Lawyer: 'Did YOU not ever feel scared?' Shyamvar Rai: 'I am a driver, I said okay. Madam said it is your job...'
As Peter sits outside the court with his sister, Indrani walks in with a request. It has been three months since Peter has started speaking to Indrani again, after a long silence of two years.
Here's a glimpse of all that happened around the world last month, in 14 images.
'Indrani gave a mirthless laugh on spying The Suitcase, from the accused enclosure and, in sign language, gestured the impossibility of anyone fitting in such a small bag.'
The bonhomie between Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was once again in evidence on Tuesday, but the question remains if it will translate into supporting the BJP in the Rajya Sabha. Senior journalist R Rajagopalan reports.
'Appointed, sponsored and nurtured' by Jayalalithaa, P Rama Mohana Rao is now seen as a man who holds the key to the secrets of ministers and bureaucrats.
'Vajpayee told the minister disapprovingly: "One should not fight with the tools one uses".' Ministers in the Modi government could have done with that advice.
Not Mekhail. Not Rahul. Not anyone. 'Wouldn't someone have asked?' Indrani asked.
Sunil Paliwal is managing director of Aavin, the highly successful milk cooperative of the Tamil Nadu government. He has worked with J Jayalalithaa for 12 years. He pays tribute to the departed leader.
Senior New Delhi-based journalist R Rajagopalan, who has been closely following the Union Budget preparations since 1977, lifts the veil off India's most secretive operation.
'The time has come to substitute the present Constitutional set-up with an alternative democratic framework,' argues B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
Why had the CBI decided to have Waghmare tell the court the tale surrounding this odd trip to Kolkata made for even odder reasons, close to a year-and-a-half after Sheena's murder? To show the kind of person Indrani was? And that the murder of her daughter was not a heat of the moment crime, given Indrani was capable of other odd, suspicious, premeditated acts like this?
On her last day as India's envoy to the United States, Ambassador Nirupama Rao was felicitated by the Barck Obama administration at the State Department on Monday, with US Secretary of State John F Kerry thanking her for her service toward furthering the strategic partnership between the two nations.
The 58-year-old Rajya Sabha MP will face several challenges, including strengthening of the combat capabilities of the army, navy and the air force due to changing regional security matrix and geo-political dynamics.
The lesson Waghmare sternly received on Monday from CBI Investigating Officer K K Singh and CBI Prosecutor Bharat Badami about the way a witness must answer questions from the defence seemed to have had only a marginal effect on him. On Tuesday the timid former office boy still chose, unpredictably and remarkably, to answer many a question in the manner of his choosing. He told the room categorically that he had asked Indrani's former secretary Kajal Sharma not to forge Sheena Bora's signature on her resignation letter.
'A person who came to take care of Jayalalithaa's personal needs slowly took control of her political life.'
Congress President Sonia Gandhi was on Monday night admitted to AIIMS hospital after she was taken ill in the Lok Sabha where her pet welfare legislation and UPA's ambitious Food Security Bill was in the final stages of adoption.
Shyamvar Pinturam Rai and Pradeep Waghmare. Both erstwhile employees of Peter and Indrani Mukerjea. In the witness stand on Monday, Waghmare came across as a cheerful, straightforward man who is attempting to clamber his way towards prosperity. In the witness stand on Friday, Rai shed his customary jauntiness and broke down weeping, begging forgiveness from CBI Special Judge Jayendra Chandrasen Jagdale.
The Gujarat tourism department is planning to convert the erstwhile house of Modi's family into a museum, reports Sohini Das.
Without a moment of hesitation, Rai jumped up on his rickety wooden stool in the witness box. He then drew his legs close to his body and wrapped his arms around his knees and finally tucked his head into his knees demonstrating the fetal position.
'A P Venkateswaran left an indelible impression on Indian diplomacy and made an incredible number of friends, who kept remembering him, more than other Indian diplomats, who served at those posts.' Ambassador T P Sreenivasan salutes a legend of the Indian Foreign Service who passed into the ages.
Indrani exclaimed excitedly, her face lighting up like a little girl's: "I know him soo0o well." Sanjeev Khanna, Accused No 2, jokingly suggested to Badami: "Influencing the witness!" Badami retorted good humouredly: "She can't influence witnesses. She can only influence you and Peter."
'Our preparation is based on ICMR projections, whatever preparations we have to make.' 'If they project around 70,000 is the maximum number of hospital cases by mid-May or May 30, we are preparing accordingly -- how many people will need hospitalisation.'
B S Gnanadesikan, who resigned as Tamil Nadu state Congress chief, tells Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com what is wrong with the party in the state.
'We could quibble with each other whether there were 25 terrorists killed or 250 killed.' 'The message is more that India undertook such an aerial attack and this attack has actually changed the paradigm.' 'The change in paradigm is that India has shown by the surgical strike in 2016 and the aerial strike of 2019 that we will not just sit back and tolerate terrorism which killed so many of our people.' 'We will hit back and by hitting back we will raise the costs of such activities.'
'Nobody laughed during the shooting. There were fights, swearing and what not. Tempers were high but the unit and the actors stayed on, and finally, the film was made. But it was like riding a wild horse!' Kundan Shah's last interview.
It is an open secret that Manmohan Singh is not a popular figure in the Congress, but Sonia's presence, support and strategy are proving a blessing for the good doctor. When P V Narasimha Rao ran into rough times, Sonia remained indifferent and the Congress had left him to the wolves, says Rasheed Kidwai, author of books on Sonia Gandhi and the Congress party.
'I had to submit my resignation from the BJP after just two weeks because they were very regressive.' 'There was no space for a free thinking individual.'
Rahul Gandhi slammed the Modi government, accusing it of being against farmers, labourers, students and the poor.
Ambassador B S Prakash has fond memories of Vinod Khanna, his minister.
Nirmala Sitharaman has a God given opportunity to orchestrate a transformation in India's defence capabilities. One hopes she has her own counsel and does not overly let the PMO run her ship, says Group Captain Murli Menon (retd).
Ira Singhal, the country's first differently-abled UPSC topper shares her secret to success and her big plans for India.
If elected, Hillary Clinton would become the first women president of the US.
In an interview with Rediff.com Puducherry CM spoke about his plans for the state, Rahul Gandhi and his daily friction with the lieutenant governor.
The ripping off the lid, that Mekhail did, on the chain of episodes that lead up to his sister's murder, while condemning Indrani for her actions, for the first time, paradoxically, allowed a more human -- if flawed and complicated -- picture to emerge of Indrani, allegedly The Woman Who Killed Her Own Daughter and shocked a nation.
'Our daughter's name is ANITA-BRIGITTE. She should actually bear the name of AMITA, but the German authorities would have certainly objected to such an unusual name so we chose the name Anita which is almost sounding like Amita.' 'Brigitte was chosen by me because its short form in German is Gita.' Netaji's family had no idea that he had married and had a child till his brother Sarat Chandra Bose received a letter from Emilie Schenkl. A fascinating glimpse from Madhuri Bose's book, The Bose Brothers and Indian Independence, An Insider's Account.
The entrepreneur reveals interesting nuggets about her life and career.
'It is important to note that American officials were trying their best to use the Taliban for their oil games till December 1997 when Mullah Ghous was invited to America. State Department officials did not show any interest in capturing or killing Osama bin Laden even at that time.'
'Fighting Meira Kumar is not a daunting task at all. I hope to give her a very tough fight... Bihar is one state where my Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has challenged Narendra Modi's candidature. As a challenge he should have contested from Bihar and proved Nitish Kumar wrong,' says Dr K P Ramaiah, an IAS officer till a few months ago, now fighting his first election from Sasaram, Bihar.
To improve communication skills, you need to interact with as many people as possible, says Kamini Taneja, Senior Training Consultant at the British Council.
