The new CBI director has promised to speed up investigations into corruption cases being handled by the agency in Jharkhand, including the ones faced by former chief minister Madhu Koda and pending fodder scam cases against RJD chief Lalu Prasad. Soon after assuming charge, the Jharkhand cadre 1974-batch IPS officer Amar Pratap Singh said he would ensure that these corruption cases got more attention. “We will see that investigations and trials...

Supreme Court today directed that the original tapes containing the conversation between corporate lobbyist Niira Radia and others pertaining to the 2G spectrum allocation case be handed over to it in a sealed cover. "We direct that the original records and tapes/ CDs be submitted in a sealed cover after preparing the copies. It will be kept in the lockers of the Supreme Court registry and if required, it will be...

The Centre today ordered a probe into the leak of lobbyist Niira Radia’s purported phone conversations allegedly tapped by the income tax department. The home ministry announced the probe on the same day Tata group chairman Ratan Tata moved the Supreme Court demanding action against people responsible for leaking the contents of tapes. The Radia tapes feature purported conversations she had with journalists, Politicians and industrialists, including Tata. A home ministry spokesperson...

The Naveen Patnaik government is facing court strictures and opposition criticism for irregularities in grant of mining leases. WHEN Naveen Patnaik stepped into his father Biju Patnaik's shoes and donned the mantle of leadership of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) to become the Chief Minister of Orissa for the first time in March 2000, he was seen as a crusader against corruption. In his initial years in power, he did...

NIIRA RADIA, the lobbyist at the heart of India’s audacious multi-billion telecom swindle, inaugurated a Krishna temple she funded in south Delhi on her birthday — that, interestingly, coincides with Indira Gandhi’s. Those present on the occasion said Radia prayed for long, presumably seeking divine intervention to wriggle out of the country’s biggest scandal. Before the temple visit, notices from the country’s Enforcement Directorate (ED), Income Tax (IT) Department and the...