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Jagan Reddy's bail plea hearing adjourned to May 31

Hyderabad: A special court on Tuesday adjourned hearing on YSR Congress party leader Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy's bail petition to Thursday in a disproportionate assets case.

The CBI court admitted the bail petition for hearing and directed the CBI to file a counter by the next hearing.

The court had on Monday dismissed Jagan's bail plea while sending the Member of Parliament to judicial custody till June 11.

The YSR Congress Party leader, in his fresh petition, has sought bail on the ground that he wants to campaign for the party in the by-elections.

By-elections to one Lok Sabha and 18 Assembly seats are scheduled to be held on June 12.

Jagan's lawyers also sought permission from the Andhra Pradesh High Court to file a petition challenging his arrest. With the Vacation Bench granting permission, the quash petition would be filed Wednesday.

Terming his arrest as illegal, Jagan has alleged that he was arrested only to keep him away from the poll campaign.

In another development, the CBI also sought permission to file a petition seeking Jagan's custody for 14 days. The investigating agency has moved the high court after the CBI court on Monday dismissed its petition.

The CBI arrested Jagan Sunday night after questioning him for three days. — IANS

Chaos outside Eden after KKR felicitation programme

KOLKATA: There was chaos outside the Eden Gardens after an hour-long felicitation function of the IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders when a large crowd broke barricades and engaged in scuffles with the police in a bid to enter the grounds on Tuesday.

Nearly 30,000 people were waiting outside the Eden Gardens as they were not allowed entry into the grounds which were already packed to capacity.

As the surging crowd made a determined bid to have a glimpse of the KKR team as well as its co-owners Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla, chaos followed and several persons suffered injuries in the melee.

The area was littered with shoes and other foot wears as the police made way for the KKR team members, Shah Rukh Khan and Tollywood actors for their departure.

West Bengal governor MK Narayanan, chief minister Mamata Banerjee, some of her cabinet colleagues and railway minister Mukul Roy were present at the felicitation progarmme, organised jointly by the state government and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

When contacted, the police denied that there was any lathicharge or any injury outside the stadium. — PTI

PM meets Suu Kyi, invites her to visit India

Nay Pyi Taw: In the highest-level contact between India and Aung San Suu Kyi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday held talks with Myanmar's democracy icon here and handed over to her an invitation from UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi to visit India which has a "long-standing association" with her.

Singh, the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Myanmar in quarter of a century, and Suu Kyi held discussions for 45 minutes.

During their meeting, which took place on the last day of the Prime Minister's historic visit, Singh handed over to the Nobel laureate an invitation from Sonia Gandhi to visit India to deliver the next Jawaharlal Nehru memorial lecture.

Accepting in principle the invite, Suu Kyi said "I hope I will be able to take up the invitation not before too long".

Emerging from the meeting at the Sedonia Hotel, where the 66-year-old opposition leader of Myanmar called on the Prime Minister by sticking to protocol, Suu Kyi recalled the close association she and her parents had with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and his family.

"India and Burma have been friends not only because of geographical proximity but also because of shared values, heritage and fight for independence," she said.

Speaking first, the Prime Minister paid rich compliments to Suu Kyi, saying her "struggle and her determination has inspired millions of people all over the world".

"We in India are very proud of the very long-standing association with her (Suu Kyi) and the members of her family," Singh said. — PTI 

ND Tiwari gives blood sample

New Delhi: Veteran Congress leader and former Andhra Pradesh governor ND Tiwari, who is embroiled in a paternity suit, finally gave his blood sample for DNA profiling on Tuesday as per the orders of the Supreme Court.

The apex court had directed Tiwari last Thursday to submit his blood sample in a paternity suit filed by a young man, Rohit Shekhar, who claims to be his biological son.

The apex court bench of Justice Deepak Verma and Justice SJ Mukhopadhyay had directed Tiwari to submit his blood sample today after he refused to follow a Delhi High Court order for giving his blood sample.

A five-member laboratory team, including a surgeon of the Dehradun Civil Hospital and a pathologist, the district judge and a joint registrar of the Delhi High Court were present at Tiwari’s residence here when the blood sample was collected.