his decisions in 2008. The houses and offices of the bureaucrat were recently raided by the Central

Bureau of Investigation as part of their investigations.[7].

[edit]Corporations involved

Unitech Group  a real estate company entering the telecom industry with its 2G bid; sold 60% of its

company stake at huge profit to Telenor after buying licensing (Including land values properties for

towers)[8]

Swan Telecom  sold 45% of its company stake at huge profit to Emirates Telecommunications

Corporation (Etisalat) after buying licensing[8]

Loop Mobile

Videocon Telecommunications Limited

S Tel

Reliance Communications

Sistema Shyam Mobile (MTS) – Sistema Mobile Russia

Tata Communications

[edit]Media persons and Lobbyists involved

Nira Radia , a former airline entrepeneur turned corporate lobbyist whose conversations with politicians

and corporate entities were recorded by the government authorities and leaked creating the Nira Radia

tapes controversy

Barkha Dutt , an NDTV journalist alleged to have lobbied for A. Raja's appointment as minister

Vir Sanghvi , a Hindustan Times editor alleged to have edited articles to reduce blame in the Nira Radia

tapes

[edit]Shortfall of money

A. Raja arranged the sale of the 2G spectrum licenses below their market value. Swan Telecom, a new

company with few assets, bought a license for  1,537 crore (US$333.53 million).[9] Shortly thereafter, the

board sold 45% of the company to Etisalat for  4,200 crore (US$911.4 million). Similarly, a company

formerly invested in real estate and not telecom, the Unitech Group, purchased a license for 

1,661 crore (US$360.44 million) and the company board soon after sold a 60% stake in their wireless

division for  6,200 crore (US$1.35 billion) to Telenor.[9] The nature of the selling of the licenses was that

licenses were to be sold at market value, and the fact that the licenses were quickly resold at a huge profit

indicates that the selling agents issued the licenses below market value.

Nine companies purchased licenses and collectively they paid the Ministry of Communications and

Information Technology's telecommunications division  10,772 crore (US$2.34 billion).[9] The amount of

money expected for this licensing by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India was 

176,700 crore (US$38.34 billion).[10]

[edit]Relationship between media and government

Main article: Nira Radia tapes controversy

Media sources such as OPEN and Outlook reported that Barkha Dutt and Vir Sanghvi knew that corporate

lobbyist Nira Radia was influencing the decisions of A. Raja.[11] The critics alleged that Dutt and Sanghvi

knew about corruption between the government and the media industry, supported this corrupt activity, and

suppressed news reporting the discovery of the corruption.[11]

[edit]Ratan Tata petitions over leak

The tapes leaked to the public include conversations between Nira Radia and Ratan Tata. Tata petitioned

the government to acknowledge his right to privacy and demanded accountability for the leak, with

the Minister for Home Affairs, CBI, Indian Income Tax Department, the Department of Telecommunication,

and the Department of Information Technology as respondents in the petition.[12]

[edit]Response to scam

In early November 2010 Jayalalithaa accused the Tamil Nadu state chief minister M Karunanidhi of

protecting A. Raja from corruption charges and called for A. Raja's resignation.[13] By mid November A.

Raja resigned.[14]

In mid November the comptroller Vinod Rai issued show-cause notices to Unitech, S Tel, Loop Mobile,

Datacom (Videocon), and Etisalat to respond to his assertion that all of the 85 licenses granted to these

companies did not have the up-front capital required at the time of the application and were in other ways

illegal.[15] Some media sources have speculated that these companies will receive large fines but not have

their licenses revoked, as they are currently providing some consumer service.[15]

In response to the various allegations , the Govt of India has replaced the then incumbent Telecom minister

,A Raja with Kapil Sibal who has taken up this charge in addition to being the Union minister for Human

Resources Development.Mr Sibal contends that the "notional" losses quoted are a result of erroneous

calculations and insists that the actual losses are nil.[16][17]