CVC submits opinion on Taj Corridor case to SC; Will Lalu extend support to a Muslim CM in Bihar?; Indian costumes for Hollywood movie; TDP never a part of NDA, says Venkaiah; Samajwadi Party walkout over meningitis; India to resume partial defence supplies to Nepal; Lalu has the right to choose his own bench: SC; Maharashtra withdraws free power to farmers; Five ULFA rebels killed in Assam; Scarlett Johansson opts out of 'Mission Impossible-III'; 'Jen' not 'Jolie' is Brad's woman; Removing pets from home may give relief from asthma; Paris Hilton has no friends; Cruise's girlfriend has a racy past; Cate Blanchett prefers to age gracefully; Teacher helped Harry pass exams; Daniel Craig flattered by idea of him playing 007 agent; Halle Berry wants a baby; Renee Zellweger marries secretly;India Travel Times, Indian News, Tourism, Hotels, Airlines, Tour, Travel, Ayurveda, Yoga, Festival, Hindu, Taj Mahal, Kathakali, Dance,

Home Contact Us Dateline New Delhi, Tuesday, May 10, 2005

CVC submits opinion on Taj Corridor case to SC

New Delhi: The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has submitted its opinion to the Supreme Court on whether or not former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati be prosecuted in the multi-crore Taj Heritage Corridor scam case on the basis of the evidence gathered by CBI. Interestingly, a day after the submission of the opinion of the CVC to the Supreme Court, the CBI, whose Director had opined closure of the case, questioned Mayawati in the disproportionate assets case. The Court had on March 14 sent the entire CBI case material, comprising 18 volumes, against Mayawati to CVC for its opinion whether she should be prosecuted or not. This order was passed by a Bench comprising Justice Ruma Pal, Justice S B Sinha and Justice S H Kapadia, which had summoned all the evidence collected in the case by CBI in the wake of Attorney Genreral Milon Banerjee's opinion for closure of the case against the BSP supremo. Earlier in the day, the CBI, two years after registering a disproportionate assets case, questioned the BSP supremo at her residence in New Delhi about the properties allegedly acquired by her.

The CBI had carried out raids in 2003 in Lucknow, Khurja, Bulandshahar (all in UP) and Delhi after the CBI filed an FIR under section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1998. The searches revealed documents relating to the purchase of properties in Delhi and parts of UP between 1st April 1995, and 29th August 2003. In the FIR, the CBI said that Mayawati had disclosed her income as only Rs 1.12 crore during the period whereas her bank balance in two accounts at Parliament Street and Moti Bagh (in Delhi) alone amounted to Rs 2.51 crore. The FIR also said that she had purchased a plot in Lucknow in March, 2003 in the name of her party for Rs 45.75 lakh. This property was transferred to her name on August 8, 2003. By then, the Taj controversy had picked up momentum and the Supreme Court had directed the CBI to go after the "high and mighty" responsible for spoiling the environment around the 17th century monument. Another dealing was for about 5.15 hectares of land purchased in Gyaspur, Bulandshahar, for Rs 33 lakh in the name of her brother Annad Kumar, whom the agency claimed did not have any financial back up. The FIR also claimed that Mayawati had fixed deposits and cash certificates worth Rs 1.80 crore. The scrutiny of the bank accounts of her relatives, including her father, mother, brothers and sister-in-law, had revealed a balance of Rs 2.39 crore besides a fixed deposit worth Rs 74 lakh in the name of her brother Raj Kumar and his wife, the FIR said, adding they "do not have any means to have such huge deposits.

Will Lalu extend support to a Muslim CM in Bihar? (Go To Top)
by Pankaj Yadav

New Delhi: Speculations are rife that LJP supremo and union minister Ramvilas Paswan will next week formally float a new formula to UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi in regard to government formation in Bihar. He is likely to propose that a Muslim from the Congress should be made the next CM under the aegis of the UPA. Besides Union minister of state for Communications and IT Shakeel Ahmad, there are three Muslim MLAs who could emerge as the dark horse to grab the CM post. Rumours are also in the air that Paswan would persuade the Congress to deliver the role of senior UPA partner and lead the process of government formation. Technically speaking, with just nine members in the Assembly (since one couldnt get the party symbol) the Congress has till now shied away from giving the leadership to the UPA in Bihar. If Paswans idea is mooted, the Congress would be put in the center stage and it would bid to convince Lalu Prasad Yadav, who has 75 MLAs, to be a part of the government. But, the big question that arises is ' Will Lalu support the idea and let the Muslims being given a legitimate leadership and allow so easily the minorities' vote bank slide away from him. Keeping in mind his political shrewdness, he would make every possible effort to scuttle Paswan's move. On the other hand, Paswan's game plan is also to make a dent in Lalu's vote bank of minorities as he takes him as his enemy number one in Bihar politics. He is well conversant with the fact that till Lalu's rules the roost, there would be very little room for him. Despite all odds in the last polls and adverse campaigns, Lalu emerged as the single largest party in Bihar. According to a senior Congress leader from Bihar, the so-called secularists (read Lalu and party) wont be able to digest the fact of a Muslim being handed over the reins of the Bihar government. He said in the last Assembly elections too, the Muslims voted in large numbers for the RJD.

Indian costumes for Hollywood movie (Go To Top)

Dehradun: India is definitely making a mark in the Hollywood arena, with big names from the Hollywood film circle flocking to Indian markets for their film's props and costumes. A steel factory in Dehradun, Windlass Steelcrafts (WSC) manufactured the merchandise of swords, helmets and armours used in latest blockbuster of Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven, which released worldwide on Friday and seized the top box office spot, with a gross intake of 19.6 million dollars in its debut weekend. "About 400 people have basically worked onto this target. The type of quality targets and the quantity offered to us were fabulous. And we are really proud that we have been able to execute the requirements well on time. And real compliment is that people have really appreciated those things that have reached to them and the whole factory is basically feeling very thrilled", says I.M.Chhada, G.M., Windlass Steelcrafts Having worked for films like Gladiator, Lord of the Rings, The Mummy Returns ,Windlass Steelcraft has made a name for itself in Hollywood. The workers are very proud to be associated with this factory. "We have helmets, swords, kukaries here. Earlier we used to supply them to the Britain and U.S. army. The items showcased in the Hollywood movie are ours. And we have prepared them very well so that their demand increases", says Narender Kashyap, a worker Windlass Steelcraft also has a branch in Noida, which manufactured costumes for Kingdom of Heaven. Presently it is working on the costumes for Star Wars. The officials of Windlass and its staff are hopeful that their factory would be seen as an exclusive one in the world in the future. "Because Windlass is such a name in the world over that people buy product seeing the Windlass logo. And as we know that Wilkinson is the company world leader but today we have encroached the Britain market also where we are giving a very good challenge to Wilkinson products", says Chadda. For the people of Windlass Steelcrafts, Kingdom of Heaven has finally arrived and although they don't understand English they are waiting eagerly to catch a glimpse of the film.

TDP never a part of NDA, says Venkaiah (Go To Top)

New Delhi/Hyderabad: Senior BJP leader and former party president Venkaiah Naidu has said that TDP was never a part of the NDA and it was a mutual friendship in time of need. "TDP was never a constituent part of the NDA. It always supported us from outside. But nevertheless it supported us for six years. Their support was beneficial to them and to the country and to us. We were able to give a stable government and the NDA government did a lot of work for the state. The view point of both the parties can differ on certain issues and it does differ in a few issues, as we are different political parties," Venkaiah Naidu told reporters in New Delhi. Naidu was reacting to a statement by TDP leader and former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu in which he had blamed the BJP-led NDA for TDP's poor performance in the state assembly elections in 2004. The Congress party routed the TDP in 2004 May elections after the benefits of its push to turn the state into a high-tech centre for information technology failed to trickle down to the millions of rural poor. Despite TDP's criticism of the BJP, Chandrababu Naidu scotched rumours that he was cosying up to the United Progressive Alliance.

Samajwadi Party walkout over meningitis (Go To Top)

New Delhi: Parliamentarians affiliated to the Samajwadi Party walked out of the Lok Sabha on Tuesday as Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Anbumani Ramadoss asserted in the House that the spread of the bacterial meningitis in the Indian capital has been brought control, and that the official machinery is medically equipped to deal with it. ''It is not a viral infection. Nor is it an epidemic,'' Dr Ramadoss said, while pointing out that the bacteria causing the disease was prevalent in 20 per cent of the general population throughout the year. Dr Ramadoss said the disease was totally curable and all the hospitals were having adequate stock of antibiotics and also preventive vaccines. He said that there was not even a single case of death during the past 24 hours and there was only one death in the last four days, and 16 overall. The Minister said a total of 214 cases of meningitis were reported in Delhi since the outbreak of the disease two weeks ago. Since a few cases had been reported from the neighbouring states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, his ministry had been in constant coordination with the officials of those states. In 1985, Dr Ramadoss pointed out that 800 people had died of the disease in Delhi. The minister refuted the allegations of Ramjilal Suman (SP), who raised the issue during Zero Hour, that the medicines were not available in medical shops and that a course cost Rs 800 making it unaffordable for the poor people.

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