South Indian actor Kunal Singh, who has also starred in some Bhojpuri movies and one Bollywood movie, has committed suicide at his residence in Oshiwara, northwest suburb of Mumbai.
Singh's close friend Lavina, who was present in the apartment for some official work Wednesday at the time of the incident, found his body, the police said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Vinay Choube told IANS that when Lavina stepped into the bathroom, Singh hanged himself from the ceiling fan in his first floor flat in Windermere apartment.
Since the actor, in his late 30s, did not leave behind a suicide note, the police are awaiting the autopsy report before deciding the line of investigation, Choube added. The body has been sent to the nearby Cooper Hospital in Juhu.
"According to Lavina's statement, she found Singh hanging from the ceiling fan when she came out of the bathroom. She summoned the watchman before calling the police," Choube said.
Lavina, 23, who is into film production, had visited Singh's apartment to discuss his forthcoming untitled Hindi movie, police officials said.
Singh is survived by his wife and two children and was living at Oshiwara for the last one-and-a-half years.
Police sources suspect marital discord between the actor and his wife as the motive behind the Singh's decision to end his life.
Singh's wife left the house with their children two days back for Ahmednagar, where her parents live, following a heated argument over the actor's alleged close relationship with Lavina, police said.
Singh has starred in Bollywood movie "Dil Hi Dil Main" opposite Sonali Bendre released in 2000.
Indo-Asian News Service
As global hunt continues for Amit Kumar, the kidney scamster has become the talk of town for Indo-Canadians across the country.
In radio chat shows and street chats, they blamed the Indian system for letting "a criminal like Dr. Amit Kumar to operate with impunity".
Taking a dig at the nation's medical system, many asked why he was allowed to practice after he was convicted in a previous kidney scam in 1993. What was the Indian Medical council doing, they asked.
"Thanks to its leaders and bureaucrats, India will never be free from corruption, and people will never learn to respect the rule of law," said a businessman in Brampton, not far from where Kumar's wife and two sons live.
Callers to Radio India talk show in Vancouver Wednesday said that Amit Kumar knew the safest place on this planet for a fugitive like him is India.
Calling the global hunt for him "a big ruckus", many speculated that he might be hiding somewhere in India and would resurface when he thinks he can save his skin.
Lay people were of the view that the Indian (Gurgaon) police should be investigated first for letting this crook run his dubious kidney network.
"Why don't they turn around and grill these Delhi - or whatever - cops who are now giving the impression of doing a great job? They should be the first to be hanged," opined an Indo-Canadian working in a departmental store in Mississauga.
They also wondered how the Indian police gave him a clearance to apply for immigration to Canada.
Virtually every caller and street talker wanted the kidney kingpin to be thrown out of Canada and stripped of his ill-gotten wealth. Canada should have stringent laws to stop this kind of criminals from taking shelter here, they said.
When IANS asked some Indo-Canadians in Brampton and Mississauga, whether they knew anyone who had kidney transplant by Kumar, they shrugged it off.
"Do you think any Indo-Canadian will ever tell you that he underwent kidney transplant? Indians still attach stigma to these things. It is as a dirty secret. We will know the truth only when this man is caught and beaten blue and black by Indian cops to blurt out the truth," said a trucker in Mississauga.
As speculation mounts over Kumar's whereabouts, Interpol Canada says law enforcement agencies are in the hunt for him and cooperating with Indian authorities.
The police in Peel Region under which Brampton falls are directing all queries to Interpol Canada in Ottawa.
Indo-Asian News Service
During the year 2008, two solar and two lunar eclipses occur as follows:
- 2008 Feb 07: Annular Solar Eclipse
- 2008 Feb 21: Total Lunar Eclipse
- 2008 Aug 01: Total Solar Eclipse
- 2008 Aug 16: Partial Lunar Eclipse
All times and dates used in this publication are in Universal Time or UT. This astronomically derived time system is colloquially referred to as Greenwich Mean Time or GMT. To learn more about UT and how to convert UT to your own local time, see Time Zones and Universal Time.
The first solar eclipse of 2008 occurs at the Moon's ascending node in Capricornus. An annular eclipse will be visible from a wide track, that traverses Antarctica and southern regions of the Pacific Ocean. A partial eclipse will be seen within the much larger path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which includes the southeastern third of Australia, all of New Zealand and most of Antarctica (Figure 1).
The annular path begins in Antarctica at 03:20 UT when the Moon's antumbral shadow meets Earth and forms a 581 kilometre wide corridor near the base of the continent's peninsula region. Traveling westward, the shadow quickly crosses Antarctica and turns north as it heads into the Pacific. Greatest eclipse[1] takes place at 03:55:05 UT when the eclipse magnitude[2] will reach 0.9650. At this instant, the annular duration is 2 minutes 12 seconds, the path width is 444 kilometres and the Sun is 16° above the featureless horizon of the open ocean. The central track continues north before gradually curving to the east where it ends at local sunset at 04:31 UT. During its 1 hour 10 minute flight across our planet, the Moon's antumbra travels approximately 5,600 kilometres and covers 0.59% of Earth's surface area. Path coordinates and central line circumstances are presented in Table 1.
The most unusual characteristic of this eclipse is that it begins and ends along Earth's sunset terminator. Most eclipse paths that travel from west to east. However, the 2008 annular eclipse path begins by running east to west and slowly turns north before curving west to east near its terminus.
Partial phases of the eclipse are visible primarily from eastern Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. Local circumstances for a number of cities are listed in Table 2. All times are given in Universal Time. The Sun's altitude and azimuth, the eclipse magnitude and obscuration are all given at the instant of maximum eclipse.
This is the 60th eclipse of Saros 121. The series began with the first of six partial eclipses on 0944 Apr 25. The first central eclipse was total in the Northern Hemisphere on 1070 Jul 10. It was followed by 41 more total eclipses before the series produce two hybrid eclipses in 1827 and 1845. The first annular eclipse of the series occurred on 1863 Nov 11. The series will produce 11 annular eclipses the last of which is 2044 Feb 28. This means there are only two more central eclipses after the 2008 eclipse. The series terminates on 2206 Jun 07 after 9 more partial eclipses. Complete details for Saros 121 may be found at:
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEsaros/SEsaros121.html
Credits: NASA
STARGAZERS are hoping for clear skies today when Melbourne experiences a partial solar eclipse this afternoon.
As the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, it will block out the light of the sun — making it look like the sun has a bite taken out of it.
"It's like it's wearing a baseball cap, just a little dip out of the top of the sun," Melbourne Planetarium astronomer Dr Tanya Hill explained.
With just 9% of the sun blocked out, there will be little effect on sunshine, and most will not even notice the change.
The eclipse will not be visible to the naked eye, and Dr Hill warned it was dangerous to look directly at the sun.
Safe viewing methods include using a solar telescope — some will be available at Scienceworks in Spotswood — or looking at a projection of the sun's image.
The partial eclipse begins at 2.39pm and will peak at 3.28pm, before it ends by 4.15pm.
In Antarctica, the solar eclipse will be annular, where the moon does not cover the sun completely but leaves a visible ring of sunlight around the moon.
"If you've got safe viewing methods it should look quite good," Dr Hill said. "It's all just a reminder that we live in the universe and that we're moving through space."
The next total solar eclipse will occur in August and be visible in such places as Canada, Siberia and China.
Australia will have its next partial eclipse next January and a total solar eclipse in November 2012. Credit: The Age, Images: NASA, The Age
The man who masterminded a massive illegal kidney transplant ring in India was catering to international clients through agents in countries as far apart as in the Gulf, North America and Europe, reveal police officials.
Amit Kumar alias Santosh Rameshwar Raut, whose flourishing racket was busted last month in Gurgaon on the outskirts of Delhi, has left an investigation trail that is leading to several countries. Amit Kumar, himself, was making frequent trips from Canada - where his family lives - to India only to conduct transplant operations, say police.
"His network was well spread in some foreign countries. Till now, the names of a few people in Turkey, Greece and Ireland have surfaced in the investigations. We are trying to identify them," a senior police official told IANS.
"His touts used to place advertisements related to medical tourism in the papers of their respective countries. The advertisements offered lucrative deals or packages that included medical expanses, travel charges and accommodation charges," the official said on condition of anonymity.
The official said clients who were in dire need of a kidney and could shell out any amount contacted Amit Kumar's agents there.
The touts after consulting Amit Kumar - ironically not a qualified surgeon - used to provide his e-mail ID to prospective clients from Canada, the US, Britain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Turkey and Greece.
Gurgaon Police Commissioner Mahender Lal revealed they had come to know of at least 48 such pending requisitions by foreign clients.
The illegal kidney racket was unearthed Jan 24 after Uttar Pradesh and Haryana Police jointly swooped down on two premises in Gurgaon, an emerging IT hub.
Police had then arrested Upendra Aggarwal, a general physician, and four others for their key involvement in the scam. But kingpin Amit Kumar, his brother Jeewan and Saraj escaped from police clutches after a tip-off about possible arrests.
Amit Kumar is suspected to be in Nepal or Canada.
"After taking his clients' medical reports, doctor Amit Kumar consulted his accomplices and asked his clients to fly down to India on a tourist visa. The arrested accused in their interrogations disclosed that the clients were asked to fly only on tourist visas, without giving a possible hint to the authorities about the clandestine racket," the official said.
"Amit himself was staying in Canada as he is suspected to be carrying a permanent visa of the country. He only flew to India to conduct surgeries, though he was not qualified to do so. His trips were frequent," the official added.
Gurgaon police chief Lal said: "Amit and his accomplices have performed at least 500-600 kidney transplants in the past decade.
"He was charging them a mammoth amount, clearly knowing that patients could shell out any amount to buy one kidney as such transplants are very expensive in their countries or are illegal," Lal added.
The official suspected that Amit Kumar even tried to use his overseas clients as his touts.
"We have also come to know that he was promising his clients a hefty commission to win him more clients, but the facts are still being verified."
Police are still probing if Amit Kumar, dubbed "Doctor Horror", had floated a website to contact his clients.
"Though there are reports that Amit was running a website, we haven't come across any such internet site. Investigations in this regard are under way," Lal said.
(Sahil Makkar can be contacted at sahil.m@ians.in)
Indo-Asian News Service
Amit Kumar, the brain behind the multi-million-dollar kidney scam, will lose his permanent resident status in Canada once he is convicted of organ trafficking.
"Canadian law is very specific about that. Once you are convicted of human organ trafficking, or any serious crime, you are out," Sheetal Jhuti, immigration director of Mississauga-based ICAN Inc, told IANS.
She said Kumar, nicknamed 'Dr Horror', will lose his Canadian status even if the crime has been committed outside Canada.
He might also come under the scanner for his financial transfers to Canada , she added.
However, there are no clues about `Dr Horror' being in Canada. His Pali Drive residence in the Toronto suburb of Brampton, where his wife and two young sons live, looked empty Tuesday.
No one answered the doorbell, and residents were tightlipped about their infamous neighbours. Phone calls met with this response on the answering machine: `At the customer's request, the service has been temporarily cancelled.'
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), meanwhile, said it continues to work with the Indian authorities in the case.
"We are in communication with Indian authorities on this issue and Interpol-Ottawa is extending them all assistance," said RCMP officer Sylvie Tremblay said on the phone from Ottawa.
At this stage, she said, it was an Indian investigation and various Canadian law enforcement agencies were involved in assisting them.
Refusing to speculate whether Kumar could be in Canada , she said Interpol-Ottawa was working on the red alert issued by Interpol-New Delhi.
Former Canadian Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh said, "It is absolutely tragic to allow people to run trade in human organs. Buying and selling of human organs is inhumane and unethical," he said.
He said he had warned Indians about this issue in the mid-1990s when a case of an Indo-Canadian man getting kidney transplant in India came to light.
"When I visited there, I told the Indians to put an end to it. But the scam shows it continues to this day," Dosanjh said.
He said there was no trade in human organs in Canada per se, but people from all over the world went to India to have organ transplants.
"It is trafficking in human organs, it is an uneven business where the rich take advantage of someone's poverty," he said.
With two million people suffering from kidney problems, Canada faces an acute shortage of organs as there are just 13.5 donors per million. Patients wait from two to 10 long years for transplants.
The long waiting periods aside, a kidney transplant entails a minimum cost of $50,000, compared to just a few thousands Dr Kumar charged.
But despite long waiting periods, no one can justify the selling and buying of human organs, said a spokeswoman for the Kidney Foundation of Canada.
"We don't make judgments against those individuals who go abroad for transplants, or what is going on there (in India ), but the outcome is not good for the donors and recipients," she added.
Indo-Asian News Service
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Arizona Sen. John McCain won the California Republican primary on Tuesday, defeating main rival Mitt Romney in the biggest contest of the day and boosting his front-running bid for the party's U.S. presidential nomination, NBC projected.
California was the ninth state to go for McCain in voting on Super Tuesday, so called because nearly half of the U.S. states are holding contests to choose Republican or Democratic candidates for the November general election. Romney has won six states so far in Super Tuesday voting, projections showed.
New York Sen. Hillary Clinton won the California Democratic primary on Tuesday, beating rival Barack Obama in the biggest contest of the day and boosting her claim to the party's U.S. presidential nomination, media projected.
California was the nine and biggest state to go for the former first lady in voting on Super Tuesday, so called because nearly half of the U.S. states are holding contests to choose Republican or Democratic candidates for the November general election. Obama has won 11 states so far, projections show.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a guru to the Beatles who introduced the West to transcendental meditation, died Tuesday at his home in the Dutch town of Vlodrop, a spokesman said. He was thought to be 91 years old.
"He died peacefully at about 7 p.m.," said Bob Roth, a spokesman for the Transcendental Meditation movement that Maharishi founded. He said his death appeared to be due to "natural causes, his age."
Once dismissed as hippie mysticism, the Hindu practice of mind control known as transcendental meditation gradually gained medical respectability.
He began teaching TM in 1955 and brought the technique to the United States in 1959. But the movement really took off after the Beatles attended one of his lectures in 1967.
Maharishi retreated last month into silence at his home on the grounds of a former Franciscan monastery, saying he wanted to dedicate his remaining days to studying the ancient Indian texts that underpin his movement.
"He had been saying he had done what he set out to do," Roth said late Tuesday.
With the help of celebrity endorsements, Maharishi — a Hindi-language title for Great Seer — parlayed his interpretations of ancient scripture into a multi-million-dollar global empire. His roster of famous meditators ran from Mike Love of the Beach Boys to Clint Eastwood and Deepak Chopra, a new age preacher.
After 50 years of teaching, Maharishi turned to larger themes, with grand designs to harness the power of group meditation to create world peace and to mobilize his devotees to banish poverty from the earth.
His rise to fame came with his association with the Beatles, who first attended one of his lectures in August 1967 in Wales as they looked for a way of attaining higher consciousness in the aftermath of that year's Summer of Love.
The Beatles were so charmed by the self-effacing guru that they agreed to stay with at his India compound, starting in February 1968, an astonishing choice for what was then the world's most celebrated music group.
But once there, Maharishi had a falling out with the rock stars after rumors emerged that he was making inappropriate advances on attendee Mia Farrow. John Lennon was so angry he wrote a bitter satire, "Sexy Sadie," in which he vowed that Maharishi would "get yours yet."
Maharishi insisted he had done nothing wrong and years later McCartney agreed with him. Deepak Chopra, a disciple of Maharishi's and a friend of George Harrison's, has disputed the Farrow story, saying instead that Maharishi had become unhappy with the Beatles because they were using drugs.
Director David Lynch, creator of dark and violent films, lectured at college campuses about the "ocean of tranquility" he found in more than 30 years of practicing TM.
In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Lynch said it has aided him "in every aspect of life."
He said he believed Maharishi has laid the groundwork for world peace, even if that was not immediately apparent from world affairs.
"The world appears in bad shape on the surface, but I compare it to a tree: there are yellow sickly leaves dropping off but Maharishi has brought nourishment to the roots. Hang on for a little while longer, it's coming."
His followers say that some 5 million people devoted 20 minutes every morning and evening reciting a simple sound, or mantra, and delving into their consciousness.
"Don't fight darkness. Bring the light, and darkness will disappear," Maharishi said in a 2006 interview, repeating one of his own mantras.
Donations and the $2,500 fee to learn TM financed the construction of Peace Palaces, or meditation centers, in dozens of cities around the world. It paid for hundreds of new schools in India.
In 1974, Maharishi founded a university in Fairfield, Iowa, that taught meditation alongside the arts and sciences to 700 students and served organic vegetarian food in its cafeterias.
In 2001, his followers founded Maharishi Vedic City, a town of about 200 people a few miles north of Fairfield. The city requires the construction of buildings according to design principles set by Maharishi for harmony with nature.
Ed Malloy, a TM practitioner and mayor of Fairfield, said Maharishi's followers in Iowa were spending Tuesday evening meditating and holding a "celebration of gratitude for everything he's given."
Supporters pointed to hundreds of scientific studies showing that meditation reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, improves concentration and raises results for students and businessmen.
Skeptics ridiculed his plan to raise $10 trillion to end poverty by sponsoring organic farming in the world's poorest countries. They scoffed at his notion that meditation groups, acting like psychic shock troops, can end conflict.
"To resolve problems through negotiation is a very childish approach," he said.
In 1986, two groups founded by his organization were sued in the U.S. by former disciples who accused it of fraud, negligence and intentionally inflicting emotional damage. A jury, however, refused to award punitive damages.
Over the years, Maharishi also was accused of fraud by former pupils who claim he failed to teach them to fly. "Yogic flying," showcased as the ultimate level of transcendence, was never witnessed as anything more than TM followers sitting in the cross-legged lotus position and bouncing across spongy mats.
Maharishi was born Mahesh Srivastava in central India, reportedly on Jan. 12, 1917 — though he refused to confirm the date or discuss his early life.
He studied physics at Allahabad University before becoming secretary to a well known Hindu holy man. After the death of his teacher, Maharishi brought his message to the West in a language that mixed the occult and science that became the buzz of college campuses.
Maharishi's trademark flowing beard and long, graying hair appeared on the cover of the leading news magazines of the day. But aides say Maharishi became disillusioned that TM had become identified with the counterculture.
In 1990 he moved onto the wooded grounds of a monastery in Vlodrop, about 125 miles southeast of Amsterdam.
Concerned about his fragile health, he secluded himself in two rooms of the wooden pavilion he built on the compound, speaking only by video to aides around the world and even to his closest advisers in the same building.
John Hagelin, a theoretical physicist who ran for the U.S. presidency three times on the Maharishi-backed Natural Law Party, said that from the Dutch location Maharishi had daylong access to followers in India, Europe and the Americas.
"He runs several shifts of us into the ground," said Hagelin, Maharishi's closest aid, speaking in Vlodrop about his then-89-year-old mentor. "He is a fountainhead of innovation and new ideas — far too many than you can ever follow up." (AP)
Biography
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is the creator of the transcendental form of meditation, along with being the leader of the Transcendental Meditation Movement. One of the most renowned spiritual Gurus of India, he is highly influenced by the principles of Adi Shankaracharya. The main aim of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is to promote the use of the Vedic ways in daily life. Read on to explore the biography of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi further…
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Early Life
Maharishi Yogi was born in the year 1911, in Allahabad town (in Uttar Pradesh). After graduating from Allahabad University (in physics), he spent 13 years under the tutelage of Swami Brahmananda Saraswati. During this period, he developed an inclination towards the ancient Vedic Science of consciousness. At the same time, he started practicing intense meditation. He is also credited with making efforts towards the restoration of the thousand-years-old scattered Vedic Literature. He is responsible for organizing it as a complete science of consciousness.
Upgradation from a Student to a Teacher
As per the life history of Maharishi Yogi, he assumed the title "Maharishi" in 1955. From then onwards, began his journey as a teacher of traditional meditation technique, now known as Transcendental Meditation.
Mahesh Yogi Transcendental Meditation
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi aims at developing a society in which there is good all around. The first step that he took towards the fulfillment of his aim was the starting of the Transcendental Meditation Movement. Transcendental Meditation is a mental technique that helps a person in achieving consciousness. It involves the use of a mantra or sound, through which the mind becomes alert, but the body feels relaxed. He has also established a number of foundations to support his movement, one of which is The Spiritual Regeneration Movement, founded in 1957.
The Maharishi Effect
Various studies have been conducted throughout the world to ascertain the effects of Transcendental Meditation. It has been found out that the places where even one percent of the population practiced Transcendental Meditation, the crime rate was found to be declining. This phenomenon, where Transcendental Meditation is seen as being negatively related to crime, violence and other negative forces, is known as the Maharishi Effect.
India's elite criminal investigation agency is awaiting an order from the central government to take charge of the probe into the internationally linked kidney transplant racket busted in Gurgaon Jan 24.
The Haryana government has already sent a formal request to the centre Jan 31 to hand over the probe in the racket to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Gurgaon, adjacent to the national capital, is in the state of Haryana.
"The central government's notification is required before we begin the probe in racket. After the Haryana government's formal request, the centre will issue the notification soon," a senior CBI official said Monday.
The CBI probe in the scandal has been recommended as the investigations into the scam encompasses several states and has international dimensions, with patients coming for a kidney transplant from the US, Greece, Lebanon, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Dubai.
Amit Kumar alias Santosh Rameshwar Raut who operated the multi-million-rupee illegal kidney transplant racket from his two bungalows in Gurgaon is suspected to have escaped to Canada.
The CBI is the nodal agency in the country to deal with international crime investigation organisations, including the Interpol.
Haryana's request for red corner notices against the alleged kingpins of the scandal, Kumar and his brother Jeewan Raut, was quickly processed by the CBI and the international warrants have been secured.
Amit Kumar had allegedly masterminded around 600 "forced" kidney transplants over the past nine years.
Indo-Asian News Service
His family has been traced to an upscale locality here but there are no clues about Amit Kumar, alias Santosh Rameshwar Raut, the alleged kingpin behind the massive illegal kidney transplant scam that has shaken India.
His wife Poonam Ameet and two sons live in a newly built posh house on Pali Drive in the upcoming Bovaird and Airport area, not far from Toronto airport. Kumar had reportedly bought the four-room house for $610,000 last year in this Indian neighbourhood where his two sons, aged four and five, attend a local private school.
But the family has refused to come out and speak to anyone since news broke of the scam in which most recipients of illegal kidney transplants were non-Indians.
During his short stays here, Kumar had reportedly told neighbours that he was a cardiovascular surgeon in India and wanted to wind up his business there to be with his family.
He was here till the Christmas holidays, zipping around in a leased luxury car, they said.
"I met him at a Christmas party. He was enjoying himself so much and we had no clue that this man was involved in such a heinous activity in India. I spoke with him and was very impressed when he talked about his work," said a local journalist who didn't want to be named.
The area where the family lives is predominantly Indian and most new immigrants buy their first houses there.
Neighbours said they were shocked to know that India's `Dr Horror' had his family in their midst.
Some told local journalists that the rich lifestyle of this newly arrived family made them suspect. They said they wondered how someone so new to this country could buy such a big house so quickly and move around in luxury cars.
His 28-year-old wife had reportedly told them that they had married 10 years ago and that it was Kumar's second marriage. His first wife had left him after his arrest in a kidney transplant racket in Mumbai in 1994.
When IANS contacted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police media office for their comment, a lady officer said: "We are closed today and you can call tomorrow morning".
Interpol's Canada unit has arrest warrants against Kumar, who operated from two bungalows in Gurgaon, the IT hub bordering New Delhi, and whose racket spread over seven Indian states.