Investigate Irfan Hussains Murder.
No political hand in Shivani murder: Delhi Police
Pramod Mahajan is the alleged murdered of Shivani Bhatnagar.
Pramod Mahajan. Killer or King Maker?
What about other journalists, mainly Irfan Hussain, the political cartoonist of Outlook who were murdered in March 1999.
Death of Dewan Mehta in Sydney while attending Conference with Mahajan.
"The wife of another Delhi cartoonist received a phone call informing her that Irfan was dead, and that her husband (a cartoonist with the National Herald in Delhi) was next. The caller identified himself as from the Shiv Sena political movement. To date, the police have no firm leads and of course, no arrests. At first they tried to portray the crime as a simple carjacking, but later backed away from this position under the influence of the evidence. Irfan was the third journalist killed under mysterious circumstances in 1999, and since his death, another investigative journalist was killed in Delhi. The other threatened cartoonist of National Herald was given armed protection by his newspaper.', writes the Editor keralamonitor.com about the mysterious death of journalist friends.
Full Coverage of Shivani Murder
NEW DELHI — August 17, 2002. India’s ruling party (BJP) leaders' mafia face is from the reports suggesting the alleged involvement of its high profile leader and King Maker Pramod Mahajan in the gruesome murder of the former Indian Express investigative journalist Shivani Bhatnagar. At the same period when Shivani, a political correspondent, was brutally murdered by the law enforcement mechanism of the BJP Government, the only witness being her 3 month old baby, famous political cartoonist Irfan Khan was found murdered in the Delhi outskirts. The murder cases of the Indian Express principal correspondent Shivani and Outlook's senior cartoonist Irfan Hussain that took place almost simultaneously in the year 1999 rocked the Indian journalists community. Shivani was murdered in her flat on January 23, 1999 while the decomposed body of Irfan was recovered from Ghazipur on March 13. Now that Shivani's murder investigation has reached a new turn, the other murder cases also need to be probed impartially.
Irfan's H ard hitting Cartoons like this were not tolerable to the intolerant leaders of BJP.
Using the police and law enforcement agencies to silence and even murder journalists is nothing new to the mighty and powerful politicians and rulers all over the world.Wherever journalists do their work sincerely they are at the receiving end of intimidation and threats. They get threatening calls, summons to the intelligence offices and even murderous attacks as happened in the case of Shivani, one of my former colleagues in the Indian Express. The BJP's hidden agenda has been to eliminate journalists, writers and artists whose work posed a challenge to its outdated Hinduta ideology and politicisation of religious sentiments to capture power. Unfortunately, senior police officials, in this case, an IPS officer was used to commit the henious crime. Remember the good old days of Babri Masjid demolition and the Bombay communal riots when free and independent media persons were manhandled and attacked by the BJP goons with the tacit approval of the top leadership?Bhatnagar's murder was brutal as the post-mortem report concluded that she died from strangulation, a result of having a length of wire wrapped around her throat. During the attack, she was also savagely stabbed her in the neck and abdomen with kitchen knives. Fortunately, her three-month-old son, Tanmay, who was home at the time of her murder, was unharmed.
The circumstances surrounding her death were curious. On the afternoon of 23 January, 199 Bhatnagar telephoned her husband, Rakesh Bhatnagar, legal editor for the daily "Times of India," informing him of a wedding invitation two men had delivered. According to police, the men appeared to have been welcomed into the Bhatnagar's east Delhi apartment, as there was no sign of forced entry, and the drawing room table had been laid with snacks. While two rooms in the apartment were ransacked, police have dismissed robbery as a motive for the crime as nothing was taken. It has been believed, however, that Bhatnagar was in possession of certain incriminating documents related to her work as a special correspondent. Police were speculating that she was therefore killed by her assailants who were attempting to recover the documents.
A desparate BJP is now seeking asylum by announcing its decision to sue the wife of a provincial prison chief who is the prime suspect in the murder, for pointing the finger of suspicion at India’s Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan. Everybody knows the mafia face of this politician, who has emerged from nowwhere to become the king maker of New Delhi. Being the fund raiser for the BJP, Pramod Mahajan was backed by the most powerful business houses of India.
"Shivani Bhatnagar was a political journalist and she was covering the BJP. She interacted with Union Minister Pramod Mahajan on a friendly, rather then professional, basis," the wife of absconding IPS officer alleged in a statement. "How come when she is murdered, the political angle is not even looked into, leave alone the question of investigating it?" asked the absconding IPS officers wife, who made the serious allegation against the King Maker of BJP. "My father was called for questioning three months after the murder and he then told the Delhi police about Pramod Mahajan's involvement in the case, but they did not call Mahajan for questioning." says his daughter.
In response to the serious allegation Pramod Mahajan said : I’m ready for an inquiry. I totally refute these absurd charges. I have never committed any crime, even like breaking a traffic rule, forget something as heinous as murder.For two and a half years this rumour-mongering has been going on. I’m relieved once and for all the truth will come out."
“The party has advised Mahajan to file a criminal defamation case against the spouse of a person who has made such false allegations and he has accepted the advice and decided to act accordingly,” BJP spokesman Arun Jaitley said. The warning came after Madhu Sharma, wife of the absconding prison officer Ravi Kant Sharma, claimed that Mahajan had spoken to murdered journalist Shivani Bhatnagar for 45 minutes on the day she was killed in her New Delhi apartment on January 23, 1999. The threat of official retribution did not deter the family of Sharma, who holds the rank of inspector-general of police.
“If my father, a senior Indian Police Service officer, can be made prime suspect on the basis of telephone calls, then why not Mahajan as also all others who had telephonic conversation with Shivani Bhatnagar,” said Sharma’s eldest daughter Pragati.Sharma’s wife has also alleged that her husband is the victim of a political plot in which one section of the ruling party wants Mahajan implicated in the reporter’s murder.Beleaguered Mahajan, who also holds the portfolios of communications and information technology, denied any role in Bhatnagar’s murder and rejected allegations that he was having an affair with her.But he admitted he knew the journalist, who worked for the Indian Express newspaper.
“My relations with Shivani were merely that of between any politician and a journalist. There are many journalists whom I meet and she was one of them,” Mahajan said yesterday. “I have never committed any crime in my life,” he said, adding that he was open to any investigation.
Madhu Sharma’s statement came in a highly emotional public outburst to waiting reporters at her Panchkula residence. Upset at what she called was the media’s hounding of her and her family, she said: ‘‘Why are you after my husband? I am saying Pramod Mahajan is involved... Does any one of you have the guts to go and ask Mahajan whether or not he had a relationship with Shivani? Also ask him whether or not he spoke to Shivani for 45 minutes on the day of her murder? Get his telephone number, get the phone records, make them public.’’
When asked about this, Mahajan said that his ‘‘relationship’’ with Shivani was purely professional—that between a journalist ‘‘covering the BJP and a BJP general secretary... We met at the BJP headquarters or the official residence. Nowhere outside these two places. If someone has these phone records (which Madhu Sharma is referring to), I dare them to make it public.’’
Asked why she was mentioning Mahajan’s name now, she said. "I had faith in one man, the Prime Minister, but even he has betrayed my faith. I have not even got an appointment from him.’’ Madhu Sharma also alleged that the Home Ministry, under Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, was putting pressure on investigators to toe a particular line. And that the police had been told not to probe any politician.
Denying this, Deepak Chopra, private secretary to Advani, said: ‘‘This is absolutely nonsensical, there’s been no directive from the Home Ministry to put a lid on the investigation. If he (R K Sharma) has the proof, he should come out.’’
Reacting to her allegations, Joint Commissioner (Crime) U K Katna who is monitoring the probe, said that the police would investigate the role of any person whose name comes up during investigation. ‘‘If someone has any evidence and is feeling threatened, they should open up. We would investigate if required,’’ Katna said. He, however, added that the police had no information about the allegations levelled by Madhu Sharma. Officially, investigators so far have found no link between Sharma and Mahajan. Sources said that it was Shivani who introduced Sharma to Mahajan and that when Mahajan came to the Prime Minister’s Office in 1998, he pushed Sharma’s case for the coveted post of Chief Vigilance Officer in Air India.Incidentally, a year after Shivani’s murder, a question had been asked in Parliament on the involvement of a ‘‘minister,’’ but investigators and the Home Ministry had denied it.
No political hand in Shivani murder: Delhi Police
Investigations have not yet uncovered any politician's role in the Shivani Bhatnagar murder case and there has been no interference from the Union home ministry either, the Delhi police said on Friday. "Investigations so far have not pointed to the role of any politician," Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) U K Katna told reporters in New Delhi, a day after Madhu Sharma, wife of prime accused and IPS officer R K Sharma, alleged that Union Minister Pramod Mahajan had plotted to murder the correspondent.
Sharma's application for anticipatory bail having been rejected for the second time, a non-bailable arrest warrant has been issued against him and "as per the law, he should surrender", Katna said.
Katna warned that if Sharma failed to surrender, the police would initiate the process of declaring him a proclaimed offender, subsequent to which his property and assets would be attached. Reacting to Madhu Sharma's allegations, he said, "If she was so sure, what stopped her from making the name public at the earlier press conference?"
He said there was no hurry to question Madhu Sharma and the police would do so at an "appropriate time". But when asked about her allegation that her husband had told the police three years back about the involvement of a politician, Katna said he was not in the crime branch at the time and would recheck the records.
Irfan's Hussain's Murder -who is the Culprit?
Murdered Political Cartoonist Irfan Hussain with his wife.
The "mysterious" killing of Outlook editorial cartoonist Irfan Hussain, which is a closed chapter now, needs to be reopened. The cartoonist was found missing on March 9, 1999 and his body with multiple stab wounds was found at Ghazipur near the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border in East Delhi four days later. His car and valuables, including a mobile phone, were found missing. In an affidavit filed by Deputy Commissioner of Police (South-west) P. K. Bhardwaj before the High Court, the Delhi police had stated that the force had investigated all angles - personal, financial, professional and political - in the case, but the efforts did not yield result.
The affidavit gave details of the investigation covering the possible political angle in the case. Several Shiv Sena supporters and prominent editor of an anti-Shiv Sena newspaper were among the several people questioned to ascertain whether there was any political undertones in the killing. The violent policy of Shiva Sena and BJP leaders towards independent journalists is well documented.
The affidavit was filed before a division bench comprising Justice Anil Dev Singh and Justice R. S. Sodhi, who are hearing a petition filed by Munira Hussain, widow of the deceased. She had written a registered letter to the Chief Justice S. N. Variava on various facets of the case and alleged "laxity of the police" in the matter. the court treated the letter as a petition and proceeded on its basis.
The court had asked the police to file a status report about the investigations into the murder. Police filed a 200-page affidavit, supported by documentary proof, which explored all angles in the case. After a perusal of the affidavit, the bench appreciated the efforts of the police so far and accepted that the force had conducted a "scientific investigation". The affidavit said so far no one could be proved to have given a "supari" (contract for killing) to get the cartoonist "eliminated".
On the personal and professional fronts, the police interrogated the deceased's wife and her friends, Irfan's friends, persons involved in the Madarsa Islamia affiar, staff of the Press Club of India where he was last seen and the Outlook magazine staff. Police have also interrogated Major Srinivasan, who was the last person to be seen with Irfan, and his relatives. But police ruled out foul play on any account.
Irfan disappeared while he was driving back home from work on March 8, 1998. His body was discovered on March 13 with 28 stab wounds. A mere ten years in the life of a young man from whom this country could have got a great deal more of wit and laughter.
Earlier his wife Dr. Mrs. Munira Hussein told Cartoonists Rights Network that she had just returned from a trip to New Delhi where she met with police officials. They discussed breaking events concerning the case of her husband Irfan. The police have always maintained that he died as a result of a car jacking gone wrong.
The police had captured a car jacking gang who claimed credit for the killing. They said that Irfan had ìinsulted themî during the car jacking so they killed him. Showing police where they had thrown away Irfanís hand bag, police found it where they said it would be.
For the police, this seemed to be enough to close the case. However, there were still
significant inconsistencies that needed clarification before she could put the issues of how and why to her husband's murder to rest. First, an anonymous caller had claimed credit for killing Irfan days before his body was ever found. Second, crank calls to the Hussein household started just after he disappeared, continued for days, but ended abruptly an hour after his body was found but before police released any news that his body had been
found. Shivani, another journalist had been murdered in Delhi in the month preceding Irfanís death, her body suffering almost the exact same wounds as Irfanís. The ìMOsî were the same. The other journalist was murdered in her home: no car jacking was involved.
On March 13, his mutilated body was found on the side of a road in an area that sees one or two dumped bodies a weekly basis. He had been stabbed 28 times, strangled and his throat had been slashed. His car, phone and personal jewelry were gone. After his kidnapping, but before his body had been found, the wife of another Delhi cartoonist received a phone call informing her that Irfan was dead, and that her husband (a cartoonist with the National Herald in Delhi) was next. The caller identified himself as from the Shiv Sena political movement. To date, the police have no firm leads and of course, no arrests. At first they tried to portray the crime as a simple carjacking, but later backed away from this position under the influence of the evidence. Irfan was the third journalist killed under mysterious circumstances in 1999, and since his death, another investigative journalist was killed in Delhi. The other threatened cartoonist has been given armed protection by his newspaper.
Evidence in the March 1999 murder of Indian cartoonist Irfan Hussein supported the police conclusion that Irfan was killed by carjackers. But there are signs that his killers may have been working for someone else.At a New Delhi police station, the cartoonist’s widow, Dr. Munira Hussein, was able to identify a bag that was in her husband’s car the night he was kidnapped and killed. The bag had been recovered after the arrest of a carjacking gang. Their leader told police his group had killed Hussein when he became abusive during a carjacking. Despite this apparently conclusive evidence, there are still two unexplained aspects of the murder:
(1) Immediately after Irfan Hussein was kidnapped, his family began receiving a series of “blank calls” — telephone calls from someone who hung up without speaking. This was a form of intimidation the Husseins had never experience before. The blank calls ended exactly an hour after Hussein’s body was discovered by police — and before the police had told the family, or anyone else, that he was dead.
(2) After Hussein was kidnapped, but before his body was found, another cartoonist was called and told that he and other cartoonists would meet the same fate as Irfan Hussein. The police took this threat seriously enough to provide the cartoonist with 24-hour protection, but they have made little of the fact that the threat was made before Hussein was known to be dead. Dr. Munira Hussein is continuing to prod authorities for a logical and truthful closure to this incident. Meanwhile, Irfan Hussein’s father, Mr. Monsoor Bhai, has quit his regular job and has dedicated his life to helping other journalists and cartoonists who are in trouble. In an email message, Cartoonists Rights Network director Robert Russell said that his group “continues to be convinced that this was a killing motivated by political forces, not a simple carjacking.” •
Irfan Hussain : 1964-1999
Ten years in professional cartooning is a jiffy. Cartoonists mature like wine and grow on the readers over a period of time. Fifty years seems to be an average cartooning careet span as it has been in the case of Kutty, Laxman, Abu Abraham, Rajinder Puri, Rama Murthy and Sudhir Dhar. Ten years of Irfan's cartoons showed the shaping of a sharp political mind and a remarkable craftsmanship.Irfan came to Delhi to be a cartoonist which is what he always wanted to be. He had already been encouraged by a prize that he won in the Hindustan Times cartooning competition. And he had completed an art course in Chitra Kala Maha Vidyalay in Nagpur, his home town. Starting as an illustrator with Computers Today, Irfan soon found his feet as a cartoonist in Sunday Observer, from where he moved to The Pioneer and eventually to The Outlook.
With his background in animation which he tried out in a studio in Chennai for six months, Irfan was machine-friendly and was putting to good use this facility in Outlook magazine in terms of doing colour illustrations, covers and caricatures. All the while his observation as well as conceptualisation of political trends and developments were getting increasingly focussed.
Mysterious Death of Dewan Mehta in Sydney while with Mahajan.
Mahajan during a condolence meeting
Dewan Mehta was found dead in Sydney while attending International Conference with Pramod Mahajan?
Remember Dewang Mehta, the high-profile chief of National Association of Software and Service Companies, Nasscom, who was found dead in his hotel room in Sydney. Mehta, who was part of a delegation on technology experts led by IT Minister Pramod Mahajan, was slated to catch the morning flight for home but was found dead by the hotel staff.
According to media reports, the hotel staff entered Mehta's room after being told that he had "missed the flight', Indian High Commissioner R S Rathore told PTI. Though he was not aware of the cause of Mehta's death, he said "police did not suspect any foul play." IT Minister Pramod Mahajan, who was on an a networking trip with Mehta in Australia, said his body was found after he failed to wake up in the morning. Dewan Mehta passed away "due to a heart attack" on April 12 at a hotel room in Sydney. Given the current revelations, can we totally believe the minister?
Mehta, a qualified chartered accountant and cost management accountant from UK, was heading the National Association of Software and Service Companies, the apex body of software and service companies in India. In May 1998, he was appointed as a member and spokesman of the high-power IT Task Force set up by the Prime Minister to draft a national informatics policy.
'Mahajan had expressed shock over the death of 40-year-old Mehta. Mahajan, who was leading an IT delegation to Australia. Mahajan said he along with the Indian High Commissioner and his personal secretary had left the hotel they were staying in around 0900 hrs. "We returned at 1730 hrs. The hotel management informed the High Commissioner that as he was supposed to check out at 1130 hrs and as he did not, the hotel staff forcefully opened the door at 1700 hrs and found him dead," he said.
"It is a big loss to information technology. If there is any one person who deserves credit for promoting information technology as an industry in India it is definitely Dewang Mehta," he said from Sydney. Mehta was named by Computerworld Magazine as "Software Evangelist of the Year" for three years in a row and "IT Man of the Year" in 2000. Last October the Geneva-based World Economic Forum selected Mehta as one the 100 "Global Leaders of Tomorrow". Is there anything fishy about the death of Dewan Mehta when he was in the company of the controversial minister? keralamonitor.com
