Phoolan killer stages dramatic escape from jail (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: The main accused in the murder of brigand-turned-politician Phoolan Devi on Tuesday staged a dramatic movie-style escape as he conned authorities into believing he was leaving with a police team from another state. Sher Singh Rana had his friends posed as police officials and even produced a fake release warrant as he walked out of New Delhi's high-security Tihar prison, apparently to go for his case hearing at a court in north Uttaranchal. It was only after Rana and the disguised police officials had left that the authorities realised the glaring lapse. A massive search operation in on to nab him.

           Famed as the "Bandit Queen", Devi was gunned down by unknown assailants near her residence in New Delhi in 2001. Though there were no arrests immediately, a few months later Rana surfaced in Dehradun, capital of Uttaranchal, confessing to the killing. Rana, an upper caste Hindu, had then said that it was a revenge killing for the Bahmai massacre of 20 upper-caste Thakur folks in Uttar Pradesh in 1981. Blamed for the killings, the 37-year-old Devi, had been catapulted to instant fame and notoriety by the event. Though Devi never admitted to the massacre she said her career of crime was driven by her need to avenge a series of rapes she said upper caste men had subjected her to as a young woman. She served 11 years in jail beginning in the 1980s and was released on parole in 1994 after which she was twice elected to the Lok Sabha.

Talks on Indo-Pak talks in second round (Go To Top)

          Islamabad: India and Pakistan on Tuesday entered the second day of their first formal peace talks in more than two and a half years on, with the dispute over Kashmir high on the agenda. The three-day talks, being held in Islamabad, between foreign ministry officials had opened in what both sides called a "cordial atmosphere and constructive manner". Being seen as "talks on talks", they aim to set the agenda, structure and timeframe for the dialogue process. The first day being a success, the talks will build on a ground-breaking meeting between Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf last month, a year and a half after the two sides came to the brink of a fourth war.

          A ceasefire between their two armies along the line of control dividing Kashmir has held since late November and already helped to improve the atmosphere. Pakistan has promised to stop militants from crossing over to the Valley to join a 15-year-old insurgency there. It remains to be seen if it will maintain that promise once the snows melt on the high mountain passes that the militants traditionally use.

EC completes poll review in all states (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: The Election Commission on Tuesday met top officials of Jammu and Kashmir in the last leg of its review of preparations for the upcoming national polls. Top bureaucrats from Karnataka, which has decided to hold Assembly polls alongwith the national elections in April, and officials from neighbouring Kerala also met the commission. With Tuesday's meeting the commission completes its consultation with all 29 states on the logistic requirements for the gigantic poll, and in particular, requirements of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and deployment of staff and security personnel. It is expected to announce the poll dates anytime this week, for which 600 million people are eligible to vote.

          The lower house of parliament was disolved on February 6, paving the way for early polls, eight months ahead of schedule. The term of the House was to end on October 19, this year. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government recommended early polls to capitalise on a booming economy and strong gains in recent state polls.

SC dismisses Jaya plea for transfer of cases (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: In a major setback to J Jayalalitha, Chief Minister Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to interfere with its earlier order transferring two disproportionate assets cases against her and four others from a Chennai special court to a court of equal jurisdiction in Bangalore. A bench comprising Justices SN Variava and Justice HK Sema dismissed an application filed by her seeking a notification of the court's order and transfer the cases to Pondicherry or to any other state instead of Bangalore. The court, while allowing a petition filed by DMK general secretary K Anbazghagan had on November 18 last year tranferred the two cases from a Chennai special court to a court of equal jurisdiction in Bangalore. The petitioner has sought the transfer of these cases to ensure fair trial. "No case has been made out by Ms Jayalalitha for modifying our earlier order," the judges observed. The judges concluded by unequivocally saying that in a democratic country like ours fair administration of justice was an important element. This included the subordinate judiciary as well. "We have least doubt that the Bangalore court to which the two cases had been assigned would do its duty in accordance with law," the judges observed.

Raghunath Jha returns to RJD (Go To Top)

          Patna: Rebel Samata party leader Raghunath Jha returned to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) along with over 100 supporters here on Tuesday. Jha, who had been at loggerheads with his former Samata colleague and Railway Minister Nitish Kumar, joined RJD in the presence of its chief Laloo Prasad Yadav at the party headquarters here. Jha, a Member of Parliament from Gopalganj in the dissolved Lok Sabha, has been known for often changing parties. A few years ago, after falling apart with RJD supremo Laloo Yadav, he had joined the Janata Dal. Thereafter, he joined the Samata Party.

PM endorses Rs 25 billion investment for e-governance (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has endorsed Rs 25 billion investment for nationwide e-governance programme during 2003-05, which would be jointly taken up by the Centre, the states and financial institutions. "Recently, a National Action Plan on e-governance has been endorsed by PM for 2003-05. This action plan envisages an investment of over Rs 25 billion with participation of the Centre, states and financial institutions," Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, K C Pant said here on Tuesday at an IT seminar orgainised by the World Bank and Assocham. "If e-governance is to be implemented as a national movement, the requirement of funds would be immense. It would require pooling of resources from all sides - government, private sector, NGOs and financial institutions," Pant said.

35 Maoists killed in Nepal gunbattle (Go To Top)

         Kathmandu: At least 35 Maoists were killed and three security personnel injured in an ongoing gunbattle between the security forces and the ultras in Kotbada area of Kalikot district in midwestern region. State-run Radio Nepal this morning quoted local security officials as saying that the fighting started on Sunday and the security forces have trapped around 1,000 armed Maoists. There are some central level leaders in the area, it said. The security forces launched air raids on the Maoists by helicopters and the additional security forces have been mobilised from the district headquarters and Achham district, it said. Three security personnel were also injured in the fighting, the radio said.

Pak, US plotting to bump off Khan: Scientist's family (Go To Top)

          Islamabad: Family members of Pakistan's detained nuclear scientists and other officials of the Kahuta-based Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) have alleged that the Musharraf regime is out to murder Dr. A. Q. Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, with the backing of the US. "The health condition of Dr. Khan has deteriorated while government is not allowing his medical check-up. This situation is very alarming and shows that the government is hatching a conspiracy to kill him at the behest of US," Online News quoted some of them, as saying at a joint news conference. Ehsam ul Haq, the brother of Major (retired) Islam ul Haq, Dr. Shafiq ur Rehman, the son of Brigadier (retired) Sajawal, Usman Nazir, the son of Dr. Nazir, and Aasim Farooq, the son of Dr. Farooq, addressed the media.

BCCI team wants ODIs, not Tests in Karachi and Peshawar (Go To Top)

          Karachi: The three-member BCCI team that was in Pakistan this week to review the security arrangements for the Indian cricket team's tour of the country is believed to have recommended that no Tests be played in Karachi and Peshawar. The team, which returned to India on Monday, is reported to have recommended that these two venues host one-day internationals instead. A PCB source said that the Board has planned to have the third Test in Karachi followed by the first One-day International, which means that the Indians are supposed to stay in Karachi for over 10 days given the rest days also. "Basically the Indians want their team to remain in Karachi for a shorter duration of time. This means that if the PCB is keen to have a Test and ODI in Karachi it would have to break both matches instead of having the tourists play them in succession," the official said. About Peshawar, the source said: "The Indians objection at playing a Test in Peshawar is basically that the stadium does not have proper facilities to host a match of longer duration. But about Karachi their argument is that having the Indian team stay in Karachi for a period of over a week would be a security risk."

          Other Board sources said that the Indian officials had told the PCB Chairman, Shahryar Khan, that they would prefer not to play the Tests at these two venues, and instead, stick to ODIs only. The one problem facing the PCB is that if the Indians insist on not playing Tests at Karachi and Peshawar, it would restrict the choice of venues for the three Tests to just Lahore, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad. And, the last two cities also have problems with limited facilities for players, officials and the media at the stadium while in Faisalabad the quality of accommodation is poor by international standards. The stadium in Multan is excellent, but again there is an accommodation problem there.

Advani denies receiving BCCI report on Indo-Pak cricket tour (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani on Tuesday denied that he had received any report from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on the security aspect for the forthcoming Indo-Pak series in that country. "I am surprised about the newspaper report to this effect and also that security people from India will be going to Pakistan to provide inner security cover to the players," he told newspersons in reply to a specific query. The Deputy Prime Minister said it was the responsibility of the host country to make security arrangements for the visiting team. Advani said that Indian team captain Saurav Ganguli and wicket keeper Parthiv Patel had met him on Monday and he had wished them all success for the forthcoming series in Pakistan.