In brief

Noida Authority directed to restore status of cellular company towers
The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday ordered the Noida Authority to restore the status of towers of various cellular companies sealed by it in 24 hours if they have met the standard norms essential for setting them up. A bench of Justices Pradeep Kant and Rituraj Awasthi passed the conditional order on the plea of Indus Towers,the company which had erected around 570 towers in Noida. In a two-day drive initiated on January 30,the Noida Authority had sealed around 130 towers of different companies for an indefinite period,saying these were unauthorised and had no permission.

Headless body found
A headless body of a 28-year-old youth was recovered from Lucknow’s Gomti Nagar area on Wednesday. The identity of the body was ascertained with the name etched on the right hand of the victim. The deceased has been identified as Sonila. The incident came into light when residents of the locality spotted the body at Kukrail Bandha military farm.“It seems assailants killed the youth and threw the body here. The head of body could not be traced. A hunt has been launched,” said K K Mishra,in-charge of Gomti Nagar police station.

Thackeray has lost mental balance: Congress
The state Congress lashed out Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray for indulging in “personal attacks” on Rahul Gandhi and said that he seems to have lost his “mental balance” following party’s electoral defeats and “rebellion” within the family.

“The Sena chief appears to have lost his mental balance after his party’s defeat in the recent elections and by indulging in personal attack on Rahul he has crossed all limits of decency,” said Congress Legislature Party leader Pramod Tewari. He said if Thackeray continued with it,he would be forced to face questions on the “suspicious’ death of his son and the exit of daughter-in-law from his house.

17-year-old girl gangraped
n A 17-year-old girl was allegedly gangraped in Ghaziabad on Wednesday. According to the police,the victim,a resident of Dadri village in Ghaziabad,was on her way to meet a relative in neighbouring Hapur village. Around noon,she stopped at a PCO to make a phone call. She then asked for directions to the washroom from the PCO operator,Raju. He instead directed her to his room near the PCO. He then called two other men,Chintu and Naseem. The trio gangraped the victim,the police said.