Six Indians dead in US shooting after 'family quarrel'

Chennai: An Indian IT professional in the US opened fire at his family members following a quarrel with his brother-in-law, killing five people, including three children. He then shot himself dead, a relative in a Tamil Nadu village said Tuesday.
The shootout took place Monday night (IST) in Santa Clara, a town in the Silicon Valley.
"My son-in-law Devarajan had a quarrel with my son Ashokan and shot everyone in the family including my son, daughter-in-law Suchitra, their child Neha, my daughter Aabha and their children Akhil and Ahaana yesterday (Monday) night in the US during dinner," a grief-stricken Appu Master, an 80-year-old retired schoolteacher, told IANS from Ayyankollai village in Tamil Nadu.
"My family's entire next generation had moved to the US some 15 years ago and were very close to each other till this happened. Only Aabha has survived the firing and the rest of the family including Devarajan, who committed suicide, has been wiped out after he opened fire from two handguns," Master added.
Devarajan and Ashokan were two Malayalam-speaking IT professionals, who originally hailed from Ayyankollai in Nilgiri district, over 500 km from state capital Chennai.
According to a report in the San Jose Mercury News, an Indian passport was found inside the house, but the identity of the victims had not been revealed by the US police.
The suspected shooter, a man in his 40s (now identified as Devarajan) was found dead inside the house, Santa Clara Police Captain Mike Sellers had been quoted as saying.
A report in The San Francisco Chronicle had described the shootings as "one of the deadliest such incidents of Santa Clara in recent history".
Source: Indo-Asian News Service

Sanjay Dutt barred from election

Dutt is one of India's most bankable Bollywood stars The Indian Supreme Court has ruled that Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, convicted for his role in the 1993 Mumbai blasts, cannot contest forthcoming elections.
The court declined Dutt's request to suspend his conviction saying he had been involved in a "serious offence".
The actor was sentenced to six years in jail in July 2007 for buying weapons from bombers who attacked Mumbai.
He was bailed in November 2007 and wanted to stand as a Samajwadi Party candidate while his appeal was heard.
The Samajwadi Party hoped he would run in Lucknow, capital of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
Responding to the ruling, Dutt, one of Bollywood's most bankable stars, said he abide by the court's decision.
'Serious offence'
The Supreme Court ruled the actor could not stand in elections for the duration of his sentence.
"It is not a fit case for suspension of conviction because of his [Sanjay Dutt's] involvement in a serious offence," its ruling said.
Under Indian laws, anyone who is convicted by a court and given a jail sentence for a period of two years or more is not allowed to contest elections.
"I am a law abiding citizen and I respect the court's decision," Dutt told journalists after the court order.
"But I'm not leaving Lucknow. This is my seat and it will remain so forever. Whoever replaces me as the candidate here, will be my candidate," he said.
Hundreds of people were killed in the blasts
Dutt is appealing against his conviction in the Supreme Court.
The actor, who found fame playing gangsters and anti-heroes, is the most high-profile of 100 people convicted in connection with the blasts, which killed 257 people in Mumbai (Bombay).
He was originally charged with five offences, including criminal conspiracy and possession of illegal weapons.
The court found him guilty of illegally possessing firearms but cleared him of conspiracy.
During the course of the trial, Sanjay Dutt - the son of a Hindu father and Muslim mother - said the weapons were necessary in order to defend his family during the Hindu-Muslim rioting of 1993.
The violence followed the destruction by Hindu zealots of the Babri mosque in the northern town of Ayodhya.
The Mumbai blasts were allegedly carried out by the city's Muslim-dominated underworld in retaliation for the riots, in which most of those killed were Muslims.

BJP refuses to drop Varun Gandhi

India's opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) says ex-PM Indira Gandhi's grandson will be an election candidate, despite anti-Muslim accusations.
The Election Commission (EC) had advised the BJP not to nominate Varun Gandhi, saying he had made "highly derogatory" remarks while campaigning.
The BJP said the EC was biased and that only courts could rule on candidacy.
Mr Gandhi expressed "deep disappointment over the unseemly haste" in which the EC had acted.
He has denied making the comments and said a recording of the remarks had been "doctored".
The Election Commission, however, said it was convinced that footage of Mr Gandhi's speech had "not been tampered with, doctored or morphed as alleged by the respondent".
'Victim'
In a 10-page order, the commission said that Mr Gandhi, 29, "does not deserve to be a candidate" in next month's election.

It said Mr Gandhi's statements contained "highly derogatory" references and seriously provocative language of a "wholly unacceptable" nature.
However, Balbir Punj, a spokesman for the BJP, India's main opposition party, said the commission had "no authority to give such a direction to a political party".
"Varun Gandhi is the BJP candidate in Pilibhit [constituency in Uttar Pradesh]. What I am telling you is the outcome of the consultations among the BJP leaders."
Mr Gandhi, who is making his political debut in the election, condemned the EC decision, saying he was "astonished that such harsh censure should be used without any attempt to ascertain the truth".
He said that in its "adverse remarks and recommendations to the BJP" the EC had "acted beyond its jurisdiction and has surpassed its powers".
He added: "I remain confident for I believe my real court of appeal lies with the people."
The footage of Mr Gandhi's rallies on 6 and 8 March in Pilibhit have been broadcast on Indian television.
Mr Gandhi cannot be barred from contesting elections unless he is convicted or found guilty by courts, but criminal charges have now been filed against him.
Mr Gandhi is the son of Sanjay Gandhi, Indira Gandhi's younger son who was killed in a plane crash.
Although he is a descendant of the influential Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, Mr Gandhi belongs to a side of the family that has disowned them.

I remain confident for I believe my real court of appeal lies with the people -Varun Gandhi

Source : BBC

Shut Chinese Mobile Phones: DoT

Indian cellcos have started informing their customers who are using illegal handsets with no or spoofed IMEIs that their connections will soon be disconnected. Earlier this year, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had asked operators to disconnect services to such handsets because they might pose a security threat. For the uninitiated, every GSM mobile phone comes with a unique IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Number) - except for the illegal, low-cost, mostly unbranded Chinese phones, most of which have spoofed IMEIs or none at all. It is a 15-digit number that appears on the operator's network when a call is made. Using IMEI, cellcos can track phones and block or unblock them for security reasons or even if your phone is stolen. This essentially makes handsets useless for the thief as a non-working phone is just a brick. You can find out your IMEI number by pressing the *#06# keys on your phone.
The DoT had asked the companies to equip their systems with EIRs (Equipment Identity Registers) that allows them to check if calls are made from legal, genuine handsets; thus, they can gradually weed out illegal handsets. The companies have now started sending text alerts to consumers using such handsets, informing them that the IMEI-less phones would be denied access to their networks.
It is, however, unlikely that all illegal handsets will be blocked by the March 31 deadline that the DoT had given. The main reason being the extra load that the screening of each of the phones for their IMEI number would put on the networks; this is the biggest concern for cellcos at the moment, and has been the general sentiment from what our sources say. A major telecom operator is asking for more time to implement the directive because the process of IMEI identification is time-consuming. We are still awaiting a response from Airtel, whom we have contacted regarding this.
Add this to the fact that there are various combinations of illegal IMEI numbers that makes the blocking process harder than it sounds.
The Indian Cellular Association (ICA) has on its part requested the Government to snap the supply of illegal handsets at the point of import, which at the moment seems to be most cost-effective and sensible way to deal with the entire problem.
Are you using a phone with no IMEI? If yes, have you received any communication from your operator requesting you to change to a "legal" handset?
Source: Techtree.com