Press Trust of India

Mohit Raina, the star of Life OK’s flagship show “Devon Ke Dev Mahadev”, skipped a special Holi celebration party organised by the channel recently. His absence from the event raised many questions.

If a source is to be believed, the reason could lie in the fact that his off-screen lady love Mouni Roy’s performance was scrapped from “Holi Hain…Life OK Hain”, due to monetary issues.

Held in Saina Resort here, the event saw several TV actors in attendance. However, Mohit’s absence was not expected.

Wondering how a Below Poverty Line (BPL) card holder was given a fair price shop licence, the Delhi High Court ordered a departmental inquiry against the officers who issued him the BPL card. The court also cancelled the allotment of the shop.

Justice Manmohan, in the March 7 order, said the essential eligibility criteria stipulated that an applicant has to be financially sound for allotment of a Public Distribution System (PDS) outlet which “a BPL card holder cannot be”.

Alleging collusion between the government and Reliance Industries Ltd., veteran communist lawmaker Gurudas Dasgupta Tuesday told the Supreme Court that Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily overruled every recommendation adversely affecting the company’s operations in KG basin without justifying his decision.

Even as violent scuffles between taxi drivers and foreign tourists and tour operators threaten to dampen Goa’s tourism party, the state government has formed a core committee to resolve the stand-off, an official said Tuesday.

The committee headed by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and having ministers for tourism and transport also includes taxi union members and legislators from Goa’s coastline, which is popular with tourists thanks to the beaches, restaurants and night clubs.

Rajasthan IAS officer B.B. Mohanty, who was accused of raping a 22-year-old girl, filed an application in a court seeking an anticipatory bail Tuesday, a lawyer said.

The state government recently suspended Mohanty following the allegations leveled against him about one and a half months ago.

Public prosecutor Sant Kumar Jain said that Mohanty filed the anticipatory bail in the court of district judge, Jaipur, through his lawyer.

“The matter will come up for hearing tomorrow (Wednesday),” said Jain.

A day before Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee’s joint rally with Anna Hazare at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan, a prominent city cleric has called for shunning the party’s ties with the social activist.

Shahi Imam of city’s Tipu Sultan Mosque Maulana Noor-Ur-Rahaman Barkarti, questioned Hazare’s secular credentials and warned Banerjee against sharing the dais with him.

A complaint was registered Tuesday against some members of a caste panchayat in Rajasthan’s Rajsamand district after they allegedly ostracized members of over 100 Dalit families, police said.

The incident took place in a village near Khamner area in Rajsamand, some 350 km from Jaipur.

“Some members of a Dalit community registered a first information report (FIR) accusing members of a caste panchayat of ostracizing them. The Dalit family says that over 100 families from their community were ostracized,” said a police officer.

The Delhi High Court Tuesday directed the central government to inform it when it will deport a Saudi man held in Tihar jail in the capital.

A division bench of Justice P.K. Bhasin and Justice J.R. Midha was informed by the central government, Jammu and Kashmir government and Delhi government that they have no objection if Sheikh Abdul Aziz is shifted to a detention home pending deportation.

The court was dealing with a letter sent by 32-year-old Aziz, through which he sought help to go back to his country.

Four companies of policemen, including paramilitary forces, continued to be deployed around a disputed piece of land in Delhi Tuesday after people of one community staged protests that led to traffic jams in the city Monday.

“Four companies (450 personnel) of police have been deployed around the disputed land in the Jor Bagh area. The situation is under control,” a police officer told IANS.

Thousands of motorists faced traffic snarls Monday due to the protest and religious gathering at the disputed land. The protesters were demanding ownership of the site.

Incumbent Congress parliamentarian Jai Prakash Agarwal Tuesday retained his candidature for the Lok Sabha polls from North East Delhi constituency by winning the party’s internal election.

In the US-style primary, Agarwal defeated former legislator Rajesh Lilothia. Out of 299 party workers, 252 voted for Agarwal while the rest voted for Lilothia.

Agarwal said he was happy to win the primary and praised party vice president Rahul Gandhi for introducing the process in Delhi.

President Pranab Mukherjee Tuesday condemned the Maoist attack on security personnel in Chhattisgarh and said such attacks “must be put down with a firm hand”.

In a message to Chhattisgarh Governor Shekhar Dutt, Mukherjee said he was “deeply saddened” to learn about the attack.

“Terror and violence have no place in a civilised society. Such random attacks on security forces performing their duty must be put down with a firm hand,” he said.

A two day census will be carried out, from Wednesday, in Gorumara National Park in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district to assess the population of the vulnerable one horned rhino and monitor changes in its habitat.

“The focus of the two-day exercise will be on direct sightings of animal in about 110 sq km area of the reserve forest to determine their population and changes in habitat among other things,” said Divisional Forest Officer (Jalpaiguri) Sumita Ghatak.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Tuesday inducted legislator Lessi Singh into the council of ministers and said the next cabinet expansion would be after the Lok Sabha polls.

Governor D.Y. Patil administered the oath of office to Lessi Singh at the Raj Bhavan. Nitish Kumar, assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary and others attended the function.

Lessi Singh’s induction is the first expansion of the cabinet after the ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) ended its 17-year-old alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2013.

Two people were shot at for apparently just enquiring from one of their four attackers why they were standing in front of a shop in Tilak Nagar in Delhi, police said Tuesday.

Sachin Kumar, 55 and Akshay Sharma, 22 were injured when the assailants opened fire late Monday night.

Police said the two were admitted to a government hospital and are out of danger.

Residents, however, claimed the attack took place after the victims protested against a girl being molested.

Vice President Hamid Ansari Tuesday headed the Indian delegation at the funeral of Afghanistan’s first vice president Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim in Kabul and also met Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Official sources said Ansari had a detailed discussion with Karzai at the Presidential Palace in Kabul regarding the situation in Afghanistan as it heads for presidential elections April 5.

The sources said Karzai thanked Ansari for braving snow and bad weather to attend the funeral and said it reflected the “all-weather” nature of India-Afghanistan relations.

PETA India Tuesday welcomed the notice issued by two government bodies to circus owners following an investigation.

The Central Zoo Authority (CZA) and the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) issued notice in December 2013 and February 2014, respectively, to circus owners.

This followed a nine-month investigation of 16 circuses across India by a team, including representatives from PETA India and Animal Rahat, that extend help to neglected animals.

Three militants of Meghalaya-based outfit United Achik Liberation Army (UALA) were Tuesday beaten to death by villagers in Assam’s Goalpara district, police said.

The incident took place at Majhipara village along the Assam-Meghalaya border.

Police said the three slain militants had recently served extortion notes to the people of the area.

“The militants came to collect the extortion money. However, the locals caught them and beat them up, leading to their death,” police said.