‘Spying for Israel’: Qatar releases 8 Indian Navy officers; 7 back in India

Agencies
February 12, 2024

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New Delhi: Qatar has released the eight former Indian Navy officers who were imprisoned in the West Asian nation, purportedly for spying for Israel.

Quiet but intense diplomatic negotiations between New Delhi and Doha bore fruit when the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim ibn Hamad Al Thani, decided to release the eight citizens of India.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi made public the release of the eight early on Monday. Seven of the eight have already returned to India from Qatar, according to a press release issued by the MEA.

“The Government of India welcomes the release of eight Indian nationals working for the Dahra Global company who were detained in Qatar,” the MEA stated.

It has not shared the details of the circumstances in which they were released but thanked the ruler of the West Asian nation. “We appreciate the decision by the Emir of the State of Qatar to enable the release and homecoming of these nationals.”

The Emir of Qatar generally commutes sentences awarded to offenders ahead of the National Day of the country on December 18 as well as on the occasion of Ramadan, which would be celebrated around March 11 this year. It is not clear if he made an exception in the case of the eight former Indian Navy officers on New Delhi’s request.

The former Indian Navy officers had been on death row since October 26 when a lower court in the West Asian nation had awarded them capital punishment for allegedly spying for Israel.

The Court of Appeals in Qatar on December 28 spared the lives of the eight and awarded them prison sentences of varying durations. After the verdict of the Court of Appeals, their lawyers had time till February 26 to move the Court of Cassation, the highest court of the West Asian nation, for further reduction of the prison term or reversal of the conviction and acquittal. They also had the option of appealing for a pardon from the Emir of Qatar.

The former Indian Navy officers, Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Captain Saurabh Vasisht, Commander Amit Nagpal, Commander Purnendu Tiwari, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Sanjeev Gupta and Sailor Ragesh, had been arrested from Doha by the Qatari intelligence service on August 30, 2022.

They had all been employees of the Dahra Global company, which had been offering training and several other services to the security agencies as well as the defence forces of Qatar.

The company had over 70 Indians, mostly former Indian Navy officials, on its staff. It had suspended its operations in Qatar last May, several months after its officials had been put in jail.

Though neither Doha nor New Delhi has ever officially made public the charges against the eight Indian Navy personnel, sources said that the Government of Qatar had accused them of espionage, particularly of passing on intelligence to Israel about a project to build advanced submarines for the Qatari Emiri Navy.

The Court of First Instance of Qatar had pronounced the verdict on October 26, awarding the death sentence to all the eight incarcerated citizens of India.

New Delhi had been in touch with Doha through diplomatic channels over the past several months to secure the release of the incarcerated Indians. The Embassy of India in Doha has also been providing consular and legal assistance to them.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani had met in Dubai on the sideline of the COP 28 (UN climate conference) on December 2.

“We had a good conversation on the potential of bilateral partnership and the well-being of the Indian community in Qatar,” Modi had posted after his meeting with Al-Thani. He however had not made it clear if he had raised the issue of the eight former Indian Navy officers on death row in Qatar during his meeting with the Emir of the West Asian nation.

The Government of Qatar provided the Embassy of India in Doha consular access to the imprisoned Indians several times. The last consular access was granted on January 14 when New Delhi’s envoy to Doha, H E Vipul, and the other officials of the embassy met them in a jail in Qatar.
 

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News Network
May 14,2024

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Mangaluru, May 14: The Met department has sounded a yellow alert in 13 districts of Karnataka including the three coastal districts of Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada for next four days. 

The other districts are Belagavi, Dharwad, Haveri, Chikkamagalur, Chitradurga, Hassan, Kodagu, Mandya, Ramanagara, Shivamogga. These districts are expected to received 6-11 cm of rain, the department said.

On Monday Dakshina Kannada and Udupi experienced a monsoon-like atmosphere. Rain, accompanied by thunder and lightning, began in most parts on Sunday evening. In Udupi, rain showered in the early hours of Monday. While Kundapur and Udupi received moderate rains, Karkala experienced a heavy downpour.

The showers lowered the daytime temperature in both districts. Light rain fell in Mangaluru and its outskirts early Monday morning. Mangaluru city recorded a maximum temperature of 33.4°C and a minimum of 23.2°C on Monday. This is expected to decrease by two to four degrees in the next four days, according to the weather department. 

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News Network
May 17,2024

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Hubballi, May 17: Karnataka Police have arrested the killer, Vishwa, also known as Girish, in the sensational Anjali Ambigera murder case, police said on Friday.

Preliminary investigations reveal that Vishwa was a habitual thief who exploited innocent young women. The accused is also a drunkard and was caught while attempting to commit theft. He was also part of a gang which stole bikes.

The accused targeted gullible young women, enacting a drama of love and playing the emotional card to forcefully extort gold, silver, and cash from them. When Anjali did not agree to any of his attempts to rob her and outrightly rejected his offer to go with him to Mysuru city, he brutally killed her.

The police had formed two teams to hunt down the killer. One of the teams was searching in the south Karnataka region, and another team, which launched a hunt in Davanagere, nabbed him. The accused was arrested by the police on Thursday.

The police could not catch him sooner as the killer did not carry a mobile phone and did not use his phone for 15 days, before murdering Anjali. The jurisdictional Bendigeri Police were aware of the killer's history, but even after the complaint by the girl’s family, they showed "utter negligence".

The 24-year-old Vishwa entered Anjali Ambigera's (20) residence at 5.30 A.M. on Wednesday and stabbed the young woman multiple times before she could react. Vishwa dragged Anjali Ambigera all over the house, kicking and stabbing her. Later, he pushed her into the kitchen where he stabbed her repeatedly.

Despite efforts by Anjali’s grandmother and two sisters to stop the attacker, he killed her and managed to flee. The incident occurred in the Veerapura Oni area within the jurisdiction of the Bendigeri Police Station.

Vishwa had been blackmailing Anjali and pressurising her to accompany him to Mysuru without informing her parents. The incident which took place close on the heels of MCA student Neha Hiremath’s brutal murder by the jilted lover has raised concern over the safety of women all across the state.

The BJP had demanded the resignation of Home Minister G. Parameshwara while the Congress leaders have also demanded that the Hubballi-Dharwad Police Commissioner Renuka Sukumar should be transferred for failing to sensitise the police force regarding issues of women’s safety.

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News Network
May 10,2024

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New Delhi: In a big blow to Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, a Delhi court has ordered the framing of charges against the former Wrestling Federation of India chief in the sexual harassment allegations levelled by women wrestlers. The court has said there is sufficient evidence on record to do so, and the trial against him can now begin. 

Friday's order by the Rouse Avenue court comes days after the BJP decided not to repeat Mr Singh, who is the party MP from Uttar Pradesh's Kaiserganj, as the candidate from the constituency and decided to field his son Karan Bhushan Singh instead. 

The court has ordered the framing of charges under Indian Penal Code sections Ordered to frame charges against Brij Bhushan under sections 354 (outraging a woman's modesty), 354-A (sexual harassment) and 506 (criminal intimidation). The Delhi Police had filed a chargesheet against under these sections and one additional section - 354D (stalking) - on June 15 last year. 

Charges should also be framed against the former assistant secretary of the Federation, Vinod Tomar, under Section 506, the court said. 

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Priyanka Rajpoot said the charges will be framed against Mr Singh for sexually harassing five wrestlers and that he stands discharged in the allegations levelled by the sixth.

The six-time MP has been at the centre of a huge political storm since last year, when sexual harassment charges were levelled against him and protesters had hit the streets led by Olympic medallists Sakshee Malikkh and Bajrang Punia, as well as Commonwealth Games and Asian Games medallist Vinesh Phogat.

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