Award for Gujarati writer

Saroop Dhruv, Gujarati playwright and social activist, has received the 2008 Hellman/Hammett award for courageous writing by Human Rights Watch.

She was recognised for resisting censorship by the governments in Gujarat for her plays including Suno! Nadi Kya Kahati Hai, Jiva no Adhikar, and Raj-Parivartan, and her work with victims of communal violence and the socially oppressed.

Agni scientist injured

A Hyderabad based scientist who was in Orissa for launching of the Agni III missile met with a road mishap on the national highway between Cuttack and Bhubaneswar on Wednesday night, reports DHNS from Bhubaneswar. The seriously injured scientist, K Apparao was hit by a speeding motor cycle while crossing the road to buy rasgoolas for his family.

Shahid to sport new look

Bollywood actor Shahid Kapoor will sport long hair and flaunt six pack abs in his upcoming film, a musical to be directed by Ken Ghosh, reports PTI from Mumbai. “The new film is an out-and-out dance film,” Ken said. Shahid is set to fly abroad to learn different dance styles as well as work on his body.

‘Godman’ under scanner

Acting on a red corner notice issued by Interpol, the police on Thursday conducted a raid on the ashram premises of controversial godman Swami Amrita Chaithanya in Kochi, reports DHNS from Thiruvananthapuram.  The 35-year-old swamy, whose original name is Santhosh Madhavan, is wanted by Dubai police in connection with a cheating case filed by a woman.

Azhagiri acquitted

The sessions court in Chittor in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday acquitted TN Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s son M K Azhagiri of the charge of murder of former minister and DMK leader T Kiruttinan after most of the prosecution witnesses turned hostile, reports DHNS from Chennai.  Kiruttinan was hacked to death in 2003 near his house in Madurai while he was returning from a walk.


Tagore’s birth anniversary celebrated

The 147th birth anniversary of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore was celebrated in Meghalaya with various cultural programmes on Thursday, reports UNI from Shillong.

A special feature programme in English, Shillongey Rabindranath, was broadcast for the first time in Shillong by AIR.

Another dolphin found dead in UP

Barely two months after death of a dolphin in Chambal river in Etawah district, another gangetic dolphin weighing about 100 kilograms was found dead under mysterious circumstances in the Sharda Canal near Lucknow, reports DHNS. A fisherman, who was trying to take the fish to the market  has been arrested.

Soha Ali’s arms licence cancelled

The arms licence issued to film actress Soha Ali Khan, whose rifle was allegedly used by her father and former Indian cricket captain Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi to kill a blackbuck, was cancelled on Thursday by a court, reports PTI from Gurgaon.

Gurgaon District Magistrate Rakesh Gupta cancelled the licence issued to Soha in November 1996 on the ground that she had not attained the mandatory age of 21 years when Soha applied for the licence.

Police thrash state tennis champions

In yet another case of police high handedness, three state level lawn tennis players, including a girl, were thrashed by the police in Varanasi city after they were caught for violation of traffic regulations on Thursday, reports DHNS.

According to police sources here, the players-two brothers and a sister- were on way to the sports stadium for practice on Thursday afternoon on a motorbike when they were stopped by a policeman for violating traffic regulation by carrying three persons on a bike. The players, including the state champion in men’s category Nagendra and state champ in the women category Omlata, were allegedly abused and thrashed by the police.

Man-eater leopard done to death

A man-eater leopard, which had struck terror in the villages in Terai district of Lakhimpur-Kheri in central UP, was killed by village mob on Thursday afternoon, reports DHNS from Lucknow. The animal had killed five people and wounded several others.

The beast, which attacked and wounded three people in a field in Dhaurahara area in the morning, was chased by the villagers on hearing the shouts of the victims. The beast ran towards another nearby village Delhar and hid itself in a house where the mob surrounded it and killed it.

Man hands over wife to paramour

A man permitted his wife and mother of his four children to marry her paramour in Jamalpur area, reports UNI from Mirzapur. The incident took place on Wednesday, when a 35-year-old woman accepted in the village panchayat her affair with a 25-year-old youth. The panchayat also permitted the woman to take her four children with her.