Farmers carry on urea loot spree

Bhopal: Faced with an acute fertiliser shortage in Madhya Pradesh, angry farmers looted over 100 sacks of urea from a truck in the Jaura area of Morena district.

When police tried to take back the urea bags, they were greeted with stones, forcing them to lathicharge.

In the violence and looting across 18 more districts of the state, farmers have taken government employees hostage, blocked traffic and attacked state-run urea distribution centres.

In Ratlam, where a goods train carrying urea was looted a fortnight ago, farmers stepped up protest taking four government employees hostages.

The employees of a urea distribution centre were released after the district administration convinced farmers that the supply of urea was adequate.

Incidents of looting have also been reported from Sabalganj, Datia, Vidisha, Sehore, Budhini, Harda, Hoshangabad and other parts of the state.

Chargesheet in Dalit killings

New delhi: The CBI has filed a chargesheet against 11 people for their alleged involvement in the Khairlanji murder case, which provoked a Dalit protest.

Four members of a Dalit family were killed on September 29 in Khairlanji village of Maharashtra, which subsequently led to a Dalit backlash in various parts of the state.

The 11 have been accused of murder, criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly with deadly weapons and outraging the modesty of women. Two of the four persons killed were women. But the CBI did not confirm that they were raped.

Suicide threat

Chennai (PTI): Ramar Pillai, who claimed to have derived a herbal fuel similar to petrol, has threatened to set himself on fire if his theory is not accepted before December 31.

Pillai has written to chief minister M. Karunanidhi and Union finance minister P. Chidambaram saying he was ready to send his formula for analysis.

Jawan killed

Jammu (PTI): A Rashtriya Rifles jawan died when the roof of a house collapsed in a village in Udhampur. Mahavir Singh had taken shelter from rain in the mud house on Tuesday when the roof caved in.

Ayodhya youths

Ayodhya (PTI): Eight youths wandering suspiciously near the Ram Janmabhoomi complex were detained on Tuesday. Police suspect the youths, from Kanpur and Delhi, have given false names and addresses. They told the police that they worked for a soft drink company.

Mahadev Patil, a 39-year-old polio-affected farmer from Maharashtra, is on a cycling expedition to cover 31,000 km across the country and spread a message to stop terrorism and fight AIDS.