Gujarat News

Aahna Modi, a 10-day-old girl from Rajkot, has become the youngest Permanent Account Number (PAN) card holder in the country, said her father Apoorva Modi and mother Ashiniben Modi. According to them Aahana, born on October 21, 2013, broke the previous record of West Bengal's Bipasha Modak, born in August, 2010, who got the PAN card when she was 22-day-old.

A Surat court on Monday declared Asaram Bapu's Son Narayan Sai as a proclaimed absconder. Police have not been able to trace Sai even 35 days after two city-sisters filed a sexual assault case against him. The court has asked Sai to appear before investigating officer or court within 30 days, failure to which would invite seizure of personal property.

Based on obtained taped phone conversations between IPS officer GL Singhal and BJP general secretary Amit Shah, investigative websites Cobrapost and Gulail have claimed that Shah, then Gujarat Home minister, made police deploy illegal surveillance on a girl and an IAS officer in 2009. The tapes were submitted to CBI by Singhal --an accused in Ishrat Jahan encounter case.

Tata Consultancy Services launched a 10,000 seat campus at Garima Park in Gandhinagar, Gujarat on Saturday. The software development facility was inaugurated by Gujarat CM Narendra Modi. The company's CEO, N Chandrasekaran said, "This will help expand the IT industry in Gujarat." The Campus is spread over 25.5 acres of land with a built-up area of 1.6 million square feet.

A Supreme Court bench on Tuesday asked the suspended IAS officer Pradeep Sharma to file an affidavit detailing the fresh charges and scheduled the hearing of his petition in the first week of December. Sharma had filed a petition accusing the Gujarat government of harassing him as his brother Kuldip Sharma unmasked the government's role in the 2002 riots.

Demanding CBI probe into the snooping scandal, suspended Gujarat IAS officer Pradeep Sharma on Saturday filed an application in Supreme Court alleging that he was falsely implicated in the case and the surveillance was carried out at the behest of Narendra Modi. Earlier, a taped conversation was revealed showing Gujarat government using state police to conduct surveillance on a woman.

In his petition to the SC, Suspended IAS officer Pradeep Sharma on Saturday alleged that he was victimised because Narendra Modi thought he had a VCD on a woman, showing her in compromising positions. Bringing Modi into the Gujarat illegal surveillance controversy, he added that the woman was subjected to hostile and intense scrutiny because Modi was enamoured by her.

Alleging "blatant violation of Constitutional oath and negation of Right to Privacy," representatives from four political parties, including Congress, on Monday submitted a petition to President Pranab Mukherjee seeking a judicial inquiry into the snooping scandal allegedly involving Narendra Modi. Meanwhile, the Gujarat government announced a two-member commission of inquiry to probe the matter.

Retired HC Judge DP Buch was Wednesday sworn in as Gujarat's fourth Lokayukta, a post that lay vacant for a decade and over which CM Narendra Modi and Governor Kamla Beniwal were on a collision course for 3-years. The appointment came at a time when Modi was facing flak from Congress over the post lying vacant for a long time.

As part of its 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign, AAP will launch a "broom yatra" in Gujarat on Jan-26. "During the yatra, we will expose the Gujarat government's corrupt practices. We aim to clean the political filth in the state," said AAP's Dinesh Vaghela. The party had earlier said that it may contest all the 26 Parliamentary seats in Gujarat.

The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved a commission of enquiry to probe the alleged snooping of a woman by Gujarat police under directions from then state home minister and Narendra Modi close aide Amit Shah. The probe comes after several women's organisations approached President Pranab Mukherjee. On November 15, media portals Cobrapost and Gulail.com had exposed the alleged illegal surveillance.

A Ahmedabad court Thursday accepted the clean chit to BJP's PM candidate Narendra Modi in the 2002 Gujarat communal violence. The court rejected the petition of Zakia Jafri, whose husband Ehsan Jafri was burnt alive during the riots, challenging the SIT report. Jafri has alleged that Gulberg massacre was cold-blooded conspiracy by Modi and others to facilitate state-wide communal violence.

Vadodara police Tuesday arrested a 16-year-old girl with her 22-year-old boyfriend, for murdering her foster parents. The couple, Shrihari Vinod (63) and Sneha (60), were killed on Aug 3 but the murder came to light on Monday. As per a preliminary investigation, the girl killed her parents because they were against her relationship and had fights over the issue.

An elderly couple was allegedly killed in their house on the night of Aug 3 by their adopted daughter and her boyfriend in Manjalpur locality of Vadodara city (Gujarat), police said. The 16-year-old girl and her 21-year-old boyfriend kept the dead bodies of the couple for 72 days in house. The police have arrested the girl and her boyfriend.

The ruling BJP in Gujarat on Sunday won the Rajkot-West Assembly bypoll, defeating congress by a margin of over 23k votes. BJP's candidate Vijay Rupani got 81,092 votes, while Congress candidate Jayanti Kalaria managed 57,352 votes in the bypoll. There were nine candidates in fray apart from the nominees of BJP, Congress and NCP.

Former sprint queen, PT Usha has agreed to help the Sports Authority of Gujarat by offering her expertise in identifying and training budding athletes in the state. The Olympic champion also said that she would personally lead the talent scouting of young athletes to be held in six locations across Gujarat from November 9-14.

A sum of Rs.125 crores will be spent by Gujarat govt for constructing 83 new godowns in the state. Around Rs.1.5 crore will be spent on construction of each new godown in place of the existing ones, a Gujarat Minister said. The new godowns will have scientifically created storage capacity to meet various requirements of the farmers, the minister said.

An alleged love affair between a girl and a boy belonging to different communities sparked communal clashes in Dhaniyavi village in Vadodara on Monday. Nine people, including 4 policemen, were injured. Over 24 people have been detained, with the number expected to rise. More than 32 weapons including swords and a gun were recovered from the spot.

According to Indian Meteorological Department, Cyclone Nilofar is likely to to hit western Rajasthan, especially Barmer and Jaisalmer, followed by northern Gujarat areas. Nilofar is likely to bring very heavy rain in Kutch area of Gujarat and adjoining Pakistan coast on Wednesday/ Thursday. And by Saturday, many places in Barmer and Jaisalmer may face dust storms followed by rains.

The Gujarat government on Monday issued work orders to build 'Statue of Unity' - the world's tallest statue of India's first home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel - to leading engineering company Larsen and Toubro. Chief Minister Anandi Patel said that the work on the 182-metre tall statue is to be completed at a cost of Rs 2,979 crore.