After the prime witness in the Lakhan Bhaiya fake encounter case went missing, Subhash Patel another key witness said he is being plagued by calls from people and police brass, threatening him to back off from the case or die.

Patel claimed a Senior Inspector called him to his office and threatened him saying he should say he was lying earlier.

Patel's testimony is crucial to the case. He has complained to police about the threats several times but has not been provided protection.

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Anna Hazare spearheaded his campaign to fast to death unless the government enacts a law to halt the rampant corruption in India, making Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar the first casualty. Pawar quit the GoM (Group of Ministers) after Hazare said he considered Pawar ‘corrupt’.

Pawar however said he quit not because of Hazare's comments but because of other pre-occupation.

Pawar has faced allegations of involvement in controversial projects and was criticised for making comments that are thought to have fuelled runaway inflation.

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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has called for the resignation of Goa Education Minister Atanasio Monseratte, who was detained at Mumbai airport with unaccounted money.

Customs officials detained Monseratte after they received a tip off that the minister who was en route to Dubai was carrying $10 million and Rs.2.5 million. Monseratte, who was formally inducted into the Congress party last year is a controversial politician with a criminal record that includes extortion, assault and forgery.

He is also being probed by the CBI for leading a mob that attacked a city police station in which several people were injured and a number of lady police constables complained of being molested.

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Leading Hong Kong based consultancy firm PERC, has rated India as the fourth most corrupt nation along with countries like the Philippines, Indonesia and Cambodia, among 16 countries of the Asia Pacific region surveyed.

Of the 16 countries, Thailand was followed by China and Vietnam. Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, Japan and the USA were given a clean slate and placed in the top five.

In India, the report found, civil and other local level political leaders were more corrupt than the national level political leaders.

The report said the issue of corruption has grown and overshadowed the second term in office of the Congress-led coalition headed by PM Manmohan Singh, who has been put in such a defensive position that most of his statements have been to stress how he has not personally been involved with corruption.

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Dr Swaran Singh, a former IAS officer has been booked with three others for embezzling over Rs.1.42 crores when organising the birth centenary of Shaheed Bhagat Singh in 2008.

Three others, Vikas Mehra, Sanjay Ghera of G M Entertainment and Satbir Bajwa of The Professionals were also booked.

Police investigations discovered that there was rampant under and overbilling shown on paper of the Bollywood artistes, organisers, logistics and a maze of problems in tendering processes.

The state assembly also raised the issue and various politicians were accused of involvement.

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