The man behind David Billa's dialogues

Writer Era Murugan, who has penned dialogues for Billa 2, recently opened up about the film. The ace writer has said that, Billa 2 is a full-fledged action film and has only fewer dialogues. “Quite contrary to Unnai Pol Oruvan (for which he has written the dialogues), in which dialogues play a very important role, Billa 2 has very less dialogues,” said Era Murugan.

Ajith’s dialogues in the Billa 2 teaser and the recently released trailer have had grand receptions among the audience. The producers, overwhelmed by the reception have even released the dialogue track separately, for the fans to download. The film is all set to hit on 13^th July

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Abu Jundal's custody to Delhi Police extended by 15 days

New Delhi: The Delhi Police has got a 15-day extension of the custody of 26/11 handler and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative Syed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal from the Tis Hazari Court. The Special Cell of the Delhi Police had sought an extension of his remand, which ended today.

In court, the judge questioned the Delhi Police why should Jundal's custody be extended, especially when other investigating agencies like the Mumbai's crime branch, the Anti-Terrorism Squads of Maharashtra and Pune, the Gujarat and the West Bengal police along with the National Investigating Agency (NIA) are also asking for custody. The Delhi Police replied that it cannot disclose that in the open, after which the judge ordered the press to leave the court.

After the Delhi Police made its argument, the court granted the extension.

"I am impressed most with the case of the Special Cell of the Delhi Police where this accused has already been in custody for 15 days. Special teams were set up which have gathered intelligence... The interest of justice demands that an agency which is midway in concluding its investigation, the loose strings cannot be allowed to remain... I have strong faith that the ongoing invest by the Special Cell of Delhi Police will help other agencies including the National Investigation Agency (NIA), as the others can take a clue from and develop further investigations thereupon," the judge said.

Several investigation agencies, which seek Jundal's custody, suspect his involvement in cases like the German bakery blast and in a conspiracy to attack Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Jundal was taken to the Safdarjung Hospital for a medical examination before being brought to the court. A heavily armoured vehicle followed the car in which he was transported; there was heavy security at the court as well.

Jundal was deported from Saudi Arabia to India last month. Originally from Beed in Maharashtra, the 31-year-old has confessed that he helped coordinate the attacks in Mumbai in 2008 in which 166 people were killed. Jundal was stationed at what he describes as a "control room" near the Karachi international airport. He has told Indian intelligence agencies that from there, a team of six handlers including him passed on detailed instructions to the ten terrorists who were unleashing India's worst-ever terror attacks at different Mumbai landmarks. He has said a man referred to by him and the others as Major Sameer visited the control room while Mumbai was being ravaged. The Major allegedly passed on orders to Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a senior commander of the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, who was arrested after 26/11 by Pakistan.

Jundal has said that Lakhvi had a house within a camp for terrorists at Bait-ul-Mujahideen near Muzaffarabad. Here, the Lashkar commander stayed with his three wives.

Jundal has told Indian officials that after 26/11, the control room in Karachi was raided and those who had been based there were asked to disperse. After Lakhvi's arrest, a handler for 26/11 named Muzammil took over as the Lashkar chief. He allegedly took Jundal to Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir to meet an officer of the ISI who was referred to by the terrorists as Colonel Hamza. The ISI officer then gave instructions to Jundal to stop using his phone and to be careful about where he was seen.

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Renault Duster launched in India at Rs 7.2 lakh

French automaker Renault on Wednesday launched the mid-sized sports utility vehicle (SUV) Duster at an introductory price, ranging between Rs 7.19 lakh and Rs 11.29 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), as it looks to increase volume in the Indian market.

The vehicle will be available in both petrol and diesel options. The petrol version will be powered by a 1.6-litre engine and is priced between Rs 7.19 lakh and Rs 8.19 lakh.

The diesel option will be powered by a 1.5-litre engine at price ranging between Rs 7.99 lakh and Rs 11.29 lakh.

"This year, we are looking to sell a total number of vehicles which is twenty times more what we sold last year. Duster is one of the five products that we have announced to launch in India," Renault India managing director Marc Nassif said.

The company had sold 1,500 vehicles last year.

Nassif, however, declined to comment on the sales volume of the Duster, but said about 3,500-4,000 bookings have already been made.

With Duster, the company has attained 60 per cent of localization and plans to increase it to 80 per cent in the next twelve months, he said.

Duster will compete with the likes of Mahindra & Mahindra's Scorpio and Tata's Safari.

Asked about the export plans, Nassif said the Duster would be exported to UK from Chennai plant by the end of the year.

"Our Chennai plant will be the only Renault facility in the world which will supply the Duster to all the right hand drive markets in the world," he said.

Asked if the company has cut down the production due to market slowdown, he replied in negative and said, "Production is going as planned".

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Stalin arrested in Chennai for leading protest, released

MK Stalin, former Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, was released after being in police custody for a brief spell in Chennai for leading a demonstration attended by nearly 3000 people. The police say that Mr Stalin did not have permission for his gathering.

Several other party leaders including actor Khushboo were also arrested with Mr Stalin and were subsequently released.

The DMK is holding protests across the state against what it describes as the government's vendetta. In the last few weeks, several politicians close to DMK chief M Karunanidhi have been arrested on charges that include land-grabbing.

"Let the Tamil Nadu government probe from 2001. Land grabbing by AIADMK leaders will come to light," said Mr Stalin who is Mr Karunanidhi's younger son.

Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, meanwhile, denied the charge that she had unleashed "vendetta politics" against Mr Karunanidhi's partymen, saying that police were acting on "genuine complaints filed by persons with no political backing."

"Land grab complaints had been filed during previous DMK regime also by affected persons but no action was taken then.

After AIADMK government took over, victims began thronging police stations and seeing cases swelling in this connection, a special cell was formed to handle them," she said.

"Therefore, this cannot be described as vendetta politics," she said.

"We are not avenging anyone. The police are taking action on complaints," she said.

The DMK lost the elections in May, which led to Mr Karunanidhi being replaced as Chief Minister by J Jayalalithaa.

Last week, senior police officers seen as DMK loyalists were raided.

The DMK and Jayalalithaa's AIADMK share a long and vicious history of political rivalry, manifested regularly through court and police cases against each other.

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CM announces incentives for IAS aspirants

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today announced scholarship, incentive and travelling allowance to IAS aspirants from the State, who are being trained at the State government training institute at Anna Nagar in Chennai.

According to an official release, the Chief Minister announced increasing the monthly stipend from Rs 1200 to Rs 2000 for the trainees of the institute, besides directing that it be revised by five per cent annually in the coming years.

Jayalalithaa also announced Rs 3000 as incentive for 200 students for three months to encourage them do well in their preparation for Central services, exams for which are conducted by the Union Public Service Commission.

She also said Rs 2000 would be given as travel allowance to those aspirants who had underwent training at the institute and cleared the exams to appear for the personal interview in New Delhi.

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Major fire in Abirami Mega Mall

Chennai, July 2: A major fire broke out at Abirami Mega Mall, here in Purasawalkam at 6.45 am on Monday. Since the intensity of the fire is high, fire service personnel are still trying to put out the fire.

The mega mall houses 6 theatres, shops, a food court and a gaming zone. Since the fire happened before the busy business hours, nobody is injured or trapped in the building, Police said.

Sources say, an electrical short circuit caused the fire at the building. Traffic has been affected on Purasawalkam High Road and adjoining areas because of the diversions.

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Namitha wants to go 'dirty'!

Namithaa, the hot and happening actress of South Cinema openly says that she would like to play the role of Silk Smitha in the Tamil remake of The Dirty Picture!

The actress who is now working hard to shed some extra kgs says, "Nowadays people asking me about my opinion and commitment on the Tamil remake of Ektha Kapoor's The Dirty Picture. It gives immense happiness to me. Because, I'm one of the very big fans of late Silk Smitha. In fact, I'm the very suitable actress to do justice to the role. If the producer offered the role to me, I will do that with out any second thought!"

Recently, a survey revealed that Namitha is the only actress having a large number of fans in South Indian Cinema. Speaking on that, the dazzling diva told, "It makes me more proud and happy. Thanks to my dear Machans!"

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