Smita Nair Columns, Leading Columnist

Smita Nair The Indian Express Group

Smita Nair-

98 phantom vessels could pose real threat off India's western seaboard

Thursday 16 May '13

The owners of these vessels had failed to respond to the search.

Worry and anger in Mumbai police after R R Patil snatches right to promote

Wednesday 1 May '13

Last year, Home took the right to transfer, officials see political interference.

R R Patil gives his dept power to promote cops

Wednesday 1 May '13

In a move that has left the state police establishment fuming, Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil has vested his department

Bhandara rape: Police look for drivers who used highway near crime scene

Wednesday 1 May '13

Bodies of the siblings aged 10, nine and six were found in a well at Murmadi village on the afternoon of February 16, two days after they went missing.

Precision Personified

Sunday 21 April '13

Known as the most skilled wheel-binder in the country, Ashok Khale has been crafting the perfect wheels for bike racers.

Pressure-cooker becomes a preferred device for attackers to trigger bomb blasts

Thursday 18 April '13

Experts say pressure-cooker bomb is used largely for its compactness.

Basundi puri, gudi return to Salaskar household after 4 years

Friday 12 April '13

In four years, Gudi Padwa passed by without the familiar aroma of 'basundi puri'' at the Salaskar residence in Goregaon, and without the french window of their sixth-floor Aarey Road apartment being f...

Mystery dhow off Mumbai: goats on board, missing satphone

Friday 5 April '13

Mumbai Police were Thursday interrogating the five Indian crew members of a suspicious dhow intercepted by Coast Guard 15 km southwest of Colaba the night before.

Mystery dhow: goats on board, missing satphone

Friday 5 April '13

Mumbai Police interrogating the five Indian crew members of a suspicious dhow intercepted by Coast Guard 15 km southwest of Colaba the night before.

After fiasco, Mumbai police get 'schooled' in Islam

Wednesday 3 April '13

Former IB officer holds lecture on cultural nuances, issues Muslims face.

The Sea and I

Sunday 31 March '13

Lt Cdr Abhilash Tomy, an Indian Navy aviator, is set to be the first Indian to sail solo non-stop around the world.

Police 'psycho-analysing' eldest of Bhandara siblings

Wednesday 13 March '13

Day before they went missing, eldest sister had bunked school and tried to sneak her sinlings out.

Once there were 3 sisters

Sunday 10 March '13

The mystery surrounding the killing of minor siblings in a Bhandara village after alleged sexual assault last month has only deepened in the days since. As police probe black magic to property dispute...

Info unprotected, cash lost

Thursday 7 March '13

Maharashtra order on e-fraud raps banks, police and telecom firms after 13 customers found accounts short

PNB told to pay largest cyber crime compensation of Rs 45 lakh

Wednesday 6 March '13

The fraudster had apparently "tested" a Rs 1,000 transaction before going for bigger transfers

'Serial hoax caller' is a teen with a head for numbers

Thursday 28 February '13

Vikas Yadav, 19, remembers 1,900 toll-free numbers, has a fascination for Kasab

Near-Death Dive to New Life

Sunday 17 February '13

A dive from a cliff jutting into the shoreline at Goa''s Calangute at the turn of the millennium turned this avid swimmer''s life upside down.

City anchor: 1st circumnavigator relives Bombay memories

Wednesday 13 February '13

Before him, there was no official sea-route for unassisted, non-stop circumnavigation.

NIA visits ''08 Malegaon blast links with ''06 suspect

Sunday 3 February '13

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has begun retracing the reported trips of a Malegaon inverter dealer to Nashik, Ujjain, Indore and Devas before he was arrested in connection with the 2006 Male...

NIA visits '08 Malegaon blast links with '06 suspect

Sunday 3 February '13

With Hindu extremists suspected to be behind 2006 blasts as well, NIA is revisiting Ahmed''s claims.

Malegaon blast accused starts legal aid NGO to help those 'wrongly arrested''

Tuesday 22 January '13

In 2006, soon after the Malegaon bomb blasts, Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad arrested a Unani medicine practitioner alleging he harboured Pakistanis and smuggled the RDX used in the explosives.

Minorities panel chief wants NIA to probe Purna, Parbhani, Jalna blasts

Tuesday 22 January '13

State Minorities Commission has urged Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde to hand over investigation of Purna, Parbhani and Jalna bomb blasts to National Investigation Agency (NIA).