In Brief

Two arrested in connection with scientist’s confinement
RAJKOT: The Porbandar Local Crime Branch (LCB) on Wednesday arrested two persons in connection with the 30-month confinement of a scientist by a local real estate dealer. An LCB officer said: “Main accused Hitesh Karavadar and one of his accomplice Kalpesh Gohel have been arrested. The department has initiated the process to produce them in a court to seek their custody.”
On July 4,the Porbandar police had rescued Rajen Killaker (41),a biotechnology scientist,who wad abducted and kept confined in a bungalow near the airport for over two and a half years by Hitesh,his other family members and his accomplices in a bid to lay hands on his property.
The incident came to light after the Porbandar SP received an anonymous letter last week stating that Hitesh had killed Killaker to stake claim over his property.
When the LCB began investigation,Killaker was not found at his third floor apartment in Silver Coin building in Bhojeshwar street. The police then raided the Karavadar household in Sitaramnagar Society and found Killaker confined in 6×3 feet coffin-like bed. The house owners were missing. The police said they had summoned Karavadar for interrogation at the police station and then arrested him.

Nexus in shipbreaking business: CBI begins probe in Alang
AHMEDABAD: THE Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI),Gujarat unit,has started investigating the ship-breaking business in Alang in Bhavnagar for suspected undervaluation of ships brought to the state for scraping. CBI has begun its probe after two ships were recently brought from the Gulf for dismantling. Agency officers said three teams are questioning bank officials about documents prepared in connection with the payments and the valuation of the ships. The CBI team is also perusing documents of the ship-breaking firms and the sellers. Sources said their inputs showed that ships brought to Alang for dismantling were not being valued properly. The ships were being undervalued in order to evade Excise Duty to the Customs and the Excise Department. Besides,there are irregularities in the payment of Excise as well,they said.

E-mamta to minimise maternal,infant mortality rates
AHMEDABAD: The state government has launched an e-mamta project in a bid to minimise maternal and infant mortality rates by providing pre and post-delivery health services. State Health Minister Jay Narayan Vyas said on Wednesday that the Health and Family Welfare Department has prepared e-mamta software with the help of National Rural Health Mission and the state’s National Informatics Centre (NIC) that registers and keeps track of pregnant women and children upto six-year-old.
He said,under the project,the government conducted a survey and collected details of about 79,10,457 families,which include 64,93,033 rural families and 14,17,424 from the urban centres. All details of these families have been entered into the software while work to collect details of rest of the families is on. The families will be informed about the next action through SMS.