$10.5m fine for polluting ocean

Boston (AP): The Indian-origin chief engineer of a Panama-registered container ship who oversaw the illegal dumping of tonnes of oily sludge into the ocean was sentenced by a federal court to two months in prison.

Mani Singh, 58, was also ordered by district court judge Patti B. Saris to pay $ 3,500 in fines. He had pleaded guilty in December.

MSC Elena, a 30,971-tonne vessel operated by MSC Ship Management Ltd of Hong Kong, made regular trips between European and US ports, including Boston, federal prosecutors said. The company pleaded guilty and agreed to pay a $10.5-million fine, the largest in a case involving deliberate pollution from a single vessel, and the largest fine paid by a defendant in an environmental case in Massachusetts, the US attorney’s office said.

The ship discharged about 40 tons of oily sludge during a five-month period in 2004 by using a specially fitted steel pipe to bypass required pollution prevention equipment.

The coast guard had discovered the bypass pipe during a routine inspection in Boston harbour in May 2005.

Natwar, son deny scam role

new delhi: Former external affairs minister K. Natwar Singh and his son Jagat Singh have denied any role in transactions relating to the Iraqi oil-for-food programme, reports our legal correspondent.

Natwar, who had to resign after the scam broke, told the Pathak inquiry panel that he had neither received any monetary consideration nor was he connected in any manner with the programme.

Justice R.S. Pathak, who was asked to probe the authenticity of the Volcker report that named several Indians and the Congress as beneficiaries of the programme, had issued a notice to Natwar and his son.

Wife roasted

bhubaneswar (PTI): A woman in Malkangiri district was hacked to pieces and roasted in a stove at a snacks factory.

Her husband Ramaswamy allegedly killed her after a godman told him that his wife Suryakanti’s death would bring him wealth.

Fee hike

bhubaneswar (PTI): The Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, has hiked its fees to Rs 1 lakh when its new session begins in June. Recently, the Indian Institutes of Management, Jamshedpur’s XLRI School of Management and the Ranchi-based Xavier Institute of Social Service had decided to raise fees from the next academic calendar.

Qatar blacklist

dubai (PTI): The Indian embassy in Doha has blacklisted 65 Qatar-based companies on charges ranging from salary default to ill-treatment of Indian workers.

Forensic tests have been carried out on a pony, which was among the 13 that died of food poisoning near Coimbatore recently. Plastic bags were found in the pony’s stomach.