Quicktakes

SC upholds capital punishment
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the capital punishment awarded by the Madras High Court to an accused for killing the elder brother of his father, along with four other members of the family. A two-judge bench comprising Justice M K Mukherjee and Justice S S M Quadri thereby dismissed an appeal by convict Govinda Sami, who killed his uncle and four others of the same family on May 30, 1984. 8220;It will be a mockery of justice to permit the accused to escape the extreme penalty of law when faced with such evidence and such cruel acts,8221; the two-judge bench said.

JMM caseNEW DELHI: A designated court here on Wednesday reserved its order on the pleas of nine former MPs seeking quashing of charges against them in the JMM MPs bribery case in the wake of the recent Supreme Court judgement. Special judge Ajit Bharihoke reserved his order till Thursday after hearing arguments from CBI counsel A D Dutt who opposed their pleas and the defence counselwho argued that the five-judge constitutional bench of the apex court by a majority judgement has held them 8220;immune8221; from prosecution. Dutt said the three-judge appellate bench of the apex court which had referred the matter to the constitutional bench, was yet to decide 8220;other related8221; issues in the case apart from the ones dealt by the constitutional bench and hence the accused persons could not be discharged at this stage.

New spokesman
NEW DELHI: In one of his first decisions as head of the foreign office, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee changed the external publicity spokesman, Pawan Verma, on Wednesday. Another joint secretary, K C Singh, has been appointed in Verma8217;s place. Verma has been put in charge of the Africa desk.

70 hit by toxic gas
HOWRAH: Ten more people were hospitalised on Wednesday after inhaling toxic gas spewed from a warehouse ravaged by a fire, raising the number of affected people to 70, even as authorities took steps to check further spread of itseffect. Monday8217;s fire in a bonded customs warehouse at Dasnagar Industrial Area here claimed four lives, according to district magistrate Alapan Bandyopadhyay. The Government has set up an eight-member committee to probe causes of the fire.