SHILLONG, July 21: The North Eastern Council (NEC) secretary, Takap Ringu, the seniormost IAS officer from the region, has been placed under suspension for alleged financial irregularities, highly placed official sources here disclosed on Wednesday. The sources, speaking on conditions of anonymity, said Ringu had been under investigation by the Union home ministry for quite some time for alleged involvement in financial irregularities in the now scrapped "Intensive cultivation/plantation scheme" launched in the NE region during the Ninth Plan with an outlay of Rs 7 crore. Outright grants were...

NEW DELHI, July 21: In a new twist to the ongoing stalemate over the Naga peace talks, the Union government on Wednesday sacked the Centre's chief interlocutor, Swaraj Kaushal, and appointed former Union home secretary, Padmanabhaiah, in his place. The former Union home secretary who is also the officer on special duty in-charge for Nagaland joined his new assignment on Wednesday itself, highly placed official sources confirmed. Contrary to belief, Swaraj Kaushal was not given the marching orders for the manner in which he handled the peace talks but he is believed to have fallen victim to...

GUWAHATI, July 21: Paresh Barua, the commander-in-chief of the armed wing of the banned Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), is keen to return to normal life, according to reliable sources within the security apparatus here. They informed that Barua had established contacts with security forces and demanded "political rehabilitation" in exchange for his surrender. Barua has also established contact with GK Pillai, joint secretary, Union ministry of home affairs, the sources said, adding that the ULFA leader had already shifted base from Bangladesh to Myanmar. "All we can tell you at present is...

GUWAHATI, July 20: Security agencies in the Northeast are on the alert for large numbers of fake currency notes being circulated - strongly believed to be the handiwork of the ISI of Pakistan. In the past few months, police in the region have seized a large number of fake notes from different towns, the biggest haul being reported from Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram. Last month, Aizawl police seized fake Rs 500 denomination currency notes totally Rs 86,500 from two persons arrested from a village on the Mizoram-Manipur border.

GUWAHATI, July 19: Chief election commissioner MS Gill has indirectly rebuffed the state government's demand for holding the elections in Assam in phases on account of floods. Addressing a press conference here on Monday, he said there were permanent revenue structures of the state government to take care of such natural calamities.