Ajmer

Passengers of the Jaipur bound Delhi-Jaipur-Ajmer Shatabdi Express remained stranded near Dausa for some time following a sudden fire in the engine of the prestigious train this morning.

Five youths, who were travelling on the roof of the Gwalior-Udaipur Mail train were killed and four others injured when they hit a flyover between Ajmer and Bhilwara stations in Rajasthan early today.

A CBI court in Ahmedabad has convicted Ravjibhai Manubhai Pawar of the murder of his Indian employer and four other members of his family in Dubai in 1992 and sentenced him to death.

A press release from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said that its investigations had shown that Pawar, while working as a domestic servant in Dubai, had kileld Mr Ramesh K Sagar and four others of Mr Sagar's family on January 4, 1992.

He was also accused of rape and of stealing household articles, including clothes, ornaments and cash.

Pawar feld from Dubai on January 5 and came to India. On the basis of an Interpol alert, he was nabbed on January 10 by the Gujarat police and a first information report (FIR)was registered.

Since the accused was an Indian national and the offence took place outside India, the case was entrusted to the CBI. The Dubai Police had also registered an FIR and collected evidence, which was used by the CBI during investigation and trial of the case, the release said.

The chargesheet was filed on January 23, 1992 in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Chikhli. The trial court found him guilty and convicted him.

The case was registered by the CBI, Ahmedabad (now Gandhinagar) Branch on April 27, 1992 on the basis of the request and consent of the Government of Gujarat for futher investigation of the case filed at the Chikhli Police Station, the release added.

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The Rajasthan government has forwarded again to Governor Shivraj Patil the mercy petition of 80-year-old Pakistani prisoner Khalil Chisty from Ajmer jail with a recommendation of remission of his sentence on humanitarian grounds.

This is the second time that the state government has forwarded the petition to the Governor.

Earlier, the government had sent the petition to the Governor about a couple of months ago but Mr Patil had then sought more details in Chisty's case alongwith the government's recommendation, an official spokesman said here last evening.

The sessions court in Ajmer had awarded Chisty life sentence in January this year in a murder case after an 18-year-long trial. He had filed an appeal in the High Court but his bail plea was rejected.

Supreme Court Judge Markandey Katju had recently sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention for the release of the Pakistani national, who is suffering from a number of ailments, on humanitarian grounds.

A mercy petition filed by Chisty's kin and human right activists was also pending before Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot who had forwarded the same to the Governor for his consideration.

Chisty, a virologist by profession, came to Ajmer 18 years ago to visit his brother.

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Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today inaugurated a 20-day transit camp for pilgrims departing from the city to attend the 799th annual Urs of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti at Ajmer Sharif.

Pilgrims from all parts of the country reach the national capital to further travel to Ajmer.

Ms Dikshit said her government had been providing all possible help in organising camps for pilgrims of all religions.

"The Urs camp at Burari Maidan is being organised consecutively for the last 11 years. It has been observed that every year the arrangements are becoming better than the past. The stay of pilgrims in transit camp will be comfortable," the Chief Minister added.

She exhorted the pilgrims to pray for unity and brotherhood during annual Urs at Ajmer.

The Delhi Transport Corporation, the Delhi Police, Health Department, the Delhi Jal Board, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, and other departments have rendered their cooperation in providing facilities in the camp.

The government has made arrangement for free stay of pilgrims. For security of the people, several ambulances have been deployed and CCTV cameras have also been installed.

A total of 195 mobile public conveniences have also been stationed.

The DTC is also offering its Delhi tour buses for the convenience of pilgrims. An eight-bedded mini hospital, and Ayurvedic and Unani health centre have also been commissioned.

The Rajasthan Roadways has made arrangement of buses for Ajmer.

Revenue Minister Ashok Kumar Walia, Delhi Power Minister Haroon Yusuf and other officials were also present on the occasion.

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Union Home Minister, Shri P. Chidambaram holding a press conference to present the Report Card of the Ministry of Home Affairs for the month of March, 2011, in New Delhi on April 01, 2011. Union Home Secretary, G.K. Pillai and the Director General (M&C), Press Information Bureau, S.M. Khan are also seen.

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today said the credibility of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is more than that of Aseemanand, an accused in the 2007 Ajmer Dargah blast case, and hoped that the agency would take the case trial to its logical end in a court of law.

Mr Chidambaram's remarks came in response to a question whether the NIA would be able to prove its case against Aseemanand after the latter did a volte face and told Ajmer's chief judicial magistrate that he had agreed to turn approver in the case under pressure from the investigating agencies, including the Rajasthan Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the NIA.

"Please remember, Aseemanand is an accused in the case and the credibility of NIA is more than that of Aseemanand," said Mr Chidambaram at the release of the monthly report card of his ministry.

The swami had earlier sent a letter to the magistrate, expressing his desire to turn an approver in the case and stand witness for the prosecution.

The Rajasthan home department has agreed to hand over the probe in the blast to the NIA.

The Centre had sent a proposal to various state governments to hand over the probe into cases involving the right-wing terror organisations to the federal agency. The cases included terror attacks on the Ajmer Dargah, Hyderabad's Mecca Masjid and in Malegaon, Maharashtra.

The Centre's contention was that since the same radical outfits were involved in these attacks, they should be investigated by the NIA.

The Centre also proposed to hand over the investigations in the murder of slain Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharak Sunil Joshi - a key accused in the cases - to the NIA. Joshi was shot dead in Madhya Pradesh soon after the Ajmer blast.

The Ajmer blast case had been investigated by the Rajasthan ATS that had submitted a charge sheet against three accused last October and arrested Swami Aseemanand, among others.

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A local court today remanded prominent Sangh Parivar activist and Abhinav Bharat functionary Swami Aseemanand to the custody of the Rajasthan Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) till February 11 in the October 2007 Dargah Sharif blast case.

He, along with another accused Bharat Mohan of Valsad in Gujarat, was produced before the Judicial Magistrate (First) Vikram Singh, who remanded them to police custody till Friday next.

The Hindu leader was arrested by the ATS on January 22 last, following his admission before a court of his involvement in the terror blasts at places like Malegaon, Hyderabad and Ajmer and on board the Indo-Pakistan Samjautha Express in 2007.

Bharat Mohan was arrested from Valsad recently on the basis of tips provided by Aseemanand during interrogation.

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The desert town of Bikaner at minus 2.0 degrees Celsius turned out to be the coldest place with south-westerly winds in lower level restricting the impact of the cold wave in northern Rajasthan and some smaller pockets.

The northern town, where the mercury stayed at zero degrees last morning, recorded a further fall of two degrees today to turn colder than Mount Abu which recorded minus 1.0 degrees, Meteorology office sources said.

The weather conditions in the Pilani town of Jhunjhunu district also remained grim with the mercury touching the mark of 0.4 degrees, almost the same level of 0.5 degrees that it was at yesterday.

Jaisalmer also remained affected with icy winds as the famous tourist resort shivered at 1.2 degrees.

Elsewhere in the state, Churu recorded a minimum temperature of 2.5 degrees, followed by Ganganagar 3.7 degrees, Udaipur-Dabok 4.7 and Jaipur recorded five degrees.

Several stations including Ajmer, Jaipur, Udaipur, Churu and Kota recorded rise in night temperatures under the impact of the south-westerly winds, sources said, adding the change in wind pattern might ease further the cold wave conditions in a day or two.

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