THE WEEK
THAT WAS
India Abroad
August 19, 2011
Palm oil deal glare on Kerala chief minister
A court in Thiruvananthapuram ordered
a probe to ascertain if Kerala Chief
Minister Oommen Chandy had any role in
the 1992 palmolein oil import deal (in
which the Kerala government decided to
import palm oil from a Malaysian company
above the international price), as the then
finance minister in the K Karunakaran
government. Chandy said he would not
appeal against the order, but declined to
comment on the demand for his resignation by Opposition parties.
Mercy plea of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassins rejected
August 11, Indian President Pratibha
Patil rejected the mercy pleas of three convicts on death row for the assassination of
former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Murugan alias Sriharan, Santhan and
Perarivalan had filed mercy petitions after
the Indian supreme court confirmed their
death sentences in 2000. Meanwhile,
Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram
said no decision had been taken on the
mercy plea filed by Afzal Guru, involved in
the 2001 attacks on the Indian parliament.
The Bharatiya Janata Party demanded that
he be hanged while Kashmiri separatist
leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani said the
Kashmir valley will be up in flames if Guru
is hanged.
Hang cops behind fake encounters: Court
In a scathing attack on police officers
who carry out fake encounters, India’s
supreme court Aug 8, said such cops
should be hanged to death. The court
observed this while directing the surrender
of two senior Rajasthan police officers
involved in the fake encounter of an
alleged gangster in 2006.
AMI T DAVE/REUTERS
An Iftar meal at a mosque in Ahmedabad. The holy month of Ramadan, marked by abstinence and prayer, began August 2
India’s richest parliamentarian faces CBI probe
According to a high court ruling, allegations of wealth
amassed by India’s richest member of parliament Y S
Jaganmohan Reddy, will be probed by the Central Bureau
of Investigation. The court responded to two petitions
alleging that Jagan misused the official position of his late
father, then Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S
Rajasekhar Reddy.
India asks Pakistan to release convict on death row
Veteran bureaucrat P C Alexander dead
Farmers, cops clash on Mumbai-Pune expressway
Padinjarethalakal Cherian Alexander, principal secretary
to then Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi, died in
Chennai August 10. Known for his administrative skills
and astute political insights, Alexander played a key role
in persuading Gandhi’s son Rajiv to assume power after
her assassination.
Cops face Modi’s ire
Two senior police officers of the Gujarat cadre were suspended for indiscipline in connection with the investigations of the 2002 post-Godhra riots. Deputy inspector
General of Police Rahul Sharma was chargesheeted for
allegedly passing on crucial information about the riots to
the special investigation team, appointed by the Indian
supreme court. Sanjeev Bhatt, who accused Gujarat Chief
Minister Narendra Modi of misusing state machinery during the riots, was suspended August 9.
