New Delhi: A Brigadier of the Indian Army is under the scanner for allegedly demanding bribe of USD five million from an Italian company in a helicopter deal, with the Defence Ministry on Saturday seeking details from the government there and assuring "strong action" against the culprits. The allegations were levelled against the Brigadier, who is currently posted at the Officers' Training Academy in Chennai, during an ongoing probe in...
11:53 AM, Oct 27, 2012
New Delhi: The sale of Augusta Westland helicopters to the Air Force is being probed for possible kickbacks. Italian authorities have reportedly recorded conversations between the India head of the helicopter manufacturer, Finmeccanica, and a middleman. The deal to purchase 12 VVIP helicopters for Rs 3500 crores is already under a cloud with the Ministry of Defence seeking probe reports from Italian authorities. Italian prosecutors have been investigating a series...
12:25 PM, Oct 25, 2012
India's largest chain of bakers, The French Loaf, will create a 100 meter long photo cake of 1,000 kg by compiling 1,000 photographs of maestro Ilayaraja on it. The egg-less chocolate cake will have movie posters and pictures from films and concerts of Ilayaraja, arranged chronologically from his debut film 'Annakili' to his latest project 'Neethaane En Ponvasantham'. It will be displayed at Express Avenue here on October 2. "We...
07:24 PM, Sep 27, 2012
Lucknow: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has questioned the 24-hour power supply to the VIP districts in Uttar Pradesh. These include power supply in Amethi, Raebareli, Etawah, Kannauj, Mainpuri and Ramnagar. Amethi is Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi's constituency, Raebareli is Sonia Gandhi's while Etawah and Mainpuri are Mulayam Singh Yadav's strongholds. Ramnagar is represented by Samajwadi Party's Muslim face Azam Khan. The Lucknow bench of the...
02:12 PM, Sep 25, 2012
Hyderabad: Though the drive against drunken driving had been initiated almost 10 months ago by the city traffic police, violation of the rule is still a cause of concern. Thousands of cases have been registered so far, yet the police are having a tough time dealing with those who violate the rule. The police find it surprising as a majority of those who violate the drunken driving rule are either...
01:31 PM, Sep 21, 2012
Telugu filmmaker Ajay Bhuyan hopes to impress the audience with the screenplay of his upcoming Telugu movie 'Housefull'. "A romantic-comedy, 'Housefull' is a story narrated from the perspective of three male characters - hero, his best friend and villain," Bhuyan told IANS. "It's been three years since my film ('Housefull') was made. I hope audience will appreciate the unique screenplay I've attempted. The story takes place within three hours of...
11:59 AM, Sep 19, 2012
Mumbai: It was a tough call - three boys, all from Punjab, all excellent singers with a great audience connect. But it is Vipul Mehta from Amritsar, who bagged the 'Indian Idol 6' title here Saturday night at a glittering grand finale. The 21-year-old pipped Devendra Pal Singh, 17, and Amit Kumar, 20, for the winner's trophy, a cash prize of Rs 50 lakh from Sony channel, a Nissan Micra...
01:01 PM, Sep 02, 2012
Hyderabad: Alleged preferential treatment to the VIPs lodged at the Chanchalguda central prison and their family members by the prison superintendent K Kesava Naidu led to his transfer here on Monday. Though the exercise is being described as "routine" by the prison top brass, sources said Naidu was transferred after he allegedly allowed some prisoners more 'mulaqats' than rules permitted. Naidu has been transferred to the State Institute of Correctional...
03:48 PM, Aug 28, 2012
New Delhi: In an attempt to plug revenue loss of Air India, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh has imposed a blanket ban on excess baggage checked in by ministers and civil servants, which is generally carried free by the airlines. Singh, in a letter to Air India CMD Rohit Nandan, said that the airline should stop the practise of carrying excess baggage without charges immediately on domestic and international flights,...
03:00 PM, Aug 25, 2012
Another film of Guinness Record holder, Kishan, is entering the pages of Guinness book. 'Teenage Yee Vayasse Onthara', stars Kishan in the lead role with three other teenage heroines under the direction of his father, Shrikanth. The new record that is going to be set up on August, 28. The idea is of assembling 20,000 students from school and colleges for a song of three minutes and eight seconds. Shrikanth,...
01:52 PM, Aug 24, 2012
New Delhi: Delhiites would be able to bid for fancy and VIP numbers for their cars with the Delhi Cabinet on Monday clearing a proposal to auction such numbers at high prices to generate additional revenue. The auction will be held every fortnight and the amount collected would be transferred to the Chief Ministers Relief Fund for enhancing the sphere of grant during natural calamities and for needy persons facing...
07:45 PM, Jul 30, 2012
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has slashed the quota for subsidies for the Haj pilgrimage given to dignitaries and the Haj Committee of India. The Supreme Court has slashed the VIP quota to 450 seats from the earlier 3,050 seats. In total, there were 11000 reserved seats, and 3050 were reserved for VIPs. The court has limited the allocation of discretionary quota to the President, Vice President, Prime Minister, External...
02:20 PM, Jul 23, 2012
New Delhi: In what may prove to be a major embarrassment for the Punjab Police, IG Prisons Jagjit Singh was caught on camera bowing before former Akali minister Bibi Jagir Kaur who is in jail for forcible abortion of her daughter. Ironically, IG Jagjit Singh had been given the task of investigating the alleged VIP treatment being given to the former SGPC chief in jail. But he was seen standing...
01:16 PM, Jul 16, 2012
New Delhi: For the first time in many years, the country's elite counter-terror force NSG has decided to pull out its over 900 commandos rendering VIP security duties and put them to perform specialist counter-terror and counter-hijack operations. The 'black cat' commandos of the National Security Guard (NSG) are segregated into five units, two Special Action Groups (SAGs) manned by officers and jawans from the Army and three SRGs (Special...
05:52 PM, Jul 01, 2012
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Wednesday dismissed a plea seeking stay on the June 8 release of Bollywood film 'Shanghai', saying there was nothing insulting in its song 'Bharat Mata ki jai' and it merely depicted 'the existing state of affairs' in India. A division bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Rajiv Shakdher said: "We do not find anything objectionable in the said song. In a democracy, every...
02:01 PM, Jun 06, 2012
Kolkata: A fire broke on two floors of a multi-storey building with a car showroom on the first floor at the VIP Road in east Kolkata on Saturday. People in the five-storey building were evacuated by the police and firemen who arrived with ten fire tenders, fire brigade sources said. The fire broke out on the ground and first floor of the building, the sources said. The area was cordoned...
07:37 PM, May 12, 2012
New Delhi: Expenses on foreign and domestic tours of central ministers and VVIPs rose by more than ten times to Rs 678.52 crore in 2011-12, up from Rs 56.16 crore in the previous year. The tour expenses increased from Rs 46.95 crore in the budget estimates of 2011-12 to Rs 499.89 crore in the revised estimates, due to payment dues to Air India for VVIP travels and maintenance of aircraft,...
04:18 PM, May 08, 2012
