Minister on train, minus ticket

Patna: The tracks of infamy in the railway minister?s backyard are back in the news ? this time with an errant member of chief minister Rabri Devi?s cabinet.

Bihar rural development minister Avadh Bihari Chowdhary was on Monday caught travelling without a ticket and fined during a special drive to net free-trippers. Chowdhary was going to Siwan in a first class coach of Vaishali Express, when the squad caught him red-handed.

The assistant commercial manager, Sonepur division, East Central Railway, N.K. Singh, said the minister was caught in the first AC coach, along with two bodyguards. He had to cough up Rs 1,412.

Sources in the railway said Chowdhary?s henchmen apparently tried to tough-talk with the team in an attempt to spare the minister of the humiliation, but the railway officials proved to be more than a handful. They refused to budge till the minister paid Rs 870 as the fare from Hajipur to Siwan and Rs 542 as penalty. At least 150 ticketless travellers were fined in the lightning check in the morning. The train was held up for about half-an-hour in the melee.

The minister, who proceeded to Siwan after paying the fine, could not be contacted.

Yukta told to vacate flat

Mumbai (PTI): The Debts Recovery Tribunal has dismissed an appeal filed by former Miss World Yukta Mookhey against eviction from her flat initiated by Bank of India.

Observing that the appeal was an abuse of law, the tribunal asked the former beauty queen to bear the cost of proceedings and pay Rs 5,000.

The tribunal, however, has stayed its order for 15 days thus allowing Mookhey to move out in this period.

Mookhey had procured the flat on leave-and-licence basis in 2002 from a fashion house, Harmonic Fabric Fashion PVT Limited. She, however, stayed there as a tenant.

In 1999, the fashion house put the flat as a collateral security for a loan taken from the bank.

But the firm defaulted on its loan and thus the bank initiated its attachment procedure following which Mookhey was asked to evict the flat.

A court in Andheri had ordered attachment of the flat and asked Mookhey to move out in June last year but she approached Bombay High Court and also appealed before the tribunal.

Punjab knock on IT door

Bangalore: Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh came calling on Monday to invite infotech companies to set up shop in his state.

Singh met Wipro chairman Azim Premji and Nandan Nilekani, the CEO of Infosys Technologies Ltd, besides the heads of other infotech companies like Intel, IBM, Dell, Satyam and TCS. The chief minister said Infosys would consider expanding operations in Punjab in 2006-07.

Suffocation scare

Jind (PTI): Seven children and four teachers of a school were hospitalised on Monday after they complained of ?suffocation and uneasiness?. ?The incident occurred when the children and teachers were going to their classes on the first floor,? the Jind deputy commissioner said. Officials are yet to ascertain what caused the suffocation.

Gang attack

Theni (PTI): A gang attacked a youth and his mother, injuring both in front of the Periyakulam court in this district on Monday. Police said Lakshmanan had come to the court with his mother when the gang members surrounded him and hacked him indiscriminately. His mother was also attacked. The gang then fled in bikes. The mother and son are in critical condition.

Rape protests

Srinagar (PTI): Twenty-five people, including separatist leader Javed Ahmed Mir, have been detained as people demonstrated in several parts of Kashmir valley against the alleged rape of a woman and her daughter by an army officer in Kupwara on Saturday. Residents of Maisuma, Abi Guzar and other localities and several places in Kupwara took to the streets despite prohibitory orders. The government has now ordered a probe into the alleged rape.

Suicide bomber

Srinagar: A suicide bomber was killed and four soldiers of the Rashtriya Rifles were injured in an abortive bid to storm an army camp in Bandipora. Army sources said the militant was killed some distance away from the camp when soldiers ?sensed his intentions? and fired at him.

Around 85,000 students from India apply successfully to overseas universities each year, making it the second highest in the world in terms of students studying overseas, a study says.