J&K DEVELOPMENTS
Explosion in Baramulla kills four
Two militants were reportedly hiding inside the house in which the explosion occurred.

Violent protests continue in J&K: PTI
The protests were against the alleged desecration of a copy of the Quran in Amritsar.

OTHER TOP REPORTS
Krishnamurthy blasts Congress
The newly-elected Bharatiya Janata Party president Saturday stated, at the party's national executive, that the main Opposition party had not learnt a lesson which the electorate taught it in the last mid-term poll in 1999.

Lanka proposes visa fee on Indian citizens
Indians hailing from Maharashtra, Gujarat and the southern states had emigrated to Sri Lanka even before it had gained independence in pursuit of business opportunities. So far, their non-Sri Lankan spouses had been renewing their residence visa annually without any fee.

Prime accused in Ghising attack arrested
Gorkha Liberation Organisation chief Chhatre Subba was hiding in Nepal.

Former Kerala minister released from jail
The former minister and an associate have secured bail from the SC after a trial court convicted them for abusing their official position and causing losses to the Kerala state electricity board.

NLFT rebels kill 5 in Tripura
Police said the ultras ambushed a CRPF vehicle and a passenger truck being escorted to Dhalai district headquarters of Ambassa, killing two jawans and three civilians.

PTI REPORTS
Mansingh meets Powell
The Indian Ambassador to the United States discussed prospects of further consolidating bilateral relations the with US secretary of state in Washington on Friday.

SIMI hits back at Vajpayee, Advani
The Students' Islamic Movement of India, under attack for its alleged role in the Kanpur riots, Saturday accused the prime minister and home minister of "encouraging" Hindu communalists.

Seven chargesheeted in Red Fort shootout case
The accused have been charged with murder, attempt to murder, criminal conspiracy and waging war against the country.

SPECIAL
Lords of the sky
"I felt the king of the world when my machine left the runway at Bigin Hill," says 71-year-old Russel L Wilson, a participant of the first London-Sydney Air Race of the century.

CHAT
'The BJP has more honest people'
Seshadri Chari, editor of the Organiser and a senior leader of the RSS, on the tehelka.com expose and its aftermath.

COLUMNS
Should they first become conjurers and criminals?
'Gathering defamatory, but doubtful, info on those you meet, and then recycling it without allowing the affected ones to react -- is that journalism?' asks Arvind Lavakare.

Brajesh Mishra's going, going...
Key members of the Sangh Parivar believe his continuance in the PMO is untenable. Capital Buzz. Gossip from the Delhi Durbar.

HELPLINE
Do you want to help?
Addresses to send monetary aid and relief material for Gujarat quake victims.

March 24, 2001

THE GREAT DEFENCE SCANDAL
Advani rules out govt's resignation: PTI
'Till we have a majority in Parliament and the people's mandate, we will run the government,' the Union home minister said at an emergency meeting of the BJP Parliamentary Party.

Parliament to reconvene on April 16
Parliament remained paralysed for the ninth day on Friday, with an unrelenting Opposition sticking to its demand for the resignation of Vajpayee Government over the corruption expose.

10 Bills passed in Budget session so far
The government managed to pass 10 bills in the Budget session of Parliament before the Opposition stalled the proceedings in both Houses over the tehelka.com expose.

CAG audits on defence deals ignored
The audit of IAF's Sukhoi-30 fighter jet deal with Russia had revealed massive misdeeds. But no action has yet been taken on the report.

Ramakrishna Hegde questions timing of FIR against V George
The JD(U) leader, however, said the case did not 'develop overnight' and was not 'cooked up'.

HC throws out PIL on Tehelka
The HC took strong exception to an advocate filing a PIL on the Tehelka issue on the basis of newspaper reports and declined to take cognizance of it saying it has no 'element' of public interest involved.

BJP national executive will back PM
The national executive is expected to confirm acting president Jana Krishnamurthy as the party's next chief.

CHAT
'The BJP has more honest people'
Seshadri Chari, editor of the Organiser and a senior leader of the RSS, on the tehelka.com expose and its aftermath.

INTERVIEW
'Can you name 15 corrupt politicians?'
'The cause of corruption are the bureaucrats. While there are only 10 per cent corrupt politicians, 90 per cent of bureaucrats are corrupt.' BJP MP Vijay Goel in defence of his class.

SPECIAL
The infamous case of INS Shakti
In the second of a three-part investigation, Josy Joseph focuses on how ex-servicemen turned agents cost the Indian Navy millions of rupees.

DIARY
Operation East End
Dhiraj Shetty goes undercover... and comes up with another expose!

MESSAGE BOARD
Your Take on the Scandal

COMPLETE COVERAGE

J&K DEVELOPMENTS
One killed in police firing on stone-pelting protestors in Baramulla
An alleged Quran burning incident in Amritsar (Punjab) sparked protests in parts of J&K

Pak rejects ceasefire offer and dialogue on Kashmir
Unable to get the support of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan for its stand on Kashmir, Pakistan gave vent to its frustration at the session of the Commission on Human Rights.

TOP REPORTS
Karunakaran, 8 others chargesheeted in palmolein case
The vigilance and anti-corruption bureau case is that the accused had caused a loss of Rs 232 million to the state by importing 15,000 tonnes of palmolein from Malaysia by violating the central and state government rules.

Criminal complaint against suspended Gujarat MLAs
A criminal complaint was registered against seven opposition Congress members of the Gujarat assembly for ransacking Speaker Dhirubhai Shah's chamber on Thursday, police said.

Delhi HC reserves order in Hinduja case
The court reserved judgment on the brothers' plea that they be allowed to go abroad and that the CBI delink their case from those of Ottavio Quattrocchi and Martin Ardbo.

Kidnappers free Indian in Philippines
Paul Naal Iqbal Singh was abducted on March 18, in Gerona, Tarlac.

Punjab terrorist arrested after a decade
Sarwan Singh of the Khalistan Commando Force was wanted in connection with a number of crimes and had been declared an offender by a Gurdaspur court in 1996.

3 held for burning Bible in AP
A group of 16 persons set ablaze a copy of the holy book at a prayer meeting at Chevalla town in Ranga Reddy district of Andhra Pradesh, on Thursday night.

IA craft involved in near-miss incident over Tamil Nadu
The Bangalore ATC noticed the unusual and dangerous proximity of the aircraft to a Lufthansa cargo plane.

Mir falls to earth
The space station re-entered the Earth's atmosphere and broke up into several large fragments, after 15 years in space, on Friday.

SC grants bail to Kerala ex-minister convicted in corruption case
Balakrishna Pillai and an accomplice are accused of selling power illegally causing a huge financial loss to Kerala.

Annan ready to accept second term
He told mediapersons in New York that he had been ''touched and gratified'' by numerous expressions of encouragement and support he received from many governments, particularly from the African group, whose permanent representatives had last week issued a public appeal for him to stay on as UN chief.

British plane makes emergency landing at Sanganer airport
The plane was one of 40 participants in an international rally between London and Sydney. It was on way to Delhi from Karachi, when it developed communication and navigational snags.

PTI REPORTS
President indisposed
K R Narayanan has cancelled all his appointments scheduled for the next few days.

Interim bail of two serial blast accused extended
One of the accused is Yusuf Abdul Razak Memon, brother of prime conspirator Tiger Memon.

Musharraf consolidating his position
He has promoted six Major Generals to the rank of Lieutenant Generals, superseding senior army officers.

Man gets 10 year RI for raping infant
The verdict, delivered recently by sessions judge, Laxmi Rao, is significant because it is one of the rare cases where there was no eye witness and the victim was too small to give a statement.

COLUMN
Overlook the obvious and repent at leisure
'If the Taleban is mule-headed, the rest of the world has been muddle-headed not to predict the obvious -- Mullah Omar's bearded men would destroy anything and everything deemed "un-Islamic," says S Gopikrishna.

HELPLINE
Do you want to help?
Addresses to send monetary aid and relief material for Gujarat quake victims.

March 23, 2001

THE GREAT DEFENCE SCAM
Govt orders inquiry into official's role in Tehelka sting
A home ministry spokesman said the government's attention had been drawn to a newspaper report that an official of the ministry was involved in the operation.

Vajpayee woos NCP to replace Trinamul
A senior government official said a deal had been worked out between the prime minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar to back the government in case a vote of confidence was taken up by the Lok Sabha.

After RSS, SJM targets PMO: PTI
SJM's All India Organiser Muralidhar Rao said the PMO was manned by people who make crucial policy decisions but are not accountable to the people.

Parliament adjourned for another day
Both Houses were Thursday adjourned for the eighth day amid uproarious scenes with a determined Opposition sticking to its demand for the resignation of the Vajpayee government over the defence scandal.

Defence ministry also sets up inquiry: PTI
Vigilance Officer R P Bagai will inquire into whether transactions pertaining to the procurement of armaments, weapon systems and stores shown in the sting tapes have been carried out in terms of the prescribed procedure.

CHAT TRANSCRIPT
'We have just held up a mirror'
'If the picture is ugly, don't blame me for it,' tehelka.com journalist Aniruddha Bahal tells the Rediff chat.

OTHER REPORTS
When Laloo charmed the stars
It was the RJD president who stole the show from many of Bollywood's biggest stars at the wedding of Bihar Energy Minister Shyam Rajat in Bombay.

VHP calls Sonia 'anti-Hindu'
The Congress, Ashok Singhal alleged, has now strongly entrenched itself into the fold of anti-Hindu forces in the country.

Probe into George's deeds will only begin now: CBI
Joint Director Neeraj Kumar told rediff.com that the investigation would be a long-drawn process as the agency would need the co-operation of some foreign countries from where George had received gifts.

BJP attacks Sonia on George issue
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday launched a scathing attack on Congress president Sonia Gandhi seeking an explanation why Vincent George, against whom the Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a case, continues to be her personal assistant.

Undertrial must be released if trial exceeds five years: SC
A division bench comprising Justice K T Thomas and Justice R P Sethi, however, added that in special circumstances a trial court could keep an undertrial in judicial custody beyond five years.

Sea and land battles shatter truce in Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan Air Force jets destroyed the 'Beirut Base' of LTTE and returned safely, a situation report from the defence ministry said.

Ex-armyman caught faxing defence documents to ISI
Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police M C Dwivedi said Prem Bahadur Kshetriya, who retired from the Gorkha Regiment, was arrested by the special task force on Wednesday from a public call office in Indira Nagar in the state capital.

PWG activists blast two police stations in AP
There were no casualties, but the Naxalites took away firearms and wireless sets from the policemen.

Court cannot resolve Ayodhya issue: M M Joshi
The Union human resource development minister said the dispute could be solved either by legislation or through a negotiated settlement.

Chidambaram suspended from TMC
The former Union finance minister and three of his supporters were Thursday suspended for 'anti-party' activities after his "open revolt" against the alliance with the AIADMK, party vice-president A R Marimuthu disclosed.

Pak govt releases two arrested leaders; banishes two others: PTI
They were among numerous others planning a rally in Islamabad on Friday demanding an end to army rule.

Pratappur residents file murder case against Siwan SP
Siwan MP Mohammad Shahabuddin has written to the NHRC that his house was raided by policemen without proper authorisation and resulted in innocents being killed.

60 Congress MLAs suspended in AP
The members were suspended on Thursday for obstructing proceedings and demanding a judicial probe into a multi-billion rupee liquor purchase scandal.

Dara Singh acquitted in truck burning case
Sub-divisional judicial magistrate Pravakar Mishra Wednesday acquitted him and 11 others, saying there was no evidence of their involvement.

Blackwill hand in Bush's reversal of policies
Robert D Blackwill, who was nominated US Ambassador to India, is a career diplomat who questioned the Clinton administration's views on China.

Blackwill named US Ambassador to India
Blackwill is an international security lecturer at Harvard University.

DIARY
Netas, our eternal masters!
'They ruled us then and they rule us now -- even with their backs to the wall.' Sheela Bhat's take on the defence scam.

SPECIALS
How a nation was looted
In the first part of a three-part investigation, Josy Joseph focuses on two defence scams -- Bofors and HDW -- which cost the nation millions of rupees.

The strange saga of Ram Paswan
One day, this Uttar Pradesh minister complained about his low salary. And unwittingly lifted the curtain on a scam which has just one victim -- HIM!

INTERVIEW
'The arithmetic is with Atalji. He will complete his term'
'The question is how do we respond now. Did Narasimha Rao resign in the urea scam? Did Rajiv Gandhi resign in the Bofors scam?' BJP General Secretary Narendra Modi speaks to Ramesh Menon.

COLUMNS
Is corruption endemic in India's defence forces?
'The chiefs of our defence forces must ponder over the reasons for the gradual but alarming eradication of moral values in the armed forces and the growth of the 5-star culture, which is making armed forces personnel easy prey to bribery and corruption,' says Adm J G Nadkarni (retd).

The Taleban - modern fanatics or tribal marauders
'It is now for India to strengthen the international coalition to deal with the Taleban menace. It is imperative that the Taleban be prevented from exercising its hegemony up to the Amu Darya River on Afghanistan's borders with Central Asia,' says G Parthasarathy.

GUEST COLUMN
Indian nationalism in US dollars
`The BJP marketed nationalism and then became quite willing to sell the nation, for a few lakh rupees (or few thousand dollars),' says Sajid Bhombal.

MESSAGE BOARD
Your Take on the Scandal

COMPLETE COVERAGE

HELPLINE
Do you want to help?
Addresses to send monetary aid and relief material for Gujarat quake victims.

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