Ratan Tata has been called upon for a lot of varied things, but this might be a first for the chairman emeritus of Tata Sons. Residents of Tata Blocks, Bandra’s plush Parsi residential colony, have appealed to him for their security.

A 78-year-old retired principal secretary to a former Bombay high court chief justice was murdered in the colony on March 8. After two more crimes last week, a theft and an attempted robbery, the residents have written to the Tata trust that manages the property, asking for enhanced security. On March 31, the Bandra police also wrote to the trustees (Mumbai Mirror has a copy of the letter) demanding increased security and CCTV cameras.

Ratan Tata continues to be the chairman of all the Tata trusts. While these trusts are managed by the appointed trustees, they have to report to him from time to time.

“We have called upon Ratan Tata’s intervention because his word will be the final one,” said Soli Paymaster, 75, one of the 250-odd residents who have signed the letter sent to the trustees of the Bai Hirabai Tata Memorial Trust. Tata Blocks has over 290 flats in 25 buildings in three compounds. Nearly 70 per cent of the occupants are senior citizens.

“With such a large number of vulnerable residents, security becomes utmost important,” added Paymaster, who has lived in the colony since birth. “We understand that Ratan Tata is busy with several projects but it is time he paid some attention to us.”

Paymaster also wrote a strongly worded letter to a community newspaper, Parsi Times, terming the security issue as a “crying shame”. The colony just has one day and one night watchman. It has 10 gates and is close to three theatres, a shopping outlet and pub, and the colony is used by people for shortcuts and for parking cars. “The only security guard on duty roams around in the premises and there is no one to man the gates,” said a resident who refused to be named.

Residents got together to talk about security after two robbers murdered Darius Kapadia and fled with valuables worth over Rs 8.90 lakh on March 8. March 27, an attempted robbery and a theft were also reported from Tata Blocks. “Are they waiting for another murder to take place,” asked Nevil Dara, 43, who lives with his 78-yearold mother in one of the buildings. “I have never spotted a security guard in our colony except some times during the night. But this guard is here to look after the property and not the residents.” Another resident said: “The trustees have not bothered to visit the Tata Blocks even after the murder. This attitude is extremely bothersome.” The letter sent to the trustees by a senior inspector at the Bandra police station said one watchman is not enough for the vast residential colony’s security.

“You are aware about the increased thefts, assaults and murder of a senior citizen in the colony. As many senior citizens live there, the security needs to be strengthened,” the letter said. It also suggested that the trustees install CCTV cameras. “We have increased the patrolling in the colony. We hope you will consider out request to beef up the security,” the letter added. According to a resident, another colony under the same trust, the Tardeo Tata Colony, has extremely good security arrangements. “We pay minimal rent here,” said a Tata Blocks resident. “The residents have no issues in paying more money to get security, but the trustees have to agree for that.”

Burjor Antia, one of the trustees of the Bai Hirabai Tata Memorial Trust, confirmed getting a letter from the police to beef up security. “We will be meeting the residents of the Tata Blocks soon,” Antia told Mumbai Mirror,adding that two years ago a meeting was held to discuss security issues but nothing materialized after the residents refused to bear any additional costs. “We are completely for security,” Antia said. “Let’s see if something concrete can be worked out this time.”

NEW DELHI: The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party marked the completion of its 50 days in power in Delhi by re-launching the anti-corruption helpline number – 1031. The service can be used by people to lodge complaints if they are harassed for bribes by government official.

The helpline is a revival of the service which the AAP government had launched during its earlier 49-day stint after the 2013 Assembly elections.

“Last time our party was in power for 49 days, we had launched this helpline. We are re-launching it today,” Mr Kejriwal said while launching the helpline.

A dedicated helpline for reporting cases of corruption was one of the major promises made by AAP in its manifesto for the Assembly elections this year.

A group of volunteers has been trained to run the 24/7 helpline and attend the calls in English and Hindi. The executives will also direct the callers on how to conduct sting operations. All the calls will be divided into two categories – serious and non-serious.

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“You can complain against bribe demands by a government official or can report corruption if you have recorded audio or video evidence against an officer. Within 48 hours, a member of the anti-corruption branch will contact you and collect your evidence for further investigation,” explained a call handler on the 1031 helpline number to the Press Trust of India.

Any sting video or audio clip will be put through a forensic test during the investigation, which will be handled by the anti-corruption branch of Delhi government.

According to statistics released by AAP during its previous tenure, the helpline received over one lakh phone, most of which were against Delhi Police.

Government sources tell NDTV that with re-launch of 1031 the government will be able to cater to around 10,000 calls per day as opposed to the previous count of 1000 calls per day.

The state government has also decided to strengthen the Anti-Corruption Branch by increasing funds from Rs. 8 crore to Rs. 15 crore and inspector posts to 40.

Union minister Maneka Gandhi on Sunday expressed concern about India being the world’s largest beef exporter and claimed that the money from illegal animal slaughter was used for perpetrating acts of terrorism.

Quoting a report submitted to Uttar Pradesh Police four years ago, Gandhi, who is also a noted animal rights activist and environmentalist, claimed that the money earned through illegal animal slaughtering was going into terrorism.

It is going into terrorism, it is going into bomb making. It is going into killing us. Why we are allowing this? It is a trade of Indians. Do not blame a particular community for this,” she claimed.

“We are the largest beef exporters in the world and also killing them for leather production. We are actually killing more animals than China, it is appalling!” the minister for women and child development said during a valedictory lecture at the India for Animals conference in Jaipur.

The minister alleged that a mafia runs slaughter houses. “Take the case of Deonar slaughter house in Mumbai. They gave an undertaking in the high court that they would not export meat, which is for consumption in India. But 90% of the meat is exported. There have been hundreds of cases of stabbing and murder there. Anybody who tries to check what is actually being killed there is threatened,” she alleged. Deonar abattoir, located in the eastern suburb of Mumbai, is the largest in Asia.

Gandhi said while members of one community sell its livestock, another slaughters it in their slaughter houses and asked people not to link animal slaughter to a particular religion or community.

India is illegally exporting beef to Bangladesh and that country claims of exporting about 160,000 tonnes of beef. “But as a matter of fact they (Bangladesh) do not own a single cow,” she said.

The minister called on NGOs, volunteers and civil society to join the ‘save animals movement’ and urged them to set up informer systems to sound an alarm to prevent such trade.

“Deer’s meat is available at many places in Rajasthan, even in Dhani (hutments)…I get such information while sitting in Delhi. Every animal organ is illegally sold. Over 25,000 websites are full of illegal sale of animal organs,” she said.

On a report published during the previous UPA government’s regime stating that 80 per cent of milk in the country was “adulterated,” Gandhi lamented, “we are drinking poison”.

She asked NGOs and volunteers working for protection of animals to study the forest and wildlife acts properly and try to inform the municipal authorities about any animal cruelty.

Dissection of animals in school and college education has also stopped, she noted, adding Medical Council of India is also considering this ban.

Cosmetic research and animal experimentation needs to be contained in the growing Indian culture, the Union minister said.

The businessman, who was in an inebriated state, had allegedly in a fit of rage assaulted Chandrabose and later rammed his luxury vehicle into him over delay in opening the gate of his residential complex here on January 29. The guard succumbed to injuries on February 16

Police on Saturday filed a chargesheet in the sensational murder of a 51-year-old security guard allegedly by beedi tycoon Mohammed Nisham at the Judicial First Class Magistrate court at nearby Kunnamkulam. The chargesheet contained scientific evidences and other documents to prove the charges, including murder, against Nisham, police said.

Statements of 12 eyewitnesses, including Nisham’s wife Amal, had been been recorded under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Besides, statements of over 100 witnesses had also been recorded and attached with the chargesheet. Police said they also have plans to move court for a speedy trial.

KOLHAPUR, APR 4:
In yet another trial room snooping case, a worker of Fabindia store in Kolhapur in Maharshtra has been arrested for allegedly filming a woman customer using his mobile phone, police said today.

The incident, which took place on March 31 in the premium ethnic clothing brand’s outlet in Tarabai Park area here in south Maharashtra, came to light after Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani made an issue of the trial room snooping in Fabindia’s store in Candolim at Goa.

The worker, Prakash Ananda Ispurle, was arrested on April 1 after the woman filed a police complaint, and was sent to judicial custody where he is currently lodged, police said.

The woman was trying clothes when Ispurle placed his mobile phone in recording mode in the gap between the trial room door and the floor, police said.

When she noticed the phone, she raised an alarm. Ispurle quickly pulled out the mobile phone and hurriedly went to a corner of the store and deleted the recording, they said.

During investigation, police spotted Ispurle in the CCTV footage filming the woman.

Srinagar/Doda, Apr 4 (PTI) Three more bodies were recovered today from debris of the houses that collapsed in landslides caused due to incessant rains in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.

With the recovery of the bodies, toll in two separate incidents of mudslide has increased to 20.

Search and rescue workers retrieved the body of seven- year-old boy Ahmad Hajam from the debris of a house at village Laden in Chadoora tehsil this morning, a police official said, with this toll increased to 16.

Laden village witnessed landslide caused by heavy rains on intervening night of Sunday and Monday. Rescue parties immediately swung into action and recovered 15 bodies of two families from the debris of the house swallowed by earth. The boy had remained untraced.

The operation ended with the recovery of the body of the missing boy from the debris, the official said.

Meanwhile, two more bodies were recovered today from the debris of the collapsed house, which was yesterday hit by a massive landslide triggered by incessant rains in Doda district. Three persons were still missing.

“Rescuers today recovered two more bodies from the debris of the house that collapsed under a massive landslide in Diwalkund in Dessa belt of Doda district yesterday,” Senior Superintendent of Police Doda, Javed Naseeb Manhas told PTI.

With the recovery of two more bodies, he said, the total bodies recovered since yesterday has risen to four.

“Two bodies were recovered yesterday. Three people who are also feared dead, continue to be trapped under the debris of the house which has come under around 18 feet of mud and slush,” he said, adding a joint rescue operation by Police, Army and civil administration was under way.

“Continuous rainfall has been creating hurdles in the operation as the area is prone to more landslides. It is a remote area which lacks road accessibility thus making the movement of heavy machinery impossible”, he said.

The house of one Jodh Ram had collapsed yesterday after being hit by a massive landslide burying the debris under more than 18 feet of mud and slush.

Chennai, Apr 4 (PTI) An assistant professor of Annamalai University at Chidambaram is among six persons arrested in connection with theft of answer sheets in the varsity.

C Bhaskaran, an Assistant Professor of History and five others, all office attendants, were arrested on Thursday on a complaint from the university after it was noticed in February that answer papers were missing from the varsity’s strong room.

The gang allegedly retrieved the papers from the strong room using duplicate keys and handed them over to students to rewrite correct answers in return for money, police said.

A probe is on to ascertain if more persons were involved in this matter, police said.

Deoria (UP), Apr 4 (PTI) Over Rs two crore went missing from a branch of the Central bank of India on Ansari road in Kotwali area here.

Chest incharge of the bank Vinod Kumar Singh said that Rs 2.77 crore was missing, Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar said.

He said the policeman who was posted as guard at the bank was also missing.

On March 31, the bank employees instead of keeping the money in the chest, had put it in a box and left for the day, the SP said.

He said that features of the man seen in the CCTV footage matched with that of the missing policeman.

Two bank employees were also being said to be missing, Kumar said, adding, the matter is being investigated.

Bengaluru, April 4 (PTI) With the land bill emerging as a common anti-government plank for the opposition, BJP today vowed to take on the “disinformation campaign” being run by the Congress and other parties by reaching out to farmers in every village and explaining to them all aspects of the bill.

The controversial bill was discussed in detail on the concluding day of the two-day National Executive meeting and formed a part of the party’s political resolution adopted there.

An elaborate power-point presentation on the issue was made at the meet and a booklet titled ‘Information to Counter Disinformation (placing facts before the people)’ was released as the party sought to rally its cadre around in support of the bill which is pending in Parliament.

“We will not allow the disinformation campaign which is baseless…The disinformation campaign by the opposition will be met with…The party will reveal the facts at every village and tell people that we have come with a law that is in favour of farmers and people.

“All party members would be going out to explain the public on the contents of the land bill. The intention of the government is to help farmers,” Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters.

Asked if national executive members expressed concern over any aspect of the bill, she said “chinta (concern), if there is any, is about the disinformation campaign?.

She said the party will engage with allies like Shiv Sena and SAD, which have expressed serious reservations, and added that the party’s intention was to take everybody on aboard and not to hurt anyone.

“When we are willing to engage with the opposition then why would not we engage with our own allies,” she said.

Cairo, Apr 3 (PTI) A Bollywood musical extravaganza?is being presented in Egypt?as part of the third edition of the ‘India by the Nile’ festival.

“No Indian festival is complete without a?Bollywood?song and dance performance.?Bollywood?Love Story last year was an instant hit and received great reviews. This year we are bringing ‘Bollywood?Musical ? A Tale of Love, Passion and Revenge’ themed on?Amitabh?Bachchan’s?most important roles,” said the Ambassador of India to Egypt, Navdeep Suri.??

‘India by Nile’ is the largest foreign cultural festival in Egypt since the?25 January?Revolution that topped former president Hosni Mubarak.

The musical performed in Cairo at the Opera House from 1-2 April and will be staged tonight before travelling to Alexandria on April 6-8.

“Bollywood?Extravaganza”?features a love story that is set against the backdrop of the colorful world of?Bollywood and with the help of more than 35 dancers.

Bachchan, 72, inaugurated the festival last Monday during his visit to Egypt.