Nasheman

India's largest selling Urdu weekly, now also in English

You are here: Home / 2016 / Archives for May 2016

Archives for May 2016

Southern Films Round Up

by

Asif Ali

Asif Ali Bags A New Heroine Anju Kurian

She is all set to play the lead heroine in a movie. As her leading man, she has none other than Asif Ali opposite her. Anju had hit the big screen with Om Shanti Oosana. She was also part of Premam and had appeared briefly as Nivin’s sister in it. The upcoming Asif Ali starrer is titled Kavi Uddeshichathu. Asif Ali plays Kaavalam Jimmy who tries to woo Anju’s character. Narain & Biju Menon are the other & lead actors in the movie. The shooting of this comic entertainer is on at Kannur.

Chowka Five Men Army Gets Many Additions

The 50th film of Karnataka pride Dwarakish Chitra’s Chowka gets many strong value additions. It has 5 well known faces in the star cast – Lovely star Prem, Vijay Raghavendra, Diganth, Prajwal & Aindrita Ray. In the technical department also director Tarun Sudhir (debut) has brought in big names. Five cameramen – Sathya Hegde, S Krishna, Shekar Chandru, Sudhakar Raj & Santosh Rai Pathaje have stood behind the camera. For music of 5 songs V Harikrishna, Gurukiran, Anoop Seelin, Sridhar Sambram & Arjun Janya, for dialogues of this Chowka, Anil Kumar, Simple Suni, A P Arjun, Chitan & Yoganand Muddan have written. In the art department 5 expertise who have worked at Arun Sagar, Ravi Santhehaklu, Mohan B Kere, Hosmane Murthy & Shivakumar.

Major Cinema Organisation Supports Jayalalitha

During elections of the past it has been in vogue for Rajinikanth to voice his direct or indirect support to one of the parties and every leader would wait with bated breath for that. This time the superstar has kept mum and similarly Illayathalapathy Vijay has also instructed his fan club members to vote for their favourite candidates. At this juncture, it comes as a surprise that FEFSI the umbrella organisation of cinema which comprises of 24 craft unions has extended support to the AIADMK after the President G. Siva and other office bearers meeting with party supremo Jayalalitha.

Anjali To Be Seen In The Role Of Kannagi

Director Karthick Subbaraj in his Iraivi though having on board heavy weights like Vijay Sethupathi, Bobby Simha, S. J Suriya, Radha Ravi & Karunakaran has reportedly given more space to the heroines Anjali, Kamalinee Mukherjee & Pooja Devariya. Incidentally speaking Anjali’s role has been based on the epic characterization of Kannagi and this will turn out to be one of the path breaking roles for the talented actress on the lines of Angadi Theru & Engeyum Eppodhum.

Sri Divya Heaps Praises On Soori

At the recent press interaction for her upcoming film Marudhu pretty Sri Divya heaped praises on her costar Soori stating that he “merselled’ (mesmerized) her by his solid performance as a character artiste. Hero Vishal too was of the same opinion that Soori has excelled both in comedy & sentiments. Marudhu directed by M. Muthaiah and produced by Gopuram films has music by D. Imman & Radha Ravi in a pivotal role.

Maddy’s Sensational Heroine In Thala 57

After the blockbuster Vedalam’ which even survived & conquered the epic Chennai rains, Thala Ajith & Siruthai Siva are ready to begin their next in Jul, 2016. As of now the production company Sathyajyothi Films have confirmed Anirudh as the music director and rumors are rife that Santhanam has agreed to do a pivotal role. There are huge speculations regarding who would be the heroine of Thala 57 and Anushka has been roped in as one of the heroines and talks are on with Rithika Singh, who played the young boxer in love with Madhavan in Irudhi Suttru.

Vikram Opens Up About Prequel To 24

One may say that Vikram Kumar is a proliflic story – writer. Even when he was making 13B, he had written the story lines of 13C & 13D, apparently sequels to the Madhavan starrer. For some reasons, he couldn’t make the films with Maddy. Latest, it has been speculated that he will make a sequel to 24. It has been said that Athreya, the villain, has not been shown to have been dead conclusively enough. It’s also said that Vikram has deliberately left unconcluded the fate of the watch. Putting to rest the speculations, Vikram has said that it’s not a sequel that he has in mind, but a prequel.
This film will go on the floors after Vikram is done with his two bi – linguals, one each with Allu Arjun & Mahesh Babu.

Anushka Reveals A Thing About Bhagmathi

Anushka reveals a thing about her next movie Bhagmathi, which happens to be a historical drama, and one which sees Anushka being cast in the role of the Quli Qutub Shah’s wife. UV Creations is producing the project. The film was recently launched in a puja ceremony. Speaking about the movie, Anushka has said that it will be made like a thriller. Since thrillers are gaining currency of late, one can expect this one to be a hit. For a period drama, it’s an innovation as well. The shooting will begin once Anushka is done with Suriya’s S3. This ambitious film, which tells the legendary story of Bhagmathi, wife of Quli Qutub Shah, will be directed by Ashok G of Pilla Zamindar fame.

Chuttalabbayi’s climax being shot

Chuttalabbayi, starring Aadi and directed by Veerabhadram Chowdary of Aha Naa Pellanta & Poola Rangadu fame, is currently filming its climax in a Shamshabad temple. Dragon Prakash is choreographing the sequences. The producers say, “The songs filmed in Bangkok & Rajahmundry have come out very well.” The director says that John Kokkin is playing the villain. “The climax is turning out very well. Thaman has given extraordinary tunes.” We are planning to release it in June. As per the makers, “It’s an out & out fun film. Brahmanandam, Posani, Prudhvi, Raghu Babu, Shakalaka Shankar will have the audience in splits.” Krishna Bhagawan, Abhimanyu Singh, Jeeva, Surekha Vani, and others are part of the cast.

Kajal Speaks On her Brahmotsavam Role

It is a film which has got many wondering what the story might be, especially given the fact that it has 2 ace actresses romancing Mahesh Babu. The trailer has hardly thrown the hint. Meanwhile, Kajal Aggarwal has opened up about her role in this mega budgeted family entertainer. In this Srikanth Addala directed summer bonanza, the pretty diva plays an independent minded woman who is firm. Does this mean that Kajal (not to forget Samantha) has a meaty role in Brahmotsavam? Apparently, yes. It has to be seen how her strong minded character fits in the scheme of the things. For sure, many feminists are going to warm up to her role. Before all, Kajal is understandably in love of her role because the character admittedly reflects her true self in real life in terms of the strength that she shows.

Bhavana To Enact the role of a committed school teacher

She is all set to play a committed school teacher in an upcoming movie. She plays a character named Aswathy Ananthakrishnan. She is bold and works for the children tirelessly. She is also a counsellor at the juvenile home. The film to be helmed by Vijay Menon has been titled Vilakkumaram. The movie has been scripted by Vijay’s son Nikhil. This is a woman centric movie and has a serious & strong theme & message. However the director assures that the movie will be an entertainer. The film rolled recently and will be shot at Trivandrum & Ladakh.

Kabbaddi Kalpana 2 To Star Upendra In A Kannada Remake

The super hit Tamil film of Raghav Lawerence Kanchana 2 coming up in Kannada with super star Upendra in the lead and with 2 lovely looking heroines Priyamani & Avanthika Shetty. It is almost near the completion of shoot. At a playground in Malleshwaram super star Upendra representing Karnataka team with some protection to his knee took part in the national game Kabbaddi. The opponent party was Bihar team. The game was also mixed with song & dance that was directed in Kalai Kumar dance direction. When Upendra is there, the on lookers are huge. It happened so at the public playground. With this song the shooting also comes to an end says director Anantha Raju. Dr KM Rajendra of Kalla Police fame and Shilpa Srinivas are joint producers of this Kalpana 2 in the direction of Anantha Raju.

Movie Review: ‘Buddha In A Traffic Jam’ is an interesting & realistic movie

by

Buddha In A Traffic Jam

Producer: Vivek Agnihotri & Sharad Patel
Director: Vivek Agnihotri
Star Cast: Arunoday Singh, Mahie Gill, Aanchal Dwivedi, Pallavi Joshi & Anupam Kher
Music: Rohit Sharma

Vivek Agnihotri has given many marvellous films in the past and Buddha In A Traffic Jam is one more interesting & realistic film from his camp which is now backed by dynamic & dashing producer namely Sharad Patel & a brigade of dozen other producers.

The plotted scenario of Buddha In A Traffic Jam starts off with Vikram Pandit (Arunoday Singh) who is a happy – go – lucky management student from a business school in India. Little does Vikram Pandit know that he was about to become a part of the plot that would risk his life & also the Nation. He gets entangled between the 2 facets of India namely socialism & capitalism, both of which are deeply rooted in the isolated corners of the country. Somewhere deep within the jungles, flagrant conspirators are gearing up to maim the country. Vikram Pandit’s internet campaigns pulls him into a very deep web of conspiracy. The film revolves around Vikram Pandit’s survival in the sinister designs of the establishment. It resolves the age long conflicts between socialism & capitalism and defines the much needed revolution for the contemporary India.

The autobiographical film Buddha In A Traffic Jam is loosely based on director Vivek Agnihotri’s life himself and gives a lot of insight into the nexus between the so called NGO’s & the Naxalites and how the Universities exploits its students to give the much needed momentum to the Naxalite moment.

The direction of Vivek Agnihotri and the par excellence act of all the actors like Arunoday Singh, Mahie Gill, Aanchal Dwivedi, Pallavi Joshi & Anupam Kher are one of the major highlights of Buddha In A Traffic Jam. Beside the music of Rohit Sharma is apt in keeping up with the tempo of the film.

But there is one minor glitch in the film as it does not sound like a common man’s cup of tea as they may hardly relate to the subject at hand. Besides some of the so called bold scenes of the film in lieu with the blatant, in your face, cuss words may not be acceptable to some of the viewers.

Tail Piece: So all in all Buddha In A Traffic Jam is more of a film for the elite class and festival circuit audiences. But it may also have a good prospects at the Box Office turnstiles with sheer word of mouth publicity.

Movie Review: ‘One Night Stand’ is the kind of movie which may prove good only for one time viewing

by

one-night-stand

Director: Jasmine Moses – D’Souza
Star Cast: Tanuj Virwani, Sunny Leone, Nyra Bannerjee, Ninad Kamath & Khalid Siddiqui
Music: Jeet Ganguly, Meet Bros, Tony Kakkar, Vivek Kar

Debutant director Jasmine Moses – D’Souza has really made a fairly decent & engaging
film in her debut directorial offering One Night Stand but sadly enough the loose script makes the proceedings dull and obviously the cine goers may loose Interest half way through.

The plotted scenario of One Night Stand kicks off with a flashback that’s being narrated by Urvil (Tanuj Virwani). It is the flashback and a series of events from his past that has defined his today. The flashback starts off with a fashion show organised by his event management agency. And after completing the event successfully, Urvil and his colleagues go drinking to celebrate. It is here that his friends challenge him to speak to a rank stranger (Sunny Leone) for a few thousand rupees. An attempt to win the bet gets him introduced to the stranger who, in turn, introduces herself as Celina. What follows after that, is unlimited liquor drinking by the 2 of them, which ultimately lands them up in bed together. But, the very next day, when Urvil gets up, he finds out that Celina has already left the room, without leaving any details of her whereabouts. And when Urvil comes back to his home in Pune, he is welcomed by his beautiful & dutiful wife Simran (Nyra Banerjee). Things are absolutely smooth between the couple, until one day Urvil accidentally spots Celina in the same mall wherein he has gone for shopping with his wife Simran. That very sight of Celina freshens up his ‘one night stand’ with her, which, in turn, gets translated into his desperation to meet her again. Thereafter begins his unending quest to hunt down Celina from the length & breadth of the world. Amidst all this, Urvil gets extremely busy with his company’s big – budget event of a product launch. It is here where he gets introduced to his rich client and his family, which takes the daylights out of Urvil.

Jasmine Moses – D’Souza has certainly presented Sunny Leone in a different avatar much away from her stereotyped image. If only she had paid more attention on the screenplay then One Night Stand would have turned out to be more interesting romantic thriller. That apart music proves to be the main USP of the film.

Performance wise it is refreshing to see Sunny Leone in an unusal role. She carries the film entirely on her dainty shoulders. She is charming & effortlessly acts out her role putting behind her sexy siren image. Tanuj Virwani is perfect in his role but struggles in a few scenes to get his expressions correct. Nyra Banerjee is totally natural while facing the camera and is a promising discovery. Other actors like Khalid Siddiqui & Ninad Kamath are good in their respective roles.

Tail Piece: All in all One Night Stand is a kind of film which may prove good only for one time viewing.

Kohli, de Villiers tear apart KKR

by

kohli-de

Kolkata: Virat Kohli and A.B. de Villiers once again delivered the goods with their bats as their Royal Challengers Bangalore romped home with 9 wickets to spare against Kolkata Knight Riders in an Indian Premier League (IPL) contest at the Eden Gardens here on Monday.

Kohli and de Villiers remained not out on 75 and 59 respectively while Chris Gayle contributed with a 31-ball 49. The Kohli-de Villiers partnership yielded 115 runs for the men in red and black.

With the win, Bangalore stay alive in the competition with 6 wins from 12 games.

Chasing Kolkata’s 183/5, they got off to a flyer as Gayle – who had been in slumber for much of this season – smashed the ball to all parts of the ground.

The burly Jamaican first took on Andre Russell hitting him for 17 in the third over and then clubbed Sunil Narine for two consecutive fours in the fifth.

After six overs, Bangalore were cruising at 63 for no loss but then Gayle was adjudged leg-before-wicket off a Narine delivery.

It was difficult to understand who the home team were as chants of ‘Kohli, Kohli’ went up time and again around the packed stadium as the Bangalore captain came in – and did not disappoint either as he picked the boundaries at regular intervals. However, Kohli was dropped at 32 by his opposite number Gautam Gambhir.

The miss proved costly as Kohli got to yet another half-century, while his partner at the other end – de Villiers – started clobbering them too.

Before long, the visitors were in touching distance of the total and the duo did the needful with 8 balls to spare.

Earlier twin fifties from Gambhir (51) and Manish Pandey (50) aided by Russell’s late blitz of 19-ball 39 helped Kolkata get to a fighting total.

Even though the hosts lost Robin Uthappa (2) early, Gambhir manage to pick the gaps along with Pandey. By the end of the powerplay, the team was 51/1.

The onslaught continued in the next over as legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal was carved for 16.

Bangalore then pulled things back a little thereafter and also grabbed the vital wicket of Gambhir who got run-out shortly after getting to his fifty.

Thereafter, new man Yusuf Pathan and the already set Pandey failed to pierce the gaps. Runs dried down and Pandey was holed out in the deep trying to up the run-rate. Yusuf (6) too was out stumped.

Next to perish was Suryakumar Yadav (5) who was caught at long on by Iqbal Abdulla. The flurry of wickets also put a brake on the scoring rate much to the relief of Bangalore.

But Shakib Al Hasan and Russell enthralled the strong Eden crowd with some powerhitting to propel Kolkata to such a score. The last three overs yielded 38 runs for the home side.

Brief Scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 183/5 (Gautam Gambhir 51, Manish Pandey 50; Sreenath Aravind 2/41) vs Royal Challengers Bangalore: 186/1 (Virat Kohli 75, AB de Villiers 59)

(IANS)

Turkey and US bomb ISIL positions inside Syria

by

At least 27 killed and ISIL defence posts destroyed in area controlled by armed group, according to Syrian state media.

Air raids destroyed a fifth-century Church in Daret Azza village, said activists [Reuters/FILE]

Air raids destroyed a fifth-century Church in Daret Azza village, said activists [Reuters/FILE]

by Al Jazeera

Turkish and US-led coalition forces have struck Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) targets north of the Syrian city of Aleppo, killing at least 27 fighters, according to state-run Anadolu Agency and other media reports.

Turkish artillery and rocket launchers fired into Syria while warplanes from the US-led coalition carried out three separate air campaigns, Anadolu said on Monday citing military sources.

Five fortified defence posts and two gun posts were also destroyed in the attack less than 10km from Turkey’s Syria border.

Turkish and coalition forces have carried out a series of such strikes recently to prevent further attacks on the Turkish border town of Kilis, which lies just across the frontier from ISIL-controlled territory in Syria, and has been regularly struck by rockets in recent weeks.

The US and Turkey have for months been discussing a military plan to drive ISIL from the border.

Elsewhere in Aleppo, fighting continued as government-backed armed groups said they took back two villages north of the battered Syrian city from ISIL.

Government’s deadly airborne raids also destroyed a fifth-century church, the Church of Saint Simeon Stylites in the village of Daret Azza, according to Syrian activists.

The fighting was focused around a strategic area that leads in and out of the rebel-controlled eastern Aleppo.

Claims and counterclaims

On Saturday, ISIL launched offensive in the east of the country in Deir Az Zor, but Syrian government troops fought back, and claimed to have retaken a hospital and a dormitory from the armed group which has seized territory in Syria and Iraq.

Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker, reporting from the Turkish city of Gaziantep, near the Syrian border, said: “It’s been a battle back and forth in a small pocket of Deir Az Zor city under the control of the government.

“However, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group is saying that the 95 percent of the city is under ISIL control which is in an oil-rich area.”

Meanwhile, John Kerry met King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia and its Adel Al-Jubeir, foreign minister, as part of diplomatic push aimed at ending the five-year-old war in Syria.

Kerry will head to Vienna to push for more international cooperation on ending the conflict that has left more than 240,000 people. He will also go to Brussels for meetings with NATO leaders.

A tenuous ceasefire has been in place since February brokered by Russia and the US, but Syria has continued to bomb rebel-controlled areas in Aleppo.

Nearly 300 people have been killed in the recent upsurge of violence.

Once Syria’s commercial heartland, Aleppo is now divided between the government-held west and the rebel-controlled east.

Movie Review: ‘Azhar’ is a highly engaging piece of cinema that grips you completely

by

azhar

Producer: Shobha Kapoor, Ektaa Kapoor & Sony Pictures Networks
Director: Tony D’Souza
Star Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Prachi Desai, Nargis Fakhri, Lara Dutta, Gautam Gulati, Manjot Singh, Rajesh Chaudhary, Varun Badola, Kulbhushan Kharbanda & Kunal Roy Kapur
Music: Pritam & Amal Mallik

After making damp squib films like Blue & Boss director Tony D’Souza is in full form in Azhar. He has made a very heart warming film by laying bare most of the controversial facets of the legendary cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin.

The plotted scenario of Azhar throws light on the life & times of Azhar (Emraan Hashmi) and his marriage with Naureen (Prachi Desai), his 1st wife and of course on his personal relationship with Bollywood actress Sangeeta Bijlani (Nargis Fakhri) who later on become his 2nd wife. But the film is more of an effort to clear his name from the 3 match fixing scandals in which he was dragged in for no fault of his own. But then Azhar being Azhar he fights for justice in court in a long drawn out court proceedings with his long time friend Reddy (Kunal Roy Kapur) as the defense lawyer and his die – hard fan from London namely Meera (Lara Dutta)
as the public prosecutor. Needless to say that Azhar wins the long drawn out court battle of 12 years till he succeeds in clearing his defamed name and regains his honour & respect in the eyes of his millions of fans.

Director Tony D’souza’s Azhar brilliantly captures the angst, the simplicity, the colossal success, the dual romance, the tryst with infamy and an arduous innings of never ending struggle – to – clear – the – name of Indian cricket’s heroic, yet arguably the most controversial captain Mohammad Azharuddin. A special well – deserved mention should also be made of Shobha Kapoor, Ektaa Kapoor & Sony Pictures Networks for backing this project. Besides hats of to all the behind the scenes man for their over all competence like writer Rajat Arora, music composers Pritam & Amal Mallik, cinematographer Rakesh Singh, editor Tushar Shivam et al.

Performance wise it is an Emraan Hashmi film from “The Start” till “The End”. Emraan has really sunk his teeth into the skin of Mohammed Azharuddin’s character to the extent of getting Azhar’s typical mannerisms & body language right. This is Emraan’s career best performance. He literally captures the spirit & the soul of Mohammed Azharuddin. Prachi Desai is delightful as the simple Naureen and acts with a lot of heart. Nargis Fakhri is a visual delight as a glam doll. Kunal Roy Kapoor as the bumbling lawyer friend is a major highlight of the film. He ensures genuine comical moments in spite of retaining the seriousness of certain key moments in the film. Lara Dutta is in top form as the no – nonsense prosecution lawyer. Kulbhushan Kharbanda as Azhar’s grandfather shines in a cameo. But the film makes blatant mockery of the other Indian Cricketers by presenting their characters very shabbily and the poor victims were actors like Gautam Gulati & Varun Badola portraying the roles of Ravi Shashtri
& Kapil Dev respectively.

Tail Piece: Azhar is a not to be missed heart touching movie

IPL: Krunal, bowlers guide Mumbai to thumping victory over Delhi

by

Mumbai-Indians

Visakhapatnam: Riding on promising all-rounder Krunal Pandya’s quick-fire 86, followed by an impressive bowling performance, Mumbai Indians outclassed Delhi Daredevils by 80 runs in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match here on Sunday.

Batting first, Krunal smashed his maiden IPL half-century to guide the defending champions to massive 206/4 in 20 overs.

In reply, Delhi lost wickets at regular intervals as they were bundled out for 126 in 19.1 overs. Jasprit Bumrah (3-13) and Krunal (2-15) were the pick of the bowlers for Mumbai while Harbhajan Singh and R. Vinay Kumar claimed one wicket each.

The win ensures Mumbai keep their play-off hopes alive as they climbed to the third spot in the points table.

Chasing an imposing target of 207, Delhi got off to a poor start losing opener Mayank Agarwal (8) in the second over itself.

His opening partner Quinton de Kock (40) played positively from there on but lost partners at the other end as Karun Nair (8), Sanju Samson (6) fell cheaply to have the visitors in trouble at 60/3 in eighth over.

As the required run-rate climbed high with every ball bowled, de Kock trying to up the scoring rate also fell to left-arm spinner Krunal in the 10th over. The South African promising opener in his 28-ball innings struck four boundaries and two sixes.

Incoming young batsmen Rishabh Pant (23) played a short innings but failed to convert the start into a big one as his dismissal came after seamer Bumrah had Jean-Paul Duminy (9) caught by wicket-keeper Jos Buttler in the 13th over.

There was more trouble for the visitors as wickets kept on tumbling and the required rate climbed high to put more pressure on the incoming lower-order batsmen.

Chris Morris played a 16-ball 20 in the end but was not enough as his side surrendered to a dominant Mumbai side.

Earlier put into bat, openers Rohit Sharma (31) and Martin Guptill (48) helped the defending champions get off to a decent start scoring 45 runs without losing any wickets after the completion of powerplay.

But the seventh over of the innings saw a twist in the tale – leg-spinner Amit Mishra brought the first breakthrough dismissing Mumbai skipper Rohit when Mumbai were 46/1 in 6.3 overs.

Hard-hitting left-hander Krunal who was promoted up the order at No.3 to keep the run flow going, did not disappoint his team. He played his natural game, striking a couple of boundaries and sixes to help the team keep a healthy run-rate.

He was well supported on the other end by experienced Kiwi batsman Guptill as the duo played sensibly to help team cross the 80-run mark after 10 overs.

The duo smashed 23 runs in the 13th over bowled by leg-spinner Imran Tahir to take team over 100-run mark in style.

Krunal then – with a couple of big blows – brought up his maiden IPL half-century in just 22 balls.

The impressive 96-run partnership for the second wicket came to an end in the 15th over when Guptill looking to strike one over long on was caught by Karun Nair off the bowling off Zaheer Khan. The hosts were 144/2 then.

Despite wickets at the other end, Krunal smashed it to all parts of the ground, but eventually in the 18th over, Chris Morris finally got rid of the 25-year-old to put a check on the run flow.

During his maiden IPL half-century, the left-handed batsman struck seven boundaries and six sixes.

In the dying overs the innings, Buttler (18 not out) and Ambati Rayudu (13 not out) played useful cameos to take the team past 200-run mark.

Morris (2-34) was the pick of the bowlers for Delhi as the spinning trio of Shahbaz Nadeem (2-42), Amit Mishra (1-42) and Tahir (0-59) proved expensive. Zaheer Khan was economical, having conceded 23 runs in four overs.

Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians: 206/4 in 20 overs (Krunal Pandya 86; Chris Morris 2/34) vs Delhi Daredevils 126 in 19.1 overs (Quinton de Kock 40; Jasprit Bumrah 3-13, Krunal Pandya 2-15)

(IANS)

Asaram Bapu’s supporters attack police, seven injured

by

Asaram Bapu

New Delhi: Police on Monday said they had registered a case of rioting against supporters of spiritual guru Asaram Bapu who attacked police personnel overnight here, injuring seven policemen.

According to police, the police personnel were injured when some 2,000 people demanding Asaram Bapu’s release stoned the Parliament Street police station in the heart of the city on Sunday night.

A few police vehicles were also damaged in the protest. No arrests have been made yet, a police officer told IANS.

Asaram Bapu, lodged in Jodhpur Jail in Rajasthan after his arrest in 2013, has been accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl. He has denied the charge.

(Agencies)

Assembly polls for Tamil Nadu, Puducherry begin

by

polls

Chennai: With the Election Commission having made elaborate arrangements for free and fair voting, assembly polls in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry began on Monday amid tight security.

In Tamil Nadu, 233 seats would go to polls, with voting for Aravakurichi constituency having been deferred.

Kerala would see polling for its 140 seats assembly. In Puducherry, 30 seats would go for polls.

The polling started at 7 a.m. and would end at 6 p.m.

All non-sensitive booths would have a policeman each for providing security and central paramilitary force personnel would give security cover for the sensitive and hypersensitive booths.

Meanwhile, the election authorities are bracing for the possibility of unusual rains today.

An unseasonal low pressure area has formed over the South West Bay of Bengal and adjoining Srilanka, that is set to bring heavy to rather very heavy rainfall from today for two days in many places in the state, especially in southern and coastal districts, as predicted by the Meteorological Department in Chennai.

The Election Commission has made additional efforts in the polling booths to provide cover for the voters to come and exercise their franchise without getting drenched in the possible rain.

In another development, the AIADMK and the DMK had, through email, responded to the show-cause notices issued by the Election Commission about the violation of its guidelines on promises of freebies as made in the manifestos of the two parties.

The notices were issued seeking clarification on the ways and means of fulfilling the promises of the huge dole outs by the two parties.

The Income Tax officials had asked the authorities in Tirupur to move the three trucks carrying Rs. 570 crore to the chest of the State Bank of India (SBI) in Coimbatore for issuing search warrant under the IT Act for further probe.

The sleuths of the tax body along with the team of officials delegated by the Election Commission are probing the transfer of the huge sum from Coimbatore.

The bank claimed that it was a normal transfer of cash, though the investigators say original documents to substantiate the transfer were lacking. The three trucks were detained by the Election Commission flying squad near Tirupur.

The Election Commission introduced many innovative measures during this election in Tamil Nadu, including getting booth slips through the helpline number 1950 in electronic mode, knowing the queue status before polling booths through smart phone apps and getting navigation help through Google maps to locate the booths by the voters by feeding their election identity card number in the apps.

For the first time in the electoral history of India, more than 1.64 crore voters made a pledge on last Tuesday that they would not accept or give money for voting, as money power in election is a big menace in the region.

Thousands of youth volunteers at grass-root levels are also being pressed into service to help the election authorities to ensure ethical voting and to remind people to come out and exercise their franchise today.

The Kerala Government has made elaborate arrangements for smooth and peaceful conduct of polls.

In all, 2.56 crore electors including 1.33 crore females are expected to cast votes.

A total of 1, 203 candidates including 109 females are in the fray. There are 21,646 polling booths across the state.

Special arrangements have been made for sensitive and vulnerable polling stations, especially in Kannur district.

Over 9 lakh voters will exercise their franchise in Puducherry today. Voting will take place in 930 polling stations spread over four regions of the Union Territory.

5,382 officials are deputed for polling duties. Over 6,000 police personnel including the central para military forces will provide security for assembly polls.

Meanwhile, the Election Department introduced a mobile application which would give all information regarding today’s poll to voters. The app would provide details of EPIC Cards, polling booth location, constituency-wise voters list and even the number of voters in queue at any polling station at a given time.

The Commission has identified 148 polling stations and deployed micro observers and Central forces for additional security.

(ANI)

Britannica COO jumps to death from 19th floor

by

Britannica

Gurgaon: A top executive of Encyclopedia Britannica allegedly committed suicide by jumping from the 19th floor of a building in DLF Phase-III here, police said.

47-year-old Vineet Whig, COO of Britannica, committed suicide yesterday and a note was found from his pocket stating that he was fed up with his life, Hawa Singh, PRO, Gurgaon Police said.

Whig lived in Block-D of DLF Belvedere Park with his wife, two sons, a daughter and his father who suffered a heart attack after receiving the news of Whig’s death.

The body was found in the ventilation shaft of Block-C by sweepers when they went to clean it at 9 AM yesterday.

They informed the society security control room which told the family and thereafter the police was informed at 9.45 AM, Singh said.

According to the family, Whig went for his morning walk but did not return home on his usual time, Singh said, adding, they did not find anything suspicious as sometimes he would get late.

The top executive had also worked with IT giant Wipro before joining Britannica.

“CCTV footage is being examined to verify the details and ascertain the sequence of events,” Singh added.

(Agencies)

KNOW US

GET INVOLVED

PROMOTE

Archives