Five killed in car-truck collision
Jaipur: Five persons including a two-year-old child were killed on Monday when their car collided with a truck in Churu district of Rajasthan. The incident occurred on the Ratangarh-Sardarshahar road in the district when the car coming from Ajmer collided head on with the truck, police said, adding that another person was injured. The victims, including a two year-old baby and a woman, were on their way to Srinagar after a visit to the Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti Dargah in Ajmer, SHO (Ratangarh) Amir Hassan said. (PTI)
Bengal Assembly observes Jyoti Basu birth centenary
Kolkata: The West Bengal Assembly today paid glowing tributes to Jyoti Basu, who was the longest-serving chief minister of the country, on the occasion of his birth centenary. Paying his tribute, Speaker of the Assembly Biman Bandopadhyay said that Basu was a truly national leader with a great personality. Basu actually elevated the CPI(M) to the national level, for which he was asked to occupy the chair of Prime Minister in 1996, but he had refused for the sake of maintaining party discipline, Bandopadyay said. The former Lok Sabha speaker and a long-time colleague of late Basu, Somnath Chatterjee, said that he used to speak in the language of the common people. “Today his absence is felt very much. Basu used to say that politics is the best method for serving people and our Assembly and Parliament are meant for the people. let us take the pledge to serve people. Basu always used to raise people’s problems in the House,” Chatterjee said. He also noted that Basu could easily align himself with the masses and displayed an aura of great personality.(PTI)
Woman, 2 daughters killed
in accident
Bahraich: A woman and her two minor daughters were killed on Monday after being hit by a vehicle in Kaiserganj area here, police said. Shilpa (42) and her daughters Rachna (11) and Sapna (9) were going to the temple Monday morning when a vehicle hit them, killing them on the spot, police said. The driver reportedly lost control of the vehicle and hit them, they said, adding that he fled with his vehicle after the incident. The bodies were sent for postmortem, they said. (PTI)
Two local leaders killed by Maoists in Odisha
Malkangiri: Two local leaders were abducted and killed by Maoists in Odisha’s Malkangiri district allegedly on the suspicion that they were police informers. A group of Maoists had kidnapped Ramesh Kabasi of Babanpali village and Naresh Dhali of nearby MPV 25 in Kalimela area Sunday night. Their bodies were later found with their throats slit dumped near Bejangwada market, Superintendent of Police Akhileswar Singh said on Monday. According to the SP, the Maoists suspected that Naresh, who had contested the last Zilla Parishad elections as a BJD candidate, and Ramesh, a village head, were police informers. “The exact reason behind the killing is being ascertained,” the SP said. Security forces have launched a massive combing operation. The killing came two days after a National Investigation Agency (NIA) team interrogated two Maoists arrested for involvement in the recent attack on Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh. (PTI)
Porter injured in blast
Jammu: A porter was injured in a blast along the Line of Control in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir early on Monday, an Army official said. The blast took place when a group of 11 porters was taking supplies from one post to another in Sabzian-Mandi belt of Poonch, the official said. The injured porter was rushed to a local hospital, he said. Army officials are probing the matter. (PTI)
Man shot dead for demanding
arrest of gangrape accused
Muzaffarnagar: A 45-year-old man was allegedly shot dead for demanding the arrest of some gangrape accused at Mandawar village here, police said on Monday. Mehraj, a wood trader by profession, was shot dead on Sunday allegedly by two gangrape accused and their supporters, police said. The police have registered a case against seven persons– Bhura, Afzal, Mehtab, Yusuf, Farid, Hashim and Islam. The accused are absconding, they said. The investigation in the case is on. (PTI)
Red sandalwood worth Rs 1.5 cr seized from Mundra port
Bhuj: Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) sleuths have seized 40 tonne of red sandalwood from two Dubai-bound containers at Mundra Adani port in Kutch district. According to the DRI sources, acting on a tip-off, the officials Sunday stopped the loading of the containers and opened them which led them to the recovery of the contraband red sandalwood worth Rs 1.5 crore in domestic market. Vadodara-based Perfect Exim company had booked the containers in the Dubai-bound vessel. In its declaration, the company had claimed that it was sending textile materials but when the containers were opened the contraband wood was recovered. The Kutch ports have been used to smuggle out contraband wood for quite some time. (UNI)