A magistrate's court here today cancelled a non-bailable warrant against MIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi in a 'hate speech' case, but said he must appear before it on May 9.

A statue of TDP founder and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N T Rama Rao will be unveiled in Parliament building premises next week.

Senior CPI(M) leader Surya Kanta Mishra today alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was opposed to a CBI investigation into the chit fund scam as it would reveal links of 'a dozen' of her partymen.

Scuffle at Tihar kills Indian prisoner, 3 others injured   A prisoner has been reportedly killed in a scuffle between inmates at Delhi's Tihar Jail.  

 

Three other prisoners have also been injured in the incident, TV reports note.   The deceased prisoner is an Indian national.

 

Photograph: Reuters

The condition of Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah Ranjay was "stable", India said today while terming as "regrettable" the incident in Jammu jail where he was injured during a scuffle with another inmate and assured the guilty will be punished even as Pakistan sought his urgent repatriation.        

 

The Pakistan high commission also sought immediate consular access to 52-year-old Sanaullah, to which India maintained that it will grant the access after doctors treating him give the go-ahead for the same. Sanaullah was serving a life term after being convicted under TADA provisions following his arrest in 1999.  

 

"Pakistan High Commission has shown serious concern. It has taken up with Ministry of External Affairs the attack on Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah in Kot Bhalwal Jail in Jammu," the Press Attache in the High Commission here said.        

 

He added Pakistan had sought urgent repatriation of Sanaullah on humanitarian grounds for medical treatment there. Pakistan has also sought airlifting of Sanaullah by an air ambulance to Pakistan and assistance in ground facilitation.  

Image: Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah shifted to a hospital in Jammu  

Photograph: Reuters  

As the speculation of a Rahul Gandhi versus Narendra Modi fight for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections gathers steam, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ananth Kumar on Friday said the Gujarat Chief Minister has carved a niche for himself through three hat-trick victories in his state, while the nation doesn't know the merits and demerits of the Congress vice-president "who sounds hollow and empty".

"Narendra Bhai through his three hat-trick victories in Gujarat on the basis of development has shown the way. He has become a national icon for development.

"At the same time, Rahul Gandhi is yet trying, the country doesn''t know what are his merits and de-merits," said Kumar. "Therefore, whenever Rahul Gandhi speaks to media, whenever Rahul Gandhi speaks to industry, whenever Rahul Gandhi speaks to the country it sounds hollow and empty," he added.

Kumar also lashed out at Congress President Sonia Gandhi for spoiling the image of Karnataka, which is presently ruled by the BJP.

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Europe's fourth-biggest carrier -- Turkish Airlines -- says bright makeup 'impairs visual integrity', triggering concerns over creeping Islamisation. Read

More than 900 people have been arrested in China for selling fake or tainted meat in the last three months, state media say.Officials say they uncovered almost 400 such cases and seized more than 20,000 tonnes of fake meat.In one case, the suspects made fake mutton from foxes, mink and rats after adding chemicals, state media said. -- BBC

The swimming pool and rolling green lawns attached to Pervez Musharraf's villa on the edge of Islamabad have been out of bounds for the former military ruler since he was put under house arrest in April, according to his lawyers and aides.  Read more

On a day when Sarabjit Singh was cremated with full state honour at his ancestral village in Punjab, family members of Chamel Singh said he should also be bestowed with the title of a martyr.

"Sarabjit Singh was killed in the same jail where our father was murdered. The same persons who killed Sarabjit were involved in the killing of my father," alleged Chamel Singh's son, Deepak. "We appeal to the Centre that our father should also be accorded the title of a martyr," Deepak said.

Chamel Singh, who hailed from a border village of Pargwal in Akhnoor of Jammu, was beaten to death in Pakistan's Kot Lakhpat jail on January 15 this year and his body was brought back here on March 13.

"We are four brothers and are forced to quit education and work for our survival. We appeal to the government to help our family in the same way as Sarabjit's family has been done.

Both Centre and state government should think about us," he said. Chamel Singh, who was about to complete a five-year prison term for his alleged involvement in an espionage case, died in Lahore with reports saying that he was "mercilessly beaten" by Pakistani prison staff.

Air India has suspended the co-pilot and two cabin crew for "over stay" in the cockpit on its Delhi-bound flight from Bangkok on April 12 but denied reports that pilots had allowed the stewardesses to operate the aircraft, endangering the lives of passengers.

"Based on a report that two cabin crew members were in the cockpit for a prolonged period on the said flight, the two cabin crew were called for an inquiry. As the enquiry confirmed the over stay of the cabin crew in the cockpit, administrative action was taken against them and the pilot. They have been suspended pending the final enquiry of the incident," the national carrier said in a statement.

The action came following a media report which alleged that both the commander and the co-pilot left the cockpit after putting the plane on auto-pilot mode and allowing the cabin crew to operate the flight.


Air India also denied that one of the cabin crew "accidentally switched off the auto-pilot mode", as alleged in the report, endangering the safety of 166 passengers onboard. "It is categorically stated that at no point of time the cockpit was left unattended by the cockpit crew.

During the incident, due to distraction the co-pilot had touched the auto pilot disconnect button momentarily. But the same was connected back," the statement said.

FC Bayern Munich already holds this year's German league title, and its drubbing of FC Barcelona puts the European championship just a match away. What makes this year's team so much more dominant than all its other star-studded predecessors? Read

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Surjit Singh, who languished in Pakistan's Kot Lakhpat jail on espionage charges for decades before being released last year, today expressed anguish over Sarabjit's death and said he had warned the Centre about condition of Indian prisoners in Pakistani jails.

The Centre did not take it seriously and made no efforts to ensure the safety of Indian prisoners like Sarabjit Singh, said Surjit, who returned in June last year to his native village Phidday.

"The result of which, Sarbjit Singh was murdered there in a well planned conspiracy," he told reporters today.

Surjit appealed to the Centre to take up the matter with the Pakistan government to save other Indian prisoners in that country. He said he had met Sarbjit in Kot Lakhpat jail only once and did not have much details about his activities.

Singh said before leaving jail, he had promised Sarabjit that he would make all out efforts for his early release from prison.

Dr Mann says the cause of death has been kept pending till the viscera tests are done. However, severe head injuries may have led to death. The injuries were approximately seven to eight days old. "We presume the missing organs are in Pakistan for tests. We will ask Pakistan for the results," says Dr Mann.

"The extent of injuries reveal that the main motive was to kill the person. It is likely there was more than one person who attacked Sarabjit. He was such a healthy person, it would not be possible for one person to attack him and cause such severe injuries," says Dr Mann.

Press conference by doctors who conducted the autopsy on Sarabjit Singh in Amritsar.  Dr Gurjit Mann, who is HOD of the forensics department of the hospital in Amritsar where the second autopsy had been performed on the Sarabjit Singh yesterday, speaks.
Dr Mann says that the body revealed fractures of the skull bone, multiple fractures of the mandible bone (jaw), several injuries (dark bruises) on the back and shoulder, on the left side of head.

There were multiple injuries which had been stitched, but some injuries like the ones at the back of head and shoulder, had not been stitched. There were fractures on the ribs on the right and left, fracture on the sternum, as well.

The autopsy conducted in Pakistan said cardiac pulmonary arrest and severe head injury.

Stomach, gall bladder, both the kidneys, heart were missing from the body. The rest of the viscera (liver, lungs, brain) sent for autopsy. There was massive head injuries, and the cause of death can be known only after the autopsy of the viscera is done.

Anger and outrage over Congress leader Sajjan Kumar's acquittal in an 1984 anti-Sikh riots case poured into Delhi streets for fourth day today, with one of the riot victims starting an indefinite fast while scores of people blocked a busy road triggering huge traffic snarl.

While riot victim Nirpreet Kaur began an indefinite fast at Jantar Mantar, riot-affected families blocked the busy Mathura Road near Nizamuddin in south Delhi this morning.

The blockade led to a huge traffic pile up on the road which connects south Delhi to the heart of the capital. Aam Aadmi Party leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Kumar Vishwas along with their supporters also joined Kaur's protest while local BJP leader Vijender Gupta had to leave the venue after some people objected to his presence.

The AAP leaders sat on a one-day fast to express solidarity with the protesters.

The name of MiD DAY's investigations editor J Dey, killed on June 11, 2011, has been etched on a glass panel in US museum. Read

The Pakistan High Commission has taken up with the MEA the attack on a Pakistani prisoner in a Jammu jail today and sought details of the incident. The Pak High Commission also sought consular access to the Pakistani prisoner (which India has agreed to grant). Pakistan also sought urgent repatriation of Sanaullah Haq on humanitarian grounds for medical treatment there.

Pic: Police and hospital staff shift Sanaullah Haq, the Pakistani prisoner, to an intensive care ward in a hospital in Jammu this morning. REUTERS/Stringe

The full text of the memorandum submitted to the President of India by NDA leaders today. Read

The Supreme Court has ruled that an interview given to a private news channel by the software engineer who was with a 23-year-medical student when she was gang-raped in a moving bus on December 16 last year, cannot be used as evidence in the trial. 

The top court has put aside a Delhi High Court order which had allowed the use of a CD of the interview, telecast on January 4 this year, as evidence. The Delhi Police had appealed against the High Court order, submitting that the TV interview was inadmissible. 

The Dellhi High Court had on March 7 allowed the plea of two of the six men accused in the gang-rape - Ram Singh, who allegedly committed suicide in Tihar jail, and his brother Mukesh against a trial court order which disallowed them from exhibiting the CD as evidence.-- NDTV

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, went up to Jairam Ramesh today to comment that she wanted the Land Reforms bills passed. Insiders in the BJP told Jairam that it was Dr Manmohan Singh and P Chidambaram who were keen to stall these two bills and not BJP leaders. The same insiders said that the PM does not have a single rupee to disburse for these two bills.

In the wake of Sarabjit Singh's death after a murderous assault in a Lahore prison and attack on a Pakistani prisoner in Jammu, security has been stepped for two Pak prisoners lodged in jail in Kanpur, the SP said today.

The two Pakistani prisoners, Basaat Ahmed and Idrees Ahmed, have been separated from other inmates and shifted to a high security barrack guarded by four security guards round- the-clock.

Basaat has been lodged here from past three years and Idrees from last one and half months, Saloniya said, adding, they were arrested for overstaying in India after their visas expired.

Food is being provided to them in the barrack and high security arrangements have also been made outside the barrack if any of them wants to go out, Saloniya said. No other inmates will be allowed to meet the two prisoners, he said. The Jail SP said he was keeping a regular watch on them.

India cannot break off its dialogue process with Pakistan on the Sarabjit issue alone as it would serve no purpose, Union Minister Kapil Sibal said today. "We are upset.

But that does not mean that on that ground alone, we should break off our dialogue with Pakistan," Sibal told reporters here in response to question on the Sarabjit issue. He said Pakistan should have protected Sarabjit but failed to do so.

"You (Pakistan) should have protected Sarabjit because he was in your jail, like we protected Kasab," the minister said, adding that India did not allow anything to happen to Kasab and protected him till the Supreme Court decided his case and subsequent action (capital punishment) was carried out in accordance with the apex court's judgement.

While the government as well as the people of India are unhappy with what happened to Sarabjit and it may affect to some extent India's future dialogue process with Pakistan, New Delhi cannot break it off with Islamabad on this ground alone, he added. Sibal's reaction came in the wake of BJP demanding that India scales down its diplomatic relations with Islamabad in the aftermath of Sarabjit's death.

India bids farewell to Sarabjit. His sister Dalbir Kaur performs the last rites. The Punjab police plays the Last Post. Rahul Gandhi, Parkash Singh Badal are at the funeral. Sarabjit Singh given the 21-gun salute.


Dalbir Kaur fought a difficult, but relentless battle to get her brother back to India. It was only thanks to her efforts that Sarabjit's story has becomes India's story with the MEA promising to hold talks with the Pakistan government over the 270 prisoners in their jails.

Just in: Fresh tremors in Jammu and Kashmir. A low-intensity quake has hit Kishtwar and Doda. 

The tri-colour draped coffin in which Sarabjit's body has been placed, was earlier kept on the premises of a government school in Bikhiwind for the public to pay their respects. 'Sahabd kirtan' was recited at the venue and religious hymns played on speakers, even as mourners raised anti-Pakistan slogans and chanted "Sarabjit Amar Rahe".


The final journey of Sarabjit commenced at around 1:15 pm as the coffin carrying his body was taken to a flower bedecked funeral van which will proceed to the cremation ground located 400 metres from the school.


Sarabjit's family members, including sister Dalbir Kaur, wife Sukhpreet Kaur and daughters Swapandeep Kaur and Poonam, and son-in-law Sanjay joined the funeral procession, which is likely to take 45 minutes to one hour to reach the cremation ground after taking a round of the village.

Clinging on to coffin, Sarabjit's daughters bid goodbye to a father they haven't seen in 23 years. The coffin is draped in the tricolour and is held aloft by the Punjab police. The funeral is taking place with full state honours.

In a special session, the Punjab Assembly today unanimously passed a resolution declaring Sarabjit Singh as national martyr and sought an impartial investigation by an international agency into his "merciless" attack in a Pakistani jail.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal moved the resolution which appealed to the Centre to build up international pressure on Pakistan to ascertain the causes of the brutal attack on Sarabjit in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail.


Paying rich tribute to 49-year-old Sarabjit, the resolution also asked the Centre to "initiate strong and effective diplomatic efforts" to ensure the safety of prisoners belonging to India and those of Indian-origin lodged in prisons of Pakistan and other countries.

Pic: Hospital staff, airline and security officials load Sarabjit's body at Lahore airport for departure to Amritsar, yesterday.  Reuters/Mani Rana

Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Patiala MP Preneet Kaur, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, his deputy Sukhbir Badal, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi will be attending the funeral. 

Thousands of people from neighbouring villages also at the funeral. The coffin is now being taken for the cremation. Sarabjit's sister, Dalbir Kaur, who has fought a single-handed battle to get him released, said she can't stop politicians from arriving for the funeral, but said, it was way too late. "Badi der kar di, badi der kar di," she says wiping her tears. 

At Bhikhiwind village near Amritsar, Sarabjit Singh's body is being taken for cremation. The government has announced a state funeral and also a three-day mourning as a mark of respect to Sarabjit, besides financial aid and government jobs for his family. Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur, his wife and two daughters sit by the body. The cremation is expected at around 2.30 pm today.

The village with a population of around 11,000 and located about 36 kms from Amritsar, is in a state of mourning since yesterday. Residents had started gathering near the house of the family after the news of Sarabjit's death spread.

The mortal remains of Sarabjit Singh, who died after being brutally assaulted by fellow inmates in a Lahore jail, will be consigned to flames in his native village here this afternoon with state honours.


Shops and commercial establishments in the area remained shut. The village has witnessed angry protests with locals raising anti-Pakistan slogans and burning effigies. A large number of people, including women, have started arriving here for the cremation of 49-year-old Sarabjit who succumbed to his injuries in a Lahore hospital yesterday following a brutal attack on Friday last in Kot Lakhpat Jail where he was lodged since 1990.


Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Patiala MP Preneet Kaur, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, his deputy Sukhbir Badal and a number of leaders are expected to attend the last rites of Sarabjit.


The government has announced a state funeral and also a three-day mourning as a mark of respect to Sarabjit, besides financial aid and government jobs for his family. The village with a population of around 11,000 and located about 36 kms from Amritsar, is in a state of mourning since yesterday. Residents had started gathering near the house of the family after the news of Sarabjit's death spread.

Pic: Candles placed in front of the posters of Sarabjit Singh, during a vigil to pay tribute in Amritsar yesterday. REUTERS/Munish Sharma

MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin says India proposes talks with Pakistan on prisoners. However, he said, that the security of prisoners was the responsibility of jail superintendents.  Akbaruddin said a judicial committee had also made certain recommendations in this regard.

Before the Parliament was adjourned, law minister Ashwani Kumar spent 15 minutes with Arun Jaitley at the Central Hall of Parliament, closely watched by other MPs, though none ventured near. Then there was Madhya Pradesh chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, who on seeing Sushma Swaraj walking in to the Central Hall from the Lok Sabha  rushed towards her. But then he spotted LK Advani and touched his feet. At least 15 MPs of the BJP followed Advani and Sushma's footsteps.   

As expected, Lok Sabha has been adjourned for the day; Rajya Sabha till 2.30 pm after uproar over the BJP demand for Prime Minister's resignation on coal scam. However, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath rules out sine die adjournment of Parliament before last day of Budget Session on May 10.

Meanwhile, our Delhi sources tell us that all NDA MPs led by LK Advani will meet the President on the Chinese incursion at 1:30 pm today at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Attack on the Pakistani prisoner in Jammu: A case of assault was registered against Vinod Kumar, an ex-serviceman who is also serving a life term in the jail in the outskirts of Jammu. Kumar hails from Uttrakhand.

The sources said the health condition of Sanaullah was stated to be very critical as he was hit with a very sharp weapon. He has been shifted to Chandigarh's PGI for treatment as his Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) was pretty low. GCS is a scale for measuring level of consciousness, especially after a head injury, in which scoring is determined by three factors: amount of eye opening, verbal responsiveness, and motor responsiveness.

Sanaullah was arrested on April 1999 in connection with five cases related to terror activities.

The attack occurred ahead of Sarabjit's funeral at his native village in Punjab. Following the death of 49-year-old Sarabjit in Pakistan, Union Home Ministry had issued advisories to all states for maintaining high vigil in jails and ensure there was no attack on any Pakistani prisoner lodged there.

One version in Pakistan holds that Aamir and Mudassir assaulted Sarabjit Singh with bricks to become "national heroes". If adulation indeed was the objective, most people in Pakistan still do not know the full names of the assailants. Read

The Pakistani prisoner attacked in the jail in Jammu has been shifted to the PGI hospital in Chandigarh which offers better medical facilities. He has been severely injured on the right side of his head.

Sarabjit Singh had once told his lawyer Awais Sheikh, "I shall consider I have reached jannat (heaven) when I set foot in Bhikhiwind again, dead or alive.'This evening, he made it in a casket, more than 22 years after he had last left his native village. His body was driven the 40km from Amritsar after it arrived in an aircraft from Lahore. Read more

J&K home minister says the jail superintendent of Kot Balwal jail has been suspended, while the principal secretary has been directed to conduct an enquiry. The Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah Haq is believed to have been attacked with an axe and has been severely injured on the right side of his head. 

The Pakistan government has asked for consular access to the victim.

Rediff.com's Mukhtar Ahmed reporting from Srinagar. The Pakistani prisoner attacked today is from Siakot. He has been moved to the SMGS hospital in Jammu city, a senior police officer said. The prisoner, Sanaullah was attacked by the inmates this morning inside the jail, he added. "His condition is critical and doctors are trying to revive him. He has been shifted to the hospital ICU," the officer said.

The bruised and battered body of Sarabjit Singh will be given a funeral in Bhikhiwind today, flown in by a special aircraft that makes a mockery of the official care he lacked in his lifetime.

Officially, India does not acknowledge that they were spies. Sarabjit the farmer, the official and the family version goes, strayed across the border in a drunken stupor on August 28, 1990. Pakistani police arrested him and accused him of engineering blasts in Lahore and Faisalabad in which at least 14 people were killed. Read more

Pakistani prisoner Sanuallah Haq attacked inside the Kotbalwal jail in Jammu, says an official. The prisoner has been admitted to Jammu medical college and orders have been issued to keep Pakistani prisoners separate from Indian prisoners. Security for prisoners in UP jails have also been upped. The attack comes in the aftermath of the murder of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh in the Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore two weeks ago. Sarabjit succumbed to his injuries yesterday. He will be cremated at his village today.  

Thirteen years ago Nawaz Sharif was sentenced to life in prison. Today he is confident of winning a historic third term at Pakistan's general election and fixing the country's most intractable problems.