Karnataka BJP MLA's wife found dead in Delhi

Karnataka BJP legislator Raghupathi Bhat's wife Padmapriya, 32, was found dead in an apartment New Delhi on Sunday. The wife of the MLA from Udupi had been missing since June 10.
According to the police, her body was found hanging in room number 29 of Kshama Apartments in Dwarka Sector-6.
On the day she went missing, Padmapriya was supposed to go to her parents house in Mulki, a town near Udupi. She had called her parents, informing them that she would reach there by afternoon. She never turned up. However, no police complaint was lodged till Friday.
Once the missing person complaint was lodged by Bhat, police found her car was found abandoned near a temple near Kunjalgiri, near Udupi. In the car police found bloodstains, Rs 8,000 in cash, broken bangles and a cell phone without a sim card.
A senior Karnataka police officer told rediff.com that they will be sending a team to New Delhi to ascertain whether it was a case of murder or suicide.
Reports had earlier suggested that she may have left the house due to strained relations with her husband. However, Bhat denied these and asserted that his relations with his wife were fine.
"When I filed my election nomination form, my wife came with me and she also helped me during my campaign," he said.
Another angle that was being attached to Padmapriya going missing was the role of Naxalites. However, state Home Minister V S Acharya had rejected this theory stating that there was no Naxal presence in and around Udupi district.
Padmapriya's brother Rajshekhar, who is in New Delhi , suspects foul play behind her death even though he confirmed that her body had been found hanging.
He alleged that a contractor from Udupi may have driven her to take the extreme step.
The incident has sent shock waves across Karnataka and the state Women's Commission has initiated a suo motu case.
Nirmala Venkatesh, chairperson of the commission, said they were deeply hurt and would like to probe into the matter.
Meanwhile, Bhat is on his way to New Delhi along with Acharya to complete the formalities.

Indian millionaires jailed

A high-flying British Indian businessman, Virendra Rastogi, on Friday began a nine-and-half-year jail sentence after being found guilty of defrauding some 20 banks across the Atlantic of more than £350 million in what was described as one of the biggest frauds in recent banking history.
The Southwark Crown Court here also jailed his associates, Anand Jain and Gautam Majumdar, for eight-and-half and seven-and-half years respectively.
Rastogi (39), who lived in style in London’s fashionable Mayfair area and had friends in high places, was hailed as one of the biggest success stories of British Indian enterprise and even featured in The Sunday Times’ famous Rich List as among the country’s wealthiest Asian businessmen.
But his charmed life came to a humiliating end when it was discovered that his international business empire comprised of a network of more than 300 fictitious companies whose supposedly high-value clients were fake. The supposed address of one such “client” in Muradabad, Uttar Pradesh, turned out to be a cowshed while the “head office” of another “client” in New Jersey, U.S., was a scrapbooks shop run by an old woman, the investigators found. Another American address was also found to be fictitious.
Rastogi and his associates ran their bogus operation from a fashionable address in Piccadilly, Central London, through a metal trading company RBG Resources. They got two peers, Labour’s Lord Cunningham and Liberal Democrats’ Lord Holmes, to become advisers to the company to give it respectability.
Fake documents
The fraud, which involved borrowing money from banks on the strength of fake business documents, was detected thanks to a simple fax error — by mistake an employee faxed some forged documents to a wrong address.
The recipient turned out to be the company’s auditors who became suspicious and raised the alarm, triggering a trans-Atlantic criminal investigation.
After a seven-year investigation and trial, Rastogi and his associates were convicted for running an “incestuous empire” of fictitious firms.
The judge called their actions a “crime of the utmost gravity” which had caused “enormous damage” to banks.

Bandh evokes mixed response in Tamil Nadu

The day-long general strike called by Left parties in Tamil Nadu on Saturday in protest against price hike in petro products evoked mixed response.
Buses and trains operated as usual. No major untoward incident was reported, police said. Seventy persons, who tried to stage a rail-roko at hosur, were arrested, police said.
A section of auto drivers kept off the roads while shops were closed in many parts of the city. However, shops selling essential items such as medicines and drugs as well as retail outlets owned by big giants remained open not responding to the strike call given by CPI, CPI(M) And other left parties.
The strike call was given following the recent fuel price hike where a litre of petrol was hiked by Rs 5 and diesel by Rs three while the customers had to pay Rs 50 more for a LPG cylender.

Jayasuriya Lacerate Chennai bowlers

Sanath Jayasuriya single-handedly led Mumbai Indians to a comprehensive nine-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings in their Indian Premier League clash at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday.
The Sri Lankan scored an aggressive 48-ball 114 not out that included nine boundaries and 11 huge sixes.
Jayasuriya and captain Sachin Tendulkar (12), playing in his first match in the IPL, put on 82 for the opening wicket in just 44 balls, Mumbai's best opening wicket stand so far in the competition, as the hosts made light work of the chase.
A packed crowd waited in eager anticipation to see Tendulkar perform but instead they witnessed Jayasuriya steal the thunder with the spectacular performance. Even Tendulkar was a mute spectator from the other end as the Sri Lankan severely punished the Chennai bowlers.Chasing a modest 157, the home team romped home with 6.1 overs to spare.Sanath was named Man Of the Match.

Shoaib Akhtar bowls Knight Riders to victory

Shoaib Akhtar produced a magical three-over opening spell to demolish the Delhi Daredevils top-order, as Kolkata Knight Riders scripted a sensational 23-run win in the DLF-Indian Premier League encounter at the Eden Gardens here on Tuesday.
Akhtar, who had to miss two matches on fitness grounds and was doubtful even for this tie, it was a memorable IPL debut. He began in spectacular fashion, sending back Delhi Daredevil skipper Virender Sehwag in the second ball of the opening over.
He removed Gautam Gambhir in his next over and dismissed A.B. de Villiers and Manoj Tiwary off successive balls in his third over to be on a hat-trick. Tillekeratne Dilshan, however, denied Akhtar a hat-trick.Akhtar was adjudged Man of the Match.

60 killed, 150 hurt in Jaipur blasts

Terrorists struck for the first time in Jaipur triggering seven blasts in a span of 12 minutes on Tuesday night in crowded market areas and near a Hanuman temple in the walled city leaving at least 60 killed and 200 injured.
"According to the information I have received 60 people have died and 150 have been injured," said Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, who rushed back to the state capital from Jodhpur.
Bangladesh-based Harkut-ul-Jehadi Islami is suspected to be behind the blasts that has taken the state authorities by surprise, home ministry sources said.
The sources ruled out the use of RDX in the carefully orchestrated low-intensity explosions which were suspected to have been set off from cycles in areas including near the famous Hawa Mahal which are frequented by domestic and foreign tourists.
The blasts rocked Tripolia Bazar, where large number of devotees turned up at a Hanuman temple, Johari Bazar, Manas Chowk, Badi Choupal and Choti Choupal -- all located within a two-km radius in the old city. Inspector General (Jaipur) Pankaj Singh said in all there were seven blasts, a couple of them in the same area.
Police said one explosive was defused by bomb disposal squad near the Hanuman temple.

China quake Toll rises to 12,000

A Chinese disaster relief official says the death toll has risen to nearly 12,000 following a massive earthquake that struck the country
Disaster Response Director Wang Zhengyao said at a news conference Tuesday that 11,921 people had died so far from the 7.9-magnitude earthquake that was centered in Sichuan province.
The death toll from Monday's quake is expected to rise even higher, with state media saying thousands are still trapped in collapsed buildings.

The Red Devils Rule England

Cristiano Ronaldo's penalty and a late goal from Ryan Giggs gave Manchester United a 2-0 victory over Wigan at the JJB Stadium as they retained the Premier League title.
The Portugal winger collected his 31st league goal to help Sir Alex Ferguson's side lift their 17th league title which left them just one behind Liverpool's haul of 18.
United were handed an opportunity to break the deadlock after Emmerson Boyce brought down Wayne Rooney in the penalty area and referee Steve Bennett pointed to the spot.
Ronaldo stepped up to take the 33rd-minute spot-kick and calmly side footed the ball past goalkeeper Chris Kirkland who dived the wrong way.
Giggs, on as a substitute to equal Sir Bobby Charlton's record of 758 appearances for the club, added a second for United in the 80th minute although the result mattered little after Chelsea drew 1-1 with Bolton at Stamford Bridge.