In Brief

Tulsiram encounter: Court says no to narco test of arrested cops
The Danta Judicial Magistrate court in Banaskantha on Wednesday rejected the application of the CID (Crime) seeking permission to put seven accused in the Tulsiram Prajapati encounter case under narco analysis. The court rejected the application after the seven refused to undergo the test. The CID had sought narco analysis of the suspended policemen — Vipul Aggarwal,Ashish Pandya,Jethusingh Solanki,Vinod Chaudhary,Karansinh Chauhan,Karamsinh Sisodia and Kanji Kachchi. The Supreme Court had recently termed forced narco test “illegal and a violation of personal liberty”. The CID had sought the court’s permission to put the accused under the test on grounds that the accused were not cooperating with the investigation. The court has extended remand of Ashish Pandya for two more days till May 28.

RIL,petrol pump dealers meet ends inconclusive
Discussions between Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and its petrol pump dealers proved futile as the day-long meeting didn’t come to any conclusion on Wednesday.
Varun Patel,president of Reliance Petrol Pump Dealers’ Association,said: “The company didn’t pay any heed to our demands. We had asked the company to either purchase petrol pumps from the dealers at the present rate or pay compensation.” Higher officials,who discussed the matter via video-conference from Mumbai,could not come up with any solution.
The association members present in Ahmedabad refused to budge,saying: “We will get up from here only when our demands are met”. “We were told the company will reopen the petrol pumps. But they have not kept their promise. We are suffering huge losses as both land and dealership is at stake for the last two years,” Patel added. RIL had pulled the shutters down on their retail outlets as the price difference between their products and the government owned companies was much higher. This made it difficult for the company to run its outlets. The company also runs the company operated-dealer owned and company owned-company operated outlets.

DCB chargesheets Mumbai man for hawala transaction

The Ahmedabad city Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) has filed a chargesheet against one Mahendra Patel,a resident of Ville Parle in Mumbai and proprietor of financial institution Patel Online.
He is accused of facilitating transfer of hawala money from a Dubai-based financial institution,Abdul Latif Money Exchange,to Gujarat,which was to be used in terror activities to avenge the 2002 anti-Muslim riots. The hawala money was transferred between March 2002 and April 2003. DCB officials filed the chargesheet in the designated POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act) Court of Sessions Judge Jyotsanaben Yagnik.
Patel had moved a bail application,on Wednesday. However,the POTA court turned down the same.

Licence system for cotton export an anti-farmer move: Modi
Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday criticised the Centre for introducing licence system for export of cotton and said it was an anti-farmer move,which will lead to corruption.
“Gujarat farmers have lost Rs 2,000 crore due to the ban on cotton exports. In one month,the cotton growing farmers of Gujarat have been left in the lurch,” Modi said at a function in Gandhinagar.
“Licence raj means opening doors for corruption,” he added.
The Centre had banned cotton exports on April 19. The ban was partially lifted and a new licencing regime for its exports was introduced on May 21 following strong opposition from the cotton growing states.
Modi said there should not be any kind of licence for export of cotton. “Like before,the farmers of Gujarat should be able to export cotton without any restrictions. This method of restricting exports is wrong,” he added.
Modi further alleged that the Centre had imposed the ban to benefit a handful of industrialists in the textile sector.