The national investigation agency (NIA) has successfully collated evidence and documents for apprehending Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Indresh. The probe provides political ammunition to the UPA government at the centre. According to sources, the government has held off the arrest till mid-August. The monsoon session of parliament will be on around then and the government wants to send a strong message with the arrest which it hopes will also divide the opposition. It also hopes that it can use the probe in the run-up to the Uttar Pradesh elections. NIA has been getting a lot of support from other probe agencies in the investigation of the alleged terror links of Indresh and two others.

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The role of the son-in-law of a prominent UPA leader in real state deals in the national capital region has come as a shock for the leadership. His involvement in a Rs 75 crore land deal could rock the parliament, sources say. The said UPA leader has asked his son to be away from India in August. He has also been instructed to stay away from a South Delhi hotel near Nehru stadium, his preferred venue for business deals. A Hindi newschannel has planned an expose these land deals.

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Jairam Ramesh's parting gift as environment and forests minister is a Rs 4.60 crore package to three states for the conservation of critically endangered snow leopards and hangul, a species of red deer. Endemic to Jammu and Kashmir, hanguls are on the ministry's list of 16 critically endangered species. Snow leopards, popularly monikored 'ghosts of the mountains', also figure on the list. Besides J&K, the package has been approved for Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh. The grant will be used for building captive breeding centres, water-holes and anti-poaching infrastruture.

Ramesh released the funds to support ongoing programmes which have helped in increasing the number of Hanguls from 175 in 2009 to 218 in 2011. J&K was given Rs 1.9 crores last year for conserving hanguls and another Rs 1.6 crores for protecting the snow leopards while Uttarakhand got Rs 1.26 crores and Himachal Rs 24.16 lakhs to conserve the charismatic big cats.

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Of the big corporate names in the Karnataka lokayukta's report on illegal mining in the state, one is the Gautam Adani-led Adani group. The corporate giant has been been named in Rs 16,085 crore scam for bribing politicians, bureaucrats, police and others to facilitate the illegal export of ore. According to the report, the company alone accounts for one-third of the Rs 12,000 crore loss caused to the state exchequer by illegal exports.

Based on figures compiled from the customs and department of mines and geology, the lokayukta pegged the the quantity of iron ore exported illegally between 2006 and 2010 at 29.80 million tonnes. The exports caused a  loss of Rs12,000 crore to the state, according to lokayukta estimates. Over 7.7 million tonnes or a little around a quarter of the total were exported from the Belekeri port, run by the Adanis. The contraband ore was tranported to the port in carriers filled over capacity.

The report says that the data seized from the computers of M/s Adani Enterprises and M/s Shree Mallikarjun Shipping Pvt Ltd showed the average per truckload quantity unloaded in Adani plots in Belekeri Port was 20.26 tonnes as against the permitted load of 16 tonnes.

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Before he signed off as the air chief marshal, P V Naik secured a promise from prime minister Manmohan Singh for the granting of airman status to some 12,000 non-combatant enrolled (NCE) staff in the airorce. The NCE staff serve as cooks, peons, barbers, cobblers, carpenters and janitors. Their counterparts in the army and the navy got the status of soldiers in 1972. But the airforce NCE remained excluded, bound by red-tape. Once they are accepted as airmen, they will be entitled to receive the military service pay of Rs 2,000 per month like other regular airmen that is denied to them on the ground that they have no field duties.

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Hardliner Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who was detained and interrogated by the special cell of the Deli police while he was about to fly to Srinagar from the national capital, has been given a clean chit by the NIA in a hawala probe. The NIA was probing the trail of the Rs 21 lakh seized from Geelani aide Ghulam Mohammad Bhat in January. The probe agency held that Geelani has nothing to with the money received through hawala to fund terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir. Bhat and three others who were arrested earlier have been charge-sheeted already for funding terror. Bhat was also arrested in 2008 after Rs 55 lakh was recovered from him.

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Instead of extending the last date for filing income tax returns as the last two days of July fell on Saturday and Sunday, the income tax departmment asked its staff to work on both days to enable tax payers to avail the ease of filing on weekends which do not clash with their working days, The counters were kept open upto 8 pm on Sunday, an IT official said.

The IT Department had been extending the deadline in the past but did away with the practice this year as it was a cumbersome procedure requiring issue of special notification, etc. Those who still missed the July 31 deadline can file their returns within the financial year up to March 31, 2012 if they have paid their entire tax dues. However, if some part of the tax is still to be paid, the assessee has to pay 12 per cent interest on such amount and is also liable to pay fine of Rs 5,000. However, an appeal can be made to waive the fine if the deadline has been missed for some genuine reason, such as the person falling sick or having gone abroad at the time.