Kamlesh Tiwari killing: 2 suspects held from Gujarat-Rajasthan border
Ahmedabad, Oct 22: Two men allegedly involved in the sensational killing of Hindu outfit leader Kamlesh Tiwari were arrested by the Gujarat ATS on Tuesday evening, said officials.
The accused, Surat residents Ashfaq Shaikh (34) and Moinuddin Pathan (27), were absconding since Tiwari's brutal killing in Lucknow on October 18, they said here.
They were arrested from near Shamlaji on the Gujarat- Rajasthan border when they were about to enter Gujarat on Tuesday evening, said Himanshu Shukla, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).
Primary interrogation of the accused revealed that they had committed the crime "in retribution to the purported statements by Tiwari,'' an ATS release said.
Their location was traced through technical surveillance as they contacted their family members and friends after running out of cash, Shukla said.
He said the duo will be handed over to the Uttar Pradesh police, probing the sensational killing of Tiwari, who headed a little known outfit, Hindu Samaj Party (HSP).
While Shaikh, a resident of the Limbayat area in Surat, used to work as a medical representative, Pathan, a resident of Umarwada, was employed as a food delivery boy, the release said.
"After committing the crime, the duo went to Nepal and then started their journey back to Gujarat after reaching Shahjahanpur (in Uttar Pradesh).
"Since they ran out of cash, the accused duo contacted their family members and acquaintances for more money. Based on technical and physical surveillance, they were eventually traced today evening," said the release.
Six persons, including three from Surat and one from Nagpur in Maharashtra, have already been taken into custody in connection with the murder case.
On Friday, in a joint operation, the UP police and Gujarat ATS had arrested three suspects in the case from Surat - Maulana Mohsin Shaikh, Faizan and Rashid Pathan.
Meanwhile, a team of the Uttar Pradesh police landed in Surat on Tuesday to conduct further probe into the killing of Tiwari.
The Surat link came to light after the UP police found a box of sweets, bearing the logo of Dharti Sweets located in the Udhna area of the diamond city, from Tiwari's house, where he was gunned down by assailants.
Sources in the Surat police revealed a team of the UP police landed in the south Gujarat city and visited the sweet shop to get some more clues from CCTV footage.
The UP team also visited Limbayat and Navsari Bazar areas to question people who know the accused arrested from Surat, the sources said.
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Unreserved vacancies for candidates with disabilities open for all categories: SC
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday said "unreserved" vacancies for Persons with Disabilities (PWD) are an open pool where merit remains the decisive factor and that eligible candidates belonging to any social or special category can be employed.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and N Kotiswar Singh set aside a judgement of the Calcutta High Court, saying the "unreserved" category is not a separate "social category" but an open field for all.
It held that a more meritorious PWD candidate belonging to a reserved category like OBC, SC, or ST cannot be barred from an unreserved PWD post simply because a candidate from the "General" category is also available.
"In reservation law, it is well settled that the Unreserved/Open category does not refer to any social/communal category like SCs, STs or OBC. In other words, any post falling under the Unreserved or Open category does not pertain to any particular social category, it provides an open field or pool meant for the world at large, in the sense that it is open to all candidates, irrespective of whether one belongs to any social or special category or not," Justice Singh, who authored the verdict, said.
The court said if an unreserved or open post is meant for the special category of Persons with Disabilities, it means that the said post will be open to all candidates of all vertical social categories, whether Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) or Other Backward Classes (OBC), provided such candidates are also PWD.
"Thus, all candidates, whether SC, ST or OBC, but who are Persons with Disabilities, are equally entitled to compete for the post meant for Persons with Disabilities falling under the Unreserved category, the rationale being that all those who are similarly situated must be treated equally," it said.
The case arose from a recruitment drive of the West Bengal State Electricity Transmission Company Limited (WBSETCL) for the post of Junior Engineer (Civil) Grade-II.
The notification included one post specifically earmarked for Unreserved (Persons with Disabilities -- Low Vision).
The controversy involved two candidates, an unreserved category candidate with low vision who scored 55.667 marks and an OBC candidate, also with low vision, who scored 66.667 marks.
The WBSETCL appointed the OBC candidate to the post based on his higher merit.
This was challenged by the general category candidate who said since he was a "qualified unreserved candidate", the vacancy should have gone to him and that reserved category candidates should only be considered if no unreserved PWD candidate is available.
While a single-judge bench of the high court dismissed the plea, a division bench reversed that decision, directing the employer to appoint the less-meritorious unreserved candidate.
The WBSETCL had then appealed to the Supreme Court.
