Former DMK minister KPP Samy was on Saturday arrested in Chennai in connection with a case relating to the abduction and murder of two fishermen in 2006.

Samy was taken into custody from his residence at Tiruvottiyur, police said. The former minister had come
under the scanner following suspicion that the two fishermen were abducted and murdered. Special teams were formed to investigate the case.

The two fishermen, said to be AIADMK supporters, were reported missing in September 2006. The family of the missing persons had complained that they suspected the involvement of Samy and his family members, police sources said.

Samy, fisheries minister during the DMK regime, was denied bail and two of his brothers surrendered to the police.

Samy is the fifth DMK minister to be arrested since the AIADMK robbed the party off power in Tamil Nadu elections in 2011.

Defence ministry rejected Army chief General VK Singh’s claims on his date of birth and decided his year of birth will be taken as 1950. Singh will now retire next year.

Singh had earlier claimed his year of birth is 1951.

There were two different dates of birth for Army Chief General VK Singh in official records, one with the Adjutant General’s branch in Army Headquarters that lists May 10, 1951 and the other at the Military Secretary’s branch that shows the date as May 10, 1950.

The age controversy had put the Army’s succession plan in a suspended animation all these months.

The Delhi High Court today rejected the interim bail plea of Bollywood producer Karim Morani, an accused in the 2G telecom scam. Rejecting the plea for bail Justice Ajit Bharihoke who has been hearing the case ordered “No case for interim bail, move regular bail as and when you want.”

The Delhi High Court had earlier rejected bail pleas of other accused in the scandal involving allocation of 2G telecom licenses allegedly at throwaway price costing the government exchequer a hefty revenue loss.

The trial is at present ongoing before a special judge hearing the case on a daily basis. Judge OP Saini the presiding judge at the trial court had also rejected the bail pleas of all accused.

Morani is currently lodged at Tihar jail. Other accused in the case includes former union telecom minister A. Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi.

Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea will now share their networks with each other through inter and intra-circle roaming agreements to provide 3G services to their respective customers across India.

When the auction for the 3G spectrum had taken place, Airtel ended up getting 3G spectrum licenses for 13 circles while Vodafone and Idea got them for 9 and 11 respectively, but none of them got licenses for all 22 circles.

This agreement between the three telcos will allow each of them to have a pan India presence and that too at reduced costs. The financial details of the revenue share agreement were not disclosed.

Bharti Airtel has 3G licence in 13 circles which include Delhi, Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh (West), Rajasthan, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, North East and Jammu & Kashmir.

Idea Cellular holds 3G spectrum for 11 circles namely Maharashtra & Goa (except Mumbai), Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, UP (E) and UP (W), Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and J & K.

While Vodafone acquired 3G spectrum in 9 circles including Delhi, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Kolkata, Haryana, UP (E) and West Bengal.

ICR agreements have become very popular amongst telco’s these days. Vodafone made an Intra Circle Roaming (ICR) arrangement with Idea Kerala to provide its subscribers in the southern state with 3G services. The company is also planning to launch their 3G services through a deal with Bharti Airtel.

Idea in turn launched its 3G services in Delhi and Kolkata through a similar agreement with Vodafone which has licenses for both the metro cities.

Similarly, Bharti Airtel has also entered into intra-circle roaming agreements to share Idea’s 3G etwork in Gujarat and could further partner with Idea to provide its 3G services in the state of Karnataka.

Tuition fees for B.Tech and M.Tech courses at the National Institutes of Technology could be raised to Rs 50,000 a year from the 2012-13 academic year.

The council of the NITs, the body to decide such matters, today considered a proposal to hike fees from the Rs 35,000 the institutes charge at present. “The proposal is under consideration. The NIT council will take a decision in its next meeting in November,” a source said.

There are 30 NITs in the country. Earlier known as Regional Colleges of Engineering, these are seen as second-rung institutions after the IITs. They admit about 12,000 students at the B.Tech and M.Tech levels.

The IITs charge Rs 50,000 a year in fees. A committee under Anil Kakodkar had recently suggested raising the annual fees in IITs to Rs 2.25 lakh. The IIT council, the apex body to decide such matters, will consider the suggestion in its next meeting.

In the NITs, scheduled caste and scheduled tribe students will continue to get fee exemption as before, the proposal said. Needy students will be given education loans without being asked to deposit any collateral security.

Raising their pitch on the Lokpal Bill, the Anna Hazare team today alleged the government version of the ombudsman was not aimed at fighting corruption but to target those who complain against the menace.

The Hazare team felt the exclusion of a large chunk of the bureaucracy from the ambit of Lokpal was not proper. They have also questioned the provision to hear corrupt officials first before filing a case and chargesheet against them.

They wondered how most public servants can be left out of the Lokpal’s purview while bringing NGOs even at village level within its ambit. They expressed apprehension that Lokpal would be able to haul up activists from any of the organisations representing farmers, labourers and tribals or movements related to anti-corruption, land and other issues.

In a shocking incident, a 14-year-old girl was allegedly raped and killed in a police station in Lakhimpur in Uttar Pradesh.

The victim, Sonam, according to her parents, Tarranum and Intezam Ali, allegedly went missing on Friday morning after she had taken the cattle for grazing. When she did not return till late afternoon, her mother went out looking for her and saw that her cattle had strayed near the police station.

She later found the girl’s body next to a tree inside the police station compound.

According to her mother, the girl had injury marks on her body and was bleeding. The cops posted at the police station claim that the girl committed suicide, but her family has alleged that she was first raped and then murdered by the policemen.

“I have spoken to the SP and have come to know that the body was found hanging from a tree. The SP has already visited the location. A complaint has been registered against three people. We are looking into the matter very closely. The family has said its a matter of murder and rape but we can’t confirm yet,” said Brij Lal, Special DG, Law and Order, Uttar Pradesh.

Eleven cops including the Station House Officer (SHO) have been suspended and the girl’s body has been sent for an autopsy to confirm the cause of her death and the allegation that she was raped.

Inaugurating the three day national executive meet of the party, BJP president Nitin Gadkari exhorted people from all castes, communities and political affiliations to come forward and help build a grand temple in Ayodhya. However, he added that Ram mandir is not a political issue for his party.

Gadkari admitted, “BJP’s performance in recent assembly elections in five states had been far from satisfactory. We are disappointed and are analyzing the results. The party needs to work much harder for better results in future.”

“The proposed communal violence (prevention, control and rehabilitation of victims) bill is just an attempt by the Congress party to divide and rule,” said Gadkari. He also added, “If passed, it would put the majority community permanently in the dock while the minority community, even if guilty, would go scot-free.”

He also went on to advocate an independent mechanism for appointment of Lokpal. There should also be a national judicial commission for appointing judges and to look into allegations against them, he said.

Governor J B Patnaik administered the oath of office to Gogoi in a function at Darbar Hall of Raj Bhavan in presence of a host of dignitaries and the newly elected Congress legislators.

Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region Bijoy Krishna Handique, Congress leader Vincent Pala, Meghalaya Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma, chief executive member of the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District Council Hagrama Mohilary , Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Bhubaneswar Kalita and senior Congress leader Chandan Bagchi were among the dignitaries present in the function. Gogoi’s family members were also present at the function.

Immediately after taking oath as the CM, Gogoi told the media that the top priority for the new government would be to expedite the development process in the state, besides accelerating the on-going peace process with the various militant groups, including the United Liberation Front of Assam and the National Democratic Bodo Front.

In the backdrop of the stalemate over seat-sharing discussions with its key ally Congress, the DMK today announced that its top-level Action Committee under party president M Karunanidhi will meet on March 5.

DMK General Secretary K Anbazhagan said in a statement that the April 13 Assembly polls and the party’s election agenda would be discussed in the meeting.

The meeting assumes significance in the wake of the DMK being unable to finalise its poll agreement with the Congress even as AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad, who held talks with Mr. Karunanidhi last night, had returned to Delhi without any apparent tangible results.

Mr. Azad’s meeting with Mr. Karunanidhi this morning was called off at the eleventh hour, fuelling speculations that all was not well in ties between the seven year-old allies.