Bina Ramani allowed to go to Thailand

      New Delhi: The Delhi High Court today granted permission to Jessica Lall murder case's prime witness Bina Ramani to leave for Thailand. The court, for granting her the permission, has asked her to deposit Rs 5 lakh and property documents as security. The court, however, has ordered the seizure of her husband's and daughter's passports. Ramani in her third petition had sought permission to leave for Thailand to attend her niece's marriage. The court has given her four-day permission and she will return on April 3. The Delhi police had been asked by the Delhi High Court to file their reply today to Ramani's third petition seeking permission to go to Thailand. Jessica was shot dead by Manu Sharma at Bina Ramani's Tamarind Court, at the Qutub Colonnade in South Delhi on the night of April 29-30, 1999.

Charles at Rajasthan Day celebrations (Go To Top)

      Jaipur: Britain's prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, witnessed the grand Rajasthan Day celebrations here on Thursday. The royal couple had earlier visited the city palace where they were given a traditional welcome. Maharani Padmani Devi, who received Prince Charles and Camilla, said her family has a long association with the British royal family. A colourful display of rich Rajasthani art and culture, folk dances and songs won the heart of the dignitaries who kept clapping throughout the 80 minutes of their stay. The British royal couple, on a four-day visit to the state, attended the concluding day celebrations of the 10-day Rajasthan festival. This is the third visit of Prince Charles since 1992 to India.

Biman Bose Bengal CPI(M) secretary (Go To Top)

      Kolkata: Communist Party of India (Marxist) politburo member Biman Bose was here today unanimously chosen to succeed Anil Biswas in holding the post of party's state secretary. West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee announced here today that Biman Bose has unanimously been made the CPI(M)'s state secretary. Bose who is also the Left Front chairman, along with Biswas and Bhattacharjee, formed the triumvirate of the State CPI(M). Anil Biswas, the CPI(M) Politburo member and West Bengal State Secretary died on March 26 after a massive brain haemorrhage.

Naxals kill two in Chhattisgarh (Go To Top)

       Rajnandgaon: CPI (Maoist) group cadres gunned down two Bharatiya Janata Party leaders here on Thursday night. In the first incident, suspected Naxal extremists dragged Ramchandra Sinha, the spokesman of BJP's Dongergarh unit, out of his residence and shot him dead. The second killing occurred in Sendri village, about 12 kms from Dongergaon in which a local BJP leader, Babla was killed by Naxalites. According to sources, police rushed to the both villages for further investigation. Both incidents occurred in the two separate villages falling under Rajnandgaon district which is also within Dongergaon Assembly constituency represented by Chief Minister Raman Singh. On March 12, Naxalites kidnapped six policemen of Chintagufa Police Station while they were on their way to Dornapal, later on the next day they set free. On February 28, Naxalites had triggered a landmine blast targeting a truck that killed more than 50 people. The trucks,carrying about 100 people in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh were returning back after attending a Salwa Judum camp.

Five acquitted in Irfan murder case (Go To Top)

      New Delhi: A Delhi court today acquitted five persons who were accused of murdering cartoonist Irfan Hussein in March 1999. Pronouncing the judgement, Additional Sessions Judge Talwant Singh said, "In a case of circumstantial evidence, everything must be proved independently and the chain of events should be able to completely prove that the accused are indeed guilty. This was missing in this case." The judge also absolved Mustafa Ansari, Sanjay, Heera Singh, Mohammed Jasim and Mohammed Shahid of charges of kidnapping the cartoonoist. He, however, held the prosecution responsible for not being able to establish the complicity of the accused. Irfan Hussain, who was working as a cartoonist with the Outlook weekly news magazine, was kidnapped and later allegedly killed by a gang of auto snatchers on the national highway in East-Delhi on March 8, 1999.

Three more arrested in AIIMS case (Go To Top)

       New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested three more persons in connection with the paper leak case of the All India Post-Graduate Medical Entrance Examination (AIPGMEE) for the year 2006, conducted by the AIIMS, on Friday. According to the CBI sources, all the arrested persons which include the Head of Department (Commerce) of Madras Presidency College, Prof Kattimuthu, Raghu, a clerk working with the Asan Memorial School, and a Senior Assistant of Pachyapas College, Chennai Manoharan, belong to Chennai. A sum of Rs. 18 lakhs was also recovered, sources added. Today's arrests come just a day after four doctors were arrested when the CBI conducted country-wide raids at more than 41 places across Uttar Pradesh, Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu and Delhi.

70 people die in Iran quake (Go To Top)

     Tehran: At least 70 people were killed and 1000 injured when an earthquake measuring six on Richter scale hit western parts of Iran on Friday, destroying many villages and leading to frightened residents fleeing homes, reported The News. The quake, having a magnitude of 6.0, had major affect mostly in rural Lorestan province, the newspaper quoted a Lorestan medical official as saying. According to the head of the disaster control committee in the Lorestan governor's office, some survivors were dug out of the rubble of the buildings alive. But the death toll was expected to rise. According to Iranian officials, about 330 villages in the area were severely damaged, and telephone lines, electricity and gas supplies had been cut.

Indo-Nepal treaty extended (Go To Top)

      New Delhi: India and Nepal have agreed to extend their bilateral transit treaty by another seven years. A statement to this effect was released on Friday by the spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs. "Following the completion of the review process provided for under Article XI, the Treaty of Transit between India and Nepal which was in force upto January 5, 2006 has been renewed with mutually agreed technical modifications for a further period of seven years," the spokesman said. The Indo-Nepal Transit Treaty was first signed in January 1999. The treaty allows trade into Nepal through 15 designated transit points. Besides the designated points, New Delhi liberally allows other routes for transiting goods into Nepal.

Suresh Raina takes India home (Go To Top)

     Faridabad: Backed by a responsible knock by one of India's young guns, Suresh Raina, India once again managed to win despite the top order's failure against England in the second One-Dayer at the Nahar Singh Stadium here on Friday. Chasing 227 for a win, Team India achieved the target for the loss of six wickets in the 49th over, taking a 2-0 lead in the seven-match series. The architect of Indian win Raina, slammed an unbeaten 81 off 89 balls with eight fours and one six, to take India home after the hosts, at one stage, were at 92 for 5 while chasing the moderate target. The 19-year-old left-hander shared a partnership of 118 runs for the sixth wicket with swashbuckler wicket-keeper batsman Mahender Singh Dhoni to ensure that India maintain their lead in the series.

Baton-charge at stadium

     Faridabad: Several people were injured when police resorted baton-charge to disperse cricket fans during the second One-Day International between India and England here on Friday. Trouble began when policemen stopped people with valid tickets from entering the stadium to accommodate some gatecrashers. The police did not spare even women and children and many suffered injuries and had to be rushed to a nearby hospital.

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