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July 25, 2011

Canadian border a bigger threat: U.S. official

 Tue, 17 May, 2011

The U.S. border with Canada, even though it sees far fewer detentions and arrests every year, is a "more significant threat" to American security than the Mexican border, a senior Homeland Security official said Tuesday.
"In terms of the terrorist threat, it's commonly accepted that [it's] the more significant threat, because of... people who can enter Canada then and come across our bridges into the United States," Alan Bersin, head of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, told a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing in Washington.
Bersin was responding to questioning from Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican who demanded to know why the southern U.S. border, with about 445,000 arrests and detentions annually, isn't considered far more sensitive than the northern boundary, which saw 6,000 arrests and detentions last year.
Bersin said the U.S. has to "maintain a very high security profile" on the Canadian frontier, in part because Canada and the U.S. don't share their no-fly lists and so can't keep out people deemed security threats who might travel by airplane into one country, then cross the border by land.
American politicians and officials have often expressed alarm about their northern boundary, frequently stemming from the false belief that some of the 19 men who hijacked four airplanes on Sept. 11, 2001, entered the United States from Canada. In February, several senators decried the findings of a government report that determined that less than one per cent of the U.S.-Canada border had reached an "acceptable level of security."
Senators at Tuesday's hearing also asked what efforts are afoot to stem drug smuggling between Canada and the U.S.
The Customs and Border Protection chief replied that the latest step in cross-border policing will see Canada send 22 radar feeds to his agency's centre in California that tracks non-commercial aircraft, with the goal of cracking down on narcotics smuggling by small planes flying low over the border to escape detection.
In other testimony, Bersin said U.S. officials are working with theCanada Border Services Agency to permit pre-trip immigration clearance for train travellers from Montreal to New York.
Senators Charles Schumer of New York and Patrick Leahy of Vermont, both Democrats whose states see significant tourism from Canada, had expressed frustration at delays on the Montreal to New York City line, with customs and immigration checks at the border stalling trains by up to two hours on their way south.
"Can we count on you to speed up the trains between Canada and New York?" Schumer asked.
Bersin said one complication on rail company Amtrak's route is that it stops south of Montreal before hitting the border, making it difficult to properly pre-clear all passengers. His agency already does pre-screening at Vancouver's train station for Seattle-bound trips, but those trains don't stop elsewhere in B.C.'s Lower Mainland before crossing into Washington state.

A year on, P’kula cops fail to crack email accounts of slain NRI


Davinder  found hanging from a tree in Morni hills on March 24, 2010
Panchkula, July 25
It’s been over a year and yet the self-proclaimed high-tech Panchkula police has failed to even crack the three email accounts of a slain non-resident Indian (NRI) residing in Australia, which could have led to crucial clues in his murder case.

Soon after Davinder Singh, the 30-year-old NRI, was killed in Morni hills last year, his brother had tipped off the Panchkula police saying that the cracking of the deceased’s email accounts could help detect the identity of the murderer.
Davinder was found hanging from a tree in Morni on March 24, 2010. The police had recovered an abandoned Maruti car (HR-70-A-2370) near the spot. Davinder's family members had, however, claimed that the NRI was murdered.
On September 20, 2010, six months after the incident, the Panchkula police closed the case after the viscera report, prepared by the Forensic Science Laboratory in Madhuban, ascribed the cause of the death to hanging. Earlier, on July 23, 2010, police had received the chemical examination report of a cold drink bottle and a condom recovered from the spot, which was not linked to the case.
Rejecting the report, sceptical family members moved an application before top officials of the Haryana police, following which an Inspector-General of the Haryana Police eventually directed the Panchkula police to register a murder case in the matter.
On directions from senior officers, the Panchkula police on December 2, 2010, re-opened the file and converted it into a murder case. Subsequently, a fresh FIR against unknown persons was lodged under Section 302 of the IPC.
But all through the investigations so far, the Panchkula police has not bothered to crack Davinder’s three email accounts that were provided by the deceased’s brother.
When contacted, Panchkula SP Maneesh Chaudhary said they had lodged an FIR and started investigations. “But in our investigation, we did not find anything which can say that it is a case of murder,” he said.
Chaudhary, however, admitted that they were yet to crack Davinder’s three email accounts. Giving a vague reason behind the delay in cracking the mail accounts, he said it was not easy to crack someone’s mail accounts.
Timeline
March 24, 2010: Body was found hanging from a tree in Morni
July 23: Chemical examination report received, which was negative
September 18: Forensic report showed the cause of death to be suicide
September 20: Panchkula police decided to close the case
December 2: Cops converted it into a case of murder on the directions of senior officers
Online FIR System
The Panchkula police is planning to introduce online FIR system from next year. It is also going to start e-challaning in the district and will also introduce hi-tech security system by installing 67 CCTV cameras at various locations in Panchkula. When the Panchkula police is going this much tech-savvy, it is difficult to believe that it failed to crack three mail accounts for the last one year.

Complaint by NRI brought her in touch with property dealer





Mohali, July 25
It was the investigation into a complaint by a Non-Resident Indian (NRI), Nirmala Brar, regarding the forging of ownership documents of her three-kanal plot in Kansal village that brought the Punjab Police Deputy Superintending of Police (DSP) Raka Gira in contact with the alleged fraudster in the case Krishan Malhotra.
It was on the complaint of the Mullanpur-based property dealer, Krishan Malhotra that the DSP was yesterday caught red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh at her Sector 15 residence in Chandigarh. The DSP had reportedly assured the property dealer that she would bail him out in the cheating case. Sources in the police said in November last year, the NRI cell of the Punjab Government had forwarded the complaint by the NRI woman to the Mohali SSP for inquiry. Initially, the complaint was marked to the Deputy Superintendent of Police (City-II) but due to jurisdictional issue, the case was referred to the DSP (City-I) Raka Ghira on December 16, 2010. Since then, the case was pending with her.
When the NRI’s complaint landed with the Mohali police in December last year, a FIR was registered in the same case against four persons Harpal, Manjit, Veerpal and Jagdish Ram on May 14, 2011, at the Kurali Police Station. Since it was a case of cheating and forgery, the investigation in the case was handed over to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Mohali Police. The Investigating Officer Pritam Singh, during the course of the probe, started proceedings to make Krishan Malhotra another accused in the cheating case. 
While the property dealer was negotiating with the DSP, her reader Manmohan Singh and gunman Gurmail Singh to help him wriggle out of the investigation, the EOW had already found that he was involved in forging the documents of the ownership of the three-kanal plot. A senior police official claimed that the DSP struck a deal with the property dealer while being aware about the outcome of the case being probed by the EOW. Sources said the DSP enjoyed the patronage of a senior police officer close to the SAD. 
THERE ARE FIVE CASES AGAINST HIM
Sources in Mohali police said there were five FIRs registered against the property dealer for allegedly forging land documents on Majri area. Separate cases had been registered against him on the basis of complaints made by the landowners. The property dealer had, however, petitioned to the police that he had been falsely implicated in the cases. 

Chandigarh, July 25
Following the recovery of arms and a huge haul of liquor from the Sector 15 residence of DSP Raka Gira during the CBI raid yesterday, the UT police has registered two cases under the Arms Act and the Excise Act against her in the Sector 11 police station.

The ammunition, which was recovered from Gira’s house, included 1,237 cartridges, a revolver 32 S&W (Made in Germany) and a double-barrel gun made in West Germany. Besides, a total of 43 live cartridges of.32 bore, 22 empty cartridges of .32 bore, 14 S&W live cartridges (small), another 18 (.22 bore) live cartridges, a total of 114 .38 bore live cartridges , 76 AK-47 live cartridges, another 114 (7.62 SLR) live cartridges, two 7.72 sniper live cartridges, five Carbine Cal 30 live cartridges and a total of 831 (12 bore) live cartridges.
Police sources said the ammunition was kept in a store-room and when Gira was questioned in this connection by the CBI officials, she replied she was not aware about the exact number of cartridges and revolvers. An FIR under the Arms Act was registered against her. During the course of investigation, Gira’s service record would also be examined, the police said. Gira would also be arrested and brought on production warrants in this case, sources said.
Besides, a total 51 bottles of liquor, comprising ‘English Wine Bottles’ were also recovered from her house. The ammunition and wine bottles have been seized by Chandigarh police and kept in the storeroom of police station, Sector 11, as case property.
Both the cases were registered on the statements of K S Rana, Inspector of CBI, Chandigarh who was part of the raiding party.
Chandigarh, July 25
The CBI today arrested Manmohan Singh, reader of DSP Raka Gira, as co-accused in the corruption case against the officer. The CBI said the reader had connived with the DSP while demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh from the complainant.

Not ruling out the involvement of more Mohali police officials in the case, the CBI said the investigating agency was trying to ascertain if more were involved in the nexus. Gira has been remanded to two-day police custody.
While seeking seven-day custody of the accused in the CBI court, Special Public Prosecutor Pawan Kumar Dogra claimed the agency had a recorded conversation in which the DSP could be heard as saying to a complainant that she has spoken to "others" about the deal.
"The recorded conversation hints that there were others too who were supposed to receive share from the bribe amount of Rs 1 lakh," he said.
The CBI said it was unethical on part of a senior rank officer to be found in possession of Rs 87 lakh at her residence (Sector 15, Chandigarh) and they needed to find out from where she amassed it. The agency also said that they will also question the investigating officers in the cases registered against the complainant as to whether they were hand in glove with the DSP. The agency raised this point while opposing the plea of the defence that the DSP was not investigating any case against the complainant and thus has been made part of a conspiracy. "We need to interrogate the accused to unearth these facts," added Dogra.
While opposing the plea for a police remand, the defence counsel contended that the complainant, Kishan Malhotra, himself had six FIRs registered against in various cases and, thus, could not be relied upon.