Ruckus in RS as Manohar Parrikar speaks on AgustaWestland deal

Despite opposition from the Congress, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikaron Wednesday told the Rajya Sabha that he only wanted to give chronology of the events with regard to corruption in the Rs 3,600-crore sale of 12 VVIP choppers to India.

"This matter is not of today, this pertains to year 2002. I just wanted to inform the House, the chronological order of events, without any comments on them, so that the House is aware of when it took place and what happened," Parrikar said in the Upper House.

"Whether they want or don't want, it is for them (Congress)," he added amid uproar in the upper house.

Parrikar, who met Prime Minister Narendra Modiyesterday, had earlier on Monday said that his address in the Parliament would include how and when necessary clauses or provisions were relaxed to suit the company.

Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, has accused the Centre of pursuing a politically motivated campaign to defame the grand old party through the AgustaWestland copter scam.

Meanwhile, former Indian Air Force chief S.P. Tyagi is being grilled for the third consecutive day by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at its headquarter here in connection with alleged irregularities in the Rs. 3600 crore VVIP chopper deal.

As per reports, the former IAF chief is said to have told the CBI yesterday that he met senior officials of Finmeccanica, the parent company of AgustaWestland, while negotiations for the purchase of VVIP choppers were going on.

He also told the interrogators that he had met Finmeccanica's Chief Operating Officer Georgio Zapa in New Delhi on February 15, 2005.

The CBI yesterday quizzed the former IAF chief on the four firms which he and his wife set up after his retirement from service.Read More.

Does Dawood have gangrene, and will he escape being brought to justice?

Is India's most wanted criminal Dawood Ibrahim suffering from gangrene?

CNN-News18 reported on Monday that the dreaded Mumbai mafia boss-turned-terrorist has advancedgangrene at a stage where it is life-threatening, and that he might have to undergo an amputation.

Additionally, the report cites doctors, who are treating Dawood, as saying that the gangrene is at such an advanced stage that Dawood is immobile and an amputation might be required.

It adds that Dawood Ibrahim is being treated at his residence in the "upscale Clifton neighbourhood of Karachi". According to the report, the doctors attending to him are from the Liaquat National Hospital, Karachi, and the Combined Military Hospital, Karachi.

The report is specific on Dawood’s medical condition, quoting the doctors treating the don as saying that high blood pressure and blood sugar are the causes behind the gangrene.

The Times of India, on the other hand, on Tuesday reported that senior intelligence officials and the gangster's deputy Chhota Shakeel have confirmed that Dawood is "fit".

The ToI report quotes Shakeel saying that the reports of a gangrene infection are results of rumours being floated to hinder Dawood's business.

If Dawood is indeed suffering from gangrene, and if the condition is indeed life-threatening, then it will have serious consequences for India's pursuit of justice for the Mumbai bomb blasts of 1993 that were exacted by Dawood and his gang in return for the communal riots in the city that followed the December 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.

Bringing Dawood back to India to stand trial for his role in the blasts has been a longstanding objective of Indian politicians and intelligence agencies, but one that has been met with little success, thanks to stonewalling by the Pakistani establishment.

In fact, the Pakistani government has consistently denied Dawood’s presence in that country, despite the fact that India claims it even knows the exact address of his residence in Karachi.

However, there have been reports of Indian intelligence having had at least four opportunities to nab Dawood in Pakistan, none of which worked out.

1) Dawood allegedly wanted to surrender in 1994:

According to a Hindustan Times report, a little over a year after the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, Dawood was willing to surrender and "even spoke thrice to the then CBI DIG Neeraj Kumar".

According to the report, the agency, for unknown reasons, "didn’t take him (Dawood) up on his offer".

Speaking to HT, Kumar said: “I spoke to a jittery Dawood three times in June 1994… He seemed to be toying with the idea of surrendering but had one worry — his rival gangs could finish him off if he returned to India. I told him his safety would be the responsibility of the CBI.”

However, according to the report, Kumar's seniors abruptly ordered him to avoid any further contact with the gangster.Read More.