Court rejects CBI rape case report

NEW DELHI (PTI): A Delhi court rejected the CBI?s closure report in a 1998 rape case of two minors observing that the probe has ?not served? the purpose of achieving justice and the matter should be re-investigated.

?I am not accepting the closure report. Let further investigations be conducted by the CBI with regard to persons responsible for destroying, fabricating and diluting evidence and threatening witnesses or committing any offence during the period before submitting chargesheet in the case which is now pending trial before a sessions court in Delhi so that there is no miscarriage of justice,? chief metropolitan magistrate Reena Singh Nag said.

Nag directed the agency to file a fresh report by March 5, 2005 in the case of two minors being raped allegedly by some Uttar Pradesh policemen in August 1998 in Pilibhit.

?I am of the considered view that investigations done by the CBI have not served the purpose of achieving justice,? Nag observed.

The CBI has admitted lapses on the part of certain police officials and doctors and the matter was proposed to be referred to Uttar Pradesh government for taking departmental action against them, but it was not known whether any action was taken, the court said. It asked the agency to take note, while conducting further investigations, of a protest petition filed in the Supreme Court by a human rights activist and a former Uttar Pradesh MLA.

Water row talks fail

JAIPUR (PTI): The Rajasthan government?s efforts to resolve the irrigation water row failed after a meeting between a ministerial-level delegation and farmers of Sriganganagar district ended without any agreement, an official said on Monday.

Sunday?s 10-hour long talks at Ghadsana near here failed as the farmers were demanding 58 per cent water for irrigation besides the reserved quota of 5.23 cusec per 1,000 hectares in the Indira Gandhi Canal Project?s first phase from Harike, Pong and Bhakhra dams, official sources said.

The farmers did not accept the state government?s version that water losses were caused by canal breaches and water theft and quit the meeting.

This was the second attempt of the government to solve the impasse in the district.

Five farmers died in the district in police firing over the issue in October.

Pushkar mela opens

AJMER (PTI): Nearly 50,000 devotees took a holy dip in the Pushkar lake amid the chanting of Vedic mantras and ringing of bells on the opening day of the five-day Pushkar Kartik Mela here on Monday.

Devotees offered prayers at the Brahma and other temples after the ekadashi bath. The occasion also marked the beginning of Pushkar mela, which draws foreign tourists.

Cops arrested

DEHRA DUN (PTI): Three policemen accused of murdering Manisha Chauhan, wife of a Roorkee-based businessman, were arrested by Uttaranchal police on Monday. Four policemen had allegedly shot dead Manisha last week when she was passing through the IDPL factory locality of Rishikesh in a car along with her family. The accused had reportedly signalled her to stop, failing which they opened fire.

Highway closed

SRINAGAR (PTI): The vital Srinagar-Leh national highway, the only road linking Ladakh with rest of Jammu and Kashmir, would be closed for winter from Tuesday, a defence spokesman said. The road will be closed as a precautionary measure to avoid any untoward incident like the one in November 2001 when snowfall claimed the lives of several people, he added. The road is expected to be thrown open in the first week of June 2005.

Man kills wife

BHIND, MP, (PTI): A pump attendant with the public health engineering department allegedly killed his wife and committed suicide over gambling debts at Virendra Nagar. Santosh Darji shot his wife Sarita while she was sleeping on Sunday night, the police said. They added that he later shot himself with the rifle.

J&K civic polls

SRINAGAR (PTI): Elections to civic bodies in Jammu and Kashmir would be held on December 15, minister for tourism and urban development Ghulam Hassan Mir said on Monday. He said measures were being taken to implement the local self-government concept after the elections.