Chopper row resolved: Indian Army helicopter and crew back in Kargil

New Delhi:  Just hours after four Indian Army personnel, onboard an Army helicopter, were detained in Pakistan after the chopper entered their airspace, reportedly due to bad weather, the issue has been resolved. Army sources say the chopper with the crew has returned to Kargil. (Read: India tells Pakistan: We appreciate speedy return of officers, helicopter)

The row was reportedly settled after the Director General of Military Operations on both sides spoke to each other.

Army sources say the pilots will be questioned and the Global Positioning System (GPS) devices of the chopper will be analysed for the exact location and time of the incident.

The Cheetah helicopter of the Army Aviation, which was flying from Leh to Bhimbat, was first reported to have gone missing and was then escorted down by Pakistani forces. Three Indian officers, including the pilot and co-pilot, and a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) onboard were taken into custody.

The airspace violation happened at 1 pm PST in Olding in the Kargil sector in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Sources say that the chopper strayed 20 kilometres inside the Pakistani territory, as claimed by the authorities there.

"The chopper strayed deep inside our territory. The crew is safe and investigations are on", General Athar Abbas, Spokesman of the Pakistan Military had said.

The Army, meanwhile, has said that the chopper's landing in Pakistan was not a deliberate intrusion.

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/chopper-row-resolved-indian-army-helicopter-back-in-kargil-143595?pfrom=home-lateststories&cp

Corrupt forces, politics behind shoe attack

Speaking after he was attacked on Tuesday, Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal said that he appealed to the public to not fall into a political plot. He also said that the people should join the anti-corruption movement as it was a Gold' class='bD_15arlink' title='gold price'>golden opportunity to rid the country of the menace.

"I just want to appeal to the public to not fall into any political plot and to join hands with us in this moment. This is a golden opportunity to get rid of corruption from our country," Kejriwal said.

The attacker, who tried to throw a shoe at Kejriwal, has been identified as Jitendra Pathak, from Jalon, Uttar Pradesh. He accused Kejriwal of misleading people on the issue of corruption. On this allegation, Kejriwal said that some of the youth were being misguided, adding that he was ready to answer any questions the people might have.

"All I have to say is that some of the youth are misguided. We can sort the situations by talking to them. If they have questions, we are willing to answer them. In the Hisar campaign we answered many questions related to the issue. Violence is not an answer to any issue," he said.

He also blamed political motives and influence for the attack on Prashant Bhushan and himself, saying that the corrupt are against them.

He said, "Corrupt forces are against us. Attack on Prashant Bhushan was not because of his comments on Kashmir. This is a plot. There is some political influence involved. People are criticising our strategy in Hisar. if the strategy was wrong then the people of Hisar would not have implemented it."

Kejriwal refused to say whether Team Anna was breaking up after news of two members leaving the group came to the fore. He said that the core committee will take a decision on the matter.

He was attacked and heckled on Tuesday as he was preparing for a meeting in Lucknow. The attempted attack came a day after the drubbing Congress party got in Hisar by-poll and a few days after the attack on Prashant Bhushan and Anna's supporters.

Rupee to retreat from 1-wk low; shares watched

The rupee should pull back on Wednesday from the one-week low reached in the previous session, supported by expectations for foreign fund inflows and the dollar's losses overseas.

* Asian shares were higher, but gains were capped by a cut to Spain's sovereign credit rating from Moody's Investors Service that kept investors' risk appetite in check.

* At 0230 GMT, the MSCI index of Asian stocks ex-Japan was up 0.7% while the Nifty India stock futures traded in Singapore were 0.3% higher, suggesting a higher start to the local market.

* The rupee is affected by foreign fund flows into and out of the domestic sharemarket which will be watched for cues during the day.

* Traders forecast the rupee to open around 49.15 per dollar and move in a 49.10 to 49.40 range. It had ended 0.7% weaker on Tuesday at 49.29/30, after dropping to 49.36, its weakest since Oct. 12.

* The euro inched lower on Wednesday after Moody's cut Spain's government debt rating by two notches, giving up some gains made on a report that France and Germany have reached a deal to bolster the euro zone's bailout fund.

* The euro was trading at USD 1.3763, compared with USD 1.3699 when the rupee closed on Tuesday. The index of the dollar against six major currencies was at 77.023 points, sharply below 77.314 on Tuesday.

Sensex opens with 150 pts gap up

The BSE Sensex bounced back with 150 points gap up following positive global cues, reacting to good US economic data. Rescue fund announcement from France and Germany too improved the market sentiment. The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 150.03 points to 16898.32 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 45 points to 5083.10.

Hero Motocorp jumped 5% on strong numbers; company reported a rise of 19.4% in Q2 net profit of Rs 604 crore. Its net sales jumped 28% to Rs 5,784 crore (YoY).

JSPL gained 2% post second quarter results. HCL Tech and TCS, which lost 8% yesterday post results, gained 1-2% in early trade.

Buying was also seen in SBI, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, DLF, Sterlite, Sesa Goa, Coal India, Hindalco, BHEL, L&T, Jaiprakash Associates and Tata Motors.

However, HUL and ITC were marginally lower.

The CNX Midcap moved up 52 points to 7,099. About four shares gained for every share falling on National Stock Exchange.

New listing:

Flexituff International was trading at Rs 155.70 as against issue price of Rs 155 a share. 

Taksheel Solutions rose 3% to Rs 154 as against issue price of Rs 150 a share.

Ahead of numbers: Zee News gained 4% and Crompton Greaves rose 2%.

Results reaction: Petronet LNG was up 1.5% and Patni rallied 2%.

Kingfisher Airlines surged 4% and Jubilant Foodworks rose 2%.

Chambal Fertiliers fell 2.5% as company called off demerger of shipping biz.

Global cues

Asian markets were trading higher. Hang Seng rose 1.5%. Nikkei, Shanghai and Straits Times moved up 0.3-0.55%. Kospi and Taiwan were flat.

SEBI order against Sahara to refund money

The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has upheld the SEBI order against Sahara to refund money to investors in the companies optionally fully convertible debentures (OFCD) scheme.

The SAT has ordered Sahara to repay within six-weeks, reports CNBC-TV18.

The issue relates to SEBI's finding in November, 2010 indicting two Sahara Group firms — Sahara India Real Estate Corporation now known as Sahara Commodity Services Corporation Ltd and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation — for raising funds from the public through OFCD scheme without conforming to prudent disclosure and other investor protection norms, which govern such public issues.

The Sahara entities had raised nearly Rs 24,029 crore via the OFCD scheme.

The SAT had also earlier observed that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has wider powers under the SEBI Act to issue directions to even unlisted firms to protect interest of investors in the securities market.

The observation came in response to a Sahara Group argument that the jurisdiction to regulate an unlisted public company lies with the Central government and not with SEBI.