New Delhi: Deputy leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday accused Home Minister P. Chidambaram of making public a letter he had written to her regarding security arrangements for BJP MP Varun Gandhi. Ms. Swaraj also claimed that Mr. Chidambaram had requested her to keep it (the letter) a secret as it would defeat "the very purpose of providing security". "Chidambaram had written the letter asking me to meet her to discuss Varun Gandhi's security and while I kept the matter a secret, he has leaked it to the media," Ms. Swaraj told reporters here. Ms. Swaraj claimed she had shown the letter only to senior party leader L.K. Advani. "If Chidambaram wanted to keep security arrangements made for Varun Gandhi a secret then why did he leak it? I did not tell the press about it but now that it has been made public, I will be cornered (by the press) to reveal details of my meeting with Chidambaram after it takes place," she said, adding, he had "violated propriety" by doing so.

New Delhi: The Sukhoi crash on April 30 in Rajasthan today caused an uproar in the Rajya Sabha, forcing Defence Minister A.K. Antony to come out in favour of the air superiority of the IAF's fighter jet. "The Su-30 is one of the most advanced jets in the world. The IAF is very happy with it. The IAF feels it is one of the best in the world," Mr. Antony said during Question Hour. As his deputy, M.M. Pallam Raju, was replying to supplementaries, Mr. Antony said "the Indian Air Force feels Sukhoi - one of the most advanced fighter aircraft in the world - is best suited for Indian conditions. The IAF is very happy with these aircraft." Members had wanted to know from the Minister if the crash "was a case of a wrong pilot in a right plane" and if "the pilots reported a malfunction." Mr. Raju told the House that the blackbox of the crashed Sukhoi was badly damaged and has been sent to the UK for retrieving information. The Court of Inquiry ordered into the mishap would look into the possible reasons for the crash including probability of malfunctioning of some equipment, he added, without ruling out "technical failure" of the aircraft.

New Delhi: A Delhi court is likely to transfer the high-profile murder case of TV journalist Soumya Vishwanathan to a sessions court after it fixed on Wednesday the matter for scrutiny of the chargesheet. "Fix the matter for scrutiny of documents and chargesheet, provided to the accused, on July 22," Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kiran Bansal said. The murder case, which was in pre-trial stage, would now be transferred to a sessions court for framing of charges and subsequent trial of five accused as the police have wrapped up the probe and filed the chgargesheet recently. A magisterial court is under a legal obligation to transfer the cases relating to henious offences such as murder, robbery and kidnapping to a sessions court after filing of the chargesheet as it cannot try them. The police recently filed the chargesheet against accused Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Ajay Kumar, Baljit Malik and Ajay Sethi under various provisions of the IPC dealing with murder, criminal conspiracy and intention to commit robbery. Soumya, 26, was shot dead in Delhi on September 30 last year when she was driving from her Jhandewalan office to her Vasant Kunj residence.

Dehradun: Uttarakhand police has launched a search for two companions of an MBA graduate who was killed in an alleged fake encounter and also a key "eyewitness", who have gone missing since the incident last week even as no arrests have been made so far despite a murder case being registered against 14 policemen. A police team, which was sent to Baghpat district in Uttar Pradesh in search of the two youths who were accompanying 22-year-old Ranbir Singh on a motorcycle when they were stopped by the police during checking ahead of the "encounter" last Friday, returned here on Wednesday empty handed. The police personnel are being sent to other areas of Meerut and Baghpat districts in search of the two youths whose identities have not been revealed. Police had claimed that during the search they found a weapon in their bag and they fled with a revolver of a sub-inspector. The boys were intercepted at another place and Ranbir was killed in an encounter while the whereabouts of the other two remain unknown. Police are also searching for Pervez Anjum, a resident of Dalanwala here, who it claimed was was an "eyewitness" to the incident but has gone missing since Friday night. With an autopsy indicating that Ranbir might have been tortured before being killed, a 15-member CB-CID team was constituted to look into the case.

New Delhi: To increase coal supply to the power sector, state-run Coal India (CIL) will step up indigenous production of the fuel. "Coal India will increase the indigenous production of the fuel to meet demand," Minister of State for Coal Sriprakash Jaiswal said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. The government has envisaged new mining projects with additional capacity of around 310 million tonnes during the current XIth Five-Year Plan (2007-12). CIL is taking various steps like improvement in equipment utilisation, timely implementation of projects, improvement in productivity both in underground and opencast mines to increase coal mining capacity. It is also planning new mines with mechanization and introduction of mass production technology in the underground mines. The Minister said, "Coal imports are planned by Power Sector every year in advance keeping in view its requirement and Coal India is also contemplating to import the dry fuel".

Bhopal: The All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Wednesday termed the Delhi High Court's verdict decriminalising homosexual acts among consenting adults as "illegal, irreligious and unnatural" for society. AIMPLB President Maulana Rabe Hasani Nadvi told PTI here that the court's decision was in favour of only a very samll gay community. Nadvi said the court decision should be "condemned" as it was "irreligious and unnatural" and added "we would not allow the western culture to be imposed upon the innocent Indian society." He said few western countries were trying for the last many years to make homosexuality legal among their people and the decision will give strength to the gay community and will have a bad impact on our society. The Muslim leader was in the city on Tuesday night on his way to Kozhikode in Kerala to attend a working committee meeting of the AIMPLB.

New Delhi: Mounting an attack on the Railway Budget for being "West Bengal-centric", the Opposition on Wednesday charged Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee with showering "special affection" on her home state going to assembly polls in two years. "Mamata gave a lot of mamata (affection) to West Bengal ... She has to fight elections in the state. But she should remember that she is the Railway Minister not for West Bengal alone but for the entire country," Samajwadi Party member Virendra Bhatia said in the Rajya Sabha. Participating in the resumed discussion on the Railway Budget, he said the projects announced by previous ministers should not be shelved. Citing an example, Mr. Bhatia said the proposal for train services to facilitate Vaishnodevi pilgrims announced during her predecessor Lalu Prasad's tenure has been shelved. Likewise, construction of two overbridges in Lucknow which was announced during NDA regime has been put on the backburner.

New Delhi: The government on Wednesday said it has approved a total of 10,904 additional posts for the elite National Security Guards (NSG) and sanctioned sophisticated arms and equipment for the force. "The government has already approved the setting up of two regional centres of NSG at Hyderabad and Kolkata apart from four regional hubs. For this, a total of 10,904 additional posts have been approved for NSG," Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Maken said. The required modern arms and equipments have also been sanctioned by the government, he said. NSG commandos undergo regular requisite training, Mr. Maken told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply to a question. Four NSG hubs have been operationalised at Mumbai (June 30) and Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata (July 1).

New Delhi: The BJP on Wednesday wanted to know in the Lok Sabha why the Government was not giving its consent to a proposal for installing a memorial for freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in the French city of Marseilles. Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani sought to know the factual position regarding a letter written by the Mayor of Marseilles expressing willingness to install a memorial and whether the government had any objection to such a move. The issue was raised during Zero Hour by BJP member Gopinath Munde who said 100 years ago on this day, Savarkar had escaped from a British ship, which had docked near Marseilles, when he was being brought to India after being arrested in London for his anti-British activities. Savarkar swam across to the shore but was rearrested in Marseilles, brought to India and imprisoned in the Celullar Jail in the Andamans. Mr. Munde said the Marseilles Mayor had agreed to put up Savarkar's statue and had written to the government for its consent but was yet to receive a response. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V. Narayanasamy said the government has taken note of the matter and he would bring the issue to the notice of the External Affairs Ministry.

New Delhi: Former Shahi Imam of historic Jama Masjid Maulana Syed Abdullah Bukhari, who was ailing for the past few months, passed away here this morning. He was 87. The prominent religious leader breathed his last at around 9:30 am, a statement from the present Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari's secretariat said. The 12th Shahi Imam of the historic Jama Masjid, Maulana Syed Abdullah Bukhari is the father of present Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari. His father Maulana Syed Hameed Bukhari was the 11th Shahi Imam. He was born in Rajasthan's Sambhar and had his religious education -- Dars-e-Nizami -- from Madrasa Abdur Rab in the national capital. The deceased, who is survived by four sons and two daughters, was appointed Vice Shahi Imam in 1946.

New Delhi: Most of the Haj pilgrims may not even know the complexities of the currency movement but have been asked to cough up Rs 5,000 more for the pilgrimage they had completed last year, a CPI(M) Member in the Rajya Sabha said. Raising the issue during zero hour, Moinul Hassan said the Mumbai Haj Committee which is managed "unprofessionally" had sent an unsigned letter seeking extra sum from the Hajis. The reason cited by the committee for extra money related to depreciation of the Rupee against Saudi Riyal, Mr. Hassan said. "If the exchange rate (of Riyal) had gone down, would the Haj Committee return the money to pilgrims," he asked. Mr. Hassan was supported by his colleagues from the Left parties. Deputy Chairman K. Rahman Khan assured the members that External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna had taken note of the issue raised.