Death threat to Chandy

Thiruvananthapuram: A death threat to chief minister Oommen Chandy was received by the Railways alert number through SMs on Thursday midnight.
With the help of the cybercell, the owner of the mobile, a native of Kasargod, was taken into custody. He is being interrogated. Police said the man told the police that he had lost his mobile 2 months back.

Death threat to Chandy

Thiruvananthapuram: A death threat to chief minister Oommen Chandy was received by the Railways alert number through SMs on Thursday midnight.
With the help of the cybercell, the owner of the mobile, a native of Kasargod, was taken into custody. He is being interrogated. Police said the man told the police that he had lost his mobile 2 months back.

The 'Butcher of Bihar' shot dead

Ara, Bihar: Ranvir Sena Chief Brahmeshwar Singh was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Bihar's Bhojpur district early on Friday, police said.

Singh was on a morning walk when he was accosted by gunmen who pumped several bullets into him, killing him on the spot at Katira Mohalla under Nawada police station, 71 kms from Patna, they said.

Singh alias Mukhiya Ji, who was earlier facing life imprisonment in various carnage cases, was acquitted and released from jail in April this year.

Chief of Ranvir Sena, a private militia of upper caste landlords, Singh was allegedly responsible for perpetrating several killings including Laxmanpur Bathe massacre of 61 dalits way back in December 1996.

His hand was also suspected in carnages that took place in the districts of Jahanabad, Aurangabad and Nawada in 1990s.

As the news of the killing spread, hundreds of Sena supporters gathered at the site of the killing and shouted anti-government slogans. They also tried to chase away policemen including the superintendent of police, who had arrived at the spot.

Patrolling has been intensified in the area as tension ran high. PTI

The 'Butcher of Bihar' shot dead

Ara, Bihar: Ranvir Sena Chief Brahmeshwar Singh was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Bihar's Bhojpur district early on Friday, police said.

Singh was on a morning walk when he was accosted by gunmen who pumped several bullets into him, killing him on the spot at Katira Mohalla under Nawada police station, 71 kms from Patna, they said.

Singh alias Mukhiya Ji, who was earlier facing life imprisonment in various carnage cases, was acquitted and released from jail in April this year.

Chief of Ranvir Sena, a private militia of upper caste landlords, Singh was allegedly responsible for perpetrating several killings including Laxmanpur Bathe massacre of 61 dalits way back in December 1996.

His hand was also suspected in carnages that took place in the districts of Jahanabad, Aurangabad and Nawada in 1990s.

As the news of the killing spread, hundreds of Sena supporters gathered at the site of the killing and shouted anti-government slogans. They also tried to chase away policemen including the superintendent of police, who had arrived at the spot.

Patrolling has been intensified in the area as tension ran high. PTI

Three Malayalees feared dead in Melbourne house fire

Melbourne: Three Malayalees are believed to have died after a fire tore through a Melbourne house on Friday but police said the damage was so great it would take time to confirm.Anita George, 37, hailing from Kanjirapally, and her two boys aged 5 and 10 were killed . It is learnt that the fire was caused by short circuit. Anita's husband George is employed in an IT consultancy firm in Melbourne. When the mishap happened, George was overseas on business.Detectives said three people of Indian descent were known to be living in the house on Main Rd, Clayton South, at the time of the fire.

'There's a lot of damage done to the premises but there's also a lot of damage done to the deceased as well,' said Detective Sergeant Jeff Maher.
'Sometimes you just cannot tell how many are deceased. 'We're keeping our minds open on what might have happened,' he added.

Neighbours gather at the scene of the tragic house fire. Picture: Trevor Pinder

Neighbours told reporters they heard hammering, followed by a scream, as flames engulfed the home in the early hours of the morning.The bodies were found together in a back room of the home.Arson and explosives chemists and crime scene detectives were inspecting the scene.Det-Sen-Sgt Maher said police were considering the possibility of a murder-suicide.About 25 firefighters arrived at 12.50am to find the house engulfed by flames and the roof close to collapsing. It took 40 minutes to bring the fire under ontrol. Police spokesman Sen-Constable Adam West said emergency service officers found human remains after the fire was extinguished at 1.30am. Neighbour Antonio, who didn't give his last name, said he pulled up the shutters on a window and smashed it to try to get into the front bedroom before being forced back by the danger.

'I didn't have anything to break in so I pulled the roller shutter and I smashed the window and I was trying to see if anybody was inside the bedroom, but no one was there,' he said.'Normally the husband and wife are in the front bedroom.'
He said his friend, Sam, who lives across the road, used an axe to help break the shutters.
Antonio said he was friends with the woman.
'I was screaming out 'Anita, Anita' but no one would come out,' he said.St Peter's School principal Philip O'Gorman expressed his grief over the deaths.
At this time the school is supporting all the students, families and staff in coming to terms with what has happened today,' he said.
'We have lost a valued family from our community.
'We would ask for your patience and respect today while our community comes to terms with what has happened.'
Close friend Jeanette Pereira said the mother was well known to the school community and many were in shock.
She was a very good lady, a very good mother. The children were very quiet. She looked after them well,' she said.
She said the family had migrated to Australia from Canada and her husband was working in IT.

Three Malayalees feared dead in Melbourne house fire

Melbourne: Three Malayalees are believed to have died after a fire tore through a Melbourne house on Friday but police said the damage was so great it would take time to confirm.Anita George, 37, hailing from Kanjirapally, and her two boys aged 5 and 10 were killed . It is learnt that the fire was caused by short circuit. Anita's husband George is employed in an IT consultancy firm in Melbourne. When the mishap happened, George was overseas on business.Detectives said three people of Indian descent were known to be living in the house on Main Rd, Clayton South, at the time of the fire.

'There's a lot of damage done to the premises but there's also a lot of damage done to the deceased as well,' said Detective Sergeant Jeff Maher.
'Sometimes you just cannot tell how many are deceased. 'We're keeping our minds open on what might have happened,' he added.

Neighbours gather at the scene of the tragic house fire. Picture: Trevor Pinder

Neighbours told reporters they heard hammering, followed by a scream, as flames engulfed the home in the early hours of the morning.The bodies were found together in a back room of the home.Arson and explosives chemists and crime scene detectives were inspecting the scene.Det-Sen-Sgt Maher said police were considering the possibility of a murder-suicide.About 25 firefighters arrived at 12.50am to find the house engulfed by flames and the roof close to collapsing. It took 40 minutes to bring the fire under ontrol. Police spokesman Sen-Constable Adam West said emergency service officers found human remains after the fire was extinguished at 1.30am. Neighbour Antonio, who didn't give his last name, said he pulled up the shutters on a window and smashed it to try to get into the front bedroom before being forced back by the danger.

'I didn't have anything to break in so I pulled the roller shutter and I smashed the window and I was trying to see if anybody was inside the bedroom, but no one was there,' he said.'Normally the husband and wife are in the front bedroom.'
He said his friend, Sam, who lives across the road, used an axe to help break the shutters.
Antonio said he was friends with the woman.
'I was screaming out 'Anita, Anita' but no one would come out,' he said.St Peter's School principal Philip O'Gorman expressed his grief over the deaths.
At this time the school is supporting all the students, families and staff in coming to terms with what has happened today,' he said.
'We have lost a valued family from our community.
'We would ask for your patience and respect today while our community comes to terms with what has happened.'
Close friend Jeanette Pereira said the mother was well known to the school community and many were in shock.
She was a very good lady, a very good mother. The children were very quiet. She looked after them well,' she said.
She said the family had migrated to Australia from Canada and her husband was working in IT.

Threatening investigating officials is not CPI-M policy:VS

Kozhikode : Amid a case being registered against a CPI-M leader for allegedly intimidating an officer investigating RMP leader T P Chandrasekharan's murder, veteran marxist V S Achuthanandan today said threatening officials probing the case was not a policy of the party.

'It is not the policy of the party to threaten officials investigating the murder of Revolutionary Marxist Party leader Chandrasekharan,' Achuthanandan, opposition leader in the state assembly, told reporters here.

CPIM would only support the initiative of the UDF government to bring to book those behind the murder, he said.

The CPI(M) leadership in the state has been critical of the Special Investigation Team constituted to probe the murder.

Police had yesterday slapped a criminal case on CPI(M) State secretariat member Elamaram Kareem on the charge of
intimidating a police officer investigating the murder case.

Kareem during a speech at a rally organised in front of the Vatakara police station last saturday had allegedly threatened crime branch Deputy Superintendent of Police K V Santhoshkumar.

On the plea filed by CPI(M) Kozhikode district secretary T P Ramakrishnan in High Court seeking to initiate contempt of
court proceedings against media, Achuthanandan said 'filing cases against the media is not a correct step...' To a query on the reported disappearance of controversial Idukki District CPI(M) Secretary, M M Mani, after a case of murder was regsitered against him for stating that the party had eliminated its enemies durng the 1980s as per a list, he said '....you will have to enquire and bring to light.'

'Earlier, we had also gone underground as per CPI(M)'s decision to defy warrants of Congress and British rulers to support agitations of the people, workers and farmers.Some of you correspondents will be remembering that', he said.

'But, the present reason (Mani's absence), you will have to enquire and bring to light,' he said.

Asked about the June 2 assembly bypoll tothe Neyattinkara seat, he claimed the LDF candidate F Lawrence will win by a
huge margin. PTI TKK

Threatening investigating officials is not CPI-M policy:VS

Kozhikode : Amid a case being registered against a CPI-M leader for allegedly intimidating an officer investigating RMP leader T P Chandrasekharan's murder, veteran marxist V S Achuthanandan today said threatening officials probing the case was not a policy of the party.

'It is not the policy of the party to threaten officials investigating the murder of Revolutionary Marxist Party leader Chandrasekharan,' Achuthanandan, opposition leader in the state assembly, told reporters here.

CPIM would only support the initiative of the UDF government to bring to book those behind the murder, he said.

The CPI(M) leadership in the state has been critical of the Special Investigation Team constituted to probe the murder.

Police had yesterday slapped a criminal case on CPI(M) State secretariat member Elamaram Kareem on the charge of
intimidating a police officer investigating the murder case.

Kareem during a speech at a rally organised in front of the Vatakara police station last saturday had allegedly threatened crime branch Deputy Superintendent of Police K V Santhoshkumar.

On the plea filed by CPI(M) Kozhikode district secretary T P Ramakrishnan in High Court seeking to initiate contempt of
court proceedings against media, Achuthanandan said 'filing cases against the media is not a correct step...' To a query on the reported disappearance of controversial Idukki District CPI(M) Secretary, M M Mani, after a case of murder was regsitered against him for stating that the party had eliminated its enemies durng the 1980s as per a list, he said '....you will have to enquire and bring to light.'

'Earlier, we had also gone underground as per CPI(M)'s decision to defy warrants of Congress and British rulers to support agitations of the people, workers and farmers.Some of you correspondents will be remembering that', he said.

'But, the present reason (Mani's absence), you will have to enquire and bring to light,' he said.

Asked about the June 2 assembly bypoll tothe Neyattinkara seat, he claimed the LDF candidate F Lawrence will win by a
huge margin. PTI TKK

New telecom policy to make India roaming-free

New Delhi: The Indian government Thursday unveiled a new, consumer-friendly telecom policy, paving the way for free roaming and nation-wide mobile number portability.
'Affordability of the consumers is the core of our policy,' Communications Minister Kapil Sibal said after a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved the National Telecom Policy (NTP) 2012.
'Target is one nation full mobile number portability and work towards one nation free roaming.'
The minister said the new policy will replace the older regulation which has been in effect for more than 12 years now and provide a predictable and stable policy regime for a period of nearly 10 years.

The policy envisions providing a 'secure, reliable, affordable and high quality converged telecommunication services anytime, anywhere for an accelerated inclusive socio-economic development'.The policy will be operationalised by bringing out detailed guidelines, as may be considered appropriate, from time to time.It envisages increasing penetration of telecom services in rural area from current level of around 39 to 70 percent by 2017 and 100 per cent by the year 2020.

Broadband speed has also been increased to minimum of 2 megabit per second (mbps). This change will come into force with immediate effect.Also, under the new policy, licences will be delinked from spectrum which have been bundled with the licences so far.The NTP 2012 will also allow operators to provide services based on any technology by using airwaves and will not restrict them to use it for particular service using any specific frequency band.
At present, there are frequencies which are specifically used for providing GSM or CDMA services as per the permit given to the companies.
There are five changes in the policy compared to the draft policy that was released last year. These changes are related to revenue generation objective, Spectrum Act and TRAI Act.
The policy favours encouraging domestic manufacturing of telecom equipment.
'Till the time we will not set up industry here... India will not be able to become global. It is very important because along with this prices of device will also come down,' Sibal said.
'Spectrum Act has been deleted as a policy matter we don't intend to have a spectrum act any more,' he said.
On giving more power to TRAI, the cabinet decided that policy making function would remain with government and the regulator will not make policy.
The cabinet also substituted the point which mentioned 'direct revenue generation' as secondary objective of new policy with 'availability of affordable and effective communication for the citizens is at the core of the vision and goal of NTP 2012' at two places.
The government has also replaced a sentence related to spectrum allocation to migrate its users to different frequency bands to make way for services based on new technologies.Sibal said that any major changes in the policy in future will be brought to the cabinet for approval.
The union cabinet also approved introduction of unified licence and authorised the Department of Telecommunications to finalise the new unified licensing regime with the approval of minister of communications and IT.

New telecom policy to make India roaming-free

New Delhi: The Indian government Thursday unveiled a new, consumer-friendly telecom policy, paving the way for free roaming and nation-wide mobile number portability.
'Affordability of the consumers is the core of our policy,' Communications Minister Kapil Sibal said after a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved the National Telecom Policy (NTP) 2012.
'Target is one nation full mobile number portability and work towards one nation free roaming.'
The minister said the new policy will replace the older regulation which has been in effect for more than 12 years now and provide a predictable and stable policy regime for a period of nearly 10 years.

The policy envisions providing a 'secure, reliable, affordable and high quality converged telecommunication services anytime, anywhere for an accelerated inclusive socio-economic development'.The policy will be operationalised by bringing out detailed guidelines, as may be considered appropriate, from time to time.It envisages increasing penetration of telecom services in rural area from current level of around 39 to 70 percent by 2017 and 100 per cent by the year 2020.

Broadband speed has also been increased to minimum of 2 megabit per second (mbps). This change will come into force with immediate effect.Also, under the new policy, licences will be delinked from spectrum which have been bundled with the licences so far.The NTP 2012 will also allow operators to provide services based on any technology by using airwaves and will not restrict them to use it for particular service using any specific frequency band.
At present, there are frequencies which are specifically used for providing GSM or CDMA services as per the permit given to the companies.
There are five changes in the policy compared to the draft policy that was released last year. These changes are related to revenue generation objective, Spectrum Act and TRAI Act.
The policy favours encouraging domestic manufacturing of telecom equipment.
'Till the time we will not set up industry here... India will not be able to become global. It is very important because along with this prices of device will also come down,' Sibal said.
'Spectrum Act has been deleted as a policy matter we don't intend to have a spectrum act any more,' he said.
On giving more power to TRAI, the cabinet decided that policy making function would remain with government and the regulator will not make policy.
The cabinet also substituted the point which mentioned 'direct revenue generation' as secondary objective of new policy with 'availability of affordable and effective communication for the citizens is at the core of the vision and goal of NTP 2012' at two places.
The government has also replaced a sentence related to spectrum allocation to migrate its users to different frequency bands to make way for services based on new technologies.Sibal said that any major changes in the policy in future will be brought to the cabinet for approval.
The union cabinet also approved introduction of unified licence and authorised the Department of Telecommunications to finalise the new unified licensing regime with the approval of minister of communications and IT.