Sarabjit appeal

Lahore, Feb. 22 (PTI): Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh has signed a fresh appeal addressed to the people of Pakistan and President Asif Ali Zardari seeking clemency, his lawyer said today.

Sarabjit is on death row after being convicted of charges of espionage and a role in serial blasts that killed 14 people. His lawyer Awais Sheikh said he presented the prisoner his book, Sarabjit Singh-A case of mistaken identity, yesterday.

IIM harass

Indore (PTI): A female professor at IIM Indore has filed a sexual harassment complaint with director N. Ravichandran against her colleague. The Gender Sensitivity Committee has recorded the victim and the accused’s statements. The director is waiting for the panel’s report to take action.

Safety default

Mumbai (PTI): Filmmakar Sajid Nadiadwala and criminal lawyer Majeed Memon are among 46 defaulters who have failed to pay a total of Rs 51 lakh for police protection till January end, an RTI query has found. Nadiadwala owes Rs 1.22 lakh, while Memon has to pay Rs 1.31 lakh.

Crash claim

New Delhi (PTI): A claims tribunal has awarded Rs 29 lakh to the family of a businesswoman who died after being hit by a rashly driven bus. Zeenat Parveen’s husband said he and his wife were going to a relative’s place in 2008 when the offending bus hit their motorcycle from behind.

Lawyer stab

Nashik (PTI): A woman lawyer was stabbed to death on Thursday allegedly by unidentified persons at her residence, police said. Megha Suresh Jagtap, 35, was alone at the time of the murder. Deputy commissioner D.S. Swami said the accused left the woman with severe injuries, following which she died on the spot. The cause of murder is not yet known.

Kumbh video

New Delhi (PTI): Around 5 lakh people have so far watched over 1,100 hours of coverage of Maha Kumbh Mela on their cellphones using mobile TV service nexGTv. The application provides access to live TV channels and video on demand on handsets.

Drug trial deaths

New Delhi, Feb. 22 (PTI): Four-hundred-and-thirty-six people have died in the country last year during clinical trials of drugs, Union minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today informed the Lok Sabha.

He said the government was yet to ascertain how many of the deaths were because of such tests. Azad said the cases were “under examination”. The number of such deaths in 2011 was 438, while it was 668 in 2010.

I-T posts

New Delhi (PTI): The income tax department has as many as 16,696 posts lying vacant, which are being manned by existing employees holding additional charge so that work is not affected, junior minister S.S. Palanimanickam has informed the Rajya Sabha.

Duo suicide

Dehradun (PTI): A mother-daughter duo allegedly committed suicide by jumping before a train near Mohkampur railway crossing, police said. Passers-by, who noticed the bodies, informed the police. The dead have been identified as Naseema Khatun, 62, and Nazeema, 32.

Solar Agra

Lucknow (PTI): The Uttar Pradesh government plans to develop Agra as a solar city to save the Taj Mahal from pollution, state minister Vijay Kumar Misra has said. He said a detailed project report was almost ready and would be soon sent to the Union government.

Jumbo deaths

Dehradun (PTI): A 25-year-old female elephant was electrocuted in Uttarakhand on Friday. It came into contact with a high-tension wire while wading through the Kosi river, forest officials said. In a separate incident, another three-month-old elephant cub was found dead in the Corbett National Park. The body, found by a patrol team, has been sent for a post-mortem.

Andaman tribes

New Delhi, Feb. 22 (PTI): Five tribes in Andaman and Nicobar Islands are facing the threat of extinction as their population has dwindled to less than 500 each, the Centre has said.

The endangered tribes are Great Andamanese, Onge, Sentinelese, Shom Pen and Jarawa. As per the 2001 census, the population of Great Andamanese tribe stands at 43, Sentinelese 39, Onge 96, Jarawa 240 and Shom Pen 398.

CBSE course

New Delhi (PTI): The CBSE has decided to offer an elective course on human rights and gender studies at the higher secondary level. The course will be offered at pilot stage in 2013-14 session and as a regular elective from 2014-15 session onwards, junior HRD minister Shashi Tharoor has said.

Amul ad row

Indore (PTI): The Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee on Friday filed a complaint in a local court objecting to an Amul advertisement which allegedly showed Congress leaders in bad light. The committee’s spokesperson Narendra Saluja filed the complaint.

Mine money

New Delhi (PTI): States have collected Rs 622.29 crore by levying fines on illegal mining in the first three months of this fiscal. Maharashtra realised the highest at Rs 131.43 crore, followed by Andhra Pradesh at Rs 93.04 crore, the Centre has said.

Farmer toll

New Delhi (PTI): As many as 228 farmers in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region, which is facing drought this year, have committed suicide in a ten-month period ending in January. However, cases of farmer suicides in the area have declined to 346 in 2011 from 565 in 2006, Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

Silver cuffs

New Delhi (PTI): A 30-year-old man has been arrested at the IGI airport here for allegedly trying to smuggle in about 78kg of silver jewellery. Shariq Khan, a Mumbai resident, had arrived from Bangkok, customs officials said.