NT tearers get bailRajkot: The four youths arrested for tearing up a copy of the New Testament at a mela on Monday night have told police that they had done so only because they found it an uninteresting buy, when a plain clothes man pounced on them. A court released them on bail on Tuesday, rejecting the remand application submitted by police, but the assistant public prosecutor appealed against the ruling on Wednesday. While the youths - Paresh Papariya, Paresh Ruparalia, Paresh Hirpara, and Praveen Hapalia - denied belonging to any political or religious outfit, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Bajrang Dal, the Shiv Sena, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) too have denied having anything to do with the incident.Shiv Sena leader Jimmy Advani, who had been making announcements at the mela, said, ``If it was the Sena, we wouldn't have done it so discreetly.'' And BJP MLA Ramesh Roopapara said a party out to malign the ruling BJP could have been behind the incident. He denied that one of the youths was a distant relative, saying that the youth might have told the police this to avoid being beaten up.Rare honourThe Pramukh Swami Maharaj of the Bochasanwasi Shree Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha recently earned a rare honour in the State of Illinois in the United States of America. Illinois Governor Jim Edgar declared August 16 as Pramukh Swami Maharaj Day. For the first time in the State of Illinois, a day has been proclaimed after an individual in his lifetime. Pramukh Swami Maharaj has been honoured for his social service by the British and Canadian Parliaments also. The Swamiji has received more than 50 `key to the city' awards, shields and proclamations from America, Canada Europe and South Africa.Fire in shipJamnagar: A small native ship containing 200 barrels of diesel, caught fire on Tuesday night at the Salaya Port, about 70 kms from here. The vessel, `Safina-al-Rizwan' was completely destroyed, police said. Police sub-inspector, Chudasama, who was on night patrolling, first noticed the fire and immediately informed the owner of the ship, Suleman Haji Abdullah Subhania and other government agencies. Mamlatdar M P Jadav and other officials rushed to the port and fire brigade was called from the Indian Oil Corporation (Vadinar), Reliance Petroleum Limited (Khavdi) and Jamnagar Municipal Corporation.
