THE CONTACT WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
Hans gets engaged to Mehndi! Navraj Hans, son of famous singer Hans Raj Hans, got engaged to Ajit Mehndi, the daughter of veteran singer Daler Mehndi, at a function attended by the close associates of both the families. Interestingly both Navraj and Ajit are playback singers.
Indians take over London: The largest foreign-born group in the city LONDON: Indians have become the largest foreignborn group in London. Nearly 9% of all foreignborn residents in London are now Indians. In sheer numbers, this means 263,000 people born in India are now living in London. London had about 3 million foreign-born residents in 2011 (37% of the total London population and 40% of the total foreign-born population of England and Wales). UK’s office of national statistics has already earlier pointed to the fact that Indians had overtaken the Irish to become the largest foreign-born ethnic group in the whole of England and Wales. The latest census had revealed that the number of Indians
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21 May to 27 May, 2013 PH: (905) 671 - 4761
Son of Indian-origin businessman ‘faked his own kidnap’ to swindle $1million
LONDON: A 21-yearold spoilt son who faked his own Bollywood-style kidnapping in a bid to swindle his rich Indianorigin businessman father out of 620,000 pounds worth of gold, has instead landed in jail for three years. Viraj Mashru hatched a plot with the help of a friend, Amit Patel, 26, after his father Rajendra Mashru stopped his 500pound-a-week allowance to curb his lavish ways as a student in Britain. The Mombasa, Kenyabased businessman who runs a logistics firm PN Mashru Limited received a
call from Patel demanding a ransom in exchange for
of such calls in October 2012 instructing Rajendra
the release of his kidnapped son, who was hiding out in a London hotel all the while. Patel and another accomplice Marcus Bennet, 31, made a series
Mashru to deposit 614,000 pounds in gold bullion in an account at London’s famous store, Harrods. During one of the calls, Patel reportedly threatened
Report calls for Hindi to be included in Australian curriculum
went up by over 52%, from 456,000 in 2001 to 694,000 a decade later. The number of Pakistan-born people increased by over 56%, from 300,000 to 480,000. London’s foreign-born population increased by 54% since 2001, accounting for 105% of the total population increase, as the UK-born population decreased in the decade. According to the 2011 Census, the number of usual residents of London stood at 8.2 million - 15% of the total resident population of England and Wales in 2011.
MELBOURNE: A vast untapped pool of skilled Indian migrants should be used to teach Hindi in Australian schools and universities, according to a report.The report by Melbourne-based think tank Australia India Institute (AII) argues for the
inclusion of Hindi in Australia’s school curriculum, saying it should be an essential part of the Common-wealth’s Asia policy. Authored by well known Australian journalist Hamish McDonald, the report says Hindi was included as one of the four
priority languages in the government’s Asia White Paper last year, along with Chinese, Japanese and Indonesian.McDonald wrote the Australian-Indian community with many native speakers with a high level of education, not necessarily in education, could “with the right training” be turned into excellent teachers.But he wrote such a plan would be contingent on enough resources being put to the case, citing the removal of Korean from teaching programs in Australia, which showed “good intent is not enough”. Continued... Page 3
Indian sentenced to three years for human trafficking WASHINGTON: An Indian has been sentenced to three years of imprisonment on charges of trafficking immigrants from India into the United States, the department of justice said.Kaushik Jayantibhai Thakkar, 33, along with Brazilian national Fabiano Augusto Amorim, was sentenced yesterday to serve 36 months in prison for their roles in smuggling undocumented migrants to
the US for private financial gain, the acting assistant US attorney general Mythili Raman said. In addition to their prison terms, Thakkar and Amorim were sentenced to serve two years of supervised release, as per the order of the US District Judge Ewing Werlein in the southern district of Texas. On December 2, 2012, and January 4, 2013, respectively, Thakkar and Amorim each pleaded
guilty to one count of conspiracy to bring undocumented migrants
into the US for profit and to one count of unlawfully bringing two undocu-
mented migrants into the United States for profit. They worked together and with other coconspirators to smuggle individuals from India into the United States, according to court documents. In support of the conspiracy, Thakkar and others recruited individuals in India who were willing to pay up to USD 60,000 to be smuggled into the US. Continued... Page 4
to “rape” Mashru and cut off his fingers if the ransom was not paid. However, the police caught up with them and they were arrested on November 1 when the car they were travelling in was intercepted. Prosecutor Caroline Haughey told the court that Mashru’s “entire existence in the UK was funded by his family in Kenya.” “However recently the relationship cooled between Mr Mashru and his father to the extent his father, Rajendra, stopped providing him with money. Continued... Page 3
Indian-origin MLA in Canada
accused of perjury
TORONTO: A criminal investigation has been sought against an Indianorigin MLA of Canada’s Alberta Province on charges of ethics violation and perjury. Leader of the opposition Wildrose party, Danielle Smith, has requested the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to conduct a criminal investigation into the actions of EdmontonManning MLA Peter Sandhu following reports that he owned a homebuilding company that was being pursued by creditors for not paying debts. According to Smith, Sandhu - a member of the ruling Progressive Conservatives party, should be charged with perjury as he had lied in court by saying that he was out of Canada when, in fact, he was present in Calgary, CBC reported yesterday. Continued... Page 4