Nation at a Glance

Court date for Jeshma ‘killer’

london (PTI): The prime suspect in the rape and murder of Indian teenager Jeshma Raithatha will appear in a Latvian court on Sunday, the first stage of extraditing him to the UK.

Viktors Dembovskis was arrested in his home town of Livani.

Jeshma’s parents, Suresh and Manjula, are said to be “elated” at the news of the arrest. “It is difficult for her parents to be happy in the circumstances. But they are elated that someone has been arrested so soon,” an aunt said.

Officers from Scotland Yard had been liaising with Interpol and the Latvian authorities in their hunt for Dembovskis. Two members of the force’s murder investigation team have flown out there to oversee the operation. As Latvia joined the EU in May last year, extradition procedures are likely to be put on fast track.

Dembovskis, a car wash attendant, disappeared from the home he shared with other immigrant workers, close to where Jeshma lived in Greenford, west London, shortly after the 17-year-old was reported missing on May 16.

His mother, Danilova, said police had called for him while she was watching TV. “Viktors answered the door. They were in the kitchen discussing his trip to London. They said he must go with them. They took his clothes, t-shirts, underpants and a sweater.”

Danilova said her son wanted to be a lorry driver as a schoolboy. But the death of his brother and father affected him so much that he took to drinking and got into bad company.

Koirala at Delhi door

new delhi: Nepali Congress chief and former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala arrived here on Saturday for talks that analysts said could well prove to be the turning point in defining India’s future policy on its Himalayan neighbour, reports our special correspondent.

Over the next few days, Koirala is likely to meet defence minister Pranab Mukherjee, foreign minister K. Natwar Singh, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and leaders of the Left parties.

As he will be here for some days, Koirala could also hold talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, the chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance.

Although there was speculation that the king might prevent Koirala from leaving the country, the Nepali Congress had deliberately made his proposed trip known to test how serious Gyanendra is about restoring democracy.

Probe rap on railways

New Delhi (PTI): Gross negligence on the part of the construction, signal and operation departments led to the collision between the Jammu Tawi-Ahmedabad Express and a local train last December in Punjab, says the safety commissioner’s final report.

The collision in Mukerian on December 15, 2004, claimed 38 lives and the railway is contemplating action, railway ministry sources said. The sources said following the report, a departmental inquiry will be conducted.

Cops suspended

kanpur (PTI): Four traffic constables were suspended after a senior police official caught them robbing a truck driver at G.T. Road here. The superintendent of police, Kanpur south, caught the four when they snatched Rs 2,000 from the driver on Thursday. Ghulam Hussain was arrested but the other three, who were in plain clothes, managed to escape.

Bihar PIL

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear on Monday a batch of three PILs challenging the dissolution of the Bihar Assembly. A vacation bench of Justices P. Venkatarama Reddy and Arijit Passayat will hear the petitions filed by four MLAs of the dissolved Assembly, an unsuccessful candidate and an apex court advocate.

Rath robbery

ahmedabad (PTI): A krishi rath participating in the government-sponsored Krishi Mahotsav was attacked and looted in Gujarat’s Panchmahal district on Friday. The rath, which halted at a circuit house, was looted by some villagers of Santrampur, police said. The driver, who was the only one present, was unhurt. An amplifier and a CD player were stolen. The police have found the jeep in which the attackers fled.

Foreigners held

jammu (PTI): Ten Bangladeshi men were caught trying to sneak into Pakistan in search of jobs by police in the Samba sector of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday. They have been sent to Pathankot in Punjab.

Bhojpuri folk dancers from Bihar gave a series of performances to mark the 160th Indian Arrival Day celebrations in the Caribbean island of Port of Spain.