04 uttarpradesh hindustantimes HINDUSTAN TIMES, LUCKNOW

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 05, 2019

AZAMGARH: Sixteen students were injured after their school bus hit a divider near Atraulia town on Tejpur highway here on Monday morning. Immediately after receiving the information, the police reached the spot and all the injured students were taken to the nearby district hospital for treatment. Dinesh Kumar Mishra, deputy district magistrate of Budhanpur said: “Pandit Ram Awadh Bal Vidya Mandir School bus with a total 53 students and 10 staff were returning from a Varanasi tour when the driver fell asleep and crashed into a divider around 4 am. No one was critically injured.”

shortstories

16 STUDENTS HURT AFTER SCHOOL BUS HITS DIVIDER

UP Cong chief should apologise or face criminal defamation suit: Minister

LUCKNOW : Uttar Pradesh energy minister Shrikant Sharma on Monday threatened UP Congress Committee president Ajay Kumar Lallu with a criminal defamation suit for targeting him over the investment of Rs 2,600 crore of the state employees’ provident fund in the unsecured Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFCL).

“The allegations against meby Congress leader Ajay Kumar Lallu are concocted and false. He must tender an apology for the baseless charges or else be ready to face a criminal defama-tion case,” Sharma warned.Lallu had on Sunday questioned the role of the energy minister in the investment of the state power employees’ provident PF in the unsecured private com-pany with questionable creden-tials. “Lallu concocted charges only to stay in the news,” the minister said, adding, “He also is behaving like Rahul Gandhi who had levelled many baseless allegations against our leaders for which he is facing litigation in various courts.” HTC

Priyanka seeks more info, UP Cong chief puts questions to minister

LUCKNOW : The Congress on Monday accused the Yogi govern-ment of misleading the people on the power employees PF issue.

For her part, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra presided over a meeting of senior party leaders in New Delhi on Monday and sought more information from them on the issue, a party insider said. UPCC president Ajay Kumar Lallu, who attended the meeting in New Delhi, later circulated questions that he said minister for energy Shrikant Sharma should answer if he was clean on the issue. Lallu, in his first poser to Sharma, said the minister should give specific dates when the funds were transferred to the DHFCL from March 2017 to December 31, 2018.He said the state government should make all the correspond-ence with DHFCL public and clarify why the PF funds of power employees were given to a private company. Earlier, the Congress held a demonstration to protest the scam. HTC

Power employee call for two-day work boycott from November 18

LUCKNOW : The state’s power employees will resort to a 48-hour work boycott from Novem-ber 18 morning in response to a call by Uttar Pradesh Karmvhari Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti to press various demands and protest the PF scam.

As a buildup, prior to thatthey will hold demonstrations at all the district headquarters, power projects at Shakti Bhawan here on November5 between 3pm and 5pm.

Giving this information here, employees’ leader Shailendra Dubey said the decision on the boycott was taken after their meeting with the UPPCL manage-ment with regard to their de-mands failed at Shakti Bhawan here on Monday. The proposed agitation is being seen as a pressure tactics to get their old demands like wages correction, regularisation of services of contract staff, recruitment to fill vacant posts etc met at a time when the UPPCL management is defensive over the PF scam. HTC

Jitendra Sarinn sarin.jitendra@gmail.com

PRAYAGRAJ: Former BSP MP Kapil

Muni Karwariya, his brothers

Uday Bhan Karwariya and Suraj

Bhan Karwariya and one Ram

Chandra Tripathi were awarded

life term by the Allahabad ses-

sions court here on Monday in the

sensational murder case of then

sitting SP MLA Jawahar Yadav

in 1996. Uday Bhan is a former

BJP MLA.

The court also imposed a fine of

Rs 1 lakh on each of them.

On October 31, all the four

were convicted on charges under

sections 302 (committing mur-

der), section 307 (attempt to com-

mit murder), section 149 (unlaw-

ful assembly) and other sections

of Indian Penal Code.

After awarding life term to all

of them, additional sessions judge

(ASJ), Allahabad, Badri Vishal

Pandey, closed the trial.

Earlier, the court had reserved

its judgment on October 18 after

concluding trial in the case,

which lasted for nearly two dec-

ades. According to district gov-

ernment counsel (criminal)

Gulab Chandra Agrahri, 18 wit-

nesses were produced by the

prosecution to prove the charges

against the accused persons.

On the other hand, on the side

of defence, the Karwariya broth-

ers produced as many as 156 wit-

nesses to prove their innocence.

During trial, testimonies of all

witnesses were recorded and

they were cross-examined, as

well. Jawahar Yadav was killed

on August 13, 1996, in Civil Lines

area of Allahabad. The incident

rocked the city as AK-47 assault

rifle was used for the first time in

the city in a crime. Besides Jawa-

har, his driver Gulab Yadav

and passerby Kamal Kumar

Dixit were also killed in the fir-

ing.

Subsequently, on the same

day an FIR was lodged at Civil

Lines police station by Sulaki

Yadav, brother of Jawahar

Yadav.

As per the first information

report, Jawahar Yadav had

enmity with Kapil Muni and his

other family members, who alleg-

edly killed him.

In the 224-page judgment, the

judge observed that the prosecu-

tion had been successful in prov-

ing its case, hence all the four

accused were convicted.

JAWA H A R YA D AV M U R D E R

23 yrs on, Karwariya brothers sentenced to life in prison

PRAYAGRAJ: Vijma Yadav,

former MLA and widow

of slain SP MLA Jawa-

har Yadav said that

though she was happy

with the verdict which

came after a tough

struggle of 23 years, she

feared for her life and

the lives of her three

children, daughters

Jyoti and Jyotsna and

her only son, Virendra

Yadav. She said that the

judgment and the sen-

tencing has come just

weeks before the mar-

riage of her daughter,

Jyoti, set to take place

on November 21. Jyoti is

a former Block Pram-

ukh of Phulpur. Vijma

Yadav said that if the

Karwariya brothers

move high court against

the judgment, she was

ready to continue her

fight for justice. She

said Monday’s judg-

ment has strengthened

her faith in the judicial

system. HTC

HAPPY BUT FEAR FOR MYCHILDREN: VIJMA YADAV

n Karwariyas’ supporters and onlookers on district court premises in Prayagraj. ANIL KUMAR MAURYA/HT

Brajendra K Parasharn bkparashar@hindustantimes.com

LUCKNOW : The illegal investment

of Uttar Pradesh power employ-

ees’ provident fund contribution

in a Mumbai-based unsecured

private housing finance com-

pany DHFCL, now a declared

defaulter, appears to be a clear

case of multi-level lapses result-

ing in continuance of the scam

for two-and-a-half years, people

associated with the state’s power

sector alleged.

Right from the employees and

pensioners’ representatives,

who were part of the Power Sec-

tor Employees’ Trust that

invested the fund, to the internal

auditors, who prepared and

audited the Trust’s balance

sheets, all failed to detect and

point out the investment being

done in utter violation of the

Central government’s guide-

lines, they added.

It was only after UP Power

Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) chair-

man-cum principal secretary

Alok Kumar, who is also the

Trust chairman, received an

anonymous complaint on July 10

that he got the matter investi-

gated only to find that it was too

late by then. The Trust invested

around Rs 2,600 crore from the

employees’ PF in DHFCL

between March 17, 2017 and till a

few months ago.

The DHFCL’s bank accounts

presently stand frozen on a

Mumbai high court order after

many investors approached the

court when the company started

defaulting.

As much as Rs 2,260 crore of

the over Rs 2,600 crore remains

unrecoverable. The Centre’s

guidelines forbid any such

investment in an unsafe venture.

“Although the internal audi-

tors verified the UP Power Sector

Employees Trust’s balance

sheets up to the year 2016-17, in

March this year, they never

detected or pointed out the irreg-

ularities,” Alok Kumar said,

adding, “We are taking up this

issue with the auditors.”

According to sources, the last

meeting of the board of trustees

was held on March 24, 2017.

Employees did not get their con-

tributory provident fund (CPF)

slip (it shows status of their PF

deposit) for the last three years,

the sources alleged.

“Neither employees nor their

leaders or any of employees and

pensioners’ representatives,

working as trustees to watch the

staff’s interests, ever raised their

voice against why the meeting

was not being convened or why

employees were not getting their

CPF slips,” the sources said.

“Despite all their good inten-

tions, the energy sector officials,

who are also on the Trust’s board

of directors, appear to have some

have supervisory lapses on their

part,” UP Rajya Vidyut

Upbhokta Parishad chairman

Awadhesh Kumar Verma said.

PUTTING ALL EGGS IN

ONE BASKET

The Trust also appeared to have

ignored the basic principles of

financial investment and chose

to put all eggs in one basket, max-

imising the risk.

It has been discovered that the

accused invested the Trust’s 99%

fund in three housing finance

companies and more than 65%

was put in the controversial

HFCL) only. “This was against

the basic financial prudence that

says investment should always

be diversified and all eggs should

never be put in one basket to

minimise the risk of losing the

money,” a senior official said.

P O W E R E M P L O Y E E S ’ P F S C A M

‘Multiple lapses led to investment in unsecured firm going undetected’

›Despite all their goodintentions, the energy

sector officials, who are also on the Trust’s board of directors, appear to have some have supervisory lapses on their partAWADHESH KUMAR VERMA, UP Rajya Vidyut Upbhokta Parishad chairman

HT Correspondentn letters@hindustantimes.com

LUCKNOW : The Economic

Offences Wing (EOW) of UP

Police on Monday seized 15

sets of documents from the

State Power Sector Employ-

ees’ Trust office in Shakti

Bhawan here in connection

with the PF investment scam

case and planned to book the

two accused, who have been

arrested, under provisions of

the Prevention of Corruption

Act as well, an official said.

Director-general, EOW,

Rajinder Pal Singh said, “Five

sets of documents were seized

in the presence of two-three

(UP Power Sector Employ-

ees’) Trust members.”

He also said, “We have

decided to add the provision

of the Prevention of Corrup-

tion Act (to the case) after the

investigation.” In view of the

condition that the investiga-

tion agency has to seek a nod

from the appointing author-

ity, he said, “We will write a

letter to the government

tomorrow (Tuesday) and

hopeful of the approval soon.”

The state government had

earlier announced it was for-

warding its proposal for a CBI

probe to the Centre and asked

the EOW to investigate the

case till then. Deputy inspec-

tor general of police, EOW,

Heera Lal, along with a team

of officials, seized the docu-

ments related to the case from

the Trust office. EOW officials

went Lucknow jail to record

the statements of two

accused--UP State Power Sec-

tor Employees Trust secre-

tary Praveen Kumar Gupta

and director of finance

Sudhanshu Dwivedi. “This

was a legal requirement,”

said Singh.

The Economic Offences

Wingh has also filed an appli-

cation, seeking seven days’

police custody of both the

accused in order to interro-

gate them about the case,

especially after they seized

the related documents. “The

application will be taken up

by the court tomorrow (Tues-

day),” he added.

After a complaint by the

Trust, the police on Novem-

ber 2 registered a case against

these officials. Both were

arrested the same day. The

FIR was lodged in Hazratganj

police station.

EOW SEIZES PAPERS FROM TRUST OFFICE

2 SIS PUNISHED FORNOT SALUTING MLABIJNOR: Two sub-inspectors of UP police were sent to the police lines on Sunday after local BJP MLA Kamlesh Saini complained about their behaviour. The lawmaker was at a public function in Bijnor’s Chandpur area two days ago where Gajendra Singh and Jaiveer Maan, S-Is, Chandpur police station, were deployed. They neither stood up from their chairs nor saluted the MLA when she arrived at the venue, after which she lodged a complaint with the SP Sanjeev Tyagi. SP City Laxmi Nivas Misra confirmed the incident. AGENCY

MLAS TAKE OATHLUCKNOW: SP MP Moham-mad Azam Khan’s wife Tazeen Fatima (Rampur) took oath as MLA here on Monday. Speaker Hridaya Narayan Dikshit administered oath to the new MLAs.

Others given oath on Monday include Rajkumar Sahyogi (Iglas, Aligarh), Surendra Maithani (Govind Nagar, Kanpur), and Vijay Kumar Rajbhar (Ghosi). Dikshit gave a copy of the Constitution, rules for proceedings of assembly to the new members along with a copy of “Hind Swaraj Ka Punarpath” written by him.