Probe ordered into Srivastava8217;s operations

The enquiry will focus on Srivastava running his operations from prison with the help of a cellular phone, U P Jail Minister Shiv Pratap Shukla said.

Shukla told UNI that although routine inquiries into cases involving Srivastava were on, a fresh inquiry was in order. 8220;It is necessary to know how and from where Srivastava arranged the cell phone, if the information is correct,8221; he said.

The enquiry will also include Srivastava8217;s alleged connections with politicians, bureaucrats and police officers in the State, the Minister said.

Shukla said instructions had been issued to submit the report at the earlist. In theCalcutta encounter, four criminals were shot dead and two injured. One of the injured, Manjeet Singh, was a close associate of Srivastava and carried a reward of Rs one lakh on his head.

Police said during interrogation, Singh revealed several facts about Srivastava8217;s operations. Several cell phone Sim cards were recovered from Singh, who was active in Uttar Pradesh.

Shukla said the State Government had taken reports of Srivastava8217;s operations seriously, 8220;and no person, irrespective of his position, would be spared if found guilty,8221; he added.

Bomb planting case: Gangster discharged

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court today discharged controversial godman Chandraswami, two of his kin, Uttar Pradesh gangster Babloo Srivastava and three others from a bomb planting case.

Additional district and sessions judge G P Thareja discharged the accused as prosecution relied upon confessional statements of the accused and failed to produce any evidence. According to prosecution, the accused had entered into acriminal conspiracy to falsely implicate a city journalist Rajendra Jain under the Explosives Act and allegedly planted some explosive material in his car in 1991.

Police alleged that Chandraswami wanted to implicate Jain in a case as he was writing against in his paper Janadhar. The journalist, who was also a witness in the Jain Commission that probed conspiracy aspects of Rajiv Gandhi assassination, was found dead in mysterious circumstances at his residence in west Delhi in January this year.

The court did not agree with the prosecution8217;s contention that it was bomb planting case as the alleged material was not put together to make it an explosive device.

The other accused were Chandraswami8217;s elder brother Rikab Chand Jain, nephew Gian Chand Gandhi and Babloo8217;s associates 8212; Sanjay Khanna, Virendra Panth, Manmohan Saigal, Satnam Singh.

The court said prosecution could not produce any evidence to show that there was a criminal conspiracy on part of the accused persons.

Prosecution alleged that theaccused had planted some explosive material including a plastic tube, six batteries, a black wire, electronic detonator and a switch in Jain8217;s car, seized by city police at Mandir Marg in New Delhi area on July 29, 1991.

It had further had alleged that Chandraswami had taken services of Babloo Srivastava for getting the job done and the explosives were collected from Rajpura in Punjab.

The confessional statements made by Babloo before the police said that he at the instance of Chandraswami had employed Sanjay, Virendra, Manmohan and Satnam to collect the material from Punjab.