The CBI, probing the 2G Spectrum scam, on Tuesday confronted former telecom minister A. Raja with former telecom commission member K. Sridhar and asked direct questions related to the allotment of “spectrum” to those applicants who were allotted Unified Access Service (UAS) licences.

A Delhi court on Tuesday allowed the plea of the CBI to keep former telecom minister A. Raja in its custody for two more days, after the probe agency said that the “evasive” leader has to be confronted with documents and some officials of DoT to ascertain his role in the 2G spectrum scam.

Battling charges that high-value bandwidth was given to a private company without any competitive bidding and at throwaway prices by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Tuesday sought to defend the government saying that no decision on allocating S-band spectrum to either Antrix (it’s the commercial arm of Isro) or Devas (the private company) has been taken.

Refuting the charge of irregularities in the allotment of land under the government discretionary quota (GDQ), chief minister M. Karunanidhi on Tuesday said the quota had been in vogue since the MGR regime, and among the long list of beneficiaries was the son of former AIADMK minister K.A. Sengottaiyan.

A high-level committee headed by former finance secretary Ashok Chawla, at its first meeting here on Tuesday, stressed on the need for a transparent centralised database of all the natural resources including spectrum, petroleum, natural gas and coal, which are handled directly by the Central government. Cabinet secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar constituted the committee following an instruction from the Group of Ministers (GoM) on corruption headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee.

While considering several expert reports, including the World Bank, on ill effects of carbonated soft drinks and growing adulteration in food products, the Supreme Court on Tuesday quashed the panel of scientific experts set up under the new food safety law after finding that several of its members had been directly taken from the industries, including Pepsi and Coke whose products are under the scanner.

A ruling JD(U) legislator in Bihar notorious for often being on the wrong side of the law is facing allegations of getting a man killed and then harassing his widow to capture her house. A shocked chief minister Nitish Kumar has promised her help, but more ruling party politicians are being spotted on the wrong foot.

The BJP on Tuesday accused the ruling BJD in Orissa of serving “poison” to nearly 1.17 lakh schoolchildren in the form of supplying “adulterated” and “substandard” dal under the Mid-Day Meal (MDM) and Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP). The party announced that it would soon lodge a first information report (FIR) with

Facing accusation from Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh that he was being targeted by the Congress in the disproportionate assets case due to “political reasons”, the Central government on Tuesday tried to maintain a neutral stand in the Supreme Court on the issue.

In the Assembly bypoll in Jharkhand that would decide if chief minister Arjun Munda of the BJP gets to continue in the top post, the real battle is not between the ruling BJP-led coalition and the Opposition parties. The bypoll, slated for Thursday, has shaped largely as a battle between Mr Munda and JVM chief Babulal Marandi. With