Month: February 2013

A huge consignment of 16 lakh pouches of banned gutkha (betelnuts with nicotine) worth Rs 27.35 lakh was seized today from a transporter’s godown in Lohamandi here, an official said. The contraband was being transported from Noida to Karnataka via Indore when the sleuths of the district administration led by Additional District Magistrate Alok Singh raided the godown of Front Carriers this morning, senior food inspector Maneesh Swami told PTI. A case under the Food and Civil Supplies Act is being registered in court, after which action will be initiated against the transporter, Swami said.

The Archaeological Survey of India today told the Delhi High Court that it has not yet started excavation on a site near Red Fort to ascertain whether remains of a Mughal-era mosque existed there in view of lack of clarity on an apex court order on status quo. “The excavation of the site, as directed by the high court, has not been undertaken following the Supreme Court order to maintain status quo,” the counsel for ASI told a bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul.

A 32-year-old sub-inspector has been booked for allegedly raping and having unnatural sex with a 22-year-old woman, the police said today. However, the cop who refused to marry the girl after having consensual sex with her for a few months, according to RCF police station officials, has not yet been arrested. An FIR was registered yesterday under Section 377 (outraging the modesty of a women), Section 376 (rape) and Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), after the victim complained against Sachin Dabolkar who is on probation at the Chembur police station since June 2012.

The blast outside the US embassy in Turkey today that claimed two lives was a “terrorist attack”, State Department said. “We can confirm a terrorist blast at a check point on the perimeter of our embassy compound in Ankara, Turkey, at 1:13 PM local time,” State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland, said. “We are working closely with the Turkish national police to make a full assessment of the damage and the casualties, and to begin an investigation,” Nuland said in a statement.

Police lathicharged to disperse a group of ABVP activists who turned berserk demanding fair probe into the alleged suicide by a student due to harassment. The activists while trying to force the closure of a private school, which was functioning ignoring its bandh call, pelted stones and ransacked some furniture. Police who rushed to the spot resorted to lathicharge to disperse them. A police constable was injured in the melee. Nine students have been arrested in connection with the trouble and a local court has remanded them to judicial custody, police said.

A Dubai-bound IndiGo plane was delayed this evening after officials at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport here received an anonymous call claiming there was a bomb on the aircraft. The call later turned out to be a hoax, Mumbai airport sources told PTI. The plane was taken to a remote bay where security agencies carried out intense search of the passengers and aircraft. “A bomb threat call was received at IndiGo office at 1810 hours for its flight 6E-61 for Dubai (scheduled departure 7 pm).

A strong plea for an early resolution of the vexed Telangana issue was made by an AICC Secretary during a meeting of Congress office bearers with Rahul Gandhi today. P Sudhakar Reddy raised the issue at the meeting and he later said that Gandhi assured him to look into it. Another party Secretary V Hanumanta Rao, who also hails from the Telangana region, said that the party Vice President told Reddy to focus on organisational issues for which the meeting has been called.

Union Minister of State in PMO V Narayanasamy today handed a cheque for Rs 3 lakhs to the family of the 23-year-old software engineer who suffered serious burns on the face when her collegemate threw acid on her, angered over rejection of his marriage proposal in November last year. The amount was to meet the medical expenditure for the treatment. Nayanasamy told reporters after presenting the cheque to her father that the financial assistance was granted by Prime Minister from out of the Relief Fund. He said he had made a representation to the Prime minister about the plight of the woman.

It was a bowlers’ day out at the Barabati Stadium as 20 wickets fell and only 259 runs were scored during the ICC Women’s World Cup group B match between Pakistan and Australia here today. Sadia Yousuf (3/30), Asmavia Iqbal (2/36) and Sumaiya Siddiqi (1/27) shared six wickets among them as Pakistan dismissed title contenders Australia for 175 in 46.1 overs after they decided to bat first. But the Australians returned to shot out Pakistan for a paltry 84 in 33.2 overs, thanks to some good bowling from SJ Coyte (3/20), EA Perry (2/18), LC Sthalekar (2/19) and HL Ferling (2/10).

Unidentified persons attacked a software employee and his family in Sangem mandal of the district tonight, killing him and his five-year-old son on the spot, police said. The assailants, armed with knives and other sharp weapons, attacked Ashok, his wife and son at around 9 pm, when they were on their way back to Hyderabad after visiting Pallarigudem village in Sangem mandal. Ashok and his son died on the spot, while his wife was admitted to MGM Hospital in Warangal town with serious injuries, police said. A hunt has been launched to nab the culprits.

Rapprochement between Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and his cousin Raj Thackeray who heads Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) will not impact Nationalist Congress Party and its alliance with the Congress in the state, Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil said here today. The NCP leader was on a short visit to the city on a social engagement. Taking to reporters, Patil said, “The NCP–Congress alliance has been getting elected for the last two terms.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Friday told party leaders that he was in no rush to change the organisation and the party should instead focus on correcting the basic problems and ensuring that rules were followed.

Gandhi was talking on the second day of his first formal interaction with senior leaders after taking over as party’s no 2. The meeting will continue on February 4 as only 13 party secretaries could speak on Friday.

China wants India to put behind the 1962 war as an “unfortunate” thing of the past and that the two countries should strengthen their military ties including formalising a border management pact under which their troops will not fire at each other. The Chinese assessment was conveyed to the Indian Defence Ministry team which visited Beijing on January 14 and 15 for the third round of the Annual Defence Dialogue between the two countries.

Stressing that India-Pakistan peace was in the long-term national interest, union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor on Friday hoped the “dumbing down” of temperature by Islamabad over the past few days would enable a return to peace after the tension along the LoC.

Tension between India and Pakistan escalated following the brutal killing of two Indian troops by Pakistani troops near the Line of Control (LoC) January 8. One Indian soldier was beheaded and the head carried away by the raiders.

Congress on Friday night regretted BJP’s plans to boycott all public programmes of Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde to protest against his Hindu terror remarks, saying the opposition party should not politicise the issue.

Party spokesman Rashid Alvi said Congress has already clarified that it was its firm belief that terrorism does not belong to any religion. “Terrorism is just terrorism,” he said, adding Shinde himself too has clarified the matter.

Pakistani authorities have initiated steps to obtain travel documents for members of a judicial commission that is expected to visit India for a second time by the end of this month to interview four officials as part of the probe into the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

The Federal Investigation Agency on Thursday filed an application in an anti-terrorism court that asked the members of the commission to deposit all necessary documents and passports.

Burdened with increased diesel cost and a large number of pending projects, railways have sought Rs 38,000 crores as general budgetary support from the Finance Ministry for fiscal 2013-14. Railways had received Rs 24,000 crores from the Finance Ministry as support in the current fiscal.

“We have sought Rs 38,000 crores as budgetary support in the 2013-14 Rail Budget”, said a senior Railway Ministry official. Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal will present the Rail Budget on February 26.

A man in South Africa was horrified when he opened the casket at his dead wife’s funeral and found a stranger inside. Staff at a funeral home accidentally put a different woman’s body inside a coffin that should have contained the body of Michael Galant’s 58-year-old wife Magdalene, the Daily Mail reported.

“I opened my wife’s casket and she didn’t look right. I immediately knew something was wrong,” Galant said.

“My daughter came to me and said: ‘That’s not mummy’, and then I knew this was a big mistake.”

A two-year-old girl was killed and 30 persons were injured in a massive pile-up of 20 vehicles on Yamuna Expressway near Bhaipur in Jewar area, 24 km from Greater Noida, in dense fog this morning, police said.

“Around 20 vehicles collided one after another at 24 km point on the Expressway leading to Agra,” a police officer said.

“Due to dense fog, a UP Roadways bus from Noida to Agra collided with a canter. Thereafter, a number of vehicles collided in a series,” the officer said.

He said the injured were taken to Kailash Hospital by Expressway ambulances.

Industry chambers, including CII and Ficci, have recommended that the External Affairs Ministry should work on further liberalisation of visa regime for movement of businessmen in different countries.

According to an official, the chambers recommended this during their meeting with Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai and Secretary (Economic Relations) Pinak R Chakravarty.

They (representatives of business chambers) also suggested that MEA should endeavour to secure a more liberal

Two suspected activists of the Tritiya Prastuti Committee (TPC), a breakaway group of the CPI (Maoist), were arrested in Hazaribagh district, police said today.

The duo were caught last night when they had allegedly stopped coal-laden tractors at Barkagaon area of the district,
they said here.

Rs 1,500, four cell phones and a diary containing name and addresses of the people they were extorting were seized.

———————PTI

A British court has sentenced a teenage hacker to youth rehabilitation after he and other members of the Anonymous movement carried out cyber-attacks targeting financial sites like PayPal and Visa.

Jake Birchall had admitted conspiring to impair the operation of computers in 2010 and 2011.

The 18-year-old Birchall was sentenced today to 18 months of rehabilitation and 60 hours of unpaid work.

Saudi King Abdullah today appointed one of his brothers, Moqren bin Abdul Aziz, as a deputy prime minister, making him second in line to the throne, the official media reported.

Prince Moqren bin Abdul Aziz, adviser and special envoy of the king, has been named second vice president of the
Council of Ministers,” said the SPA news agency report.

The king, 89, is the president of the Council, and Crown Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz, 77, is the first vice president.

Like the crown prince, the 68-year-old Moqren is a son of Abdul Aziz bin Saud, who founded Saudi Arabia and died in

Nigeria’s military today said it killed 17 insurgents in raids on two “terrorist camps” in the embattled northeastern state of Borno, the base of Islamist group Boko Haram.

The military “conducted two special operations supported by Nigerian Airforce helicopter gunship to dislodge Boko Haram terrorist camps,” a statement from spokesman Lt. Col. Sagir Musa said.

The statement is the first recent confirmation of a Boko Haram training camp or base, although the military has
frequently commented on insurgent safe houses in urban settings.

A Maoist of the infamous Kundan Pahan firing squad was today gunned down in an encounter with security forces in the jungles of Khunti district.

“Binda Pahan, a member of the Kundan Pahan group, was killed in the encounter near Huruwa village. His body has been
recovered,” Superintendent of Police M Tamilvanan, who was leading the district and CRPF teams, said here.

The other Maoists escaped to a nearby forest, he said, adding that a rifle was recovered from the spot.