Law: The tainted getting acquainted
Jharkhand police arrive for Soren
New Delhi: A two-member Jharkhand police team is in Delhi with an arrest warrant against Union Coal and Mines Minister Shibu Soren. Soren, according to media reports, is untraceable. Police have to get the Lok Sabha Speaker's permission before they can serve the notice to the minister.

Soren is facing charges in connection with the 1975 Chirrudih massacre case. He is charged with leading a mob of adivasis, which killed 11 people including nine Muslims. The incident occurred at a rally where the adivasis were demanding the return of their tribal land. The two-member police team from Jharkhand, led by a superintendent of police.

Shahbuddin sent to jail
Siwan: Mohd Shahbuddin, fourth time RJD MP from Siwan, accused in 36 cases of murder extortion and kidnapping, was sent back to Siwan jail on Tuesday night well before the July 26 deadline of the Patna High Court asking for him to be shifted from the local hospital to the jail.

Suraj Bhan dodging arrest warrant
Patna: Bihar's other politician with criminal records, Suraj Bhan, MP from Balia, has an arrest warrant against him. After becoming an MP, Bhan has reportedly spent most of his time at Delhi's five star Ashoka Hotel. But currently the police are unable to trace him.

Pappu Yadav packed off to jail
Patna: Former MP Pappu Yadav alias Rajesh Ranjan has been sent back to Beur jail from the Patna Medical College where he was reportedly recuperating from illness. The move came after Supreme Court directed the Bihar government to transfer Yadav, accused in the murder of CPI-M legislator Ajit Sarkar, back to prison. After being convicted of Sarkar's murder, Yadav spent most of his four-year term in the comforts of AIIMS or Patna hospital receiving "treatment" for obesity and hypertension.

The CBI had earlier submitted a report in the Supreme Court exposing how Pappu was never in a prisoners' ward but in a separate area and the fact that he had full mobility at both the hospitals. The Supreme Court moved when during the recent Lok Sabha elections Pappu Yadav gave an interview to the electronic media saying that he was campaigning for Laloo Yadav.
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No decision on EPF rate
New Delhi: The Central Board of Trustees (CBT) of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Tuesday deferred, for the third time in succession, a decision on the interest payable to provident fund subscribers for 2004-05. The CBT is now slated to meet on August 9 to take a decision on the issue. The Union Labour Minister and Chairman of CBT, Sis Ram Ola, said that the trade unions had authorised him to take a final decision.
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ONGC asks for Rs 2,690 crore refund from the centre
Mumbai: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) has asked the Centre to refund Rs 2,690 crore, its share of cooking gas and kerosene subsidies, that it was asked to bear along with oil refining and marketing companies in 2003-04. The subsidy burden brought down ONGC's net profit by 17.7 per cent in the last financial year. The Union Government asked ONGC and Gail (India) to share one-third of the Rs 7,200-crore loss that retailers IOC, BPCL and HPCL had to suffer on selling cooking gas and kerosene below cost.

But despite claiming that the subsidy burden on them was heavy, IOC's net profit jumped 15 per cent to Rs 7,000 crore, BPCL's profit surged 36 per cent to Rs 1,700 crore, and HPCL's profit rose 24 per cent to Rs 1,900 crore in 2003-04,according to the ONGC. The ONGC has written to the Government asking for a refund of the subsidy burden that ONGC had to bear claiming that the oil companies could themselves sustain the loss on LPG and kerosene sale. ONGC has already lost Rs 30,000 crore over the past four years up to March 2004 because it sells natural gas at a subsidised price.
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Delhi custom house agents' strike
New Delhi: Export consignment of garments worth Rs 450 crore have been held up at the Delhi airport because of the ongoing strike by the Customs House Agents for the past six days. The agents were unhappy over the lack of adequate infrastructure at the airports in handling export cargo, because of which custom clearance got delayed. They have now been striking work for almost six days.
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