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Ghaziabad PF Scam
Raj Thackeray ‘forgives’ Bachchans, takes on top cop
BJP national executive meets today
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Cash-for-Vote Unfair
Selections: UP Home Secy chargesheeted CPM
soft on Nepal govt? JD-S
makes first public move to include Jaya in third front
In poll season, govt says Hajis won’t pay a penny
Haywood back in India
SC extends ban on SIMI for 4 weeks
Kandhamal normal, Orissa to SC
LS speaker to donate salary to Assam flood-hit
Cabinet nod to Rs 100-cr hike in NMDFC share capital
Cabinet okays 48 new BSF, CRPF posts
Cong leader alleges violation of Tribals Act
Notice to UP govt on ‘funds diversion’ by Mulayam
CBI officer held accepting bribe
Rising food prices will push 1b ‘deeper into poverty’
Anti-defection pleas: HC rap for Speaker
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Ghaziabad
PF Scam
Lucknow, September 11 UP home department officials here today confirmed that the recommendation for the CBI probe into the matter was sent late last night. The official, however, refused to say anything more on the issue, as the matter was in the SC. On Tuesday, the apex court had given two weeks’ time to the UP government to clarify its view on the CBI probe. The SC will hear the case on October 22. Earlier on June 23, UP police headquarters had recommended a CBI probe on the letter of SSP, Ghaziabad, but the matter was pending with the state law department. The Bar Association of Ghaziabad had also demanded a CBI probe, but the demand was turned down by the Allahabad High Court. The case involves fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 23 crore from the PF deposits of Class IV employees of the courts in Ghaziabad by the central nazir or the treasury officer, Ashutosh Asthana, between 2002 and 2007. The treasury officer took out the money by forging applications of employees, which were approved by the district judges concerned many of whom have since been elevated to high courts and the SC. The Ghaziabad District Courts Bar Association and Transparency International (TI) had filed a petition in the SC, seeking a CBI probe into the scandal, in which crores of rupees were fraudulently siphoned off from the PF fund between 2002 and 2007.
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Raj Thackeray ‘forgives’ Bachchans, takes on top cop
Mumbai, September 11 At a press conference here, Thackeray said he was accepting the apology tendered by Amitabh Bachchan on Wednesday and asked his cadres to stop trashing theatres screening movies featuring the Bachchan family. "Actually, Jaya Bachchan should have apologised in public as she had made the controversial remarks, but we are accepting Amitabh's apology as he is head of the Bachchan family," Thackeray said. "Amitabh's apology is itself a victory for the Marathi manoos," he added. According to sources, senior leaders from the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra leaned on Thackeray to call off his agitation against the Bachchans after Amitabh formally apologised for his wife's remarks on Marathi. Thackeray called his press conference after getting the go-ahead from Mumbai's police commissioner Hasan Gafoor. The Mumbai police had banned Thackeray from speaking in public, but decided to let him address the media in order to defuse the situation. However, Thackeray could not resist the opportunity to attack Mumbai's joint police commissioner K. L. Prasad. The police officer has been in the forefront tackling the cadres of the MNS despite lukewarm support from his political bosses who are seen as pitting Raj Thackeray against his uncle Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray. Prasad had earlier warned MNS cadres that Mumbai was nobody's father's property and attacks on migrants would not be tolerated. Today Raj Thackeray admitted that Prasad had threatened to use force against him in the past. "Last time he wanted to break the arms and legs of people if they created trouble. Now he is telling us Mumbai is nobody's father's property. Let him ask his own policemen what they think of what he is saying," Raj Thackeray said.
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BJP national executive meets today
Bangalore, September 11 The party will virtually hit the campaign trail when its prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani addresses a rally here on Saturday as part of the national executive programmes. Described as the “comprehensive victory rally” (“sampurna vijay rally”), this will be the first of the 150 rallies under the same name that will be organised by the party in different locations of India to build the tempo for the party’s campaign for the coming Lok Sabha elections. The political resolutions, following discussions on national and state-level issues, will be adopted on Saturday, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, BJP vice-president, said. Naqvi, who spoke to reporters here today after inaugurating the media centre set up for the meeting, said another important resolution would be adopted on Sunday before the conclusion of the meeting. While the concluding remarks will be made by Rajnath Singh, the concluding address will be delivered by Advani, Naqvi said. Discussing the strategies for winning the Lok Sabha elections as well as the coming assembly elections in some states will figure prominently on the agenda of the national executive, Naqvi said. The three-day meeting will be held at the Chancery Pavilion hotel here and the hall, where the meeting will be underway, would don the name of Jagannath Rao Joshi hall during the three days of the meeting. The inaugural session tomorrow, which will be addressed by party president Rajnath Singh, will start at 11.55 am. Naqvi said other than the 200 members of the executive, the meeting would also be attended by the presidents of the various state units of the party, the party’s national office-bearers, six chief ministers from the BJP-ruled states, 26 Leaders of Oppositions from states where the party was in the opposition and deputy chief ministers and senior ministers belonging to the party from states where the saffron party was a part of the ruling coalition. Other than discussing political and economic issues, the national executive will also discuss important social issues, he said.
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Cash-for-Vote New Delhi, September 11 The panel also unanimously decided to give a fourth and final opportunity to BJP MP Mahavir Bhagora to depose. “He is the third complainant in the case along with Ashok Argal and Fagan Singh Kulste of the BJP. Bhagora has been seeking data. I have asked my secretariat to identify him,” Deo said today. The parliamentary panel members, it is learnt, also pressed today for the deposition of another man who was seen in the company of Suhail Hindustani of the BJP, who earlier said he had witnessed the deal being struck with the help of Amar Singh and Reoti Raman Singh of the Samajwadi Party. “The man in question is visible in the tapes that are submitted to the panel by a news channel. He is seen in the company of some people, including Suhail Hindustani. We are working on ways to ensure his presence by the next meeting on September 25,” sources in Lok Sabha secretariat said. The panel earlier sought extension of its deadline until September-end. It was initially supposed to submit its report by August 11. Today, during the meeting of the panel, some members are learnt to have said the unidentified man in the tapes could have important information on what transpired between the two parties. In its last meeting, held here on August 27, the panel members had given their respective comments on the depositions received so far. The panel has recorded testimonies of Samajwadi Party MP Reoti Raman Singh (whose name figures among the accused along with Amar Singh and Congress’ Ahmad Patel), L.K. Advani’s political aide Sudheendra Kulkarni; Sanjeev Saxena, who carried bribe money to BJP MP Ashok Argal’s house, and BJP worker Suhail Hindustani.
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Unfair Selections: UP Home Secy chargesheeted Lucknow, September 11 The chargesheet was filed in the designated CBI court in Lucknow where it would come up for hearing on September 12. The matter pertains to the appointment of Group C staff in the state information department where Gupta, a 1987 batch officer, was director in 1998. The other two chargesheeted are Prabhat Kumar Sinha, a PCS officer and then additional director, and Raj Gopal Singh Verma, the then deputy director in the information department. The chargesheet was filed despite the state government's refusal to grant permission for prosecution.
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CPM soft on Nepal
govt? New Delhi, September 11 The CPM leaders have very fraternal relations with the new Nepal Prime Minister and CPN-Maoist leader Prachanda, coming here on his first state visit on September 14. At the moment, central leaders belonging to the UPA, including railway minister Lalu Prasad are blaming the state for its callousness and refusal to heed repeated warnings. On the other hand, Bihar Chief minister Nitish Kumar and his alliance partner the BJP are blaming the Centre for neglecting the state interests with Nepal. Therefore the CPM has taken a very neutral line in its latest editorial in the party organ Peoples Democracy (PD). It has blamed the calamity on “A combination of natural factors.” It also cursorily mentions “Man-made factors such as unscientific flood control measures and negligent maintenance of water channel controls resulting in these unprecedented catastrophic floods.” Conveniently avoiding getting into any controversy, the CPM happily declares, ‘The main culprit, however, is the breach in the embankment of the Kosi at Kusaha in Nepal.” The PD, which has now an axe to grind against the UPA government maintains that “It is precisely to handle such disasters that the UPA government, soon after assuming office in 2004, constituted the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). Unfortunately, besotted by bureaucratic wrangling and lack of a direction and a vision, the NDMA has not been able to rise to the occasion.” At the moment, the CPM finds no allies in Bihar but having rejected any alliance with Lalu Prasad’s RJD because he is a member of the UPA, the CPM is secretly and discreetly looking at the rival JD-U and therefore is rather indulgent towards the JD-U led government in the state, explaining away the state government’s lapses .” The PD says, “Though the embankment is located in Nepal, its maintenance through a 199-year treaty was vested with India. The central government, in turn, vested this responsibility with the Bihar government and its irrigation department. This arrangement is a classic recipe for a blame game that continues to pass the buck of responsibility.” Naturally, a bit soft towards the new Nepal government, it also avoids commenting on the refusal of the Nepal government to allow Indian engineers to repair the embankments and remains ambiguous on this count too. The PD says, “The political uncertainties in Nepal, at that time, are blamed by suggesting that Indian engineers and workers were not allowed to do their work” and instead of criticising the Nepal government it says, “This cynical blame game should stop immediately.”
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JD-S makes first public move to include Jaya in third front New Delhi, September 11 The Left now clearly distancing itself from the UPA partner DMK, has however had some reservations about aligning with Jayalalithaa, considering her past association with the BJP and espousal of the Hindutva cause for long. But sources said former Prime Minister Deve Gowda and TDP general secretary N. Chandrababu Naidu had been pressing upon the Left leaders to align with Jayalalithaa, if they were serious about making the non-Congress and the non-BJP alliance a robust and viable alternative. In fact the sources added Deve Gowda and Naidu had been acting as intermediaries between the leaders of the CPI, the CPM and Jayalalithaa and her recent statement attacking the government on the Indo-US nuclear deal was issued with the clear political purpose to endear herself to the Left. Now on the ostensible prompting of Deve Gowda, Jayalalithaa has also condemned the VHP/Bajrang Dal violence in Kandhamal, Orissa, “reinforcing her secular credentials,” the JD-S sources immediately pointed out. Promptly taking note of this Deve Gowda issued a statement saying, “Your recent statement on the Kandhamal violence in Orissa has once again foiled the nefarious designs by the anti-AIADMK and fascist forces to paint you as communal and you have won the hearts of all patriots by terming as a "clear sell-out" the Indo-US nuclear deal.” Virtually inviting Jayalilthaa to join his alliance, Deve Gowda said, “I am confident that you would continue to serve the nation with the same devotion and dedication and fight shoulder-to-shoulder the struggle against narrow sectarian, communal and imperialist forces trying to weaken the nation's unity, integrity and sovereignty.”
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In poll season, govt says Hajis won’t pay a penny
New Delhi, Sept 11 The cabinet’s decision came despite a recommendation from a group of ministers to hike pilgrim’s contribution from Rs 12,000 to Rs 16,000. The recommendation was however declined, indicating the policy of minority appeasement ahead of polls in Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir, followed by the general elections. The decision means the government will have to bear extra subsidy burden to support Haj. Sources in the Civil Aviation Ministry told The Tribune that the subsidy was expected to double from last year, when it was around Rs 400 crore for the 1, 10,000 pilgrims who travelled. The number of pilgrims this year will be 1, 23, 221 - 13, 221 up from the last year, the government decided. This will be apart from 50, 400 who go through private tour operators (these people don’t get subsidy benefit). Only those who register with the Haj Committee of India get to travel on the government subsidy. No wonder the committee received 2, 70,000 applications this year, of which 1, 23, 221 will travel. “To support these pilgrims in the wake of cost escalation, the subsidy will have to go up to at least Rs 700 crore,” ministry sources said, admitting they wanted subsidy burden to decrease. There was also one view within the government that Hajis should pool their savings for travel. It naturally found no favour. Of the total pilgrims this year, 59,000 will go by Saudi Airlines, which has fixed its airfare at $ 1,000 per pilgrim; the rest - 64, 221 will go by Air India (AI), whose fare is expected to be much higher, with indications of 20 to 25 per cent increase from the last year. Large sections among Hajis remain uncomfortable travelling by AI, which, they feel, is eating away a major chunk of the government’s Haj subsidy. Sources in the Haj Committee of India said AI would charge around $2,000 per pilgrim for Haj this year - double of what Saudi Airlines is charging. AI officials, when contacted, refused to comment on the actual fare proposed, but said there would be 20 to 25 per cent hike, considering ATF price hike and the fact that AI made flights without passenger load, besides flying from more locations. “Moreover, cost of oil in Saudi Arabia is less than in India,” an AI official said. The Haj Committee of India sources however reiterated that Hajis would prefer global tenders to get best airfares for travel.
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Haywood back in India
Mumbai, September 11 Haywood had suddenly left the country last month from the Delhi airport even though a lookout notice was posted at all airports. It is not clear what made him return to India. However, his lawyer G S Hegde told reporters here that Haywood was returning to his home in Navi Mumbai because he felt a lot safer now than he did when he fled. He had been questioned by the police from different states after an email warning of the blasts in Gujarat was sent a few minutes prior to the bombings. The police believes that either Haywood or someone who had access to his Internet password could have sent the mail. Shortly after he landed in Mumbai, Haywood, his wife and two daughters drove to their flat at Gunina Apartments at Sanpada in Navi Mumbai. Heywood today submitted a written statement refuting that ATS (anti-terrorist squad) officials had come to his residence and demanded money to give him a clean chit in the Ahmedabad serial blasts case.
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SC extends ban on SIMI for 4 weeks
New Delhi, September 11 The apex court had, on August 25, extended the ban on SIMI by six weeks while hearing a fresh petition filed by the Centre, challenging the Delhi High Court Tribunal's recommendations for lifting the ban on the body. The Centre's contention is that SIMI activists are involved in anti-national activities by propagating "jihad" and extending full support to extremists and terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and other parts of the country. Opposing the order of the Tribunal, which had stated that the government had not provided sufficient reasons for continuing the ban on SIMI, the Centre had said in an affidavit that lifting the ban would endanger national security. Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium cited SIMI's suspected role in the September 11, 2006 Mumbai serial blasts.
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Kandhamal normal, Orissa to SC
New Delhi, September 11 The state government, through its counsel, submitted before a Bench comprising Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice P. Sathasivam that it had taken all possible steps to maintain law and order, including the promulgation of prohibitory orders under Section 144, CrPc, in the district and other sensitive areas in Orissa. In an affidavit, filed at the instance of the apex court, it said VHP leader Praveen Togadia was not allowed to take out a yatra on September 7 with the ashes of slain Swami Laxmananad Saraswati, whose murder on August 24 had sparked violence against Christians. The apex court adjourned the hearing for four weeks on the petition filed by Raphael Cheenath, archbishop of Cuttack, seeking a CBI inquiry into the violence, which claimed the lives of 27 tribals. It directed the petitioner and the state government to sit together and sort out issues such as the provision of facilities at relief camps and the demand for a compensation of Rs 4 lakh each to the worst affected families.
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LS speaker to donate salary to Assam flood-hit
Guwahati, September 11 The speaker conveyed this to Assam Congress MP Kirip Chaliha, who met him today in New Delhi to give detail information about the flood situation and plight of affected people in Assam. Chaliha informed over the phone from New Delhi that the speaker also asked him to organise a joint delegation of all MPs from Assam to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking adequate flood relief. “The speaker promised to speak to the Prime Minister to request for adequate flood relief for Assam. He also welcomed my decision not to donate money from my MPLAD fund to flood-hit Bihar and instead spend the same for those affected by flood in Assam. In fact, he said he would not mind if all other MPs from Assam decide to do the same,” Chaliha informed. “The speaker also clarified that there shouldn’t be any misunderstanding over his appeal to the MPs to donate money from their local area development fund to flood-hit in Bihar given the severe nature of flood in that state. The appeal was in response to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s request for help during the time of distress,” the Congress MP said.
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Cabinet nod to Rs 100-cr hike in NMDFC share capital
New Delhi, September 11 The Rs 100-crore hike will ensure higher flow of funds to the corporation, enabling better target achievement. The decision will help the corporation raise additional funds from the financial institutions for providing credit at subsidised rates. The Cabinet also gave in-principal approval for restructuring of the corporation. It can then be a holding company for minority partnership and National Wakf Development Agency.
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Cabinet okays 48 new BSF, CRPF posts
New Delhi, September 11 These posts will be among the 48 new posts of special director-general, additional director-general and inspector general in various central police organisations. The crucial aspect was creating the posts of special director-general and two of the posts would be for the BSF at Chandigarh and Kolkata. The sensitive north-west is managed from Chandigarh and at present an additional director-general rank official heads the unit. The last time a special director-general headed BSF operations in the north-west was when the present Punjab DGP N.P.S Aulakh was posted there. When he joined the Punjab police, the BSF replaced him with an additional director-general rank official. The recast means that from now on only a special director-general will head the operations along the borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh. Three posts of special director-general have been created for the CRPF. These officials will be based at Jammu and Kashmir, Hyderabad and Guwahati for the northeast. The posts of the additional director-general of the CRPF presently based at Chandigarh and Kolkata will be reverted to the CRPF headquarters here. Besides this, the Cabinet also cleared the creation of two more posts of additional director-general for the CRPF. It remains to be seen if these senior officers are given financial and administrative autonomy just like the corps commanders of the Armed Forces. Without this autonomy, the new posts do not mean anything, said a senior official. It has also been suggested that “commands” like the Army should be created so that each special director-general is responsible for his area of operations. For the IPS cadre, it would mean removal of stagnation as very few director-general-level posts exist. Separately, the Cabinet also cleared that an additional director-general would now head the BSF training school near Gwalior. At present, an inspector general heads it. In the National Crime Records Bureau, the Cabinet has also added a post of additional director-general and an inspector general. This as per sources has been done as the government has cleared a Rs 2,500-crore project.
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Cong leader alleges violation of Tribals Act
Dehra Dun, September 11 Leading a delegation of ‘Van Gujjars’ to Chief Wildlife Warden Shrikant Chandola here today, Rawat charged that most of the tribals were being forcibly evicted from the proposed Rajaji National Park area. He said many of them were evicted from their homes in the Jhilmil Sanctuary near Chidyapur in Haridwar district. "These tribals are denied of their traditional rights and are deprived of clean drinking water," he added. He urged the state government to implement the Tribals Act in the state in letter and spirit. Regarding the resettlement of Van Gujjar families from Rajaji Park area, he said a high-level committee should be formed having Van Gujjars as members to decide about all demands and facilities provided to them in the resettlement colonies.
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Notice to UP govt on ‘funds diversion’ by Mulayam
New Delhi, September 11 The petition has been filed by Narendra Nath Rai, a resident of Lucknow.
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CBI officer held accepting bribe
Bhopal, September 11 The CBI officer, Anand Singh, was arrested by the central investigative agency's sleuths yesterday on the complaint of a clerk of the Government JP hospital stating that Singh demanded a bribe from him to clear him off a case of disproportionate income. The complaint was received by the CBI against clerk P.C Mishra that he owns properties disproportionate to his known sources of income, following which Singh has started a probe into the matter, the official sources said today. He demanded Rs 15,000 from Mishra and warned that if he failed to pay the same, then strict action will be taken against him in the matter. However, Mishra tipped-off the senior CBI officials about it, following, which a trap was laid and Singh was caught red-handed accepting a bribe along with the original copy of the complaint by the CBI team. — PTI
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Rising food prices will push 1b ‘deeper into poverty’
New Delhi, September 11 Acknowledging that the goal of reducing poverty by half is within the reach of the world as a whole, the report cautions that the gains will be undercut by higher prices of food and oil and the global economic slowdown. “Increase in food prices will result in an estimated one billion going hungry and another two billion being undernourished,” Maxine Olson, UNDP’s resident representative in India, said today, after Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had released the report in India. On the first MDG -- eradicating extreme hunger and poverty -- the report states that India, with 46 per cent of its children malnourished, may not be able to reach the goal; even for South Asia, which houses the largest number of poor people, it would be difficult to host the target of reducing to half the proportion of population suffering from hunger. “Full employment remains a distant possibility and low-paying jobs leave one in five developing country workers mired in poverty,” finds the report. India is off-track in terms of attaining MGDs 4 and 5 on infant and maternal health. “In 2006, for the first time since mortality data have been gathered, annual deaths among children under 5 dipped below 10 million -- a 60 per cent drop since 1960,” mentions the report, but adds, “In India the rate of decline is more pronounced in case of males as compared to females, and the country is unlikely to achieve the goal.” The report will be globally released tomorrow in New York by the UN Secretary-General. On the maternal mortality rate, too, India will not reach the target of 109 by current trends; the present MMR is 301. Poor progress is expected on MDG 6, which maps progress on HIV/malaria and TB control. “India has 23 lakh HIV positive people; one in 630 gets infected with malaria, and there are about 18 lakh new TB cases every year. India is one among most countries struggling to meet the target of universal access to treatment of HIV/AIDS by 2010 and of halting and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015,” Olson pointed out. Access to drinking water and sanitation also remains challenging, though more than one-and-a-half billion people have gained access to clean drinking water since 1990. But as per the latest findings, about 1I billion people still do not have access to safe drinking water and about 2.5 billion lack access to sanitation. Olson said sanitation remained a huge requirement for polio eradication in India. India, like many other countries, is on track on MDG 2, which seeks to achieve universal primary education by 2015. “At current rates of progress, India is likely to meet the objective in primary education but not in secondary education.
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Anti-defection pleas: HC rap for Speaker
Ranchi, September 11 The Bench of Chief Justice Gyan Sudha Mishra and Justice D. K. Sinha yesterday directed Speaker Alamgir Alam to file an affidavit on September 18 on the petitions lying with him. The high court’s direction came a month after it served notices to ministers, Stephen Marandi, Kamlesh Singh, Bhanu Pratap Sahi, Enos Ekka and former minister Chandraprakash Choudhary, against whom the anti-defection petitions were pending. The court disposed of the petition against Choudhary saying prima facie the petition against him did not have merit. Petitioner Kuleshwar Singh and others had filed the petitions against them, seeking a high court directive to the Speaker for speedy decision on the pending petitions.
— PTI
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New Ambassadors to Iran, Syria appointed Former railway employee convicted Complaint against Goa
education minister Under-construction
shopping mall crashes Eight hurt in bus mishap Militants kill 3 in Manipur 2 docs held for fraud 
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