The External Affairs Ministry has directed a number of Indian missions abroad to ask the countries concerned to speed up executing Letters Rogatory (LR) in connection with the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland chopper scam following a request by the CBI.

CBI had a few days back written a letter to MEA on expediting execution of the LRs, which are judicial requests to foreign countries for legal assistance in criminal cases.

The LRs were issued to Italy, Tunisia, Mauritius, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, Britain, United Arab Emirates and Switzerland.

“Yes, I can confirm that we have received a communication in this regard from the CBI seeking an update on the execution reports of the Letters Rogatory that were sent earlier to eight countries.

“We have once again written to our missions in the concerned countries from where the execution reports are pending in order to impress upon them the need to expeditiously execute the LRs and to send the corresponding execution reports at the earliest,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, replying to a question.

Sources said a few countries have either responded to the LRs or executed them partly while some others are yet to respond.

The CBI is currently probing the AgustaWestland chopper scam and it questioned former IAF Chief S P Tyagi for the fourth consecutive day today.

The Enforcement Directorate, in its charge sheet filed last year, had claimed to have detected flow of alleged kickbacks sent from abroad to companies of the accused Delhi-based lawyer Gautam Khaitan and cousins of the former IAF chief.

On January 1, 2014, India had scrapped the contract with Finmeccanica’s British subsidiary AgustaWestland for supplying 12 AW101 VVIP choppers to the Indian Air Force (IAF) over alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of payment of kickbacks to the tune of Rs 423 crore by it for securing the deal.

Asked whether Britain has responded to India’s request for extraditing Vijay Mallya, whose Kingfisher Airlines has been accused of defaulting on bank loans of over Rs 9,400 crore, the MEA spokesperson replied in the negative.PTI

Actress Nargis Fakhri says she found it ridiculous to do retakes of kissing scenes with co-star Emraan Hashmi in their upcoming film “Azhar”.

“I was not aware these many kissing scenes will be there.

I was like I will charge extra as this is ridiculous, as there were retakes and reshoots, so I was like is this a joke,” Nargis told PTI.

According to the “Rockstar” actress, she feels awkward while doing kissing or intimate scenes.

“It is always awkward for me as I am shy, even though I don’t look like a shy. I giggle so much or make jokes to get away from the tension. It’s nice when you have a good co-star who makes you feel comfortable…,” she said.

The 36-year-old actress is all praise for Emraan.

“He is cool, down-to-earth man. He is professional and makes you feel comfortable,” she said.

The movie “Azhar” is based on the life of former Indian cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin. Featuring Emraan, Nargis, Prachi Desai, Gautam Gulati and others, the film hits the screens on May 13.

As many as 378 forest fires broke out in different parts of Himachal Pradesh this summer due to inflammable parched pine needles, following dry weather and sudden rise in day temperatures.

“Fires occurred on 3000 hectare areas, mostly in lower areas of Solan, Sirmaur, Bilaspur, Kangra, Hamirpur, Shimla and some other places but all these were ground fires caused by burning of highly inflammable dry pine needles,” S P Vasudeva, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests said.

As many as 378 fires broke out in forests in different parts of the state but there was no major loss as the department is fully geared up to tackle the situation as dry pine needles will continue to fall till end of May, he said.

Vasudeva said two cement companies are already purchasing pine needles and efforts are being made to persuade other cement manufacturers to buy the pine needles in bulk as these are used in the furnace.

He said a meeting with cement manufacturers is slated for May 7.

The department had made preparations in advance with existing fire lines cleared and new ones created by March. 750 local fire watchers were deputed by April 15 to immediately inform about any fire incident in the forests, the Chief Conservator said.

Centrally sponsored ‘Intensive Forest Management Scheme’ has been launched and the task of creating fire lines and deputing the ‘Fire Watcher’ is being done under it.

Satellite links have been provided and alerts are sent to concerned forest guards and other forest officials about fire incidents within their jurisdiction, he said.

In neighbouring Uttarakhand, NDRF has deployed over 130 personnel as part of multiple fire fighting teams to combat the raging forest fire in the jungles of the state that have destroyed about 2,269 hectares of jungles in several districts and claimed at least seven lives till now.

Delhi today sizzled at 44 degrees Celsius, the hottest day of the season so far.

“The maximum temperature was recorded at 44 degrees Celsius. It is the hottest day of the season so far,” a MeT Department official said.

The minimum temperature settled at 23.8 degrees Celsius, a notch below the season’s average.

According to a MeT department official, relative humidity was recorded at 21 per cent at 8:30 AM.

Met office has predicted partly cloudy skies along with the possibility of a dust storm or thunderstorm towards evening and night.

“Skies are expected to remain partly cloudy today with dust/thunderstorm likely to occur towards evening/night.

However, there is no possibility of rainfall today,” said the official.

Yesterday, the maximum and minimum temperatures were recorded at 42 degrees Celsius and 22 degrees Celsius respectively.

“Quantico” star Priyanka Chopra has criticised Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s call for banning Muslim immigrants, saying generalising a type of people is “really primitive”.

Priyanka was named by Time among 100 most influential people thanks to her blossoming career in Hollywood.

Trump is also on the list and both attended the gala last night.

“I just think you can’t put a ban on anyone. Generalizing a type of people is really primitive,” she said.

The 33-year-old star said the fight against domestic terrorism has grown so complex that “you can’t put a face on it anymore,” she added.

Trump has been already criticised by celebrities like George Clooney and wife Amal for his controversial comments.PTI.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today challenged the Congress to show the UPA government order blacklisting the Anglo-Italian helicopter maker AgustaWestland in connection with the VVIP chopper scam.

Parrikar, who said that he will speak in detail in Parliament on the issue in the near future, informed that the Ministry has received a copy of the Italian court order and is in the process of translating it into English.

He said that the process might take 8-10 days.

Parrikar also took a dig at Congress president Sonia Gandhi, saying translation from Italian was not easy, “at least for the ruling side. May not be a difficult task for the opposition”.

A combative Parrikar hit back when asked about Congress’ allegation that while UPA had blacklisted the company, the NDA government removed it from the blacklist.

“When did they blacklist? Ask them first. Ask them what date the order was issued? Show me the copy of the order,” the Minister said.

Asked if he meant that the firm was never blacklisted, he said, “I am not saying that”.

Interestingly, in a written reply to Rajya Sabha on February 5, 2014, the then Defence Minister A K Antony, while giving details on AgustaWestland, had said, “No decision has been taken till date to debar the said company”.

This runs contrary to what the Congress has been claiming because the reply came just months ahead of the regime change.

However, records of state-run HAL show that Agusta Westland International Ltd, UK, Finmeccanica, Italy and its group of companies, including subsidiaries and affiliates, IDS Tunisia and Infotech Design System (IDS), Mauritius, were blacklisted on July 3, 2014, when NDA was in power, because of the CBI case against them to inquire into alleged criminal wrongdoing in the procurement of VVIP Helicopters.

Hitting back at BJP on the VVIP chopper deal, Congress had yesterday alleged that AgustaWestland was “removed” from the blacklisted category by the Modi dispensation.

Congress leader and former Union Minister Anand Sharma had said, “The chopper deal was scrapped. Action was taken by the UPA government. A K Antony, the then Defence Minister, had made a statement in Parliament and Agusta Westland was blacklisted.PTI.

The Supreme Court today dismissed beleagured Vijay Mallya’s prayer for protection from disclosure of his assets and those of his family, in India and abroad, to Kingfisher Airlines’ lenders, saying “no tangible” grounds have been raised to maintain secrecy of information.

“We don’t find any tangible objection in disclosing the assets (of Mallya, his wife and children) to banks,” a bench comprising Justices Kurian Joseph and R F Nariman said.

The bench directed the apex court registry to furnish to the lenders, a consortium of banks, the details of assets, both domestic and foreign, declared by the former liquor baron of himself and his family members, in sealed cover to the apex court.

The top court, which said Mallya has not complied with its April 7 order in its letter and spirit, observed that “the whole purpose of asking for disclosure was to give a fair idea to banks for entering into a meaningful and viable settlement.”

It asked the Debt Recovery Tribunal in Bengaluru to “expeditiously decide” within two months, the pleas of banks and financial institutions for recovery of their loans.

The direction was issued after Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi submitted that there was “total non-compliance” with the apex court’s April 7 order as Mallya was neither indicating the date of his return to the country to make an appearance before the court nor was he showing his bonafide for reaching a settlement with the lenders by not showing willingness to deposit a substantial part of the amount he owed them.

“He is a fugitive from justice in India,” the Attorney General said, adding the embattled businessman was playing “hide and seek” and cooking “cock and bull story”. Rohatgi said Mallya was “deliberately concealing something from the court” as he had “no intention to come back”.

However, senior advocates C S Vaidyanathan and Parag Tripathi, appearing for Mallya and his companies respectively, submitted that he was a “defaulter but not a wilful defaulter” and “here this is a case of business failure and not that of wilful default”.

Vaidyanathan submitted the accumulated loans of Kingfisher Airlines stood at Rs 16,000 crore in 2013 and all loans were given on the basis of personal assets of Mallya which is in the records of the banks. That being the case the liabilities cannot be attached to his estranged wife living abroad and NRI children who are protected under the law from disclosing their overseas assets, he contended.

Mallya has defaulted on repayment of loans of Rs 9,400 crore to a State Bank of India-led consortium.PTI.

Citing a large number of cases for probe coupled with acute manpower shortage, CBI Director Anil Sinha has demanded more personnel from states on deputation to the agency, saying if this is not done, the agency would collapse.

Appearing before a Parliamentary Committee, Sinha cited the increase in the number of cases referred to CBI by Supreme Court and High Courts and said the agency’s capacity for investigation was around 700 cases a year which has now almost doubled, necessitating more officers to supervise probes.

As per the submission made by the agency, a total of 1,200 cases and “62 foreign investigations” were pending. Of the total pending cases, 31 are pending for over three years.

A total of 1,531 posts were vacant in CBI as against its sanctioned strength of 7,274, as per the agency’s latest data.

Following the submission, the panel has asked the government to complete cadre review in the agency by June-end.

While deposing before the Committee, the Director, CBI, proposed to provide longer tenure to officers on deputation in the agency from the state and other central forces in addition to other steps taken to manage vacancies, said the report of Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, tabled in Parliament today.

“He, therefore, expressed that unless state governments provide the manpower by way of sending more of their personnel on deputation to the CBI, a time could come that CBI would collapse and fail,” it said.

The Committee expressed deep concern on the state of affairs relating to the vacant positions in CBI.

“It, therefore, impresses upon the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to complete the exercise of cadre review by June 30, 2016, as per the direction of the Supreme Court to deal with the vacancies in the establishment.

“The Committee is apprehensive that unless the present malady of massive vacancy is corrected immediately, the very purpose of establishment of the CBI would be eroded and its credibility tarnished,” the report said.PTI.

RSS Goa unit chief Subhash Velingkar has criticised the BJP-led government over the Medium of Instruction (MOI) policy in the schools.

“Don’t allow these people (BJP) on your doorstep during the election. They have betrayed trust of the voters who got them elected in 2012 election because they promised regional languages as MOI,” Velingkar told a gathering organised by Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM) at Mandrem in North Goa yesterday.

The BBSM – which supports regional language as medium of instruction in schools – began its statewide campaign yesterday from Chief Minister Laxmimant Parsekar’s Mandrem constituency.

Velingkar said the BJP-led state government had assured 12 different incentives for schools in Konkani and Marathi languages when it completed four years of its rule.

“But not a single paisa has been budgeted for these incentives. The announcement was merely an eyewash,” he alleged.

“Now this is agitation of Goan people. We have decided not to bear the lies,” he said adding that “BJP leaders are responsible for their own downfall in the state.”

Notably, Velingkar had earlier also criticised Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and the BJP-led state government over the medium of instruction policy in schools.

However, BJP Lok Sabha MP from South Goa Narendra Sawaikar had taken strong objection to Velingkar’s criticism.

A section of society in the coastal state backs English as medium of instruction in schools. The state government has given grants to such English medium schools, a move opposed by BBSM.PTI