Quick News: Dr. Kafeel demands CBI inquiry, Masood Azhar a global terrorist, Clean chit to Modi and Notice to Gandhi by EC and more




Dr Kafeel and his brother speak to the press at IMA Hall Patna

Suspended Gorakhpur doctor Dr Kafeel demands CBI inquiry

Alleging “targeted victimisation”, Dr Kafeel Khan, who was suspended following the deaths of over 60 children at Gorakhpur’s BRD Hospital in 2017, on Tuesday demanded CBI probe into the tragedy.

Khan, who was in Bihar for his “health for all” campaign, alleged that he has been made a scapegoat in the incident which occurred because of shortage of oxygen cylinder supply caused by non-payment of dues to the supplier.

“I demand CBI inquiry into the deaths and also that the trial be transferred outside Uttar Pradesh. Those responsible for the tragedy including top health department officials and the minister concerned, are going about scot free and even heading the departmental inquiry which has been going on for the past 18 months,” he told media here.

During his visit to the state, he also campaigned for CPI candidate Kanhaiya Kumar in Begusarai.

Khan, whose brother last year survived bullet injuries in an attack by unidentified assailants in Gorakhpur, also deplored the “insensitive attitude” of the state police and alleged that they “tried their best to delay the surgical intervention required”.

“Investigation by the police has been going on for more than 10 months and it is heading nowhere. We have, therefore, filed a petition in the court for a CBI inquiry into the attack on my brother as there could be involvement of some government officials,” he alleged.



He claimed, “Even the High Court has observed that I was guilty of no medical negligence or corruption nor was I in any way involved in the tender process. An RTI inquiry has also established that the shortage had continued for 54 hours and I had made arrangements for cylinders on my own to save the dying children.”

On his “health for all” drive, Khan underscored the dismal situation of the public health care system in the country and pressed the demand for introducing a “Right to Healthcare” through legislation in Parliament.

He also urged the Centre to ensure that at least three percent of the GDP was spent on healthcare and rued that the existing vacancies in the sector were expected to be about 1.5 lakh which ought to be filled expeditiously.

Cops Killed as Maoists Trigger IED on Gadchiroli Road

Fifteen Gadchiroli police personnel and the driver of a private vehicle they were travelling in were blown up when Maoists triggered an IED blast at Lendhri nullah close to the Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border on Wednesday afternoon in the worst attack on security forces in the area in 10 years.

The quick response team (QRT) personnel from Kurkheda police station, over 150km from Nagpur, were headed towards Dadapur village near Purada, where the Maoists had torched dozens of vehicles of a Chhattisgarh-based road construction company earlier in the day, when the incident took place.

UN designates JeM chief Masood Azhar as global terrorist

Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar was listed as a designated terrorist by the UN Security Council 1267 Committee on Wednesday. Significantly, the reasons for listing did not mention the Pulwama attack of February 14, for which the JeM had claimed responsibility, and which found mention in the latest (February 27) listing request for Azhar.

Nevertheless, the listing is a victory for India in a decade-old diplomatic battle waged primarily by it and supported by its friends at the UNSC, as it would mean a travel ban, arms embargo and asset freeze on Azhar.

Source : The Hindu

Panel Examines CJI Ranjan Gogoi in Harassment Probe

In an unprecedented step, CJI Ranjan Gogoi appeared before the inquiry by a three-judge panel headed by Justice SA Bobde and answered queries on the sexual harassment complaint against him by a dismissed woman employee of the Supreme Court.

After the woman complainant withdrew from the inquiry proceedings by the panel comprising of Justices Bobde, Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee, the panel decided to proceed ex parte (without all the parties being present). This was as per its decision conveyed to the complainant on 26 April, the first day of the inquiry, that if she withdrew at any point of time, then the inquiry would go on ex parte. SC sources said she had agreed to this condition.

Source: The Times of India

Clean Chit to Modi, Notice to Gandhi by EC

The EC gave a clean chit on Wednesday to PM Modi over his remarks in Latur on 9 April asking first-time voters to dedicate their vote to soldiers who carried out the Balakot strikes and to the Pulwama martyrs.

At the same time, the commission issued a notice to Rahul Gandhi for a speech in which he allegedly said the government had enacted a law that allowed adivasis to be shot dead.

Dismissed BSF Jawan Tej Bahadur’s Nomination From Varanasi Rejected

SP-BSP-RLD candidate and former BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav’s nomination from the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency was rejected Wednesday. Yadav said he will now approach the Supreme Court following the rejection of his nomination.

“My nomination has been rejected wrongly. I was asked to produce the evidence at 6:15pm yesterday, we produced the evidence, still my nomination was rejected. We will go to the Supreme Court,” 43-year-old Yadav was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Source: The Indian Express

Govt Is Hiding Behind Valour of Armed Forces: Manmohan Singh

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh said his government had conducted “multiple surgical strikes” when it was in power, but did not believe in using them for “vote garnering”, and criticised the Narendra Modi-led government for its “unpardonable failures on the economic front” which is forcing it to “hide behind the valour of the armed forces,” a behaviour he termed “shameful and unacceptable”.

Singh, 86, a member of the Rajya Sabha, has been attacked during the ongoing election campaign by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman for an “inadequate” response to 26/11, the terror strikes by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in Mumbai that killed 166 people in 2008.

Source : Hindustan Times

Cyclone Fani May Hit Odisha at 205 km/hr; Tourists Told to Leave, Poll Code Lifted

Authorities in Odisha, which will suffer the maximum impact of Cyclone Fani, have asked tourists in Puri to leave the temple town as they requested for additional teams and helicopters to assist them in evacuating people who will be affected.

Cyclone Fani, India’s strongest summertime cyclone in the last 43 years, is likely to hit the Odisha coast by Friday afternoon and also affect West Bengal and the Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts of Andhra Pradesh.

Source: Hindustan Times

Probe Records Show Chanda Kochhar ‘Misled’ RBI on Giving Loan to Essar Firm

Chanda Kochhar, former managing director and chief executive officer of ICICI Bank is alleged to have “misled” the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 2014 on a $365-million loan disbursed by the bank to a Mauritius-based holding company of Essar Steel Minnesota LLC, even as the central bank found several “irregularities” in the lending.

Records investigated by The Indian Express and interviews of investigators and officials reveal that as early as July 2014, the RBI had raised questions regarding ICICI Bank’s approval for an increase in Essar Steel Minnesota’s project capacity — manufacturing steel pellets — from 4.1 MTPA (metric tonnes per annum) to 7 MTPA.

Source: The Indian Express

BJP’s Nationalism a Trap: Olympian Poonia on Jaipur Campaign Trail

Taking a jibe at the BJP’s use of rhetoric, Congress Jaipur (rural) candidate says nationalism is BJP’s trap, “They’ve (BJP) learnt how to repeatedly tell lies. But in 2019, there is a change, because homes cannot function on rhetoric. When there is no employment, how will a young person raise her family?”

It is a high-power contest between two Olympians, Commonwealth gold medalists and Padma Shree awardees in Rajasthan’s Jaipur (rural) constituency on 6 May. On one side we have sitting BJP MP and Cabinet minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and on the other is discus thrower Krishna Poonia from the Congress.

Source : The Quint

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