Confessions From Aseemanand? Who’s Next?

It looks like terrorists are falling over each other to confess to the Samjhauta blast, the Ajmer and other bombings around 2006-07. We barely get past one confession and see any convictions and we have a new one. Predictably Swami Aseemanand’s counsel has stated the confession was made under duress. Even otherwise such confessions are worth nothing unless they are corroborated with indisputable evidence of involvement of those accused in the confession.

So apart from leaking Aseemanand’s confession to the media and once again trying to target Hindu groups to distract from the season of scams, one wonders what other stories the UPA government is now going to come up with. Take a look at these reports:

From Times of India, January 10, 2011: Giving a new twist to the Samjhauta Express blasts case, the counsel of Swami Aseemanand — he is also an accused in the Hyderabad Mecca Masjid explosion case — claimed on Sunday that his client's statement recorded before the metropolitan magistrate of Tis Hazari court in Delhi on December 18, 2010, was obtained under duress. Manvir Rathi, who represents Aseemanand in the Samjhauta blasts case, said he had a one-to-one conversation with him on January 3 when he was produced before special NIA court in Panchkula. Rathi says Aseemanand told him that the CBI had recorded his statement in a Delhi court, but that statement was not voluntary. Read the full report.

In November 2008 SIMI Commander Safdar Nagori was put through a Narco test and had admitted to his involvement, along with others, in almost the same blasts.

The DailyPioneer: November 14, 2008: The report of the narco analysis test on SIMI commander Safdar Nagori and his close aides takes the wind out of the Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) probe into the possible involvement of Hindu outfits and Army officers in the Samjhauta Express train blasts.....A joint director-level official of the operations branch of the Intelligence Bureau, responsible for the parallel investigation into the Malegaon blasts, said the Mumbai ATS claims about the involvement of the Sadhvi and Purohit are “far-fetched” as SIMI’s involvement in the case is “beyond reasonable doubt”. ...Apart from the Samjhauta Express and Malegaon blasts, Nagori and his associates have also confessed to SIMI’s role and involvement of Muslims in terror attacks in Mumbai, Aurangabad, Hyderabad, Ajmer and the shootout at the American consulate in Kolkata. Read the full report.

It seems that Congress ministers and even the national investigative agencies have only a one-point agenda - to prove Rahul Gandhi right. First, his travel plans are set to coincide with ministerial announcements on projects like the Niyamgiri one in Orissa. And now, we have the NIA finding a Hindu terror link to corroborate Rahul Gandhi's RSS=SIMI statement. Who knows, Rahul Gandhi might come up with a new angle to the terror attacks and the NIA and ATSs of this country will run looking for newer suspects. Effectively the Congress seems to be flailing its arms at everything to distract from the season of scams.

Will this work? Will the terrible nightmare for the Congress now go away?

Congress Sues Subramanian Swamy For Defamation

On November 27, 2010 V. Sundaram, an ex-IAS officer and Janata Party member, wrote an article ‘Firangi Memahib - India's Intractable cancer, within and without’. The site www.haindavakeralam.com  that put up this article posted a question: ‘Why no defamation suit against Dr Swamy’? Well, their prayers have been answered. Finally someone from the Congress (I) has finally realised that the allegations made by Subramanian Swamy against Sonia Gandhi were quite serious. These allegations relate to the 2G scam and Swamy had alleged that Sonia Gandhi’s relatives had got a part of the loot. These were made in a purported letter to the Prime Minister on November 24, 2010. Read my post ‘2G Scandal: Swamy Accuses Sonia Gandhi Family Of Getting Loot’

There is no report suggesting the PM responded to that letter of Swamy. MaunMohan Singh as he is jokingly known. There was no response from Sonia Gandhi either. Such serious allegations would make any other person jump but not Ms.Gandhi. So why I should I not presume those charges hold some basis?

Now, a youth Congress leader from Ahmedabad has filed a case of defamation against Subramanian Swamy. TOI (January 8) reports that YC President Prakash Gurjar has filed a criminal complaint in a metropolitan court against Swamy for accusing Sonia Gandhi of being involved in the 2G spectrum scam. That’s inaccurate reporting. Swamy has actually accused Sonia Gandhi’s family of have gotten part of the loot. The petition seeks to prosecute Swamy under 153A,B and 500 of the IPC for making ‘defamatory’ statements and for ‘inciting communal feelings. Communal feelings? So now accusations of corruption also incite communal feelings? Anyway, never mind that. If you don’t know about IPC codes 153A,B and 500, never mind that either. 

Before I go further, let’s go back in time a bit. In October 2007 a group of NRIs released an ad in the New York Times.The full-page advertisement appeared in the New York Times on October 6, 2007, levelling several charges against Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul during the UPA chairperson’s visit to the UN. 

An organisation called Indian Overseas Congress (INOC) filed a 20-million dollar defamation suit against the advertisers. The INOC had earlier filed two separate cases relating to the advertisement, one in New Jersey and another in New York, seeking 100 million dollars in actual, compensatory, and punitive damages in addition to costs and disbursements, legal fees and other relief that the court might consider proper. The case was primarily dismissed because INOC had no locus-standi. Why? Clearly INOC was not the party against whom the ad was released. If at all, it should have been Sonia Gandhi herself who should have filed a case. But she didn’t. So whenever madam Sonia is accused of something there is someone else doing the dirty work. Read the related articles at Intellibrief and Thaindian.

Considering most Congress members don’t act unless they are probably instructed by Ms.G or Mr.G one has to wonder why this youth Congress leader has chosen to file a defamation case when the accusations are against Sonia Gandhi. If there is indeed an injured party it would have to be Sonia Gandhi. So why doesn’t she file a case or make any public statements about the allegations made by Subramanian Swamy? Wait! This is a YC leader filing the case. Is it possible that YC leader Rahul Gandhi has instructed this guy to file a case? And that too in Ahmedabad of all places? But as in the case of the NYT ad in the US, this guy doesn’t have a locus-standi in the case and the court should have immediately dismissed the petition.  Instead the court has set a hearing date of January 18.

Our courts, already bogged down with plenty of accumulated cases, keep admitting such frivolous petitions. One wonders if Sonia Gandhi has the guts to stand up for herself and defend herself or at least have the guts to file the defamation suit herself.

Most of all, Swamy has made the allegations in a letter to the PM and not as a general public document or statement. My prediction : Subramanian Swamy will win and rub more salt into the Congress wounds.

Digivijay Singh Should Take A Lie-Dectector Test

Read 'Digvijay Singh -Wag The Dog'. The BSNL phone records proof that DS claims to have produced require scrutiny and investigation. No one has questioned DS better than Subramanian Swamy. Here's a DNA report on the statement of Swamy:

"The photocopy of the telephone records that Singh produced before TV cameras needs to be scrutinised since the telephone number on which a call was made from Singh's telephone was to a general SIT number in Mumbai and not to any of the two numbers on which Karkare could be accessed," Swamy said. Read the full DNA report.

All the statements made by DS clearly appear to be dubious, contradictory and in some cases outright lies. The media appears to have lapped up the nonsensical proof provided by DS without any corroboration by the MTNL (Bombay operators of the landline which he seemed to have called). Besides, even that is absolutely no evidence that he actually spoke to Hemant Karkare.

The only truth behind this whole episode is the intent of the Congress (I) and Digvijay Singh to throw more dirt at Hindus and to distract from the season of scams.

There is one way to resolve this. Since this concerns a serious investigation into the 26/11 attacks Digvijay Singh should be put through a lie-detector test. If he has the guts, let him take one ! Or else, this particular episode in his stupidity will remain a lie forever.

Digvijay Singh - Wag The Dog?

Since the series of UPA scams broke out Digvijay Singh (DS) has been in the news. Mostly for the wrong reasons. Well, I would think that’s the job assigned to him. To muddy the picture and create confusion and to distract from the scams. He first starts by attending a book launch of ‘26/11 an RSS Conspiracy’ by his friend Aziz Burney. There he makes some comments about Hindu Terror and how Hemant Karkare, the ATS Officer, feared for his life.

Mind you, DS reiterates that he is in no doubt that Pakistani terrorists were responsible for 26/11 and Karkare’s death. So why would a person attend the book launch of something called ‘26/11 an RSS Conspiracy’? That book doesn’t sound like a romantic love story or any work of fiction. Does it? And since then DS has been on a roll with all kinds of confusing and contradictory statements. The mainstream media laps it all up like a faithful dog without any questions.

Here’s what DS first said (Dec 11):

"I had spoken to him three and a half hours...It was between 6 and 7 pm on 26/11.... I was very shocked when I came to know that he was killed", he told reporters today. (My view: If this were true, then DS would have been speaking to Karkare while he was putting on the supposed bullet-proof jacket and then all the way to his death...) Three and a half hours? A working ATS officer speaks for three and a half hours to a non-working has been? (I want that job!!)

When asked about phone records he stated that BSNL does not maintain records beyond 14 months. That itself was surprising. I was under the impression that given the terrorist threats cell phone companies were supposed to maintain records for seven years. But never mind that, he manages to get the BSNL records after all. So whether BSNL or DS lied about the 14 months is another matter altogether.

He later said (with phone records on Jan 5):

The call was placed at 5.44 pm. Singh said, “I called up Karkare on the ATS office phone number listed on the website.” Singh had earlier maintained that he had spoken Karkare on his mobile phone number; now he has cited ATS board number. It still does not constitute indisputable proof that Karkare had spoken to him.

He knew Hemant Karkare well and for long for the Officer to be confiding in him and yet he didn’t have his number? He had to find it on a website? Well that’s possible, after all we all search for our close friends’ phone numbers on websites, don’t we? Imagine DS hanging around somewhere with nothing to do and so he decided to search for Hemant Karkare's phone number on a website.That's totally credible!

TOI reports: According to the documents, Singh called Maharashtra ATS number 022-23087336 from his BSNL mobile number 09425015461. Karkare and he talked for about six minutes.

India Today reports: The BSNL call records apparently show that Karkare called Singh from his office landline on that fateful day. The call was made at 5:44 PM and lasted three minutes. Digvijay said the call was made on his mobile phone. 

Why can’t the mediacrooks make up their mind on how long DS actually talked? And to whom? Why should anyone believe that because DS called a landline number in the ATS office at Mumbai that he actually spoke to him? And the time of the call, of course, is another issue too. First DS said it was between 6 and 7 pm and the records show 5.44 pm. Fine, after over two years a slight variation in time is acceptable. But how long did he talk? 3 Minutes? 6 Minutes? Three and a half hours? And who actually made the call to whom? DS to Karkare or Karkare to DS?

And most of all, why did DS call Hemant Karkare at all? Is there a reason? If it was just a friendly courtesy call one would have thought DS would have called Karkare’s mobile number which initially he had claimed he had. Given that it’s the BSNL which has provided proof of his call it implies it was DS who called that landline number from his mobile. So one can safely conclude that Karkare definitely didn’t make a call to DS. But did he actually receive the call from DS? Seems unlikely, especially because dead men tell no tales.

Aziz Burney may not be the only one to hatch conspiracy theories. A wag mentioned to me that DS called Karkare because DS already knew that Karkare was going to die. Isn't that possible? Isn't it possible that DS suddenly decided to call Karkare because he knew the officer was going to die? This is another angle that investigators should look into as well. 

DS may have launched that book about the 26/11 Conspiracy but unfortunately a pigeon again told me what book he actually reads. So I have just one line that describes both the Congress (I) and Digvijay Singh – Wag The Dog!

Update: (Jan 7) If DS has produced BSNL proof then that has to be his mobile call to the ATS landline number. That landline number has to be an MTNL number since Bombay is operated by MTNL. Why won't the media seek a corroboration from MTNL on the call?