Sample test in Mattoo case

New Delhi (PTI): Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the CBI to prove that the blood and semen samples collected in the Priyadarshini Mattoo murder case were not tampered with before being sent for analysis to the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics.

A bench headed by Justice R.S. Sondhi questioned additional solicitor-general Amrinder Saran for over an hour as his counsel could not give satisfactory answers.

The court had observed on Tuesday that except on two grounds, the judgment of the trial court appeared to be supporting the prosecution’s view that accused Santosh Singh is involved in the Mattoo murder case.

The two grounds, which the CBI claimed were irrefutable evidence but were rejected by the trial judge, were the findings of the DNA test by the Hyderabad-based laboratory which established that semen samples recovered from Mattoo’s undergarments and blood stains collected from the visor of Singh’s helmet belonged to the same person.

Mattoo, a law student, was raped and strangled to death on January 23, 1996.

Chicago chooses Maladies

New York (PTI): Chicago has chosen Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (in picture) for its programme, One Book, One Chicago, an annual event which encourages residents of the city to read a book and discuss it with friends and neighbours.

With its selection, Lahiri’s book joins highly acclaimed works like To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Night by Elie Wiesel and My Antonia by Willa Cather.

Profit panel

New Delhi (PTI): Iqbal Ahmed Saradgi, a Congress MP from Karnataka, has been appointed chairman of the joint parliamentary committee set up to examine the constitutional and legal positions related to office of profit.

Besides Saradgi, the committee consists of nine Lok Sabha MPs and five Rajya Sabha MPs.

Minor raped

Amritsar (PTI): A minor girl lodged at an orphanage was allegedly raped for the past three months by the head of the institution, police said. She reported it to her mother when she visited her on Tuesday. The 10-year-old had been sent to the orphanage because her parents were too poor to feed her.

Fake currency

Mumbai (PTI): Police claimed to have busted a fake currency racket with the arrest of two persons at Aurangabad on Tuesday. Fake notes worth over Rs 1.1 lakh were seized.

A district judge in Uttar Pradesh’s Mainpuri was almost shot at by his guard. The securityman slipped on the court’s stairs and his carbine went off. The guard himself was hit.