Statescape

According to the police the arrested militant Hafeez Quariwali Mohd Zahed 36, who hails from Tiruwada village of Haryana, was serving as an imam at a mosque. Wali Mohd first came to the city in 1994 and married a local girl and returned to Punjab to serve as an imam for some time, police said adding that he was, however, dismissed by Punjab WAQF board for nefarious activities and came back to Hyderabad in 1998.

Tripura guerrillas release captives

AGARTALA: Outlawed tribal guerrillas released three captives including a government engineer on Tuesday while the ultras kept four R S S leaders and father of a former minister in their captivity. Police sources said here on Wednesday the militants set free Gurupada Guchait, who along with two otherengineers, was abducted on November 27 last year from the Dumboor hydel power project in South Tripura. The ultras, however, did not release the two other engineers. The guerrillas also released an eight-year-old boy and two small traders, who were kidnapped by the extremists last month.

11 killed in jeep-truck collision

AHMEDABAD: Eleven persons, including six women, were killed and seven others injured when the jeep in which they were travelling collided with a truck on the Sanand-Viramgam road in Ahmedabad rural on Tuesday. The jeep driver was among the dead, police said on Wednesday adding the injured were admitted to a hospital here. The victims belonged to nearby villages of the district. An offence has been registered against the truck driver,police added.

Seven of a family brutally killed

PARADIP: All seven members of a family were brutally killed in Taradapada village, about three km from the district headquarter town of Jagatsinghpur on Tuesday night, according topolice.

Blood-splattered bodies of Duryodhan Maharana 42, his wife, his father and mother, two daughters aged nine and five and an eight-month-old son were found in the house by villagers on Wednesday morning, police said.In all cases, the throats were slit with a sharp weapon while the body of the baby was hung outside the house from the thatched roof, police said.

Jain TV to start 24-hr news channel

NEW DELHI: Close on the heels of Doordarshan launching its 24-hour news channel, Jain TV on Wednesday announced its comeback with a round-the-clock 8220;hard8221; news channel.

Beginning Wednesday, the free-to-air channel which will try to capture the election scenario, will run news bulletins in Indian languages, J K Jain, former MP and president of Jain Satellite Television, said at a press conference here.

Unlike earlier, when Jain TV was a joint venture of Jain Studios Ltd and a group of non-resident Indians NRIs from the US, this time the Jain Studios has made its own durable arrangements,including procuring a transponder, to run uninterrupted satellite television services, he said.

76,250 pilgrims visit Amarnath

JAMMU: Nearly 76,250 pilgrims have performed darshan8217; of holy ice lingam of Lord Shiva at Amarnath till Wednesday, while a fresh batch of 1279 pilgrims left Jammu for Chandwari and Baltal areas, official sources said here. Of the 76,250 pilgrims, some 54,080 devotees have returned to their native places, the sources said. Over 16,000 pigrlims were on their way to Amarnath from Baltal and Chandwari areas, the sources said.

With a fresh batch of 1279 pilgrims, who left in 55 vehicles from here for Chandwari and Baltal areas, the total number of 80,979 pilgrims have so far reached Kashmir from Jammu.

Farmers stage rasta roko over jobs

PARADIP: Traffic on the Paradip-Chandikhol Expressway and Paradip-Cuttack road were completely stalled since Wednesday morning as farmers whose land had been acquired to set up a fertiliser plant here staged a rasta roko demandingjobs for their family members. They raised a blockade at Bhutamundai near here throwing the traffic out of gear. The agitation was launched by the Musadiha Jamihara Krushak Sangha, a local organisation. Bibhu Tarai, a spokesman for the agitating farmers, claimed that the stir had begun because the fertiliser plant authorities had failed to honour the agreement on providing job to one person from each family whose land were acquired for the project.