1. Pakistan Kills Two Indian Soldiers, Mutilates Bodies
Pakistani forces killed two Indian soldiers and mutilated their bodies after a targeted attack on frontier posts in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday morning – an act the army described as despicable and promised appropriate response.
The slain soldiers were Naib Subedar Paramjit Singh, a junior commissioned officer (JCO) with the army’s 22 Sikh Regiment, and head constable Prem Sagar of the BSF’s 200 Battalion.
The 42-year-old Singh was from a village in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district, while Sagar was a native of Deoria in Uttar Pradesh.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
2. Police Probe MP's Honey-Trap Charge
BJP parliamentarian KC Patel has accused a woman lawyer in the capital of honey trapping and blackmailing him to cough up Rs 5 crore, threatening that she would make public a video clip of him in a compromising position.
The MP from Valsad in Gujarat filed a complaint with Delhi Police after the lawyer accused the lawmaker of rape.
Patel said the woman befriended him and took him to her home in Ghaziabad to meet her family. He alleged that she gave him a drink laced with sedatives and he fell unconscious.
“There were allegedly a few more people in the house, but he couldn’t remember as he passed out after the drink,” a police officer said.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
3. India Draws Red Line on Kashmir to Erdogan: Bilateral, About Terror
A day after Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan advocated a “multilateral dialogue” to settle the Jammu and Kashmir question, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that both sides have agreed to work together to strengthen cooperation “bilaterally” and “multilaterally” to effectively counter terrorism.
While Kashmir was not mentioned in the prepared statements by either Modi or Erdogan, India drew the red line that Kashmir is a “bilateral” issue between India and Pakistan and that it sees the dispute through the prism of “cross-border and state-sponsored terrorism” being perpetrated by Pakistan in the Valley.
(Source: The Indian Express)
4. Militants Kill 5 Cops, 2 Bank Officials in J&K
In one of the worst attacks on J&K Police in recent times, militants targeted a cash van of the Jammu and Kashmir Bank in the south Kashmir district of Kulgam and killed five policemen, including an ASI, and two private security guards on Monday afternoon. The Hizbul Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the attack. Before fleeing the spot, the militants also snatched four rifles of the policemen.
The attack took place around 4 pm when the cash van belonging to the zonal office of the bank was returning to Kulgam after dropping Rs 18 lakh at the branch in Manzgam Ahrabal. Police said the van was intercepted by four-five militants, who were clad in combat fatigues, at Pumai village around 6 km from Kulgam town. The van driver, an employee of the bank, escaped unhurt.
Condemning the attack, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said the killings “reflects the dangerous turn towards criminalisation the society is taking”. She also condemned the killing of two soldiers in the Krishna Ghati sector.
(Source: The Indian Express)
5. Poll Panel Opposed to Electoral Bonds, Will Write to Govt
The Election Commission (EC) differs with the Centre’s view that introduction of electoral bonds will curb illegal money in political funding. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced the proposal to introduce donations through electoral bonds in his budget speech.
The poll panel, which is set to share its misgivings about the bonds with the government, has objections to the amendment to the Finance Bill that bars disclosing details of donors and inclusion of contribution from bonds in income-tax returns.
The panel is not happy with the changes in the Representation of People’s Act, which allow parties not to show collections from bonds in contribution reports filed with the EC, sources said.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
6. SC Orders Medical Examination of Calcutta HC Judge CS Karnan
The Supreme Court on Monday constituted a medical board in Kolkata to examine the mental health of Calcutta HC judge CS Karnan, who is facing contempt proceedings.
The medical board to examine Justice Karnan will be set by the government hospital in Kolkata.
The SC also directed the West Bengal DGP to set up a team of police officials to assist the medical board in examining Justice CS Karnan on 4 May.
Further, the apex court directed all authorities in the country to not obey any of the verdicts passed by Justice Karnan since 8 February, when contempt proceedings were initiated against him.
(Source: The Times of India)
7. Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case: SC Wants Report on 'Larger Plot'
The Supreme Court on Monday directed the CBI to submit a detailed status report, replete with the time-frame by which its prolonged investigation into a possible larger conspiracy behind the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi will be completed.
A bench led by Justice Ranjan Gogoi gave four-weeks' time for the premier agency to submit a sealed cover report indicating the legal hurdles in conducting the two-decade-old probe and steps taken so far to overcome these roadblocks.
The order was passed on a petition filed by AG Perarivalan, one of the convicts in the case. He has alleged that there has not been an effective probe into the “larger conspiracy” behind the 1991 killing of the national leader. He has claimed that an “effective and straight-forward investigation may bring material contrary to the prosecution case”.
(Source: The Hindu)
8. EC Yet to Throw Open EVMs to Hackers
Even as the time for challenging the results of the recent Assembly elections in the respective high courts has lapsed, the Election Commission is yet to come up with a schedule for its “open challenge” to experts and political parties to demonstrate how the electronic voting machines (EVMs) can be tampered with.
Various political parties have alleged that the EVMs used in the elections in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab were tampered with. Representatives of 16 parties had petitioned the President seeking his intervention. Countering the allegations, the EC has issued statements, asserting that the EVMs were tamper-proof.
In view of the widespread criticism, the Commission has decided to throw an open challenge inviting people to demonstrate how the tampering can be done. Asked about the event’s schedule, an EC official – on condition of anonymity – had earlier said that it would be finalised once the limitation period of 45 days for anyone to challenge the election results in the High Court was over. It expired on 26 April.
(Source: The Hindu)
9. Behind Handshake, Differences Lurk
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday used a firm handshake and optimistic words to portray ties with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as filled with promise, but stark differences continued to hobble cautious efforts to smoothen a traditionally difficult relationship.
The two leaders, often compared for their "strong" control over power in their countries, did not confront each other over historic differences between the countries over Kashmir, where Turkey has long backed Pakistan's allegations of human rights abuses by Indian security forces.
Erdogan too steered clear of criticism of India over its refusal so far to act against followers of a popular cult led by cleric Fethullah Gulen, described by Turkey as a terrorist, in over two hours of talks with Modi here, officials from both countries said.
(Source: The Telegraph)
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