Three injured in Ahmedabad clash
Ahmedabad: Three persons were injured and half a dozen roadside cabins torched in Jamalpur in the old city area on Saturday following a clash between two groups, reports our correspondent.
Police rounded up five people in connection with the communal disturbance that took place around 2 pm. The situation was immediately brought under control as senior police officers rushed to the spot.
Police said trouble erupted after two Muslim youths started an altercation with a barber over payment. When the youths refused to pay for their hair cut, the barber rushed to his locality, alleging that the two had attacked him.
According to the police, an enraged crowd from the barber’s neighbourhood then took to the street, brandishing swords and pelting stones, and set at least six kiosks on fire. Of the three persons injured, one sustained a sword injury, they said.
The situation was brought under control within 20 minutes. Jamalpur’s vegetable and flower market, which had closed after the incident, resumed after lathi-wielding police dispersed the mob without having to use teargas shells.
Indian attacked in ‘clean-up bid’
Medford, Oregon (AP): Three national guardsmen allegedly beat up minorities, including an Indian, in a “mission” to clean up the community, and one of the suspects killed himself at the scene of the most recent attack, police said.
The two other men were arrested at a motel where they allegedly beat the Indian owner, whom they had mistaken for an Arab. The owner suffered cuts and bruises.
Guardsman Chad Ritchie, 21, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after running from the motel early on Thursday, police lieutenant Mike Moran said.
Andrew Lee Patterson, 23, and Aaron St James, 25, were waiting in a car when police arrived, Moran said. They were charged with assault. “This is a bias-related crime,” Moran said. “Patterson drove and he knew Ritchie would assault the owner because of his ethnic origin.”
In an earlier attack, a homeless white man was beaten with a club and called a disgrace to his race. Police believe Patterson and Ritchie had attacked homeless people in the past. Moran said Patterson described the forays to investigators as “missions” intended to clean up the community.
Patterson also was charged with kidnapping and assault in the January 15 attack on the homeless man. St James is not a suspect in the earlier attacks as he was abroad at the time, investigators said.
40 PWG rebels surrender
Guntur (PTI): About 40 Naxalites belonging to the Nagulate and Chandravanka squads of the PWG surrendered before superintendent of police A. Ravi Sankar on Saturday.
Some of those who surrendered had participated in looting foodgrains and damaging public properties, like telephone exchange, railway station and government offices, Sankar said. The rebels would be paid an ex-gratia of Rs 5,000 each and steps would be taken for their rehabilitation, he added.
Killer gets life term
Hisar (PTI): A local court has sentenced a man to life imprisonment on the charge of murdering a five-year-old girl after raping her. According to the prosecution, the girl, Diksha, was abducted by one Vinod from her house while she was asleep. After committing the crime, Vinod dumped her body in a field between Chowdharivas and Gorchhi village.
Rare surgery
coimbatore (PTI): Claimed to be the first of its kind, a city-based hospital has successfully performed a rare laparoscopic surgery for gullet block on a pregnant patient. The surgery was performed on a 28-year-old woman who was five months pregnant. She was not able to eat due to achalasia cardia, a condition in which there is a block in the lower end of oesophagus, director of Gem Hospital India, Dr C. Palanivelu said.
Farmers fight cops
ghaziabad (PTI): Twelve farmers were injured in a clash with policemen on Friday. The farmers were protesting against the death of a farmer in a road accident. They blocked traffic in Pilakuwa town near here and hurled stones at vehicles prompting the police to resort to lathicharge.
Convict stabbed
ahmedabad (PTI): A convict, undergoing life imprisonment in Junagadh jail, was stabbed to death by a fellow inmate, police said. Phalu Bhaguji. 22, entered into a heated discussion with Ramshekhar Sharma over a TV programme. Sharma and his three associates stabbed Bhaguji with a knife modelled out of a spoon. Bhaghuji, who was seriously hurt, succumbed to injuries in the hospital.
Deccan Odyssey, a luxury train on the lines of Palace on Wheels, will be launched in Maharashtra from May 1. Tourism minister Jaidutt Kshirsagar said, “It would start from Mumbai and tour Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Goa, Pune, Aurangabad and Jalgaon.”
