NEW DELHI: Law Minister Salman Khurshid on Sunday produced pictures and documents to prove camps for the disabled were held and rebutted allegations of forgery and embezzlement of funds against an NGO with which he and his wife are associated.

He also announced that he will file a defamation suit against the Aaj Tak TV news channel which organised a sting operation and levelled charges against Khurshid and his wife.

At a press conference he held with his wife Louise, Khurshid asserted that the camps for the disabled, organised by his Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust, were held at different places in Uttar Pradesh. 

He produced pictures and also presented some eminent people who were present at these camps. The camps were held and there is enough evidence to prove that, he told reporters.

According to the Aaj Tak report, the Union Social Welfare and Empowerment Ministry had granted Rs 71.50 lakh to the Khurshids’ NGO for distributing tricycles and hearing aids to the disabled in 17 districts of Uttar Pradesh.

The television channel has alleged financial misappropriation by the Khurshids in running the trust.

While Khurshid is the president of the trust, his wife is the project director.

India Against Corruption activists have accused Khurshid and his wife of not organising health camps in 10 of the 17 districts they had demanded funds from the central government for. — IANS

Shanghai: Australian Open champions Leander Paes of India and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic on Sunday came from behind to win the Shanghai Masters doubles title 6-7 (7/9), 6-3, 10/5.

The fourth seeds, who have already booked a place at next month's elite eight-team ATP World Tour Finals in London, lost the first set against Indian pair Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna on a tie-break.

But the Indian-Czech duo, who were losing finalists at the US Open, levelled the contest after a single break in the second set and took the match tie-break 10/5.

Seventh seeds Bhupathi and Bopanna were in eighth and last spot in the chase for a place at the season-ending finale in the most recent rankings.

Indian veteran Paes, 39, said he was at the stage of his career when he was "playing for milestones, playing for history".

"We've had a great year. It started off with a big bang. To do well early in a partnership is something that can happen," said Paes, whose victory at the Australian Open meant he had completed the full set of Grand Slam titles during his career.

"But to continue playing well right through the whole year shows the quality of tennis that we play. For me personally what I really like about playing with Radek is we're looking to improve all the time. For me that's the potency of what the other guys feel. — AFP

NEW DELHI: Beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines, which has declared a lockout till October 20, will hold a meeting with the employees’ representatives on Monday in Mumbai to resolve the deadlock over non-payment of salary dues. 

Airline CEO Sanjay Aggarwal has written a letter calling employees for the meeting, airline sources said. 

Employees have been on a strike demanding payment of salaries of seven months and have been insisting that dues be cleared before they resume duty. 

This has forced the management to repeatedly extend the lockout and suspension of all flight operation from October 4. 

With all its flights cancelled after the lockout was declared, aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had asked liquor baron Vijay Mallya-owned carrier to stop selling tickets following reports that it had started accepting bookings last week before ending its lockout. 

Kingfisher had declared a lockout on September 28 till October 4, following the strike, cancelling its entire flight schedule, and extended it till October 12 later. This has now been extended till October 20. 

On October 5, DGCA issued a show-cause notice to Kingfisher asking why its flying license should not be suspended or cancelled as it had grounded its entire fleet and failed to offer safe, efficient and reliable service. It has given the airline 15 days to reply. 

Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh has also said the airline would have to submit a concrete plan to DGCA on safety and salary payments, before it is allowed to resume flights. 

Kingfisher has been saddled with a loss of Rs. 8,000 crore and a debt burden of another over Rs. 7,000 crore, a large part of which it has not serviced since January. — PTI

NEW DELHI: NEW DELHI: India is expected to see a substantial jump in the number of millionaires in the next five years as the total tally for the super rich in the country is likely to touch 242,000 by 2017, a report says. 

According to a Credit Suisse Research Institute's Global Wealth Report, the number of millionaires in the country in 2012 stands at 158,000, which is likely to swell to 242,000 by the year 2017, registering an increase of 53 per cent. 

The report also highlighted the stark inequality in the country as almost everyone in India (95 per cent) has wealth below USD 10,000 (about Rs 5,30,000), while at the other end a very small proportion of the population (just 0.3 per cent) has a net worth over USD 100,000. — PTI

PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has deferred his 'Adhikar Yatra' to Buxar and Bhojpur districts in the wake of violent protests in Madhubani over the killing of two persons in police firing on Friday, an official said on Sunday. 

Two persons were killed on October 12 in police firing on a violent mob that was protesting the killing of a youth, whose headless body was recovered 13 days ago in Madhubani. 

An official in the Chief Minister's Office said the 'Adhikar Yatra' was deferred in view of an emergency meeting with top officials here to take stock of the situation in Madhubani. 

Nitish Kumar began his 'Adhikar Yatra' last month to mobilise support of people to put pressure on the Central government to accord special category status to Bihar. 

His 'Adhikar Yatra' was in trouble since the beginning as Nitish Kumar faced protests by contractual teachers, students and others at different places of the state. 

In Madhubani, rampaging protesters on Saturday set ablaze three block office buildings, an equal number of police stations and several vehicles parked there. They also ransacked a railway station and attacked government property at several places. 

Earlier on Friday, two persons were killed in police firing at an irate mob in the town. The town has been simmering ever since a headless body was found almost a fortnight ago. The family members of a missing youth, Prashant Kumar, claimed that the body was his and demanded that it be handed over to them — but the police remained unrelenting. — IANS

Centurion: Delhi Daredevils beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 52 runs in its opening Champions League Twenty20 match here on Saturday. 

The Daredevils’ seamers bowled with fire and purpose to restrict a struggling Knight Riders to 108 in its 20 overs. Earlier, young Unmukt Chand and Ross Taylor played fine cameos as Daredevils posted a competitive 160 for eight. 

Most of the Daredevils big guns could not come up with a big score with only Chand (40) and Taylor (36) contributing substantially after being sent into bat at a Centurion pitch which had something both for pacers and spinners. 

Except for the 64-run stand for the fourth wicket in 64 balls between Chand and Taylor, there was no substantial partnership for the Daredevils. The score would have been much smaller had not L. Balaji yielded 30 runs in the 17th over. 

Chand, who timed the ball superbly throughout his innings, hit four fours and two sixes from the 27 balls he faced. Taylor struck one four and two sixes in his 24-ball innings. 

Off-spinner Sunil Narine was the pick of the KKR bowlers as he grabbed three wickets for 21. Balaji was expensive as he conceded 61 runs for two wickets while Brett Lee and Jacques Kallis chipped in with one wicket each. 

Daredevils did began well with Virender Sehwag (22) and captain Mahela Jayawardene (21) putting on 36 runs in 5.1 overs but later on lost wickets regularly before regaining ground towards the close to post a decent score. 

The second over bowled by Balaji yielded 11 runs with Sehwag and Jayawardene hitting a four each. Lee got the bounce but was carted for two fours by Jayawardene in his second over and KKR’s third. 

Narine got the breakthrough with his first ball, removing Jayawardene with a fullish off-break which disturbed the timbers. 

Kevin Pietersen had a lucky escape in the third ball he faced off Narine as the ball struck wicketkeeper Bisla’s wrist after taking the thick edge of the batsman. 

Pietersen was again dropped soon after, when on 11, as Bisla allowed to let the ball slip from his hands. 

The pressure apparently worked as Sehwag was dismissed by Pradeep Sangwan in the ninth over with the batsman getting a nick and Bisla not making a mistake this time. 

Next over, Pietersen’s charmed life ended as his holed out to Narine at deep midwicket. Daredevils were 64 for three at the halfway mark. 

India under 19 World Cup-winning captain Chand and Taylor steadied the innings before the New Zealander was out in the 17th over. 

Chand was out in the 18th over with Narine snaring him. 

Scores:
Delhi Daredevils: M. Jayawardene b Narine 21, V. Sehwag c Bisla b Sangwan 22, K. Pietersen c Narine b Lee 14, U. Chand b Narine 40, R. Taylor c Bhatia b Balaji 36, Irfan (not out) 7, N. Ojha c Pathan b Narine 0, P. Negi c McCullum b Kallis 1, A. Agarkar c Narine b Balaji 8; Extras: (b-4, lb-2, w-4, nb-1) 11; Total: (for eight wkts in 20 overs) 160. 

Fall of wickets: 1-36, 2-58, 3-64, 4-127, 5-145, 6-145, 7-147. 

Bowling: Lee 4-0-19-1, Balaji 4-0-61-2, Kallis 4-0-25-1, Narine 4-0-21-3, Sangwan 3-0-22-1, Bhatia 1-0-6-0. 

Kolkata Knight Riders: M. Bisla lbw b Irfan 1, G. Gambhir c Pietersen b Irfan 0, B. McCullum c Chand b M. Morkel 0, J. Kallis (retd hurt) 0, M. Tiwary c & b Agarkar 33, Yusuf b Yadav 11, R. Bhatia c Ojha b M. Morkel 26, B. lee b Umesh 13, P. Sangwan (not out) 12, S. Narine (not out) 1; Extras (b-1, lb-6, w-3, nb-1) 11; Total (for seven wickets in 20 overs) 108. 

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-3, 3-3, 3-4, 4-24, 5-71, 6-82, 7-105. 

Bowling: Irfan 4-0-19-2, M. Morkel 4-1-25-2, Umesh 4-0-13-2, Agarkar 4-0-21-1, Negi 4-0-18-0. — PTI