LEAD:

Lieutenant-Colonel Shrikant Purohit, the first serving officer of the Indian Army to be arrested in connection with a terror bomb attack, has confessed to being the mastermind of the Malegaon blast. The 37-year-old officer reportedly told police he had mapped the conspiracy and provided the explosive for the September 29 .revenge' attack which killed six people. It is learnt that Purohit, who was arrested on November 5, admitted to supplying the deadly RDX and weapons to members of Abhinav Bharat, a radical Hindu outfit. Sources said the Mumbai's Anti-Terrorism Squad was planning to question another serving army officer in this connection whose name cropped up during Purohit's interrogation. However, the confessional statement given to the police is not admissible in court. Sources said Purohit was conclusively cornered after he was confronted with telephone records that showed his links with another accused, retired Major Ramesh Upadhyaya. "I am the mastermind of the blast. I arranged for the RDX and weapons but I can't understand how the weapons reached Abhinav Bharat members,'' sources quoted Purohit as telling police. Abhinav Bharat is a Hindu extremist group which wanted to avenge terror attacks by Islamist groups. Several members of the group had links with other saffron outfits.(TOI)

• New Delhi: A fake sadhu claiming to enjoy tremendous clout in the corridors of power has been arrested for duping unsuspecting victims by promising them licences of petrol and gas agencies through his political connections. The inter-state cell of the crime branch of Delhi Police arrested Baba Gauri Shankar Verma for allegedly running a fake NGO, .All India Minority Sadbhawana Congress', and for claiming that it was associated with the Congress party. His associate, Suresh Kumar, has also been arrested. According to the police, the baba also claimed that he could arrange govt vehicles. Police said that Verma, a former govt official in mining department of Chattisgarh govt, had been duping people for the past five years. According to documents seized by the police, he has already duped people of Rs 21 lakh this year alone in north India.(TOI)
• New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday will chart the course of action it will adopt on two PILs on violence against north Indians in Maharashtra, one seeking protection for the migrants and the other urging legal action against MNS chief Raj Thackeray. While questions remain whether the Vilasrao Deshmukh govt discharged its duties in protecting migrants from violence unleashed by MNS activists, the court appeared to focus on the Centre's role. Like on Tuesday, when it dealt with the first PIL, a Bench comprising Justices B N Agrawal, G S Singhvi and Aftab Alam on Thursday, asked petitioner advocate Sanjiv Kumar Singh to tell the court about the implications of Article 355 of the Constitution in the context of internal disturbance in a state.(TOI)
• New Delhi: Measures initiated by the RBI will finally translate into cheaper home and car loans, besides other consumer loans, as public sector banks slashed interest rates. State Bank of India cut its benchmark prime lending rates (BPLR) by 0.75 percentage points, from 13.75% to 13%, on Thursday, as did Oriental Bank of Commerce. Other public sector banks Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Canara Bank, Allahabad Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Syndicate Bank and Dena Bank among others announced a similar rate cut on Wednesday. Citibank too cut its PLR by 50 basis points, to 15%. This will lead to reduction in both fixed as well as floating rate home loans.(TOI)
• "PRESS THE button against the palm sign," says Mahendra Karma while handing over a few crisp hundred-rupee notes to a tribal woman at a village 35odd km west of Naxal-affected Dantewada town. Other tribals look on in anticipation of being the next lucky ones. Karma is a Congress leader contesting for a third term in the Chhattisgarh state assembly from Dantewada. He was campaigning in Behramgarh at a small gathering of tribals in a village that does not have a motorable road. The state goes to poll on November 14 and 20. After completing his speech, where he promised roads, water, electricity and employment, he called one of the tribal women witnessing his speech and handed over a few hundred-rupee notes an negal inducement that can lead to his being barred from contesting elections under the Representation of People's Act. He soon realised he was being watched by the HT team and passed some instructions to the man who was carrying a bag, full of money, across his shoulder and quietly left. He refused to comment about distribution of money while campaigning for his candidature. It was Karma who sold to the ruling BJP govt the idea of an armed peoples' movement to counter the Maoists.(HT)
• Senior Congress leader Margaret Alva has raised the banner of revolt over distribution of tickets for the coming assembly elections. She even alleged that nominations were sold for the Karnataka assembly elections in May Alva claimed that the norm of keeping out leaders' relatives applied strictly in Karnataka where her son was an aspirant was being violated in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. However, Alva's move has given rise to speculations about her fate in the party At least 10 relatives in Madhya Pradesh, eight in Rajasthan, six in Chhattisgarh and one in J&K have been accommodated. "I am going to write to Congress president Sonia Gandhi about it. I will also forward a list of the relatives who have been given tickets for these elections," she said. "Right now each family is getting two or three tickets." In Karnataka, those who were denied tickets included Alva's son, former Union minister C.K. Jaffer Sharief's grandson and general secretary B.K. Hari Prasad's brother "Were they terrorists, anti-nationals or smugglers?" asked Alva. Prithviraj Chavan, who is in charge of Karnataka, said: "As long as she is a general secretary, I will not comment. It is for the party's disciplinary action committee to react.(HT)
• New Delhi: BJP's student wing ABVP says that it will not involve itself in the Delhi Assembly elections campaign, while its rival Congress-backed NSU(I) cadres will land up at doorsteps seeking votes for their "senior'' leaders in the ensuing polls. "We will not involve in the elections on the organisational level as our mandate is to work for the welfare of the students,'' ABVP Delhi unit president Raj Kumar Sharma said. There are no restrictions over the members to work for BJP candidates, said Sharma. "It will be their individual decision,'' he added. With three weeks to go for the elections, the NSU(I) has charted out an elaborate plan for campaigning which includes door-to-door campaigning, specially targeting first time voters and students.(TOI)
• Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party is working furiously to put its supremo at the nation's helm after the coming general election, tapping all possible outfits for alliances, including Jayalalithaa's AIADMK. "We are in touch," BSP general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Shahid Siddiqui told this newspaper. Ms Mayawati would also prefer to ally herself with secular parties, including the Congress, in a post-poll scenario, particularly given its considerable Muslim base. "We would certainly like all secular forces to rally behind us," Mr. Siddiqui said. "The BSP has a strong Muslim base, which cannot be compromised." This clear preference for the Congress could upset the CPI(M)'s Prakash Karat, who has been trying to revive the 1989 formula, under which the Left and the BJP propped up the then V.P. Singh govt. The secular outfits currently allies to the BSP include the Left parties, JD(S) and Telugu Desam.(AA)

BJP

In a determined effort to beat back anti-incumbency and retain power in Rajasthan, the BJP has indicated that it will go to polls with a distinctly new face by changing its candidates in as many as 140 of the 200 constituencies. The likely discards may be evenly split between the sitting MLAs and those who were fielded but failed to make it five years ago. The party, which had been dropping hints about its plan to axe a majority of its nominees in the last polls, went public with its desire with L K Advani declaring, while referring to the Gujarat model, that nonperforming legislators would have to make way for fresh faces. Advani's remarks at a Jaipur rally came a day before the party's central election committee begins its deliberations in New Delhi to decide on the nominations for Rajasthan. Changing sitting legislators has always been a difficult decision. While sitting MLAs accumulate huge amount of incumbency which gets transferred to party, dropping them carries the risk of dissidence.(TOI)

CONGRESS

PM Manmohan Singh is said to have turned down the demand for a judicial inquiry into the Batla House police encounter as raised by a section of the ruling Congress and ally Samajwadi Party. He conveyed this to a Congress MP who met him yesterday to ask for a probe. "The PM said it is not possible to have an inquiry in the Batla House case," Congress MP Raashid Alvi told The Indian Express today. Sources said the Govt's argument is that the case is in court and ordering a probe into the encounter where a police officer was also killed could prejudice it. And that police investigation has yielded a wealth of crucial evidence that will anyways have to withstand judicial scrutiny. What is the problem in holding an inquiry into Batla House encounter? Truth will come out," said Alvi. The Rajya Sabha member said that he would write to the PM again to ask for an inquiry. There are some in the Congress nervous about what they call the potential fallout of the encounter in the elections. AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh said there were several "questions" being raised about the police encounter and they needed to be addressed by the govt. Many leaders even met Congress president Sonia Gandhi to seek her intervention. Among those who went public with their "doubts" were AICC General Secretary Mohsina Kidwai, senior leader Salman Khursheed, AICC minority department chairman Imran-ur-Rehman Kidwai and AICC Secretary Parvez Hashmi.(IE)

LEFT PARTIES

Left leader Brinda Karat on Thursday demanded that the Bajrang Dal be banned as its complicity in terror strikes in Malegaon and Modasa had been proved. Warning that the present day state was diluting its secular character by its inaction, Karat said women and children were forced to bear the brunt of communal violence. Karat was speaking at a panel discussion .Caught in Crossfire: Communalism and its Impact on Women and Children' organised by the YWCA. Referring to the recent Assam blasts, Karat said she had visited the affected areas and found victims from all communities. But as soon as the blasts took place, there were statements that a certain terror group was behind it and Islamic overtones were given to the whole incident, she said. "This speculation on groups of terror has become part of mainstream political agenda and this is what the country can ill afford,'' she added. Expressing solidarity with women victims of violence in Kandhmal, Karat said that she supported the raped nun's demand that the CBI should investigate the case. "While we know CBI is not free from political manipulation, I support her demand that the investigation of her case be taken up by the agency,'' Karat added.(TOI)

CHHATTISGARH ASSEMBLY POLLS

The Congress has decided to play the card of rice at Rs 2 per kilogram and free power to farmers in the crucial Chhattisgarh Assembly polls. These promises would be a part of its election manifesto to be released in three places in the state on Friday. Chhattisgarh is dominated by tribals and dalits. Though the All India Congress Committee (AICC) has shortlisted a team of 40 campaigners, party chief Sonia Gandhi, PM Manmohan Singh and AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi will be the key campaigners. Former chief minister Ajit Jogi has emerged as the chief ministerial candidate though the party has not projected a "leader". He is comparing his three-year rule with the BJP's five-year rule in efforts to pull voters. The initiative of Rs 2 kg rice and free power to farmers comes even though PM Manmohan Singh in the past has expressed reservations over populist gestures, like free power, which are considered to be a burden on the state exchequer. "Apart from rice at Rs 2 a kg for families in the below poverty line category and free power to farmers, the party will also promise free insurance for workers," said a party official. Meanwhile, the Congress announced three more candidates for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections. It named Santosh Aggarwal as its candidate from Chattarpur in place of Shankar Pratap Singh.(AA)

STATES

MADHYA PRADESH

Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh's appeal to party workers to forget their differences and work for the party's victory in Madhya Pradesh notwithstanding, simmering discontent among leaders over denial of tickets has started surfacing. Many are either switching to other parties or contesting as Independents in the November 27 Assembly elections. Mr. Singh, who was State chief minister for 10 years, on Thursday urged the Congress activists to work unitedly for the party nominees and ensure the BJP govt's defeat. "All of us know that everyone can't be made a nominee. Those who did not get tickets may be pained but this is the time for us to forget all our differences and work for the formation of a Congress govt in the State," he said. (HINDU)

ORISSA

After dedicated forces to fight naxalites and terrorists, is it time for a special force to quell communal riots? Post-Kandhmal riots, the Centre is likely to suggest to Orissa govt that it create an Emergency Strike Force in the sensitive district to stall any recurrence of the anti-Christian violence which shook the state for a good while. Riots wracked Kandhmal after the killing of VHP leader Laxmananand Saraswati on August 23. It was allegedly orchestrated by saffron outfits like Bajrang Dal on the charge that the leader was killed by Christians for his strong stand against religious conversions. The Centre wants the state to raise a special force, possibly specially for the troubled district, in what appears to betray fears that the violence could recur. (TOI)

UTTARANCHAL

Uttarakhand Chief Minister B.C. Khanduri has assured a delegation led by CPI (M) leader Brinda Karat that he will not allow politicisation of the recent attack on a pastor and a makeshift church by some activists of Veer Savarkar Yuva Morcha and Vishwa Hindu Parishad at Cheola village here this past Monday. Ms. Karat had taken strong exception to the release of Morcha convenor Kuldeep Swedia, councillor Manohar Sharma, and VHP media in-charge Madan Gopal who had been detained for breach of peace but immediately released by the police purportedly at the instance of some senior Sangh Parivar leaders including the Mayor of Dehra Dun, Vinod Chamoli.(HINDU)

WEST BENGAL

Seven police officers including an Additional Superintendent of Police of Purbo Medinipur district have been issued show cause notices. They were asked to explain their role in the supervision of security along the stretch on which an explosion occurred at Kalaichandi in Paschim Medinipur district shortly after Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's convoy passed by on November 2. The pilot car of the convoy of Union Steel Minister, Ram Vilas Paswan, which was preceded by Mr. Bhattacharjee's convoy, was severely damaged and six policemen injured in the blast. The Additional Superintendent of Police to be served the notice was in charge of the sector along the line of the route taken by the convoys, the State's Inspector-General of Police (Law and Order) Raj Kanojia, said here. Among those to be served the notice was the officer-in-charge of Salboni thana in Paschim Medinipur district and two Deputy Superintendents of Police, he added.(HINDU)

EDITORIAL

Arrest of Lt. Col. is an alarm bell: The arrest of a serving Army officer in the Malegaon bomb blast case is a shocker. It remains to be seen if the police can gather enough material to formally charge him as an accused. What is disturbing is that an Army officer of the rank of lieutenant-colonel has been seen to be hobnobbing with elements of the Hindu far right accused of a terrorist crime. This particular act was aimed at a concentration of Muslims. This imparts it a communal and an ideological hue. The best one may hope is that this is an isolated case. A former Army Chief has called it an "aberration". No doubt he has gone by the record since India's armed forces have been nurtured in the best tradition of military professionalism. This tradition arose in British India and has been maintained without a shadow of doubt after Independence, unlike Pakistan or Bangladesh where the services have been embroiled in coups and counter-coups, and in running the country. Nevertheless, anxiety has been voiced. A Union minister of state for home apprehends that the arrest points to a "big conspiracy". If he is right, our best chance is that the conspiracy doesn't involve others in the military but only civilians.(AA)