The FIR names a Brigadier but his name has not been included in the list of accused.

New Delhi, June 3

The CBI has arrested a Lt Colonel and a middleman in connection with an alleged transfer racket at the Army headquarters here in which lakhs of rupees were paid by Army officers to manipulate their postings.

Lt Col Ranganathan Suvramani Moni, posted in the personnel division of the Army, and middleman Gaurav Kohli were arrested while an alleged bribe of Rs 2 lakh was changing hands for the transfer of a Bengaluru-based officer, CBI sources said on Saturday.

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The investigating agency had learnt of the illicit activities of some Army officers and laid a trap to arrest the two men.

The agency busted the racket involving senior Army officers posted at its headquarters here. They were allegedly giving choice postings for “huge illegal gratification” which ran into lakhs for a single transfer, sources said.

The expose is bound to send ripples in the Army as some more senior officers are suspected to be involved in the case, CBI sources said.

The FIR also names Brigadier S K Grover, DDG Personnel, but his name has not been included in the list of accused.

The case has been registered against Moni, Hyderabad- based army officer Purshottam, Bengaluru-based barracks and stores officer (BSO) S. Subhas and alleged middleman Gaurav Kohli.

The bribe was being paid through hawala channels, the CBI FIR alleged. The agency is also probing how Army officers were ready to pay lakhs of rupees to get a posting of their choice.

It is alleged that Moni entered into a criminal conspiracy with Kohli and Purshottam, an army officer posted in the engineer stores department (ESD), Kakinara, for influencing the transfer of various officers.

Purshottam allegedly contacted army officers who were either posted in different field formations or faced imminent transfer and were desirous of getting posted to their preferred locations.

He used to contact Kohli, who was close to senior officers in the personnel division of the army headquarters here.

Kohli used these contacts to pursue transfers of army officers in lieu of huge illegal gratification, the FIR said.

Purshottam allegedly requested Kohli to pursue the posting of one D S R K Reddy and Subhas in exchange for a huge bribe, it claimed. Both wanted to be posted from Bengaluru to Secunderabad or Visakhapatnam.

Moni assured he would help getting Subhas transferred through a senior officers in the Army headuquarters against payment of illegal gratification, it alleged.

Subhas allegedly delivered Rs 5 lakh as bribe to Kohli through hawala operators. “…Kohli visited residence of…Moni and conducted a meeting with some senior officers at the army headquarter in Delhi. Information also reveal that…Moni is in contact with Brigadier SK Grover DDG (Personnel) of Army Headquarter for the transfer matter of Subhas,” the CBI FIR stated.

It is alleged that Rs 2 lakh was to be paid by Kohli to Moni for Subhas’ transfer. —PTI

ISRO’s PSLV C38, carrying Cartosat-2 Series and 30 other satellites, lifts off Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota on Friday. PTI

Sriharikota (AP), June 23

India today successfully put into orbit a satellite that will boost its military surveillance capabilities along with 30 other tiny satellites — all but one of them foreign — from a single rocket in yet another milestone for its low-cost space programme.The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C38) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in its 40th flight lifted off the first launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 9.29 am and injected the 31 satellites into orbit 27 minutes after lift-off, amid applause from scientists.Dubbed as a “smart eye in the sky”, the 712-kg Cartosat-2 series earth observation spacecraft launched by the 44.4 metre-tall rocket as its primary payload is an advanced remote sensing satellite that is expected to give defence surveillance a leg-up. The 31 satellites together weighed 955 kg.Today’s mission was the second highest number of satellites to be launched by the ISRO using a single rocket. On February 15, the PSLV-C37 mission scripted history by launching 104 satellites into orbit at one go. Of these, 101 satellites were from foreign countries.With the launch of the third spacecraft in the Cartosat-2 series, the images sent by the dedicated satellite for defence forces are expected to become sharper and wider. The previous satellite in the series had a resolution of up to 0.8 metres and the images it took over India’s neighbourhood had helped carry out surgical strikes on terror launch pads across the LoC last year, said ISRO sources. — PTI

The payload

• At 712-kg, Cartosat-2 is an advanced remote sensing satellite with a resolution of up to 0.6 m. The previous satellite in the series had a resolution of up to 0.8 m and was used by defence forces during surgical strikes across the LoC last year
• NIUSAT, a nano-satellite developed by Noorul Islam University in Tamil Nadu, will provide multi-spectral imagery for agricultural crop monitoring and disaster management support applications
• The other 29 nano-satellites put into the orbit are from 14 countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US

WHY INDIA, PAK DON’T TALK TO EACH OTHER BY MAJ GEN ASHOK K. MEHTA (RETD)

DAGSHAI SCHOOL BOY TOPS STATE IN NDA EXAM

LOCKHEED MARTIN SIGNS PACT WITH TATA TO MAKE F-16 PLANES IN INDIA

REVISE BIASED PROMOTION POLICY FOR MAJ GENS: AFT

WALKING WITH THE MARTYRS HARISH KHARE

OPINION: ARMY CHIEF BIPIN RAWAT SHOULD KNOW THAT INDIA IS NOT PREPARED FOR A TWO-FRONT WAR

BATCHMATES REMEMBER OF IAF’S LONE PARAM VIR CHAKRA AWARDEE RECALL HIS VALOUR

FAUJI CM OF PB CAPT AMARINDER SINGH HONORS HIS WORDS ,FARMERS LOAN WAVED WITHIN 100 DAYS :UNLIKE OROP 100 DAYS

1. SMALL AND MARGINAL FARMERS WITH LOANS UP TO ₹2 LAKH BIGGEST BENEFICIARIES; PLAN DOESN’T COVER LOANS EXTENDED BY ARHTIYAS
2. GIVE UP POWER SUBSIDY, CM TO RICH FARMERS
3. EMPTY TREASURY WORRIES CAPT GOVT
4. REVENUES MORTGAGED, PROPERTIES PLEDGED
5. GROWTH BELOW ALL-INDIA AVERAGE
6. Now, free education for girls from nursery to PhD
7. GOVT CLEARS GST

OTHERS

• Skills development university at Chamkaur Sahib, Ropar
• Wellness mohalla/ward clinics, health insurance for all
• Loan waiver up to Rs 50,000 for SCs/weaker sections
• New industrial hubs to come up in Sangrur and Khanna
• New Lokpal law to cover CM, ministers and bureaucrats
• Free textbooks for nursery & LKG students in govt schools

Cong now blames Centre for Rs 31,000-crore ‘food scam’

A Sikh delegation led by Gurinder Singh Khalsa with US Vice President Mike Pence in Indianapolis. PTI

Washington, June 18

US Vice President Mike Pence has lauded the Sikhs’ contribution, saying the community should continue to give back by serving in the military and public offices at local, state and federal levels.

Pence, 58, said the community’s “issues” were close to his heart and he was aware of them.

“Sikhs Community and its issues are always close to my heart and I always admire the contribution of Sikhs in Indiana and across the United States,” Pence told a Sikh delegation in Indianapolis.

“I am fully aware of Sikh awareness issues since me days as Governor,” Pence told Sikhs Political Action Committee (SikhsPAC) led by Gurinder Singh Khalsa.

Main topic of discussion with the delegation was Sikh awareness and introduction of Sikh History in public history curriculum through federal department of education.

During the meeting, Pence reaffirmed his commitment to Sikh community and encouraged it to continue to give back in the form of serving in the military and public offices at local, state and federal level, it said.

Early this week, Khalsa visited Washington DC and met about two dozen US Senator and Congressmen.

He also attended US Global Leadership Collision where about 500 world faith leaders, veterans and elected leaders participated to influence the American foreign aid policies.

Pence was the first sitting Governor who attended Sikh Parade and bestowed highest Civil award to a Sikh in 2015.

The US state of Indiana has passed a resolution recognising Sikhs’ “significant contributions” to America.

Hate-crime incidents against Sikhs have seen a spurt in in America recently.

A 39-year-old Sikh man was shot in the arm outside his home in Kent, Washington, in March by a partially-masked gunman who shouted “go back to your own country”.

Earlier, Indian-origin convenience store owner Harnish Patel, 43, of Lancaster in South Carolina was found dead of gunshot wounds in his yard in the same month. —PTI

Naik Bakhtawar Singh

Jammu/Rajouri, June 16

With Pakistan continuing to violate the ceasefire along the the Line of Control (LoC), another Army jawan, Naik Bakhtawar Singh, was today killed while guarding a forward post in Upper Kalsian, Nowshera sector.He received multiple splinter injuries when a mortar shell fired by the Pakistani army exploded near him. Bakhtawar Singh (34), who hailed from Hajipur village in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab, is survived by his wife Jasbir Kaur and three children — a son aged 11 years, a nine-year-old daughter and another 10-month-old son.He is the third soldier to have been killed at the LoC since May 1.“The Pakistan army initiated unprovoked firing at 5.15 am. The Indian Army retaliated strongly and effectively but in the exchange of fire, Naik Bakhtawar Singh was grievously injured. He succumbed to his injuries later,” said the Defence PRO. — TNS

The IS claimed that it killed two abducted Chinese nationals in Pakistan. —AFP

Beijing, June 10

In a rare snub to all-weather ally Pakistan, Chinese President Xi Jinping skipped a customary meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at the SCO summit in Astana after the murder of two Chinese teachers in Balochistan.Sharif returned from Astana after attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit on the sidelines of which he met Presidents of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Russia.Also read: IS claims it killed two Chinese kidnapped from BalochistanConspicuously absent was a meeting with Xi.Chinese state-run media highlighted Xi’s meetings with Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.Xi’s unprecedented snub followed deep disappointment and grief among Chinese public over the slaying of the two Chinese citizens who were kidnapped last month from Quetta in Balochistan.The two were brutally murdered reportedly by Islamic State (IS) militants. The news of their murders was made public ahead of the SCO summit held on June 8-9 in which India and Pakistan were admitted as members.Yesterday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying explained that the murders were no way connected to the US$ 50 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which was opposed by the Baloch nationalists.The CPEC is part of China’s ambitious multi-billion Belt and Road intuitive (BRI).”This incident will not have any necessary connection with the BRI,” nor with the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, meeting being held in Astana, Hua had said.China has deployed hundreds of Chinese workers to work for the CPEC which connects Gwadar port in Balochistan with China’s Xinjiang through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.Hua said Pakistan pays great attention to the protection of Chinese citizens in the institutions there and made great efforts for their security.”As per BRI we should be prepared for risks if want to go global. Since the three years after the BRI,” she had said.

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, June 7

Three unidentified militants were killed in a gunfight in the remote Machil sector, close to Line of Control in north Kashmir, on Wednesday as the Army foiled a major infiltration bid into the Kashmir valley.An Army official said three unidentified militants were killed after a fierce gun battle in the Sardari Nad forest area of the Machil sector in Kupwara district, nearly 140 km from here.“Three terrorists have been killed in Machil and three weapons have been recovered,” Defence spokesman Rajesh Kalia said, adding that the operation is still underway.The official said it was an infiltration bid and had been foiled.The firefight erupted when soldiers launched a cordon and search operation in the forest area and came under fire from the militants hiding in the area, police sources said. The militants are suspected to have infiltrated hours earlier before they were intercepted by soldiers, sources said.The Machil sector is a remote mountainous part of Kupwara district and a key infiltration route. Every year, the sector witnesses frequent and fierce firefights between infiltrating militants and soldiers, who defend the LoC in the region.The latest infiltration bid has been foiled at a time when there has been a sudden increase in the number of attempts by militants to cross over to the Kashmir valley.It is the third major infiltration attempt foiled by the Army in north Kashmir in the past fortnight.Eight infiltrating militants were killed in two separate gunfights on May 26 and 27 near the LoC in the Uri sector of north Kashmir. The security agencies estimate that 250 to 300 militants are operating in the Valley, a bulk of them in south Kashmir’s four districts where the local component of the militancy is dominant. In north Kashmir, where many of the infiltrating militants are frequently intercepted, foreign militants outnumber local militants.

Third intrusion attempt in 15 days

• It is the third major infiltration attempt foiled by the Army in north Kashmir in the past fortnight
• Eight infiltrating militants were killed in two separate gunfights on May 26 and 27 near the LoC in the Uri sector of north Kashmir
• The security agencies estimate that 250 to 300 militants are operating in the Valley