Agnivesh accuses Kejriwal of deceit

From Deccan Herald

Social activist Swami Agnivesh levelled serious allegations against Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal, accusing him of diverting over Rs 80 lakh donated by people for Anna Hazare’s agitation to the account of a private trust run by him.

“Donations amounting to Rs 70-80 lakh made for India Against Corruption during Anna Hazare’s 12-day fast at Ramlila Ground in August were diverted into Kejriwal’s private trust Public Cause Research Foundation,” said Agnivesh, who has now parted ways with anti-graft movement. Agnivesh lamented that it is a sad situation and the movement that began to fight corruption is involved in corrupt practices. Agnivesh, who was one of the founding members of the IAC claimed that Kejriwal deliberately delayed the operating of an account in the name of IAC despite several directions from the core committee to do so. “Kejriwal instead saw to it that the contributions to the anti-corruption movement are received in the accounts of his private trust,” he said. According to him, veteran Gandhian Anna Hazare during IAC core committee meeting in his village Ralegan Sidhi in September said that donations should have been received in a proper account of the IAC. Agnivesh’s comments come amidst infighting amongst Team Anna core members, which has deepened in recent days after its anti-Congress stance in the Hisar by-elections and Prashant Bhushan’s position on Kashmir. Earlier on Thursday, an English daily reported that former cop Kiran Bedi, who is a key member of Team Anna, had inflated travel bills when invited by NGOs and other institutions for seminars or meetings. Already two members of the 26 member core committee - Magsaysay award winner Rajendra Singh and Gandhian activist P V Rajagopal resigned from the IAC earlier this week to protest the politicisation of the movement by Kejriwal. Rajendra Singh also described Kejriwal as “autocratic”. Meanwhile, Kejriwal on Saturday said: “Anna Hazare will fast again if the Lokpal bill is not passed in the winter session of Parliament,” warned Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal here Saturday. He said a few days back he had met Anna Hazare “and he told me he was prepared for another fast if the promises made were not kept”.

Kiran Lokpal Bedi buys discount air tickets, gets hosts to pay full fare

From Indian express

Kiran Bedi, one of the most vocal members of Team Anna, who riled Members of Parliament with her Ramlila ghoonghat act, may herself have some explaining to do. The issue: the inflated travel expenses she has been charging NGOs and institutions which invite her for seminars or meetings.
Records of bills, invoices and copies of cheques with The Indian Express show that Bedi, who is entitled to a rebate on Air India tickets as a gallantry award winner, pays discount fares but charges her host institutions the full fare. She has also, at times, claimed Business class fare while flying Economy.
The Indian Express has 12 recorded examples of this, some of which date back to 2006 when Bedi was a serving IPS officer. Her last such travel for which an inflated invoice was sent was as recent as September 29.
Reimbursement cheques for these fares were credited to India Vision Foundation, the NGO headed by Bedi. Her chartered accountant Suresh Vyas said that what was being seen as a “mismatch” was actually a “saving” done by them — with Bedi spending less than what she was reimbursed for. Vyas said the money came in handy for travels for causes for which Bedi got no remuneration.

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According to government guidelines dated February 2001, all gallantry award winners are entitled to 75 per cent discount on Economy class tickets on board Air India. Bedi was awarded the President’s Medal for Gallantry in 1979. Her GA (gallantry award) number is 433.

Consider these instances:

September 29, 2011: Bedi flew Delhi-Hyderabad on Air India (AI 560), then Hyderabad-Chennai (AI 546), in Economy class. The next day, she took a flight back to Delhi (AI 539).
Total fare paid: Rs 17,134.
Invoice generated for: Rs 73,117 (payment is pending).
While Bedi flew Delhi-Hyderabad, onward to Chennai and back to Delhi, the fares being claimed are for Delhi-Hyderabad-Delhi (Economy) and Delhi-Chennai-Delhi (Business class).

May 30, 2011: Flew Delhi-Pune on Kingfisher (IT 150), and returned from Mumbai on Jet Airways (9W 2049) the next day.
Total fare paid: Rs 12,458.
Bill submitted for/amount received: Rs 26,386.
Charities Aid Foundation India paid, HDFC Bank cheque.

November 25, 2010: Flew Delhi-Mumbai on Jet (9W 2205), returned on Air India’s IC 168 the next day.
Total fare paid: Rs 14,097.
Bill submitted for/amount received: Rs 42,109.
First National Montessori Conference paid, SBI cheque.

March 6, 2009: Flew Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi (IC 688, IC 605).
Total fare paid: Rs 12,483.
Bill submitted for/amount received: Rs 32,495.
Mumbai-based Novartis India Ltd paid for Business class fare, Citibank cheque.

December 5, 2008: Flew Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi (IC 688, IC 888).
Total fare paid: Rs 12,614.
Bill submitted for/amount received: Rs 31,387.

March 24, 2007: Then a serving official, Bedi flew Delhi-Bangalore (IC 506); returned the next day on IC 804.
Total amount paid: Rs 9,625.
Bill submitted for/amount received: Rs 29,872.
Indus Trust International School paid, UTI Bank
Ltd cheque.

March 8, 2007: Flew Delhi-Hyderabad-Delhi (IC 940, IC 840).
Total amount paid: Rs 8,331.
Bill submitted for/amount received: Rs 25,163.
Andhra Pradesh Secretariat Women Employees’ Welfare Association paid, State Bank of Hyderabad cheque.

November 21, 2006: Flew Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi (IC 657, IC 166).
Total fare paid: Rs 6,689.
Bill submitted for/amount received: Rs 30,084.
Lehman Brothers Services India Pvt Ld paid for Business class fare, HSBC Ltd cheque.

October 14, 2006: Flew Delhi-Mumbai (IC 602), returned the day after (IC 658).
Total fare paid: Rs 6,691.
Bill submitted for/amount received: Rs 30,085.
Sahara India Commercial paid, Bank of Rajasthan cheque.

October 10, 2006: Flew Delhi-Mumbai (IC 887), took IC 806 back the next day.
Total fare paid: Rs 6,689.
Bill submitted for/amount received: Rs 21,098.
Miditech Private paid, Canara Bank cheque.

May 21, 2006: Flew Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi Economy class (IC 657, IC 658).
Total fare paid: Rs 5,733.
Bill submitted for/amount received: Rs 29,181.
Mumbai-based Dhirubhai Ambani School paid for Business class, ICICI Bank cheque.
May 12, 2006: Flew Delhi-Mumbai
(IC 863), took IC 866 back on May 14.
Total fare paid: Rs 5,733.
Bill submitted for/amount received: Rs 18,085.
Social Legal Information Centre paid, via SBI draft.

BEDI’S CA SURESH VYAS: IT’S ACTUALLY A SAVING
“What appears as a mismatch is actually a saving for the foundation. This is how the travel money is saved with information to the invitee by economising the expenses so that the same is used for travel where invitees for causes of the foundation do not offer travel cost but are valuable to visit.”
BEDI: WE’RE TRANSPARENT, READY TO BE AUDITED
“We follow transparent methods of functioning and volunteer to be questioned or audited. Every penny in our work is accounted for and is for the facilitation of causes we espouse... We have been very conscientious of trust and responsibility... And hence punctual and meticulous in our systems.”

Rift in Team Anna Deepens, more might leave core group

From Ummid
New Delhi: Two resignations and one more in the offing? The core group behind India Against Corruption (IAC) led by Anna Hazare is likely to be whittled down further with Delhi Archbishop Vincent M. Concessao distancing himself from the movement, sources said Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Magsaysay Award winner Rajendra Singh and Gandhian activist P.V. Rajagopal quit the original 26-member panel citing the political activism of Arvind Kejriwal and other leaders of IAC after the campaign against the Congress in the Hisar parliamentary by-poll. Others might follow soon, it is learnt.

The archbishop, who heads the Catholic diocese here, had joined IAC to oppose corruption, a leader in the community told IANS on the condition of anonymity. "As he is the leader of a community that has its members in various parties, he may not join the propaganda for or against any political party."

The archbishop is amongst the 24 core committee members left in the IAC. He is also one of the 20 founding leaders of the IAC.

Other leaders such as Maulana Shamoom Qasmi, who is both a founding leader and a core committee member, also have reservations about the way the movement is going. Muslim religious leaders Mahmood Madani, Syed Rizvi and Syed Shah Fazlur Rahman Waizi, founding committee members, also might part ways, the sources said.

"Some of them may resign, some of them may distance themselves," a source said, adding that they had a good equation with Hazare but had differences with Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and others.

Hazare may intervene to stop the exodus.

The founding leaders' list includes social activist Swami Agnivesh, who dissociated himself a while ago. The 20 "eminent personalities" who started the movement lists two more Hindu religious leaders - Baba Ramdev and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

After the resignation of Rajendra Singh and Rajagopal, the core committee has been left with 24 members. Justice N. Santhosh Hegde, a key member, has of late not been attending meetings, an IAC official said.

Besides Bedi and Kejriwal, the other high profile faces are former law minister Shanti Bhushan, his son and lawyer Prashant Bhushan and environmentalist Medha Patkar.

Manish Sisodia, a former news producer and co-founder of the NGO Kabir that works on creating awareness on the Right to Information (RTI), is another known face.

Those leading the IAC in various states are included too. Mayank Gandhi, for instance, heads the Mumbai team, Chandramohan is from Chennai.

The other activists are Sanjay Singh from Uttar Pradesh, Dinesh Vaghela from Goa, Prithvi Reddy from Bangalore, Manipur-based Akhil Gogoi, Delhi's Swati Maliwal, Haryana's Naveen Jaihind as well as Gopal Rai and former journalist Devinder Sharma.

Asmita theatre group founder Arvind Gaur, poet Kumar Vishwas, Arjuna Award member Sunita Godara are also members as is Art of Living representative Darshak Hathi.

According to its website, the primary focus of IAC movement is to ensure a strong Lokpal bill.

'Wrong to campaign against one party': Team Anna member on why he quit

From NDTV
New Delhi:  Two key associates of anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare quit the core committee of his team yesterday objecting to the movement taking a "political turn". Both Magsaysay Award winner Rajinder Singh and PV Rajagopal did not approve of Team Anna's anti-Congress campaign in Hisar, saying it was not decided in the core committee.

"Without any regard for democratic values, if you start campaigning against one party, it is not right," said  Mr Singh,  who is also known as the 'waterman of India'. He added that he respects the movement, but cannot continue to be a member of the team over his difference of opinion with regards to Team Anna's anti-Congress campaigning during Hisar by-polls. "This is one of the best movements after independence. But after some incidents in the last few days, I have decided that I cannot be a member of this team anymore."

At the recently held by-election in Hisar in Haryana, Team Anna activists campaigned vociferously against the Congress, turning the polls into a prestige point. They asked voters to defeat the Congress to send across the message that unless the party is able to deliver the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill in the winter session of Parliament, bigger elections coming up in the next few months will also humble the Congress. When the results were announced, the party's candidate fared so poorly that he even lost his deposit.

RTI activist and Team Anna's chief strategist Arvind Kejriwal has admitted that differences do exist within their team, but added that they "are not personal." Speaking at NDTV's Indian of the Year Awards in Delhi on Tuesday, Mr Kejriwal said, "The people in the team are all live human beings and they would always have their own opinions. And it is always healthy to have a difference of opinion."

 While much is being talked about the reported infighting within Team Anna, another key Team Anna member Kiran Bedi tried to downplay the matter. "We are team of volunteers and each volunteer is coming for causes of their own. Somebody's coming with a kisan (farmers') movement, somebody for agriculture, somebody for tribal movement, and some for human rights. It's a group of volunteers and therefore you can always volunteer out for your own personal reasons," she said.

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/wrong-to-campaign-against-one-party-team-anna-member-on-why-he-quit-142349&cp

Modi is a criminal who happened to be the Chief Minister : Sanjiv Bhatt

From Ummid

Ahmedabad/New Delhi: In a setback for the Gujarat government, a special court granted bail to suspended police officer Sanjiv Bhatt who has accused Chief Minister Narendra Modi of complicity in the 2002 communal riots. Coming out of jail, the officer said rule of law has prevailed.

Bhatt termed Modi a "criminal" and who can get him killed.

"For me, Modi is a common criminal and who happens to be the chief minister and that doesn't make any difference. As a police officer I see him as a criminal," he told news channel Times Now.

"This government can try to eliminate me as they have done to (former minister) Haren Pandya. They can resort to anything and I am prepared for anything.

"I am a threat to Narendra Modi, his stooges and and his cohorts and they will try to neutralise the threat. If they have to eliminate me, they won't mind doing that," he said.

Earlier, Bhatt walked out of the Sabarmati jail in Ahmedabad amid showering of rose petals and cheering of supporters. He hugged his wife Shweta Bhatt, who was waiting for him outside.

"I am happy that the rule of law has prevailed and this would be a victory for hope," a composed Bhatt told reporters outside the jail.

Sessions Judge V.K. Vyas granted him bail on the condition that Bhatt would cooperate with the investigation and would be present whenever called.

The Indian Police Service (IPS) officer was arrested Sep 30 for allegedly forcing a police constable, K.D. Panth, to sign a false affidavit about his attending a meeting called by Modi soon after the Godhra train burning that sparked the riots.

In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court in April, Bhatt alleged that after the Godhra train carnage, Modi had asked the police at a meeting to allow the majority community to vent their anger against Muslims.

Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid said the court order showed the independence of the legal system.

"No matter how much people speculate and put question marks, ultimately... we have shown our system is independent and it does not get swayed either by public opinion or by any kind of pressure," Khurshid told reporters in New Delhi.

No democracy in Team Anna, says Agnivesh

From The Hindu

Describing Anna Hazare’s campaign as ‘brahminvaad’, activist Swami Agnivesh on Sunday hit out at the Gandhian saying there was “no democracy” in his agitation and dissenting voices were thrown out of the team.

Swami Agnivesh also claimed that the RSS stamp was “very much evident” in the campaign and that he had argued for better representation of Muslims and Dalits to counter this.

He said many of the crucial decisions like opposing Congress in Hisar elections and holding referendum in Union Minister Kapil Sibal’s constituency were not taken by core committee and it was like “Anna and Arvind (Kejriwal) were taking all decisions”.

Claiming that he had argued for better representation of Muslims and Dalits in the anti-corruption, Swami Agnivesh said, “It was brahminvaad. They were not ready to treat everybody as equal. We did not see Dalits or Muslims in Jantar Mantar or Ramlila Maidan where Anna sat on fast”.

Targeting Hazare, he said, “Anna is very individualistic. He never functions in a democratic way. It is like ‘if you fall in line, then it is okay’”.

“None of the big social workers from Maharashtra were part of his campaign,” Swami Agnivesh told PTI in an interview.

He said he had objected to building a “cult around Anna” in the meetings but no one listened.

“People used to say we were foot soldiers. Somebody said Anna is ‘Doosra Gandhi’, then there was Anna is India and India is Anna. When I pointed out these, they did not find any fault with it,” he said.

Swami Agnivesh, who was in the eye of a controversy after a video footage surfaced in which he was heard telling someone that Anna agitation should be dealt with strictly, said there was no democratic way of decision making in Team Anna.

A number of Team Anna members, who attended the September 10-11 Core meeting in Hazare’s village Ralegan Siddhi, said that there no decision was taken to oppose Congress, he claimed.

On allegations that he was a “government mole”, Swami Agnivesh said how can Team Anna assume so when he himself opened the doors of World Council of Arya Samaj office in Sadar Bazar in north Delhi to keep the referendum questionnaire to be distributed in Chandni Chowk, Mr. Sibal’s constituency.

“There was no Core Committee decision to hold a referendum in Chandni Chowk. But one day Mr. Kejriwal told me they don’t have space to keep the questionnaire.

“I opened the doors of Arya Samaj for them. Mr. Sibal was upset that I was supporting them. But now they are calling me government mole.

“In another instance, another member asked me to talk to Law Minister Salman Khurshid as I knew him. I did so at the instance of that member. During the whole Ramlila Maidan agitation, I did not talk to Mr. Sibal. Is it a reason to call me a mole?” Swami Agnivesh said.

He also accused Mr. Kejriwal of misinforming public about the role of Standing Committee in law-making process.

“I spoke to constitutional expert Subhash Kashyap and eminent lawyer Ram Jethmalani. They both said it was an effective platform to improve the Bill.

“When I presented this viewpoint in the Core Committee on August 13, I was asked why did I speak to these people,” he claimed.

“There was a deliberate misinformation campaign against the role of Standing Committee. One should remember that RTI Bill had 156 amendments in the Standing Committee. This is what Mr. Kashyap told me,” he said.

He said he was the lone voice of dissent against Hazare going on a fast-unto-death agitation at Ramlila Maidan.

“It was recorded in the minutes. I insisted that. But Anna was adamant. He was saying one may die of heart attack also, so what is the difference. He was adamant.

“I was for a fast for 5-6 days but not fast-unto-death. I was concerned about Anna’s health.”

On RSS involvement, he said Sangh itself has come out in open on its role in the agitation when Hazare tried to distance himself from the organisation.

Explosives recovered in police raid from Madhya Pradesh

From NDTV
Rewa:  A huge quantity of explosives, including 10 packets of gelatine sticks, more than 5000 detonators and 30 bundles of detonation cords, was recovered on Sunday from a house and a car in Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh, police said. One person has been arrested.

"On a tip-off, we raided the house of Rajesh Patel and found a huge quantity of gelatine sticks, detonators and detonating cords. Later, we came to know that explosives were also being transported in a car. We chased and seized the car too," Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, Rewa, KP Khare, said.

Rajesh Patel is absconding, he said.

"It would have caused a lot of destruction because the material is in large quantity. This kind of material is majorly used for mining purposes but it is a illegal business which they are doing for their benefit," Mr Khared added.

From the car which they chased and seized, police recovered 10 gelatine sticks, 5000 detonators, 30 bundles of  primer cards in 50 cartons and 29 packets of detonating cord. Car driver Manoj Kaul was arrested.

The seizure comes four days after an explosives laden car was found in the parking lot of Ambala Cantonment railway station in Haryana on October 12. (Read: 5 kilos of explosives seized from car at Ambala railway station)

On October 13, Bharatiya Janata Party leader LK Advani's anti-graft roadshow, Jan Chetna Yatra, passed through Rewa district.

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/explosives-recovered-in-police-raid-from-madhya-pradesh-141561&cp