Blow to Shah punishment plea

Mumbai (PTI): Bombay High Court on Monday dismissed the plea of the Maharashtra government seeking enhanced punishment for film financier Bharat Shah, who was convicted last year by a special court for failure to disclose information to police about the underworld.

Shah was sentenced to one year?s rigorous imprisonment but was released as he had already spent 15 months in prison during the trial.

He was charged under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) for allegedly forging links with the underworld.

The police had relied on audio tapes of alleged conversation between Shah, producer Nasim Rizvi and underworld don Chhota Shakeel. But in the trial it failed to establish Shah?s voice in the alleged talk.

The court decided to hear Shah?s appeal against his conviction later. Shah has challenged his conviction on the ground that it had left a stigma on his career.

Other appeals filed by the state, challenging Shah?s acquittal and seeking enhanced punishment for Rizvi and his assistant Allah Baksh, would also be heard together by the high court.

The Shah case had attracted countrywide attention as film personalities, including Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Preity Zinta and producer-director Rakesh Roshan, had appeared as witnesses.

Fake-killing court martial

Jodhpur (PTI): General court martial proceedings against Major Surinder Singh, whose ?prima facie culpability? has been established on ?some of the charges? in the Siachen ?fake killings? case, will begin here on Tuesday.

Singh, against whom a court of inquiry has recommended disciplinary action, will be facing court martial trial at the headquarters of the signal unit of Jodhpur cantonment near here, defence sources said on Monday.

The army, on September 17, had ordered a general court martial against Singh for alleged ?faking of encounters? in Siachen. A seven-member jury has been constituted for conducting the court martial proceedings, sources said. As a prelude, a summary of evidence was recorded between May and August this year in a military court here.

Singh, serving as company commander of 5/5 Gorkha Rifles deployed in Siachen, is alleged to have ?enacted fake killings? of enemy troops and ?cooked up? video shots in support of his claim to get a gallantry award.

Delhi govt restrained

New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court has upheld a high court ruling quashing a Delhi government notification to acquire land for an annual festival, ?phool walon ki sair?.

Delhi High Court had quashed the notification on the ground that the mandatory proceeding, to hear the persons whose land was being acquired, was dispensed with by the government without recording the urgency or the need for such dispensation.

Sachdeva order

New Delhi (PTI): Coaching chain owner Sudhir Sachdeva, accused in the CBSE pre-medical question paper leak case, was remanded in judicial custody till September 29 on Monday by a Delhi court before which he had surrendered on Saturday.

Mystery death

Dhaka (PTI): An Indian national was found dead in a hotel in the Bangladeshi capital under mysterious circumstances, media reports said on Monday. Adian Mohammad Vinky of Bangalore was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his room at Dhaka?s mid-level Need Mahal hotel on Sunday, television reports said, a day after he checked in with a woman whom he claimed to be his wife. The woman has not been traced, police said.

Activist hacked

Hyderabad (PTI): A Telugu Desam Party activist was hacked to death, allegedly by Congress supporters, in the faction-ridden Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh. Five persons attacked Aswartha Narayana (45) with bombs and sickles at Mandli village on Sunday evening, police said here on Monday. Narayana was a member of a civic body in Somandepalli village and a supporter of Desam legislator Paritala Ravindra.

Law firms? move

New Delhi (PTI): Lawyers and legal firms are approaching Delhi High Court against the drive of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to seal their offices in residential localities on the ground that it amounts to commercial activity.

A mufti in Egypt has issued an edict declaring yoga un-Islamic. Ali Gomoa says ?yoga is an ascetic Hindu practice... forbidden for use in any manner ? neither for exercise nor worship?.