Times top10

Delhi High Court to hear CBI plea in Aakar Patel case; Supreme Court to hear plea challenging Rakesh Asthana’s appointment as Delhi Police chief; IPL (KKR vs LSG); Foreign Ministers’ meet on global food security at the UN; Pakistan-IMF talks in Doha on funds

Directing the Delhi government to “come down with an iron hand against the encroachers” in order to “send a message, loud and clear, that this will not be tolerated”, the Delhi High Court (HC) asked “How will a civilised society survive like this, if we have things coming up in the middle of the road?”

The present case

• The HC’s observations came in response to a petition filed against the encroachment on public roads in the national capital’s Bhajanpura area in the form of two mazars (Islamic religious structures), which, the petition claimed, were obstructing traffic in the area.
• The petition cited the Supreme Court’s (SC) ruling in 2009 wherein the apex court had said that no unauthorised construction shall be permitted in the name of temple, church, mosque or gurdwara on public streets, public parks or places. The SC had also ruled that in cases where unauthorised construction of a religious structure had already occurred, the state administration was to take appropriate action on a case-by-case basis.

State of stupor?

• Noting that it was “at a loss to understand as to how the State can be a mute bystander and allow such illegalities to occur”, the HC reiterated that the “state should play a firm stand and come down with an iron hand to send a clear message to all encroachers that such encroachments will not be tolerated and will be removed as soon as they are sought to be placed and penal action should also be initiated against persons behind raising such structures.”

Past cases

• Last year, the HC had directed the Delhi government to remove an illegally constructed temple on a footpath in South Delhi, noting that “the whole city has been taken for a ride for so many years” — in relation to such illegally religious structures coming up on public spaces. The HC had also directed the Delhi Police to place the idols in a nearby temple to preserve their sanctity.

Floods and landslides triggered by heavy rain in India’s northeast region claimed at least 11 lives and affected 2 lakh people, Associated Press reported.

Surface links snapped

• Surface links to Assam's Barak Valley and Dima Hasao district and to neighbouring states of Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur remained snapped on Tuesday as roads and railway tracks were washed away.

Alert issued

• The East Jaintia Hills police in Meghalaya has alerted people about fresh landslides under its jurisdiction.
• Assam Police's Special DG G P Singh asked the public to avoid travelling from Silchar towards Guwahati until the roadblock is cleared.

Exams suspended

• The higher secondary first-year (class XI) examinations in Assam, which were scheduled to start from Wednesday, have been suspended partially due to floods.

2 lakh people hit

• Around two lakh people in 20 districts of Assam have been affected by floods.
• The Met department forecast very heavy to extremely heavy rain in the region for the next four days. More detail here

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a fresh case against Congress MP Karti Chidambaram for allegedly facilitating visas of Chinese nationals for a power company after receiving illegal gratification of Rs 50 lakh 11 years ago.

The case

• The new case is an offshoot of an ongoing probe into alleged irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media during the Congress-led UPA government.
• The federal agency has alleged that Karti had received Rs 50 lakh bribe to facilitate visas of 263 Chinese nationals in July-August 2011, when his father was the Union home minister.
• According to CBI, the Talwandi Sabo Power based at Mansa, Punjab, which was running behind schedule, had outsourced the project to a Chinese company.
• To expedite the work, it tried to procure project visas for Chinese nationals over and above the ceiling imposed by the home ministry, CBI claimed.

Multi-city search ops

• CBI teams conducted coordinated search operations at 10 locations in multiple cities in the country, including residences of the Chidambarams in Chennai and Delhi.

Congress reaction

• Coming out in defence of its party leader P Chidambaram, the Congress party said the CBI raids were “wrong” and aimed at diverting attention from the key issues of inflation and unemployment.

• Chinese researchers from the PLA Rocket Force University of Engineering in Xian are working on a heat-seeking hypersonic weapon that will be able to hit a moving car, according to South China Morning Post.
• They claim “important progress” had been made towards solving the main problem of how to pinpoint a moving target at extreme speeds.
• Hypersonic missiles that move at a speed of greater than Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound) are extremely difficult to intercept with any of the existing air defence systems in the world.
• The research team has been given a deadline of 2025 to complete their work.

US on radar?

• The Chinese military has been practising assaults on ‘enemy assets’ with long-range ballistic missiles for some time, US Naval Institute (USNI) reported citing satellite imagery.
• The PLA drill, which is reportedly taking place in Xinjiang’s Taklamakan Desert, is purportedly intended to hone its skills in targeting US warships and naval bases.
• Hypersonic anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBMs) could pose a significant threat to warships, including large aircraft carriers, the report said.

ASBMs

• It is believed that China has several ASBMs in its arsenal. The land-based ones are -- DF-21D and DF-26. Chinese experts have dubbed the latter the ‘Guam killer’ as it is reportedly capable of hitting the US military base on the Western Pacific island. More details here

Rocket debris in Gujarat?

• Meanwhile, space debris, believed to be from a Chinese rocket, fell on a village in Gujarat’s Anand, killing one sheep, police said. More details here

Enforcement Directorate. The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed a summon issued to Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee and his wife to appear before the Enforcement Directorate at its Delhi office and said the agency can interrogate them at its K olkata office where the politician has agreed to be quizzed. The ED wants to quiz the MP in connection with the money laundering probe linked to an alleged coal scam in West Bengal.