Tuesday, October 25, 2011

NDTV Indian of the year 2011

NDTV 18 October  2011

New Delhi:  NDTV gave out the Indian of the Year Awards 2011 in New Delhi today. This award honours individuals who helped build brand India through their outstanding contributions.

The winners this year are:      
 1. Indian of the Year - Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal  
2. India's Heroes - Team India, World Champions  
3. Entertainer of the Year - Team Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara  (Hrithik Roshan, Katrina Kaif, Farhan Akhtar, Kalki Koechlin, Abhay Deol, Ritesh Sidhwani and Zoya Akhtar)  
4. Entertainer of the Year (Music) - Shankar, Ehsaan, Loy  
5. Lifetime Achievement Award - Dev Anand & Rahul Dravid  
6. LIC Unsung Hero of the Year - RTI activists Amit Jethwa, Dattatreya Patil, Vishram Dodiya, Satish Shetty and Vitthal Gite  
7. Transformational Idea of the Year Award - Nandan Nilekani
 8. Icon of India - N R Narayana Murthy













Thursday, October 20, 2011

‘Probe Amit Jethwa murder further'

The Hindu 20/10/2011


Crime Branch probe beset by high political links, claimed Jethwa's father
A Division Bench of the Gujarat High Court on Wednesday ordered further investigation into the murder of RTI activist Amit Jethwa, based on a complaint by his father, Bhikhabhai Jethwa, alleging that the Crime Branch was not probing the case properly because of high political links.
The Bench ordered that the probe be supervised by an IPS officer of the rank of Additional Director-General and asked the police to submit the report by November 28 and scheduled the next hearing for November 29.
Amit Jethwa, who was also an environmentalist, was killed on July 20 last year, right in front of the Gujarat High Court by two motorcycle-borne assailants. The police arrested six persons, including Sailesh Pandya, who, they claimed, had actually pulled the trigger, but did not find any link with BJP MP from Junagadh Dinu Solanki, believed to be connected with alleged mining mafias in the area.
The senior Jethwa, in his petition, had claimed that both he and Amit had received several threats from Mr. Solanki because his son was “exposing” the mining mafias through his RTI queries.

Probe deeper in Jethava murder case: HC to cops

TimesOfIndia 20/10/2011


AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat high court on Wednesday asked the city police to conduct further investigation in the murder of RTI activist Amit Jethava.
The high court has decided to monitor this case again. It directed that the probe be carried out under direct supervision of two senior police officials - ADGP of CID (crime) and special commissioner of city crime branch. A bench constituting Justice D H Waghela and Justice J C Upadhyay also directed that the further probe will be conducted by an IPS officer.
Jethava's father Bhikhalal has sought CBI inquiry into the murder on the ground that the investigating agency was shielding BJP MP from Junagadh Dinu Bogha Solanki.
Jethava was shot dead on July 20 last year in front of HC campus, a few days after he filed a PIL demanding court directions to curb illegal mining activities in prohibited Gir sanctuary. He had accused the BJP MP in his petition. The high court monitored the probe for some time but stopped after the petition was disposed.
Six persons including Solanki's nephew, Shiva, were arrested for the murder. After the arrest and filing of two chargesheets, the city crime branch did not move ahead in its probe. This led Jethava's father to move HC with a complaint that police were shielding the Junagadh MP.
When the high court inquired about status of the investigation and particularly what efforts were made to determine Solanki's involvement in the case, the state government could not put forth satisfactory reasons for not investigating alleged role of the parliamentarian.
On HC query, the state government admitted that Solanki's call details were also not fully scrutinized. The crime branch recorded Solanki's statement after Jethava's father moved the high court. However, the judges were not convinced with the efforts and observed that mere recording a statement does not mean investigation.
Finally, the judges asked the investigating agency to complete further probe as per provision of section 173
(8) of CrPC
and place the report before the court by November 28. The court has kept further hearing the next day with observation that final order on the petition demanding CBI probe would be passed after submission of investigation report.

HC orders probe in Jethava’s murder case

AhmedabadMirror 20/10/2011

HC took note of the allegations made by Bhikhabhai, father of the slain RTI activist


Gujarat High Court on Wednesday ordered further probe into the murder of RTI activist Amit Jethava. A division bench comprising Justice D H Waghela and Justice J C Upadhyay directed that the probe be supervised by an IPS officer of the rank of Additional Director General of Police and the report be submitted by November 28.
 
The court issued the orders taking note of allegations made by slain activist’s father Bhikhabhai Jethava, who had expressed dissatisfaction with the ongoing probe and prayed for transfer of case to the CBI.  

Amit was shot dead by two assailants near Gujarat High Court on July 20, 2010. The incident took place soon after he filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), seeking court directions against illegal mining allegedly by BJP MP from Jungadh, Dinu Solanki in Gir wildlife sanctuary. 

Bhikhabhai had later approached HC alleging that Dinu Solanki, was behind the killing, and the city crime branch was reluctant to carry probe against him. Jethava alleged that he and his son had received several threats from Solanki in the past. Bhikha had also contended that he did not have faith in the crime branch, as some of its officials have been involved in the fake encounter.