NEW DELHI, India

The latest reality show to hit TV promises a fully-sponsored dream wedding for the best couple --adjudged by their dancing skills, witty answers and compatibility tests! Rock N Roll Soniye, the upcoming show by STAR Plus, will have real life couples battling it out with each other to be crowned ‘best couple.’ Audiences will be entertained by the couples through their dance performances and their answers to compatibility tests - that will be adjudged by celebrity judges. The winners will get a cash prize and of course, a grand wedding!

MUMBAI, India

Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt’s registered marriage with his partner Manyata may face legal hassles as it is in violation of the Muslim Personal Law (MPL), according to a legal expert. As per the MPL, a Muslim woman cannot marry a man of any other religion unless she converts herself to the religion of her would-be husband.
In the case of Manyata, a Muslim by birth, there is no proof that she converted to Hinduism before she married Dutt, save for the fact that she had earlier adopted a Hindu name. Dutt and Manyata had a court marriage in Goa Feb 7. Manyata’s former husband, Meeraj-ur-Rehman, has filed a petition that his marriage with Manyata has not been dissolved.

KARACHI, Pakistan

The Feb 18 elections to elect a new National Assembly and provincial legislatures in Pakistan would cost a record US$3 billion, according to a survey. Projections by the survey, carried by a team of journalists, say the whopping election expense includes expenditures incurred by the federal and provincial governments, Election Commission, donors, political parties and candidates.
The double-digit inflation, private security arrangements and a new head of expenses related to the electronic media have all done their bit to a big hike in the budget.

NEW DELHI, India

An official in the South African health ministry has alleged that the largest amount of fake and illegally manufactured copies of the sex tablet Viagra that is smuggled into the country originates in India. Viagra was developed by Pfizer and there is still no legal generic equivalent for the pills used by men with erection problems. Pfizer said the illegal copies also came from China, Pakistan and Russia, with ingredients that posed great risk to users.

NEW DELHI, India

A city court has convicted Romesh Sharma, an alleged associate of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, and five others for the murder of fashion designer Kumjum Budhiraja. The 29-year-old designer was fatally shot March 29, 1999 when she went to offer prayers at a temple at Sharma’s south Delhi farmhouse.

NEW DELHI, India

A couple has alleged that the staff of India’s premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) had swapped their newborn boy with a girl. Ayuesh Gupta and Prem Lata alleged that AIIMS staff had told them that they had had a boy but later handed them a baby girl. “We don’t think such an incident has really happened but have decided to go for a DNA test in the face of the allegations. The report we hope will clear everything,” a police officer said.

NEW DELHI, India

A businessman was given the death penalty for poisoning and strangling his wife and three minor daughters three years ago. Rajkumar Khandelwal killed his wife Anita and daughters Alisha, Chamma and Jyoti by first poisoning them and then strangling them, the prosecution said. According to the prosecution, Khandelwal had taken a bank loan of Rs.1.3 million (C$33,000) for his iron-manufacturing business but was unable to repay the same due to huge losses. In acute depression, he decided to kill his family members.

GHAZIABAD, India

Over Rs.70 million have been swindled from the provident fund account of the court staff here with a judge filing a police complaint naming some employees.  The special judge in her complaint named a functionary as main culprit in addition to the 13 Class-3 employees, 30 Class-4 employees and 39 unidentified outside people. The Kavi Nagar police, on the complaint, registered a criminal case against 85 people.

KERALA, India

Kerala forest department officials have seized two tiger skins and arrested two people in Wayanad district. The skins were from tigers aged one and 10.
“In the market, the tiger skins will fetch around Rs.450,000 (C$11,000),” C. Sasikumar, a forest officer who took part in the operation, told IANS . Wayanad district, which is about 600 km from state capital Thiruvananthapuram, shares its border with Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

MUMBAI, India

A former Indian Army officer has been arrested for allegedly spying for Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The arrest assumes significance in view of the 15th anniversary of Mumbai serial bomb explosions falling March 12. In the past fortnight, several terrorists who allegedly targeted Mumbai have been arrested from Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh.