Hyderabad tiger killer in net

Hyderabad: A 22-year-old was arrested on Sunday for his alleged role in killing and skinning a Royal Bengal Tiger on October 4, 2000, reports our special correspondent.

Mohammed Salauddin and Ahmed Samad had scaled the fence of the 140-acre Nehru Zoological Park in the old city, where Sakhi lived with 13 more wild cats, police said.

?The killers used a noose to catch the youngest cat and killed the animal by cutting its jugular while in cage. Later, they took out the wild cat and skinned it in the presence of its mother, brother and a sister,? police commissioner Dinesh Reddy said.

The Andhra Pradesh government had announced a Rs 4 lakh award to track down the killers.

?The cats had roared through the night but failed to catch the attention of the security personnel in the zoo. Salauddin and Samad had spent over four hours till dawn to cut the skin and the claws for monetary gain,? said Rajiv Trivedi, the additional commissioner of police.

Salauddin, a regular offender, had three non-bailable warrants pending against him in poaching and sandalwood smuggling cases. ?Even now, we caught him for some other offence and, during interrogation, he confessed to his crime,? Trivedi said. Samad, who had shifted base to Mumbai, is said to have committed suicide last year.

A state-level commission that inquired into the Sakhi killing had found ?very lax security in the zoo and also connivance of the zoo staff?.

Cops booked after protest

Jalandhar (PTI): Political leaders gathered at Lohian Khas area near here on Monday demanding stern action against three policemen allegedly involved in the custodial death of a Dalit on Sunday.

The tension in the area, however, decreased in the evening when the three cops were booked for alleged murder.

Hundreds of people started gathering outside the Lohian police station in the morning and attacked the the police station. The situation further deteriorated when BJP and BSP leaders appeared on the scene and raised slogans against the police and the Punjab government, sources said.

Sensing the trouble, senior police officials rushed to the spot and registered an FIR against the three cops ?sub inspector Vijay Kumar, head constable Surjit Malik and home guard Balkar Singh.

The deceased, Satpal, had been detained in a theft case.

Arms dealers held in chase

Mumbai: (PTI): Two suspected arms dealers were arrested on Sunday after a chase by the anti-terrorist squad of the city police. Two policemen and some pedestrians were injured in the incident at Rawli camp in the Antop Hill area of central Mumbai.

Three accomplices managed to flee. A foreign gun and a country-made revolver were seized from Manoj Bansilal Kori and Raju Jagdish Tala, police said.

Nanavati report

New Delhi (PTI): The Nanavati Commission, which probed the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, is likely to submit its report to home minister Shivraj Patil on February 9. The report could not be given on January 31, the day the term of the commission expired, as the home minister was touring the Northeast. Over 3,000 Sikhs were killed in the riots that followed Indira Gandhi?s assassination.

Crossover bid

Jammu (PTI): Soldiers arrested six Bangladeshis along the Indo-Pak border in Jammu district on Sunday night. The six were trying to enter Pakistan, at the Nikki Tawi border area in RS Pura tehsil.

Kanchi accused

Kancheepuram (PTI): Two accused in the Shankar Raman murder case were detained under the Goondas Act. Sathish and ?Kuruvi? Ravi are among the five accused of making a ?proxy? surrender after the temple official?s killing on September 3.

Man kills father

Guntur (PTI): T. Hanumanth Rao, who allegedly tried to molest his daughter-in-law, was killed by his son on Sunday. Srinivas attacked his father with a knife after his wife raised an alarm. Srinivas later surrendered to police.

Hooch deaths

Kaithal (PTI): Four persons died and two were hospitalised after consuming hooch in Haryana. Police came to know of the deaths when news spread about the cremation of four residents of Uttar Pradesh in quick succession, sources said.

The drying marshland of Keoladeo National Park ? a world heritage site ? brought 300 people of Bharatpur to the streets. They blocked the Jaipur-Agra highway, demanding release of water from a nearby dam to save the park.