Gutka baron reaches India

Mumbai: Gutka baron Jagdish Joshi, who has a non-bailable warrant against him in connection with his alleged links with the underworld, arrived in India on Thursday from Dubai, but his location could not be specified, reports our special correspondent.

Bombay High Court has rejected his appeal to extend the stay on the warrant.

Some reports suggested that Joshi was already in Mumbai and would appear before the CBI on Friday.

Joshi, however, surrendered his passport to the crime investigation department in Pune through a representative hours after landing in Delhi.

The non-bailable warrant was issued by a special court against him for not appearing before it in the gutka case.

The names of Joshi, the owner of Goa Gutka, and Manikchand Gutka manufacturer Rasiklal Dhariwal came up in connection with extortion and smuggling of machinery by two alleged henchmen of Dawood Ibrahim, who were arrested in Mumbai.

Joshi and Dhariwal, who were in Dubai from October 2004, failed to appear after several summons were issued to them for questioning in the case. They said they were required to stay abroad for a stipulated period to maintain their NRI status.

Dhariwal is still said to be in Dubai but has said he would appear before the CBI in March.

HC push for clean hospital

New Delhi (PTI): Delhi High Court has directed civic authorities to make the surroundings of Safdarjung Hospital free of illegal construction and food vendors within two months.

A bench of Chief Justice B.C. Patel and Justice S.K Kaul directed the New Delhi Municipal Corporation to keep the area clean and free of encroachment.

However, the bench said it would be up to the civic body to relocate ?eligible? squatters.

The corporation?s assistant director, R.K. Beri, and director-general of the Central Public Works Department gave an undertaking before the court to carry out the exercise within the time frame.

The CPWD also informed the court that repair and construction work of the hospital buildings, which were in bad shape, would be completed by April-end and another month would be needed to complete the painting.

A committee appointed by the court will inspect the building in the second week of May and file a report by end of the month. The court added that there should be periodic inspections by the CPWD.

NRI?s record jackpot win

Dharamsala (PTI): Indian-born Tibetan Tsering Luding won a $24.6 million lottery jackpot to become the biggest winner in the history of British Columbia in Canada.

The 39-year-old carpet cleaner, whose parents migrated to Canada from India in 1971, won the Lotto Super 7 on Thursday. Luding was unaware of his win for five days till his wife Susan read about the unclaimed jackpot in a newspaper.

Mock fire drill

New Delhi (PTI): A mock fire drill at the Delhi secretariat sent fire department personnel into a tizzy and people scurrying out of the multi-storeyed building. A fire alarm was sounded at 4.30 pm after which nearly 600 people, including four ministers, were evacuated within 15 minutes. Six fire tenders arrived.

Jolt to jailor

New Delhi (PTI): A court has issued notice to the Tihar jail superintendent on a petition filed by Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, accused in the murder of British teenager, Hannah Foster, seeking contempt of court proceedings against the official for not treating him at AIIMS for health complications despite repeated court orders.

Akash tested

Balasore (PTI): For the second time in four days, the indigenously developed medium-range surface-to-air missile, Akash, was test-fired on Thursday at Chandipur, 15 km from here, defence sources said. The multi-target missile was fired from a mobile launcher around 6 pm.

Bribe net

Akola (PTI): The block development officer of the Risod panchayat samiti in Washim district of Maharashtra was caught by anti-corruption bureau sleuths while accepting Rs 1,000. Vitthal Wankhede had allegedly demanded the bribe to clear the medical bills of Prakash Gawande, a school teacher.

Candidate killed

Manipal (PTI): Divakar Shetty, a candidate for the gram panchayat polls in Karnataka, was killed by gangsters in Udupi district.

The postal department has brought out a special Rs 5 postage stamp to mark the completion of 100 years of Rotary International. The body was founded by Paul P. Harris of the US.