A man has been arrested in Mumbai with fake currency having face value of Rs 1.5 lakh, and the police are probing if he has any links with the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI.

Suleiman Shaikh (50) was nabbed from Bandra by the Mumbai Crime Branch sleuths late last night, the police said today.

Shaikh will be produced before a local court later in the day and senior Crime Branch officials are expected to speak on the case after that.
 

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New Delhi: Refusing to relent to the demands of striking resident doctors of AIIMS, Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss today warned them of stringent action if they continued with their agitation.

"If the strike continues, we will have to hire doctors on contract and we will be forced to suspend the agitating doctors," Ramadoss told a press conference here.

The three-day-old strike has severely affected patient care in the country's premier health institute.

The warning by Ramadoss came as resident doctors of AIIMS continued their strike demanding immediate issuance of degree certificates.

Warning them, he said a decision regarding the disciplinary action against the agitating doctors would be taken in the evening.

The doctors were "indulging in disrupting the patient care services." Ramadoss, who cancelled his scheduled visit to Bhutan today, said.

Refusing to take the blame for delay in issuance of the certificates, the minister said institute director P Venugopal should get the certificates "rectified immediately" so that he could affix his signature.

Ramadoss, president of AIIMS, had yesterday refused to sign the degree certificates, a demand put forward by the agitating doctors, on the ground that they had the signature of registrar Dr Sandeep Aggarwal, whose appointment he contended was illegal.

Denying the allegations that he was delaying the issuance of certificates, Ramadoss said, the documents came to him only ten days ago.

"Those students who need the certificates immediately, may come to me with the rectified one and I will sign it immediately and the rest will get their certificates on September 25 at the convocation ceremony," he said.

Asked whether the certificates will be valid with only the signatures of director, registrar and dean, he said, "The document will be invalid without the signature of the institute's president."
 

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Hisar: A Haryana Roadways bus was today set on fire in Hansi town by a group of the people from Dalit organisations protesting the killing of a youth of their community in Gohana.

"The bus was set on fire by a group of 40-50 youths who fled from the spot," the police said, adding that the fire brigade doused the fire.

A case had been registered by the Hansi police against unknown persons.

The protestors also blocked traffic at Fountain Chowk here for about half-an-hour and raised anti-government slogans.

They burnt an effigy of Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda and handed over a memorandum to the sub divisional magistrate, demanding an immediate arrest of the killers of a Dalit youth, Rakesh, who was murdered in Gohana on Monday night.

Earlier, a group of Dalits assembled at Multani Chowk and marched in the city to protest the killing.

Meanwhile, members of the Dalit community took out a procession at Sonepat today to press for their demand of arrest of the suspects in the murder case. They also demanded a compensation of Rs 25 lakh to the members of the bereaved family and a government job.

The situation in Gohana, Sonepat and its nearby towns continued to remain peaceful today, official sources said, adding that the security forces had been patrolling Gohana town to maintain peace.
 

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Agra: The Uttar Pradesh government today transferred the city police chief and suspended 13 policemen holding them responsible for the violence here which left one person dead and 50 others injured.

Superintendent of Police Rahul Yaduvendu has been attached to Director General of Police headquarters at Lucknow. Prem Narayan has been appointed as the new city police chief.

The action was initiated after the state Home Secretary Mahesh Gupta and Director General of Police Vikram Singh submitted their report on the incident to the government.

Those suspended included an inspector, a traffic inspector, a traffic sub-inspector, five constables and five traffic head constables.

As the city limped back to normalcy, curfew in Sadar police station area was lifted this morning. No relaxation was given in other five areas.
 
 

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Arun Chaudhary (45), a locomotive guard from Kalyan, had just escaped an accident after his goods train derailed near Titwala on Saturday afternoon. Chaudhary, his wife and daughter, Kirti, thanked God and before they turned in for the night, watched some TV.

That was when the first images of the devastating Hyderabad twin bomb blasts began flashing across all the channels. Shocked and fed-up over these repeated incidents, the family then went to bed.

The next day, everything changed for the Chaudharys.

Kaash main mar gaya hota…
Sipping a cup of tea, Arun picked up his copy of Lokmat and saw on the front-page, a disturbing and bloody picture of a dead body of a boy lying between the seats at Lumbini Park, Hyderabad.

Something in the picture caught Arun’s attention and peering closer, the traumatised father realized, he was looking at his son, Kiran.  

 
 Arun was unable to speak to this paper initially, but a relative said,  “He realised it was Kiran he was looking at because of the shoes in the picture. The boy had told his father, he wanted those shoes during his last visit to Mumbai, but Arun couldn’t afford them then.” His father later purchased them and sent it to Kiran in Sangamner.

Later in the day, Arun spoke to us, and said, “Kaash main mar gaya hota… Mere bachche Kiran ne meri maut kismat se le li.” He said he was devastated that he had lived in the train derailment, though his son had died in blasts, though they occurred on the same day.

Kiran was IInd year Electronics student at Amrutwahini Engineering College near Nashik. He had gone to Hyderabad along with 40 other students to catch the laser show at Lumbini Park on Saturday.

His sister Kirti (16), a college student had in fact posted her rakhi to him on his hostel address. Arun added, ”He was a very dutiful and honest boy. He had so many dreams for us. He wanted his sister Kirti to be highly educated. He used to tell me ‘behen kabhi bojh nahin’.

I will abide by his wishes and get her married only after she is qualified and has a career.”

Incidentally, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who was killed by LTTE’s human bomb Dhanu, was identified by the Lotto shoes he wore by Congress leader T Jayanthi. The bomb had completely dismembered him the shoes helped identify his remains.

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The decision to listen to his friends and attend the laser show at Hyderabad’s Lumbini Park proved fatal for Irshad Ahmed (19), a student of Pune’s Amrutvahini Engineering College. Ahmed was the only Mumbaikar to die in the twin blasts that killed 42 and injured 100 on Saturday. Staying at a Pune hostel over a year, Irshad was among the group of 45 of second year engineering students who were in Hyderabad on a site visit.

On Sunday afternoon, Irshad’s distraught father Abdul Ghani wept silently with relatives and well-wishers for hours outside his Saki Naka residence. Before him, Ahmed’s body was being readied with flowers, for his last journey to the cemetery.

“When I last spoke with him on Thursday, he told me that his friends insisted he attend the trip, although he wasn’t too interested. I told him to go ahead, if it helped him academically. Later, on his friends’ insistence, he went to the laser show,” said Ghani.

Ghani said Irshad a bright student and wanted to pursue MBA. “I
told him to get married, lekin usne mana kar diya. He wanted to complete his studies and establish himself.”

“Sirf humaare dil ko pata hai ki Irshad ke jaane se kya beet rahi hai. Be it the 1993 blasts, July 11 blasts or these, how can such mindless terrorism, where innocents are killed, achieve anything for anybody?” asked Ghani, weeping.

Irshad had scored 81 per cent in his HSC exams in 2005. His best friend Sachin Walge (19) (friends since Std I) said, “We bonded on various things from playing and watching football and cricket, to discussing the latest gadgets and gizmos that hit shops.

He was a Hollywood film buff and would always do a 1st day 1st show. Irshad bahut hi achcha insaan aur superb student tha,” Walge said.

 
 
Irshad Ahmed was the only Mumbaikar to die in the blasts. He was with the group of engineering students on a site visit to Hyderabad. (Right) is his grieving father Abdul Ghani

 
Explosive factory owner given clean chit

THE Nagpur police questioned Amin Sohail (35), proprietor of Amin Explosives, yesterday.

Amin Explosive’s label was found on the explosives defused by Hyderabad police on Saturday. Preliminary investigations revealed that Sohail had all government licenses for selling emulsion like explosives for quarry work.

Sohail usually sold the explosive to select buyers, who were license holders. “We suspect someone from the supply chain may have leaked the content, which is a matter of investigation,” Additional Commissioner of police (Crime) Dr B K Upadhyay, added.
 
 

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The country has been put on high alert post the twin blasts in Hyderabad last evening

 
Following the twin blasts in Hyderabad on Saturday, where more than 34 people died and about 40 injured, the entire country has been put on alert with the four metros on high alert by the Central Government.

Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata are the four major metros of the country. These cities are also communally sensitive and vulnerable targets. Both the blasts happened near-simultaneously on busy spots in Hyderabad.

Amongst the injured, 20 are reportedly in a critical state. The investigations in the blasts are underway.

This is the second blast in less than three months in Hyderabad, the first being at Mecca Mosque near Char Minar in May. 
 

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KOLKATA: A pregnant woman was badly assaulted by a group of traders in Malda district of West Bengal after her six-year-old son allegedly stole Rs 4 from a shop. The traders also battered her husband when he tried to resist them.

The incident took place at Nasirtola village in West Bengal’s Malda district, yesterday afternoon.

Hospitalised

Police said Noorjahan Begam, a woman in advanced stage of pregnancy, and her husband Bakhter Sheikh were beaten up by local traders. Both were admitted to Malda district hospital with critical head injuries.

According to local reports, the altercation between the couple and the traders started when the woman came to protect her son, Bulbul, from the enraged merchants.

“I asked Muslim Sheikh, a local trader, why he was beating up my son so brutally instead of informing us about the theft. He became furious and threatened us as well,” Bakhter said.

The couple somehow managed to take their son back with them but later Muslim along with his two sons came to Bakhter’s house and attacked the family.

Miscarriage?

Noorjahan was hit on the head and belly with iron rods and she reportedly fell unconscious. She was taken to hospital by neighbours and could suffer a miscarriage.

“The traders beat up both husband and wife,” Malda police superintendent D K Mondal said.

“After receiving a formal complaint from the couple we would take necessary action against the culprits,” he said. 
 

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Kozhikode: Irked over timings of a Dubai-bound Air India Express flight being advanced, passengers went on a protest at Karipur international terminal yesterday.

Airport sources said the timing of flight 311, originally scheduled to depart at 10.30 am, was advanced by four hours and the passengers were informed about the revised schedule in time.

However, a section of the passengers claimed they were not intimated about the change by the Air India office although they had given their contact telephone numbers.

Forty-nine passengers were reportedly left stranded at the airport following the incident, they said.

Meanwhile, agitated passengers pacified after officials assured them that they would be accommodated in different flights.
 

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Mangalore, Aug 25: A hunger strike will be held at the railway station, if the passenger train between the city and Bangalore will not commence on October 2, 12 or 21, said P V Mohan, president, Mangalore Railway Development Action Committee.

Speaking at a press conference here on Saturday August 25, he said that MP Sadananda Gowda has taken undue media publicity by releasing press statements in this matter, for the past 4 years. But he never tried sincerely to start passenger train in this route. If he had made a sincere effort, the train would have been introduced much earlier, but he has never worked in this regard, Mohan alleged.

Recently, the Action Committee had met the Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, along with union minister Oscar Fernandes and explained the reality. Hence, the Committee has got positive response from the railway minister. The passenger train would be introduced on any of the above mentioned dates in October, he informed.

Congress leader Muhammad Badruddin and NSUI president Tejaswiraj were present at the press meet.