The Tribune – Sikh man sues his hotelier son for throwing him out

London, February 23. An 84-year-old Sikh man has sued his son, one of Britain’s wealthiest men, for 100 million pounds for trying to push him and his wife out on the streets and for keeping the hotel business to himself.

Jasminder Singh, 60, chairman of Radisson Edwardian Hotels, is accused of renouncing the Sikh tradition of sharing family wealth and barring his parents from their multi-million pound business, the Daily Express reported.

His father Bal Mohinder Singh stands to take a third of the family fortune if he wins the High Court battle against his son, worth an estimated 415 million pounds. Bal, in a statement to the court in central London yesterday, said he and his wife were “deeply ashamed that Jasminder should publicly renounce his cultural heritage.”

The system of joint family ownership of all assets is based on religious teaching and widely practised by Sikh and Hindu communities around the world, he said. “For Jasminder to deny that and claim all the credit and ownership for himself will be shocking to wide sections of those communities. That is why his mother and I are so ashamed,” said Bal Mohinder.

Bal also accused his son of trying to force his parents out of the 10-million pounds house they share near Ascot racecourse in Berkshire. Jasminder denies ever having been told by his parents they were a “joint Hindu family” and that property acquired by any of them was “joint family property.” He also denied having a particularly religious upbringing, the paper said adding the case is expected to go to trial later this year. (PTI)

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120224/main6.htm

The Tribune – Misuse of Bhajji’s bank statement for getting UK visa; Police yet to trace travel agent

Varinder Singh, Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, February 23. The police is yet to trace the travel agent, who had allegedly facilitated the misuse of the HDFC Bank statement of ace cricketer Harbhajan Singh for getting the UK visa for the cricketer’s namesake and his Patti-based client Harbhajan Singh.

Meanwhile, the police has initiated a probe in the growing nexus between officials of some banks and unscrupulous travel agents, who get visas for their clients on the basis of fraudulently taken bank statements of their rich namesakes.

The scam had came to light when the UK Embassy authorities had become suspicious about the name of the mother of Bhajji’s namesake and the visa applicant. It was mentioned as Kulwant Kaur in place of Avtar Kaur.

The police authorities were also looking for Harbhajan Singh of Patti township, who is said to have got employment in some Mumbai-based oil company after his visa application was rejected by the UK Embassy authorities. Harbhajan Singh is also in the age group of 25-30 years. Sleuths of the Jalandhar police, who are investigating the case, went to Patti to investigate the matter.

“We have questioned Sewa Singh, uncle of Harbhajan Singh of Patti, who has informed us that his nephew has got employment in an oil company. He is not even able to recall the name of the travel agent, who had facilitated the misuse of Bhajji’s bank statement. Sometimes, he says travel agent was some Atul and sometime he recalls him as Amit. Anyway, we are looking for the agent, though he had no permanent address,” said ACP Hankanwalpreet Singh Khakh.

“The manager of the Civil Lines branch of HDFC Bank has been questioned by the police. Bhajji or his family, however, has not lodged any formal complaint with the police so far. The bank staff is fully cooperating with us,” said Khakh.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120224/punjab.htm#9

The Hindu – Italian Minister says sorry, blames shooting on piracy perception

Anand Haridas S. Anandan K.A. Martin

Kochi, 23 February 2012. It was a mistake; they were genuine fishermen, conceded Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Staffan de Mistura, in town for parleys with the State administration to secure the release of the two Italian marines arrested on charges of killing two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast last week.

The shooting, he said, was a mistake. But the fact that the region had witnessed an upsurge in piracy over the last couple of years perhaps caused the marines to mistake the genuine fishermen for pirates, he said, as The Hindu team caught up with him on Thursday.

When it was cited that there was a marked decline in piracy in the Eastern Arabian Sea and the Indian side of the Indian Ocean after the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard intensified patrolling the seas of its domain of interest, Mr. de Mistura admitted that it was true.

The incident was without precedent for either India or Italy, who always maintained friendly relations. Italy, on its part, did not want to burn its bridges with India over the unfortunate occurrence.

He termed the issue “all the more sensitive” as it involved men in uniform. “India also has its military personnel deployed all over the world” on various duties, he said.

A top official of the Italian Foreign Ministry said the course of action would be decided after the outcome of the court proceedings under way in Kerala. Italy had launched a parallel investigation of the incident by its agencies back home.

However, now that an Indian judge was hearing the case, we would await its outcome, the official maintained.

Earlier in the day, Mr. de Mistura met the arrested marines Latorre Massimiliano and Salvatore Girone, held at the CISF guesthouse on Willingdon Island, and expressed satisfaction over the way the Kerala Police treated them.

Italian Ambassador Giacomo Sanfelice di Monteforte and Consul-General Giampaolo Cutillo accompanied the Minister.

Reiterating the Italian stance that the fishing boat that came under attack was in international waters, Mr. de Mistura told the media that the incident occurred 22.5 nautical miles off the coast of India.

He called for Indo-Italian joint ballistic examination and inspection of the weapons on board Enrica Lexie, the oil tanker involved in the firing.

Mr. de Mistura is staying back in the State pending a decision by the Kerala High Court on a writ petition filed by Italy to quash the FIR accusing the marines of murder. Foreign Affairs Minister Franco Frattini is slated to arrive in India on Tuesday to continue negotiations to thrash out an amicable solution to the issue.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2923244.ece