New Delhi, January 01: Bharatiya Janata Party President Nitin Gadkari says Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is a “good role model” to BJP-ruled states but whether he can be the party’s prime ministerial candidate hasn’t been decided yet.
“That question doesn’t arise now,” Gadkari told in an interview. The Maharashtra politician believes Modi is the best Chief Minister in India and the governments of BJP-ruled states could learn from him.
Chennai, January 01: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today dismissed as “meaningless and absurd” demand for bifurcation of Tamil Nadu, saying the idea should be nipped in the bud.
“It is a meaningless and absurd idea. It should be nipped in the bud,” he said, reacting to PMK leader S Ramadoss’ remarks about splitting Tamil Nadu into two states.
Chidambaram was talking to reporters after meeting Chief Minister M Karunanidhi here.
Peshawar, January 01: A suicide bomber set off an explosives-laden vehicle on a field during a volleyball tournament on Friday in northwest Pakistan, killing at least 25 people, police said.
The blast occurred near Pakistan’s tribal belt, and was the latest bloodshed to rattle the country since the army launched a military offensive against Taliban fighters in the South Waziristan tribal region.
The operation has scattered insurgents but provoked apparent reprisal attacks that have killed more than 500 people since October.
London, January 01: Scottish singing sensation Susan Boyle got the surprise of her life when she landed at the Tokyo international airport as two of her admirers begged her to marry them.
The pleas, however, fell on deaf ears as Boyle smiled and waved while security teams ushered her through Narita International Airport on her first-ever visit to Japan, reports.
Akiyama Hanako, 56, who had waited seven hours to see Boyle, compared her arrival to the pandemonium caused by the Beatles visit in 1966.
Kolkata, January 01: An upset Aamir Khan has spoken out against author Chetan Bhagat, on whose novel the star’s latest blockbuster ‘3 Idiots’ is based, accusing him of trying to take away the credit from the film’s
scriptwriter.
“He is trying to take away the credit from the film’s writer Abhijat Joshi, which I am very upset about. It is an attempt on his part to try and take the credit away from the person who has actually worked on the script. It’s very unfortunate. There should not be any confusion to anyone that Abhijat is our film’s writer,” Khan told reporters here last night.
New Delhi, January 01: India on Friday introduced tourist visa-on-arrival for five countries, including Japan and New Zealand, to facilitate bonafide foreign tourists who plan their visits at a short notice.
Kannur, January 01: Thirteen youths, including five arrested in connection with the 2008 Bangalore blasts, were today produced in a court at Thalassery for terror-related cases in Kerala and their trial was deferred to January 14.
All of them were produced before Thalassery Additional Sessions Court Judge K Babu, who is hearing the trial in the terror related cases, including terror networking developed by suspected LeT operative T Nazir with the outfit in PoK.
The judge deferred the trial, asking police to produce all the accused, including Nazir, on that date.
Mumbai, January 01: Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Friday said the team is missing bowling and fielding coaches, resulting in an increased workload for chief coach Gary Kirsten.
Talking to reporters on the eve of the team’s departure for the tri-series in Bangladesh, Dhoni said Kirsten had his plate full and the team was indeed missing bowling and fielding coaches.
Tirupati, January 01: An elephant ran amok at the famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara near here today, creating panic for a while.
The six-year old temple elephant Avanija panicked after a stray dog came close to her, temple sources said.
Devotees, who had thronged the temple on New Year’s Day, ran helter-skelter. In the melee, two persons received minor injuries, the sources said, adding they were treated as out-patients at a local hospital.
Soon the elephant’s mahout managed to bring it under control, they said.
New Delhi, January 01: Police officers displaying exceptional courage in their onerous duty should not be barred from getting out-of-turn promotions, Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has held while recommending the incentive to a Delhi police inspector.
Citing a Delhi High Court order, the Tribunal said there was no restriction on the number of out-of-turn promotions for a deserving police officer.
Chandigarh, January 01: Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today said he sympathised with the family of Ruchika Girhotra and promised that the special investigation team would complete the probe into her molestation and death at the earliest.
His response comes in the backdrop of her family expressing apprehensions that the case would get prolonged due to SIT investigation.
Hooda said the team would submit the report at the earliest and efforts would be made to ensure speedy delivery of justice. “I sympathise with the family of Ruchika,” he said.
Jammu, January 01: Lok Adalat has settled 178 cases, mainly pertaining to matrimonial disputes, bank litigation, criminal matters among other issues at the district court complex here today.
Four benches were constituted to deal with matrimonial disputes, regular bank and pre-litigation matters, petty criminal matters related to municipal Acts, passenger tax and electricity use, an official spokesman said.
The first bench was presided over by Principal District and Sessions Judge Jammu B L Bhat in which 24 matrimonial cases were taken up, settling 15 of them.
Keonjhar (Orissa), January 01: Seven persons have been arrested for having alleged links with Maoists and planning to abduct a government official in Orissa’s Keonjhar district, police said today.
“They were picked up by jawans of the anti-Maoist Special Operation Group (SOG) and police from Padang village in Telkoi police station area yesterday,” Superintendent of Police Asit Panigrahi told reporters here.
Amreli (Guj), January 01: A man has been arrested for laying a trap which led to the death of a leopard in Rajula taluka of the district today, forest officials said.
The incident took place in Babradhari area where one Vitthal Devipujak had laid a trap to catch wild animals, they said.
According to the officials, the two-year-old leopard died of strangulation after being caught in the trap.
Devipujak has been booked under the Wildlife Protection Act and further probe was on in the matter, the officials said.
–Agencies
Lucknow January 01: A 78-year-old British national died under mysterious circumstances in Bhadohi district of Uttar Pradesh, official sources said today.
Seager Geaffery Wilfred Michael, who had married an Indian woman named Kuki Kumud in 1978 and was engaged in carpet trading, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Gopiganj area yesterday afternoon, Home department sources here said.
A case has been registered and investigations are on to determine the exact cause of the Britisher’s death, they said.
–Agencies
New Delhi, January 01: Bangladesh may be languishing at the bottom of ICC Test Championships table but they had the highest winning percentage in the longest format of the game in 2009 having won two of the three matches they had played.
Bangladesh had a winning percentage of 66.66, followed by Australia (53.84 per cent) and India (50 per cent).
The two wins for Bangladesh came against West Indies in their tour of the Caribbean in July last year. They lost a Test against Sri Lanka in January, 2009.
Hyderabad, January 01: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah today came under attack from pro-Telangana Congress leaders over his handling of the political crisis in the state, who alleged that he was reporting to the Centre that naxalites were involved in the Telangana agitation.
Congress Working Committee member K Keshav Rao criticised Rosaiah for not withdrawing “false” cases filed by police against students and other Telangana supporters.
“The police cases should have been withdrawn by now as the Union Home minister had promised to do so,” Keshav Rao said.
New Delhi, January 01: As a fallout of the Ruchika molestation case, trials in all sexual offences including rape will now be completed within two months as far as possible and all victims will have the right to appeal against a court order, under new amendments to CrPC. ( Watch Video )
The amendments which came into effect yesterday would come as a big relief to complainants as till now only the state could file an appeal against an order.
Mumbai, January 01: Over 5,800 violations of traffic rules, including 720 cases of drunken driving, were detected during Dec 31-Jan 1 and violators were presented before courts all over the city, a senior police official Friday said.
Joint Police Commissioner (Traffic) Sanjay Barve said that this was part of the sharp vigil maintained all over the metropolis by the traffic police during the New Year celebrations.
Besides the 720 drunken driving cases, other cases pertained to violations of other traffic rules, including jumping signals, illegal parking, speeding, etc.
Kolkata, January 01: Nonagenarian Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader and former West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu was Friday admitted to a private hospital following a severe chest infection.
“He has a chest infection. There is congestion in the chest,” Basu’s personal physician Nisith Roy said shortly after the former chief minister was brought to the Apollo Gleneagles Hospital in an ambulance.
The 96-year-old leader, who was suffering from cough and cold, underwent an x-ray at his Salt Lake residence, after which doctors advised hospitalisation.
Bhopal, January 01: An intensive search has been launched to trace five prisoners who escaped from Neemuch sub-jail, about 450 km from here, Friday morning, police said.
Five prisoners arrested on the charge of smuggling narcotics had escaped from Neemuch sub-jail some time after midnight. The policemen on duty came to know of it in the morning only.
Police suspect that the escapees climbed the wall of the jail with the help of a rope and slipped out of the jail premises.
Srinagar, January 01: Over a dozen people, including policemen, were injured in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla Friday afternoon as groups of youth pelted stones and clashed with police, an official said.
Groups of youth indulged in unprovoked violence in north Kashmir’s Baramulla town after Friday prayers, police said.
A senior police officer told IANS: “Some youth indulged in violence engaging police in heavy stone pelting after the Friday prayers in Baramulla town.
Jalandhar, January 01: In one of the biggest seizures of its kind in Punjab, the counter intelligence wing of the Punjab police seized nearly 18 kg of synthetic intoxicant Metaphetamine, worth nearly Rs.90 crore in the international market.
Police officials said that three people, two from Ludhiana and one from Delhi, were arrested with the drugs consignment.
The police also recovered a Mitsubishi Pajero SUV and a Honda City car from their possession. A revolver was also seized, police officials told reporters here.
Shimla, January 01: Police is likely to start within a month the prosecution against union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh in corruption cases registered against them, an official said here Friday.
“We are still awaiting a few forensic reports from a Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL)… most likely the prosecution against Virbhadra Singh and his wife would start within a month,” Director General of Police (Vigilance) D.S. Manhas told reporters.
Kolkata, January 01: Churches and temples saw huge crowds, people went for picnics and had family outings – Kolkatans spent the first day of 2010 in different ways.
People cutting across religious lines gathered at the beautifully decorated St. Paul’s Cathedral and St. John’s Church to offer special prayers and lit candles.
A large number of people moved away from the din of the city with family and friends to popular picnic spots, including the world’s largest mangrove covering Sunderbans.