Meet India’s own Spiderman

You could call him India’s Spiderman, but he prefers calling himself Kothi Manusha or Monkey Man.

Jyoti Raju, who originally hails from Tamil Nadu, attempted to end his life by jumping off the Chitradurga fort, 230 km from Bengaluru. It was then that he realised what he was capable of.

Twenty-three year old Raju’s entry into the small town of Chitradurga is interesting.

“I am from Tamil Nadu. I used to dream of the Chitradurga fort as a child. At the age of 18, I left Chennai and came in search of this fort. I landed in Chitradurga by chance and realised that the fort at this place is the same one I used to dream about as a child. I worked as a construction labourer for a while here.”

“However, I was not happy with what I was doing and went into depression, which prompted me to end my life. This was the turning point for me.”

“I went atop the fort and decided to jump to death. However, when I did that I tried saving myself, and it worked. With just the help of my hands I managed to cling on to the fort wall. That day I realised that there was something special. “

“Over the next few years, I watched monkeys very closely and learnt the art of climbing up walls without the support of any external device; with my hands.”

Raju is a treat to watch. He climbs walls like a monkey and ensures that everyone has their heart in their mouth when he does a somersault in the middle of his climb up a steep wall.

Today, he is more of an entertainer at the fort in Chithradurga.

“My aim is to do something for my country before I die. At present I climb up the fort’s walls, do my tricks and entertain people,”

“You can see for yourself that I climb up these walls with no equipment or any protection. I face a lot of financial problems and all I survive on is the tip given by my admirers. I hope the future has something better for me in store,” says the Monkey Man.

New images taken by Chandrayaan-1

Chandrayaan-1, India’s first moon mission, has sent five new pictures of the craters on the lunar surface.

The first of the images, which was sent on July 20, shows the details of the Leibniz crater on the moon.
The second picture shows the craters of various sizes on the moon.

The images were captured by the Terrain Mapping Camera on board the 514-kg spacecraft that is orbiting 200 km above the lunar surface.

The last three pictures sent by the Chandrayaan depict the finer details of the Dryden crater on the moon, an image of a crater on the rim of another one on the moon and also details of the Chaffee crater on the lunar surface.

Earlier this month, Chandrayaan-1 had captured the shadow of the moon on the earth’s surface during the solar eclipse on July 22.

The Rs 400 crore worth spacecraft was launched by the Indian Research organisation in October last year.

Chandrayaan-1 was recently in the news after a crucial sensor on board the spacecraft malfunctioned due to thermal radiation from the sun.

However, ISRO scientists were quick to react and patched Chandrayaan with two sensors in order to steer it.

Photographs courtesy: ISRO

Fake currency menace haunts security agencies

The menace of fake currency which is used to fund terrorism in India continues to haunt Indian security agencies. Intelligence agencies have warned time and again about this threat to the Indian economy and how it could destabilise the country. Even as security agencies and Reserve Bank of India officials work overtime to overcome this problem, Pakistan based terror groups with the blessings of the Inter Services Intelligence continue to flood Indian markets with fake currency and distribute it among their agents.
The ISI has decided to concentrate this trade on a large scale in Hyderabad and Kerala since there are a lot of persons from here who work in the Gulf. The IB says that poor labourers are falling easy prey to this racket and help in bringing the fake money into India.

Mumbai 26/11 aftermath

In the aftermath of the horrific Mumbai terror attacks last November, the circulation of fake currency had come down for a while. There was a crackdown on several operatives who were into this business. The Indian security agencies too had come up with various measures to check the circulation of fake currency.

The IB says that the fake currency racket is a major income grosser for the ISI and they would do anything to ensure that the operation continues.

Following the Mumbai attacks and the crackdown, the ISI changed it methods. For starters, they set up two brand new printing units in Karachi and Lahore . They have started importing paper from European countries and are using them so that Indian security agencies find it difficult to identify the fakes.

The second plan was to introduce a new route. Apart from sending in fake notes through labourer returning to India, terror groups are also using the route through Sri Lanka into Tamil Nadu. The IB also says Karimnagar and Nizambad in Andhra Pradesh are hot spots for the fake currency racket.

Security agencies say the transportation of fake currency from the Jammu & Kashmir border and also areas around Rajasthan and Bangladesh have come down comparatively. However, the terrorists are using the sea routes through Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. The currency is sent into Sri Lanka and then transported into Tamil Nadu from where the circulation begins.

Case statistics

At present there is around Rs 170,000 crore worth of fake currency in circulation. Although nearly 3,170 cases relating to fake currency have been booked till date, the conviction rate is appaling. Advocates arguing these matters say that only the small fries are caught, but the big ones end up getting away since the persons brought before court have very little information.

Kingpin still at large

The ISI has clearly taken the help of the Dawood Ibrahim gang to further their business. The link is clear thanks to two men — Babu Gaithan and Aftab Bhakthi. These two men operate out of Dubai and report directly to the Dawood gang. They are the ISI’s point men to ensure that fake currency is pushed into the Indian markets at regular intervals. Their job is to collect the fake currency from Pakistan where it is printed and then ensure that it is circulated.

They make arrangements for the transport through the sea route and also use the labour force entering Andhra Pradesh and Kerala to circulate fake notes.

Airtel found guilty in techie case

The Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission which  had initiated suo moto proceedings following the wrongful imrpsionment of Bangalore techie, Lakshman Kailash has held that Bharti Airtel is guilty of providing wrong information to the police that led to the arrest.

Laskshman Kailash was arrested by the Pune cops on the allegation that he had posted some defamatory remarks against Shivaji on a website. However it was found later that the service provider Bharti Airtel had given wrong information regarding the IP address following which Kailash was arrested. It was found that the person who posted the message was someone else in Koramangala in Bangalore.

The commission headed by by Justice Kshitij R. Vyas (former Chief Justice) and Mr. Subash Lalla (former IAS officer) held in paragraph 14, page 7 of the judgment, ““We therefore hold that Bharti Airtel Limited is responsible for providing false information to the police which led to the arrest of the victim Lakshmana Kailash.”

The Commission took note of the fact that Lakshmana Kailash demanded compensation of Rs.20 crore and held that compensation ought to be claimed before a civil court or other forum and has reserved liberty to Lakshmana Kailash to seek compensation from such forum. Yet, on its own, the Commission has granted a compensation of Rs.2 lakh for the suffering he had undergone.

Earlier the commission had issued notice to the Maharashtra Police as well as 4 officers of Bharti Airtel Ltd. The Commission had also involved a Cyber Expert and an amicus curae in the hearing. After recording detailed statements and evidence of all parties, the Commission vide its judgment found Bharti Airtel guilty of providing false information to the police that led to arrest of victim Lakshman Kailash.

‘Sleazy’ email to President lands MTech student in trouble

A ’sleazy’ email addressed to President Pratibha Patil has landed a student of a reputed engineering college in Bengaluru in trouble, with a team from the Delhi police arriving in the city to question the MTech student.

Sources told rediff.com that the student had sent the email to the President last week. Although the exact contents of the mail are unknown, sources said it was deemed ’sleazy’ and a complaint was lodged with the Delhi police. The police in turn managed to track down the IP address from which the email was sent and tracked the person down.

A Delhi police team arrived in Bengaluru on Wednesday and headed straight to Mysore where the student hailed from. However, they did not find the student there and on questioning his parents about his whereabouts learnt that he was pursuing a masters degree at an engineering college in Bengaluru, following which the police team reached the college to question him.

It is still unclear whether the police have managed to locate the student. Sources said he was absconding.

Terror groups shifting bases to smaller towns

The formation of the Southern Corridor of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba was probably the turning point for India where terrorism is concerned. Taking into account the importance of setting up a base in the South of India, the Lashkar had identified four key men for each state to run operations. Although the four key men handling the South of India for the Lashkar have been identified, the worry for Indian security agencies continues since the network is still deep-rooted.
The worrying factor for intelligence and security agencies is that terror groups are no longer meeting up at high profile spots but are choosing places which are completely out of the radar.

Take for instance this particular meeting which Abdul Sattar, the man heading the Lashkar operations in Kerala, speaks about during his interrogation.

Somwarpet, Kodagu, a hill station in Karnataka was one of the places that the Lashkar operatives chose to discuss their deadly plan.

The 57-year-old Edapana Thodika Zainuddin alias Abdul Sattar alias Abdul Salam alias Saleem, who devised Improvised Explosive Devices, told the Bengaluru Anti-Terrorism Squad that there was a meeting conducted in Somwarpet in Kodagy prior to the blasts at Gujarat, Bengaluru and Surat.

Sattar says during his interrogation that one of the key operatives in this operation, Naseer informed Riyaz Bhatkal, the south India chief of the LeT, that he had arranged for a meeting at Suntikoppa near Somwarpet in Kodagu, which is around 200 kilometres from Bengaluru city.

Naseer who hailed from Suntikoppa owned a bit of land and grew ginger on it. He had invited the rest of the operatives and told them they could mix both work and pleasure.

While taking the rest of the members for sight-seeing, he also discussed the plans with them. He also told them that there were several workers from Kerala who came down to Kodagu to work in the ginger fields and it would work out cheaper if they could hire them to plant bombs instead, a plan that was readily agreed upon.

Another unassuming place that a meeting of the Lashkar operatives was conducted was at Kuttypuram in Kerala. The operatives stayed at the Aishwarya lodge in this place and held a meeting with Riyaz Bhatkal before finalising the plan.

Intelligence bureau officials say that the fact that these two places were chosen for meetings makes it clear that these operatives are clearly trying to stay away from the radar of security agencies. Initially, meetings were held only in bigger cities, but now they have started picking places where the police would not imagine could be used to hold such meetings.

Due to this change in plan, security agencies say that sleeper cells which were rampant in the cities of Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Ernakulam have come down.

Terror groups are gradually moving their base into smaller places so that they are noticed less. Investigating officials say that not only are they moving out of the cities, but are also attempting to recruit people from smaller towns. The fact that Naseer was trying to recruit ginger workers from Kerala itself is a proof that the recruitment process is more village-centric now.

There are advantages of recruiting people from smaller towns, the Intelligence Bureau says. The operation works out cheaper and moreover such people obey instructions for the sake of small money.

Moreover, the labour sector is in doldrums and hence it is easier for terror groups to coax them into joining them. The other factor is that even if these people are caught it is extremely difficult to interrogate them.

Such people do not bother finding out what the operation is about, who are behind it and on many ocassions, they would not even know what they would be planting.

There are several instances when such people have blindly carried out instructions and planted a bag and not even known that there was a bomb inside it. All these factors make it difficult to interrogate them, investigating officials say.

Now, a water-powered auto rickshaw

Ever dreamed of running your vehicle on water? If yes, read on.

Nine students of the RV College of Engineering (RVCE), Bangalore, have made running a vehicle on water a reality. Together they have developed a water-powered hybrid auto rickshaw.

The team has developed an inexpensive and simple retro-fit kit for auto rickshaws. This kit performs hydrogen enhancement of conventional fossil fuel.

The kit produces hydrogen, which is the best fuel in the world, and oxygen which is the most necessary element for combustion, from the most abundant commodity in the world — water. This is produced on demand and on board, and supplied to the internal combustion (IC) engine making the auto rickshaw partially powered by water.

The kit is customisable according to the needs of the auto rickshaw driver, and team RVCE has also successfully managed to develop software to bring this into effect. Says Karthik Sivaram, First Year, Industrial Engineering and Management, who is part of the team, “According to our estimate the cost price of the best performing kit would be a maximum of Rs 4,000, thus making it affordable for every auto driver. Thus we believe we have achieved the perfect balance between sophistication and affordability.”

He also says that they have found an increase of 20 per cent in fuel efficiency and a decrease of 12 per cent in acceleration.

How was it done?
The team explains that, as with any technical project, funding plays a very important role. RSST, the college trust, was kind enough to cover the majority of the costs (development costs totalled about Rs 90,000). They were also supported by Bosch India Limited.

Team RVCE was blessed with excellent technical advice from the alumni of their college, the chemistry department as well as professors from the Inidan Institute of Science. They were also provided with a workspace by the college and unlimited access to all its resources. Bajaj Auto and Exide Batteries also advised the team.

The youngsters recently participated in the Hybrid Auto Rickshaw Battle held by Enviu, at the SRM Campus, Chennai. Participating colleges were from the Netherlands and India, including TU Delft (regarded as one of the best technical institutes in the world). “This was ample opportunity to display our skills on an international platform,” the team members explain.

The team also says that plans are already afloat to develop an improved kit. This will be much more complicated than their previous venture. The designs have been drawn up and potential sponsors identified.

The Team

Karthik Sivaram, First Year, Industrial Engineering and Management
Abhishek Khamrai, Third Year Electrical Engineering
Varun Mundra Third Year, Electrical Engineering
Rajiv Basavaraj Hirur, First Year, Mechanical Engineering
Shrey Tamhaney, Third Year, Mechanical Engineering
Ashwin Gopalakrishnan, Fourth Year, Mechanical Engineering
Abhinandan Shetty, Fourth Year, Mechanical Engineering
Chetan L, Fourth Year, Mechanical Engineering
Shrey Tamhaney, Third Year, Mechanical Engineering

Chandrayaan captures eclipse moments

[/caption]India’s first unmanned moon mission, Chandrayaan-1 captured the shadow of the moon on the earth’s surface during the July 22 solar eclipse. This feat has been achieved just a week after a shadow was cast on the Chandrayaan following the failure of a crucial sensor on board the spacecraft.

The images were captured by the Terrain-Mapping Camera (TMC) on board the 514-kg spacecraft, which is orbiting at 200 km above the lunar surface. The Indian Research Space Organisation in Bangalore released these images.

Chandrayaan-1 has tracked the movement of moon’s shadow on the earth during the total solar eclipse on July 22,” Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) spokesperson S Satish.

Chandrayaan captures eclipse moments

The TMC has transmitted the pictures to the space agency’s Deep Space Network (DSN) at Baylalu near Bengaluru.

The high-resolution images of the TMC from 07:45 IST show the lunar shadow spreading its footprint from northeast China to northern parts of Australia. ISRO had earlier announced that it plans to study in detail the effects of total solar eclipse on July 22.

Confessions of a bomb-maker

The conspiracy behind the 2008 terror attacks in Bengaluru and Surat has been revealed following the confession of 57-year-old Edapana Thodika Zainuddin alias Abdul Sattar, a resident of Malappuram in Kerala, who was arrested by the Hyderabad police for alleged links with the Indian Mujahideen.

Sattar allegedly made the improvised explosive devices used in the terror attacks.

In his complete confession before the Anti Terror Cell in Bengaluru, Sattar said he made a survey of the Karnataka Vidhan Soudha (the state assembly), the high court and the Infosys campus in the city.

The idea was to send a strong message across the country about the IM’s presence.

‘We first thought that we would plant 20 bombs in Bengaluru alone. However, we reduced the number to 10 later since we had only 10 men at our disposal. It was difficult for them to carry 20 flowerpot shaped bombs, which would weigh over 100 kilograms,’ he told investigators.

Sattar confessed that IM operatives dropped the idea of carrying out blasts at the Vidhan Soudha, Infosys campus and the high court when they realised that the security presence was high at these locations. ‘Hence, we planted bombs in other places,’ he said.

He said the IM operatives were part of the same group which planted bombs in Surat.

‘The Surat operation was a flop since my son Sarfuddin assembled the IEDs. He was new to this technology and was just learning. He did not assemble them properly.’

How the conspiracy was hatched

‘It was in April 2008 that I was told by a friend of mine that I needed to meet a man by the name Riyaz Bhatkal. A month later, I got a call from Bhatkal who was in Karnataka and told me that he would meet me at a function. The meeting was fixed at Kuttypuram in a lodge. After staying there for three days, Bhatkal called me to the railway station. I will be wearing jeans and a T-shirt and will have a plastic bag in my hand, he said.’

‘I finally met him and brought him back to the lodge. Bhatkal, Aftab, Umar, two others and myself discussed various things before Bhatkal told me that there was a requirement of 50 bombs.’

‘He said that he had heard of my expertise in making bombs and hence wanted me to prepare them. He told me that the bombs should be timed between 1 and 99 hours. He then told me to give him an assemble board without a cover so that he could use it at Ahmedabad, Gujarat and in Surat. The SIMI and Indian Mujahideen will use this, he told me.’

‘I agreed and sought a couple of days time. I also told him that I would require Rs 10,000. Bhatkal gave me Rs 5,000 advance. Bhatkal told us that the main targets are Gujarat, Delhi and Mumbai. He said he was touch with the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and that they had told him to carry out a blast in Bengaluru and Chennai too.’

‘Bhatkal showed a keen interest in knowing about the terror programmes being undertaken in Kerala. We told him that there is a programme called Tareeqath, which was being run and several youth were being told about communal problems, atrocities against Muslims in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Palestine, the Godhra incident in Gujarat, demolition of the Babri Masjid and the high handedness of the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra. They also planned to retaliate in a fitting manner to the governments who are not showing any interest in uplifting the Muslim community.’

‘After hearing this Bhatkal told us to go ahead. He was particular about Bengaluru since he felt that the previous attempt (the attack at the Indian Institute of Science) was not successful. He said that in Bengaluru, there are top scientists and there is a BJP government and hence, it is important to carry out a strike in Bengaluru.’

The SIMI-IM-Lashkar link is clear

‘Bhatkal told us that the Lashkar was particular about these operations and were sending financial assistance towards the same. He also told us that a training camp had been arranged in Kodagu district in Karnataka.’

‘A few days later, Bhatkal called me once again and asked whether the assembly boards were ready or not. I sought a little more time and also informed him that my son was assembling the boards for Surat. It was on July 16 that the boards were ready. The boards were then handed over to him. However, Bhatkal said he needed 20 more boards for which I agreed.’

‘The operation went on as planned. Bombs went off at Bengaluru and Ahmedabad, but the Surat operation flopped. A few days later, we met Bhatkal at Hyderabad. He asked us why the Surat operation had failed. I explained that it was my inexperienced son who had devised the bombs. Bhatkal was upset. However, he told us that the Mumbai police had arrested two persons — Naushad and Bawa. He suggested that I switch off my phone and go underground.’

Sattar’s confession also speaks of why he decided on terrorism. He said the communal disturbances in the country, especially in Kerala, disturbed him a great deal. He got in touch with like-minded people and with their help learnt how to make bombs.

Is Kasab trying to show he is mentally ill?

A trial usually begins with the accused pleading not guilty. That is what happened in the case pertaining to the November 26 terror attacks in Mumbai. But on July 20, Ajmal Kasab — the lone terrorist arrested during the attacks — retracted his earlier plea and told the judge that he was guilty of the charges levelled against him.
According to some legal experts, this could be a ploy to tell the court that he is mentally unbalanced and escape the death penalty.

H S Chandramouli, a former public prosecutor in Karnataka, asked why Kasab was permitted to make such a statement when there is no provision available under the Code of Criminal Procedure to issue such a statement before the commencement of summary proceedings.

Kasab, Chandramouli felt, had been well-tutored and was not alien to the manner in which Indian jurisprudence works.

A man who pleads not guilty at first and then pleads guilty could be viewed as inconsistent before the court, which may lead it to conclude that the accused is not sane.

Under Indian law, a person who is not sane cannot be given the death penalty.

K Madhavan, a senior advocate in Bengaluru specialising in criminal matters, pointed out that Kasab had not made a confession, but issued a statement. A confession can be made only under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. No confession can be made before a sessions or designated sessions judge.

He felt the higher courts should settle this issue so that the court’s time is not lost. In this case, there is a confession made before the magistrate prior to commencement of the trial. So there was no need for another statement, Madhavan felt. The only time Kasab could have made such a statement was after the examination and summary proceedings when the charges are placed before him.

Madhavan pointed out that the courts cannot take such a statement into consideration. However, during the course of evidence, Kasab’s statements can be analysed. But it is not good enough to go ahead and convict him.

Moreover, in this case, the prosecution is not sure whether the statement has been made voluntarily or under the influence of some external pressure. The court has done the right thing by setting the confession aside, Madhavan felt, since during appeal, Kasab can always deny making such a statement or claim that it was made under duress.

Even his confession before the magistrate made earlier can be contested on the same lines and hence a complete trial is the best option. Also, there is a Supreme Court ruling that clearly states that all such statements and documents made by an accused can be placed on record only after the evidence is presented by the prosecution.