Chandrasekharan Murder: Wife, son to be deposed on February 25
Kozhikode: Wife and son of slain Revolutionary Marxist Party leader T P Chandrasekharan would be deposed before the Additional Sessions Court, hearing the sensational murder case, on February 25. Court sources said his father-in-law and former leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) K K Madhavan and witnesses 6 to 8 and 11 to 13 would also be deposed before Sessions Judge R Narayana Pisharoty on the same day. Meanwhile, Sub Inspector Manoj, while deposing before the court today changed his version on placing the body of Chandrasekharan at Vatakara in the district for public view. He said the body was placed in state for public to pay their tributes on May 5 from 2030 hrs and and not as rendered on Friday. The officer had yesterday told the court that the body was placed for public view at Vatakara from 1900 hrs. Rebel CPI (M) leader Chandrasekharan was hacked to death by car borne assailants at Vallikkode near Vatakara in the district while he was returning home on his motor bike on May 4. (UNI)
Cops suspended in gangrape case
Chikmagalur: Five police personnel, including a Sub-Inspector, have been placed under suspension after a complaint was filed against them stating that they were allegedly involved in a case of gangrape of a woman arrested in connection with a theft case. The policemen from Aldur police station had taken the victim to Bangalore on February 17 and the trio of Sub-Inspector Shivakumar, Constables Mahesh and Gurumurthy allegedly gangraped her in a lodge while the other two women constables, who accompanied the woman, failed in their duties to stop the crime. The three policemen involved in raping the woman had been missing after the news of the incident came out. The woman had filed a complaint with Chikmagalur Superintendent of Police Shashi Kumar that she was gangraped by the three policemen. She underwent a medical test in a hospital in Hassan, yesterday. (UNI)
Rally to be organised to create awareness on childhood cancer
Puducherry: The Regional Cancer Centre, Jipmer, in collaboration with Rotary Club (beach town) and CANKIDS will organise a rally here on Sunday to create awareness about childhood cancer. According to a Jipmer statement here today, cancer survivors and parents, doctors and paramedical staffs, school and college students will take part in the rally on the beach road with the intention of making the society aware of childhood cancer and early referral to the hospital. February 15 is observed as International Childhood Cancer Awareness Day and the theme this year is ‘Cancer is curable, early detection, improves survival rate’. “The incidence of childhood cancer in our country is 75 million a year. It contributes five per cent of the total cancer population. The cure rate in childhood cancer in western countries is more than 80 per cent while it is about 60 per cent in India,” the Statement said. (UNI)
Farmer commits suicide
Kanpur: A farmer allegedly committed suicide after he was unable to pay the debt he had taken, police said. 35-year-old Amarnath hanged himself from a tree on Friday in the Bilhour area. The victim had taken loan from many money lenders to do farming which he was unable to repay, police said. In another case, a girl from Faithfulganj area allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself after she had gone into depression over the recent death of her mother. She was living with her elder brother. In a third incident, a man, who was an alcoholic, hanged himself last evening after he had a tiff with his family over his frequent drinking. All the three bodies have been sent for post-mortem and police has initiated the probe. (PTI)
574 timber smugglers booked in 2012
Jammu: Cracking down on timber smugglers, Jammu and Kashmir government booked 574 alleged offenders and seized over 30,000 square feet of the wood last year. 32,500 sq ft timber along with 48 vehicles and 45 horses have been recovered from the possession of smugglers, state Forest department officials said. So far this year, the department has seized 4 vehicles with 2,500 sq ft timber and has registered cases against the offenders in this connection, they said. (PTI)
Girl raped, dumped on highway
Mumbai: Property broker Krishna Mastud and his friend were arrested by the Samata Nagar police for allegedly drugging, raping and abandoning a 17-year-old girl on the Western Express Highway at Kandivli (E). The 17-year-old victim, who was to appear for her SSC exams privately this year, lives with her mother and two brothers in Dahisar (E). One of her brother is an autorickshaw driver. “The family owned a small property at Virar, which was recently demolished by the BMC. They were looking for another property when the girl’s uncle fell ill at their hometown in Karnataka and her mother and brothers went to see him,’ a police officer said. One of her friends introduced her to Mastud, who showed her a few properties in Virar. She liked one property and paid him a token amount of Rs 5,000. (UNI)
Hailstorm leaves farmers worried
Agra: Hailstorm and strong winds that lashed the Agra region Saturday left farmers worried. “The rain has been intermittent. It is the wind that is causing harm to the standing wheat crop. The late mustard and potato crops have been badly hit,” said Ravi Singh, a progressive farmer in Barauli Ahir. The weather department has forecast more rains till Sunday. “We woke up to loud staccato noise in the morning. Outside the house, the floor was carpeted with hail and gusty winds was blowing,” Sudheir Gupta from Vijay Nagar said. The hailstorm has also hit the Taj Mahotsav cultural fest. “Stall owners rushed for cover and the open-air theatre was all wet,” said Prashant Baghael from Taj Ganj. (IANS)
Travel woes: AI defers Jeddah flight
Kozhikode: Air India flight from Calicut International Airport to Jeddah scheduled to take off on Saturday evening has been deferred to Sunday due to technical snag. Air India Sources said AI flight scheduled to leave at 1810 hrs would now take off tomorrow at 0530 hrs. Meanwhile, passengers of Jeddah flight, which they said was scheduled to take off two days ago, and accommodated in hotels nearby expressed serious resentment over the failure of the AI authorities to make alternative arrangement for their journey. Flaying the management for the callous attitude of the national carrier, the pro-CPI (M) Democratic Youth Federation of India today took out a march to the airport in protest against the pro-longed day. (UNI)
