Haj agent nabbed for duping over 2,000 people

Mateen Hafeez TNN

Mumbai: The Shivaji Nagar police arrested an agent who promised to send people to Saudi Arabia as kh a d i m (helper) during Haj this year. The accused, Saleem Usman Shaikh, collected Rs 5,000 each from more than 2,000 people and lured them with a free trip to Mecca and a monthly salary of Rs 16,000. 

    Additional commissioner of police Qauiser Khalid said, “We received complaints from a group of social activists in the second week of September. The victims told the police that Shaikh had promised them a free trip to Mecca and charged Rs 5,000 each for medical examination. He had told many people that their flights were scheduled to leave for Jeddah on September 23. However, he shut his office and escaped on September 11. We traced him at Shivaji Nagar and charged him with cheating.” 

    Two days ago the police said two youths who had come in an auto with three bags left it saying it was for one ‘Saleembhai’.  The bags were later given to the police who found 1,468 passports in them. The passports belonged to people from Maharashtra, Karnataka and AP. Khalid said one more case has been registered against Shaikh in a Gulbarga police station. “We found 350 passports belonging to people from Gulbarga and 280 from various parts of AP,” said Khalid. 

    “The accused person had given the contract for bringing clients to other agents and sub-agents. Many subagents charged between Rs 7,000 and Rs 25,000 per person,” sources said. 

The Times of India, October 10, 2012

Asha Bhosle’s daughter shoots herself in head

A file photo of Varsha (56) with her mother, singer Asha Bhosle 

 

 

Mateen Hafeez & Bharati Dubey TNN

Mumbai: Singer Asha Bhosle’s 56-year-old daughter, Varsha, was found dead on a blood-soaked sofa in the Pedder Road flat she shared with her mother on Monday. She had shot herself in her right temple with the licenced pistol of her younger brother.
 

    No suicide note has been traced, but police are treating it as one. Varsha had in the past tried to kill herself twice, they pointed out.
    Asha Bhosle and other family members were in Singapore for an awards programme at the time of the incident. The singer rushed back in the evening after receiving the news.
 

    “Varsha, who was undergoing several treatments, was perhaps suffering from depression,” said additional commissioner of police Krishna Prakash.
 

    Varsha’s body was found by Asha’s driver and house help in the drawing room of the singer’s first-floor flat at Prabhu Kunj on Monday morning. “She used a Belgian 0.6mm pistol to shoot herself in her right temple while sitting on the sofa,” said Prakash.
 

 

NOTES ON A SUICIDE
• Varsha Bhosle, 56, a divorcee, was Asha Bhosle’s middle child and only daughter

• She shot herself with a Belgian 0.6mm pistol

• She had tried to kill herself twice before in 1998 and 2008, police said

• She briefly worked as a playback singer. She was a political columnist for many years  

 

Lata broke down on seeing niece’s body
Mumbai: Police on Monday responded to a call that apparently went out from the landline in Asha Bhosale’s flat. “We found Varsha on the sofa with a gunshot in her temple. There were five more bullets in the pistol. She was wearing a night suit,” said additional police commissioner Krishna Prakash. “Our special branch constables first received information about the incident at 12.12pm and a police team arrived at Prabhu Kunj,” he said. Neighbours said they hadn’t heard a gunshot, said police. The time of death will be known only after the post-mortem.
 

    Police sources said the Belgian pistol was issued in the name of Anand Bhosle, Asha’s youngest son, who stays in Bandra. He was not in the country when the incident took place.
 

    On Monday, Deepali Dilip Mane, the house help, arrived at the flat at 9.15am. Despite several door knocks, she did not get any response. Asha’s driver asked Mane to come after some time, saying Varsha might be sleeping. Mane returned at 10.30am, but still got no response. The driver then entered Asha’s drawing room through the adjoining flat belonging to singer Lata Mangeshkar, Asha’s sister. He found Varsha on the bloodsoaked sofa and quickly opened the door to let in the others. Lata apparently broke down on seeing her niece’s body.
 

    After the inquest and recording of statements, Varsha’s body was sent to J J hospital for a post-mortem around 4pm.
 

    As soon as the news spread, mediapersons besieged the Prabhu Kunj building. Curious neighbours were seen peeping from their windows while some came, inquired about the incident and returned to their flats.
    Born in 1956, Varsha briefly worked as a playback singer in Hindi and Marathi movies, and appeared in concerts with her mother. She made a career as a political columnist with a right-wing tilt. She had divorced her husband, former sports writer and PR professional Hemant Kenkare, in 1998 and had moved in with her mother in the Prabhu Kunj flat.
 

    In 1998, Varsha attempted suicide by taking an overdose of medicines. In 2008, she again tried to kill herself, a day after Asha’s 75th birthday, by taking sleeping pills. She was rushed to Jaslok hospital and saved. “She was undergoing treatment by two Pune-based doctors at the moment. We will record their statements about the treatment,” said another cop.
 

    Police said Varsha wanted to start an orphanage with glamour photographer Gautam Rajadhyaksha and became upset after his death. She had been on medication since.
 

    Music director Anu Malik, who has known Varsha for nearly three decades and met her last in July, said he couldn’t believe his friend had met with such a painful death. “There were so many times I asked her to sing for me, but she would refuse, saying that she didn’t have a good voice. She didn’t like discussing her personal life with anyone,” he added.  

 

Gun questions await Anand T he licence of the weapon used in the suicide was issued in the name of Anand Bhosle. We are surprised how Varsha got it since a licence holder is supposed to keep the weapon with him only,” said a police officer, adding that they are waiting for Asha Bhosle’s youngest son to return so that they can record his statement.
 

    If the weapon was not with him, Anand should have filed a missing complaint. However, no such complaint was registered with the police.
 

    It is not clear how and when Varsha got the weapon or whether Anand was aware about the pistol’s presence in his mother’s house. “Anand’s statement will make the picture clear. If it is found that he was aware and did not inform the police, action may be taken against him,” added the officer. TNN

A crowd outside Prabhu Kunj building on Pedder Road after news of the death spread 

 

 

The Times of India, October 9, 2012

As backlog leads to overcrowding in jails, security concerns abound

Mateen Hafeez & Rebecca Samervel | TNN

   The snail-paced disposal of cases in Maharashtra’s courts has not just kept the pendency rate high but also caused overcrowding in jails. In most prisons in the state, the prisoner population is considerably more than the permitted capacity, leading to law-and-order problems.
 

    In the state’s southern region, where Mumbai falls, three of the four prisons were overcrowded in the last week of September. Arthur Road jail has a capacity of 804 but housed 1,995 inmates. Thane jail can accommodate 1,105 inmates but its population was 1,984. Kalyan jail is meant for 505 prisoners but held 1,122.
 

    To tackle just such overcrowding, the chief of the National Human Rights Commission had earlier this year recommended creation of night courts on prison premises to at least dispose of cases relating to petty crimes. Jail authorities appreciate the suggestion but point out that its implementation is the government’s prerogative. “Although it will help speed up trials, the idea has to be accepted by the law and judiciary department and the directorate of prosecution,” said a jail officer. “There have been times when inmates were not taken to court for hearing due to shortage of escort staff.” 

    No wonder then, undertrials out on bail as well as those acquitted support courts in jails or nearby. “It will save time and manpower,” said an inmate who was recently granted bail. They note that, partly due to overcrowding, the state of most of Maharashtra prisons is abysmal. This has resulted in fights among prisoners and riots. Recently, an inquiry was set up when a group of inmates assaulted policemen in Taloja jail.
 

    Officials argue that prison understaffing compounds problems spawned by overcrowding. Not infrequently, inmates flee from police custody while being ferried to court for hearing or back. A few years ago, four undertrials slipped away while being transported back to Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai from a sessions court in Mumbai.
 

    The suggestion of night courts in jails finds backers among prisoners and prison officials but not among many legal experts. Public prosecutor Neelima Kasture maintains nights courts are “not the solution” since they would add to the burden of judges and lawyers. “We need judges who will not give repeated adjournments. Unlike earlier, several district judges now focus on procedural technicalities, which cause unnecessary delay. They must hear the matter every day and dispose of them quickly. Another problem is lawyers who survive on adjournments. This practice should be curbed,” she said. 

 

 

The Times of India, October 8, 2012

MBA, naval dock clerk arrested in SpeakAsia fraud

Mumbai: The EOW arrested two persons for their alleged involvement in the SpeakAsia scam. According to the police, the two—Saurabh Singh (26), an MBA graduate, and Suresh Kumar Padhi (35), a clerk attached to the naval dock, collected over Rs 20 crore from investors and duped them.
 

    “The two were produced before the court and remanded in police custody till October 10,” said the police. SpeakAsia, floated in 2010, allegedly duped people by posing as a survey company. “As per our estimate, investors lost Rs 2,276 crore in SpeakAsia schemes. SC has also allowed EOW and ED, investigating money laundering allegations, to continue with probe,” said Rajvardhan Sinha, additional commissioner of police, EOW. 

    Singh is proprietor of Turtle Informatics, while Padhi owns Winner Associates in Mumbai. “Both had taken SpeakAsia franchise, collected money on behalf of the firm and deposited it in the company’s account. We have come across some transactions done by those who claim to be associated with All India SpeakAsia Panelists Association. We are currently busy in collecting evidence against them,” said B P Shelke, investigating officer. Cops said they have found that some agents’ names were not mentioned in the financial transactions. “Code words like Sakinaka, Andheri and Kalyan have been mentioned. We are probing the codes,” the officer said. —  Mateen Hafeez

 

The Times of India, October 5, 2012 

Just a week into scheme, police ‘adopt’ 4,200 silvers

Mateen Hafeez | TNN

Mumbai: It’s been a week since the city police announced their ‘adopt a senior citizen’ scheme and they have already distributed police diaries at the residences of 4,200 seniors. In accordance with the scheme, a policeman would visit one of these homes every day, wr ite down his remarks and maintain a rec o rd of the visitors and old age-related problems of the senior. 

    The scheme will give a detailed idea about seniors to the police. “It will be like a status report on the 4,200 senior citizens who are staying alone,” said a police officer.
 

    The work of visiting seniors has been assigned to the local police stations’ beat chowkies. There are approximately 96 police stations in the city with an average of four beat chowkies each. The status report will be submitted to the in-charge of police stations on a weekly basis and will be reviewed regularly.
 

    Police records show that there are 38,000 more senior citizens in the city but they live with their families. “We do keep inquiring about them as well, but they have children to look after them,” said the officer. “Senior citizens staying alone are more vulnerable to crime against them,” he added. 

 

 

The Times of India, October 3, 2012

Home minister and city police chief meet senior citizens, at last

HELPING HAND: Home minister R R Patil and city police chief Satya Pal Singh with 80-year-old Shoaib Dholakwala in Nagpada on Monday

Mateen Hafeez TNN

Mumbai: Home minister R R Patil and police commissioner Satya Pal Singh finally found time on Monday to launch the adopt-a-senior-citizen scheme. The two were supposed to visit elderly citizens last Wednesday but the plan was cancelled due to political reasons, raising doubts over the seriousness of the scheme.
 

    On Monday afternoon, Patil and Singh visited two families of senior citizens in Fort and Nagpada and assured them that the state would do the needful to address issues related to them, particularly security concerns.

    Following a spate of crimes against senior citizens, Patil had proposed last month that every policeman should adopt a senior citizen. Patil had also said that he, too, would take the responsibility of one elderly citizen.  One of the families the duo visited on Monday was that of 80-year-old Shoaib Dholakwala in Nagpada. The exercise, as it turned out, was marked by much pomp and drama.
 

    While a police van was arranged to take journalists to Dholakwala’s residence, the minister himself turned 

up late. He reached the house only at 4.45pm, over an hour after the scheduled time of 3.30pm. Also, before his arrival, more than a dozen cops from the Nagpada police station landed up in Dholakwala’s neighbourhood to remove motorcycles and cars parked there.
 

    Patil later met Dholakwala and his relatives amid much fanfare. He also gave a bouquet to the 80-year-old and sat with him for 10 minutes. “Our policemen will be coming to your place on a regular basis and you can share your problems with them. We are here to help you,” he told Dholakwala. Later, a few more people came to meet Patil and he spent some time with them, too. Singh, meanwhile, instructed senior inspector (Nagpada) Vinayak Saude to solve the problems Dholakwala had been facing.
 

    Before going to Nagpada, Patil visited another senior citizen’s family in Fort. “Today, the world is observing International Senior Citizens’ Day. The state will take care of its elderly citizens. The children of many such people go to other places to study and work and the senior citizens are left alone. Our policemen will help them in every possible way,” said Patil.
 

    The minister said he would meet one elderly couple every month. “The policemen will also help the senior citizens maintain records of their domestic help,” he added. “I will talk to the law and judiciary department to try cases of violence against senior citizens in fast-track courts.”
 

    Dholakwala, whose two sons are in Dubai and Thane, said: “Patil’s meetings with senior citizens should be appreciated. This is a good initiative, one that will help create confidence among the elderly.”
 

Civic plan for elderly
    The civic body on Monday declared a policy for senior citizens. Under this, every ward will have a recreation centre for the elderly. The BMC will also give preference to senior citizens by providing halls if they want to organize a programme. There will also be a help desk and helplines especially for the elderly in all civic hospitals. Mayor Sunil Prabhu said suggestions would be discussed in the general body meeting and incorporated in six months. TNN

The Times of India, October 2, 2012

Kasab wrote to Pak envoy twice seeking legal help

Ajmal Kasab

Mateen Hafeez TNN

Mumbai: Convicted 26/11 terrorist Ajmal Kasab desperately wanted to meet the Pakistani high commissioner in India after his arrest in Mumbai. 

    TOI has obtained exclusive copies of the two letters Kasab wrote in Urdu to the Pakistani high commissioner. The first sought an appointment for legal help and requested that the body of his colleague, Ismail Khan, be taken back to Pakistan for burial. The second letter said he did not want the services of an Indian lawyer and requested the Pakistan government to appoint a compatriot “mere bachav ke liye (for my protection)”. Neither of his letters got any response. 

    In the first undated letter that runs into three pages, Kasab stated that he was a resident of Faridkot in Pakistan’s Punjab province. Providing his residence telephone number (03017363886), Kasab, now 25, admitted his role in the Mumbai attack and narrated his journey from Pakistan till he was captured. 

 

 

 Kasab signed off as a Pak ‘patriot’

 Mumbai: Terrorist Ajmal Kasab had sought legal help from the Pakistan government in his two letters to the Pakistani high commissioner. “I took training in a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) training camp since I wanted to become a jihadi. For this, I learned to operate firearms and bombs at Muridke in Muzaffarabad and became a fidayeen. Hafiz Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Abu Hamza and Kahafa trained me in LeT camps and brainwashed me,” he wrote.
 

    He went on to give information about the names of his nine other accomplices and their addresses in Pakistan. He narrated how they travelled on a Pakistani ship, Al-Hussaini, and later hijacked Indian fishing trawler, M V Kuber. “Khan and I reached VT and began firing at different places; police also fired. During the exchange of fire Khan died and I was injured. I request for an appointment to meet you so that I can talk to you. I want legal help from you. Take Khan’s body to his home in Pakistan,” wrote Kasab. He signed off the first letter stating himself a watan parast (patriot).
 

    Kasab wrote the second letter on December 26, 2008, exactly a month after he was caught. In it, he repeated his story and wrote, “I don’t want an Indian lawyer for defence” and requested to meet a Pakistani lawyer. He pleaded that he had not got any response from the Pakistani high commissioner to his first letter and again requested for legal help. The second letter shows how Pakistan forsook the terrorist it sent to India. In both the letters, Kasab did not mention other attacks by his associates. Sources in the security establishment say that Kasab was not aware about the death of the eight gunmen in encounters. “He knew only about Khan’s death since both were travelling together,” said a source.
 

    Kasab and his nine accomplices killed 166 people. Kasab, who has been lodged in a special cell at Mumbai’s Arthur Road prison, was awarded the death sentence by the special court that was upheld by the Bombay high court and the Supreme Court. He has filed a clemency petition before the President of India. Currently, Kasab is practising karate to kill time in jail.
 

 

THE FIRST UNDATED LETTER

• In the 3-page undated letter, Kasab says he is a Pakistani national. Besides giving his residential address in Pakistan, Kasab also mentions his home phone number, 03017363886

• Speaks about his ambition to join militancy and become a fidayeen. Also mentions his trainers, Hafeez Saeed, Zakir-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Abu Hamza and Abu Kahafa, and the nine other terrorists who came to India on 26/11

• He admits to have hijacked Indian fishing trawler, M V Kuber. Mentions attacks at CST and his associate Ismail Khan’s death in police encounter

• Requests the Pakistani high commissioner in India to meet him, to provide him with legal assistance and to send Khan’s body to the latter’s home

•Calls himself a patriot
 

The second letter, dated December 26, 2008:
• Narrates the lead-up to the 26/11 attack, Ismail Khan’s death and his capture. Kasab states cops have booked him

• Kasab requests for a Pakistani lawyer saying he does not want any Indian lawyer to defend him

• He says he had written to Pakistani high commissioner even earlier but did not get any reply

The Times of India, October, 1, 2012