Scorpene notice on Advani

New Delhi, March 24 (PTI): Abishek Verma, in the eye of a storm over alleged payoffs in the multi-billion Scorpene submarine deal, today slapped defamation notices on L.K. Advani, Jaswant Singh and George Fernandes for dubbing him a “middleman” in the deal.

“I am neither an arms dealer nor a middleman nor am I representing any armament company,” Verma said and demanded a public apology from them within three days, failing which he threatened to file a defamation case.

Kurien seal

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation today accepted chairman Verghese Kurien’s resignation letter. It authorised his prot?g?-turned-rival, managing director B.M. Vyas, to hold additional charge.

Crows dead

Pune (PTI): At least 41 crows were found dead in a farm in Vithalwadi area of the city, animal husbandry department sources said. The birds have been sent to Bhopal’s High-Security Animal Disease Laboratory.

Mulayam

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has restrained the Uttar Pradesh Speaker from acting on applications challenging the split and subsequent merger of a group of BSP MLAs with the ruling Samajwadi Party. The order comes as a relief to the Mulayam Singh government as it virtually stays the Allahabad High Court judgment directing the Speaker to have a fresh look into the validity of the split and merger.