LATE CITY PUNE, SATURDAY OCTOBER 19, 2013 20+6 (NEWSLINE) PAGES Rs. 4.00 TheIndianEXPRESS JOURNALISM OF COURAGE DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD I CHANDIGARH I DELHI I KOLKATA I LUCKNOW I MUMBAI I NAGPUR I PUNE I VADODARA IndianExpress.com twitter.com/IndianExpress facebook.com/IndianExpress IndianExpress.com/Apps Ex-Coal Secy Parakh hired by 2 firms which then bid for coal COAL PROBE ❚ He joined Navbharat and Visa as director; former named in FIR, latter under probe I WAS director for a very short period after cooling-off. There is no link between coal blocks allotment and my being director. — P C PARAKH, ex-Coal Secy RAHUL TRIPATHI NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 18 FORMER coal secretary P C Parakh, who slammed the CBI for accusing him of wrongdoing in the allotment of coal blocks to Hindalco, joined three private firms as director after his retirement, including two now being investigated by the agency in the coal blocks scandal. Investigators suspect that these two firms got the blocks with the help of Parakh, CBI sources said. He will soon be called for questioning in this connection, they added. But the former coal secretary, who lives in Hyderabad after retirement, denied the allegations. “There is no link between the allocation of coal blocks and my appointment as director in the companies,” he said. Parakh retired in December 2005 and joined as a director at Navbharat Power Pvt Ltd in February 2007. Hyderabad-based Navbharat had applied for a coal block in January 2007 and made a presentation to the 35th screening committee in June 2007. The company has been named by the CBI in an FIR registered in September last year and is accused of misrepresenting its net worth and concealing facts before the screening committee. It was also alleged that “Navbharat, after getting an allocation in January 2008, sold off their entire VISHAL SRIVASTAV Reviews EXPRESS ENTERTAINMENT P16, BOOKS P17 A 12-MEMBER TEAM of the Archaeological Survey of India began digging for “treasure” at the remains of the fort of Raja Rao Ram Bux Singh in Dondiya Kheda village in Unnao district on Friday. SHAHID GRITTY AND POWERFUL SHOBHAN SARKAR, the local seer who was reported to have seen the treasure in his “dream”, performed a religious ceremony at the site before the excavation work began. BOSS REPORT, P 7 BACK IN RATHORE LAND QUICK TAKES Chopper deal: Haschke held NEW DELHI: Guido Ralph Haschke, the alleged middleman in the Rs 3,586 crore VVIP chopper deal, was arrested in Switzerland on Thursday, on the request of the Italian authorities. P4 Business as Usual By UNNY Friends and relatives of Second wife can Haryana CM get prized also claim alimony Panchkula industrial plots in some cases: SC UTKARSH ANAND Hooda denies favouritism, says aggrieved can go to court are in two sizes: 1,000 sq m costing Rs 64 lakh and 496 sq m at Rs 31.74 lakh. The market price of a 1,000 sq m IN YET another instance of the in- plot in the area is around Rs 6 crore. fluential gaining from their apparUnder the rules of the allotment, ent proximity to power, 11 of 14 peo- those who got the plots are allowed to ple allotted prized industrial plots sell, gift or mortage them with the near Chandigarh are either known permission of HUDA after fully payor related to Haryana Chief Minister ing the allotment amount. Bhupinder Singh Hooda, it has The chief minister, however, deemerged. fended the allotments and denied Among them are the favouritism. widow of Hooda’s “Whatever allotments » WHO GOT nephew, the son of the have been made, they are WHAT CM’s secretary, the » WHAT THEY totally based on merit. As daughter-in-law of his offar as Renu Hooda is conHAVE TO ficer on special duty, the cerned, she is a widow and SAY son of a close aide, relayes she is my relative and I PAGE 2 tives of two Congress know her,” Hooda told The leaders and the daughter-in-law of Indian Express. a high court judge. “As far as the others are concerned, The allotments were made by the the entire Haryana is known to me. Haryana Urban Development Au- There is nothing wrong in it. If anybody thority in July and approved by is aggrieved, he can go to court. We will Hooda himself as chairman of the abide by the court’s orders. There is no authority on the recommendation of issue in this,” he said. a standing committee. During the allotment process, the The plots are located in Indus- applicants were given marks out of a CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 trial Area, Phase-1 of Panchkula and VARINDER BHATIA CHANDIGARH, OCTOBER 18 NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 18 THE Supreme Court Friday ruled that a second wife in a Hindu marriage would also be entitled to alimony in some cases. The court said if a man has kept his second wife in the dark about his first marriage, he is legally bound to provide for her and their children, although she cannot be treated as a “legally wedded wife”. Stating that the court had to further the cause of “social justice”, a bench of Justices Ranjana P Desai and A K Sikri said, “Provision of maintenance would definitely fall in this category which aims at empowering the destitute and achieving social justice or equality and dignity of the individual”. While Section 125 of the CrPC envisages a claim for maintenance only by a legally wedded wife, the court said, “If this interpretation is not accepted, it would amount to giving a premium to the husband for defrauding the wife. Therefore, at least for the purpose of claiming maintenance, such a woman is to be treated as the legally wedded wife.” On its earlier rulings which held that the second wife in a Hindu marriage could not claim alimony, the court said, “The said judgment would not apply to those cases where a man marries a second time by keeping that lady in the dark about the first surviving marriage.” Policing, Raipur style: 28 murder accused cuffed, paraded to ‘restore confidence’ ASHUTOSH BHARDWAJ RAIPUR, OCTOBER 18 T WENTY-EIGHT people, accused of murder and attempt to murder, were paraded through the streets of Raipur on Friday afternoon. Police said the purpose was to “instill fear” among culprits and restore “public confidence”. The accused, in handcuffs, ranged from teenagers to middle-aged persons. Some had bandages on their heads and arms, many were bare feet. They were all arrested on Friday morning for the murder of a person in a recent clash between two groups in Raipur. Around noon, the police called up mediapersons. The original plan was to take the accused to the murder spot and beat them up in public. But the parade was cut short as they had to be produced before the court. At around 3 pm, the 28 accused, escorted by the po- 1 PAGE ANCHOR ASHUTOSH BHARDWAJ THE PARADE: Meant to ‘instill fear’, say police lice, were made to walk from the Teli Bandha police station, through the busy Gaurav Path in the heart of the city. The police made them stop along the way to pose for photo-ops, instructing them to stand in proper lines as they addressed the media. The 40-minute parade finally came to a halt about a kilometre from the Chief Minister’s residence. It was around 4 pm by then, and the accused were bundled into a vehicle and taken to court. When contacted, Teli Bandha thana in-charge Rakesh Baghel said, “We did not have any vehicle, hence they were made to walk”. However, several police vehicles were present. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 We are not in the regime of Aurangzeb... You cannot proceed against anybody on mere perception. — VEERAPPA MOILY, Petroleum Minister I am not worried about it. There is nothing wrong that has been done, so why should one worry? —K M BIRLA, Hindalco Chairman FULL COVERAGE, PAGE 13 Arunachal stapling: India calls off signing visa deal with China PM VISIT ❚ Beijing’s move seen as stoking territory row, FS asserts Arunachal is integral part of India PRANAB DHAL SAMANTA NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 18 I NDIA’S liberalised visa agreement with China, which was to be signed during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Beijing next week, has been struck off by New Delhi at the last minute as a mark of protest against China issuing stapled visas to two Indian archers from Arunachal Pradesh. The decision to pull back on the agreement, sources said, was taken at the highest levels with the PMO taking a call that India could not be seen liberalising visa rules when China was going ahead and underlining what it claims as the “disputed status” of Arunachal Pradesh weeks before the PM’s visit. India also lodged a strong diplomatic protest with China over this issue even as prepara- tions were being made for the trip. The visa agreement was all set for approval at Thursday’s Cabinet meeting and was even part of the agenda documents circulated to ministers. However, at the meeting, National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon is learnt to have informed the Cabinet that the agreement had been deferred and would not be signed during the visit. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2