TNS & agencies

Tyagi: PMO part of Agusta move

Former IAF chief in 4-day CBI custody

New Delhi, December 10   A Delhi court today sent former Indian Air Force chief SP Tyagi, his cousin Sanjeev Tyagi and Delhi-based lawyer Gautam Khetan to four days’ CBI custody till December 14 for questioning on the AgustaWestland deal to unearth the “very large conspiracy with international ramifications”.Metropolitan Magistrate Sujit Saurabh said their custodial interrogation was required for a “fair probe”,  even as he put aside the CBI’s submission for a 10-day remand. Senior advocate N Hariharan argued that the FIR in the case was registered over three years ago and that there was no fresh ground for the arrests now.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)He claimed the decision to procure 12 VVIP choppers from AgustaWestland was a “collective” one and the Prime Minister Office (PMO) was also a part of it. The deal to supply 12 VVIP helicopters came under the scanner after the Italian authorities alleged that bribe had been paid by AgustaWestland to clinch the deal. Tyagi, who retired in 2007, has been accused of influencing the deal in favour of the company.The CBI said crucial information had been collected from Italy, Switzerland and Mauritius and the accused were required to be confronted with the information to “unearth the larger conspiracy”. Telling the court that regular meetings had taken place between senior officials of AgustaWestland and Tyagi with Sanjeev Tyagi’s help, the CBI alleged that a conspiracy was hatched to reduce the service ceiling of the copters after which AgustaWestland became eligible to supply a dozen helicopters for VVIPs. The CBI told the court that in 1999, the government decided to phase out old helicopters as these were not fit for high-altitude areas, and the Defence Ministry in 2002 issued global tenders for  new VVIP helicopters in which 11 companies participated. AgustaWestland could not meet the eligibility criteria.“Therefore, a conspiracy was hatched to help AgustaWestland win the contract by making changes in operational requirements,” the CBI said.

Ex-IAF chief sent to 4-day CBI custody in VVIP chopper scam

TYAGI’S COUNSEL SAYS THE PROCUREMENT OF CHOPPERS WAS A ‘COLLECTIVE’ DECISION IN WHICH FORMER PM’S OFFICE WAS INVOLVED

From page 01 NEW DELHI: Former air force chief SP Tyagi, arrested in the nearly `4,000-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam, was remanded in four days’ CBI custody along with two others on Saturday.

HT FILEThe CBI told court that SP Tyagi had made huge investments in land and other properties without disclosing source of income.

The CBI has sought 10-day custody of the accused because it believed their interrogation was essential to unearth a “very large conspiracy with international ramifications”. The others arrested with Tyagi in the case pertaining to the procurement of 12 VVIP choppers from the UK-based firm are his cousin, Sanjeev, and advocate Gautam Khaitan.

During proceedings at a Delhi court, Tyagi’s counsel N Hariharan said the procurement of VVIP choppers from AgustaWestland was a “collective” decision in which the erstwhile Prime Minister’s Office also played a part. “The file moved through several levels, but (my client is) the only one who has been arrayed as the accused,” he added.

The CBI had arrested Tyagi on corruption charges during the course of its probe into the `3,767-crore AgustaWestland helicopter deal on December 9. He is the first military chief to be arrested in India’s history.

Incumbent air force chief Arup Raha described Tyagi’s arrest as “unfortunate”, and said it had “dented” its reputation. “But we believe in the rule of law,” he added.

The CBI told the court that Tyagi had “abused his official position” when he was the air chief marshal, and made huge investments in land and other properties without disclosing his source of income. To this, Tyagi said he could give an account of all his land investments.

The counsel appearing for the other two accused also opposed the CBI’s remand plea on the grounds that the FIR was lodged over three years ago, and there were no fresh grounds to arrest them at this stage. The probe agency, however, alleged that Khaitan was the brains behind the transfer of bribe money to India, and Sanjeev was known to alleged European middleman Carlo Gerosa.

After hearing them out, the magistrate said: “Given the seriousness of the allegations and the gravity of the matter, I am of the considered opinion that CBI custody is required for a fair probe”. (With PTI inputs)

VVIP Chopper scam: CBI to produce Former IAF Chief SP Tyagi before court

The deal is related to purchase of 12 helicopters for VVIPs from Italian manufacturer, Finmeccanica in 2010 during UPA-2 government’s rule.

Former Air Force Chief S P Tyagi. (File)

The CBI will produce before the court today former Air Force Chief S P Tyagi and seek his remand after he was arrested yesterday in the Agusta Westland helicopter deal case. Delhi based lawyer Gautam Khaitan and another person namely Sanjeev Tyagi were also arrested in the case.

The deal is related to purchase of 12 helicopters for VVIPs from Italian manufacturer, Finmeccanica in 2010 during UPA-2 government’s rule. 71-year old Tyagi, who retired in 2007, was called for questioning at CBI Headquarters along with Khaitan and Sanjeev Tyagi.

These are the first arrests in the case by CBI which came three years after it registered an FIR in 2013. CBI spokesperson Devpreet Singh in a statement last evening, said, “It was alleged that Chief of Air Staff entered into criminal conspiracy with other accused persons. She said in 2005, Air Force Chief conceded to change IAF’s consistent stand and reduced service ceiling of VVIP Helicopters to 4500 meters.”

She said such changes in Operational Requirements made the private company based at the UK (AgustaWestland), eligble to participate in the Request for Proposal for VVIP Helicopters.

Singh said the arrested accused persons will be produced before the competent court tomorrow where their remand would be sought

Vikas Swarup, MEA spokesperson

Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 1

India today toughened its stand on holding talks with Pakistan and was firm in its assertion that Pakistan needed to stop cross-border terrorism for dialogue to resume. Reports emanating from Pakistani media today also suggested that so far, India and Pakistan had no plans to hold a bilateral on the sidelines of the Heart of Asia (HOA) conference scheduled to be held in Amritsar on December 3-4.At a media briefing today, when asked repeatedly over the possibility of a bilateral in Amritsar since Sartaj Aziz, the de facto foreign minister of Pakistan, will be in attendance, India was quick to say that while it was ready for talks, “India will never accept continued terrorism as the new normal of the bilateral relationship”.The official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Vikas Swarup, also listed out many of the terrorist attacks against India that had been traced back to Pakistan. Meanwhile, Dawn newspaper in Pakistan quoted official sources as saying that while Pakistan was willing for talks, India was not and also pointed out that New Delhi did not want to discuss the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. While many had pointed out that the HOA conference offered both countries an opportunity to talk and to reduce the bilateral tensions, India seems in no mood to take up Pakistan’s offer of talks.

Delhi to help Dhaka in defence production

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 1

Within two weeks of Bangladesh getting its first submarine from China, Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today ended a two-day visit to Dhaka with a promise of allowing Indian defence manufacturers to help the neighbouring country set up its own military hardware manufacturing base.New Delhi has offered Dhaka that Indian public sector undertakings will help build the military production capabilities of Bangladesh. Indian PSUs are already making naval warships, rifles, guns, tanks and armoured vehicles that are needed by the neighbour.Bangladesh would like to see some growth of its own defence production industry and India has offered its services, sources said.Leading an 11-member delegation, Parrikar is the first Indian Defence Minister to visit Dhaka. India and Bangladesh have sorted out their differences over the land boundary and maritime boundary disputes and till now the two countries did not have military-to-military relationship.Parrikar today called on Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who also holds defence portfolio, and discussed measures to strengthen military and security ties. He had yesterday met President Abdul Hamid who assured India that it had “zero tolerance” policy against terrorism and sought expanded military ties.New Delhi has offered more training slots for Bangladesh at Indian training institutions. The Defence Minister also met Hasina’s security adviser Major General Tariq Ahmed (retd). Hasina herself is expected to visit India next month.

The new currency and arms recovered from the two militants who were shot dead in Bandipora on Tuesday. Tribune photo

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, November 22

Two militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district today.The brief gunfight erupted early this morning when the police, CRPF and the Army cordoned off Bonikhan Mohalla in Hajin, around 30 km from Srinagar, following an input about militant presence in the area.“Two heavily armed terrorists were neutralised during the operation. We have recovered two AK rifles, one Under Barrel Grenade Launcher (UBGL) and a large quantity of war-likes stores,” Commanding Officer, 13 Rashtriya Rifles, Col Vikramjeet Singh told mediapersons after the operation.“The operation was conducted in a built-up area and we ensured that there was no collateral damage to the houses and civilians population in the area,” he added.A police officer said both slain militants were residents of Pakistan and associated with the Lashkar-e-Toiba.The militants were killed a day after suspected militants fled with nearly Rs 13 lakh, including Rs 11 lakh old currency, from a bank in central Kashmir’s Budgam district.Rs 2,000 notes recovered from slain ultras At a time when people are struggling to get new currency, fresh notes of Rs 2,000 were recovered from the two militants killed in the encounter. “We have begun investigations as to how the militants got the new currency,” said Senior Superintendent of Police, Bandipora, Zulfikar Azad. The police also recovered Rs 11,600 in Rs 100 denomination from the two slain militants. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes and the move was mainly intended to curb the flow of funds to militant organisations and counterfeit money. However, the recovery of new currency notes from the possession of slain Pakistani militants indicates that the insurgents transact mostly in genuine currency. Several J&K police officers opine that the demonetisation is not going to have “much impact” on militancy in Kashmir.

NEW DELHI: Several groups of United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) cadres travelled to Pakistan during the 1990s to receive training with the help of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), according to a new book about the spy agency.

HT FILEAuthor Hein G Kiessling writes that Pakistan’s ISI began supplying weapons to Naga militant groups back in the 1960s.

Links between Pakistan and militant groups in India’s northeastern states date back to the 1960s, when the neighbouring country supplied weapons to Naga militants, author Hein G Kiessling writes in his book Faith, Unity, Discipline: The ISI Of Pakistan.

Kiessling, a historian who forged contacts with Pakistani military and intelligence officials while living in the country between 1989 and 2002, writes there was a temporary halt to weapons supplies after the 1971 war that led to the birth of Bangladesh.

“In 1990, via the Pakistan embassy in Dhaka, the NSCN (National Socialist Council of Nagaland) and ULFA developed contacts with the ISI…In January 1991, with the help of the ISI, several high-ranking ULFA leaders travelled to Pakistan to sign a training agreement for ULFA cadres,” he writes.

In 1991, two six-member ULFA groups arrived in Islamabad for training and a third 10-member group followed in 1993. The ISI procured weapons for the northeastern militant groups from countries such as Thailand and Cambodia, from where they were shipped to Bangladesh before being smuggled into India.

Kiessling writes there are indications that the “ISI is still present and active in northeast India”. In August 1999, Assam Police announced the arrest of two ISI officers and two local agents

Our Correspondent

Sangrur, November 19

The ex-servicemen wing of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) yesterday demanded two tickets for the ex-servicemen from SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal for the current Assembly elections.State president of the wing Gurjinder Singh Sidhu said the ex-servicemen and serving Army personnel were in great strength in the state and they had about 25 lakh votes. Besides, there were also 55,000 widows of ex-servicemen in the state. Therefore, the party president should give them representation in the Assembly elections by allotting the party ticket, he added.Sidhu regretted that during the previous Assembly elections not even a single ticket was allotted to the ex-servicemen by the party due to which they had been feeling ignored.

NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force is examining a proposal to gather data on the performance of its first female fighter pilots, potential difficulties due to physiological attributes and cultural issues in the male-dominated military, HT has learnt.

IAF(L-R) Mohana, Bhawana and Avani are in line to be the country’s first woman combat pilots.

The proposal, made by a leading woman aviation psychologist and accident investigator in the IAF, is under consideration of the force’s crucial inspection and safety wing, sources said.

Three women are currently taking a shot at becoming fighter pilots after the government approved a plan in October last year. “We propose to carry out a longitudinal study capturing every aspect of fighter flying,” said Kuhu Ganguly, a senior scientist in the inspection and safety directorate.

“The idea is to track how well they are progressing as they break into a male bastion,” she said. Such studies can stretch for years as subjects are repeatedly observed on specific parameters.

The three women are in the final stage of their training on British Hawk advanced jet trainers at an IAF facility in Bidar, Karnataka. The trailblazers — Bhawana Kanth, Mohana Singh and Avani Chaturvedi — will begin flying supersonic fighter planes from June 2017, considered a watershed in the IAF’s 84-year history.

Several IAF officers said the performance of the women during their training was on a par with their male colleagues.

Such gender-specific studies are not uncommon. Aviation medicine wings of international air forces, including the US and Australia, have researched women pilot programmes. Research has been done in areas such tolerance to gravitational forces, disorientation and motion sickness, pregnancy, use of “piddle packs” and ejection safety. Ganguly, whose rank is equivalent to an air commodore’s, said, “The fighter jet doesn’t know gender and it will behave as it will. The study could also help the IAF resolve problems, if any, for future women fighter pilots.” The IAF has advised the women trainees to put off motherhood for at least four years after they are commissioned as fighter pilots so that their flying schedule is not disrupted. No woman trainee from the next batch has opted for the fighter stream.

“Fitness norms for flying duties are clearly laid down and both men and women will have to maintain those standards,” said Air Marshal Pawan Kapoor, who heads the IAF’s medical wing.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar during the Shaheed Samman rally in Rewari on Wednesday. Tribune Photo

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Rewari, November 16

Union Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh today announced to open an Army recruitment sub-centre in Rewari besides setting up a Rapid Action Force (RAF) Battalion in Mewat on permanent basis to maintain communal harmony.The announcement was made at the Shaheed Samman Rally organised at the HUDA ground here to pay tribute to 5,000 martyrs who laid down their lives on November 16, 1857, at Nasibpur in Mahendragarh.“There is no army recruitment centre in Rewari which has the highest number of serving and ex-servicemen in Haryana. There is an urgent need to set up such a centre here and it should be fulfilled on priority basis. The RAF should also be deputed in Mewat to ensure communal harmony.”Singh said Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had given his consent for setting up an Army Recruitment sub-centre in Rewari, adding, adequate land was available in Mewat to station RAF Battalion.Earlier, Rao Inderjit accused the Congress of deliberately putting the issue on the back burner. He urged the CM to ensure setting up AIIMS-like institute at Manethi village of the district and construction of Rewari bypass.Referring to Rao’s demands, Khattar said the state government the work to construct the Rewari bypass could be expedited if the NCR Planning Board was ready to give a loan. The bypass would be built at an estimated cost of Rs 800 crore.Meanwhile, the Home Minister also defended the move to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, adding, it would minimise economic disparity.

In October, the two armies conducted a joint exercise along the Line of Actual Control in the Ladakh region of J&K. ani file

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 11

India and China are readying for a joint military exercise and have decided on a trajectory to increase military interactions and ensure stability along the disputed boundary between the two nations.A two-week joint military exercise begins on November 16 to “understand and practice” methods to tackle the transnational terror. The exercise is being conducted under the Pune-based Southern Army Command.This will be the sixth edition of the “hand-in-hand” exercise, first since December when Beijing passed a law authorising its military to venture overseas on counter-terror operations and even sent off 5,000 troops to tackle the Islamic State in Syria.Both countries separately face transnational terror in their respective regions — India in Kashmir and China in Xinjiang (lying north of J&K in India). Both nations also have collective threat of their own youth joining the IS. The scope of the exercise will include evolution of joint drills for conduct of counter-terror operations and include a live drill to neutralise a terrorist.Besides, a high-level India-China Defence and Security Consultation has been conducted in New Delhi earlier this week. Indian Defence Secretary G Mohan Kumar led the India delegations in talks with Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of China’s Central Military Commission and the Indian.The Chinese side expressed its commitment to join hands with the Indian Army to maintain the exchanges on border defence, improve the mechanism of communication and strengthen border management and control so as to safeguard peace and stability in their border areas, he added. The two are working to introduce better measures to boost communication and coordination between border guarding forces.

INS Vikramaditya ready to go back to sea

Kochi: INS Vikramaditya, the largest warship operated by India and the third aircraft carrier inducted into the Navy, is getting ready to go back to sea as she completed her “refit works” at Cochin Shipyard Limited here. The ship, 285 metres long and 60 metres wide with 23 decks, was drydocked on September 23. PTI

16 Corps GOC Lt Gen AK Sharma with Governor NN Vohra at Raj Bhawan in Jammu on Monday. Tribune Photo

Tribune News Service

Jammu, November 7

Lt Gen AK Sharma, General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 16 Corps, called on Governor NN Vohra at Raj Bhawan here today and briefed him about the current security situation in his area of responsibility.The Governor discussed with the General Officer Commandin of the 16 Corpsissues relating to effective internal security management in the hinterland and further strengthening the counter-infiltration grid.

Shushila Davi

Sumedha Sharma

Tribune News Service

Gurugram, November 5

It takes a visit to quaint village of Mohammad Ahir in Tawdu in Mewat district to blow apart claims of parties about their commitment towards martyred soldiers and their families.In a modest home, lives Sushila Devi, widow Shaurya Chakra awardee Dev Kumar who had died serving in Afghanistan in suicide bombing in 2008. For a few years, she lived with pride — the honour of being the widow of a soldier who died serving the country. But pride gave way to disillusionment; she has been struggling to get Shaurya Chakra pension.“My husband was in the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and sent to Afghanistan in 2008. Before leaving, he had told me he may never return and asked me to be proud if he died,” Sushila Devi says. Kumar died in 2008 and was awarded Shaurya Chakra 2009. “That was the proudest moment of my life,” Devi says. “He was the sole bread earner. I got his pension, but that was not enough. I was then told about Shaurya Chakra pension given by the state. I applied for it and thus started my struggle,” said Sushila.She made regular trips to Chandigarh to check the progress of her application for pension. “Initially, men from my family would do visit Chandigarh. Soon, they realised it was a futile task. So, I took it upon myself. I went to Chandigarh almost every week and, every time, officials ignored me. Somebody suggested I meet local leaders, but that was no help either,” Devi says.In December 2014 and July this year, Gurugram MP Rao Inderjit Singh had written to officials on her behalf, but to avail. “He was kind enough to take up my case. But probably all that a soldier gets in this country is an award. Indifference and insult follows. I hope that the hue and cry over the OROP scheme may force leaders to spare a thought about me,” Sushila adds.Nuh MLA Zakir Hussain said, “This is ironic. Both the Congress and the BJP have let many like her down. She is not asking for any help, but her right which her husband earned laying his life in the line of duty. The INLD will take her case with Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.”