A revision petition against actor Salman Khan in the 14-year-old blackbuck poaching case, seeking additional charges against him under the Arms Act, was today rejected by the Rajasthan high court.        

Two aides of former minister and mining baron G Janardhana Reddy were nabbed by CBI sleuths today in connection with their alleged involvement in the iron ore export scam, CBI sources said.       

The Union Cabinet is expected to decide on Thursday on the revision of the criteria to distinguish the creamy layer from the Other Backward Caste communities.        

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today called on Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and is understood to have discussed the law and order situation in the city.

The Punjab Congress today demanded a judicial probe into the "mysterious" death of an eight-year-old British Sikh girl on April 2 at Khanna in Ludhiana district.        

The Planning Commission today approved Rs 34,000 crore annual plan size for Bihar in the current fiscal, up 21.4 per cent from a year ago.        

The Delhi Lokayukta today issued show-cause notices to Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Transport Minister Ramakant Goswami and six other MLAs, taking objection to putting up of hoardings and banners, allegedly in violation of law.        

Lashing out at the SAD-BJP coalition government in the state for its alleged all round failure, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari today cautioned party workers against backstabbing by some of its own people.

CPI(M) today demanded the West Bengal government to issue medical reports of Sudipta Sen, the key accused in the ponzy scheme scam, currently in police custody and claimed that he had already made some 'startling disclosures' in the case.

"Many heads may roll if he (Sudipta Sen) makes further disclosures in his statement to the police. The government should issue medical bulletin about his health in the interest of fair investigations," CPI(M) Politburo member and opposition leader in state assembly Suryakanta Mishra told reporters.

Sen had a medical check-up in a state-run hospital recently. Demanding security of all those arrested in the Saradha chitfund scam and were now in police custody, Mishra alleged that more Trinamool Congress leaders may be found involved in the scam if Sen speaks further and makes more disclosures.

The plans of the Army for controlling Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), which guards the frontier with China, was rejected by Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde who said today there will be no change in the command.

"ITBP home department ke paas hee rahegi" (ITBP will stay with the Home Ministry only)," was the reply of the Home Minister during a press conference.

He was replying to various questions including one on proposed handing over the operational command of ITBP to the Army's Leh-based 14 Corps which oversees the country's frontier with China and Pakistan in Ladkah division of Jammu and Kashmir.

Former minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya may be booked for conspiracy to murder in the killing of DSP Ziaul Haque. The CBI says Raja Bhaiyya's call records show he knew what happened when the DSP was killed. CBI says it is not possible for the crime to have been committed without Raja Bhaiyya's knowledge or without his support.

This morning, the former ministers arrived at the CBI headquarters for questioning about his alleged role in providing shelter to his driver Sanjay Pratap Singh alias Guddu Singh who is lodged in jail in the Balipur pradhan Nanhey Yadav's murder case, sources said. He was also questioned regarding slain DSP Ziaul Haque's wife Praveen Azad's allegation that her husband was murdered at Raja Bhaiya's behest.

BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy today said losing elections in Karnataka was a "wake up call" for the party and claimed it will put up a strong performance in the coming Assembly elections in other states.

"We accept the party's loss in Karnataka Assembly elections due to our mistakes. It was a major wake up call for us. From here, we are confident to register a strong presence in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Delhi elections and after that in country (general elections)," Rudy said at BJP's headquarters Ekatm Parisar.

"BJP is the sole alternative to Congress for the people in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and no Third Front exists in the country now, the 51-year-old Rajya Sabha MP said. "People of the country see BJP as a sole alternative to Congress in coming general elections. It is quite clear that after the Left's defeat in West Bengal and Kerala, there is no alternative...," he said.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Wednesday agreed to have fresh elections and hold another Annual General Meeting (AGM) within a month to select their representatives, paving the way for its return to the Olympic fold after a ban was imposed on it last year.

The agreement was reached at a crucial meeting with the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne, with a focus on  drawing a road map for India's return to the Olympic fold. Most of the IOA delegates left for Lausanne on Monday for the May 15 meeting.

IOA Acting President V K Malhotra and IOC Member in India, Randhir Singh, boycotted the meeting, after the IOC agreed to include Hockey India General Secretary Narinder Batra and Jharkhand Olympic Association R K Anand in the IOA delegation for the meeting in addition to the four-member list submitted earlier.

The meeting was attended by Sports Minister Jitendra Singh, Sports Secretary P K Deb, Beijing Olympics gold-medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra and Olympian sailor Malav Shroff. Earlier, Tarlochan Singh, one of the IOA delegates, had said that he was hopeful for a positive result as the objective of undertaking the trip to Lausanne was to remove all misgivings and wrong perceptions that the IOC has about the IOA. He said the aim was to get the ban lifted and revive Indian sports.

The joint meeting was held from 9 am to 12 noon local time. It was followed by the Indian delegation calling on IOC President Jacques Rogge.

With the BJP's debacle in Karnataka following corruption charges clearly on his mind, new Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today said he will have people with clean image in his Cabinet to be formed in a couple of days.

Siddaramaiah (64), who took over as the Chief Minister on May 13, reached Delhi this afternoon and will hold consultation with central leadership on the composition of his Cabinet.

"Right now I cannot comment on any issue. I will be forming the Cabinet within 2-3 days with people having clean image," he said.

He will meet President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. Siddaramaiah was chosen the Congress Legislature Party leader on Saturday after he upstaged party warhorse Union Minister Mallikarjun Kharge for the coveted post.

Siddaramaiah and KPCC chief G Parameshwara had led the Congress battle against BJP in the May five assembly polls, which paid rich dividends as the party riding on anti- incumbency put up an impressive show winning 121 seats, eight more than the required strength in the 224-member House.

When Debasweta Banik applied to take one of the toughest exams in the country, she didn't reach for textbooks or attend coaching classes. Instead she turned to her favorite pastime -- reading the newspapers.

"I quoted out of editorials in my answers," said 22-year-old Banik. "They were my Bible." And her preparation method paid off. This month she became one of the youngest to pass the exams for the Indian civil service. Read

Meet the Upwardly Mobile Middle-Class Indian. Read

Over the past decade, India has invested heavily in Afghanistan's reconstruction. Recognizing India's significant economic and development contributions, the United States has called on New Delhi to play an important role in the new Silk Road initiative aimed at transforming Afghanistan into a regional trade hub. Read more

The family of a British schoolgirl who died at a doctors' clinic in India fear she could have been 'murdered' by medics intent on harvesting her organs.Gurkiren Kaur Loyal's parents took her to see doctors in the Punjab when she began suffering from dehydration 11 days into her first foreign holiday. Her father, Santokh Ghatoara, and mother, Amritpal Kaur Loyal, claim that their eight-year-old daughter was 'fine' until she was given a mystery injection. Read more

Over 1,400 prisoners went on hunger strike at Kot Lakhpat Jail today where Indian national Sarabjit Singh was killed, to protest the hostile attitude of the prison staff.

The prisoners refused to have breakfast or lunch, sources said. Senior jail officials were trying to persuade them to end the strike. Jail superintendent Kamran Anjum, however, denied that prisoners had gone on strike.

"Some prisoners have complained about some issues but they did not go on strike," a spokesman of the jail said. The striking prisoners complained that the staff woke them up at 3.30 am and lined them up to go to a factory within the jail. They further complained that the food served to them was of poor quality. The jail became infamous after several prisoners assaulted Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh last month.

After remaining comatose for almost a week, Sarabjit succumbed to his injuries on May 1. After the killing of Sarabjit, authorities at the jail separated hardened criminals from other prisoners.

Earlier in January, another Indian prisoner in the same jail, Chamel Singh, died after allegedly being assaulted by prison staff. The jail has more than 30 Indian prisoners. It could not immediately be ascertained if any of the Indian inmates had joined the hunger strike.

Indian sports officials meet with the International Olympic Committee Wednesday to negotiate readmission to the Olympic family after being suspended late last year for violating the Olympic Charter.  Read

In a bid to sell India story and lure overseas investments, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today embarked on a three-nation tour to UK, France and Qatar. During the 5-day tour, Chidambaram will hold a meeting with his UK counterpart George Osborne and address investor conferences. He will also hold meetings with leading UK investors.

Mumbai's Arthur Road Jail receives an anonymous letter about a threat to actor Sanjay Dutt's life. Jail authorities say they will provide adequate security to Dutt.

Sanjay Dutt is expected to surrender at the TADA court tomorrow. The actor withdrew his plea to surrender at the Pune jail.  Dutt, convicted in the 1993 bomb blasts case, told a Terrorist and Disruptive Activities court yesterday, that he was facing threat to life from fundamentalist groups and hence should be allowed to surrender before the Yerwada jail instead of the special court on Mumbai.  

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today dubbed Lalu Prasad as a man who speaks too much, days after the RJD chief called him a "parrot" of RSS and BJP.

"Lalu is badbola (one who speaks too much). We don't comment on people who speak too much. There are some people, who are in the habit of speaking something or the other all the time. I don't reply to them," Kumar said.

He was responding to a question about Prasad's comments in Patna a few days back in which the former Chief Minister had dismissed Kumar's posturing against Narendra Modi and dubbed him as a parrot of RSS and BJP. The Bihar Chief Minister is here to discuss the annual state plan with Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Alhuwalia.

Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi was not permitted to address Congress workers in Bikaner, Rajasthan and the Prime Minister's motorcade had to take an an alternate route in Assam where he went to file his nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha today. 

Air India: Emergency Landing and End to Free Food. Read

A defendant in the trial over the fatal gang rape on a bus in Delhi last December is in a "very critical" condition in hospital after being attacked by fellow prisoners, his lawyer said, reports AAP.

Vinay Sharma, 20, was rushed to the state-run Lok Nayak Hospital in New Delhi on Tuesday after he started vomiting blood, defence lawyer A. P. Singh said on Wednesday. "He was vomiting blood and running very high fever. He was also suffering from chest pains. He is in a very critical condition," Singh said.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav introduced his son Tejaswani to politics in Patna Patna today. The rally was attended by thousands. It is believed Lalu thinks the Congress is ditching him and crossing over to Nitish Kumar. Lalu was heard abusing NK Singh, a former Revenue Secretary, saying, "officer kya rajneeti karega? Airconditioned-wala IAS officer hai." 

The Rajasthan BJP is in deep trouble with the CBI slapping a case against Gulab Chand Khataria. Sources believe that the Congress is using the CBI to  to make Kataria another Yedurrappa.

The CBI booked senior BJP leader from Rajasthan Gulab Chand Kataria and three others for murder charges in Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter killing case. Kataria is the second high profile politician to be named in the alleged fake encounter case after former Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah, considered close to Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Our Delhi sources tell us that the Congress protests in front of the BJP headquarters in Delhi demonstrating against the BJP's demands for the PM to quit has some Congress ministers worried.

Parliamentary Affairs minister Kamal Nath who is Netherlands, Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh, who is in Delhi and KV Thomas who is in Kerala want the Food Security Bill and Land Form Bill passed, which cannot be done with support from the BJP. 

Long before Prince Harry, England's Edward VIII enjoyed a ribald youth. A dishy new book that exposes the future king's World War I tryst with a French prostitute. Here's the review.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today appeared in a court in Delhi, which reserved its order for July 1 on framing charges against BJP leader Vijender Gupta in a criminal defamation complaint filed by her.

Dikshit arrived in the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Namrita Aggarwal, who took up the matter only after Gupta came in. The court told Dikshit's counsel that she can leave after marking per presence in the court but it was opposed by Gupta's counsel who said the Chief Minister should wait and the magistrate should take up the matter as per the sequence of the cause list.

The court reserved its order on whether charges are to be framed against Gupta, after hearing arguments from the counsel for Dikshit and Gupta.

"Come on July 1 for an order or for clarification, if needed," the magistrate said. During the over 30 minutes long hearing, Dikshit kept standing beside her advocate Mehmood Pracha. Earlier, Dikshit had appeared in the court on May 30 last year for recording her statement, after which Gupta was summoned as an accused in the case.

Dikshit had filed the criminal defamation case against Gupta alleging that the BJP leader used "uncivilised" language against her in the run up to the MCD polls last year. During the arguments, Pracha said Gupta was claiming that the statement given by him against Dikshit at a public place was not made by him, which is "completely false".

Brad Pitt called his fiancee Angelina Jolie "heroic" for electing to get a preventative double mastectomy in order to lower her risk of getting cancer and be healthy for her family. Jolie revealed in a New York Times op-ed Monday that last month she finished medical procedures for a double mastectomy -- a surgery she decided to get after discovering that she has a "faulty" gene, BRCA1.


Mutations of this gene could lead to higher risks of cancer. Jolie said she had an 87 percent risk of developing breast cancer and 50 percent of developing ovarian cancer. Now her risk has dropped below 5 percent. Read more

The Uttar Pradesh Government has decided to challenge a Pilibhit court''s order that acquitted BJP leader Varun Gandhi in two hate speech cases and one vandalism case.

Inspector General of Police for a Special Task Force Ashish Gupta said, "there were two cases of hate speech against Varun lodged during Lok Sabha elections in 2009, whereas another case of vandalism was filed in the same year.

Among hate speech cases, one was lodged at the Kotwali police station in Pilibhit, while another was filed at Bharkhera of the same district. In the cases related to hate speech, Varun was acquitted by the court of chief judicial magistrate on February 27 and March 5.

In the case relating to vandalism, he was discharged on May 3 by the sessions court."

Meanwhile, Varun, after becoming the general secretary, has organised a political rally in Bareilly and taken the battle close to Rahul Gandhi''s bastion Amethi with a rally held at Sultanpur which shares a boundary with Amethi.

The Group of Ministers formed by the government to file an affidavit on the CBI's autonomy is an eye-wash; the provision for this already exists in the Lokpal Bill, says the BJP.

The Delhi high court on Wednesday will deliver its verdict on an application filed by Congress leader Sajjan Kumar seeking the quashing of all charges against him in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.

This comes close on the heels of Kumar's acquittal of all charges in another case related to the same riots.

There were three cases against Kumar in the riots case, of which he was acquitted in one on April 30 while in the other Delhi Police filed a closure report, saying there was no evidence to implicate him.

There were protests from various quarters after Kumar, a former Lok Sabha MP from Outer Delhi, was cleared of involvement in the killing of Sikhs in the November 1984 massacre in Delhi. However, five others were convicted in the same case.

One protester hurled a shoe at the judge soon after he acquitted Kumar in the case of the riots that broke out 29 years ago on October 31, 1984, after the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi.

The Supreme Court today agreed to hear a plea seeking to restrain government authorities from taking any coercive action against anyone for posting alleged objectionable comments on social networking sites.

An application was filed before the apex court seeking its direction to the authorities not to take action for posting such comments during the pendency of a case before it pertaining to constitutional validity of section 66A of the Information Technology (IT) Act.

The section states that any person who sends, by means of a computer resource or communication device, any information that was grossly offensive or has a menacing character could be punished with imprisonment for a maximum term of three years, besides imposition of appropriate fine.

Youth Congress workers protesting outside the BJP headquarters in New Delhi are being dispersed by the police. The protestors want the BJP to "stop asking for the PM's head". Police have used water cannons to disperse the crowd which has broken barricades. 

Headlines Today's Shiv Aroor on Twitter: Someone should tap Sanjay Dutt on the shoulder and say, 'Tadaaaa!'

The full list of relatives who the government of India pays to work as MPs PAs. Read

Indian markets rallied sharply on Wednesday, with the BSE Sensex rising over 400 points and the broader Nifty regaining the 28-month high of 6,125, rising nearly 130 points. The Sensex traded above the psychological 20,000 mark. Strong buying interest was seen in banking stocks on hopes that the Reserve Bank will cut rates in June after April inflation eased to a 41-month low. The Bank Nifty surged over 2.5 per cent after RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao said he would take note of falling inflation when discussing potential interest rate cuts. More on NDTV.

Sanjay Dutt's lawyer says the actor will surrender before TADA court in Mumbai tomorrow.

The Navy, which has faced several allegations of indecent behaviour regarding its officers in recent weeks, has been hit by another controversy with the wife of a serving officer alleging that she had being forced into getting sexually involved with her husband's colleagues and is also facing mental and physical torture.

The charges came on a day that Defence Minister A K Antony asked top Naval commanders to take strongest possible action against personnel who engaged in 'inappropriate behaviour' and tarnished the Navy's image. The Navy, however, pointed out several inconsistencies in the account of the woman.

Read the full story here

The opinion piece on the Telegraph: One of the many wrong reasons why non-resident Indians have been in the news recently is a spate of cases in which the public authorities of several countries have taken away some Indian children from their homes and placed them in foster care. The excuse generally offered has been that the children have suffered abuse at home and deserve the State's protection of their rights. Full report here

Just in: Sanjay Dutt will surrender at the TADA court today. The actor withdraws his plea to surrender at the Pune jail.  Dutt, convicted in the 1993 bomb blasts case, told a Terrorist and Disruptive Activities court yesterday, that he was facing threat to life from fundamentalist groups and hence should be allowed to surrender before the Yerwada jail instead of the special court on Mumbai.  

Dutt filed an application before special TADA Judge G A Sanap seeking permission to surrender before the Yerwada jail in Pune instead of giving himself up before the special court in south Mumbai.

Dutt, whose conviction under the Arms Act was upheld by the Supreme Court recently, is supposed to surrender on May 16. However, the apex court had reduced to five years the six-year jail term awarded to Dutt by a designated TADA court in 2006 while ruling out his release on probation, saying the "nature" of his offence was "serious". The applicant (Dutt) is facing a threat to life from fundamentalist groups and those with vested interests," the application said.

It further claimed that the actor wanted to avoid a situation of the past when media persons and camera persons had chased his vehicle from Mumbai to Pune last time he was taken to jail after the TADA court convicted him.

On Monday Angelina Jolie made a very brave move as she revealed she recently underwent a preventative double mastectomy. And one person who learned about the surgery on the internet along with the rest of the world was the actress' father Jon Voight. Read more

By writing about her double mastectomy, Angelina Jolie has normalised the idea of lifesaving surgery and flagged up the need to make genetic testing affordable. Read 

Panchayati raj representatives in the Naxal-affected district have resigned en masse to protest the apathy to their development needs, but the Odisha government remains unmoved. Read

Former minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya has arrived at the CBI headquarters for questioning about his alleged role in providing shelter to his driver Sanjay Pratap Singh alias Guddu Singh who is lodged in jail in the Balipur pradhan Nanhey Yadav's murder case, sources said.

The former minister will also be questioned regarding slain DSP Ziaul Haque's wife Praveen Azad's allegation that her husband was murdered at Raja Bhaiya's behest.

Singh alias Raja Bhaiya for questioning at its camp office at Kunda in Pratapgarh district on Wednesday, CBI chief information officer Dharini Mishra said on Tuesday.

Once praised for keeping aside the core issue to move ahead on other fronts, India-China ties can no longer be cited as a model for relations with Pakistan. Read

Actor Sanjay Dutt who has to surrender today and go to jail on May 16th may be assigned the task of cooking while he serves his sentence in prison. Read

New Delhi asked Tehran to mention only Afghanistan as key reason for Chabahar port pact. Read

And this is what the Telegraph says on that story:  The ruling Congress in Assam is preparing to accord a warm welcome to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as he arrives here on a whirlwind trip tomorrow morning to file his nomination papers for the May 30 Rajya Sabha election.Singh has been representing Assam in the Rajya Sabha since 1991. His election this time round -- a mere formality -- will be his fifth straight term from the state.  Read

The Hindu reports: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will fly to Assam toay to file his nomination papers for another term in the Rajya Sabha, ensuring his membership of the Upper House till 2019, the same term the next elected government will get. This makes him eligible for a third term as PM, if the United Progressive Alliance government succeeds in getting another five years.

Congress sources stressed that this should end the speculation of a disagreement between Dr Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi over the exit of two cabinet ministers -- Pawan Bansal and Ashwani Kumar, and the likelihood of a new prime minister

Changing the PM could certainly change the optics for UPA, the fact is, the TINA (there is no alternative) factor works in favour of Dr Singh.

Read the full story here

Four weeks after the Supreme court granted actor Sanjay Dutt time to surrender before the TADA court in the 1993 Bombay blasts case, the deadline ends today. But will surrender at the TADA court?

Dutt filed an application seeking to surrender directly at Mumbai's Arthur Road prison or Pune's Yerawada jail.

The actor said he was facing threat to life from fundamentalist groups and hence should be allowed to surrender before Yerwada jail instead of the special court on Mumbai. He filed an application before special TADA Judge G A Sanap seeking permission to surrender before the Yerwada jail in Pune instead of giving himself up before the special court in south Mumbai.

Today's Parivartan rally is considered crucial to reassert the popularity of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad. His party says that it is aimed at bringing change in Bihar.

Lalu's political career took a hit after the animal husbandry scam following which he launched his wife Rabri Devi as the chief minister of Bihar. Today's rally to be held in Patna will put the spotlight on his children.

Lalu told NDTV: "When they are my children do you want to them to hold a lotus (the BJP's symbol) or arrow (the symbol of the ruling Janata Dal- United)? It is natural that they will hold lanterns and canvas for the RJD," he said. The lantern is the RJD's political symbol.

The RJD chief has two sons and seven daughters.

Read the full story here 

Four Indian Americans, including a physician and three co-owners of a health clinic from Chicago, have been charged with healthcare fraud estimated to be running into millions of dollars.

Federal law enforcement officials said three Indian Americans Ankur Roy, Akash Patel and Dipen Desai owned and operated Selectcare Health Inc., that provided outpatient physical and respiratory therapy in Park Ridge and Skokie.

They have been charged with submitting more than $4 million in false billings to Medicare between March and July 2011. Each of them have been charged with six counts of healthcare fraud in an indictment that was returned by a federal grand jury last Wednesday and unsealed on Tuesday.

Britain has launched a new "super priority" same-day visa service for urgent travellers from India, the first-of-its-kind service to be launched by the UK anywhere in the world.

The super priority visa service was announced by British Prime Minister David Cameron during his visit to the country in February this year.

The service is open for appointment bookings in India from today.

 The Central Bureau of Investigation has summoned former Uttar Pradesh minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya for questioning in connection with the murder case of Kunda Deputy Superintendent of Police Zia-ul-Haque.

The 44-year-old former minister has been asked to appear before the CBI at 10:30 am today at their camp office in Kunda, reports NDTV.

Read the full story here