Saturday 30 April 2011
Hyderabad: MLA shot at by unidentified persons
Hyderabad: Akbaruddin Owaisi, a sitting MLA of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMM), was shot at by unidentified persons in Hyderabad today, police said.
He was rushed to a nearby hospital in Santosh Nagar with severe injuries.
The incident took place when he was visiting his Chandrayangutta assembly constituency in the old city of Hyderabad.
Several reports said he was also attacked with a knife.
Wednesday 27 April 2011
Sathya Sai Baba laid to rest in Puttaparthi
Puttaparthi: Thousands bid farewell to Sathya Sai Baba Wednesday as the spiritual leader, who died three days ago, was laid to rest at his Prashanti Nilayam ashram with full state honours.
The coffin of the 85-year-old was lowered in a grave during the nearly two-hour private ceremony at Sai Kulwant Hall, where the godman used to give "darshan" to his devotees and deliver discourses. The burial was in accordance with the practice for Hindu spiritual gurus.
A select gathering, including family members of the Baba, members and officials of the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, politicians and top bureaucrats was present in the hall.
Thousands of devotees watched the last rites on giant screens outside while many more devotees in India and abroad watched it live over television.
While nearly half of the ceremony amid the chanting of vedic hymns was open to those present in the hall, the burial was performed by only a handful of close relatives and disciples in the presence of a group of priests.
Baba's nephew R.J. Ratnakar performed rituals like the sprinkling of holy water on the mortal remains under the guidance of a priest. Later, the godman was laid to rest in a 3 by 6 by 4.5 feet deep pit at a private ceremony behind curtains.
Christian, Muslim, Buddhist and Jewish priests read out their respective scriptures before the rituals began around 9 a.m. A group of disciples of Tibetan Buddhist leader Dalai Lama also attended the last rites, which were performed with full state honours.
A guard of honour was given by policemen who came in slow march and draped the national flag on the transparent casket, before the body was moved for the burial.
The buglers sounded the Last Post and policemen fired three shots in a gun salute outside the hall. A general salute was also offered by the men in uniform.
After an hour-long burial ceremony, the curtains were moved to enable VIPs to sprinkle sacred ash on the grave and pay their respects.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani, Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil, Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, Andhra Pradesh Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and several ministers from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka sprinkled ash and paid their last respects.
The devotees were allowed into the hall in the afternoon after the "samadhi" was ready.
Thousands of devotes had last darshan of Baba till Tuesday midnight. The spiritual guru died Sunday, 28 days after he was admitted to hospital with multi-organ dysfunction. The body was kept in Prashanti Nilayam to enable people to pay their last respects.
Tuesday 26 April 2011
COMMON WEALTH GAME scam: In court, Kalmadi passes buck to MS Gill
New Delhi: The survival skills that Suresh Kalmadi's political career is best known for were on full display today. He was being led into a Delhi court when a man hurled a slipper at him. Mr Kalmadi didn't miss a beat as the slipper missed him by inches and landed nearby. He continued towards court with a smile on his face.
The slipper-thrower, a lawyer named Manoj Sharma from Gwalior, was immediately detained. He has told the police he wants to fight corruption; the police in turn says it is assessing his mental stability.
In court as well, Mr Kalmadi stayed preternaturally calm as the CBI explained the evidence that led to his arrest yesterday. As Chairman of the Organising Committee for the Commonwealth Game, Mr Kalmadi is accused of corruption - of inducing and benefitting from it - by delivering inflated contracts to companies that charged exorbitant rates for equipment and services employed for the Games that were held in September in India.
The CBI says it is collecting evidence on a wide range of contracts to prove this. For now, it has targeted Mr Kalmadi for overpaying a Swiss firm 95 crores for timing and scorekeeping equipment that was used at different venues. Mr Kalmadi's lawyer, Hitesh Jain, passed the buck today to former Sports Minister MS Gill. "If you look at the decision-making process, the decision was ultimately taken by the Minister of Youth & Affairs, the then minister MS Gill, and no summons have been issued to him, no investigation, neither has he been called to record any statement
The CBI, however, says two of Mr Kalmadi's former aides have confessed that he pressured them to ensure that Swiss Timing won the timing-scoring-results (TSR) contract, despite its noncompetitive prices.
And after the CBI described Mr Kalmadi's behavior as "elusive and non-cooperative," the court refused to grant bail to Mr Kalmadi and said he will stay in jail for eight days.
The CBI will use that time to interrogate Mr Kalmadi. However, he says that given the fact that senior government officers including Mr Gill were aware of the deals being signed, they must be questioned too.
The BJP meanwhile says that while Mr Kalmadi's arrest is "better late than never," he is being made a scapegoat. The party has said that Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit must resign, accepting responsibility for the corruption that became the main currency of the sporting event. Ms Dikshit says that's not necessary.
"Whatever behavior that has been shown against Kalmadi, it is on some basis. Without basis, anything doesn't happen. So we have to look into all this, and whatever will happen, I have repeatedly said and I will again say it, that whoever will be the culprit and whatever he has done, he will be prosecuted and punished, according to law," she said.
Once a political and indispensable heavyweight in Pune, Mr Kalmadi has been suspended by the Congress. His posters were defaced yesterday by a section of his partymen at the local Congress office. It is a tumultuous fall from grace for a man who has won three Lok Sabha elections from Pune, and has served four Rajya Sabha terms.
The slipper-thrower, a lawyer named Manoj Sharma from Gwalior, was immediately detained. He has told the police he wants to fight corruption; the police in turn says it is assessing his mental stability.
In court as well, Mr Kalmadi stayed preternaturally calm as the CBI explained the evidence that led to his arrest yesterday. As Chairman of the Organising Committee for the Commonwealth Game, Mr Kalmadi is accused of corruption - of inducing and benefitting from it - by delivering inflated contracts to companies that charged exorbitant rates for equipment and services employed for the Games that were held in September in India.
The CBI says it is collecting evidence on a wide range of contracts to prove this. For now, it has targeted Mr Kalmadi for overpaying a Swiss firm 95 crores for timing and scorekeeping equipment that was used at different venues. Mr Kalmadi's lawyer, Hitesh Jain, passed the buck today to former Sports Minister MS Gill. "If you look at the decision-making process, the decision was ultimately taken by the Minister of Youth & Affairs, the then minister MS Gill, and no summons have been issued to him, no investigation, neither has he been called to record any statement
The CBI, however, says two of Mr Kalmadi's former aides have confessed that he pressured them to ensure that Swiss Timing won the timing-scoring-results (TSR) contract, despite its noncompetitive prices.
And after the CBI described Mr Kalmadi's behavior as "elusive and non-cooperative," the court refused to grant bail to Mr Kalmadi and said he will stay in jail for eight days.
The CBI will use that time to interrogate Mr Kalmadi. However, he says that given the fact that senior government officers including Mr Gill were aware of the deals being signed, they must be questioned too.
The BJP meanwhile says that while Mr Kalmadi's arrest is "better late than never," he is being made a scapegoat. The party has said that Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit must resign, accepting responsibility for the corruption that became the main currency of the sporting event. Ms Dikshit says that's not necessary.
"Whatever behavior that has been shown against Kalmadi, it is on some basis. Without basis, anything doesn't happen. So we have to look into all this, and whatever will happen, I have repeatedly said and I will again say it, that whoever will be the culprit and whatever he has done, he will be prosecuted and punished, according to law," she said.
Once a political and indispensable heavyweight in Pune, Mr Kalmadi has been suspended by the Congress. His posters were defaced yesterday by a section of his partymen at the local Congress office. It is a tumultuous fall from grace for a man who has won three Lok Sabha elections from Pune, and has served four Rajya Sabha terms.
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