Deferment will prolong Ayodhya issue: Owaisi

Sep,25, Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi Thursday apprehended that further deferment of the Ayodhya verdict’s pronouncement by the Allahabad High Court would unnecessarily prolong the issue.Ruling out any compromise on the matter, Owaisi said the people of the country have the right to know the truth.“Where is the question of compromise when both the parties have already ruled out the same,” asked Owaisi, reacting to thme Supree Court deferring the Ayodhya verdict till Sep 28.The Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) chief told IANS that the deferment was unnecessary as it served no purpose and would, in fact, prolong the issue. “Our fear is that if Justice Dharam Veer Sharma (of the high court) retires before the verdict is pronounced, the issue will again get prolonged,” Owaisi said.Justice Sharma, one of the three judges of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court that is to give its ruling on the Ayodhya verdict, is retiring on Oct 1. Legal experts say that if the verdict is not pronounced before his retirement, the hearing would have to take place all over again.“This issue is going on for 50 to 60 years. The people of this country have a right to know what is the truth,” Owaisi, a barrister, contended.He felt that the Supreme Court deferring the verdict was unnecessary, especially when the Muslim Personal Law Board and others have already stated that the verdict would be acceptable to them.Asked if Muslims would approach a larger bench of the Supreme Court against the deferment, Owaisi said it was for the Muslim Personal Law Board to take a decision. “But I think since there are only four days for the next hearing we should wait and see,” the MP added.
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Court dismisses pleas for postponing Satyam trial

Sep,25, A special court hearing the multi-crore Satyam fraud case Friday dismissed the petitions of three accused for postponing the trial against them.The XXI Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court dismissed the petitions of former Satyam chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas, and two other employees of the company on the ground that they were devoid of merit.Srinivas, D. Venkatapathi Raju and Ch. Srisailam sought postponement of the hearing on framing of charges till the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) files the fourth chargesheet in the case.They moved the petitions as the court, which has already heard CBI’s arguments on framing of charges, was to hear the arguments from all 10 accused.CBI’s Special Public Prosecutor K. Surender opposed the pleas on the ground that the investigating agency never said that it would file a fourth chargesheet.He told the court that investigations were on and if the CBI finds evidence it would file another chargesheet. He also pointed out that the court had already rejected a similar petition by another accused.Magistrate B.V.L.N. Chakravarti ruled that the petitions were devoid of merit and not tenable under law.Founder and chairman of Satyam Computer Services B. Ramalinga Raju, the prime accused in the Rs.14,000-crore accounting fraud, has also filed a similar petition seeking postponement of trial till the CBI completes its investigation.The CBI has already opposed the petition, saying it was yet another attempt by the accused to delay the trial. The final arguments on the petition are likely on Sep 29.Ramalinga Raju had shocked corporate India by confessing massive accounting fraud in the IT bellwether.All 10 accused in the case have already been granted bail by the court.
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Volkswagen ex-official, five others charged with fraud

Hyderabad, Sep 25 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Saturday formally filed charges against six people, including former Volkswagen executive Helmuth Schuster, in a case of defrauding the Andhra Pradesh government.The investigating agency, which took up the probe in 2005, filed the 150-page charge sheet in the CBI court here. It examined 59 witnesses. The name of state Panchayati Raj Minister B. Satyanarayana, however, did not figure in the charge sheet. He was then holding the industries portfolio and the opposition had alleged his involvement. The 56-year-old Schuster is on the run since the scam broke, and has been placed on the wanted list of the CBI. An Interpol notice was issued against him in 2005. The other accused include Volkswagen's former India representative Ashok Jain, businessmen Bhuwan Kumar Chaturvedi, Jagdish Alaga Raja and his sister Gayatri, who in collusion with Schuster had floated a fictitious firm to cheat the state government. The accused have been charged under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of Indian Penal Code, CBI official S. Venkatesh told reporters outside Nampally Criminal Court complex. The accused started Vashishta Wahan Private Ltd (the firm's initials are VW, the same as that of the German car maker) to receive Rs.11 crore from the state government for setting up its plant at Visakhaptanam. The scam hit the headlines in 2005 when Volkswagen sacked Schuster on charges of corruption in some other dealings. Schuster was negotiating on behalf of Volkswagen with the state government for setting up the car plant since early 2004 when the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) was in power. Later, the Congress government continued the talks. In January 2005, the state government received a letter from Schuster. Typed on Volkswagen letterhead, it confirmed that the company was going ahead with the project. For a joint venture with the government, Schuster sought transfer of 2 million Euros to Vashishta Wahan, which he claimed was the Indian arm of Volkswagen. The Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC), a government organisation, made the payment. Volkswagen later denied that Vashishta Wahan was its Indian arm or it received the payment. Ashok Jain had registered Vashishta Wahan with the Registrar of Companies. He wrote to the ROC in January 2005 that he was stepping down as promoter and director. The company was later registered in the name of Bhuwan Kumar Chaturvedi of Gurgaon and Jagdish Alaga Raja of Chennai. After the scam broke out top officials of Volkswagen had visited Hyderabad to clarify that the company had nothing to do with Vashishta Wahan. They tendered a moral apology for the wrongdoings of Schuster and offered to return the money the government paid to Schuster. Then Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy had refused to accept the money and instead urged Volkswagen to set up its plant in Andhra Pradesh. The auto giant later dumped the southern state and choose Maharashtra for locating its unit. Meanwhile, Satyanarayana told reporters that he was relieved at getting a clean chit. He accused the opposition TDP of resorting to character assassination by making baseless allegations against him.
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Two-year-old crushed under school bus

Hyderabad, Sep 25 : A two-year-old girl playing outside her house was crushed under a school bus here Saturday, police said.The girl was playing in front of her residence in Attapur neighbourhood when she came under the rear wheels of the mini bus that was reversing. Eye witnesses said the bus driver failed to spot the little girl. She sustained serious injuries and succumbed before she could be shifted to hospital. The child's parents were inconsolable. The accident sent shock waves in the residential locality. The bus driver fled soon after the accident. Police said they have registered a case. Residents said there was nobody on the bus to help the driver and the negligence of the school authorities led to the accident. In a similar incident, a school child came under the wheels of his school bus while alighting from the vehicle near his house.
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Man held for killing former girlfriend

Hyderabad, Sep 25 : Police have arrested one Shekhar for allegedly murdering his junior Divya in his apartment at Hill colony in Vanasthalipuram.Shekhar, an engineer, was arrested along with his parents three days back from the city, Police Commissioner S Prabhakar Reddy told reporters at a conference here yesterday. Divya and Shekhar were close friends for the past three years but the two were not on good terms for the past six months after Divya befriended another student who was her former schoolmate.Shekhar, who had completed his B Tech last year, could not ''digest'' that Divya was seeing someone else, following which he bore a grudge and planned to murder her.On September 19, he invited her on the pretext of sorting out differences. He smashed her head with a baseball bat, clubbed her to death and fled the scene, the police said. Shekhar has reportedly confessed to the crime and said she had betrayed him. ''I returned the love letters that Divya wrote to me, but she did not return the letters which I wrote to her,'' police quoted Shekhar as saying.''She used to taunt me as drugaddict and a mad fellow ever since she started seeing Pradeep. So, I killed her,'' police quoted Shekhar as saying.
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