On Friday, officials in Betul district allegedly conducted virginity/pregnancy tests on more than 450 prospective brides, of whom over a dozen were detected to be pregnant.

The district administration has ordered an enquiry into the matter but maintained no direction was given to the officials to conduct virginity/pregnancy tests.

On Friday, Betul district administration organised a mass marriage ceremony under the Mukhyamantri Kanyaadan Yojna in village Hardu, that comes under Chicholi Block.

“The Congress should remember one thing, they don’t have the majority to run the government on their own. They don’t have the magic figure of 272. It is a coalition government,” said Roy.

“Before taking important decisions they should face parliament and discuss those decisions on the floor of parliament. They should discuss with allies,” Roy said.

Miffed over the UPA’s twin decisions of diesel price hike and foreign direct investment in retail, Roy’s party supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday announced that the Trinamool Congress was withdrawing support to the UPA government.

“As Meghalaya is a hill state without any recourse for any other mode of transportation except by road which inevitably involves diesel oil as fuel and the hike in the price of diesel will hit the common man the most,” HSPDP General Secretary, E.K. Raswai said demanding an immediate roll-back.

Moreover, he said, Meghalaya has the highest inflation rate at an all India level and now, this hike in diesel price will hit more than ever.

Therefore, Raswai said the central government should review the rate of increase immediately while the state government must also intervene so as to bring relief to the common man from the overburdening of his domestic budget.

Meanwhile, the National Youth Front (NYF) – the youth wing of the National People’s Party demanded that the central government rollback its on Thursday decision on petroleum products.

“We will organise protest rallies across Meghalaya next week if the government fails to rollback its decision,” National Youth Front president Aldo Sangma said.

The NYF also appealed to the people and youth organisations of Meghalaya to lodge a strong protest against the government’s decision.

The project will be executed on a build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis. The central government will invest 35 percent of the project cost that comes to Rs.23.11 crore.

The Telecommunications Consultants India (TCIL), a telecommunications and information technology company that has of late diversified into civil works, will execute the project.

The company’s paid-up capital stands at Rs.43.20 crore, its stand-alone net worth is about Rs.420.41 crore.

Managing Editor of Lokswami group elected as a vice president of prestigious Indore Press club with a record vote of 661 votes in a  triennial election held on 17 June 2012.  The another significant feature of this election was that all the candidates of Sarswati Panel got elected for different posts. Praveen Kumar Khariwal elected unopposed as President of the club.For the two posts of vice presidents there were four candidates. Amit Soni got maximum 661 votes. The second post went to another candidate of Sarswati Panel Sunil Joshi who got 513 votes.

It was historical moment for the Sarswati panel. All the candidates who got elected was in celebration mood and continuously receiving congratulatory messages from their colleagues. Amit Soni and elected candidates of Sarswati panel thanked voters for their grand support.

They said there were several gaps and unanswered questions in the probe conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) so far.

Majeed Memon, the Bhopal-based family’s lawyer here, said there were gaps and unanswered questions in the investigation.

Masood was shot dead in her car at her house in Bhopal Aug 16 last year as she was leaving for a meeting of India Against Corruption.

“The central character in the entire matter, Dhruv Narain Singh, a Bharatiya Janata Party legislator from Madhya Pradesh, has been left out of the purview of the probe by the police so far,” Memon told reporters here.

Memon, a well-known criminal lawyer and vice-president of the Nationalist Congress Party, was accompanied by Shehla’s father Masood Sultan, brother Rajil and family lawyer Siraj Ali.

Pointing out that the main accused, Zaheda Parvez had claimed that if the legislator was given a clean chit by the CBI, she too should be given a clean chit, Memon said the polygraph test reports of Singh had not been filed in the court.

Even the call records of Masood’s number, which could have thrown light on the case, had not been filed before the court, he said.

“It seems that the CBI has investigated the case with a view to protect Singh, who was the central character in the entire episode. But he was not even listed as a witness in the charge sheet,” Memon said.

The lawyer said he would seek the case’s trial to be conducted in Bhopal and not Indore.

“It is strange that she was killed in Bhopal and the trial is being conducted in a different city, which has no territorial jurisdiction over the issue,” he said.

Memon also said that even the records placed before the court did not seem to reflect the entire truth.

“It is quite evident that certain vital aspects are being suppressed, twisted and thwarted,” he said.

More than 145 witnesses have been named in the CBI charge sheet.

Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) has denied the luxury tax offered by them on different things.

On May 17, 2012, the matter was still questionable in the MIC member’s meeting at Mayor’s house and the decision is expected to be taken in MIC meeting scheduled on May 18, 2012.

BJP corporator, Krishna Mohan Soni said, “As many corporators were absent in today’s informal MIC meeting at the Mayor’s house, we could not complete discussion on this issue. Moreover, the agenda for cancellation of the tax was also not prepared”

This tax was introduced last year in the budget session of BMC which started on March 30.

Congress spokesperson Girish Sharma said, “Luxury tax is an unnecessary burden on the residents. Furthermore, when the Mayor announced in her budget meet that no new taxes are introduced this year, why diversify the taxes and create trouble for the residents”.

Congress also said BMC officials have approved this offer without the permission of the council.