Union Minister VK Singh’s wife Bharti Singh has filed a police complaint here against a man alleging that he was trying to extort Rs two crore by blackmailing her with “doctored” audio-video clips to defame her husband.

In her complaint lodged at Tughlaq Road police station, Singh alleged that Pradeep Chauhan, a resident of Gurgaon, had even threatened her of “dire consequences” if the money was not paid.

“We are investigating the matter and the accused has been questioned by us. He will be called for second round of questioning soon. He is not yet arrested,” said a senior police officer.

The FIR was filed under IPC sections 384 (extortion) and 506 (criminal intimidation) on August 12.

The complainant said that Pradeep was known to her as a friend of her nephew. She alleged that he had been calling her for a few days threatening to make public the “doctored” audio and video clips, contents of which were not known to her.

The accused allegedly called her several times and threatened to “ruin” her husband’s reputation. He allegedly called repeatedly on the night of August 6.

Singh also alleged in her complaint that the accused had posted a video on Youtube levelling false allegations against her husband, who is Minister of State for External Affairs in Modi government, and family.

She also expressed “grave threat” to her security alleging that Pradeep was a “dangerous” man who carried guns.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will visit India in October while President Pranab Mukherjee’s trip to the city-state is also on the cards in the near future, it was announced here today.

In a congratulatory message on India’s 70th Independence Day, President Tony Tan Keng Yam said he looks forward to receiving his Indian counterpart Mukherjee in Singapore in the near future.

“With fond memories of the warm hospitality extended to my delegation when I visited India last February, I look forward to receiving Your Excellency in Singapore in the near future,” said Tan in the message to President Mukherjee.

In a separate congratulatory message to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lee said he looks forward to visiting India in October.

“I look forward to meeting you again when I visit India in October to explore new avenues of cooperation,” he said.

“Singapore and India share a longstanding friendship underpinned by strong historical, commercial, cultural and kinship ties.

“The India-Singapore Strategic Partnership signed during your visit to Singapore last November is a further sign of our excellent relations,” Lee said in his message to Modi.

It also provides a roadmap for cooperation in many fields: trade and investment, skills development, defence cooperation, and Smart Cities, he said, adding: “I am confident that our bilateral ties will continue to grow and deepen.”

Extending heartfelt congratulations, President Tan reaffirmed strong bilateral relations.

“Relations between Singapore and India remain strong and look set to grow despite challenges in the global economy.

“As our people-to-people relations flourish, I am delighted by the excellent progress in bilateral projects and initiatives on various fronts including trade, skills development, defence cooperation, and Smart Cities development,” said Tan.

The India-Singapore Strategic Partnership, together with other bilateral agreements, will create new opportunities for collaboration and elevate the bilateral relationship to a higher level, said Tan.PTI.

The country’s largest iron ore miner NMDC aims to increase its sales by 21 per cent to 35 million tonnes (MT) in the current fiscal.

The state-run firm also envisages raising iron ore production by 24 per cent to 35 MT in 2016-17 from 28.32 MT in 2015-16, NMDC Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Bharthi S Sihag was quoted as saying in a company statement.

Iron ore sales of the Navratna firm stood at 28.87 MT in 2015-16, down from the 30 MT it had clocked in 2014-15.

“NMDC intends to increase its iron ore mining capacity to 50 MT per annum (MTPA) by 2018 and envisages to produce and sell 35 MT iron ore during 2016-17,” Sihag said in her Independence Day address.

She applauded NMDC’s excellent performance and urged the employees to go the extra mile to excel and reach commanding heights.

NMDC Director (Technical) N K Nanda too appreciated the efforts of the public sector undertaking (PSU) in reorienting itself successfully through upgradation of mines, development of new mines and setting up of value added projects such as steel and pellet plants.

NMDC plans to invest Rs 40,000 crore over eight years to achieve a target of 100 MTPA iron ore production.

The firm will invest in developing new mines, steel plant (Nagarnar), Legacy Iron ore company (Australia) and a slurry pipe line 9 from (Kirandul to Vizag), among others.

Independence Day was celebrated in all states and Union territories today with chief ministers announcing development initiatives, flagging the challenges ahead and pledging to take their states forward on the path of peace and progress.

Barring Assam, Manipur and Jammu and Kashmir, the celebrations, marked by unfurling of tricolour, colourful parades and other events, passed off peacefully amid tight security.

Soaked in patriotic fervour, hundreds of people took part in the events to mark 70th Independence Day in state capitals, district headquarters and other cities and towns.

In Jammu and Kashmir, a CRPF officer and two militants were killed while nine others were injured when ultras attacked security forces at Nowhatta in downtown Srinagar.

A series of five bomb explosions by suspected ULFA-Independent militants rocked upper Assam’s Charaido and Tinsukia districts. In Manipur, two blasts took place in Imphal West district. There was no casualty or injury to anyone in any of the explosions.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in his Independence Day speech at Chhatrasal Stadium, made a strong pitch for statehood and attacked the Centre, alleging that it was chipping away at the elected government’s power through a system which was akin to the national capital being governed by the colonial ‘Government of India Act, 1935’.

He claimed the citizens of Delhi were being made to feel that the value of their votes were less as compared to other states where electors have the “right to choose governments with powers”.

He said despite being left with “very less powers”, his government has delivered on several fronts which were being discussed across the globe.

In Jammu and Kashmir which has been rocked by violence for over a month, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti made an emotional appeal to the agitating youths not to be misled by vested interests who want to keep the valley burning and maintained that dialogue is the only way to resolve issues.

In her maiden Independence Day address as Chief Minister, Mehbooba cautioned that Kashmir should not be allowed to become another Syria or Afghanistan where there is instability and absence of safety of life and urged the people to give her time so that she could work on the plans and programmes she had charted for peace and progress of the state.

She blamed the successive central leaderships, starting from Jawaharlal Nehru, for the problems of Kashmir and hoped Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the issues, completing the process started by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Mehbooba faced a deeply embarrassing moment when the national tricolour fell off the post when she attempted to hoist it at Bakshi stadium. She pulled the string attached to the post only to see the tricolour fall from the post and land on the ground. PTI.

As many as 270 airline crew members, mostly pilots, were found violating safety norms this year by regulator DGCA which suspended over 150 of them, raising serious concerns about aviation safety.

The number paints an alarming picture as there was a total of 275 “enforcement actions” by DGCA last year, compared 270 such actions being initiated in less than eight months this year.

“Instances of safety violations are increasing. To curb such incidents, the regulator has stepped up surveillance activities,” a senior DGCA official said.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had earlier this week suspended flying licenses of two pilots of Air India and Jet Airways for four years as they were found to be drunk soon after operating international flights. It had also directed the airlines to register FIRs against them.

Violation of safety requirements such as being drunk while operating a flight can also attract imprisonment.

One cabin crew member each from the two carriers have also been suspended for the same violation for one year.

As per latest data available with DGCA, there were safety violations involving around 270 airline crew members this year till August 12 and the number stood at 169 at the end of June.

Most of them were pilots, flight commanders and first officers.

Taking serious note of the lapse, a significant chunk were suspended by DGCA — an action which also indicated several instances of repeat violations.

Generally, first time violators are given warnings. The next time they are caught, the DGCA directs airlines to de- roster them from flying duty for a specific time period while repeat offenders are suspended. The enforcement action depends on the severity of violations.

The break-up available till June end show that DGCA took action against 169 airline crew members, of whom 110 were suspended, 28 “off-rostered” and 31 let off with warnings.

The official said the count of violators has seen a spurt since then and from July till August 12, 101 airline crew members were found violating various safety rules.

According to DGCA data, 44 crew members, including pilots, of Jet Airways faced enforcement actions this year till June end, followed by IndiGo (25), Air India (22), Spicejet (15), GoAir (8), Vistara (4) and AirAsia (2).

On August 11, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha told informed Parliament that DGCA acted against 63 pilots of SpiceJet for operating flights beyond their stipulated duty hours. In 2014, there were 391 enforcement actions by the DGCA.PTI