As much as 22 cases of dubious land deals were unearthed by the state’s Vigilance and Anit Corruption Bureau .However the probe did not find anything  incriminating  in 17 land deals which were striked by the residents of Himachal Pradesh.

” Out of 22 land deals only five were found to be dubious which are being probed further. The lands were purchased by the residents  who could have benefited in case the ground had come under the possession of the state government.  ,” a top level state government official said.

Sources said that the Vigilance and Anti Corruption Bureau is also probing a particular piece of land measuring 3640.84 square meter which is situated in the middle of the Anandale ground ( No 290,388  located Khasra No 200 and 201. This piece of land is owned by some residents of Patilala ( Punjab). Sources said some influential people were trying to buy this land but the deed could not be registered as the land is under the possession of Indian Army. The Vigilance and Anti Corruption Bureau will find out the whereabouts and details of the buyers.

Sources said the Vigilance and Anti Corruption Bureau is also probing four dubious land deals which took place in 2012. Sources said the market value of  these plots , measuring 30 Bighas in all, is six times higher than the amount shown on the papers.

“The status of these plots have been changed fraudulantely from forest land to grassland to pave the way for the construction which otherwise would not have been possible without changing the status of the land. These plots measure around 30 bighas and the market value of  this land is more than 30 crores. The registration deeds show the land have been purchased by just  paying 50 lac rupees. How it is possible ? We demand that this land should be vested with the government,” Tikender Singh Panwar, Deputy Mayor, Shimla Municipal Corporation said .

Sprawling over an area of 121 Bighas , Annandale (playground and race-course) ground rests on a small patch of table-land and is located in a deep wide valley in the suburban village of Kaithu,Shimla west.

The face off between the Army and the then BJP state government had taken an ugly turn on April 14 ,2012 Army had levelled land grab charges against the then chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal .Dhumal had favoured Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) decision to construct a cricket stadium at the Anandale ground .However , the Army did not handover the ground to the state government which faced bitter criticism not only from the opposition but also from the Army and from a faction of his own party.

After waging a war of words with the Army over the ground controversy,the then Himachal government had filed an arbitration case with the Divisional Commissioner, Shimla in April last year.

The state government had maintained that the Army is illegally occupying the Annandale ground as the lease basis of which the ground was handed over to the Army,expired in 1982. The land of Annandale ground was owned by the Gymkhana Club and not by the Army. In 1955  a lease agreement was signed between the then Punjab government and and the Ministry of Defence and the ground was leased out on a rupee one per annum amount for a period of  ten years.

However the Congress chief minister , Virbhadra Singh on January 29 this year had put a lid on the controversy by ordering  withdrawal of the ongoing arbitration proceedings and has said that the Anandale ground will continue to be under the possession of  Indian Army .

” Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee President is basically a contractor who is misusing his office to get government contracts.His party men are denying that he not a contractor. We ask if he is not a contractor then how he has earned  property worth crores of rupees. We demand a high level inquiry into the matter,” Ganesh Dutt ,BJP spokesperson said.

BJP said that the Congress president and his family members purchased a large piece of land measuring 700 Kanals in Hamirpur district  on March 30,2012 besides owning shares in two construction companies named S S Constructions and R S Constructions .

“The construction companies in question were also raided by CBI officials for  irregularities but the matter seems to have been hushed up. The Congress president should clarify and reveal the source of money which was used to purchase the huge chunk of land and shares in the construction companies which are patronised by him,” Dr Rajeev Saijal, Vice President , BJP questioned.

Himachal Congress chief was attacked by the BJP leaders afer he had accused former chief miniser Prem Kumar Dhumal and his son Anurag Thakur of  commercializing the politics and selling the interests of  Himachal Pradesh to the outsiders. He had also accused Anurag Thakur that he has nothing to do with Hamirpur LS constituency and he is always busy in Dubai and other foreign countries.

Reacting to BJP’s allegations Congress which appeared  defensive after the counter allegations  denied that Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu owns shares in two construction companies and said that the land was purchased as per the law.

” The land in question has been purchased within the law with legal money earned with hard work. Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu has nothing to do with R S Constructions and S S Constructions. BJP is indulging in mud slinging as its leaders Prem Kumar Dhumal and his son Anurag Thakur had formed a company called BAD  ( B stands for Dr Rajeev Bindal former cabinet minister who is accused of  land deals worth crores of rupees, A for Anurag Thakur and D for Prem Kumar Dhumal. They misused cricket and education for personal gains and sold the interests of the state ,” Dr Kailash Parashar, Spokesperson , HPCC said.

The trading of allegations both by BJP and Congress has confined the politics to Hamirpur as both HPCC President and former chief minister belong to this district. Both the parties seem least bothered about their position in the  bye election in Mandi LS constituency where polls will take place on June 23.

“The accident took place near Koi village  and the victims died on the spot and the bodies have been recovered from the wreckage,” Sunil Negi, DSP, Shimla said.

The victims , according to the police , were local residents . The rescue operation lasted for eight hours and was done by the ITBP personnel . The cause of the accident was yet to be ascertained.

“The investigations in Bemloe Builder case were still being conducted by revenue, forest and vigilance departments, so there was no question of giving clean chit in this case,” Kaul Singh Thakur, Health and Revenue Minister said.

The ministers said that the value of the land in Bemloe builder case was allegedly assessed at lower rates to save revenue fees. He said that the illicit tree felling by the builder is also being probed separately.

” The government will come to final conclusion only after receiving the investigation reports from all these three departments,” Sudhir Sharma, Urban Development minister said.

The ministers said that BJP leaders are in a hurry to take political mileage from misleading information being published in a section of press.

“BJP leaders should wait till the probe is over . We had already clarified in Vidhan Sabha that an impartial inquiry would be conducted in this case ,” Kaul Singh Thakur said.

Vigilance and anti-corruption bureau sleuths had raided the hotel  and had found two Chandigarh based call girls along with Rajinder Rana and others . Rajinder Rana had denied the charges but was forced to resign ( on moral grounds ) under pressure from  his own party and opposition Congress.

The hotel was raided by two dozen Vigilance and anti Corruption officers and the probe was handed over to the then SP Vigilance Hridesh Bisht.Congress leaders including Virbhadra Singh and Kaul Singh Thakur , had demanded a probe alleging that the then BJP government had tried to hush up the matter.

Sources say when the Congress returned to the power, two complaints one addressed to Chief Minister , Virbhadra Singh and another to the vigilance and anti-corruption bureau had landed. Sources even say that Virbhadra Singh had refused to probe the matter and the Vigilance and anti Corruption bureau was not keen to probe as there were ‘ no evidences’.

The sad part of this story is that the same police department ( Vigilance and anti Corruption Bureau) who had raided the hotel has refused to probe the matter. Was the raid party dancing in the hotel when it raided the hotel . Why the evidences were not collected. Why the call girls were not questioned ?

Isn’t it a double speak on the party of Congress government which demanded a CBI probe while in opposition and refused to probe the matter when it returned to power ?

“  Principal Secretary Home Tarun Shridhar, Additional Director General of Police , Prithvi Raj and legal advisor Kulvir Singh Chauhan in a recent meeting has decided to close the case which lacks documentary evidences,” a top level source said.

Double speak ! Double speak Mr Virbhadra Singh !

Sonakshi Sinha has teamed up with Ranveer Singh in the film which is a  romance drama set in Bengal of 1950s and it has Ranveer Singh romancing Sonakshi Sinha for the first time on screen.

However in real life both are opposite to each other. Sonakshi has dubbed Ranbir as hyper .

“Our styles of working are different. Ranveer and I are opposites. He is hyper and I am calm,” Sonakshi said.

“I enjoyed what I wore every time I stepped out. I love Indian wear ,” says Vidya

Vidya says that she would stick to her dress code where ever she goes. Be it the Cannes or any other Indian event, she can be seen wearing a sari or a lehanga.

Vidya had earned rave reviews for her first Hindi film Parineeta in 2005. Her other films were Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006),Heyy Babyy (2007) and Kismat Konnection (2008)

The year 2009 marked the beginning of the most successful period in Vidya’s career as she portrayed five consecutive roles to wide critical acclaim in Paa (2009), Ishqiya (2010), No One Killed Jessica (2011), The Dirty Picture (2011), and Kahaani (2012).

In the Pic: Vidya Balan is seen in red hot sizzling dress

Opposition BJP has sent a complaint to the election commission of India that Krishna Chaudhary had addressed election rallies in Dadaur area of Mandi district on June 5 which is a clear violation of the code.

Krishna Chaudhary is a government employee and is posted in Dadaur primary school as JBT teacher. BJP has questioned her involvement in politics as the service conduct rules prohibit her from taking part in politics .

BJP has also made a second complaint about another government employee Hiramani who had also violated election code of conduct by announcing support to Congress.

Election commission has asked the sub divisional magistrate, Mandi to probe.

“I know that not everyone likes me….But this is who I am……So,if you don’t like it…….Tough! .I don’t want to be promiscuous. This came after my photo shoot for the magazine in Los Angeles and I have decided to put a barrier and limit and will pose the way I deem fit,” Sherlyn Chopra said.

Sherlyn Chopra is the first Indian woman to pose nude for Playboy magazine, which raised controversy.  She is currently hosting sixth season of MTV Splitsvilla show.

Sherlyn, who said she had no interest in reading link-up stories concerning herself, said, “For everybody wanting to make herself counted you have to put your success before you. Judging people is not an awesome job, it only demands being level headed and a good listener and observer.”

She said that she is encouraging the  MTV Splitsvillle contestants to be true to themselves and not put up a facade.

“I have sought to tell them that they should not take every feedback seriously,” Sherlyn Chopra said.

Bachchan, 70, loved to spend time with his pets .Bachchan had been quite distressed with his pet’s deteriorating condition since the past few days and had posted on his blog, “The other distressing news that I was wanting to comment on Twitter was that Shanouk is very very ill. Shanouk is, as you know my lovely Pirana Dane.

“His heart is giving way, water is collecting in his stomach and he is in serious condition. We revived him today at the vet by sedating him and pumping out the excess water collected, but things are not looking good! Sad!,” Amitabh Bachchan had said recently.

Shanouk, as Big B recently explained on his blog, means a gentle warm breeze on a cold morning and was named by the actor’s son Abhishek.

“‘The gentle warm breeze on a cold morning’… Just stopped. Shanouk my pet Piraana Dane passed away a short while ago…,” posted Bachchan on his blog.

Piranha Dane, one of the world’s tallest dog breeds.