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DA case: Jagan Reddy's wife attacks CBI

New Delhi: With Jaganmohan Reddy completing a year in jail after his arrest in a disproportionate assets case, his wife Bharathi on Monday attacked CBI, alleging it was controlled by partisan interests and had delayed probe to keep him in prison.

Bharathi shot off a letter to CBI chief Ranjit Sinha alleging the investigation is being conducted in a "possibly politically motivated" manner and said that she had reasons to believe that the "Congress run CBI intends to keep my husband in custody until the General Elections".

Targeting Congress and TDP, Bharathi said that there were interests which wanted to keep her husband behind bars as there was a possibility that he could out do other parties in the upcoming 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

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Railway bribery: BJP protests against CBI DIG

Chandigarh: A group of BJP activists on Monday held a demonstration outside the Central Bureau of Investigation office in Chandigarh protesting against alleged involvement of CBI DIG Mahesh Agarwal in deliberately delaying the raid at Pawan Kumar Bansal's nephew Vijay Singla's residence. Balbir Singh, a CBI inspector had filed a complaint in the Central Administrative Tribunal that the CBI DIG delayed the raid at Singla's residence, giving him time to...  

Bangalore has water only for the next 15 to 18 days, warn officials

Bangalore: Bangalore is fearing an acute water shortage in days to come. Municipal officials have warned that the city has water only for the next 15 to 18 days. Already residents like Hiral Dhilla, from Rajajinagar are forced to buy water from tankers nearly six times a month. This mother of two is now preparing for the worst. "Because Bangalore is expanding left, right and centre, it is going to...  

Did Mamata squander the overwhelming mandate that voters gave her?

Kolkata: After two years of rule, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appears to have squandered the overwhelming mandate voters gave her, but as West Bengal gears up for panchayat polls, it seems that the TMC has the advantage as the Left is yet to regroup. Rattled by the Saradha meltdown and a spate of suicides, Trinamool faces the uphill task of addressing cries of lakhs of anguished investors and agents. With...  

Bengal textile policy will help sector grow, say chambers

Kolkata: With the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal coming up with a draft textile policy to attract investment to revive the sector, leading industry lobbies have expressed hope that the policy roadmap would help the industry to grow significantly. States like Maharashtra and Gujarat unveiled their new textile policies in 2012 to woo investors. "A policy was necessary. It will surely help Bengal's textile sector grow rapidly. The roadmap...  

Bangladesh bans political rallies for one month

Dhaka: Bangladesh on Sunday slapped a ban on political rallies for a month to maintain law and order in the wake of deadly protests by Islamists that left at least 28 people dead earlier in May 2013. "Some political parties have caused a law and order problem in the name of holding their programmes. Hence, no one would be allowed to hold any kind of rally for the next one...  

Ray Jennings pins hope on fit-again Zaheer Khan in play-offs

Bangalore: Impressed with a fit-again Zaheer Khan's magnificent bowling show against Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore coach Ray Jennings is hopeful that the veteran pacer will play a key role in the play-offs if the team sneaks into the next round. "The tough thing for me was to try get Zak match fit. Hopefully he hasn't started off too late and he is going to help us in semi-finals...  

CRPF red flags Home Ministry on Ambani VIP security

New Delhi: The CRPF, which recently took over the duties of guarding RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani, has raised concerns in ensuring a 'fool proof' Z category security to the business tycoon in the absence of local logistical support to its squad. The para-military force has written to the Union Home ministry alerting it about possible limitations its personnel may face in the event of an attack on Ambani who has...  

Jagan's DA case: 2 ministers charged in the case may quit

Hyderabad: The Chief Minister, who returned from New Delhi on Saturday after a four-day visit during which he discussed the issue with the leadership, has summoned Rao to the state capital from his native Srikakulam district. Reddy, who is from neighbouring Ranga Reddy district, is already in Hyderabad, party sources said. The Chief Minister reportedly defended the ministers in his meeting with the Congress leadership. Kiran Reddy, who called on...  

PM to present Report Card of UPA-II on May 22

New Delhi: With the image of his government in tatters, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will present the last Report Card of UPA-II on May 22 in which he is expected to list the positives such as Direct Benefit Transfer and FDI in retail in a bid to boost the sagging morale of Congressmen with elections less than a year away. Battered by series of scams and the recent sacking of...  

'Indians more willing to share personal info than others'

Mumbai: Even as cases of financial fraud are dotting cyber space across the world, Indians seem more forthcoming in giving out their personal information for personalised services and simplification of finance management than their global counterparts, a study by Cisco has said. According to the Cisco report, 72 per cent of respondents from India said they would provide more personal information to simplify management of finances compared to 56 per...  

'RBI likely to cut policy rates at its June 17 meeting'

New Delhi: Taking a cue from the continued downward surprises in inflation and sluggish growth indicators, the Reserve Bank of India is likely to go for further monetary easing in its June 17 policy meet, global investment banking majors have said. The headline wholesale inflation fell to 41-month low in April (4.89 per cent), dropping within the central bank's comfort zone of less than 5 per cent and fuelling market...  

BCCI may hand tainted cricketers life bans in Sunday meeting

New Delhi: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) may hand life bans to the tainted quartet of S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila, Ankeet Chavan and Amit Singh in a meeting in Chennai on Sunday. Sreesanth, Chandila, Chavan have played several matches for Rajasthan Royals this season, while Amit represented the Jaipur-based IPL team for the first few seasons. Sreesanth, Chandila and Chavan have reportedly confessed to spot-fixing in...  

'RBI, SEBI should create awareness against ponzi schemes'

Kolkata: In the backdrop of the chit fund scam, the State Bank of India on Saturday said Reserve Bank of India or Securities and Exchange Board of India should take up major campaigns to create awareness among investors being lured to ponzi schemes. "RBI...or SEBI should begin a major campaign in line with Jago Grahak Jago, woolmark or hallmark (gold) to create awareness among the investors about these ponzi schemes,"...  

WB minister receives threat letter, asked to quit TMC

Burdwan: West Bengal Agriculture Minister Malay Ghatak on Saturday said he has received a letter threatening to kill him and his family unless he resigned from the Cabinet and quit Trinamool Congress. "I saw the letter this evening. It was sent by post from Kharagpur in West Midnapore district on May 13 by N Rama Rao of Indian People's Liberation Army," Ghatak told reporters. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the...  

Germany approves bank reform to protect taxpayers

Berlin: Germany has approved new measures to rein in high-risk financial business of banks and to decouple them from retail banking as part of a comprehensive reform to prevent a repeat of the financial crisis five years ago and to minimise the costs for taxpayers if banks were to be bailed out in the future. The Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, on Friday voted with the majority of the...  

Kohli powers RCB to an important win over CSK

Bangalore: When rain was pouring down at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday evening, many might have thought that was the end of the road for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 6 as they were in a must-win situation. But the honest wait of the RCB fans didn't go waste as they witnessed something special from their captain Virat Kohli. The 24-year-old was a man on mission as he single-handedly...  

Kolkata: Couple arrested for duping banks

New Delhi: A Delhi-based couple was arrested from Kolkata for duping several banks by forging documents, police said Saturday. Kamal Kishore Shukla, 60, and his wife Shashi Shukla, 53 were arrested on May 15 from Kolkata. The duo had obtained housing loans from different banks against a single property in Vaishali area of Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad, adjoining Delhi, with the help of fake documents and had even sold the same...  

Only BJP has challenged vote-bank politics: Modi

Rajnandgaon: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said only BJP had challenged the prevailing vote-bank politics in the country. At a rally in Rajnandgaon, the Assembly constituency of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, Modi said before BJP came to power in December 2003, there was no growth in this mineral-rich state. "The country has witnessed vote-bank politics for fifty years. After gaining power through vote-bank politics, leaders subsequently promoted...