The aspiring actress had complained to the police in 2004 and alleged that Bhandarkar and she “had sex 16 times between 1999 and 2004”.

“Madhur had promised to give me a lead role in his films. However, he didn’t offer me a lead role in any of his movies. At times when I refused, he raped me,” she said then.

Bhandarkar made three films in the five years that he knew Jain — “Chandni Bar”, “Satta” and “Aan” — and she complained that she had no role in any of them. “Bhandarkar’s forthcoming movie, ‘Page 3’, also does not feature me,” she had told reporters soon after filing her case.

The department issued notices to Koda and others for “detailed questioning” after the completion of scrutiny of the seized material, official sources said. Some questioning at the time of searches was done by tax officials but they were largely cursory. The notices were said have been sent under section 131 of the Income Tax Act 1961 which authorises the department to issue summons or to force attendance of any person for being examined on oath or to compel production of books of account and other documents.

The department yesterday had claimed that its had found evidence of Rs 4000 crore in hawala transaction and investments after searches were conducted at Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Lucknow, Nasik, Ranchi, Chaibasa and Jamshedpur. IT authorities added the department will also initiate the unlocking of seized lockers at various places of the former Chief Minister and his associates. “Some documents showed about Rs 100 crore in foreign exchange being sent by hawala transactions to Dubai, Thailand and Malayasia,” tax officials said after the searches on Saturday.

Indian Ambassador in Washington Meera Shankar’s letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Principal Secretary TKA Nair was written in May 2009. The Ambassador has listed out seven cases of how government officials in India have been bribed by US-based companies According the Corrupt Practices Act in the United States all US companies must provide details of the illegal payments they make in foreign countries and the list is a big one.

On January 9, 2009, Mario Civino of a firm called Control Companies pleaded guilty for illegally paying $1 million $ to the Maharashtra State Electricity Corporation. Then on February 14, the Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies (WABTEC) paid off employees of the Indian Railways $137,400. More than two years ago on October 1, 2007, York International Corporation confirmed middlemen paying Indian Navy officials upto $132,500 for getting contracts. An official in the Central Insecticide Board, too, has been named as a recipient to expedite registrations.

The revelations have come as a severe embarrassment for the government. “The matter will be looked into,” was all Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.

Senior police official Idrees Khan says more than 40 people were wounded in the explosion.

It appeared to be the latest in a string of major attacks in Pakistan, underscoring militant strength ahead of an expected offensive in the main al-Qaida and Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — An explosion rocked a northwest Pakistani district next to the troubled Swat Valley on Monday, killing at least seven people, officials said.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for a weekend siege of the army’s headquarters.

The explosion in Shangla district occurred at a market and may have been a car bombing, police official Tahir Khan said. An army vehicle was ablaze at the scene, witness Khalid Khan said.

He said the private institution, Vinayaka Primary School, run by influential local leaders, had encroached on two rooms of the government school to run its classes. This had happened reportedly in connivance with the government school principal and other staff members. “The entire premises of the government school had been usurped by the private school. They conducted classes, used the playground for sports activities and functions,’’ said Basavaraj Halimani, whose son is studying in Class III of the government school.

This ultimately had also contributed to the dwindling numbers of students in the government school over the years — there are only five students now in Class III after many parents withdrew their children and got them admitted in the private school in the same premises. “Some parents had objected to it but to no avail, till some of them tipped the primary and secondary education minister Visveshwar Hegde Kageri recently,’’ said a parent.

The leading advocates including F S Nariman, Shanti Bhushan, Ashok Desai and Ram Jethmalani suggested that the CJI should reconsider the decision to elevate the judge to the Supreme Court. Dinakaran and four others have been recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium to the government for being appointed as judges of the SC.

Highly-placed sources said during the meeting at the CJI’s residence and attended by some Supreme Court judges, Dinakaran’s attention was drawn to the letter sent by the lawyers under the auspices of the Forum for Judicial Accountability levelling charges of land grabbing and other “irregularities” against the judge.

The two men named this man, a prominent minister’s son Yunus Ansari as the conduit between King Gyanendra’s son Paras and India’s most wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim, who between them have been pushing crores of fake currency into India. Reports suggest that Dawood looks at the printing and manufacture of the fake currency, while Paras is responsible for the transit of the money from other countries into Nepal and then it’s flow into India.

The revelation was made by Pakistan’s former chief justice Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui, who said this case was still pending with the country’s Supreme Court since 1999. He said the sensational disclosures were made in an affidavit filed in the court by former ISI chief Lt Gen (retd.) Asad Durrani.

The Daily Times quoted Siddiqui telling a private TV channel that millions of rupees were distributed during former President Ghulam Ishaq Khan’s regime and ostensibly to convince political leaders to join the then Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI).

“This is the minister who makes money. The Petroleum Minister must resign, he is indulging in corruption,” alleged Yadav, who led the protests in the Lok Sabha resulting in the House being adjourned. “Throughout the statement, the Minister was trying to hide the real issue,” said Yadav, referring to Deora’s speech earlier explaining the Government’s stand on the dispute over gas between Reliance Industries and Reliance Natural Resources. “He (Deora) is doing a favour worth Rs 15,000 crore to a single individual. The entire country is being hoodwinked,” Yadav alleged.

Deora was present in the Lok Sabha when Yadav made his charge. He later got on his feet along with his colleagues to protest the serious allegation.

Not restricting statues to Lucknow only, Mayawati is constructing memorials and carving her and her mentor Kanshi Ram’s images in stones in Noida, a Delhi suburb, as well. The memorial which is being constructed in Noida is turning out to be a mammoth project.

The mega UP government project facing Sector 15A of Noida has irked residents because of its encroachment on the Yamuna riverbed and alleged destruction of green areas.

A total of 115 protesters took part in the hunger strike, demanding reversal of the allotment and handing of the plot that allegedly flouted all rules by urban development minister Ashok Bhattacharya.

“We are not against Ganguly… He is an icon here and he has spent money for the project and so he is right in his school project,” general secretary of the NGO Amitava Majumdar said. But he said the “urban development minister is on a sticky wicket and has to pay the price.”

In his capacity as a senior instructor pilot, Keyter was posted in India for two and a half months in 2005 as part of the Boeing team’s programme to train Air India pilots after it placed a business deal of more than USD 11 billion. The lawsuit charges that during his stay of two and a half months in India, Keyter “observed habitual violations of the aviation laws by Air India”, having an adverse impact upon flight safety, endangering the lives of passengers.

“These violations occurred at the behest of Air India’s operational management and many of them with the full knowledge and sanction of V Thulasidas, Chairman and Managing Director of Air India at that time,” it said.

The fraud came to light after the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police probed the matter following complaints. “A number of commandos who were based at NSG garrison in Manesar had invested in the companies,” an NSG official said.

Sharma, who is still at large, had allegedly assured the commandos of 10 per cent interest every month on their investment in his companies. But he could not keep his promise after November when the share market went into the red.

“Afghanistan continues to remain a source of over 90 per cent illicit opium in the world. More than 55 per cent of opium in India originates from Afghanistan and is smuggled from Pakistan with the support of the ISI,” said NCB deputy director general Om Prakash.

The Central Board of Excise and Customs has asked the company to explain why it did not pay service tax of more than Rs 225 crore along with education cess of about Rs 5 crore for the period between 2003 to 2008, an official said. The tax department has said that the company “had intentionally and willfully suppressed the facts of providing and receiving impugned taxable services and collection of the impugned value of such taxable services”.

While over Rs 141 crore service tax has not been paid by the company on the royalty paid to parent US firm as franchisee fee, about Rs 78 crore is on its income from product and technical support consulting, it said.

‘We are going to file the first charge sheet April 9,’ CBI director Ashwini Kumar told reporters here.

Last month, the CBI accused Satyam founder B. Ramalinga Raju, his brother and another arrested official of ‘not sharing everything’ in connection with the multi-billion dollar fraud in the IT major. The probe agency wanted them to go through a lie-detector test.

The probe agency said if they were dissatisfied with the answers then they would make the Raju brothers undergo a narco analysis.

The SIT also took into custody Jaidip Patel, a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader, who is a co-accused in the case. The court ruled that the SIT’s evidence had prima facie established that Kodanani and Patel were present in the riot-hit areas. “Maya Kodnani was leading a mob but still did not control them (mob). This is nothing less than organised crime,” said Justice D H Waghela in his order. “Communal harmony is the hallmark of democracy and religious fanatics are no better than the terrorists”.

The court rejected the plea of Kodnani’s lawyer who sought more time for her to file an appeal in the Supreme Court. Patel said the charges against him were a “conspiracy” and he would appeal against them. “I have faith in our judiciary and I will go forward with the legal approach. It is a conspiracy against us by the NGOs,” said Patel.

President Barack Obama recently announced extra agents were being deployed to the border and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton heads to Mexico today to pursue a broad diplomatic agenda – overshadowed now by spiraling drug violence and fears of greater cross-border spillover. Officials on both sides of the border are committed to stopping the violence, and stemming the flow of drugs heading north and guns and cash heading south.

Seized ammunition is shown during a presentation of suspected members of the Pacifico drug cartel in Mexico city’s airport

Baja California state police stand guard at a captured marijuana greenhouse in the basement of a ranch in Tecate, Mexico

A police officer walks on packages of cocaine in Buenaventura, Colombia’s main seaport on the Pacific coast

Army soldiers guard a police station in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

A member of the Army watches the incineration of fourteen tons of drugs in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on December 2, 2008

Shoes used for smuggling marijuana are displayed in the Drug Museum at the headquarters of the Mexican Ministry of Defense in Mexico City

Central American migrants being held in captivity react as Mexican Army soldiers, unseen, enter to liberate them in Reynosa, Mexico

A forensic investigator in Tijuana examines a vertebra and other bone fragments that were all that remained of a human body recovered from a barrel of acid. The gruesome discovery in the Otay Mesa part of the city is consistent with a signature killing style of “El Teo”, Tijuana’s most wanted cartel kingpin

Senior Superintendent of Police (Rural) Gurmeet Chauhan told IANS: “We have detained Taneja and are questioning him.” Amritsar Superintendent of Police (Rural) Satpal Joshi said a case of rape has been registered against the accused, who has been “arrested”. An investigating officer said: “She (the daughter) mustered courage to tell her relatives about her sexual exploitation after seeing a similar case being reported from Mumbai a few days back. They helped her complain to the police.”

Taneja had threatened to kill her if she told anyone in the family or outside about his illegal activities.

“The massacre took place under his (Alam’s) leadership. The rebels had accepted him as their leader,” Khisha said. Police claimed that they have gathered “enough evidence” against Alam and other conspirators of the two-day mutiny during which 73 army officers were killed while 72 are still missing.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told Parliament after the 24-hour deadline given to the absconders to surrender, “I have summoned the army and other forces to hunt them (BDR rebels).” Home Minister Shahara Khatoon said the soldiers are helping the police and local authorities and will continue “as long as necessary”.

China’s mines are the world’s most dangerous with more than 3,000 deaths a year in fires, floods and explosions.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Sunday’s pre-dawn blast occurred while 436 workers were in the Tunlan Coal Mine in Gujiao city near Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province.

The AIIMS eligibility criteria states that for seeking admission to a PhD course, the candidate must possess an MSc or masters degree in any subject allied to medical sciences with at least 60% marks or master of surgery or doctor of medicine or diploma of the National Board of Examinations. A candidate with an MBBS degree is also eligible. Sources told media that the IPS official from the home state of Union health minister, Anbumani Ramadoss, also applied as an in-service candidate which would allow him to hold on to his post of DDA. The rules for applying under this category states: ‘‘Members of the medical fraternity can apply for registration to PhD course as in-service candidate.’‘

Yadav cleared the theory exam as per the results that were announced on Wednesday and is due to appear for an interview which was scheduled for Friday but is being put off because of the institute’s governing body meeting. To top it off, Yadav, though merely on deputation with AIIMS, is being treated a sponsored candidate, a category reserved for medical staffers. ‘‘As far as sponsorship is concerned, Shailesh Yadav is employed with the Tamil Nadu government and not with AIIMS. He is on deputation,’‘ AIIMS Faculty Association said. That did not deter the the undersecretary of medical education in the health ministry, Arvind Kumar, to give him clearance, stating, ‘‘Mr Yadav, DDA AIIMS to pursue PhD, subject to condition that his duty as PhD candidate does not interfere in any way with official discharge of any duties as DDA’‘.

The institute’s faculty is now up in arms against the administration over this peculiar case. An AIIMS Faculty Association official told TOI, ‘‘The guidelines and eligibility criteria for admission in PhD programme of AIIMS are very clear and defined. Shailesh Yadav isn’t even eligible because he has done MA with ancient history, culture and archaeology.’‘ He added, ‘‘It is extremely difficult to crack the theory exam conducted by AIIMS even for science graduates. If a candidate having MA in arts subjects passes such an exam, he is either a genius or a fraud. An investigation must be launched immediately into this case.’‘

Yadav is unfazed by the controversy, ‘‘It is unfair for me to comment because I am a candidate. I applied for the PhD and it is up to the AIIMS administration to see whether I am eligible, which I am.’‘ According to Yadav, knowledge of advanced forensic techniques would help him discharge his duty as a police officer better. ‘‘My application is within justified limits. I have proper permission from the government of India. Understanding forensics is essential for any police officer and will help me investigate criminal cases better. I have served in the police service for 14 years and have been an SP in four districts. The PhD will educate me about the latest in forensic techniques,’‘ Yadav said.

While resigning as company chairman, Raju had admitted to a Rs.70 billion (Rs.7,000 crore/$1.43 billion) accounting fraud, saying the company had cooked its books over several years resulting in inflated (non-existent) cash and bank balances. He reiterated this during CID interrogation soon after his arrest January 9. But investigations have now revealed that a big chunk of this money existed but was diverted to other firms.

CID, which took Raju, his brother and former managing director B. Rama Raju and former chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas in custody for four days following a court order, grilled the former Satyam boss on the basis of his confession. After prolonged interrogation, Raju finally admitted to diverting Satyam funds to his family firms — Maytas Properties and Maytas Infra. He told CID sleuths that this was going on since 2004. Raju not only diverted funds out of Satyam but is also believed to have misled company auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) by submitting fake bank documents. CID and some regulatory agencies have already seized some documents from PwC.

Municipal commissioner Jairaj Phatak, who is also on the committee, handed over the lists to K L Prasad, joint commissioner of police (law and order), urging him to cooperate and take action against those involved. “In spite of adopting several measures, slums continue to thrive due to a nexus between agents, local netas and our lower-level officials. The problem of slums and slumlords has become critical and even though we have lodged FIRs in most of the 89 cases last year, action wasn’t taken in even a single case,’’ said a senior BMC officer.

The highest number of officers was nailed in the eastern suburbs, with Bhandup alone accounting for as many as eleven. The 11 engineers, who have already been found guilty in the departmental enquiry, allowed 76 structures to come up in a no-development zone the size of Azad Maidan on a hilltop near Bhandup Complex. A cartel of nine engineers active in Kurla, Chembur and Govandi has also been found guilty. Such activities have resulted in suburban areas being pockmarked with hundreds of unauthorized shanties.

Officials said the process is simple, and difficult to contain. A slumlord identifies open government land and reclaims it by illegally dumping construction debris. Shanties are then constructed with brick masonry and rolling shutters. Later, the structures are given permanent status with help of officials. A hut of 150 to 200 sq ft goes for anywhere between Rs 45,000 to Rs 70,000 in the suburbs.

Another dangerous trend is the commercialization of slums. Slumlords identify hutments that can be converted into commercial godowns. Juhu corporator Adolf D’Souza says more than 70% of slums in his ward have been turned into commercial godowns and shops. The biggest hurdle is that civic officials have a weak information network, and at the junior level, nobody wants to rock the boat because it’s beneficial for all, so the nexus continues to thrive.

Three Indian sailors on the Kenya-registered FV (fishing vessel) Victoria-4, hijacked on January 7, 8 and MV Sea Princess-II, hijacked between January 2,3, are being held by the pirates, according to information provided by the directorate.

All other Indians on ships hijacked by the pirates last year have been released.

He also brushed away suggestions that the Andhra Pradesh government was attempting to shield the perpetrators of the Satyam scam by interfering in the multi-agency investigations into the Rs.70-billion (Rs.7,000-crore/$1.43-billion) scandal. “There is no question of interfering or barring the statutory authorities from functioning. The chief minister (of Andhra Pradesh) has completely assured me of full cooperation with all agencies. The chief secretary (of the state) has been designated as the nodal officer (for the investigating agencies). It was on the recommendation of the state government that a CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) probe was ordered,” Mukherjee pointed out.

Raising the “side issue” of the role of chartered accountants in the Satyam scam, Praveen Rashtrapal of the Congress asked whether any changes were contemplated in the role of the industry watchdog, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). “If it is found that someone has indulged in unlawful activities, action will be taken. But one should not blame an institution for the actions of some individuals,” Mukherjee maintained.

The Government has moved the Company Law Board (CLB) to sack the boards of two Maytas firms owned by the Raju family, said Gupta. “We have approached the CLB to remove directors of Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties from their respective boards,” Gupta said.

The CLB will take up the matter on February 24.

“The new board has asked Kumar to step down though the reasons are still not clear “, said a source privy to the development. He is the first member of Satyam’s Leadership Council to be sacked, after its disgraced founder B firm B Ramalinga Raju confessed to perpetrating a Rs 7,000 crore financial fraud.

The Central Bureau of Investigation arrested the three accused on Monday after Saha alleged the officials demanded money from him for an early listing of his case. Dr Saha had appealed against doctors who allegedly caused the death of his wife during a surgery, four years ago in the Supreme Court. “I said I want to see it listed (only) then I will pay. Next day they came with a list and it was listed. In fact it was listed today (February 10) in the weekly list so it did not come in the court,” says Dr Saha.

The three accused, KS Badrinath and C Parimal both assistants to the registrar, and KM Singh, an attorney who acted as the go-between, were produced in the Tis Hazari Court on Tuesday afternoon and their police remand was extended by a day.

Murthy, a Satyam loyalist, was appointed CEO two days ago. Murthy, who has been with the company for 15 years, was handling Satyam’s global business division.

The IT firm also reaffirmed that January 9 salaries (globally) and the fortnightly salary in February 9 (for its US-based associates) have been met from its internal accruals. “US payroll is run fortnightly for US based associates and has been so since company’s inception,” Parekh said. Earlier in the day, PTI reported that the Andhra Pradesh police are likely to make more arrests in the Rs 7,800 crore fraud involving the IT major.

CID officials investigating the case have not ruled out more arrests in about a fortnight. “We are constantly scrutinising the seized documents and trying to retrieve data from the hard-disks and laptops recovered during the raids of residences and offices of Satyam officials including its former chairman B Ramalinga Raju,” a senior CID official probing the Satyam fraud said on Thursday.

Officials also told TOI that more RDX could be coming in as part of cement or other consignments. But the alert did not name any refinery that was supposed to be the target. That explained the reaction by Delhi Police and Mumbai Police during the days following the terror attacks on Mumbai. The two closest refineries to Delhi are at Panipat and Mathura. But most of the major refineries are near the coast, including those at Vishakhapatnam, Paradip and Jamnagar.

The alert also mentioned railways as a possible “soft target’‘.

A conviction for fraud, if proven, carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison and that for criminal conspiracy can range from a few years to life imprisonment. They were remanded in judicial custody till February 6.

Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas were called in for questioning late on Friday evening, and the process continued
through the night. The arrests were announced on Saturday but happened at 10 pm on Friday night. They were then produced at the residence of eighth additional chief metropolitan magistrate.