Brar attackers

London, Jan. 18 (PTI): One of the three persons charged with attacking Lt Gen. (retd) K.S. Brar on September 30 last year, on Friday pleaded guilty of “unlawful wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm”.

Barjinder Singh Sangha, 33, pleaded guilty while Mandeep Sandhu and Dilbagh Singh pleaded not guilty to the same charge. Brar, 78, the leader of Operation Bluestar, was attacked while he was on a private visit to London.

Kumbh loss

Kanpur (PTI): More than 400 tanneries which have been shut to reduce pollution in Ganga during the Kumbh mela are facing losses of up to Rs 1,000 crore. At least 36 overseas orders had to be cancelled in view of the prohibition, an official said.

Tigress body

Rishikesh (PTI): The body of a tigress was found near a stream in the Corbett reserve on Friday. Forest officials suspect that the tigress, between six and seven years, died about a week ago. The body has been sent for post mortem.

Nepal crash

Kathmandu (PTI): Three Indians and a local driver were killed when a passenger bus veered off a road and plunged on the banks of Trishuli river in Nepal on Friday.

Language lab

Colombo (PTI): India will help in setting up a three-tier English training system in Sri Lanka to boost the country’s language training infrastructure. The Centre will provide equipment and teaching aids for a language laboratory in each of the nine provinces of the island nation, according to a high commission statement.

Soldiers killed

Srinagar, Jan. 18: Two army personnel lost their lives because of heavy snowfall at a high altitude post on the LoC in Kupwara today.

Choppers could not reach the post to evacuate the bodies because of inclement weather and poor visibility, an army spokesperson said. “Our teams are now trying to reach the post on foot,” he said.

Indian doctor

Melbourne (PTI): The Australian Supreme Court has asked prosecutors to provide more details against an Indian-origin doctor, Jayant Patel. He will face a retrial for manslaughter of a 75-year-old patient, who was allegedly unfit for operation.

Rail claim

Mumbai (PTI): Bombay High Court has directed the railway claims tribunal to decide within three months the compensation of a handicapped medical student who lost her legs in an accident in 2008.

Bank officials

New Delhi (PTI): The CBI has filed a chargesheet against two officials of UCO Bank for alleged cheating in granting cash credit limit causing a loss of Rs 2.5 crore to the bank. A former zonal head and manager of the Indore headquarters were charged.

Local channels

New Delhi, Jan. 18 (PTI): The Centre has sought the views of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on regulating the increasing number of ground-based TV channels that operate in large areas through local cable operators.

The Union information and broadcasting ministry has also asked Trai if there was a need to put a cap on the total number of such channels operated by a single multi-system operator.

Shrine stamp

Tiruchirappalli (PTI): The department of posts will release a commemorative stamp on the shrine of Velankanni in Tamil Nadu’s Nagapattinam district on January 22. The stamp, in Rs 5 denomination, will have the church imprinted upon it, an official statement said.

Card fraud

Bangalore (PTI): Two Nigerian nationals, who allegedly used fake credit cards and passports to purchase gold jewellery and other valuables, have been arrested. Frudym Opeyemi Mophoandeen, 30, and Akintunde Olabode, 26, were arrested after the cards they used in a jewellery shop turned out to be fake, police said.

Missing techie

Salem (PTI): A 55-year old former Isro engineer from Bangalore, on a visit to his cousin’s family in Tamil Nadu for Pongal, is missing since January 14. Police said Suresh went for a morning walk but did not return.

MLA custody

Shimla: A court on Thursday extended the police custody of Doon MLA Ram Kumar Chaudhary for two more days. He is the prime accused in the murder of a 24-year B Ed student. The victim was allegedly sexually exploited for two years and murdered on June 21 last year.

Leopard dead

Guwahati (PTI): An adult leopard was on Friday killed in Assam’s Sibsagar        district. Some people shot arrows and threw stones at the animal, hiding atop a tree, before the arrival of forest officials. The leopard then injured two persons, but was killed by the mob using sharp weapons, forest official said.