Briefly Nation

Angry with a lawyer,Chandra Bhal Dwivedi,75,for accusing him of corruption,Allahabad Additional Civil Judge S P Dwivedi tried to hit him with a shoe....

Melee in court after judge tries to hit lawyer with shoe

ALLAHABAD: Angry with a lawyer,Chandra Bhal Dwivedi,75,for accusing him of corruption,Allahabad Additional Civil Judge S P Dwivedi tried to hit him with a shoe. In retaliation,lawyers present in the court went on rampage,hit the judge,smashed his chamber and launched an indefinite strike. The judge was hearing a case when Dwivedi entered his court and asked the clerk for the file of his client. On being informed that the file was missing,the advocate reportedly said that the judge entertained only those cases in which he had some benefits. This irked the judge who allegedly took out a shoe and chased Dwivedi.

Sudha Pillai made Plan panel secretary

NEW DELHI: Sudha Pillai,1972 batch Kerala cadre officer,was on Friday appointed Member Secretary Planning Commission in the rank of Minister of State for a period of two years. Pillai was in contention for the Cabinet Secretarys job till the time the government gave one-year extension to K M Chandrasekhar last June. Batchmate and wife of Home Secretary G K Pillai,Sudha Pillai has worked in Labour and Panchayati Raj ministries at the Centre and handled Finance portfolio at the state level.

Produce Gulshans killer by June 30: HC

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court Friday directed the Mumbai Police Commissioner to produce Abdul Rauf Merchant,the absconding convict in the Gulshan Kumar murder case,before it by June 30. Merchant was convicted of killing Kumar and sentenced to life imprisonment but he disappeared after being released on parole last year. Mumbai Police had earlier informed the HC that Merchant had fled to Bangladesh where he had been detained.

Naxals kill contractor in Orissa

BHUBANESWAR: A day after they killed a forester in Orissas Nuapada district,Maoists struck again on Friday killing a contractor whom they suspected to be a police informer in Malkangiri district. Police said Maoists shot dead Chitta Ranjan Ray,a contractor at MV-69 village under Kalimela Police Station. The Maoists fired four rounds. We have found some posters near the spot where they accused the contractor of being a police informer, said an police officer.

Trace Malegaon blast witness: HC to cops

INDORE: The Madhya Pradesh HC has directed the Indore police to trace Patidar,a witness in the Malegaon bomb blast case,and submit a detailed report about his whereabouts by May 6. Patidar is missing ever since an Anti-Terrorist Squad ATS team of the Mumbai Police picked him up from his Indore house rented to him by Ramji Kalsangra,an accused in the case in November 2008. Patidars brother has alleged that he is either in the illegal custody of Mumbai ATS or has been tortured to death. ATS has denied the charge and said that Patidar had come to Mumbai on his own.