Ponty Chadha death: Brother Hardeep fired first, say police

Investigators working on the Delhi farmhouse shootout that left liquor and real estate baron Ponty Chadha and his brother Hardeep dead today claimed to have figured out the sequence of events leading to the sensational killings.

The Delhi police said Saturday's encounter between the two brothers was sparked off by Mr Chadha's alleged attempt to lock up the Chattarpur farmhouse that he and Hardeep had a dispute over.

Police said Mr Chadha, whose real name is Gurdeep, visited the farmhouse at around 10.30 am with his friend Sukhdev Singh, who heads the Uttarakhand Minorities Commission.

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Mr Chadha, 55, allegedly asked his men to dab black paint over the farmhouse board carrying Hardeep's name. An enraged Hardeep, investigators said, got a wind of this and rushed to the farmhouse from Noida around noon.

Police said Hardeep first ran into Mr Chadha's aide Narender at the farmhouse gates and shot him. He then fired several shots at Mr Chadha and his SUV, using his licenced 9-mm pistol.

Mr Singh told the police that Hardeep then turned the gun on him and fired twice, following which his personal security officer Sachin Tyagi from the Uttarakhand police opened fire in retaliation.

Mr Tyagi has been detained, but the police are yet to arrest him.

The police have registered a murder and attempt to murder case. Another case of trespassing and kidnapping has been registered on the complaint of Hardeep's aide Nandlal, who told the police that Mr Chadha, after arriving at the farmhouse, confined him and some other employees to a room.

The shootout happened on Saturday around 1 pm. Mr Chadha suffered 15 bullet wounds and Hardeep four. While most bullets went through Mr Chadha's body, four remained lodged and were removed in two post-mortems today.

Fifteen people are being questioned in the case and call records of Mr Chadha being checked.

This was the second incident of firing at Mr Chadha's residence. On October 5, gunshots were reported from his house in Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad district.

The three Chadha brothers - Ponty, Hardeep and Rajinder - were jointly managing the estimated Rs. 6,000-crore Wave Inc, formerly the Chadha Group, which has diverse business interests in fields ranging from distilleries, multiplexes, sugar to paper mills.

Mr Chadha was thought to have been close to several prominent politicians. He hit the headlines in February this year when income tax officials conducted searches at his premises in Delhi, Noida, Moradabad and Lucknow.

Dengue claims second victim in MP

Bhopal: Dengue claimed its second victim in Madhya Pradesh after a six-year-old boy from Betul district succumbed to the disease in a private hospital here, officials said on Monday.

The boy identified as Tarun Sahu died yesterday after he was diagnosed with the dreaded fever and shifted to Bhopal a few days back.

The boy identified as Tarun Sahu died yesterday after he was diagnosed with the dreaded fever and shifted to Bhopal a few days back.

He was suffering from high temperature since he was admitted to the hospital. His condition further deteriorated resulting in his death, they said.

Since January this year, a total of 54 positive cases of dengue have been reported in Madhya Pradesh, Director Malaria, Dr K L Sahoo said, adding so far two persons, including Sahu, have succumbed to the disease

Student kills self at MGM medical college

Indore: A final year MBBS student of Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MGM) medical college here allegedly committed suicide in his hostel room on Thursday, police said.

Ravi Pippal (28) was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his room, they said. An empty liquor bottle and a laptop were also found from the spot. Police suspect that Ravi could have taken the extreme step following an unsuccessful love affair of five years.

His body was sent to M Y Hospital for postmortem, police said, adding further investigations are on.

Cyclone Nilam approaching TN-Andhra coast, landfall by evening

Chennai: Even as Hurricane Sandy settled leaving a trail of death and devastation in the United States, people in the southern states of the country prepare themselves for fast approaching Cyclone Nilam building over Bay Bengal, which is expected to cross between Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh coasts Wednesday evening.

According to the Metrological Department of India, the cyclone is now around 340 km south-southeast of Chennai and is moving.

"Nilam is expected to cross the coast between Cuddalore (Tamil Nadu) and Nellore (Andhra Pradesh) today (Wednesday) evening," the Met department said.

According to the weatherman, rainfall is expected at most places over coastal Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

Wind speed would reach around 80 kmph and prevail along and off north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coasts as Nilam nears its landfall.


The sea condition will be rough along and off north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and south Andhra Pradesh coasts during the next 36 hour.

Storm surge of about 1 to 1.5 metre over the astronomical tide is likely to inundate the low lying areas of Chennai, Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur districts in Tamil Nadu and Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh.

Standing crops - paddy, groundnut and maize - in coastal districts of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are likely to be damaged, said a weather bulletin.

The Tamil Nadu government has announced holiday for schools and colleges in the coastal districts.

Five coastal districts in Andhra which are in Nilam's path are on alert. Fishermen have been advised not to venture out in sea till the storm settles. Rescue and relief teams are also on standby and shelters being prepared in case evacuation becomes necessary.

The disaster management agency of the state is supervising the precautionary arrangements being taken by the local administration to minimise the loss of human life and property in case of any eventuality.

The Chennai port on the southeast coast has stopped cargo operations after a cyclone warning

The ‘Opener’s Dilemma’ in Indian Cricket

If we look back at the history of the game of cricket, any team which has dominated a particular era have had one thing in common - they boasted of a very formidable opening pair. Be it Greenidge and Haynes for the West Indies in the 70s or Hayden and Langer for the Aussies in the first half of the last decade, these redoubtable opening pairs played a major role in the success of their team.

The same is true to a certain extent for the Indian opening pair of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, whose contribution was significant in the team attaining the numero uno spot in Tests last year.

After being pummelled in two away series by England and Australia, the Indian team now finds itself at number five in Test rankings. A major reason for their decline is the dismal form of the openers. Gambhir and Sehwag’s failure to perform individually and to provide decent starts to the team is best highlighted by the fact that the last time they shared a century partnership was way back in December 2010.

Indian cricket likes to live in a state of blissful oblivion where discomforting issues are camouflaged by claims of inconsequential success. The BCCI will never address the issue of a series of poor performances on foreign soil but will boast about the success of the IPL and the opportunity it provides to emerging players to compete with the best in the business. Amidst the hullabaloo over the team’s limited success in the shortest and the shorter format of the game, a few very significant issues are escaping the attention of the cricket administrators.

One issue which demands immediate thinking, planning and action is the future of Gambhir and Sehwag as openers in all three formats of the game. The Sehwag-Gambhir opening pair has failed to provide decent starts to the team in recent times. They will in all probability be retained for the home series against England. They may even manage a few decent knocks against the English attack in Indian pitches, but that will not do Indian cricket any good in the long run. Gambhir, although a very good player of spin bowling, looks vulnerable against the quality pace bowlers, especially on foreign soil.


Dhoni did take a step in the right direction by dropping Sehwag in a couple of matches in recent times but public opinion and media scrutiny compelled him to play it safe by including him in the following matches. India will need to win Tests in away series to regain the number one spot in Test cricket, something which they lost to the English team last year. Also since the next World Cup is slated to be played in Australia, it would be wiser to use the upcoming home series against England and Australia to build a team that would have the technical skills to put up a fight in foreign conditions.

The selection committee, the coach and the captain should sit together and discuss the options available and probably try somebody like Ajinkya Rahane in the home series before the tough test waiting in South Africa. Short term solutions like asking Yuvraj Singh to open will not be beneficial for Indian cricket.

Opening is a specialist position and specialists should be deployed to guard the fortress and lead the attack against the opposition. A perfect example would be Aakash Chopra who was brought in to the side to counter the then mighty Aussie attack in 2003-2004. Although he did not manage to score big runs he did the job of seeing off the new ball to perfection. Technical prowess is a must for an opener to survive and succeed especially in foreign conditions. Our very own Sunil Gavaskar would be a perfect example of this characteristic.

Indian batsmen have always been susceptible to short balls in the pacey and bouncy wickets of Australia, South Africa, England and New Zealand. However the irritating part is that they have not improved on this aspect of their game and this weakness is exploited by every team even to this day. A champion team needs to compete and triumph in all parts of the world and not just in their own backyard. The Indian team was thrashed 4-0 in their last two series in England and Australia and it is high time that remedial measures be taken to avoid such embarrassments in the future.

There are no shortcuts to success in the Test arena and India would do best to bring about some drastic changes in the way the game is managed in the country. Preparing some fast and bouncy wickets at home would be a better option than primitive methods like practising with a tennis ball. The board could also encourage promising players to participate in foreign domestic leagues rather than asking them to play the IPL which destroys all the characteristics required for success in Tests.

In Bangalore, the enormous problem of garbage

Outside Bangalore's last official landfill, the garbage trucks regularly lined up here for hours, their burdens putrefying in the afternoon sun. A stinking mountain of trash, the landfill has been poisoning local waters and sickening nearby villagers. Another dump site was in even worse shape before it was closed recently after violent protests.

Bangalore, the capital of India's modern economy and home to many of its high-tech workers, is drowning in its own waste. Last week, local villagers blocked the roads leading to the Mandur landfill on the city's outskirts even as many of Bangalore's trash haulers went on strike, saying they had not been paid in months. Some neighborhoods have not had trash pickups for nearly three weeks, and vast mounds of garbage are scattered through what is known in India as the Garden City.

Trash is India's plague. It chokes rivers, scars meadows, contaminates streets and feeds a vast and dangerous ecosystem of rats, mosquitoes, stray dogs, monkeys and pigs. Perhaps even more than the fitful electricity and insane traffic, the ubiquitous garbage shows the incompetence of Indian governing and the dark side of the country's rapid economic growth. Greater wealth has spawned more garbage, and the managers of the country's pell-mell development have been unable to handle the load.
Bangalore used to be India's cleanest city," said Amiya Kumar Sahu, president of the National Solid Waste Association of India. "Now, it is the filthiest."

Bangalore's garbage crisis grew directly out of its stunning success. Technology companies started settling in Bangalore in the 1980s. As they grew, many created pristine campuses hacked out of urban chaos, supplying their own electricity, water, transportation and a rare sense of tranquillity.

But the dirty secret of these campuses and the gated enclaves where their executives built their houses is that they had nowhere to put their trash. Many hired truckers to take the mess out of the city, careful not to ask where it went. The truckers found empty lots or willing farmers and simply dumped their loads.

The city soon followed the companies' lead. Its door-to-door trash pickup program, started in 2000, was seen as a model in a country where comprehensive municipal trash systems are still rare. But few - including city officials - knew where the trash was taken or, after landfills opened, how it was disposed of.

"We never followed scientific landfill practices," Rajneesh Goel, Bangalore's chief civil servant, said in an interview.

As Bangalore's population exploded with the success of its technology industry, the stresses in the waste system came close to a breaking point. Now, with Bangalore's last landfill here in Mandur about to close permanently and the city running out of abandoned quarries to quietly divert a day's load, the system may simply collapse.

"All that groundwater contamination is going to come to us; more than 300 of our lakes are already gone," Dr. Goel said at a recent public meeting where he pleaded for help. "The problem is getting out of hand, and eventually it will swallow us up. We have to do something."

The choice facing Dr. Goel is stark: find a new place to dump 4,000 tons of garbage a day, or make that garbage somehow disappear. Since the city's atrocious oversight of past landfills has made new ones all but impossible to secure, he is now trying to create - almost from scratch - one of the most ambitious recycling programs in the world.

Dr. Goel conceded that success was far from certain.

"I'm trying to give you a very rosy picture, but don't get taken in," he said after outlining his plans. "It's a 50-year-old story, and there are certain constraints in the system."

In the past, private sector companies grew like gangbusters in part by shutting out the rest of India and avoiding interactions with a dysfunctional and corrupt government. But top executives here now say they can no longer turn their backs on the chaos that surrounds them. "Building these islands, or expanding them to become the whole of India, I don't believe will work," said S. Gopalakrishnan, executive co-chairman of Infosys, India's leading technology giant. He gestured out the window at his company's immaculate campus, which included a glass pyramid, food courts, basketball courts and gardens. "At some point, the resistance from the outside world will overwhelm them."

Indeed, India's dysfunction is now taking a toll on Infosys' well-known productivity, Mr. Gopalakrishnan said. His employees' commutes are longer, their fights with schools more intractable. "If you have just 100 employees, the impact is not so much," he said. "But with 150,000 employees, more and more the environment affects us as individuals, and, yes, it slows things down. At some point, you can't shut your mind to what is happening around you."

Few expect Bangalore's municipal government to solve the problem itself. Instead, a network of nonprofit groups has sprung up to carry out recycling schemes; these nongovernment organizations have embraced the thousands of rag pickers who daily paw through the city's garbage to retrieve valuable refuse like paper, glass and certain plastics.

"We already have an informal system of 15,000 waste workers, and you have N.G.O.'s that can empower them," said Kalpana Kar, who has served on the city's waste management advisory council for more than a decade. "Let us make them all part of the formal system."

For that system to work, however, households in Bangalore must separate their trash into wet food waste, dry recyclables like plastics and paper, and medical waste. Ms. Kar now spends much of her time trying to persuade Bangalorians to do just that. On a recent day, she stopped just outside her door and pointed to a servant leaving an expensive home nearby.

The servant carried two buckets of trash across the street and dumped them in an empty lot. Stray dogs and a feral pig soon came to feed but left behind the plastic and other garbage.

"What are you doing?" Ms. Kar yelled at the servant.

He shrugged and pointed at his employer's house. Ms. Kar had tried many times to dissuade the servant from dumping the house's garbage in the increasingly disgusting lot, she said, but his employer had dismissed her concerns. "People in India think that if their own house is clean, the problem just goes away," she said. She is nonetheless optimistic that Bangalore will be able to recycle nearly all of its waste, which would be a remarkable accomplishment for a city of eight million. "The city is at its knees," she said with a shrug. "We don't have a choice."

Just outside of Bangalore, a growing number of pig farms are picking up food waste from the city's hotels and restaurants. At one farm, enormous pigs squealed in excitement when a truck arrived packed with barrels of discarded food. Workers dumped the cucumber skins, watermelon rinds, uncooked sausage, watery lentils and more into a concrete pen where a barefoot woman waited. Using one hand to hold her sari, she used the other to pick out plastic bags and ice cream cups. She was soon covered in slop. Eventually, another worker shoveled the food into pig pens, and the pigs snorted in happy gluttony.

India-US-Japan trilateral meet today

The US' 'pivot-to-Asia' policy, Iran, China-Japan maritime dispute and South China Sea will be among the issues to be discussed during the 3rd round of India-US-Japan Trilateral dialogue here on Monday apart from finding areas of cooperation between the three countries.

According to official sources, the US is expected to brief about its much-talked about policy of 'pivot to Asia', an American move driven by the allure of emerging Asian economies, especially China and India. Another reason includes the draw-down of US forces in both Iraq and Afghanistan, which enables the US military to concentrate more resources on the Asia-Pacific. The US is also expected to talk about Iran's contentious nuclear programme.