After being denied ticket by the party to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from here, scam-tainted Congress leader Suresh Kalmadi is now mulling to fight as an Independent candidate this time, reports said on Friday.

Although nothing is clear as yet, Kalmadi on Thursday said that he will decide his future course of action after discussions with his supporters on Friday, triggering speculation that the tainted MP from Pune may contest as an Independent.

Kalmadi told reporters that he was given a rousing reception by “thousands of his supporters” when he arrived at Pune airport yesterday after which he assured them that he will decide the future course of action after discussing the issue with them.

He was denied ticket in view of the serious corruption allegations against him in connection with the preparations of Commonwealth Games of which he was the organising secretary.

Vishwajeet Kadam, who is the youth president of Congress in Maharashtra, was nominated by the party from Pune.

Kalmadi, who was Secretary of the Congress Parliamentary Party, was suspended after the CWG scam.

Kadam’s name was announced by the Congress in the third list of 58 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls that was released on Tuesday.

Bollywood star Aamir Khan rejected allegations of misconduct and pressure tactics in connection with a redevelopment plan for his Pali Hill housing society amid claims that the members were being forced by him to sell their property.

A mother and daughter, residents of the same society where Aamir lived sometime back, alleged that the society’s managing committee was misleading homeowners and pressuring them to sell their property to the ‘Dhoom 3’ star.

However, the spokesperson of 49-year-old actor has denied the allegations.

“We would like to clarify on behalf of our client Mr. Aamir Khan that he denies all allegations regarding him putting any pressure on his society to go in for redevelopment.

The fact is Mr. Khan left the building more than a year ago, after an incident of a slab of concrete falling on the head of one of the members, resulting in the member being hospitalised,” the spokesman said in a statement.

“Mr. Khan strongly denies any allegations of pressure tactics or misconduct on his part, and takes strong exception to attempts being made to defame him,” it said.

The statement further clarified that, in absence of Khan, the society had several meetings and discussions, regarding redevelopment. The general body passed a resolution with 80 per cent majority members voting in favour of redevelopment.

Thereafter, the society made a request in writing to Khan to make an offer. The actor gave the matter due thought and made an offer. In his offer letter, he also suggested the society to invite other offers to ensure best value for the society and its members.

Union Agriculture Minister and recently-elected Mumbai Cricket Association President Sharad Pawar today withdrew his plea in the Bombay High Court seeking transfer of suit filed against him by senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde from one civil court to another.

When the matter came up for hearing on March 19, Justice Rajesh Ketkar asked Pawar’s counsel to withdraw the transfer application as the court was inclined to dismiss it.

Pawar’s counsel Abhay Khandeparkar sought time to seek instructions and the matter was kept for hearing today when the court was informed that Pawar wanted to withdraw the transfer plea.

Accordingly, the court allowed him to withdraw the application.

Munde, who had thrown his hat in the ring for MCA president’s post, had challenged the rejection of his nomination in the election by filing a suit in a civil court.

Pawar’s transfer application had said that the suit was based upon the interpretation of rules of MCA and the judge had dealt “exhaustively” with them at an earlier stage, but the main hearing, too, would depend on interpretation of same rules, so “it is desirable that the suit be assigned to any other court for final disposal.”

Munde’s counsel, Vivekananda Gupta, opposed the plea saying the transfer application was not maintainable and termed it as “forum-hunting”.

Pawar had earlier moved a civil court seeking transfer of the case to another court. However, he withdrew his plea in civil court with a liberty to move the high court.

Accordingly, he approached a high court bench, which allowed him to withdraw the transfer application once again.

The court, on November 26 last year, had temporarily restrained Pawar from functioning as MCA chief, but the high court had overturned the ruling.

In more trouble for IPL betting scandal accused Gurunath Meiyappan, an ex-official of Chennai Super Kings (CSK), and actor Vindoo Dara Singh, their voice samples matched with the tapped telephonic conversation in which they were purportedly discussing matches and betting activities, police said on Friday.

Mumbai Police, probing the scandal that surfaced in 2013 edition of the T20 league, recently received a forensic report which confirmed the voice samples of Meiyappan and Vindoo matched with the tapped telephonic conversation between them during IPL matches, a senior Crime Branch official said.

Meiyappan, who was Team Principal of CSK, and Vindoo were arrested in the wake of scandal and are now on bail. The report will further strengthen our case against the two. During the conversation, Meiyappan, son-in-law of BCCI President N Srinivasan, was found discussing things such as possible outcome of matches, toss, team composition, pitch condition, weather and betting activities among others, the officer said.

Investigators have in their possession extensive transcripts of telephone conversations not only between the two but also other accused, police said.

Vindoo used to collect match-related information from Meiyappan and then shared it with bookies, they said. In September last year, Meiyappan was chargesheeted along with Vindoo and 20 others in the IPL betting case for forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy, four months after the scandal rocked the cricketing world.

NCP today justified the sacking of Maharashtra Medical Education Minister Vijay Kumar Gavit after his daughter got a BJP ticket for Lok Sabha, saying that allowing a family member to join an opposition party despite a warning amounted to an anti-party act.

Upon NCP’s recommendation, Gavit was sacked from the ministry two days ago.

State NCP president Bhaskar Jadhav told that Gavit had been asked to stop his daughter from joining BJP and contesting from Nandurbar against Congress veteran Manikrao Gavit.

“However, he did not do so, which proves that the move was deliberate. He has been given a show-cause notice and the decision to expel him from the party will be taken after we get his reply,” Jadhav said.

When asked why NCP did not take any action against Gavit when his brother contested against the Congress candidate on Samajwadi Party ticket in 2009, and also against Datta Meghe, then with NCP, when his son Sagar joined BJP, Jadhav said the party needed to send out a strong message this time.

“Gavit’s daughter, Hina, is unmarried, and stays with the father. She could not have taken the decision without the father’s approval,” Jadhav said.

When asked whether in NCP’s view unmarried women cannot take decisions on their own, Jadhav said, “I did not mean to say that.”

He also lashed out at the BJP leader Gopinath Munde for creating a divide between the Gavit father-daughter duo.

“Because of Munde, Gavit’s political career is in peril,” he said.