‘State administration responsible for Victoria Park fire’
Meerut: Holding the state administration responsible for the fire at Victoria Park here in 2006, the then SSP of Meerut Rajiv Sabharwal said the state government was responsible for all the arrangements of the fair and that police had no role in it. Sabharwal, who is now the ATS Inspector General, said the state administration was responsible for giving permissions and making all other arrangements for the fair. He told this to a panel probing the fire incident, said O P Sharma on Saturday who represents the fair organisers before the panel. Sharma said the one-man commission, set up on the orders of Supreme court and headed by Justice S B Sinha, started its hearing around 11 am Friday and continued till 9 pm. The organisers asked around 50 questions to Sabharwal. During the enquiry Sabharwal said that he was transfered the next day of the incident so he will not be able to tell what happened after it. Liaison officer of the Victoria Park, G P Srivastava said that hearing will continue Saturday. On April 10, 2006 a massive fire broke out during a fair at the Victoria Park here which claimed 65 lives and injured more than 100. (PTI)
Two arrested for injuring girl with acid
Behrampore (WB): A youth and his friend were arrested on Saturday for allegedly attacking a girl with acid for her rejecting the boy’s marriage proposal at Jalangi in Murshidabad district, police said. “Ripon Sheikh and his friend Situ Seikh were arrested this morning for pouring acid on a girl after she rejected Ripon’s marriage proposal,” Superintendent of Police C Sudhakar said. Ripon and Situ allegedly threw acid on the school girl last night when she was sleeping at her house in Jalangi in Murshidabad. The teenage girl was injured and has been admitted in Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital in Behrampore. Her brother and sister who were sleeping with her also suffered acid burns, police said. Nineteen-year-old Ripon is a first year student in a local college. He took Situ to the girl’s house around 10 PM on Friday. The girl’s father, a farmer, lodged a complaint with the police. (PTI)
Missing Aussie woman found murdered; three held
Puttaparthy (AP): A 75-year-old Australian woman, who was missing for the past two months, has been found murdered and the police arrested two persons in this connection. The body of Lutgate Tony Berly Anne, a disciple of Satya Saibaba, was exhumed on Saturday. Watchman of the apartment S Bhagavanthudu strangulated Anne to death in her flat on August 29 with help of another person Pothulaiah, Puttaparthy police station sub-inspector, Venugopal said, adding, both were arrested on Friday. The two accused, after killing Anne, buried her body on city outskirts with help of a car driver Nagaraju, he said. Nagaraju has also been arrested. The Australian national had come to Puttaparthy in July. He said Bhagavanthudu hatched the conspiracy to kill Anne after she asked him to return part of the money she gave him to arrange an accommodation, which she later found to be not as comfortable as promised by him. Incidentally, it was Bhagavanthudu who had reported to police about her missing on September 24. Police got information from Anne’s relatives in Australia that she had not left India. The woman’s body was exhumed today in the presence of a representative of Australian Embassy, Richard Mosses. The body would be handed over to power-of-attorney holder of the woman after autopsy, police added. (PTI)
Advani turns 87; Modi conveys b’day greetings
New Delhi: BJP patriarch L K Advani on Saturday turned 87 and received greetings from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who described him as “one of the tallest personalities in public life” with “unparalleled intellect and insight”. Modi, who was in Varanasi since on Friday, drove down to Advani’s residence on Prithviraj Road to personally wish the former Deputy Prime Minister on his return here. Advani came out to receive Modi. Home Minister Rajnath Singh and some other BJP leaders were also present there at the time. “Wishing Advani ji a very happy birthday. May he be blessed with long life & good health,” Modi tweeted earlier. “His unparalleled intellect & insight make Advani ji one of the tallest personalities in public life. All of us have learnt a lot from him,” the Prime Minister said in another tweet. Advani had been upset when Modi was named as BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate at the party’s National Executive in Goa in May last year. In protest, he had quit from all the posts he held at the time, but withdrew the resignation the next day after being persuaded by senior party colleagues.(PTI)