Army chief Deepak Kapoor will take 'some disciplinary and administrative action' against the four Generals involved in a land scam in Darjeeling, Defence Minister A K Antony said on Wednesday. The ministry had received a report from the Army chief in this regard on Tuesday night and it was 'too early' for him to comment on the action to be taken against the Generals. "The defence ministry received a report from the Army chief," he said.
The Vedic Village scandal is now threatening to snowball into a major land scam involving both the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Opposition TMC leaders, who were instrumental into facilitating the land mafias like Gaffar Molla and others to have free hand in forcibly acquiring farm land for a private realtor on the outskirts of the state capital.
"There is a cover-up going on and we have to find out who is at the bottom of this," Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising said about the land scam case in which Prakash and three other Generals have been indicted by a Court of Inquiry for giving a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) to a private realtor to construct an educational institute on a plot of land adjacent to Sukna army base in Darjeeling.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has criticised the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in West Bengal, citing the Malda incident as evidence of lawlessness and accusing the party of 'maha jungleraj'. He framed the upcoming elections as a battle between the TMC's 'fear' and the BJP's 'trust', addressing issues such as infiltration, corruption, and demographic change.
The IAS officials suspended for their alleged involvement in the 4721-crore-rupee scam are Rakesh Bahadur, Sanjeev Sharan and Ravindra Naik.
A Delhi court on Tuesday granted bail to Chhole bhature vendor Ashok Malhotra and seven others in the multi-crore land scam case, a day after the Central Bureau of Investigation filed six chargesheets against the accused. The judge took note of the defence contention that the CBI had no explanation for its decision to keep Malhotra and A K Mishra, another accused, in custody when the other five accused, including Delhi Assembly official Lal Mani, were not even arrested.
Former military secretary Lieutenant General Avadesh Prakash was on Saturday found guilty on three counts by an army court in Guwahati in the Sukna land scam involving transfer of 71 acres of land adjacent to the military station in West Bengal. He is the seniormost army officer to face court martial.
Lt Gen P K Rath, former Deputy Chief of Army Staff-designate, was on Friday found guilty by an Army court martial in the Sukna land scam, becoming the highest ranking serving officer to be convicted for corruption.
The Indian Army on Monday decided to issue show cause notices to a top General and three other senior officers named in a land scam in Darjeeling, amidst speculation that soon-to-retire Military Secretary Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash may escape sacking.
The new application before the court states that the facts have been jumbled and that Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa had allegedly de-notified only a small portion of the land at Rachenahalli in favour of his family members. However, strangely the name of the HD Kumaraswamy does not figure in the complaint, considering that a major portion of the land was de-notified by him.
The Karnataka high court on Monday granted bail to former minister Katta Subramanya Naidu, who was arrested in connection with the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board land scam.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accused the TMC government in West Bengal of 'maha jungleraj' following an incident in Malda where judicial officers were allegedly held hostage. He framed the upcoming elections as a battle between the TMC's 'fear' and the BJP's 'trust', promising accountability for alleged atrocities and a focus on development.
One more ruling Bharatiya Janata Party legislator on Tuesday joined the list of party leaders facing land scam charges with a court in Haveri on Tuesday directing Lokayukta police to probe a private complaint against Nehru Olekar that he secured land to two educational institutions allegedly in violation of rules.
Senior IAS officer Baseer Ahmad Khan was on Monday arrested by the Jammu and KashmirState Vigilance Organisation for allegedly misusing his official position for illegal transfer of government land in Gulmarg worth crores of rupees.
The Bombay High Court has ruled that accepting a bribe constitutes acquiring proceeds of crime, denying relief to a former municipal official arrested in a money laundering case.
The Delhi high court on Wednesday stayed an order of a lower court asking the CBI director to personally appear before it to explain disappearance of some documents pertaining to the sensational multi-crore rupees Molarband and Dheerpur land scam case.
Ajit's uncle and NCP-SP chief Sharad Pawar, however, has urged people not to politicise the death of his nephew.
Controversial former Uttar Pradesh chief secretary Neera Yadav, who was sentenced to four years imprisonment in a Noida land scam case, was on Tuesday released on bail after spending seven days in a jail in Ghaziabad.
Lieutenant General Avadesh Prakash, the former military secretary against whom court martial proceedings have been initiated by the Army in the Sukna land scam, has been attached to the Western Command and asked to stay in Delhi till further orders."Lieutenant General Prakash has been attached to the Western Command and asked to stay put in Delhi till further orders for summary of evidence is issued," a senior Army officer said on Tuesday.
The Uttar Pradesh wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party will call on state Governor B L Joshi on June 1 to demand a 'high-level enquiry' against the Mayawati government in connection with what they alleged was a 'Rs 5,000 crore land scam in Greater Noida.'
The Lucknow police have uncovered a cheating racket that mimicked the style of exam fraud seen in the first Munnabhai film, where real candidates were replaced by professional impersonators to sit for competitive exams.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw asserted that the BJP will form the government in West Bengal after the upcoming assembly elections, ending the Trinamool Congress's 15-year rule. He criticised the TMC for vote-bank politics, hindering development, and failing to protect women, while promising unprecedented development under a BJP government.
The ED, it is understood, wants to grill Vadra about the operations of a firm -- Ms Skylight Hospitality Private Limited -- allegedly linked to him, which had purchased land in the area.
Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini has refuted claims by the opposition regarding the cancellation of old-age pensions, calling them baseless and politically motivated. He assured that the government is verifying discrepancies to ensure only eligible beneficiaries receive pensions and highlighted the increase in pension amounts and the number of beneficiaries under the current regime.
Maharashtra minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Chandrashekhar Bawankule has said that Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar should refrain from criticising the saffron outfit and not force it to open 'pages from the past'.
Krishna was unable to attend the court on Tuesday as he had to appear before the Lokayukta police following a notice issued to him by the investigation officers probing the MUDA site allotment case against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and others, sources close to him said.
Six policemen were injured and a police vehicle vandalised in a mob attack during an attempt to arrest a TMC worker in Sandeshkhali, once again pushing the coastal block into political focus ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
Ajit Pawar, who was the finance and planning minister, would have tabled his budget for 2026-27 next month when the state legislature's budget session begins in Mumbai on February 23.
Ayodhya mayor, a local BJP MLA and a former party legislator are among the 40 people whom the Ayodhya Development Authority has accused of illegally trading plots and building infrastructure in such land.
Vaa Vaathiyar ends up being a bland yet fascinating iteration of a masala film funnelled through the prism of a quirky humorist, notes Arjun Menon.
'Only because of the absence of a dedication record in writing, how can such properties be treated as located on misappropriated government land?'
A chargesheet filed by Andhra Pradesh police in connection with the Rs 3,500 crore alleged liquor scam mentions former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy as one of the recipients of kickbacks. The chargesheet alleges a complex scheme involving shell companies, policy manipulation, and extortion to generate funds that were ultimately routed to Jagan Mohan Reddy.
'The writing is on the wall for both Shinde and Ajit Pawar.'
This is the first disciplinary action against an official in connection with alleged irregularities in allotment of land to megastar Amitabh Bachchan in Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh.
'Instead of the government and telecom operators solving the mess of their own creation, they're telling us we need to give access to our phones perpetually.'
'In 2014 the BJP built its campaign around 'jija ji' (brother-in-law) and corruption, shouting about Vadra, 2G and coal scams. Yet today, all those cases have quietly been shut. The people are not fools. They can see the reality--that Congress and BJP are in a hidden alliance'
The Minister under the scanner, Katta Subramanya Naidu, insisted that his hands were clean and said there was no question of resignation.
Writer and director Anusha Rizvi returns to cinema after 15 years with warmth, wit and many a laughs.
Ghosh's elder son, Biswajit, claimed that this was a planned attempt to murder his father, and alleged that Shahjahan pulled strings sitting in jail to carry out the crime.
