Maoist top gun Kishenji killed in West Bengal

In what is being seen as a big victory for security forces and a huge setback for Maoists, top leader Molajula Koteshwar Rao alias Kishanji on Thursday killed in an encounter with security forces at Burishol village in Junglemahal area of West Bengal.

Kishenji, the dreaded military head of the Maoists, was killed in a joint operation by central forces and West Bengal Police in Kushboni forest in West Midnapore district on Thursday evening.

"There was an information coming for last two days that there is a movement of Maoist squad, probably led by Kishenji and Suchitra Mahato, with intention to launch an attack on joint forces. The joint forces, on receiving this information, organised operations for last two days," said Naparajit Mukherjee, DG, West Bengal Police.

Kishenji, a Maoist politburo member, was the third in-command of the outfit. It was from Kushboni forest on the border of Jharkhand that Kishenji had been operating since 2009. Kishenji's body was identified by the AK-47 rifle he was carrying.

"Most likely it is Kishenji. The officers on the spot said that it is Kishenji and most likely...99 per cent it is Kishenji," said Union Home Secretary RK Singh.

The CRPF has confirmed that Kishenji was killed in a gunbattle with security forces in the Junglemahal area of West Bengal.

Kishenji was believed to lead 22,000 armed Maoist insurgents. He and his cadres had succeeded to cut of the Junglemahal area in Bengal from the state administration for nearly 18 months since 2009. But with Kishenji's death, the Maoists have suffered a body-blow that security agencies believe, will cripple their organisational capabilities in not just Bengal, but in neighbouring Jharkhand and Orissa as well.

Rampaul wrecks Indian hearts, removes Sachin on 94

It's the biggest heartbreak ever and India is stunned.

Sachin Tendulkar is out at 94, excruciatingly close to his much-awaited 100th international ton. The big moment had promised to come on the fourth day of the third Test match against West Indies on Friday. But it was not to be. There is a hushed silence at the packed Wankhade. And a pall of gloom all over the country.

Sachin was caught in the slips by Darren Sammy of the bowling of Ravi Rampaul.

SC grants bail to 5 corporates accused

The Supreme Court of India has grated bail to all corporates accused in 2G scam case. Each corporate will file two sureties of Rs 5 lakh each. The corporates include Unitech 's Sanjay Chandra, Swan Telecom's Vinod Goenka and Reliance ADAG's Gautam Doshi, Hari Nair, Surendra Pipara.

Shahid Balwa has not got bail as the trail was not scheduled today.

This is the first set of bail granted in the telecom spectrum scam.

The Reliance executives are accused of cheating as part of an alleged conspiracy. They allegedly created a web of companies through subterfuge in order to conceal the real identity of the holding hands of Swan telecom.

Goenka is accused of being a part of this larger conspiracy whereas Unitech's Chandra is accused of being a beneficiary in the scam.

Chandra's firm was given the 2G spectrum licence by former Telecom Minister A Raja despite its ineligibility and that his company was tipped-off about the proponing of cut-off dates for applying for the 2G licence.

The CBI also alleged that after getting the licences, Unitech and co-accused Swan Telecom had sold their equity to foreign companies much before beginning to roll out of their services, thereby making huge profits.

The CBI is also expected to give its reply to a special court in response to the notice on another accused Shahid Balwa's plea.

Defenses by the accused in the Supreme Court are - no prima-facie case, no documents to suggest cheating or forgery against them. Even if a prima facie case exists, bail is the rule and denial of it is an exception.

Accused have no criminal past and had all along cooperated with the CBI during the investigation in the case.

Investigation in the case is over, chargesheets have been filed against the accused and they are no longer needed for further investigation hence they should be released on bail.

The CBI on the other hand says that, the accused are influential persons and if released on bail they could tamper with the evidence and that the offence committed by the accused is very grave.

Sensex snaps 8-day losing streak

Indian equity benchmark Nifty snapped 8-day losing streak on Tuesday -- bouncing back above the 4800 mark -- led by technology, banks, metals and auto (four-wheeler) stocks. But the market was extremely volatile during the day due to choppy trade in rupee. Both the benchmarks trimmed gains in late trade following cut in gains in European markets and downward spiral in the rupee. The 30-share BSESensex rose 119.32 points, to close at 16,065.42 and the 50-share NSE Nifty moved up 34 points, to end at 4,812.35.

Asia's worst-performing currency in 2011, the rupee today tumbled to an all-time low of 52.73 against the US dollar. In an intra-day trade, it appreciated to 52.30, which suggests that the RBI may have sold dollars; but it again moved down to 52.59 a dollar at the time of closing of Indian equity markets.

Anant Narayan, managing director, regional head of fixed income and currency trading, south Asia at Standard Chartered Bank and Sajjid Chinoy, Asia economics at JPMorgan suggest that despite the volatility being global, in the short term, it is only the central bank that can intervene and arrest the free fall.

European markets like France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE were trading 0.5% higher, which rallied 1% in the opening trade. The Dow Jones futures turned flat.

Back home, the most beaten down stocks in the last eight days saw short covering in today's trade. Tata Motors was the biggest gainer among largecaps, rising 6% to Rs 173 a share.

In the technology space, TCS, Wipro and Infosys gained 1.7-2.3%. HDFC, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, SBI, Sterlite and BHEL climbed 1-2%.

Jaiprakash Associates, which lost 15% in last seven days, gained 4%. However, Bharti Airtel was the major loser - dropped 2.5%.

ITC, HUL, M&M, Tata Power, Bajaj Auto and Hero Motocorp among other largecaps were down 1-2%. HDFC Bank, ONGC and NTPC were marginally lower.

Total traded turnover on both exchanges was more than Rs 1.99 lakh crore. The broader indices were flat today and even the advance:decline ratio was equal.

Amtek Auto shot up 20% on buyback news. S Kumars Nationwide, Pantaloon Retail, Educomp, Suzlon, Kingfhisher and Jet Airways gained 3-10%. However, Parsvnath Developers crashed 20%.

Howrah-Doon Express fire

Railway Ministry officials confirmed that the death toll in the Howrah-Dehradun Express train fire which broke out late on Monday night, is now up to seven.

The Railway Ministry officials have also said that there was no pantry car attached to the train, so the investigations are on to find the source of the fire.

He added that the affected bogies have been detached and that rescue and relief operations are on.

"We have detached the affected bogies. Relief and rescue trains are on their way," he said.

According to a Railway Ministry spokesperson at New Delhi, the fire broke out at 2:30 am in B-1 AC coach and then it spread to B-2 AC coach.

The train is currently stationed at the Giridih district of Jharkhand which is four hours from Ranchi.

The Railway managers and medical teams were on the site. Eight trains have been held up from Gaya and Dhanbad.

The Railways have set up a helpline for the relatives of the passengers.

The helpline numbers are:

033-26413660

033-26402243

032-62220518

BWN Enq: 03422-561601

DHN Enq: 0326-2220518