When Krishna Bhairu's car ran dry on Thursday, he decided to trek it to the nearest petrol pump. Imagine his surprise when he returned with the precious bottle of fuel and saw his four-wheeler surrounded by police officers and the bomb disposal squad with sniffer dogs!

The drama unfolded at Khadki Bazar because when he left his car unattended, people were alarmed to  see a vehicle on the side of the road  with no sight of the owner. Several passers-by called the nearby Khadki police to look into the matter.

The unattended car raised a false alarm on Elfisten road at 4.30 pm. The police arrived in five minutes followed by the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad.

The traffic on Elfisten Road was diverted to a parallel road for 45 minutes.

A police official, who did not wish to be named, said, "We received a call about a suspicious Ford Ikon  (MH02LA 8233) deserted in the middle of the road." Another officer, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said, "Sniffer dogs completed the check. In the meantime, the owner returned with a bottle of petrol in his hand." 
 

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World's most wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden on Thursday warned that Al-Qaida will kill American soldiers if the self-confessed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is executed.

"The day America will take such decision to execute Khalid Mohamed and any others it would have taken a decision to execute whoever we capture," Bin Laden said in the latest audio record, broadcast on Al-Jazeera.

He also said that US president Barack Obama was "following the footsteps of his predecessor", a reference to George Bush, the former US president.

"The politicians in the White House were practicing injustice against us and still they are. Especially by supporting Israel in its continuous occupation of Palestine.

"They used to think that America across the oceans is protected from the rage of the oppressed until our reaction was loudly heard at your home on the 9/11 with Gods help," he said in the recording.

Osama's threat comes as Obama administration has announced it would try Khalid Mohammed and four other accused at a New York courthouse just steps from where the World Trade Centre once stood.

Sheikh Mohammed and the other accused are detained at Guantanamo as they await trial over the September 11, 2001 attacks that killed close to 3,000 people, most in New York.

Osama bin Laden's last audio recording was released on January 24, earlier this year in which he claimed responsibility for alleged attempted attack on an airliner on Christmas Day and vowed there would be further attacks on the US unless Obama took steps to resolves the Palestinian situation. 
 

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Four women and a man were killed when a police escort jeep in the convoy of Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju hit an autorickshaw in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday. Three people were injured; one of this reportedly critical.
 
The minister was unhurt, but some policemen in the jeep received minor injuries in the incident that took place in Perumallapuram in East Godavari district.
 
Raju was on his way to attend a function in his Lok Sabha constituency Kakinada from Visakhapatnam Airport.
 
In a similar incident, six persons were killed when the auto-rickshaw in which they were travelling collided with an escort vehicle of ruling Congress chief whip Bhatti Vikramarka in Nalgonda district last month.
 

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Claiming that nightmares haunted him, a Saudi man turned himself in 21 years after he ran over a child and then fled the scene.

Yahya al-Asmari, 38 walked into the offices of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) on Sunday to confess to running over a child in Tabuk, north west of Saudi capital of Riyadh 21 years ago.

"I've had neither professional nor social success in my life, and I spend most of my time in tears of remorse," al-Asmari said of the incident when his car ran over one of the two children crossing a desert highway, Saudi Gazette newspaper reported.

The Saudi man had borrowed a friend's car to go shopping, and as he was driving along he suddenly saw two children "nor more than five years old" appear in front of him trying to cross the road.

"I couldn't do anything, and I hit one of them, but the other was okay, but I was so scared that I just drove off as another car stopped to help them," he said.

The NSHR officials said they were in touch with the police to check their records if such accident had happened and would hand over the guilty man to the police. 
 

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Pakistan's hopes for a nuclear deal and call for a more active US role in resolving the Kashmir issue seem to have been dashed.

During the strategic dialogue between the two countries, Washington has made it clear that such a deal is out of the question and it cannot and will not interfere with India's foreign policy.

Foreign Minister Qureshi had openly said at the start of the first ministerial strategic dialogue between the US and Pakistan that Pakistan wants the US to have a non-discriminatory access to energy, clearly indicating that Islamabad would like to be treated at par with New Delhi on a civilian nuclear deal.

He also called for a constructive US role in ending the Kashmir dispute.

But Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not make any mention of a nuclear deal and instead stressed that there are other avenues of improving the existing energy situation in Pakistan.

She also said her government can only encourage India and Pakistan to have dialogue.

"I want to just underscore that our goal in the Obama Administration is to make clear that we are going to be a partner with Pakistan going forward on a full range of matters. Now, we can't dictate Pakistani foreign policy or Indian foreign policy. But we can encourage, as we do, the in-depth discussion between both countries that we think would benefit each of them with respect to security and development," Hillary said.

Meanwhile amid all the diplomatic overtures, what caught the media attention was how the delegates of the two countries sat, not across the table separately, but intermingling with each other. 
 

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Mulund resident Satish Purushottam Sawant is still shaken by the March 21 incident, in which he and his family narrowly escaped death in their brand new Tata Nano. If there's anything that rankles the Sawants even more, it's the absence of an apology from Tata Motors.

"But for a formal 'we regret the inconvenience', in its letter to us, Tata Motors has not apologised to us verbally or in writing. They [Tata], have insulted us," Sawant said. Tata Motors has offered to compensate the Sawants with a replacement or a refund of the entire amount paid for the burnt car, but the Sawants are not pleased.

"My five-year-old son is so traumatised that he is afraid to get into any car. Can Tata compensate me for this?

They were quick to tow away the charred car and take it into their custody. Why are they still silent about the cause of the fire? I am told that experts from Tata are studying the exact cause," Sawant said.

"Deepankar Tiwari, regional manager (west) of Passenger Car Business Unit, Tata Motors trivialised the incident by telling me about how he had fallen off a bicycle when he was a kid and then later rode it, overcoming his fear! Then, Tata Motors' official, Amit Joshi, told me that it was a pre-production car, which Concorde Motors was not supposed to sell to any customer," said an agitated Sawant. 

According to the vehicle's Acknowledgement Delivery Note, the year of manufacture has been shown as 2009, but Tata's spokesperson, Deba-shish Ray, had said that the car was actually manufactured in 2008.

"It must also be probed how and why Tata and Concorde gave delivery of a defective car. I want the entire incident to be investigated and criminal action taken against officials of Tata Motors and Concorde," Sawant said.
 

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The Bandra-Worli sea link was inaugurated on Wednesday but the presence of Amitabh Bachchan at the function has sparked off a controversy.

A section of the Mumbai Congress is believed to be unhappy as the Bollywood icon, who is closely associated with former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, was invited to share the dais at a Congress-NCP function. Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan was also present at the function.

City Congress chief Kripa Shankar Singh even went public with his disagreement. He said: "We were not consulted before inviting Amitabh Bachchan."

Chavan himself indicated the unhappiness in PCC over the invite to Bachchan, a friend-turned-foe of the party, and exclusion of some Congress leaders from the function.

"The Mumbai Congress President (Kripashankar Singh) has given some reaction in the evening about invitations not being given to them....", Chavan told NDTV.

He said: "Yes there has been some discontent in the Mumbai Congress about invitations to Congressmen and also the invitation to Mr Bachchan. The invites were sent out by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC)."

Congress' coalition partner NCP is heading the ministry concerned with the sea link.

The Mumbai Congress is understood to have conveyed its unhappiness to the party high command about the presence of Bachchan at the function while a number of Congressmen were not invited, top Congress sources said in New Delhi.

Hours after the function, the party high command received the complaint, the sources said.

The eight-lane sea link is now complete as four more lanes were added on Wednesday.

With eight lanes stretching up to 4 kilometres, the sea link will connect Bandra to Worli in seven minutes, thanks to a speed limit of 50 kilometres per hour.

A portion of the sea link was opened late last year for the city. Today, four more lanes have been added.

The four lanes that opened last year will handle traffic entering the city; the four lanes opening today will service those leaving the island city.

The toll is Rs 50 each way, a return passage costs Rs 75.

The 4-kilometre sea link has cost the city 1634 crores. Work on the project began in 1999.

The next phase will extend to Haji Ali in South Mumbai

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A mysterious caller has been nagging the harried airport police and claiming to have information of the people who planted a crude bomb in the Kingfisher aircraft on Sunday.
 
Deputy Commissioner of Police (north east) Basavraj Malagatti received a phone call from a Mohan from Mumbai. He claimed that he has filmed the people who had kept explosives in the aircraft.
 
Malagatii said that the caller informed him that he has converted the recording into a CD and would give it to him if he gets suitably rewarded.
 
"I got the call at 7.15 pm on my landline number. The caller refused to divulge his complete identity and his phone number.
 
When I assured him that he'll be rewarded if he gives me the CD and his phone number, he said he'll contact me soon and took my mobile phone numbers," Malagatti said.
 
Malagatti added that the caller said he would give his bank account number for depositing the money as he would need it to fly his associate down to Bangalore with the CD.
 
"I assured him that I'd give him two and fro charges along with the cash reward if I get the CD and asked him to send his associate. However, he didn't reply to it and disconnected the call," said Malagatti.
 
"I've asked my officers to track the number as I think he's a prankster. However, we cannot rule out any possible leads."
 
Meanwhile, the Kerala police have picked up a few people in Thiruvananthapuram, including a ground staff member of Kingfisher airlines.
 
They have also detained a scrap dealer and an explosives licence holder in connection with the case.
 
Also, on a tip-off from the Kerala police, the Bangalore airport police have detained three people who were travelling from Kerala to Dubai via Bangalore. They are presently being interrogated. 
 

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India on Wednesday insisted that US must provide a direct access to its investigators to interrogate Pakistani-American David Headley, who has confessed to plotting the Mumbai terror attacks.

"One day or the other, (the) US will have to agree and expedite the issue that Headley will have to undergo interrogation by our agencies", Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily told reporters, a day after Washington said no decision has been taken to this effect.

Asked if the US denying access to Indian investigators is "unfair" and "unjustified" as the Indian government had allowed the FBI to interrogate gunman Ajmal Kasab in Mumbai, he said "we don't want to pass a value judgement on their policy and matter".

"But this is a matter we need to hard press our argument and you know we have a strong bargaining and tell them (the US) what's necessary...we have to make a strong case which we have already made out. Here (Mumbai attacks) he (Headley) is involved, he is really involved," Moily added.

Four days after US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Robert Blake publicly stated in Delhi that Indian investigators would have an access to Headley, US Ambassador Timothy J Roemer in a statement on Tuesday said "no decision on direct access for India to David Headley has been made."

Sources in the Home Ministry had said on Monday India is likely to send a team of investigators in April to question 49-year-old Headley 
 

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It's the day after at Stephen Court, the site of Tuesday's inferno. The fire is doused, now Kolkata has to deal with the human tragedy.

Sonali Singh and Mili Acharya have been roaming on the streets for long, photograph in hand. In the hope that someone can give them details about their brother Bidyut Acharya, who is missing.

Bidyut, 22, worked at a call centre Wiltech Computers. The family has not heard from him.

"My brother used to work in an office here. He is been missing ever since the fire broke out and we cannot find him anywhere," says Sonali Singh.

The Kolkata police have confirmed that while 24 bodies have been found, 15 to 20 more people could be missing.

Where is young Bidyut? Sister Mili is inconsolable, the family can only wait and hope.
 

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