The ruling BJP was left red-faced on Thursday when photographs of its state chief and other leaders emerged showing their proximity with Shakib Ali Danger,the man who allegedly arranged contract killers from Kanpur to eliminate Bhopal-based RTI activist Shehla Masood. Shakib,who was arrested two days ago and remanded in CBI custody along with main accused Zahida Parvez,allegedly actively hobnobbed with state BJP chief Prabhat Jha and Bhopal district chief Alok Sharma. An embarrassed Jha on Thursday claimed he did not know Ali personally but being in public life its not possible to stop people from posing next to us. Claiming that he had learnt a lesson,Jha said he would write to all district chiefs asking them to exercise caution and verify the antecedents of people before letting them on stage. The photographs date back to June 2011 when the BJP organised a function in the city to felicitate Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The partys embarrassment did not stop at the photographs. A BJP MPs representative had issued a character certificate to Shakib,a known historysheeter from Tila Jamalpura with nearly two dozen cases against him. As a precautionary measure,Shakib had been externed by an additional district magistrate from the limits of Bhopal in November 2011. But he was very much present in the town when the CBI took him into custody. Demanding Jhas immediate resignation on moral grounds,the Congress said the revelation was a proof that criminal elements enjoyed protection of the ruling party. However,the Congress,too,had its share of minor embarrassment when it learnt that a party municipal councilor had also issued Shakib a character certificate. AMRI fire chargesheet names 16 Kolkata Police on Thursday submitted the charge-sheet against all 16 accused in the AMRI fire,in which 91 people were killed last year. Of the 16 persons named in the 1,300-page charge-sheet,12 are AMRI directors and the other four are employees of the hospital. The directors include Rahul Todi,Priti Surekha and Aditya Agarwal,who have been absconding since the fire. According to a counsel of the state,the directors were responsible for the December 9 blaze.
