The CBI is turning on the heat on the BJP’s PM candidate, Mr Narendra Modi, and his close associate Amit Shah, with the agency sleuths on Friday questioning suspended Gujarat IPS officer D.G. Vanzara in Sabarmati Jail on his resignation letter and alleged fake encounter cases.

Sensing the anger among residents over hefty power bills and the Delhi BJP’s poll promise to slash the tariff by 30 per cent, chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Friday accused the opposition of “misleading” Delhiites with false promises.

The investigation in the Pune German Bakery blast case could take an ugly turn after a sting operation showed prosecution witnesses in the case claiming they had been tortured, tutored and coerced by Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) officers to depose before the court in a manner that would incriminate the main accused, Himayat Baig. Ironically, Baig was commuted a death sentence by the lower court, based on the false testimonies of these witnesses.

Two of Baig’s closest friends — Rehan Sheikh and Mohammad Ansari — told the court that Baig subscribed to the ideology of terror. When a journalist spoke to them, they said they were forced by the ATS into lying before the court.

Sixty-seven more officers from local police stations were placed under suspension on Friday after the 41 — attached to the Local Armed (LA) Division — were suspended for not reporting for bandobast duty during Ganpati immersion day that concluded on Wednesday.

The Dindoshi police on Thursday night arrested two young men who allegedly posed as “policemen” and demanded `50,000 as extortion money from a local shopkeeper selling tobacco in Goregaon (east). According to the Dindoshi police, the two accused have been identified as Samir Shaikh (31) and Ganesh Pathare (26).

Following the hue and cry raised by the Association of Concerned Catholics (AOCC) over the arbitrary cancellation of Christmas holidays to compensate for the two additional holidays granted for Ganeshotsav by the education department, school education minister on September 19 announced that the compensatory holidays would be adjusted in the Diwali vacations. Diwali vacations will now be cut short by two days and start on November 1 and end on November 18.

The Ganpati festivities ended in the city with the final immersion on Wednesday, followed by late-late night thunderclaps and bolts of lightning — the kind, which haven’t been experienced for years.

Ashfaq Shaikh alias Babu, 27, the fifth accused in the July 31 gangrape of a 19-year-old Bhandup based telephone operator in Shakti Mills compound, was freely roaming around the NM Joshi Marg police station while on the run.

While reviewing the enrolment under Aadhar, direct benefit transfer (DBT) and implementation of food security schemes, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan directed collectors and regional revenue commissioners across the state to speed up the Aadhar enrolments and push the schemes to enable them to reach their beneficiaries. He undertook the review through video conferencing (VC) at Sahyadri guesthouse on Friday.