Investigation in the Hasan Ali case has reached a crucial stage with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) deciding to question Puducherry lieutenant governor Iqbal Singh and UP chief minister Mayawati's principal secretary Vijay Shankar Pandey in the $8 billion money-laundering probe. While summons were issued to Iqbal Singh on Friday, ED is likely to issue notice to Pandey in the next few days asking him to appear for questioning, sources said. Faced with...

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee does not own a house, his wife does. He does not even have a car, unlike many of his party colleagues. Bhattacharjee lives in a rented two-room government flat at Palm Avenue in Ballygunge with his wife and daughter and his bank account shows a meagre Rs 5,000. No other investments. A Spartan life indeed. That is what Bhattacharjee submitted to the Election Commission while filing his...

The government on Monday told the Supreme Court that it had given its consent for a CBI probe into alleged corruption in the utilisation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) funds in Orissa. “The consent to have an investigation into the alleged misappropriation and diversion of funds for the scheme has been given by the minister concerned (Ministry of Rural Development),” Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising told a bench headed...

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s son Avijit Mukherjee, who is contesting from Nalhati in Birbhum district as a Congress candidate in the West Bengal assembly elections, has assets worth more than Rs 5 crore jointly with his wife. Avijit who filed his nomination on Tuesday stated in his Affidavits that he had movable assets worth Rs 58.2 lakh. These include a Maruti 800 car, an army Mahindra jeep and a revolver...

The Supeme Court on Monday adjourned civil liberties activist Binayak Sen's bail plea till Friday on the Chhattisgarh government's request. The Chattisgarh government standing councel said he would need two days time to brief a senior advocate on opposing the bail plea of Binayak Sen. Binayak Sen has been sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of sedition and links with Naxalites. Sen, 61, has challenged the order of the Chhattisgarh high court, which...