YSR fan dies of shock

VISAKHAPATNAM: An ardent fan of late CM YSR allegedly died of shock in Bayyavaram of Makavarapalem mandal in Visakhapatnam district on Monday afternoon.

Lingampalli Nookaraju, 55, a farmer, collapsed suddenly in his agriculture field when one of his friends informed him about the resignations of Jagan and his mother Vijayalakshmi from the Congress. By the time other ryots and farm workers rushed to his help, he breathed his last.

Doctors later confirmed that Nookaraju had died of cardiac arrest and sudden bout of anxiety.

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Maoist terror resurfaces in Telangana

WARANGAL/HYDERABAD: Police chief Aravinda Rao's apprehensions about regrouping of Maoists in north Telangana came true on Thursday when the ultras killed two persons, including a small-time TDP leader, and set ablaze a road transport corporation (RTC) bus. The rebels also took away three villagers from Eturunagaram Agency and another from Karimnagar district, branding them as 'police informers.' Till last reports came in, there was no word on their whereabouts.

That the Maoists, who have spread a terror network in the Andhra-Orissa border (AOB), struck in the Karimnagar-Khammam-Warangal region after several years has left the cops in a state of shock. Though top police brass claimed that the incident was an isolated one carried out by Maoists taking advantage of political chaos in the state capital that kept police personnel busy, experts said the Thursday incidents were an ominous indication of more violence.

"The Maoists have infiltrated from Chhattisgarh by crossing the Godavari river at Eturunagaram border. Police cannot remain silent as the chances of more such strikes cannot be ruled out," a Naxal expert said. The Maoists have returned to this area after four years, the last recorded incident being in 2006. Read more

Gambhir leads India to easy win over New Zealand

JAIPUR: Gautam Gambhir's bowlers responded well to his call of bowling first, restricting New Zealand with smart, accurate bowling, and the captain reciprocated with a fluent 138 off 116 balls to make the chase look easy.

Gambhir, capping off a return to form that began with a struggling Test fifty in Hyderabad last month, never let his strike-rate come under 100 once he crossed the mark in the sixth over. He had for company an equally hungry Virat Kohli, who now has two centuries and a fifty in his last three international outings.

Dew, expected later in the evening, was the reason why India put New Zealand in on a cracking surface, but the towels were conspicuous by absence in the second half of the game. Which is what made the bowling effort special.

The pitch played slow and low, and India cut out the pace and the room. There was nothing spectacular done with the ball, just accurate, wicket to wicket bowling for most of the part. Martin Guptill and Scott Styris tried to take New Zealand towards a fighting total with important fifties, but India pulled the visitors back every time they threatened to break free.

New Zealand began with three boundaries in the first two overs, but Sreesanth's late swing removed Jamie How. Guptill and Kane Williamson looked solid but subdued in a 50-run stand for the second wicket. Those runs took 12.5 overs coming - all but seven of those deliveries in the Powerplay.

The duo did little to upset the bowlers' rhythm. Munaf Patel was allowed to hit the same spot again and again, with slight seam movement either way. One of those moved a bit more than expected, and found a way through Williamson's bat and pad, taking the top of off. The pressure showed when Ross Taylor went to hit Yusuf Pathan's first delivery for a six, but found deep midwicket. Read more

Ramalinga Raju & Family had 111 accounts in HDFC

HYDERABAD: HDFC Bank's Begumpet branch manager Ch Srinivas on Wednesday told the trial court trying Satyam scam case that the prime accused B Ramalinga Raju and his family members maintained 111 accounts pertaining to several real estate companies run by them.

Srinivas also gave details of transactions, money held at various points of time in these companies. He also gave details of three Maytas company accounts with their bank.

In his deposition before the trial court here, Srinivas gave details on the banking transactions carried out by SCSL which maintained five accounts with their bank. Read more

104 services hit by HMRI staff stir

HYDERABAD: Around 5,000 employees of the Health Management Research Institute (HMRI) '104' service took out a 'Chalo Hyderabad' rally from Sundaraiah Vignana Kendrum to Indira Park on Wednesday demanding that the state government take over the rural health scheme. The staffers from all over the state have been boycotting their duties for the last 22 days and are firm in their demand that the government take complete control over the scheme. They even want that the name of the organisation 'HMRI' be knocked out and the health scheme be known as a state-run '104' service.

Apart from ante-natal check-ups for pregnant women, free medicines for people suffering from blood pressure, hypertension, diabetes, epilepsy and pulmonary disorders are being supplied through the 475 mobile health vans operated through this scheme on a monthly basis. Advice for HIV patients is also being dispensed and each van provides service on a fixed day covering 20 villages in a month. But due to this strike, healthcare services have been paralysed in the rural areas for a month. more

Allu Arjun's engagement

Tollywood heartthrob Allu Arjun got engaged to Sneha Reddy on November 26, 2010 at bride’s residence Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad, India. Chiranjeevi the superstar, his wife Surekha and son Ram Charan Teja were the major attractions except the bride and groom themselves.
According to the reports, Arjun’s family members, close friends and several politicians and several star from Tollywood Mohan Babu, Nagarujna, Shriya Saran, Ravi Teja, Rana Daggubati ,Raghavendra Rao Kodandarami Reddy, Kaikala Sathyanarayana Venu Madhav, Srikanth, Producer C.Kalyanand other celebs were present at Allu Arjun's engagement.

Reddy is the daughter of Sankar Reddy who is a Gen Sec of Science College of Engineering in Hyderabad. Sneha completed her MS in Computer Sciences in US. Sneha wore conventional pink nine-yard sari and Allu Arjun was in Silky pearl white traditional dress. Marriage ceremony will be held in February 2011.

India Eye win in jaipur

Young Virat Kohli will be the cynosure of all eyes as a new-look India seek to continue the team's dominating run at home in the current calendar when they take on New Zealand in the second one-dayer here on Wednesday.

In the absence of the creme de la creme of Indian cricket, the dashing right-hander from Delhi gave enough indication of why he is the one to look for in future with a match-winning century in the opening match in Guwahati.

With regular stars such as skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh being rested for the first two one-dayers, Kohli stole the limelight with a fine hundred that paved the way for India's 40-run win in the series opener

The young Kohli, going through a dream run having scored two back-to-back tons in Ranji Trophy apart from his second successive ODI century, would be keen to bat the way he has been doing of late at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium on Wednesday.

India have a good record at this venue winning six out of 10 matches, the last being a humdinger against South Africa in February when the hosts won by one run.

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800 vehicles seized and 2 Held

HYDERABAD: Police have arrested two persons and recovered 80 vehicles from their possession.

In the first case, 38-year-old Hari Koti Lenin Babu was arrested on Monday for stealing vehicles. They recovered 75 two wheelers from his possession.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Hyderabad police commissioner A K Khan said Hari Koti Lenin Babu used to steal two-wheelers and park them at parking places in the city. Lenin Babu, a native of Vijayawada, came to the city in search of livelihood. Based on his confession, the CCS police have recovered 20 stolen two wheelers. During the investigation, 55 abandoned two-wheelers were also recovered from the parking lot at MGBS.

Khan said Lenin Babu used to carry a bunch of duplicate keys and steal two-wheelers, particularly Hero Honda motorcycles as it was easy to open their lock with a duplicate key, from parking lots in the city. After committing the offence, he used to keep the stolen vehicles at parking lots at MGBS, JBS & railway stations. Later, he would sell them at throw-away prices, the CP added. more

Spurt in applications seeking Occupancy Certificate

HYDERABAD: There is a spurt in applications seeking occupancy certificate (OC). As many as 183 building owners/builders have obtained OC from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) so far this year. On the contrary, only 10 OCs were issued last year. Prior to that only two builders had taken OC from the GHMC.

Four years after the mortgage rule came into force for building permissions and occupancy certificate made mandatory for release of mortgaged portion with the GHMC, builders/owners are queuing up before the corporation for getting their mortgaged portion released.

In 2010, 322 builders have applied for OC after completing buildings, while 183 buildings were inspected and issued certificates. Another 107 applications were rejected and 12 builders were asked to provide some information. Interestingly, 86 buildings got OC in West Zone, which comprises areas like Kukatpally, Serilingampally 1 & 2 and Qutubullapur.

"Most buildings which were permitted after 2007 are getting completed now and applying for OC for release of the mortgaged portion. The other reason is any building permitted has to be completed within three years," as told by GHMC additional commissioner (Planning) K Rajendra Prasad.more

Jagan Mohan Reddy resigns from Congress

It's official. YSR's son, Jagan Mohan Reddy, has announced his resignation from the Congress in the first step towards launching his own party. Jagan was the MP from Kadapa. His mother, Vijayalaxmi, has also resigned as MLA from Pulivendula Assembly seat. Jagan has sent a five-page resignation letter to Sonia Gandhi in which he reportedly expresses his "hurt" over the party trying to divide his family - his father's younger brother, Y S Vivekananda Reddy, has been offered the position of Home Minister. In doing so, the Congress wants to force YSR loyalists to choose between the party and Jagan Mohan. The new cabinet headed by Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy will be sworn in later this week on Wednesday. Jagan has been at war with the Congress over the last few weeks. He has used his TV channel, Sakshi, to attack senior Congress leaders including the PM, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. In turn, the Congress has made it clear that it will not tolerate his habitual dissidence.more