Cop picks holes in Godhra FIR

Ahmedabad (PTI): A senior police officer on Saturday told the Godhra inquiry commission that there were ?discrepancies? in the FIR and ?differences? among the high-ranking police officials on investigations into the massacres in Naroda Patiya and Gulbarg Society during the post-Godhra riots.

ormer Bhavnagar district superintendent of police Rahul Sharma said: ?On more than one occasion, I realised that I was not being consulted in the cases.?

Sharma had been appointed deputy commissioner of police (control) in during the riots.

?In the FIR, the reason for the crowd attack at Naroda Patiya, where 87 Muslims were killed, was not specified. But in the chargesheet, the reason mentioned was the errant truck driver who killed a Hindu youth,? he said.

The police official added that he similarly disagreed with the Gulbarg Society chargesheet that said the attack came after ex-Congress MP Ehsan Jafri opened fire from his house.

In Mumbai, a special court conducting trial in the Bilkis Bano gangrape and massacre case will frame charges against the accused on November 5.

Special judge U.D. Salvi deferred the matter after asking the CBI to hand over all documents pertaining to the case. The court said the worth of those documents would be decided later but they would be required by the defence to contradict the statements of witnesses.

Silicon foundry in pipeline

Bangalore: The Centre has set in motion plans for a multi-billion dollar silicon foundry that will roll out future generation wireless chips, communications and information technology minister Dayanidhi Maran said on Saturday, reports our special correspondent.

peaking on the sidelines of the inauguration of a new facility of e4e Inc, a global technology holding company and full-service operating enterprise here, Maran said: ?The Prime Minister is keen on a silicon foundry and we are moving in the right direction. We are looking at RFID (radio frequency-identification device), but all these are at the drawing board stage. It will be too premature for me to make any bold statements.?

Such a facility would require an investment of at least $3 billion and a thorough evaluation of technologies available the world over, he said.

Calcutta ?link? in Telgi scam

Pune (PTI): Abdul Karim Telgi, the prime accused in the multi-crore stamp-paper scam, on Saturday claimed that the kingpin in the case was not him but a businessman from Calcutta.

In a signed statement given to his lawyer Harshad Nimbalkar, Telgi said he was just a tool and Mohammed Sayeed Mohammed Yasin was the actual mastermind.

JP film cleared

Mumbai (PTI): The controversial documentary film on Jai Prakash Narayan, the telecast of which was withheld by Prasar Bharati, has been cleared by the censor board ?without a single cut?, said filmmaker Prakash Jha. The certificate clearly shows the film does not adhere to any ideological preferences, he added.

Bankers? remand

Akola, Maharashtra (PTI): A court here has remanded eight employees of a cooperative bank, including the head cashier, in police custody till Sunday. They were arrested after Rs 9 lakh was found missing on Thursday from the strong room of the main branch of the Janata Commercial Co-operative Bank here.

IA family scheme

Mumbai (PTI): Indian Airlines will launch an ?IA family ticket? scheme from Monday to regain market share. Under the scheme, being introduced during peak season, two children below the age of 12 can travel free with two full-fare paying adults, an IA release said. The scheme, on till January 31, would be valid for both one-way and round trip travel in economy class only. A maximum of two children between 12 and 18 years can also avail of a 50 per cent discount while accompanying two full-fare paying adults.

Fake passport

Coimbatore (PTI): A youth from Kerala was arrested at the airport here in the wee hours on Saturday for travelling with a fake passport from Sharjah. The youth, Vivekanandan, a native of Thrissur district, was found travelling on a passport issued under the name of one Johnson.

Policemen from Jammu and Kashmir, with their colleagues from other states, will attempt to scale Mount Everest. This was announced by the director-general of police near Srinagar.