BOOK LAUNCH
Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan attends the unveiling of the book My Father, Our Fraternity Indian classical sarod musician Ustad Amjad Ali Khan (right) who has penned the story of his father, sarod player Ustad Haafiz Ali Khan, in Mumbai on December 13.
Market fire rages on, building may crash
A blaze that broke out in a market in Delhi on Thursday continued to rage through for the second day yesterday, with more than 30 shops gutted and sparking fears of the old building collapsing, fire service officials said. The fire was noticed around 5.30pm on Thursday at the Bhagirath Palace in Chandni Chowk area of old Delhi. Starting from the second floor, it spread to the fifth floor of the
multi-storey building in which more than 2,000 shops and warehouses of electrical and electronics goods are located. “The fire was brought under control on Thursday night but suddenly again sparked off around 5am today when the shift of fire officials changed,” a shopkeeper said.
Zee chief, son get court shield against arrest
A Delhi court yesterday extended Zee Group chairman Subhash Chandra’s interim protection against arrest until December 20 in connection with the alleged Rs1bn extortion bid by two journalists of his channel. The shield against arrest was also granted to his son and Zee managing director Puneet Goenka. Additional Sessions Judge Raj Rani Mitra said: “Interim protection for the two is extended till December 20.” The court said it would hear arguments on their anticipatory bail plea on that day. Sudhir Chaudhary, head of Zee News, and Samir Ahluwalia, head of Zee Business, were arrested on November 27 on charges of allegedly attempting to extort money from the Jindal Group.
Italy summons Indian ambassador
Italy has summoned the Indian ambassador to urge that India’s Supreme Court reach a decision before the year-end Christmas holiday to settle a dispute over where two Italian marines accused of killing two fishermen should be tried.
The sailors, members of a military security team protecting the cargo ship Enrica Lexie from pirate attacks, fired on the fishermen’s boat off the Kerala coast in February. Italian officials say the men mistook the fishermen for pirates.
The marines have been detained in India and Italy has challenged India’s right to try them.
It has taken its case to the Supreme Court, saying the shooting took place in international waters, outside the jurisdiction of Indian courts.
Indian authorities accuse the sailors of killing unarmed fishermen in a “contiguous zone” where Indian law applies.
In a statement late on Thursday, Italy’s foreign ministry said it had summoned the ambassador to express its “profound surprise and concern” that the Supreme Court had not ruled on the case three months after arguments ended.
Alagiri’s son Dayanidhi appears in Madurai court
Federal minister M K Alagiri’s son Durai Dayanidhi yesterday appeared in a court in Madurai days after he got anticipatory bail. The court stipulated that Dayanidhi present himself and sign a register at a police station in Madurai. Dayanidhi had been on the run since October after a court issued a non-bailable warrant for him. The warrant was quashed by the Madras High Court on Monday. Dayanidhi was directed to surrender his passport and present himself at the police station. Dayanidhi was the director of a company under the government scanner for illegal granite quarrying.
Rape victim seeking justice raped by cop
An Uttar Pradesh police officer has been arrested for raping a girl who had gone to him seeking action in a rape complaint filed by her earlier. Man Singh was arrested late Thursday from a hotel in the Motinagar area of Faizabad, about 120km from Lucknow, where he took the girl on the pretext of helping her meet the deputy inspector general of Faizabad range regarding her complaint, police said. The girl managed to slip into the bathroom from where she sent text messages from her mobile phone to her relatives, who in turn reported the matter to the DIG. A police team then raided the hotel and rescued the victim. Medical examination confirmed the rape.