Conman arrested

TRIVANDRUM — After week-long drama events, the controversial guru Santhosh Madhavan alias Amrutha Chaithanya, was yesterday arrested in Kerala and charged with three offences. Interpol had issued a look-out notice against Santhosh for allegedly swindling about Dh400,000 from a Dubai based Keralite woman.
The conman was picked up from Vypin near Cochin while travelling in a Lancer car yesterday morning. His driver Thomas was also taken into custody. He was interrogated by Inspector-General of Police Vinson M. Paul and Cochin Police commissioner Manoj Abraham interrogated him.
Apart from financial fraud, the police have also registered a case of rape against the self-styled ‘swami’ on the basis of a complaint lodged by a 15-year-old girl from Kadavanthra in Cochin city yesterday morning. He has also been charged with producing pornographic films.
The Cochin police commissioner told reporters that Santhosh had admitted that he had cheated the Dubai-based Non-Resident Indian woman, Cerafin Edwin. However, he contested the amount mentioned by the complainant.
Cerafin had alleged that Santhosh had collected Dh400,000, promising a partnership in a hotel project. Manoj Abraham said that the police had received information that the fake ‘swami’ had raped at least five minor girls.
He had allegedly used some of these girls for producing pornographic materials. A large number pornographic films were also recovered. "We have seized some of the CDs and find out whether any of these girls had figured in them", Manoj said.
The senior police official said that two cases police had registered against him in connection with the seizure of tiger skin and sandalwood from his flat last week have been transferred to the forest department.
Santhosh had moved an application for anticipatory bail with the high court. However, the application became infructuous following his arrest. The police commissioner said Santhosh would be presented before a magistrate today.
Meanwhile, Aleppey Deputy Superintendent of Police Sam Christy Daniel, who had served as an aide of the controversial ‘swami’, has been suspended from service by additional chief secretary K.J. Mathew.
The suspension came on a direction from Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, who was told by Director General of Police Raman Srivasthava that Christy's misdeeds had brought ill repute to the entire police force.
In his report, the DGP said that Sam had organised the second marriage of the godman with a woman at Palghat.

Read rest of entry

Kerala Property Expo

Fifty renowned builders from various parts of Kerala under the umbrella of Kerala Builders Forum (KBF), an affiliate of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India (CREDAI) are taking part in a two-day (May 11-12) Kerala Property Expo at the Ramada Hotel in Riggae. This yearly event which is being held in Kuwait for the third successive year kicked off in Doha, Qatar at the Regency Hotel on May 8 and from Kuwait it moves on to Dubai. The Dubai Airport Expo will be held between May 15 and 17. The expo which is co-sponsored by the State Bank of India and the Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) is being managed by the Mumbai-based Impresario Event Management India Ltd.
PlatformGeorge E. George, Chairman of KBF said the KBF Property Expo 2008 is a platform for NRIs residing in the Middle East to make informed decisions on investing in property, houses and real estate in Kerala. It also gives opportunity to the builders to showcase their projects to potential clients. Harish Babu, Managing Director of Impresario told the Arab Times a range of residential properties are being showcased at the expo to cater to the varied needs of the Non-Resident Indians (NRIs). The expo, he said, acts as a source of information on the projects or reputed builders with options like apartments having wi-fi Internet, biometric entry, digital surveillance system, video door phone, etc. The real estate sector in Kerala is booming with companies developing innovative, eco-friendly residential apartments. Not only the luxury facilities but the provision of spiritual and intellectual life is also offered in the apartments, he added.
PositionHe went on to say the expo offers for sale apartments and villas costing between 1.5 million and 20 million rupees. 'The Kerala Property Expo has secured its position as the largest real estate expo in the Gulf,' he added. Almost all, what he called, the new-generation banks working in Kerala are aiming at the Indians who are working abroad to provide housing loans. It is sure that the demand for luxury apartments will boost when the NRIs also invest in these apartments, he said. The changing aesthetics of Keralites as well as the returning NRI also increased the demand for apartments. 'When people began to love communal life, the old concept of a lonely house in the midst of the city changed and they got more attracted to an apartment life,' he added. The last two years, he said, saw property investors harvesting double profit on their investments and NRIs prefer Cochin because it provides metro life experience and yet have a small-town ambiance.The younger generation is very interested in settling in Kochi as the IT sector has developed enough to offer an attractive carrier, he stressed.

Read rest of entry

Kerala's houseboats

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A romantic night on the majestic backwaters of Alappuzha in a one-bedroom houseboat could be a winning ad line to attract the niche group of newly-weds. But houseboat operators in Kerala with an eye on the bottomline are now tapping businesses beyond what is provided by dreamy couples. The latest obsession appears to be sheer size of vessels as houseboat owners attempt to bite into the growing segments of confrences roup tours with vessels that feature multiple bedrooms and seating capacity for over 100 persons, with additional features thrown in. The Alappuzha-based CTN Agro and the Coir Group have added heat to the competition for sheer size, launching a six bedroom boat that also boasts of conference facilities for 150 persons, besides an open-to-air courtyard in the middle of the vessel. “We find a growing demand from group travellers who need more than a couple of rooms and from corporates who are looking for conference facilities for 100 or more executives. Besides, a larger number of rooms provides better economy in operations,” says Aria Holidays and Resorts advisor Sreekumar N. The firm operates the CTN Agro and Coir-promoted houseboat business . Mr Sreekumar says a healthy trend being witnessed in the houseboat business is the growing percentage of revenue contributed by the domestic travellers, adding that the majority of revenues presently come from domestic clients. Pulickattil Houseboats MD Tomy Pulickattil, who was the first to launch mega-sized houseboats with conferencing facilities, adds that the larger vessels are attracting both foreign and domestic clients meetings and conferences. Industry circles are also upbeat about smaller corporates and holiday groups opting for large houseboats. “There is a particularly growing interest among Tamil Nadu groups, besides smaller companies in Kerala itself, to discuss business and hold board meetings while enjoying a backwater cruise,” they explain. In 2007, foreign tourist arrivals to Kerala had touched 5.15 lakh, an increase of over 20% over the previous year.a

Read rest of entry

Conde Nast Traveller Hot List

Ista Hyderabad, the flag ship five-star business hotel promoted by New Delhi-based IHHR Hospitality Pvt Ltd, has been awarded a spot in ‘The Years 136 Top New Hotels’ by Conde Nast Traveler in their 12th annual May ‘Hot List’ issue for 2008. The spa at Ista Hyderabad, which is among the three upcoming Indian spas to be listed in the annual Hot List, has been placed in the ‘76 Hot Spas’ across the globe list by Conde Nast Traveller. The other two spas to be included in the list are Divya Spa in Kerala and the Aura Day Spa in New Delhi.The spa at Ista Hyderabad which brings in the expertise of Ananda Spa to Hyderabad, comprises of six treatment rooms. Two rooms are for Ayurveda and four multi purpose rooms are for western, oriental and other international treatments. It also boasts of a yoga and meditation pavilion, hydrotherapy and relaxation areas for men and women. The 2008 Hot List features 136 new hotels and resorts, 105 new restaurants, 28 new nightclubs, and 76 new spas.

Read rest of entry

Confident Hotels roll off the mill

The Confident Group is diversifying into hospitality. The total targeted investment for this foray is Rs 1,200 crore. The group is putting across 10 hotels and resorts in Bangalore. These hotels and resorts are in the three star to five star category. They are at different stages of execution. The land acquisition for all the projects have been completed. Confident Cascade is already operational and is currently one of the favourite party spots for employees of multinational companies . These companies use this hotel to stay and to conduct conferences . This resort has already completed over 2,200 corporate outings and conferences. It is located on Bannerghatta main road and is very close to Bannerghatta National Park. Iris, the four star hotel is to be launched recently. It is located in the heart of Bangalore city on Brigade Road. It currently has 60 rooms with three restaurants and buiness centre facilities. To be launched by August end, is Propus at Langford town, again in the heart of the city. This hotel has 50 suites and rooms with three restaurants and all other facilities. Confident Aquraii, an up-spa and resort on Old Madras Road, Bangalore. This spa and resort would provide South-East Asian and Kerala ayurvedic treatments apart from high end stay. This resort has tied-up with Derma Health Care Dubai for antiaging treatment. This resort is of the five-star category with 15 presidential cottages, 21 luxury cottages and 51 suites. This resort is slated to open by this year end. The current status is that civil construction is completed and the interior works and are in progress. Confident is also putting up its most prestigious project Confident Champion Reef, a 18-hole golf course. Planned by world famous Ron Fream. This project consists of 600 high end villas and exclusively designed by Edward, SAA Architects Singapore. This project is spread over 201 acres and just 30 minutes drive from the new international airport. This golf course would also consists of high end resort and hotel facility. Confident Group would be running all the properties under its own brand and management team. The brand has over seven years experience in running hotels and resorts. Confident Group is the only hospitality brand to own its own airlines .The group has recently launched its own chartered airline called Confident Airlines. The company already owns a P68 plane and is in the process of acquiring another five small planes and helicopters. The basic objective of this division is to cater to chartered and fractional ownership of planes. This division would also support the hotel and resorts to ferry high end customers. The long term objective of Confident Group includes health-tourism whereby the high end customers from abroad are ferried in its own chartered plane and sent for treatment to leading hospitals. Pre and post care is provided in Confident's own hotels and resorts. The first four hotels and resorts would be operational in the next six months and the chain of 10 hotels and resorts would be fully operational in the next 30 months.

Read rest of entry

Luxury Resort & Spa

Pegasus Realty and Hotel Developments (I) Pvt. Limited, an offshoot of Dubai based realty solutions firm Pegasus Realty LLC, today announced the launch the only 6 star luxury spa resort in the scenic locales of Kumarakoam, Kerala.

Read rest of entry

Chavez ties Merkel

Caracas: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has attacked German Chancellor Angela Merkel, comparing her to Adolf Hitler in response to her criticism of the South American leader's policies.Merkel belongs to the political right, "the same right that supported Hitler, fascism," Chavez said on his television programme "Alo Presidente" Sunday.Chavez's remarks came after Merkel said that the left-wing leader is not the voice of the region.Merkel, speaking in an interview to DPA ahead of the European Union-Latin American summit, indicated that leftist polices pursued by leaders like Chavez were not the solution.Pointing to the emergence of "left-wing populism" in some of the nations of Latin America, Merkel said: "Based on our experience in Europe, I don't believe that state-guided economies can provide a better or more sustainable response to such pressing problems."Chavez replied that he would answer Merkel at the summit if he chooses to attend."Many people want you to shut up. But if I fly to Lima and I say something to her and she gets upset, she would then stand up and say 'why don't you shut up?' Why don't you shut up? Because here there is dignity," Chavez opined, playing off a controversial moment last year that set off a diplomatic spat between Venezuela and Spain.Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero criticized Chavez at the Iberian American Summit in November for calling his predecessor Jose Maria Aznar a "fascist" who favoured the failed coup in Venezuela in 2002, sparking an outburst that ended with Spanish King Juan Carlos shouting, "Why don't you shut up?" at Chavez.On Sunday, Chavez said the region could do without empty offers of help from the US and Europe.The Europeans "come here to help us. Where is their plan to help the poor? Ask the president of Haiti how much promises from Europe and the United States have done," Chavez said, stressing the region's social programmes would be carried by Venezuela, Cuba, Argentina and Brazil.Merkel is visiting Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Mexico during her week-long trip to Latin America, the highlight of which will be her participation in the fifth EU-Latin American and Caribbean Summit (EU-LAC) to be held Friday and Saturday in Lima.

Read rest of entry

NREGS online

Transparency is the name of the game. The names of job seekers, the wages they are paid and many other details of employment under the government's flagship National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) will soon be made available online in a Kerala district.Wayanad, the district headquarters of which is Kalpetta, will soon become the first district in the state to execute total online monitoring of India's much touted rural jobs scheme.The NREGS is aimed at generating employment in India's backward regions and proposes to provide 100 workdays for the rural poor in a year.In Wayanad, one of the two districts in Kerala where the scheme was first introduced, a computerised system to monitor the NREGS is already in place at the block and district levels."The online system will be complete when all the village panchyats are ready with a broadband connection," C.V. Joy, the joint programme coordinator for the NREGS in Wayanad district, said.Under the NREGS, job seekers should first register their names with the respective village panchayats. Upon registration, they will get an employment card. "The employment card is just like a ration card. If you want work you have to produce the employment card."The online system will be armed with all the information on the NREGS like details of job seekers, the project they are employed in, the amount of wages paid and the funds deployed for a project. All these details can be accessed and monitored through the internet."Transparency is the biggest advantage of the system. You can access information from any place. In villages, the data is manually compiled at present. This will change soon," Joy said.The online system will also reduce the scope for malpractices. The payments for the NREGS are credited to bank accounts. Computerisation will now allow online generation of payment instruction to the banks."The NREGS beneficiaries have around 87,000 bank accounts in the district. The nationalised banks, where the NREGS fund remains, upon receiving the payment instruction through e-mail, will credit the amount to the beneficiary account," said Joy.The district generated an average of 48 workdays in the last financial year. "This year we are confident of generating 100 work days as stipulated in the scheme," he added.The software for the system is a product of the National Informatics Centre, a wing under Department of Information Technology providing the network backbone and e-governance support to the central and state governments.

Read rest of entry