Air force officer skips hearing

Bangalore: An indisposed Flying Officer Anjali Gupta did not show up at the general court martial on Tuesday, prompting an adjournment of the sitting to Wednesday, reports our special correspondent.

On Wednesday, the officer will be sent for a medical examination and an expert opinion on her fitness to attend the court martial. She fell ill and retched a couple of times in the court hall on Monday.

Her fitness was the focus of brief arguments between the prosecution and the defending officer when the general court martial waited on Tuesday morning for Gupta to turn up for the hearing.

The prosecution, represented by Wing Commander R.D. Dubey, charged that the flying officer was feigning illness to delay the trial. ?She is trying to look gloomy, she?s trying to gain the sympathy of the court,? Dubey told the court.

The defending officer, Wing Commander Vijay Bhupesh, said: ?Whether she is acting or not will be revealed in the medical report.?

The presiding officer, Group Captain V. Ganesh, asked the prosecution to hand over the medical report to the court on Wednesday.

Gadget boon for disabled

Hyderabad (PTI): Four army engineers have made a motorised wheelchair for physically-challenged people as part of their project work, which was adjudged the best in both the mechanical and electronics streams in an engineering course.

Manish Gulia, Rahul Kumar Gupta, Harsh V. Srivastava and Manoj K. Jamwal ? all majors ? completed the project in six months. The wheelchair costs Rs 1.20 lakh whereas a similar gadget will cost about Rs 5 lakh in the market as no Indian company manufactures automated wheelchairs, defence sources said.

The four engineers have just completed the 77th degree engineering course at the Military College of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering, Secunderabad.

The project was supervised by Lt Col Atul Apte, who said the MWC Mark II ?was capable of negotiating small steps?.

?It is a four-wheel drive with a controller keyboard that enables forward and reverse motion, speed variation, effective steering by joystick and even a horn on board,? Apte said.

IPS trainees roughed up

Hyderabad: Two IPS probationers, undergoing training at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Police Academy here, were beaten up following an altercation.

Keval Khurana and Prakash Tiwari had an argument with a shop owner over the price of cigarettes, police said. The two allegedly abused and beat up the shop owner, Venkatesh. Enraged over this, local residents attacked the duo, who were admitted to hospital. Two persons have been arrested, police said.

Jail for insult

New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court on Tuesday sentenced a man to one-and-a half years? imprisonment for throwing a slipper at a judge during the hearing last year, saying his act was an ?insult to the temple of justice?. Saleem had pulled out the slipper of another person and hurled it to the dais of the magistrate when the judge refused to grant him bail.

Bribe arrest

Ajmer (PTI): The CBI has arrested the chief medical superintendent of a railway hospital and his personal assistant on the charge of accepting a bribe. Vipin Pandey and C.K. Thomas were arrested on Monday while accepting a bribe of Rs 500 from a client, an official said. The sleuths conducted a raid after a doctor of the same hospital filed a complaint.

Militants killed

Jammu (PTI): The army gunned down six militants trying to sneak into Indian territory on Monday night in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir. The militants were shot dead in a shootout when the jawans challenged them, official sources said.

Kids drown

Jaipur (PTI): Four children drowned in a ditch in Jaisalmer while taking a bath on Monday. The ditch had got filled following heavy rains, police said.

Bus mishap

Ujjain (PTI): Three persons were killed and 40 injured when the bus in which they were travelling hit a tree near Nazarpur village in Ujjain district.

Human hair and its products worth $70.26 million were exported from India in 2003-04. China, Hong Kong, Tunisia, Italy and the US emerged as the top five importers.