NINE OTHERS CHARGED:
Gandhi arrested for
'political corruption'
NEW DELHI, India (AP) - Seven
months after her iron grip on India
was broken in a stunning election
defeat, Indira Gandhi was arrested
yesterday and charged with abusing
her position as prime minister. She
promptly charged the arrest was
political.
Authorities said nine other per-
sons, including four former cabinet
ministers and Gandhi's-personal sec-
retary, were also arrested.
Gandhi was charged in two cases
under India's Prevention of Corrup-
tion Act, officials reported.
THEY SAID she was accused in
one case of "illegally conniving"
with others and pressuring two
companies to obtain 104 jeeps for
election work in several election
districts including her own. The
second charge alleged Gandhi mis-
used her position by awarding a $13.4
million government oil drilling con-
tract to a French firm, despite a
lower bid by a competitor.
The names of the companies were
not immediately released, and de-
tails of the other charges were not
made public.
HER 11-YEAR administration was
capped by 21-months of emergency
rule in which an estimated 100,000
political opponents were jailed.
Among them were many leaders of
the Janata party government that
succeeded Gandhi's regime after
parliamentary elections last March.
Gandhi's former petroleum minis-
ter, K. D. Malaviya, and Ma'aviya's
secretary were arrested and charged
in connection with the oil drilling
case, officials said.
Former Chemicals Minister P. O.
Sethi and his secretary were arrested
in the jeep case, along with Gandhi's
secretary.
TWO OTHER former Gandhi gov-
ernment ministers, H. R. Gokhale
and D. P. Chattopadhyaya, were
accused of conspiracy and abuse of
power along with Malaviya and Sethi
in a case in which businesses
allegedly were pressured to pay high
prices for low-value "souvenirs"
turned out by Gandhi's Congress
party.
Two businessmen were also named
in this case, R. P. Goenka, of Duncan
Brothers Private, Ltd., and M. V.
Arunchalam, a former president of
the Indian Chamber of Commerce
and Industry.
S. M. Agarwal, a former secretary
in the Ministry of Communications,
was charged in another case alleging
manipulation in the awarding of a
telephone equipment contract to an
unnamed Japanese firm.
THE ARREST came as Gandhi
appeared to be setting the stage for a
comeback with a series of political
appearances in rural areas and
several statements critical of Prime
Minister Morarji Desai's govern-
ment. Desai was among those de-
tained by Gandhi under emergency
rules that suspended civil liberties
and censored the Indian press for the
first time since the nation gained
independence in 1947.
Gandhi was snared in a web of
political corruption charges being
woven by government investigators
probing the inner circle of her
government. Her son, Sanjay, 30, has
been implicated in a half dozen legal
cases and two of her former cabinet
ministers have been arrested on
charges of official corruption.
SCORES OF agents from India's
Central Burea of Investigation - CBI
- accompanied by policewomen,
arrested Gandhi, 59, at her New
Delhi home while more than 1,000 of
her followers crowded around the
house chanting support for her.
Gandhi was held in her home for
more than an hour after the plain-
clothesmen arrived.
While investigators were inside the
home, Gandhi issued a statement
charging that the "arrest is a
political one. It is to prevent me from
going before the people. It is an
attempt to discredit me in their eyes
and the eyes of the world."
r Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi gestures to supporters who watched as she was arrested at her home yester-
'he 59-year-old Gandhi and nine of her former associates were charged with having abused their power during
s 11-year administration.
Japanese hijackers free hostages
the flight, Thomas Phelan, a 29-year-
old State Department employe from
San Francisco, was "well, but tired,
with digestive problems resulting
from irregular meals."
Algerian authorities refused to say
what would become of the ultra-
leftist Japanese Red Army terror-
ists who took over the Japan Air
Lines DC8 on Wednesday over India,
or their six "comrades." The com-
rades, including two women, were
freed from Japanese jails to meet the
hijackers' demands.
AUTHORITIES also were silent
about a $6 million ransom handed
over to the hijackers along with the
freed prisoners by Japanese officials
in Dacca, Bangladesh, Sunday..
It was believed the terrorists,
armed with automatic weapons,
grenades and plastic explosives,
ordered the jetliner to. Algeria in
hopes of obtaining refuge from this
country's leftist government. In past
hijackings the Algerian government
has confiscated and returned ransom
payments and granted asylum to the
hijackers.
THE TERRORISTS and their freed
companions left the airliner at the
end of a runway at Algiers' Maisons
Blanche airport about two hours
after the plane landed, the official
Algerian news agency reported.
"They came out with, their hands
up," said an airline spokeswoman.
They were immediately driven away
in official vehicles, witnesses said.
Phelan was quoted by the Algerian
news agency as saying relations
between the hostages and the terror-
ists were "correct."
Other freed passengers included 10
Japanese and an Indonesian.
Flight engineer Matsui Katsova
said he was satisfied with the way the
hijacking had ended - w'th no
deaths. "For us Japanese, human
life is the most sacred thing on this
earth," he was quoted as saying.
Justice Dept. may indict
ex-CIA director Helms
WASHINGTON (UPI) - Calling it
the "most active thing in my office,"
Attorney General Griffin Bell said
yesterday he will decide soon wheth-
er to seek a federal indictment
against former CIA director Richard
Helms on charges of lying to Con-
gress.
Bell conceded he has had plenty of
advice from senators and other
government officials on Helms and
the CIA involvement in Chile - most
of it to simply drop the controversy
because a Helms public trial might
damage national security.
"I'LL MAKE a decision at an early
date on the Helms matter," he said.
"It's about the most active thing in
my office, I suppose, because I've got
to make a decision. I'm considering
foreign intelligence that would be
involved on the one hand - and on
the other hand the gravity of the
allegations. We've got to come down
somewhere between the two ex-
tremes."
HELMS, WHO served as director
of the CIA from 1966 to 1973, has been
accused of lying to a congressional
committee in denying close CIA.
infiltration and involvement in Chile
before and during the administration
of leftist President Salvador Allende.
The attorney general was inter-
viewed on the CBS Morning News
about reports he is under extreme
pressure not to indict Helms, who
recently retired as ambassador to
Iran.
"Well, I'm under a good deal of - I
don't consider it to be pressure, inci-
dentally - but I know how people feel
and it ranges from senators to
former high government officials to
people in the government now," said
Bell.
Average family gains
3 per cent increase in
income over inflation
WASHINGTON (AP) - The aver-
age American family gained three
per cent on inflation last year but was
still not doing as well as in 1973, the
aouCensus Bureau said yesterday.
S LD SIn 1976, the median income of all
U.S. families was $14,960, an increase
of nine per cent over 1975.
HOWEVER, prices during the year
rose six per cent. After inflation is
DefiG1OU/ considered, the average family's
SAN WICHES income rose by about $450, or three
per cent, the bureau said.
611 Church (off S University) 995-5955 The $14,960 income was still $480
below the record $15,437 in real
income set in 1973.
The Census Bureau describes a
family as any unit of two or more
related individuals. Among unrelat-
ed individuals, the average real
income rose from $5,164 to $5,375.
BROKEN DOWN by size, the
average family of two earned
$12,091; a family of three $15,085, and
a family of four $17,315.
The report, based on a nationwide
survey of 65,000 households during
last March, also included the follow-
ing findings:
" The 1976 population living in
poverty declined from 25.9 million in
1975 to 25 million, a drop of 3.5 per
cent. The poverty level for a non-
farm family of four in 1976 was
$5,815.
" In the previous two years, the
number of poor increased by 1.3
million in 1974 and 2.5 million in 1975.
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