Month: February 2010

Runaway criminal who caused Mathura train crash held

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New Delhi, February 26: A notorious criminal whose dramatic escape from a train led to a railway accident that killed 22 people has been arrested, police said Friday.

Munna alias Sajid, wanted by the police to stand trial in 40 cases of dacoity, robbery and murder, was caught by Delhi Police Crime Branch Thursday from Seemapuri area in the city’s northeast.

According to Additional Commissioner of Police Neeraj Thakur, Munna was being escorted by the Rajasthan police from Kota to Delhi in October last year.

India, Saudi Arabia to deepen ties during PM visit

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New Delhi, February 26: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh leaves for Saudi Arabia Saturday on a three-day visit during which the two countries will deepen their strategic relationship, officials here said Friday.

“The visit will provide an opportunity for the two leaders (Manmohan Singh and Saudi king Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz) to review bilateral relations and discuss regional and global issues,” Lalitha Reddy, secretary (east) in the external affairs ministry, said here.

Bureaucrat couple’s son seeks bail

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Panchkula (Haryana), February 26: The son of a former bureaucrat couple in Punjab Friday filed for anticipatory bail in a case of an attempt to murder registered against him last month.

Ranjit Bajaj’s counsel moved the plea in the court of additional district and sessions judge Sanjeev Jindal. The court asked police to submit their reply by March 5.

Ranjit, the only son of retired bureaucrats B.R. Bajaj and Rupan Deol Bajaj, was booked for an attempt to murder Jan 29 following a complaint from Gurmohan Singh Bedi, son of Punjab and Haryana High Court Judge M.M.S. Bedi.

Centrepiece of the budget is aam admi: Chidambaram

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New Delhi, February 26: Home Minister P Chidamabaram has welcomed the allocation of Rs 30,000 crore for police in the Union Budget, calling the annual exercise a balanced effort marked by a mature assessment of the state of the economy.

Commending the Finance Minister for “generous allocation” for flagship social schemes, Chidambaram said the centrepiece of the budget is the “aam admi”.

13 people murdered in UP in separate incidents

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Lucknow, February 26: As many as 13 people have been murdered in separate incidents in different parts of Uttar Pradesh, police said today.

Five members of a family, including a woman, and her four children were killed using a sharp-edged weapon in Mora Kadar village under Lalpura police station area of Hampirpur district last night, police said.

In another incident in Soti ka purva village under Rajapur police station of Chitrakoot district, three people were shot dead and two others injured last night, police said adding four persons named in the murder have already been arrested.

Auto majors hike prices across board

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New Delhi/Mumbai, February 26: The excise duty hike in the Budget has had an immediate impact on the auto sector with major auto-makers, including Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Honda and General Motors, announcing plans to hike prices of vehicles by up to Rs 41,000.

Two-wheeler makers like Hero Honda and TVS Motors also followed suit by announcing rise in prices of their models.

English soccer wives defy coach and book luxury South African hotel

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England, February 26: The so-called WAGs (wives and girlfriends) of England’s national soccer team players planned to defy manager Fabio Capello’s bid to ban them from the World Cup this summer by moving into a luxury resort close to the players.

The Sun reported today the six-star Palace Hotel in South Africa’s Sun City complex already took bookings for June and July from wives and girlfriends and is expecting more, The Sun reports.

Staff members believed the likes of Victoria Beckham, Coleen Rooney and Alex Gerrard would be among the guests.

Mother Angela Sullivan jailed for sex with boy aged 12

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Washington, February 26: A British single mother who slept with a 12-year-old boy almost 200 times was jailed today for nine years.

Angela Sullivan, 36, gave the boy, dubbed “man balls” by school friends, a pair of sneakers as a reward after he slept with her for the 100th time, The Sun reports.

When police arrested her in October, they found her diary marked with childish entries and 191 stars against dates when they slept together.

The unemployed mother admitted 10 abuse charges, relating to one sex session for each month of their affair.

Three killed, four hurt in Egypt cruise ship crash

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Egypt, February 26: A Luxury cruise ship crashed into a pier during bad weather in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el Sheikh today, killing three sailors and injuring four tourists, maritime officials said.

Officials from the General Authority for Red Sea Ports said the sailors – an Indian, a Honduran and a Brazilian – died from the impact.

The crash was thought to be a result of bad weather.

The four tourists, three British women and an Italian man, were taken to the hospital in stable condition.

The officials said the Costa Europa ship carried 1400 passengers.

Delhi Lt Governor conveys Holi greetings

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New Delhi, February 26: Lt Governor of Delhi Tejendra Khanna today extended warm greetings to all the citizens in the city on the occasion of holi.

He said he hoped the festival will promote the spirit of love, compassion, unity and camaraderie among people of the city.

Khanna also appealed to the people to celebrate the festival using natural colours and preserve water.

–Agencies

Mumbai civic body to felicitate Sachin

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Mumbai, February 26: Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar will be felicitated by the local civic body for becoming the first player in the cricket history to score a double century in one day internationals (ODIs).

Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) took the decision to honour the 37-year-old legend, who was born in the city, following a demand from corporators.

Tendulkar scored an unbeaten 200 off 147 balls in the second ODI against South Africa at Gwalior on February 24.

Encounter between inter-state gang, police; one dead

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Mathura (UP), February 26: A member of an inter-state gang dealing in smuggling of branded liquor was shot dead while two constables were injured in an encounter at the outskirts of Hodal town here today, police said.

The deceased has been identified as Sanjai, a resident of Hanuman Nagar in old Faridabad.

Earlier, on a tip-off that branded liquor was being smuggled to Haryana by a truck, police tried to intercept the vehicle.

However, occupants of the vehicle started firing and attacked the police personnel with iron rods before fleeing.

Q3 GDP growth slows down to 6 pc

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New Delhi, February 26: The economic growth slipped drastically to 6 per cent in the third quarter of the fiscal, around the same level witnessed during global financial meltdown, even as the Government partially rolled back stimulus on the premise that the economy is on a rebound.

The drastic slippage could be gauged from the fact that the economy grew by 7.9 per cent in the previous quarter, which raised the hopes that the economy is now on sustained recovery trajectory.

Amnesty should not be meant for anti-nationals

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Jalandhar, February 26: The BJP in Punjab today said the proposed amensty to Sikhs who left the country at the peak of militancy in the state should strictly be confined to those among them who believed in the Indian Constitution and genuinely wanted to join the mainstream.

Hockey given step-motherly treatment

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Chandigarh, February 26: Holding that there was enormous hockey talent in the country, Olympian Balbir Singh (Sr) today said that the game had suffered due to step-motherly treatment given to it by the authorities over the years.

“Indian Hockey has gone down over the years. The game got step-motherly treatment at the hands of hockey administrators,” the hockey legend told reporters here after flagging off a programme called “Pass the Josh” to promote the hockey World Cup in New Delhi.

Four leopard skins seized in Himachal

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Shimla, February 26: Four people were arrested in Himachal Pradesh on Friday after police seized four leopard skins from them.

The men, who belonged to the state’s Sirmaur district, were arrested from Solan town, a police official told.

The seized skins were of adult animals, the official said.

The leopard falls under Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act and its hunting is banned.

–Agencies

Himachal official arrested for accepting bribe

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Shimla, February 26: A government official was arrested on Friday allegedly for accepting a bribe of Rs.100,000 from a contractor, police said.

“A junior engineer of the Public Works Department was caught red-handed when he was accepting Rs.100,000 from a contractor in the Spiti Valley,” Director General of Vigilance D.S. Manhas told reporters here.

Manhas identified the engineer as Kishan Chand Chaudhary.

—Agencies

BJP observes ‘black day’ across UP

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Lucknow, February 26: BJP today observed a ‘black day’ across the state in protest against alleged police excesses during a maharally here even as state unit president Ramapati Ram Tripathi and former national president Rajnath Singh’s son were taken into custody for violating prohibitory orders.

Rupee gains hefty 30 paise against dollar

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Mumbai, February 26: The Indian rupee today rose by a sharp 30 paise at 46.10/11 against the US dollar to snap the three-day fall on signs of increased capital inflows as the stocks rallied by 420 points after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented a market-friendly Budget for 2010-11.

The rupee sentiment was also helped by Mukherjee’s announcement of increased borrowing in the next fiscal, forex dealers said. They further said there was a mad rush to buy the rupee anticipating a debut supplies flooding the market.

RBI lodges FIR against bank manager

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Kanpur, February 26: Reserve Bank of India today lodged an FIR against a bank manager in the city for allegedly depositing fake notes in the currency chest of RBI here.

The FIR was lodged against the bank manager of SBI, Nayaganj branch, at Collectorganj police station, alleging he deposited 56 notes of Rs 100 denomination in the currency chest of RBI in July 2009, a police spokesperson said.

Pakistan include Akmal in probables for Twenty20 World Cup

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Karachi, February 26: Pakistan on Friday announced its 30-man preliminary squad for the ICC World Twenty20 championship, opting to retain wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal despite reports that he is being investigated for match-fixing.

However, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to include two more glovesmen — Sarfaraz Ahmed and Zulqarnain Haider — in the provisional squad.

Author, 2 others held for anti-Islamic content in book

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Hyderabad, February 26: Three persons including an author of a book, allegedly containing anti-Islamic material, were arrested in Khammam district of Andhra Pradesh, police said today.

The book, ‘Crescent over the World’ a compilation of articles published by M Laxmaiah alias Krantikar, a civil rights activist, contained “objectionable” material against Muslims, Khammam district Superintendent of Police Anil Kumar told PTI over phone.

The SP said police have seized 800 books in raids at different places in Khammam district since yesterday.

The Last Sermon of Prophet Muhammad (SAWS)

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“Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you. Remember that you will indeed meet your Lord, and that He will indeed reckon your deeds.”

This sermon was delivered on the Ninth Day of Dhul Hijjah 10 A.H. in the ‘Uranah valley of Mount Arafat’ (in Mecca).

After praising, and thanking God he said:

“O People, lend me an attentive ear, for I know not whether after this year, I shall ever be amongst you again. Therefore listen to what I am saying to you very carefully and take these words to those who could not be present here today.

Budget 2010: Tax relief but fuel prices to go up

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New Delhi, February 26: The Union Budget 2010-11, presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Lok Sabha on Friday, proposed a sizable tax relief for individuals, but hiked the excise and minimum alternate tax (MAT) as part of the partial stimulus rollback, besides imposing a Re 1 per litre increase on petrol and diesel duty.

With the economy expected to grow 8.5 percent in the next fiscal, the Finance Minister estimated a deficit of 5.5 percent for 2010-11, lower from the current estimated 6.9 percent this fiscal.

Foreign Ministry denies claims that Rigi entered Dubai

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Abu Dhabi, February 26: A senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denied the claims made in some Iranian media reports that Abdul Malek Rigi was arrested in Iran after his entry to Dubai.

Sultan Al Ali, Director of Media Affairs at the Ministry, dismissed the reports as inaccurate and lacking credibility.

“The man, whose name appears in the visa shown by the media, had never entered the country. He made a two-hour stop-over in Dubai as he arrived from Kabul en route to Kyrgyzstan, without using the entry permit,” he added.