Around town

A special court on Saturday awarded life imprisonment to seven persons and sentenced nine others to five years each in jail...

Marad 02: Seven get life,5 years for nine

KOZHIKODE: A special court on Saturday awarded life imprisonment to seven persons and sentenced nine others to five years each in jail for killing a youth during the communal riots at Marad beach near here in 2002. Special Court Judge K P Prasanna Kumari also slapped a fine of Rs 25,000 each on the seven and Rs 18,000 each on the others for killing 17-year-old Shimjith on January 3,2002,a day after another youth was murdered in the spate of violence that rocked the coastal belt. Four other accused were set free for lack of tangible evidence.

Maoist training camp destroyed

CHAIBASA: A Maoist training camp was destroyed in West Singhbhum district after a fierce encounter between police and ultra-left cadre on Saturday. The police and the paramilitary troops were on a regular patrol when the encounter took place at Nawagaon near the Orissa border. Kolhan DIG Manoj Mishra said there was no report of any casualty in the hour-long encounter.

Student beaten to death by batchmate

Berhampore: A Class X student was allegedly beaten to death after he told his headmaster that a classmate was holding hands with a girl in a Murshidabad village. Swapan Sheikh,the son of a marginal farmer,who complained to the headmaster of Shisgram High School on Wednesday was allegedly beaten up by his batchmate a day later,said SP B L Meena. A seriously injured Sheikh was rushed to Hospital here where he succumbed to injuries on Friday. Police had to fire in the air to disperse the agitated villagers. The accused boy has since been arrested.

JDU leaders son sent in police custody

PATNA: A court has remanded Chanakya,son of former MP and JDU leader Vijay Krishna,in three days police custody in connection with the murder of his his fathers aide and transporter Satyendra Singh. Chanakya was arrested on January 25 after having evaded arrest for seven months. His father had been granted bail by the Patna High Court.