SC removes gag on Amaravati land deals

The ban on reporting details of a criminal case involving illegal land deals in Andhra Pradesh's Amaravati by influential people was removed by the Supreme Court in a major victory for the Jagan Mohan Reddy government. The state government had pleaded against a high court order in September restraining the media from reporting on an FIR filed over the buying of land in Amaravati six years ago by those privy to the decision to make it the state capital. Investigations into the case remain suspended, however. Justices Ashok Bhushan, RS Reddy and MR Shah did not scrap the high court's ban on a probe into the FIR or First Information Report filed by the Andhra government. The Supreme Court will hear the case next in January-end.