Lawyer and co-chairman of the joint draft committee on the Lokpal Bill, Shanti Bhushan, has urged Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram to make public the report prepared by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Chandigarh, on the controversial CD containing his purported conversation with Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh and former SP leader Amar Singh. The Chandigarh CFSL report said the CD was a “cut-and-paste” job, contradicting the Delhi lab...

A Supreme Court-appointed committee finds large-scale illegal mining in Karnataka with the connivance of officials. THE issue of illegal mining in Karnataka and the large-scale corruption in political and public life resulting from it refuses to stay away from the headlines. The sordid tale of mining-linked corruption (Cover Story; Frontline, July 16, 2010) has had a few recurring characters – a beleaguered but defiant Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Chief Minister B.S....

Two policemen were among three persons killed and District Magistrate Deepak Agarwal got a bullet injury in fierce clashes that broke out in Greater Noida on Saturday between security personnel and agitating farmers holding three roadways employees hostage. Scores of people including an SSP were also injured when the agitation by the farmers demanding better compensation for their acquired land turned violent in Bhatta Parsaul village in Gautam Buddha Nagar district,...

Days after two forensic laboratories gave conflicting reports on the genuineness of a contentious CD, Lokpal drafting committee member Shanti Bhushan asked home minister P Chidambaram for copies of the reports. He said that despite writing to the Delhi Police Commissioner and ACP (special cell), he had received no information on these two reports. The CD purportedly contains a conversation between Shanti Bhushan and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav with...

The incidents of children going missing from the capital are showing an increasing trend this year with statistics showing that five minors disappear every day compared to three last year. So far this year, a total of 541 children were either kidnapped or went missing from the capital. This month alone, 164 cases were registered while last month the figure was 166. The latest case was that of one-and-half-year-old Ishaan, son of...