Radha Vinod Raju, founding Director-General of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and key member of the special investigation team which probed Rajiv Gandhi assassination, died in Kochi on Thursday. He was 62.

The high point of Mr. Raju’s career was his central role in investigating the assassination of the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Later, he co-authored a book, Triumph of Justice, with SIT chief and former CBI director D.R. Kaarthikeyan. It described how investigators, starting with almost no leads, established that a hit-team from the now-decimated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam had carried out the killing.


Mr. Raju worked as officer in the Bank of India before being selected to the Indian Police Service in 1975. He was assigned to the J&K cadre, and he began an illustrious career that won him the Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 1992, the President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service in 1999, a Director-General’s Commendation Certificate in January 2000 and the Sher-e-Kashmir Medal for Meritorious Services in 2003.

Mehdi Hassan died on 13 JUN 2012

India-born Ghazal legend Mehdi Hassan died on 13 JUN 2012.

Hassan was born into a family of traditional musicians at Luna village in  Rajasthan state in 1927. His family migrated to Pakistan at the time of Partition in 1947.

Mehdi Hassan performed throughout the world, especially in India and Pakistan. He cut down on his performances since 1980s due to his health problem. The last song he recorded with any Indian artist was for Sarhadein with Lata Mangeshkar, who he always wanted to sing with. That was the only song he recorded with her.

RIO+20

                     The UN's Rio Earth Summit (Rio +20) is officially called the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.

The Conference took place in Brazil on 20-22 June 2012 to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), in Rio de Janeiro, and the 10th anniversary of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg.

Manmohan Singh represented India in RIO+20

The Rio+20 summit was formally thrown open by UN chief Ban Ki-moon, bringing together representatives of 191 UN members, though US President Barack Obama and leaders of Germany and Britain -- Angela Merkel and David Cameron are giving it a miss. 

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is leading the US delegation.

GLT is a necessity - Sepp Blatter

After football’s latest high-profile goal-line controversy, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said using technology to determine whether the ball has crossed the line is a “necessity.”  

Ukraine was denied what appeared to be a legitimate equaliser in its must-win match against England at the European Championship because the official beside the goal couldn’t see if the ball crossed the line before it was cleared away. Ukraine lost the match 1-0 and was eliminated.

Blatter said on Twitter that “After last night’s match GLT is no longer an alternative but a necessity.”

Dhoni India's richest sports person

       Team India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has beaten the likes of sprinter Usain Bolt, tennis ace Novak Djokovic and teammate Sachin Tendulkar in the latest list of world’s 100 richest sportspersons, released by the Forbes magazine.

According to the list, Dhoni is ranked 31st, which is way ahead of Djokovic (62nd), Bolt (63rd) and Tendulkar (78th).

Star footballers Wayne Rooney and Fernando Torres are also behind Dhoni in the latest list.

Boxing champion Floyd Mayweather topped the list with total earnings of USD 85 million while Fillipino pugilist Manny Pacquiao, with earnings of USD 62 million, and golf legend Tiger Woods, with USD 59.4 million, are second and third.

P.A. Sangma resigned from NCP

             Former Lok Sabha Speaker P.A. Sangma  resigned from the primary membership of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) after it refused to back his candidature for President. Stating that he had received promise of support from senior party leaders of non-Congress parties including the opposition National Democratic Alliance, he said he could not ignore “the feeling of the tribals that Raisina Hill should not continue to be a distant dream for them”. 

Supreme Court disqualified Yusuf Raza Gilani as Prime Minister

The court disqualified Gilani as Prime Minister with retrospective effect from April 26 when it held him in contempt of court for refusing to write to Swiss authorities asking for reopening of graft cases against Asif Ali Zardari.