Newsreel 18.04.04

• India added another glorious chapter to their cricketing history when they trounced Pakistan by an innings and 131 runs for their fir...

• India added another glorious chapter to their cricketing history when they trounced Pakistan by an innings and 131 runs for their first-ever test series triumph across the border. The win, which came on the fourth day of the series-deciding test, gave India a 2-1 victory. The Indian team thus completed their first full fledged tour of Pakistan in nearly 15 years on a happy note, having also registered a 3-2 win in the preceding one-day series.

• For the BJP, it was a week they would like to forget. Twenty-two women and three children were killed and nearly three dozen injured in a stampede in Lucknow where saris were being given out free to mark the 70th birthday of the PM’s election agent and leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Lalji Tandon. A few days later, the EC came down heavily on the party, directing the UP Government to register a bribery case against Tandon and the organisers of his birthday function. The EC also issued a show cause notice to the BJP for prima facie violation of the model code of conduct in the PM’s constituency.

• Then there was a clear indictment of the Narendra Modi Government, with the Supreme Court ordering that the Best Bakery case be re-tried in Maharashtra as Gujarat was still not ‘‘congenial and conducive’’ to a fair trial. ‘‘The modern day Neros were looking elsewhere when innocent children and helpless women were burning, and were probably deliberating how the perpetrators of the crime could be protected,’’ a bench comprising Justice Doraiswamy Raju and Justice Arijit Pasayat said.

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• Also in the SC, Solicitor General Kirit Raval said the Centre had agreed to his suggestion to make the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) the sole authority to protect ‘‘brave persons’’ like NHAI engineer Satyendra Dubey who expose corruption. A notification to this effect will be enacted before April 26, providing for stringent action against those who leak out the name of the person exposing corruption in public life.

• Close on the heels of the CAT leak last year, followed by exam paper leaks in government-run schools in Maharashtra, West Bengal and Delhi, the CBSE’s all-India Pre-Medical Test, scheduled for April 11, was cancelled after police found the night before that the questions had been leaked. The new Secretary for Higher Education, S C Tripathi, has now decided that all important national examinations would be held in the electronic mode, with question papers framed only the day before the exam, and e-mailed to the examination centres an hour before the test.

• Popular South Indian actress Soundarya and her brother were among four people charred to death when the single-engine Cessna-180 aircraft carrying them for a BJP campaign in Andhra Pradesh crashed and exploded in flames within three minutes after taking off in Bangalore. In another campaign casualty, former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi suffered spinal injuries in a road accident. He is now reported to be showing ‘‘definite improvement’’.

Mahabharat’s Karan, actor Pankaj Dheer, passes away at 68

Entertainment1 hr ago

Pankaj Dheer, best known for his role as Karna in Mahabharat, passed away at the age of 68 after battling cancer. The news was confirmed by CINTAA, where he served as former Hon. General Secretary. The actor's funeral will be held in Mumbai and he was the father of actor Nikitin Dheer, who is married to Kratika Sengar.

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