Newspaper

Teacher held on charges of sexual abuse in Bangalore

noreply@blogger.com (News) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:20:00 +0000

Police said that a 30-year-old teacher of a private school was arrested on charges of sexual abuse, levelled against him by a 11-year-old girl student today in Bangalore.

Acting on a complaint filed by the parents of a fifth standard student, the police affirmed that Krishnamurthy was arrested. The police said that the girl alleged that Krishnamurthy was sexually abusing her for the past one month and detaining her after class on some pretext.

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Maharashtra to Supreme Court: Kasab given fair trial, deserves death

noreply@blogger.com (News) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:08:00 +0000

The Maharshtra Government on Tuesday disproved the allegation of the sole convict in 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case, Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab, that he was not given a fair trial and said the death sentence awarded to him was a permissible means of punishment.

Former Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam, appearing for the State Government, contended that Kasab was never tortured or maltreated and there has been no violation of constitutional rights.

He submitted before a bench comprising of Justice Aftam Alam and C.K. Prasad that, at no point of time he was tortured or maltreated by the authorities and there has been no violation of constitutional rights given to him.

Subramaniam also submitted that death sentence which has been awarded to Kasab, is a permissible means of punishment.

Referring to the sequence of events of 26/11 attack which was planned by the LeT in Pakistan, he submitted that had Kasab not been caught alive, then it would have been possible to know that outsiders were involved in the mayhem.

Kasab had on Tuesday pleaded with the Supreme Court to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment.

Senior dvocate, Raju Ramachandran, who has been appointed amicus curiae by the Supreme Court to defend Kasab, had told the bench that he was not a part of the conspiracy for waging war against the nation.

Stressing on Kasab's age as an important factor to commute his death sentence, he had pleaded for a lenient approach as he was drawn into it as a result of exploitation of religious faith and false ideology.

Maintaining that the prosecution has failed to prove the case against Kasab beyond reasonable doubts, he had said that his right against self-incrimination as well as his right to get himself adequately represented by a counsel to defend himself in the case had been violated during the trial.

The Supreme Court had on October 10 last year stayed the death sentence of Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.

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Supreme Court refuses to grant protection to Essar and Loop : 2G

noreply@blogger.com (News) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:32:00 +0000

The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to grant interim stay on the summonses issued against Essar Group and Loop Telecom and their officials by a Special CBI court to appear before it on February 22 for their alleged involvement in a 2G scam.

A bench of justices comprising of Justice G.S. Singhvi and S.J. Mukhopadhaya, however agreed to hear their petitionchallenging the jurisdiction of the special court to hear the case on the ground that corruption charges has not been levelled against them like other accused in the multi-crore rupee scam.

The bench said that they would quash the proceedings if they attain into a conclusion that the the court have no jurisdiction to hear the case.

The bench also issued a notice to CBI and other parties and asked them to file their responses within two weeks on the companie's plea.

The two telecom firms, in their petitions, said that thay have been chargesheeted under Section 420 (Cheating), Section 120 B (Criminal Conspiracy) of the IPC and the charges were triable by a Magistrate and not by a Special Court constituted by the Prevention of Corruption Act for hearing the 2G case.

Other accused named in the chargesheet are namely Essar Group promoters Anshuman and Ravi Ruia along with Loop Telecom promoters Kiran Khaitan, her usband I.P. Khaitan and Essar Group Director Vikas Saraf.

They have been asked to appear before the CBI Special Judge O.P. Saini on February 22.

The companies and their promoters have denied any kind of involvement in the 2G scam.

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Kasab pleads Supreme Court to commute death sentence to life term

noreply@blogger.com (News) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:09:00 +0000

Ajmal Amir Kasab, the only terrorist caught and sentenced in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack has asked the Supreme Court to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment.

Raju Ramachandran, Kasab's lawyer who was appointed by the court, said the cost of keeping Kasab alive should not be taken into consideration whilde deciding whether to hang him or not.

Kasab's lawyer on February 9 told the Supreme Court that such acts committed by Kasab on 26/11 do not amount to waging war against the government as they do have an extra element of challenging the sovereign authority.

Kasab was sentenced to death by a special anti-terror court and is lodged in a special cell in the high security Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai.

Ramachandran requested the court to commute Kasab's sentence taking into consideration his age and added that he was exploited by false ideology and distortion and led astray.

Kasab was sentenced to death on May 2010 by a Trial Court. The order was upheld by a Bombay High Court in February last year.

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2G Case: Delhi High Court dismisses honcho's plea

noreply@blogger.com (News) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:54:00 +0000

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed the plea of corporate honchos Asif Balwa and Rajiv B Aggarwal, accused in the 2G scam case, that the officer investigating the case be barred from attending their trial.

Justice M.L. Mehta while dismissing the petition said that he will fail to appreciate as to how any witness would be in a fear or under pressure of investigating officer in the court room.

The court observed that the mere presence of the investigating officer in the court room at the time of recording of statement of witnesses would not be a ground to say that the trial will be unfair.

The duo had moved the Delhi High Court demanding that the CBI investigating officer would be barred from attending the trial as the officer, himself as a witness in the case, could not remain present in the court when the statements of other witnesses were being recorded.

Advocate Vijay Aggarwal, appearing for the petitioners had argued that during the trial, the investigating officer, himself as a witness in the case, cannot remain present in the court when the statements of other witnesses being recorded.

Earlier, the CBI Special Court had also rejected this argument.

The CBI has charged the two business tycoons of routing Rs. 200 crore as bribe to Kalaignar TV, in which DMK MP Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar, both co-accused in the 2G scam, and DMK Chief M Karunanidhi's wife Dayalu Ammal 60% stake.

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Karnataka Minister V.S. Acharya dies

noreply@blogger.com (News) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:16:00 +0000

V.S. Acharya aged 71 years, Karnataka Minister for Higher Education died in Bangalore on Tuesday.

Dr. Acharya's death was announced by Chief Minister V. Sadananda Gowda to reporters in Vidhan Soudha, the State Secretariat. Mr. Gowda informed about this sad demise to the reporters minutes after the Minister's death around 1 p.m.

Dr. Acharya, who arrived from Udupi on Tuesday morning, reached Government Science College on Nrupathunga Road in Bangalore, where he was scheduled to participate in a seminar. As he was approaching the stage, Dr. Acharya collapsed, and was soon rushed to a hospital.

He had been keeping indifferent health for the last few months, prompting the media speculation that he would be stepping down.

Dr. Acharya is a doctor by profession and later on he became a member of the Karnataka Legislative Council in the year 1996. He is survived by his wife, four sons and a daughter.

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Valentine Special: Brain, not the heart, drives you to fall in love

noreply@blogger.com (News) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 15:40:00 +0000

Ahead of Valentine's Day, a new study has revealed that intense romantic feelings actually comes from brain and not from the heart.

Researchers at the State University of New York found that it is the brain and not the heart which plays a vital role in falling in love. In a small study, the researchers looked at magnetic quality images of the brains of 10 women and 7 men who claimed to be deeply in love.

The length of their relationships ranged from one month to less than two years. Participants were shown photographs of their beloved, and photos of similar looking person.

The brains of obsessed participants reacted to photos of their sweethearts, producing emotional responses in the same parts of their brain normally involved with motivation and reward.

Arthur Aron, a psychologist at the State University, was quoted as saying by LiveScience that intense passionate love uses the same system in the brain that gets activated when a person gets activated to drugs.

The researchers said that, in other words, we start to desire for the person we are in love with like a drug.

Experts said that romantic love is one of the most powerful emotions a person can have. Human brains agitated to chose a mate, and we humans become motivated to win over that mate, sometimes going to extremes to get their attention and care.

Lucy Brown, a neuroscientist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York said that you can feel happy when you're in love, but you can also feel anxious. The other person becomes a goal in life, essentially a prize.

Brown said that the reward part of the brain, also dubbed the pleasure center, is an essential part of the brain needed to survive. She added that, it helps us recognise when something feels good.

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Three Indians charged in Praveen Reddy stabbing case

noreply@blogger.com (News) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 15:08:00 +0000

Three indians have been charged with the attempt to murder of Praveen Reddy, an MBA student in Britain, who was critically stabbed on Friday night in Newham.

The Metropolitan Police on Sunday told the reporters that the three accused are namely Amareshwar Arava aged 25 years, Sai Kishore Balguri aged 25 years and Nishanth Puttapaka aged 23 years.

The police spokesperson said that they are not treating the incident as racially motivated at this point of time.

The police said that the three accused will appear at the Thames Magistrate's court on Monday.

Earlier 11 persons were arrested in this connection.

External affairs ministerS.M. Krishna had spoken to the acting High Commissioner in UK, Rajesh Prasad, asking him to extend all the possible helpto Reddy, who was stabbed several times.

Krishna also had a discussion with the Andhra based businessman Sudhakar Reddy, father of Praveen Reddy, asking him of all help in getting visa.

They also said that the High Commission officials in the UK were co-ordinating with the doctors treating Praveen Reddy and MEA officials in Delhi is to take up the matter with the British High Commission so as to ensure expeditious issuance of the visa to his parents.

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Man rapes mother of boy who eloped with his daughter

noreply@blogger.com (News) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:17:00 +0000

A man enraged after his daughter eloped with a boy, kidnapped and raped the boy's mother and aunt and subjected them to physical torture. The man, Suresh Bhil, has been arrested by Sarkhej Police who is now on a search for 10 other persons involved in kidnapping.

Renuka, Bhil's daughter, aged 20-years eloped with Leela's son Deepak, aged 22 years, from Asarwa in January. Deepak's family members also lodged a complaint in Shahibaug police station about his missing. Meanwhile, Leela and her sister Kokila got to know that the couple were hiding somewhere in Sarkhej.

On February 1, both the sisters went to Sarkhej to find Deepak and Renuka. However, Suresh, his wife Nanda and few others reached Sarkhej, and kidnapped the women. Police said that both the ladies were taken to houses in Sanand and Viramgam. Suresh allegedly raped both the women there. He insisted that both the women's were aware about his daughter's whereabouts but weren't ready to reveal.

On February 2, the women were forcibly taken in a vehicle to Deesa where Suresh subjected them to physical torture. The very next day, he released Leela and threatened her that unless she brought back his daughter, he won't let Kokila go.

Leela then came to Ahmedabad and approached Sarkhej police station. A team of policemen took her to Deesa where they got to know that Suresh has already taken Kokila to the Sabramati area, in Ahmedabad. Sabramati police launched a massive search operation in the area. But ironically, she was located from a house right opposite the Sabramati police station.

R.K. Patel, the Deputy Superintendent of police, Sarkhej division said that they have sent both the women for medical check-up at the Civil Hospital and teams have been dispatched to various areas to nab the remaining accused.

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Being in love is not an offence : Bombay High Court

noreply@blogger.com (News) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:54:00 +0000

The Bombay High Court while hearing a petition of a 23-year-old youth seeking to quash rape case registered against him for sexually assaulting the minor victim under the pretext of marriage held that "being in love is not an offence".

The victim girl's parents have informed the High Court that they would not like to track the matter as it has been decided that the girl would be married to the arrested accused after she attains 18-years of age after three years.

A division bench of Justices V.M. Kanade and R.G. Ketkar said that being in love is not an offence. They need to look at these matters in a different angle. They will ensure that the girl is happily married. If the guardians of the girl had consented themselves to the match then it needs to be handled carefully.

The petitioner in the case, Amol Dhawale, aged 23 years was arrested on September 19 last year by Islampur Police in Sangli district for allegedly sexually assaulting the minor at a hotel room in Khandala under the pretext of marriage.

The victim and the accused had been in a relationship for a long time.

According to the police, the victim had accompanied two of her cousins (both minors) and the accused to Khandala. On her return, the girl's mother learnt about the incident and lodged a complaint.

Following the family's decision so as to amicably settle the matter, Dhawale approached the High Court seeking to revoke the FIR lodged against him.

The matter has been kept for further hearing later this week.

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Facebook files compliance report before court

noreply@blogger.com (News) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:27:00 +0000

Facebook India today filed its compliance report before the Delhi court which had ordered it and 21 other websites to remove objectionable content from their websites.

Google India also claimed that it has removed certain web pages from the internet on which objections were raised by the petitioners.

Meanwhile, Facebook, Yahoo and Microsoft told the court that they have no role to play in the case and that there is no cause of action against them in the matter.

Additional Civil Judge Praveen Singh also posed a query to the counsel appearing for the petitioner Mufti Ajiaz Arshad Qasmi, as to whether the blog service-providing companies can be made a party to the case for the content posted by the users on the blogs.

The court, which will further hear the matter in the afternoon, asked Google Inc as to why it was not coming up properly with a reply and brushed aside its contention that it had received the copy of its judgement and other documents related to the case only on last Friday.

The court said that why the Google Inc is not coming forward with a proper reply.

The court also asked the petitioners to supply all the documents that was relied upon, to all the opposite parties.

The court had on December 20 last year, in a ex-parte order issued summons to 22 social networking websites asking them to remove anti-religious or anti-social content in the form of photographs, videos or text which might hurt the religious feelings.

In had on December 24 set February 6 as deadline for the websites for the same.

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Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh undergoes Chemotherapy in USA for Cancer

noreply@blogger.com (News) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:25:00 +0000

Yuvraj Singh, a prominent Indian cricketer, has been diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing Chemotherapy in the United States.

The 30-year-old left hander has been in US since last month for the treatment of tumour in the lungs as alleged by his family.

But now it has been diagnosed as malignant and Yuvraj is currently undergoing Chemotherapy in the Cancer Research Institute in Boston.

His Phsyiotherapist Dr. Jatin Chaudhary assured that the ailment is curable and the batsman would be fit to play cricket in May.

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Lokayukta court issues summons to Yeddyurappa, son's and son-in-laws

noreply@blogger.com (News) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:21:00 +0000

The Lokayukta Court today issued summons to former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and five others to appear before it on March 3 for their alleged involvement in an illegal land denotification case.

Lokayukta Judge N K Sudhindra Rao besides Yeddyurappa also issued summons to Yeddyurappa's sons B.Y. Raghavendra, B.Y. Vijayendra, his son-in-law Sohan Kumar, former minister Krishnaiah Setty and directors of Dhavalgiri properties Limited.

The above named persons are believed to be the main accused in the alleged illegal land denotification of government land in Rachenahalli and amalgamation of a public road on the outer ring road belonging to Vyyalikaval House Building Cooperative Society for pecuniary gain, causing loss to the state exchequer.

The Lokayukta Judge asked Yeddyurappa's sons and son-in-laws to not only to appear before in their personal capacity but also as Directors of Dhavalgiri Properties Limited.

The Lokayukta Police had submitted its inquiry report in October 2011 on a private complaint by Advocate Sirajin Basha.

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Minor girl raped by her father

noreply@blogger.com (News) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:08:00 +0000

As per the police reports on Saturday, an 11-year-old minor girl was raped by her father at their residence in Seoni.

The police said that the incident is alleged to have taken place on Thursday, when the accused identified as Laxmi Prasad, allegedly raped his own daughter, when his wife had gone to relative's place to attend a marriage function.

After the mother's return, the girl narrated about the incident to her mother as well as some of their close relatives, following which, a complaint was registered subsequently and Prasad was arrested under Section 376 of IPC. The police also added that he was sent to jail by a local court on Saturday.

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CBI says it found no evidence against Chidambaram

noreply@blogger.com (News) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:56:00 +0000

Even as a special court dismissed a plea to make the Home Minister P. Chidambaram a co-accused in the 2G case, the CBI on Saturday said that it has not found any evidence of criminal culpability against him during its probe.

Sources say that while being asked about the court's rejection of the petition by the Janata Party President Swamy that it had conducted a thorough investigation in the allocation of 2G spectrum license and no evidence of criminal culpability on the part of P. Chidambaram has emerged so far.

Swamy, in his petition had sought making Mr. Chidambaram a co-accused in the 2G case alleging that he was culpable as the then Telecom Minister A Raja in determining the price of the spectrum.

Special Judge O.P. Saini dismissed Swami's petition holding that Mr. Chidambaram had not acted with malafide intention and had not conspired with Mr. Raja to destabilize the telecom policies for pecuniary gains.

The court said that it will commence the hearing on the complaint filed by Dr. Swamy in which he had made further allegations against Mr. Raja without making Chidambaram an accused from March 17.

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Aarushi-Hemraj double murder case hearing to begin

noreply@blogger.com (News) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:41:00 +0000

The trial in double murder case Aarushi-Hemraj is set to begin in a CBI court in Ghaziabad on Saturday. The Supreme Court on January 9 had dismissed the plea by Aaruhsi's parents Rajesh Talwar and Nupur Talwar to quash criminal proceedings against them for the murder of their daughter Aarushi and servant Hemraj in the year 2008.

However, the Supreme Court had directed that Rajesh Tiwari to be on bail till February 4 when he will face a Ghaziabad court to to face the trial in the twin murder case.

The Apex Court bench of justices A.K. Ganguly and J.S. Khehar passed the directions on a plea by Talwar seeking the continuation of his bail granted in 2008.

The court said that its order allowing the Talwar to remain on bail would not come in the way of both the CBI and the Talwars taking the further steps in pursuance of the on-going trial.

Aarushi, aged 14 years, was found dead in her bed with her throat slit in her parent's residence situated at Noida on May 15, 2008. The family's domestic helper, Hemraj who was initially suspected to be the prime suspect, was also found dead on the residence's terrace a day later.

The Supreme Court on Friday asked the CBI to respond to the Talwar's plea to transfer their trial in their daughter Aarushi's murder case from Ghaziabad to a Delhi court.

A bench of Justices of B.S. Chauhan and Jagdish Singh Kehar issued notice to the CBI after the senior counsel Harish Salve told the court that most of the 60 witnesses in the case were residing in Delhi and Rajesh Talwar was facing threat to his life if he attended trial before the Special CBI court in Ghaziabad.

The Supreme Court on January 6, 2012 had cleared the decks for the trial of Talwar couple after it rejected their pleas against the main accused in the 2008 murder case of their 14-year-old daughter in their own flat in Noida.

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Baby Falak stable for now, but still critical : Doctors

noreply@blogger.com (News) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:18:00 +0000

The two-year-old baby named Falak who was admitted into the AIIMS trauma centre days before is in stable condition now and has been taken off the ventilator but the doctor's claim that she is still in critical condition.

A senior doctor from the team of doctors monitoring her condition was quoted as saying that the baby's condition is still critical, but her vital parameters have been stable without the ventilator. And that they are constantly monitoring her.

The baby who was left at the hospital by a teenager on January 18 with multiple injuries, including a fractured skull, human bite marks on her tiny face and a clot on the right side of her brain. The baby has been battling with severe chest, brain and blood infections.

The teenager, who initially claimed to be Falak's mother is now in a Juvenile home. She got hold of the baby from Rajkumar Gupta, who is alleged to be the key accused in the case who is on the run.

Though the serach for Gupta is going on who had handed over the baby to his teenage girlfriend, four people have been arrested in the case.

The treating doctor has said that it is too early for them to decide whether her life is out of danger or not as she has suffered brain damage.

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Supreme Court grants bail to Susanta Ghosh

noreply@blogger.com (News) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:42:00 +0000

The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to former Left Front Minister and CPI(M) MLA Susanta Ghosh in connection with a skeleton recovery case.

A bench of justices comprising of Justice Altamas Kabir and Gyan Sudha Misra while granting bail imposed the condition that Mr. Ghosh would not visit West Bengal's West Midnapore district other than his Assembly constituency Garbeta.

The court, which allowed the appeal against the denial of bail by the Calcutta High Court on September 29, last year, said Mr. Ghosh would also have to visit a police station nearest to his residence on the last Sunday of every month between 11 am and 2 pm.

Other conditions for bail would be imposed by the trial court.

Mr. Ghosh's bail plea was argued by Advocate Ajay Sharma, who had filed the appeal against the High Court order.

Mr. Ghosh had been custody since last August after his arrest by the state CID for his alleged complicity in the murder of Ajay Acharya, whose son filed an FIR following the discovery of a skeleton from a pit.

Seven skeletons were found from a pit dug near Ghosh's ancestral house at Benachapra in West Midinipur district. DNA results proved that the skeletons that were found out were of Ajay Acharya. In the FIR, Shyamal Acharya named Mr. Ghosh as one of the key accused.

He alleged that his father was killed along with the other six, all Trinamool Congress supporters in September, 2002 and their bodies were buried.

Mr.Ghosh has maintained that it is a politically motivated case and was filed after a change in the government in the state.

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Best Bakery convict gets bail on medical grounds

noreply@blogger.com (News) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:42:00 +0000

The Bombay High Court on Thursday granted bail to a convict in the 2002 Best Bakery case of Gujarat on medical grounds.

The division bench comprising of Justices V.M. Kanade and P.D. Kode directed the petitioner who is an HIV patient, whose identity is not revealed to submit a personal bond of Rs. 5,000.

He is the first person to be released on bail after an appeal was filed in the High Court against the conviction.

Fourteen persons were killed inside the Best Bakery in Vadodara during the post-Godhra communal riots of Gujarat in 2002. Out of the seventeen accused, nine were sentenced to life imprisonment by a Special Court in Mumbai.

The High Court on Thursday went through the medical reports submitted by the Civil Hospital, which state that the petitioner's CD4 Count had apparently gone down to 196 and HIV infection was at Stage 2, which requires constant medical attention.

The court after considering the medical reports stated it appropriate to release him on bail.

The court has directed the petitioner to provide his permanent address in Vadodara where he would be staying along with his contact number. The court directing him to be released on bail, also directed that his condition would be reported to the nearest police station by his relatives once in two weeks.

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Another woman arrested in battered baby case

noreply@blogger.com (News) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:13:00 +0000

Police said on Thursday that a woman has been arrested for forcing into prostitution the 14-year-old girl who brought the battered girl named Falak to the hospital. This is the fourth arrest in the case. The woman has been identified by the police authority as Arti, the associate of another arrested woman Pooja. Police on Wednesday announced the arrest of three people namely Sandeep, his wife Pooja and Jitendra Kumar Gupta, the teenager's father who used to physically assault her.

The baby was brought to AIIMS hospital on January 18^th with severe head injuries and bite marks all over her face by the teenager, who initially claimed herself as the baby's mother.

The girl is now sent to a Juvenile Home.

She got the baby from Rajkumar, the key accused in the case who is now missing.

According to the police, the teenager was taken to Etah in Uttar Pradesh by her father's acquaintance Pooja, who forced her to marry an old man. Upon refusing, the girl was repeatedly raped by Sandeep.

The couple later brought her to Delhi and forced her into sex trade in Munirka area of South Delhi.

At this point of time she met the key accused in the case Rajkumar Gupta, who married her and started living together in Mahipalpur area of South Delhi.

Rajkumar got Falak from a woman named Laxmi, who after being questioned by the police officials, revealed that she received the baby from Munni, the biological mother, who is absconding.

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2G case: Government to use SC verdict to defend Chidambaram

noreply@blogger.com (News) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:52:00 +0000

The Congress led UPA government has today finalized its strategy to contradict Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy's petition to investigate Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram's role in the 2G spectrum allocation scam in the Patiala House Court of Justice O.P. Saini.

Taking a sign from the Supreme Court's observation that the Department of Telecom did not listen to the decision of the Finance Ministry while going ahead with the first-come-first-served policy in allocating the spectrum licenses in the year 2008, the government has decided to go all out to defend Chidambaram.

The strategy was finalized on Thursday evening at a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Telecom and HRD Minister Kapil Sibal and Defence Minister A.K Antony and Chidambaram.

After hearing Swamy's petition, the bench comprising of Justices G.S. Singhvi and A.K. Ganguly referred the matter to the Trial Court stating that its order should not in any way influence the proceedings before the court while declining to give direction to the CBI on the same.

The Apex Court said that the Trial Court should decline the matter within two weeks. The matter will be heard on February 4^th in the court of Justice Saini.

Swamy had moved a court seeking a probe against former Finance Minister and current Home Minister P. Chidambaram. He argued that Chidambaram should be made a co-accused in the in the spectrum allocation along with A. Raja.

Reacting to the court's order, Swamy said that he was satisfied and that the trial court was perfectly competent to decide on whether Chidambaram should be probed.

Swamy in his plea had stated that the Finance Ministry repeatedly pointed out that spectrum allocation could not be determined by the entry fee of 2001, and the Finance Ministry earlier backed the market-discovered price for the spectrum.

He had also claimed that since Finance Ministry cannot be overruled by the Telecom Ministry, it was just impossible for the then Telecom Minister A. Raja to move forward without the concurrence of the then Finance Minister, Chidambaram.

Swamy has also insisted that despite Chidambaram recognizing the fact that the most transparent method of allocating the spectrum would be through the method of auction and moreover he did not oppose the pricing on the basis of 2001.

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Infant down with meningitis, doctors put her back on ventilator

noreply@blogger.com (News) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:02:00 +0000

A day after the doctors at AIIMS drained cerebrospinal fluid that had collected in a part of the two-year-old infant's brain, tests confirmed that she is suffering from Meningitis – a bacterial infection of membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. Doctors also opined that there is possibility that chest infection developed from prolonged intubation in the ICU could have affected her brain.

Dr. Deepak Agarwal, from the Neurosurgery department of AIIMS Trauma Centre said that the chest infection could have spread through her blood and affected the brain.

Doctors who had insected her antibiotics to control the infection said that she could take anywhere between four to five days to respond. Dr. Misra, Chief of AIIMS Trauma Centre said that she was already suffering from chest infection and now they have diagonised that she is having brain infection as well. And added that therefore they will be injecting antibiotics into her body so as to control the infection but the next 28-72 hours is treated to be critical as they will get to know how she is reacting to the antibiotic.

Doctors have also been conducting tests to ascertain her brain function. Dr. Misra said that when they give a slight pain stimuli, as per the norm, she opens her eye lids slightly and there is lower limb movement.

After her breathing became laboured on Sunday evening, the infant was put back on a ventilator support. The baby is given a high-protein diet through a Ryle's Tube inserted in her stomach.

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Rs. 100 crore seized from Ponty Chadha's Noida mall

noreply@blogger.com (News) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:43:00 +0000

According to the media reports, today the Income Tax department found currency notes worth Rs. 100 crore in the basement of the Centrestage Mall in Noida, which is owned by Uttar Pradesh liquor baron and businessman Ponty Chadha. The raids are still on and more money is expected to be recovered.

The Income Tax department raided the premises of Chadha on Wednesday in UP and at locations in Delhi in connection with the alleged tax evasions.

The searches in Delhi were conducted at 13 locations including at the Posh Sainik Farms and Lajpat Nagar, while in UP, Income Tax team comprising of 200 officials, undertook similar operations at six locations in Noida, Moradabad and Lucknow.

According to the Income Tax sources, Chadha is currently in Dubai attending a family function.

The sources said that the searches which began at around 10:30 a.m in the morning were initiated after the department got inputs regarding alleged tax evasion by firms associated with him.

Accoding to the sources, even the department were also looking at the possibility of illegal sale of liquor by certain firms in the run up to the UP assembly polls.

IT officials also searched the properties of two of his associates namely Lalit Kapoor and Gurjeet Kochhar in Delhi and is expected to question them about certain transactions.

The searches were condcuted by Delhi based Criminal investigation Team Unit of the Department and according to the sources, the searches were related to the alleged mis-pricing of the huge liquor consignments in the state and other places.

They said that the department conducted the operation after gathering intelligence and other inputs about Chadha and his business in the last four months.

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Supreme Court to pronounce verdict on plea for probe against Chidambaram

noreply@blogger.com (News) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:23:00 +0000

The Supreme Court will on Thursday pronounced its judgements on the petitions seeking direction for a probe into the alleged role of Home Minister P Chidambaram in the 2G spectrum scam and for the cancellation of 122 radiowave licences during the tenure of A Raja, the then Telecom Minister.

The judgement pronounced by the bench comprising of justices G.S. Singhvi and A.K. Ganguly which had reserved its verdict on the plea for the probe against Chidambaram and for the cancellation of spectrum licences on October 10 and March 17 respectively.

The unanimous verdicts on both the petitions would be pronounced by Justice Singhvi.

Since Justice Ganguly is retiring tomorrow, he will be sitting in a bench headed by Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia.

The issues on both the petitions were filed by the NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) and Janata Party Chief Subramanian Swamy.

The role of Chidambaram in the 2G scam was raised in the Supreme Court by the petitioners who pointed out that there was no evidence showing that the decision regarding the pricing of spectrum was taken jointly by him and Raja.

A finance ministry note to the PMO signed by Pranab Mukherjee was also taken into consideration by the Supreme Court in which it stated that the scam could have been averted that Chidambaram would have suggested the policy of auction instead of first-come-first-served policy on the allocation of spectrum.

The Centre and CBI had vehemently opposed any probe against the Minister P. Chidambaram who was the Finance Minister at the time of the allocation in the year 2008.

They had maintained that Chidambaram was not I direct communication with the then Telecom Minister A Raja in determining the price of radio waves.

However, Swamy at the CPIL had refused the claims of CBI and Centre that Chidambaram was not in the picture till January 10,2008 when the then Telecom Minister A Raja had issued 122 Letters of Intent (LoIs) to telecom companies without following the policy of auction.

Swamy and Bhushan said the finance ministry officials were for allocation of spectrum through allocation but they were overruled by Chidambaram.

Swamy said that there were evidences to show that Raja and Chidambaram had met four times to discuss on the same issue and had a meeting of minds in the commission of offences.

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High Court rejects parole plea of convict in Jessica Lall murder case

noreply@blogger.com (News) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:28:00 +0000

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday turned down the three-month parole plea of a convict in the Jessica Lall murder case.

Amardeep Singh Gill, who is serving a four-year jail term along with Manu Sharma, sentenced to life imprisonment in the case had sought the parole for seraching another house on rental basis for his family as his present landlord had given a notice terminating the tenancy.

Justice M.L Mehta said that unless there is some emergency situation, he cannot grant parole to any person. Also added that it is not possible to grant parole for such a long period.

The court,however, said that Gill can be granted custody parole for three to four days for the purpose.

The convict had moved the court after the Delhi Government rejected his plea in October, last year following a report from the Delhi police that he could jump the parole as his family was not having a permanent address.

The petition referred to his "good conduct" during the 13 year jail term.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had upheld the conviction of Sharma, son of Congress Minister Vinod Sharma, Gill and Yadav in the case.

Lall was shot dead on April 29, 1999 at the Tamarind Court Cafe restaurant of Socialite BinaRamani at Qutub Colonnade in New Delhi.

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