98 kg gold, Rs.12 crore cash found in Sathya Sai Baba's chamber

Hyderabad, June 17 (IANS) Around Rs.12 crore in cash and nearly 100 kg of gold were found from Yajur Mandir, the personal chamber of late spiritual guru Sathya Sai Baba, at Prashanti Nilayam in Puttaparthi of Anantapur district, a trust official said.

A day after the Sathya Sai Central Trust opened the locks of Yajur Mandir, trust member and Baba's nephew R.J. Ratnakar Friday evening announced details of the cash and valuables found inside.

He told reporters at Puttaparthi that they found Rs.11.56 crore, 98 kg gold and 307 kg silver. Ratnakar said the cash would be deposited with State Bank of India (SBI).

Some bank officials and about 15 disciples of Baba, in the presence of trust members, have since Thursday counted the cash and valued the gold jewellery.

Ratnakar, however, denied that they found any will of Baba. He also evaded queries if the trust found any documents about Baba's personal caregiver Satyajit. There are speculations that the spiritual guru wanted Satyajit to be a member of the powerful trust.

Yajur Mandir, also known as Yajurveda Mandir, had remained closed ever since Sathya Sai Baba was hospitalised March 28 with multi-organ dysfunction. He died April 24.

The trust, which manages the huge spiritual empire led by Baba, owns assets in Puttaparthi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and other cities.

Ulfa ready to announce ceasefire

GUWAHATI: The Arabinda Rajkhowa-led pro-talks faction of Ulfa is set to declare ceasefire formally to pave the way for peace talks with the Centre.

"Our general council has decided to declare ceasefire either by the end of this month or the first week of July,'' Ulfa deputy commander-in-chief Raju Baruah, who's with the Rajkhowa faction, said on Sunday.

A senior police official involved in the peace process with Ulfa confirmed the announcement. ``The ceasefire declaration by Ulfa is expected soon after some formalities are completed. This will be followed by signing of the suspension of operation between the government and Ulfa. This may happen either in the third or fourth week of July. The ceasefire ground rules will be finalized at the same time,'' he said.

The official said once Ulfa signs the suspension of operation, it has to deposit all weapons in its possession. ``So far, there has not been any problem in carrying forward the peace process with the Ulfa's pro-talks faction, led by its chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa. Its members have managed to keep their weapons in control. Besides, there has not been any report of misuse of arms by them,'' he said.

On Saturday, Ulfa's pro-talks faction spokesman, Mrinal Hazarika, had told TOI that they would not lay down arms. However, Hazarika had made it clear that Ulfa had no problem in declaring a formal ceasefire and sign the suspension of operation.

There has been an informal suspension of operation against Ulfa ever since Rajkhowa and his top aides, including Raju Baruah, were held in Bangladesh and brought to India in 2009.

In February this year, an eight-member Ulfa delegation, led by Rajkhowa, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chidambaram and home secretary G K Pillai and began the process of dialogue after three decades of insurgency. Though Rajkhowa and several top leaders of Ulfa favour a negotiated settlement, the elusive military boss of the outfit, Paresh Baruah, is still opposing the peace process.

TOI

Govt, civil society members meet on Lokpal Bill

NEW DELHI: The joint drafting committee on Lokpal Bill met here on Monday amid hardening of stand by the government and civil society on the contentious issue of bringing under its ambit the Prime Minister, judiciary and the conduct of MPs inside Parliament.

Except for civil society member Justice Santosh Hegde, all members of the ten member committee attended the meeting at finance minister Pranab Mukherjee's office in North Block.

The meeting comes in the backdrop of a shrill exchange of words between both sides on contentious issues and government making it clear that it was opposed to bringing the Prime Minister under the ambit of the Lokpal.

The government is also opposed to bringing judiciary and the conduct of MPs inside Parliament. The civil society side led by Anna Hazare, however, wants these under the anti- corruption ombudsman.

"We will try to settle the issues as much as possible. There are six issues on which we have differences of opinion," Hegde, who did not attend today's meeting, said.

During the last meeting on June 15, government nominees had asked the civil society members to present their draft while they will present theirs as there was no forward movement. It was also decided that a draft bill will go to the Cabinet along with points of divergence.

In an indication that the Congress had hardened its stand, party chief Sonia Gandhi sent a terse letter to Hazare indicating her unhappiness with him for making his letter public and said she has already made her views "clear" on issues raised him.

Today's deliberations could be the last meeting of the joint committee and another round will be held on Tuesday only if the discussions for an anti-corruption watchdog are not concluded.

TOI

2G scam: SC rejects Kanimozhi's bail plea

NEW DELHI: A special Supreme Court bench on Monday rejected bail pleas of DMK MP Kanimozhi and Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar in the 2G spectrum scam case.

However, the SC gave liberty to Kanimozhi to move to trial court afresh for bail after framing of charges in the case.

The apex court said she could invoke section 437 of criminal procedure code which provides for grant of bail to women in cognizable offences. This means Kanimozhi and other accused, including A Raja and corporate biggies, must wait in jail for framing of charges before they can move fresh bail pleas.

The case was heard by a bench headed by Justice GS Singvi, who has been monitoring the case since the beginning and had asked searching questions to the government on the role of several influential people in the multi-crore scam.

Kanimozhi and Kumar have been accused by the CBI to be involved in the illegal transaction of Rs 200 crore to Kalaignar TV which was alleged to be a bribe given by a telecom operator which had benefited in the scam, PTI reported.

The CBI in its affidavit filed in the apex court opposed their bail pleas on the ground that if released, they could tamper with evidence and influence witnesses.

Earlier two judges -- P Sathasivam and AK Patnaik -- before whom the matter was listed had recused themselves from the high-profile case.

Instead, Justice Singhvi, whose bench has been monitoring the case, will on Monday hold a special hearing along with Justice BS Chauhan to decide the bail.

According to informed sources, justices P Sathasivam and A K Patnaik conveyed their decision to recuse to Chief Justice SH Kapadia, following which he constituted another bench.

Opposing the bail plea, the probe agency contended in its affidavit that Kanimozhi and Kumar were key conspirators and Rs 200 crore transferred to Kalaignar TV was part of the "bribe" amount and not a loan as claimed by the accused.

The central agency submitted the special CBI court and later the Delhi high court carefully evaluated material evidence and other factors to refuse bail to them.

The apex court had on June 13 agreed to hear their bail plea and asked CBI to explain where the Rs 200 crore, allegedly diverted to DMK-owned Kalaignar TV in 2G scam, has gone and also to file a response on their bail pleas in a week's time.

The court had also asked CBI to come out with a status report on the loss to the state exchequer due to the award of 13 licences to one of the telecom operators and trial proceedings in the CBI special court.

Kanimozhi and Kumar had moved the apex court seeking bail on June 10 challenging the Delhi high court verdict that rejected their bail on the ground that they have strong political connections and the possibility of them influencing witnesses cannot be ruled out.

TOI