80 children die in TN school fire

          Kumbakonam (Tamil Nadu): Eighty children were charred to death in a fire in a school building here this morning. The students were of the 8-10 age group. Over 25 others suffered serious burn burns. The place comes under Tamil Nadu's Thanjavur district. While most of the children died instantly and were charred beyond recognition, some succumbed to injuries in the hospitals. According to District Magistrate J Radhakrishnan, no teacher was among the victims.

         The fire, which is believed to have started from the kitchen when the noon meal for children was being prepared, around 11 am, soon spread to a row of thatched roof classrooms where students from class one to class five were present, police and eyewitnesses said. Around 900 students were present in the Sri Krishna Girls High School complex housing primary, middle and high schools. While the high school and middle school students escaped on noticing the fire, the nursery school children got trapped as the thatched roof collapsed on them making their movement difficult. The injured were rushed to government and some private hospitals where their condition was stated to be serious. The place where the tragedy took place falls in Union Minister for Petroleum Mani Shankar Iyer's constituency.

Mulayam rewards Raja Bhaiyya with a Cabinet berth (Go To Top)

          Lucknow: Controversial Independent MLA from Kunda Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya was on Friday inducted as a Cabinet minister in the Mulayam Singh Yadav-led Uttar Pradesh government. Governor TV Rajeswar administered the oath of office and secrecy to Raja Bhaiya in a simple function held at the Raj Bhawan. Raja Bhaiya, against whom POTA was invoked by the Mayawati government, had been recently released from the jail. Considered close to Yadav, Raja Bhaiyya was believed to be instrumental in the weaning away of the Thakur vote bank from the BJP in the recent Lok Sabha elections. Earlier, he was a cabinet minister in the earlier BJP-led alliance government in the state.

Kohli remanded to 14-day judicial custody (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, the accused for the rape and murder of teenaged British girl Hannah Foster, was remanded to judicial custody on Friday. A Kalimpong court sent him to custody for 14 days till July 29. The ill-fated girl's parents thanked the Indian police at a press conference. The father, Trevor, claimed DNA tests had confirmed Kohli as guilty. "We are emotionally exhausted by this experience, but we are thankful to the Indian police for making the arrest," he added.

Punjab police seeks custody of Hannah Foster murder suspect (Go To Top)

          Kolkata: An investigative team of the Punjab Police is expected here some time today to seek the police or judicial custody of Maninder Singh Kohli, alias Mike Dennis, the prime suspect in the rape and murder of British teenager Hannah Foster. Kohli, a migrant Sikh driver, was arrested on Wednesday night near Darjeeling. British police were in search of him for more than a year.Maninder had fled Britain just days after 17-year-old Hannah's body was found in March 2003. He was reportedly trying to flee to Nepal. Hannah's parents who have mounted a determined bid to find Kohli are also expected to meet police officials and the suspect in Darjeeling. Kohli, however, claims that he is innocent.