DECEMBER 25, 2011 nation NIA files charges Prose flew on Pash

| nation | 7SUNDAY, HINDUSTAN TIMES, CHANDIGARHDECEMBER 25, 2011

ARRESTED BKIMEN HAD HIREDCADRES TO KILLLEADERS: COPS Karn Pratap Singh ■karn.singh@hindustantimes.com

NEW DELHI: A day after the DelhiPolice arrested two Babbar KhalsaInternational (BKI) militants, the interrogation has revealed that they have recruit-ed some new cadres to execute plot to assassinate threereligious leaders in Punjab andHaryana, police said.

Sarabpreet Singh andJaswinder Singh were arrestedfollowing inputs that BKI was trying to set-up its base in Delhi for executing their plan during the upcoming Punjabelections. A thorough examina-tion of the laptop recovered fromthe arrested militants has provid-ed the police some clues about theidentity of those who have beenrecruited.

“We have got some importantclues from the laptop and are examining it further to getmore evidences. During interrogation Sarabpreet disclosedthat he carried out the recruitingassignment on the instructions ofBKI chief Wadhwa Singh,” said asenior police officer, adding thatthey have sent a team to Punjabto trace the newly recruited BKImilitants.

The officer, however, refused toshare details about the number ofrecruited persons. “This wouldhamper our investigation and wedon’t want to lose this terror trail,the officer added.

Sarabpreet, who was arrestedfrom his rented accommodationin northwest Delhi’s Shalimar Baghwas also given the task by his han-dlers to create a base for the BKIin Delhi.

Master stroke

■ Pt Ravi Shankar Upadhyay at the 136th Shree BabaHarivallabh Sangeet Sammelan in Jalandhar on Saturday.

PARDEEP PANDIT/ HT

HT Correspondent■ letters@hindustantimes.com

NEW DELHI: The NationalInvestigation Agency has for-mally charge-sheeted Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative DavidHeadley, LeT founder HafeezSaeed and seven others onSaturday for their roles in the26/11 Mumbai attacks that left164 people dead and at least atleast 308 wounded.

The charge-sheet also coveredthe larger conspiracy of Pakistanispy agency ISI, and LeT to attackBhabha Atomic ResearchCentre, offices of national carri-er Air India, government officesin Mumbai, Chabad houses indifferent cities and the NationalDefence College in Delhi afterthe Mumbai attacks.

On November 26, 2008,Pakistan-based terroristslaunched more than 10 coordi-nated shooting and bombingattacks across Mumbai. AjmalKasab, the lone attacker arrest-ed alive, later claimed that theirmission had the support ofPakistan's spy agency, the ISI.

Filed in a special court inPatiala House here three daysafter the Centre gave sanctionto prosecute all the nine accused— seven Pakistanis and two

Pakistani-origin citizens of theUS and Canada — the charge-sheet also named the attack mas-termind, Zaki-ur-RehmanLakhvi, Headley's accompliceTahawwur Rana and al-Qaedaoperative Illyas Kashmiri.

Sajid Malik, handler ofHeadley, and Abdul RehmanHashmi, a former Pakistani armyofficer, were also named besidestwo serving officers.

According to the charge-sheet,Headley and Rana, both mem-bers of LeT, were placed in a posi-tion where they could providetactical, material and financialsupport for carrying out attacksin India and other places.

But the NIA ruled out the pos-sibility of them having any localsupport. “All local contacts ofPakistani-American nationalDavid Coleman Headley werenot aware of his real intentions,”said an official .

During the investigation, morethan 300 witnesses were exam-ined and evidence was collectedfrom several sources.

Both Headley and Rana are atpresent in the custody of the USauthorities. The NIA got only alimited access to Headley, whohad entered into a plea bargainto escape harsh sentence andextradition to India.

NIA files chargesagainst Headley,LeT chief for 26/11

J Dey murder: Court rejectsVora’s plea seeking media gagMUMBAI: A special court onSaturday rejected the applica-tion by Jigna Vora, arrested inconnection with the murder ofJyotirmoy Dey, seeking todirect media to quote sourcesof their information while pub-lishing stories regarding thecrime. “The judge observedthat no order can be passedagainst the media as it is not aparty," said special publicprosecutor Dileep Shah. HTC

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

“We finished a chapter at thelake itself, while drinking a PeterScott (whiskey) bottle given byMilkha,” writes Sandhu.

They also wrote a fictionalinterview with Milkha, which waslater published in Akali Patrika,a Punjabi daily from Jalandhar.The book eventually took threeor four months to complete.

“Pash’s prose, sentence struc-ture and imagination are amaz-ing in the book. Milkha’s ghost-written autobiography is a mile-stone in Punjabi sports writing,”says Sandhu. The lyricist writes

that the book was an instant hitand would be often gifted onbirthdays. It was translated intoEnglish by eminent writerKhushwant Singh.

Milkha could not be contact-ed for comment.

REBEL WITHOUT PAUSEIk Pash Eh Vi features stories

and anecdotes behind the cre-ation of Pash’s poems. It also hassome unpublished poems, letters,notes and articles of the poet,whose real name was Avtar SinghSandhu. Known for his viewsagainst Sikh militancy, Pash was

killed at the age of 37 by Khalistaniterrorists in his native village,Talwandi Salem, in Jalandhardistrict on March 23, 1988(Incidentally, Shaheed BhagatSingh attained martyrdom thatday in 1931).

The book also reveals thatwhen Pash was kept in solitaryconfinement in the Jalandharjail in a false case of murder, hewas not allowed to write or read.Pen and papers were smuggledto him in packets carryingbananas and oranges. And hewrote some of his best poemsfrom the jail.

Prose flew on Pash’s wings Pay R7 lakh to PravinMahajan's wife: panelMUMBAI: The Maharashtragovernment has been askedto pay R7 lakh compensa-tion to Pravin Mahajan'swidow by the State HumanRights Commission for theexpenses incurred in histreatment following thenegligence of jail authori-ties. The panel has alsoasked the government toconduct an inquiry againstthe medical officers.

11 school kids hurt in roadmishap due to fogBASTI: Eleven children wereinjured, six of them serious-ly, when the jeep in whichthey were on their way toschool dashed against a sta-tionary tractor-trolley inSiddhartnagar district dueto dense fog on Saturdaymorning, police said. Themishap occurred nearKahdanu crossing, they said.

Youth beaten to death in suburban MumbaiMUMBAI: A 22-year-old manwas allegedly beaten todeath by residents of achawl in Vikhorli, suspect-ing him to be a thief, policesaid. The incident tookplace in the wee hours ofSaturday, when a local resi-dent Arjun Gorkha hadtried to enter a chawl inVikhroli in Mumbai.

shortstories White Christmas

eludes Shimla again SHIMLA: Dashing all the hopes oflocals and tourists for a whiteChristmas, snowfall yet againfailed to keep its date with the“Queen of Hills”

Snowfall on Christmas hasbeen eluding the town since 1991when it experienced 49 cm ofsnowfall on the Christmas Eve. With the help of Internetand Metrological department,travel agents and tourists arekeeping a tab on the weatherpattern in the state to beinformed prior to preparing theirvacation to the hill state.

Director of local Metrologicaldepartment Manmohan Singhconfirmed that the weather fore-cast does not predict any snow-fall in the next 24 hours.

The notion of white Christmaswas becoming a rarity, it was in1991 that Shimla experiencedsnow on Christmas, he added.

He said dry weather wouldprevail during the next four days.

Singh said, “This time of theyear we witness an increase inthe number of phone calls frompeople enquiring about weath-er conditions.” HTC

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