Nation at a Glance

Paper-leak don eyes battle with George

Patna: Ranjit ‘Don’ Singh, under cloud for his involvement in twin cases of question paper leak, is hoping to find his place in the poll sun, reports our correspondent.

“Jeena, marna to yahin hai” (I will live and die in my own land), Ranjit said, while declaring his intention to contest the coming Lok Sabha elections from his homeground Nalanda in Bihar. And he is hoping to take on none other than defence minister George Fernandes.

About 400 supporters on Friday thronged the Patna railway station with garlands, accompanied by a convoy of cars and a concert of slogans, to receive Singh, accused of leaking papers of the CBSE medical entrance test and Common Admission Test (CAT).

“Desh ka neta kaisa ho, Dr. Ranjit jaisa ho,” shouted the mob.

Ranjit, in CBI custody for last year’s medical entrance test paper leak, was brought to Patna on Friday to be produced before the bureau’s special court. He has been remanded in judicial custody. Having got bails in three cases earlier, Ranjit is hopeful of getting one more, which would pave his way for contesting the elections.

The CBI’s Bihar unit had booked him in December for leaking medical entrance test papers. CBI sources said investigation is in progress and there is no question of him getting bail.

Ranjit is also the chief conspirator in the CAT exam leak and was arrested along with three accomplices in Delhi in November last year. He was brought to Patna in December for interrogation and was taken back to Delhi two weeks later.

Well-known in Nalanda as a “fixer” of seats in professional courses, Singh is said to have been nurturing his political ambitions from here. Since 1977, there has been a high increase in the number of IAS and IPS officers from Nalanda, sources said.

Kalam case notice to magistrate

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday gave five days to metropolitan magistrate of Ahmedabad Brahm Bhatt to explain what had led him to issue bailable warrants against the President, the chief justice of India and former Supreme Court bar association president R.K. Jain, reports our legal correspondent.

A three-judge bench of Chief Justice V.. Khare and Justices S.B. Sinha and S.H. Kapadia said the “expose” by the sting operation of Zee TV reporter Vijay Shekhar “struck at the root of the country’s judiciary”.

Shekhar had allegedly bribed advocates Iqbal Katia, Narender Chaudhary and Harish Bhawaniwala Rs 40,000 to get the warrants issued and filed a public interest litigation contending that “corrective measures” should be taken to cleanse the lower judiciary.

Joshi changes council chief

New Delhi: The human resource development ministry has appointed D.. Tripathi, retired ancient historian from Gorakhpur University, as chairperson of the Indian Council of Historical Research, reports our special correspondent.

His predecessor, M.G.S. Narayanan, was removed from his post following a number of run-ins with the ministry. He had accused minister Murli Manohar Joshi of packing the educational institutions with “his people”.

Tripathi has earlier been a member of the council’s executive body. Some academics say he was little known till he entered the limelight with his work on the Saraswati river project, a favourite theme of academics close to the Sangh Parivar.

Ship mishap

Mumbai (Reuters): Indian Navy ship INS Agray was damaged when a rocket exploded during military exercises but no one was injured, a military spokesman said.

Bullet at PM halt

Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): An ex-serviceman was arrested with a bullet in his bag last Sunday a few hours before Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee was to arrive here for his overnight stay at Raj Bhavan. The bullet was found from 55-year-old Ramachandran Nair’s bag at the first circle of the security ring. Nair said the bullet had been with him ever since he retired as a greasing assistant in a military workshop many years ago.

Jogi petition

Bilaspur (PTI): Chhattisgarh High Court on Friday dismissed former chief minister Ajit Jogi’s petition urging that the FIR filed against him in the Rs 45-lakh cash-for-MLAs case be quashed.

Ribeiro attack case

Jalandhar (PTI): Wassan Singh Zaffarwal, former Khalistan Commando Force chief, has been acquitted by a Tada court in connection with the attack on former director-general of police J.F. Ribeiro on October 3, 1986.

Jail petrol outlet

Raipur (PTI): Chhattisgarh police are opening a petrol retail outlet for jail inmates and employees. The outlet will be run by the Jail Karmachari Kalyan Samiti.

Five idols damaged in the attack on the Raghunath temple in Jammu on November 26, 2002, will be replaced. “We are installing five new idols of Hanuman, Valmiki, Goswami Tulsi Dass, Jai and Vijay Dwarpal in their places,” a temple source said.