Tribals killed

Ahmedabad, Feb. 13 (PTI): Two persons were killed when police opened fire on tribals protesting their eviction from forest land in Gujarat.

The police opened fire when some of them were injured by the tribals in Vijaynagar, Sabarkantha district. Besides the fatalities, two tribals were injured in the firing. Trouble had been brewing in the area since the forest department began the eviction drive two days ago.

PMO failure

New Delhi (PTI): The Prime Minister’s Office has failed to locate records on the drafting of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Independence Day speech in 2002, over a month after a directive from the Central Information Commission. The CIC, which refused Delhi resident R.L. Kain’s plea that the PMO should apologise for losing the record, has closed the case.

Teacher law

New Delhi (PTI): States are free to frame their own laws for appointing teachers, the Supreme Court has said. The qualifications prescribed by the National Council for Teacher Education cannot have precedence over state laws, it ruled.

Tricky groom

Kochi (PTI): A man who promised to marry at least 40 women in Kerala and later disappeared with their gold ornaments was arrested on Wednesday. P.B. Prasanth, alias Nandakumar, was arrested following a complaint from a woman he had swindled.

Anil Wilson

Anil Wilson, the vice-chancellor of Himachal University, has clarified that he had no desire to return as principal of St. Stephen’s College. We apologise to Wilson for any inconvenience caused by references in a report on the college in Wednesday’s edition.

Suicide

Faridabad (PTI): Harsh Sharma, the managing director of a private automobile security appliance company here, committed suicide by shooting himself at his residence yesterday. PTI had inadvertently reported that Umesh Deshpande, the CEO of Autocop, had committed suicide.