Quicktakes

Paul stands firm
LONDON: Lord Swraj Paul stood by his charge on Saturday that former Fertilizer Minister R Prabhu and Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi had pressured him to buy Italian firm Snam Progetti’s equipment for the fertilizer plant he was planning to set up in UttarPradesh in the mid-eighties. “Prabhu’s denial is ridiculous and I dismiss it with the contempt it deserves,” Paul said about Prabhu’s statement denying Paul’s charge in his just-published memoir Beyond Boundaries.

Encounter deaths
HYDERABAD: The outlawed People’s War Group in Andhra Pradesh suffered a major setback when three of its top members, including Linganna Subhash alias Prasanna alias Ravi, Hyderabad district committee secretary and prime accused in the killing of inspector general of police K S Vyas, were killed in an encounter with the police in Karimnagar district on Friday. The others were PWG Medak district committee member Bhan Prakash alias Sagar and an unidentified member of the outfit.

AGP leader killed
GUWAHATI: Outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) militants shot dead a senior Asom Gana Parishad leader and his sister at their home in Darrang district. Four ULFA extremists stormed into the house of Khirodananda Goswami and fired at him frompoint blank range, killing him instantly. His sister, who rushed to save him, was also shot dead.