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Welcome!
Monday, 23 April 2012
iWorkClock, a tool to keep track of their finances
iWorkClock is a simple and user firendly to manage their work (or work) and their own gain and to follow a “wishlist” (wish list) with their targets. In particular, you can create one or more jobs and, for each of them, save and manage bookings, payroll (ordinary and extraordinary), working day and more. The stampings are managed through a simple list, like a calendar, which shows all the information relating to a specific day: the first entry and last, hours worked and overtime earnings. Clicking on a row you can view, add and modifiare the stamping of the day.
The saved data (hours worked, overtime and gain) can be displayed in various tables and charts (monthly, weekly or annual). These data, together with bookings, hours worked, overtime, earnings and memos of the day, can be exported. Csv file can be shared via email.
Finally, with iWorkClock can create a wish list, adding “targets” with a specific value, and display a bar showing how far we are from achieving the goal (based on the current overall gain).
Who grounded Tata bid to start an airline?
New Delhi, April 20 (IANS) In 1997, then civil aviation minister C.M. Ibrahim acted under pressure from Jet Airways to thwart the Tata group's bid to start an airline in India in association with Singapore Airlines, a former top bureaucrat has said in a tell-all book.
"The history of civil aviation in this country would have taken a different trajectory, if Tata Singapore Airlines had been allowed to float an airline," wrote M.K. Kaw, the civilian aviation secretary in the government of prime minister I.K. Gujral.
In his book "An Outsider Everywhere - Revelations by an Insider" (Konark Publishers), Kaw said Ibrahim refused to clear the proposal despite policy papers being put up before him.
"The minister did not clear the file, despite several attempts on my part."
Later, Ratan Tata - whose group started India's first airline, Air India, which was later nationalised - met Kaw and inquired about the chances of the proposal coming through, the bureaucrat wrote.
"I said that it was difficult to guess. He (Tata) said that he had been approached, but it was not the policy for Tatas (to give bribes).
"The Tatas finally got tired of waiting and withdrew their proposal. Recently, Ratan Tata explained that one person had stood between the Tatas and the fulfillment of their aspirations in the civil aviation sector," Kaw said.
"But he (Tata) did not elaborate."
Kaw said when privatisation of airlines was permitted, Jet Airways had come up with 40 percent equity contribution by two airlines in the Gulf.
"The Tatas had mooted a proposal for a private airline with 40 percent equity contribution from Singapore Airlines. As this would have been a formidable competitor, Jet tried hard to upset the rules regarding foreign equity contribution.
"One of the last decisions taken by the outgoing Deve Gowda government had been to disallow such contribution in new proposals. This would block the Tata proposal effectively. Jet was given a time of six months to buy back the equity from its foreign contributors."
He said the Tata group was not allowed to open an airport. "They had wanted to set up an international airport at Bangalore. They had a foreign collaborator with all the expertise connected with setting up of world-class airports. Normally the proposal should have been through.
"I submitted the case to the minister (Ibrahim). He did not okay the proposal."
Kaw, who was later shifted out of civil aviation, said it was a pity that even 15 years later, the country is yet to have a civil aviation policy.
"It is the considered view of many experts in civil aviation that FDI investment will not be allowed in India till this is permitted by the powerful owners of Jet Airways," Kaw wrote.
The official, who retired from the Indian Administrative Service in 2001 and was known for uprightness and outspokenness, said the history of civil aviation in India was "a fascinating saga of benami ownership of airlines, demands for bribes, destruction of rival airlines one by one, unwarranted purchase if aircraft, mismanagement of bureaucrats and politicians, free jaunts on inaugural flights, subsidized travel for many categories of travelers, VVIP flights, Haj flights and so on."
"It is a story of shameless exploitation and ruthless corruption."
"The history of civil aviation in this country would have taken a different trajectory, if Tata Singapore Airlines had been allowed to float an airline," wrote M.K. Kaw, the civilian aviation secretary in the government of prime minister I.K. Gujral.
In his book "An Outsider Everywhere - Revelations by an Insider" (Konark Publishers), Kaw said Ibrahim refused to clear the proposal despite policy papers being put up before him.
"The minister did not clear the file, despite several attempts on my part."
Later, Ratan Tata - whose group started India's first airline, Air India, which was later nationalised - met Kaw and inquired about the chances of the proposal coming through, the bureaucrat wrote.
"I said that it was difficult to guess. He (Tata) said that he had been approached, but it was not the policy for Tatas (to give bribes).
"The Tatas finally got tired of waiting and withdrew their proposal. Recently, Ratan Tata explained that one person had stood between the Tatas and the fulfillment of their aspirations in the civil aviation sector," Kaw said.
"But he (Tata) did not elaborate."
Kaw said when privatisation of airlines was permitted, Jet Airways had come up with 40 percent equity contribution by two airlines in the Gulf.
"The Tatas had mooted a proposal for a private airline with 40 percent equity contribution from Singapore Airlines. As this would have been a formidable competitor, Jet tried hard to upset the rules regarding foreign equity contribution.
"One of the last decisions taken by the outgoing Deve Gowda government had been to disallow such contribution in new proposals. This would block the Tata proposal effectively. Jet was given a time of six months to buy back the equity from its foreign contributors."
He said the Tata group was not allowed to open an airport. "They had wanted to set up an international airport at Bangalore. They had a foreign collaborator with all the expertise connected with setting up of world-class airports. Normally the proposal should have been through.
"I submitted the case to the minister (Ibrahim). He did not okay the proposal."
Kaw, who was later shifted out of civil aviation, said it was a pity that even 15 years later, the country is yet to have a civil aviation policy.
"It is the considered view of many experts in civil aviation that FDI investment will not be allowed in India till this is permitted by the powerful owners of Jet Airways," Kaw wrote.
The official, who retired from the Indian Administrative Service in 2001 and was known for uprightness and outspokenness, said the history of civil aviation in India was "a fascinating saga of benami ownership of airlines, demands for bribes, destruction of rival airlines one by one, unwarranted purchase if aircraft, mismanagement of bureaucrats and politicians, free jaunts on inaugural flights, subsidized travel for many categories of travelers, VVIP flights, Haj flights and so on."
"It is a story of shameless exploitation and ruthless corruption."
Who are the swap stars?
In an era when none of our top actresses seem to reveal any USP, heroines replacing each other in sundry projects have become a regular affair.
While it is confirmed that actor Ajay Devgn will be playing the male lead in Sajid Khan's next directorial venture i.e. Himmatwala remake, it is still a mystery whether who'll bag the female lead role in the film. According to media reports, director Sajid Khan apparently wants to rope in one among the three Bollywood's leading actress viz. Katrina Kaif, Anushka Sharma and Deepika Padukone. Deepika has an advantage as she has worked with the director in Housefull before whereas Anushka and Katrina haven't.
Read More : http://in.movies.yahoo.com/photos/who-are-the-swap-stars--slideshow/#crsl=%252Fphotos%252Fwho-are-the-swap-stars--slideshow%252Fwho-are-the-swap-stars--photo-1331113686.html
Infosys staff documents under U.S. scrutiny
Infosys, India's No. 2 software services exporter, is under scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for likely errors in employer eligibility documents of its staff working in the United States, the company said in a statement.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is reviewing the employer eligibility verifications on Form I-9, said Nasdaq-listed Infosys (NSQ:INFY - News) in an April 18 filing on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
"In connection with this review, we have been advised that the DHS has found errors in a significant percentage of our Forms I-9 that the Department has reviewed," Infosys said in the SEC filing.
If the DHS concludes that the Forms I-9, used to verify the authorisation of employees to work in the U.S., contains errors it is likely to impose fines and penalties, the company said.
In January, Infosys said it was being investigated in Texas over its sponsorship and use of short-term U.S. business visas.
Jack Palmer, a company employee, has reportedly accused Infosys of misusing the B1 visas to send employees from India to the U.S., its largest export market. Infosys has denied the reports.
Infosys said it could not estimate any loss it might incur from "unfavourable outcomes" related to the ongoing investigation and review.
"In the event that any government undertakes any actions which limit any visa program that we utilize, or imposes sanctions, fines or penalties on us or our employees, this could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations," the company added.
Infosys, which reported its fiscal fourth quarter earnings on April 13, disappointed investors with weaker-than-expected revenue growth outlook for the fiscal year 2013 due to an uncertain global economy.
The news sent its shares plunging more than 12 percent in their biggest fall in nearly three years and wiped off more than $3 billion from the company's market value.
(Reporting by Aditi Shah. Editing by Jane Merriman)
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is reviewing the employer eligibility verifications on Form I-9, said Nasdaq-listed Infosys (NSQ:INFY - News) in an April 18 filing on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
"In connection with this review, we have been advised that the DHS has found errors in a significant percentage of our Forms I-9 that the Department has reviewed," Infosys said in the SEC filing.
If the DHS concludes that the Forms I-9, used to verify the authorisation of employees to work in the U.S., contains errors it is likely to impose fines and penalties, the company said.
In January, Infosys said it was being investigated in Texas over its sponsorship and use of short-term U.S. business visas.
Jack Palmer, a company employee, has reportedly accused Infosys of misusing the B1 visas to send employees from India to the U.S., its largest export market. Infosys has denied the reports.
Infosys said it could not estimate any loss it might incur from "unfavourable outcomes" related to the ongoing investigation and review.
"In the event that any government undertakes any actions which limit any visa program that we utilize, or imposes sanctions, fines or penalties on us or our employees, this could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations," the company added.
Infosys, which reported its fiscal fourth quarter earnings on April 13, disappointed investors with weaker-than-expected revenue growth outlook for the fiscal year 2013 due to an uncertain global economy.
The news sent its shares plunging more than 12 percent in their biggest fall in nearly three years and wiped off more than $3 billion from the company's market value.
(Reporting by Aditi Shah. Editing by Jane Merriman)
Beyoncé Knowles–mDhil Diva
An international singing sensation who shot to fame as the lead singer of an all girls band “Destiny’s Child”, Beyoncé Knowles is no stranger to the challenges life offers. From depression to unhealthy eating habits to a miscarriage, she has had the strength to overcome it all in a dignified manner despite the constant media hoopla around her. Well known for her curves, she’s defied norms in the industry that idolizes skinny women.
decades which include 16 Grammy Awards and 11 MTV music awards. She has sold over 75 million records which makes her one of the best selling artists of all time! Several artists, including Adele, Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry consider Beyoncé their role model.
Though she’s always been praised for her highly curvy but fit body, her highly publicised unhealthy eating habits have been severely criticized. Eventually, after attempting a maple syrup diet Beyoncé realised the importance of taking her care of her body and its fitness. Ever since, she has been supporting an almost vegan healthy diet which she’s continued post pregnancy.
She’s championed the cause of children’s issues by co-writing a song “Stand up for love”, which serves as the anthem of World Children’s Day, an annual event celebrated on November 20. In 2011, Beyoncé joined Michelle Obama’s “Lets Move” campaign to battle childhood obesity. She recorded a hugely successful song which aims at getting children up and moving.
Knowles is also a humanitarian who is known to routinely reach out to hurricane victims and for contributing heavily to rehabilitation efforts.
Why is Beyoncé Knowles an mDhil Diva?
A woman who has retained her grit despite adversities, overcome challenges and seen the lofty heights of success like no other, Beyoncé is still competitive and raring to go. As she takes her first few steps into her latest challenge, motherhood, we wish this mDhil Diva the best of luck.
decades which include 16 Grammy Awards and 11 MTV music awards. She has sold over 75 million records which makes her one of the best selling artists of all time! Several artists, including Adele, Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry consider Beyoncé their role model.Though she’s always been praised for her highly curvy but fit body, her highly publicised unhealthy eating habits have been severely criticized. Eventually, after attempting a maple syrup diet Beyoncé realised the importance of taking her care of her body and its fitness. Ever since, she has been supporting an almost vegan healthy diet which she’s continued post pregnancy.
She’s championed the cause of children’s issues by co-writing a song “Stand up for love”, which serves as the anthem of World Children’s Day, an annual event celebrated on November 20. In 2011, Beyoncé joined Michelle Obama’s “Lets Move” campaign to battle childhood obesity. She recorded a hugely successful song which aims at getting children up and moving.
Knowles is also a humanitarian who is known to routinely reach out to hurricane victims and for contributing heavily to rehabilitation efforts.
Why is Beyoncé Knowles an mDhil Diva?A woman who has retained her grit despite adversities, overcome challenges and seen the lofty heights of success like no other, Beyoncé is still competitive and raring to go. As she takes her first few steps into her latest challenge, motherhood, we wish this mDhil Diva the best of luck.
Salman parties with Katrina, Zarine and Sonakshi
Seema Khan - designer and wife of actor Sohail Khan has turned entrepreneur with the opening of her own spa - Kallista recently. Salman was there and so were his ladies - Katrina, Sonakshi and Zarine. From the event.
According to recent reports, Salman was not happy with Sonakshi - just because she could not keep away from spilling lil secrets from the sets of Dabanng 2.
Read MOre : http://in.omg.yahoo.com/photos/salman-parties-with-katrina-zarine-and-sonakshi-1335095101-slideshow/#crsl=%252Fphotos%252Fsalman-parties-with-katrina-zarine-and-sonakshi-slideshow%252Fsalman-parties-with-katrina-zarine-and-sonakshi-photo-1335094958.html
Viveka Babajee's boyfriend arrested in Tikku murder
Viveka BabajeeThe police summoned Vora for questioning and soon thereafter arrested him.
Vora has been accused of helping Vijay Palande, the prime accused in the murder, after the latter escaped from police custody on April 11.
Palande had escaped when the cops were taking him in a police vehicle to the Mumbai crime branch office in suburban Andheri.
He is then said to have boarded a local train to Churchgate from where he phoned Vora asking for help. Reports suggest that the stock broker then picked up Palande in his car and took him to a hotel in south Mumbai where the prime murder accused cleaned up and changed into new clothes that Vora had brought for Meanwhile, reports also suggest that Simrin Sud - who is said to be a friend/wife/relative of Vijay Palande could be the woman behind Viveka Babajee's suicide.
A report in Mid-Day said that Palande's statements to the cops earlier indicate that Simrin was having an affair with Vora and this could have pushed Viveka Babajee over the edge.
Vora too had been earlier arrested in the Viveka Babajee's suicide case. Viveka was found dead in her apartment in Bandra in suburban Mumbai after hanging herself from a ceiling fan. The 37-year-old supermodel endorsed many a famous brand like Coca-Cola, Kamasutra, and Live In Jeans. The Mauritius-born beauty was also crowned Miss Mauritius in 1993.
She had called her mother and boyfriend before killing herself and broke everything in her house, apparently in a fit of rage and frustration. Her had also begun to drink at lot and was struggling with depression.
The Life and Times of Simrin Sood on Page 2>>Who is Simrin Sood?
Simrin SoodShe is in the eye of a storm for being an accomplice in two murders in Oshiwara, in suburban Mumbai. She’s a Page 3 regular who has the likes of Raja Dhody, Parvez Damania and Jammy Jamval greeting her on her birthday. She’s also an IPL party gal who’s said to be the honey trap for shadowy match-fixing types. So who exactly is Simrin Sood? The precursor to her introduction to the Page 1 of national dailies starts with a Hitchcockian twang – or rather straight out of Brian de Palma’s Body Double: Arun Tiku, a 67-year-old man, was found banging the glass window of his first floor apartment in Oshiwara, begging someone to save his life.
A neighbour, whilst parking his car into the building, noticed a man in distress and ran up with the security guard to the flat. The flat was opened by two gangsters, with blood on their feet, claiming that Mr Tiku was merely tired and resting. The security guard locked them and rushed down to call the police.
By the time the police arrived Mr Tiku was dead, stabbed in the chest and torso several times. His son, Anuj Tiku, whom Simrin was ‘dating’, was nowhere to be found for the next two days, a missing link that still makes him a suspect in this case.
Simrin had recently begun dating Anuj, a character artiste who had scored bit roles in some films, including a YRF production, ironically titled Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. Simrin had been introduced to Tiku by Vijay Palande.
Also read: Violent deaths in Bollywood
In 1998, Vijay Palande had been charged with the double murders of Air India engineer Anup Das and his father Swaraj Ranjan Das. Palande had been convicted and was serving life imprisonment for these murders; the cops merely charged Simrin with illegally occupying Das’s flat. In 2002, he jumped parole and went missing. He underwent surgery to evade identification, transforming his face in an oriental mould, with slit eyes and high cheekbones.
By now, Simrin had already made a stab at Bollywood stardom with Anokha Anubhav, a B-grade flick about lesbianism, directed by a director named Sandeep Kumar. Sandeep Kumar’s last feature film to hit theatres in Mumbai was in 2008, a soft-porn flick titled Parveen Bobby, ostensibly to cash in on the star-crossed innings of ’70s siren Parveen Babi, who died from complications of diabetes for she was so paranoid by the end of her innings in Bollywood that the only two foods she believed were not contaminated by Mr. Bachchan, Prince Charles, FBI and RAW were Diet Coke and eggs.
Coming back to Simrin, Anokha Anubhav did not work; it is available for as little as Rs 30 as a VCD on the internet. She and Vijay Palande changed their names again and rented a flat in Andheri West for a short while. When the police came chasing after Palande, they fled again, even though in their rush to escape they left behind a plastic bag containing unsigned cheque books under their many different monikers.
At different times in her checkered innings with the law, Simrin has been Palande’s niece, girlfriend or sister, depending on what version suited them best. Now, in a police lock-up in Oshiwara, the police are yet to confirm who she really is, leave alone what she is to Vijay Palande.
Flashforward to 2010, Shining India has announced its third season of IPL, a strange format of cricket for a nation obsessed with cricket, for there is no national pride suddenly in winning a match. Players could come from any nation and form a club. These clubs then play against each other across the country with a bevy of American-style cheerleaders doing a shimmy at the edge of a stadium. Bollywood stars, beer barons, industrialists, socialites, and fashionistas all join the jamboree in this orgy of money laundering, for who is funding these teams becomes the subject of a massive scandal in 2010.
At the end of every match, there would be a fashion show to celebrate the day’s hard work. The lucrative contract for these fashion shows, including the ‘after-party’ at various five-stars across the nation, had been bagged by Arjun Rampal and Mehr Jessia, a couple known for its ability to conjure a rocking night within minutes for their close friends in tinsel town. There seemed nothing so wrong in extending this skill into a more professional realm, such as the IPL.
So, cricketers, industrialists, Bollywooders, divas, and lots of variants of a species called ‘model’ could be seen floating around in the din of a discotheque, ultra-violet and neon green lighting giving many faces the crepuscular malice of vampires on the prowl. One such vampire was feline-featured ‘model’ Simrin Sood, though which campaigns she had done to be tagged as a model remains a deeper mystery than her links to the criminal world via Vijay Palande.
Simrin Sood had been placed here at the behest of Vijay Palande, who was also a seasoned player in another sub-sport that continues to taint the world of cricket: match-fixing. She was what the media terms a ‘honey trap’ to facilitate deals between bookies and a certain politician whose name the police is yet to reveal. The police is loath to confirming any confessions coming from this duo, for both Palande and Simrin Sood also suffer from a condition that has taken them far in the world of glamourous criminality: pseudologia fantastica or, in lay terms, the pathological habit of lying.
However, with the IPL season behind her, Simrin Sood did indeed become a regular on the freebie party circuit, a genre of social respectability that many strugglers yearn. And with good reason: a voyeuristic survey of her Facebook account reveals the social web of Simrin Sood. It is studded with no lesser names than Raja Dhody, socialite and ex-husband of society diva Queenie Singh; Jammy Jamval, head honcho of the Taj group of hotels; Parvez Damania, an industrialist who, like Vijay Mallya, once even owned an airline. All of the above greeted Simrin Sood warmly on her birthday by posted on her ‘wall’.
The police are at present also interrogating stock broker Gautam Vora. In 2010, Gautam Vora came under the glare of media scrutiny for having been Viveka Babajee’s boyfriend. The former-model-turned event organizer (she too must have wanted to have a robust fashion choreography contract like Arjun Rampal and Mehr Jessia), tired of struggling to keep her business afloat and suffering from a break-up, hanged herself in her Bandra flat. The police found a note from her handwritten diary that read, “Gautam Vora, you killed me.” Though Gautam Vora vehemently denied being Viveka Babajee’s boyfriend, a tabloid a few days later released photographs filched from one of Vora’s social networking websites.
Vora might be twice unlucky in love, but his dating pattern reveals a fetish that businessmen with lots of cash harbour. It is a kink that that gives people like Vijay Palande and Simrin Sood a hook for conning gullible victims. Both Anuj Tiku and aspiring Bollywood producer, Karankumar Kakkad, whose hacked remains were archaeologized by the police and a team of trekkers off the jungles of Chiplun, were rich kids with posh flats and lots of disposable income. Both were taken in by Simrin Sood’s glamour.
To them, Vijay Palande was a friend or a brother (just as he was an uncle to victims from their earlier exploits in 1998). Kakkad lived in Oberoi Springs, the poshest building in Lokhandwala, in suburban Mumbai. He had the bad luck of being Simrin Sood’s next-door neighbour, which she was renting at Rs 50,000 a month.
When Kakkad discovered that Simrin Sood was dating Anuj Tiku, he threatened to reveal the truth to Tiku; that Simrin and he were in a romance. So Palande and his two cronies (who by now had moved into Tiku’s flat as paying guests) spiked his drink, took him to his house in an inebriated state, hacked him, dumped his remains into Kakkad’s shiny BMW and drove seven hours south of Mumbai to the forests of Chiplun to dump his body. On inspecting the skull, Kakkad’s brother has expressed doubts if the skull is indeed his brother’s.
A month ago, sometime in March, around the time that Kakkad went missing, Simrin wrote on her FB, a great place to show off to your peers, that she was heading to Bangkok. Kakkad’s credit cards had been swiped in Thailand after he went missing.
Anuj Tiku, for his part, had three flats converted into one. So when his Delhi-based father, Arun Tiku, began having misgivings about his son letting in strangers into the house as paying guests, he flew down to Mumbai -- only to be stabbed to death, minutes after banging on his window, screaming for help.
Anuj Tiku, who is still mourning the death of his father, claims he is the victim of having trusted Simrin Sood, Vijay Palande and the two men who stabbed his father to death. Tiku has also been battling substance abuse, for which he was in rehab at a centre in Jaipur.
Incidentally, Vijay Palande, Simrin Sood’s partner in crime/brother/lover/uncle, had acquired a Slovakian business visa on behalf of Anuj Tiku. Given their penchant for plastic surgery and changing identities, it makes you wonder if Palande and his femme fatale had some Slovakian blokes in mind to seduce. And then deduce.
Photos: Gone too soon
Killers threw torso in tank and roamed with Meenakshi's head
Blood in Bollywood on Page 3>>
Blood in Bollywood
Tinsel town divas and dudettes lead fast lives. However, at times, as the recent scandals surrounding the arrest of feline-featured Page 3 regular Simrin Sood and the murder of Nepalese junior artist Meenakshi Thapa reveal, it is also a world fraught with danger. We list you three instances when tinsel town folks met rather violent deaths at the hands of someone they loved...Coming back to Simrin, Anokha Anubhav did not work; it is available for as little as Rs 30 as a VCD on the internet. She and Vijay Palande changed their names again and rented a flat in Andheri West for a short while. When the police came chasing after Palande, they fled again, even though in their rush to escape they left behind a plastic bag containing unsigned cheque books under their many different monikers.
At different times in her checkered innings with the law, Simrin has been Palande’s niece, girlfriend or sister, depending on what version suited them best. Now, in a police lock-up in Oshiwara, the police are yet to confirm who she really is, leave alone what she is to Vijay Palande.
Flashforward to 2010, Shining India has announced its third season of IPL, a strange format of cricket for a nation obsessed with cricket, for there is no national pride suddenly in winning a match. Players could come from any nation and form a club. These clubs then play against each other across the country with a bevy of American-style cheerleaders doing a shimmy at the edge of a stadium. Bollywood stars, beer barons, industrialists, socialites, and fashionistas all join the jamboree in this orgy of money laundering, for who is funding these teams becomes the subject of a massive scandal in 2010.
At the end of every match, there would be a fashion show to celebrate the day’s hard work. The lucrative contract for these fashion shows, including the ‘after-party’ at various five-stars across the nation, had been bagged by Arjun Rampal and Mehr Jessia, a couple known for its ability to conjure a rocking night within minutes for their close friends in tinsel town. There seemed nothing so wrong in extending this skill into a more professional realm, such as the IPL.
So, cricketers, industrialists, Bollywooders, divas, and lots of variants of a species called ‘model’ could be seen floating around in the din of a discotheque, ultra-violet and neon green lighting giving many faces the crepuscular malice of vampires on the prowl. One such vampire was feline-featured ‘model’ Simrin Sood, though which campaigns she had done to be tagged as a model remains a deeper mystery than her links to the criminal world via Vijay Palande.
Simrin Sood had been placed here at the behest of Vijay Palande, who was also a seasoned player in another sub-sport that continues to taint the world of cricket: match-fixing. She was what the media terms a ‘honey trap’ to facilitate deals between bookies and a certain politician whose name the police is yet to reveal. The police is loath to confirming any confessions coming from this duo, for both Palande and Simrin Sood also suffer from a condition that has taken them far in the world of glamourous criminality: pseudologia fantastica or, in lay terms, the pathological habit of lying.
However, with the IPL season behind her, Simrin Sood did indeed become a regular on the freebie party circuit, a genre of social respectability that many strugglers yearn. And with good reason: a voyeuristic survey of her Facebook account reveals the social web of Simrin Sood. It is studded with no lesser names than Raja Dhody, socialite and ex-husband of society diva Queenie Singh; Jammy Jamval, head honcho of the Taj group of hotels; Parvez Damania, an industrialist who, like Vijay Mallya, once even owned an airline. All of the above greeted Simrin Sood warmly on her birthday by posted on her ‘wall’.
The police are at present also interrogating stock broker Gautam Vora. In 2010, Gautam Vora came under the glare of media scrutiny for having been Viveka Babajee’s boyfriend. The former-model-turned event organizer (she too must have wanted to have a robust fashion choreography contract like Arjun Rampal and Mehr Jessia), tired of struggling to keep her business afloat and suffering from a break-up, hanged herself in her Bandra flat. The police found a note from her handwritten diary that read, “Gautam Vora, you killed me.” Though Gautam Vora vehemently denied being Viveka Babajee’s boyfriend, a tabloid a few days later released photographs filched from one of Vora’s social networking websites.
Vora might be twice unlucky in love, but his dating pattern reveals a fetish that businessmen with lots of cash harbour. It is a kink that that gives people like Vijay Palande and Simrin Sood a hook for conning gullible victims. Both Anuj Tiku and aspiring Bollywood producer, Karankumar Kakkad, whose hacked remains were archaeologized by the police and a team of trekkers off the jungles of Chiplun, were rich kids with posh flats and lots of disposable income. Both were taken in by Simrin Sood’s glamour.
To them, Vijay Palande was a friend or a brother (just as he was an uncle to victims from their earlier exploits in 1998). Kakkad lived in Oberoi Springs, the poshest building in Lokhandwala, in suburban Mumbai. He had the bad luck of being Simrin Sood’s next-door neighbour, which she was renting at Rs 50,000 a month.
When Kakkad discovered that Simrin Sood was dating Anuj Tiku, he threatened to reveal the truth to Tiku; that Simrin and he were in a romance. So Palande and his two cronies (who by now had moved into Tiku’s flat as paying guests) spiked his drink, took him to his house in an inebriated state, hacked him, dumped his remains into Kakkad’s shiny BMW and drove seven hours south of Mumbai to the forests of Chiplun to dump his body. On inspecting the skull, Kakkad’s brother has expressed doubts if the skull is indeed his brother’s.
A month ago, sometime in March, around the time that Kakkad went missing, Simrin wrote on her FB, a great place to show off to your peers, that she was heading to Bangkok. Kakkad’s credit cards had been swiped in Thailand after he went missing.
Anuj Tiku, for his part, had three flats converted into one. So when his Delhi-based father, Arun Tiku, began having misgivings about his son letting in strangers into the house as paying guests, he flew down to Mumbai -- only to be stabbed to death, minutes after banging on his window, screaming for help.
Anuj Tiku, who is still mourning the death of his father, claims he is the victim of having trusted Simrin Sood, Vijay Palande and the two men who stabbed his father to death. Tiku has also been battling substance abuse, for which he was in rehab at a centre in Jaipur.
Incidentally, Vijay Palande, Simrin Sood’s partner in crime/brother/lover/uncle, had acquired a Slovakian business visa on behalf of Anuj Tiku. Given their penchant for plastic surgery and changing identities, it makes you wonder if Palande and his femme fatale had some Slovakian blokes in mind to seduce. And then deduce.
Photos: Gone too soon
Killers threw torso in tank and roamed with Meenakshi's head
Blood in Bollywood on Page 3>>
Blood in Bollywood
Black Birthday: Producer Brij Sadanah shoots dead his family; then kills himself
Kamal SadanahIt was October 21, 1990. It was producer Kamal Sadanah's 20th birthday party and he was celebrating it at his Bandra bungalow with close friends. At half past midnight, his father, producer Brij Sadanah, brought out a Smith & Wesson and shot dead his wife in the living room. Kamal Sadanah and friends came running out of his room. Then Brij Sadanah aimed the gun at his daughter and shot her too. A third bullet ripped past Kamal Sadanah's neck and the fourth he literally caught in the palm of his hand. During the time that Kamal Sadanah was being treated at hospital, his father, the producer Victoria No. 203 and Yeh Raat Phir Na Aayegi, shot himself in the head too. A photograph of Brij Sadanah lying in a pool of his own blood even made it to the front page of The Times of India, sending shock waves throughout the nation. How could a man, in his senses, take a gun and do this? The tragedy's only survivor, Kamal Sadanah, led a Bruce Wayne-style existence in his bungalow for the most of the 1990s, reclusive, trying to grips with this nightmare. At the turn of the millennium he found love and started a family. He also tore down his bungalow and paved the way for a high-rise. "Dad always had a Smith&Wesson, but he also had a troublesome habit with it. Once during an argument with my mother, he had shot a round, albeit in the air. My mother, since she was close to Nargis, used her political clout to get the gun confiscated. However, at the peak of the Khalistan crisis, my father citing extortion threats from terrorists, go the gun back," said Kamal Sadanah in an interview to Mumbai Mirror when recounting the horror. It was an oversight that cost the police and the Sadanahs dearly. For on October 21, Mrs and Mrs Sadanah had a bitter fight and…
The murder of Priya Rajvansh on Page 4>>
In Cold Blood: The Murder of Priya Rajvansh
Priya RajvanshHer unconventional looks in some daring roles gave her a cult following. Her gruesome murder on March 27, 2000, though brought back into focus how land in maximum city is indeed a heavily-priced commodity. Enough to kill for? Apparently. Her step sons, in the wake of their father's death, producer Chetan Anand, were not too happy to see Priya Rajvansh visit their bungalow. Fearing that she might partly inherit the property, they bribed the servants to strangle her. At first sight, the police assumed that it was a case of suicide. However, when the post-mortem revealed strangulation marks on Rajvansh's neck, the police began a thorough investigation. Through this, a few handwritten letters by the actress were discovered, in which she began writing about a strange sense of anxiety she felt. As though there were a danger to her life. In the case that followed, Ketan Anand and Vivek Anand were found guilty of commissioning her murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.The incident made national news because Chetan Anand was a respected name in film circles: he had bagged the Palme D'Or at the first ever Cannes festival in 1946 for his film Neecha Nagar.
The Neeraj Grover-Maria Susairaj case on Page 5>>
Dangerous Liaisons: the Neeraj Grover-Maria Susairaj case
Maria SusairajIn May 2008, television executive Neeraj Grover went missing. His missing complaint was filed by none other than his girlfriend Maria Susairaj. Then a few days down the line, the national dailies went in a tizzy about a love triangle gone horribly wrong. Maria Susairaj, a Kannada actress who was making a stab at Bollywood stardom met Neeraj Grover, who was helping her find a toehold in tinsel town. On the night of May 6, 2008, when her lover Emile called up from Kochi, he heard a male voice in the background. He did not like this. It was something that aroused his suspicion, enough to make him take a flight to Mumbai the next morning. He arrived at Maria's door without informing her, stormed into her bedroom, only to find Grover naked. Enraged, he stabbed Neeraj, who died on the spot. Then, Maria and he brought shopping bags, suitcases, knives. They dismembered his body, stuffed it into the bags they'd bought and dumped it on the outskirts of Mumbai.The body in the suitcase has in fact has become a motif for murders in tinsel town; the recent murder cases of Nepalese actress Meenakshi Thapa and lyricist-cum-bookie Karan Kumar Kakkad also involved bodies being hacked and then carried around in a suitcase. It's straight out of a Dario Argento flick. Actually, correct that - it's straight out of reality in Mumbai.
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