Pak ‘spy’ in net

Calcutta, Jan. 30: City police sleuths picked up a Pakistani, Waqar Salim, from a hideout in Howrah tonight and apparently recovered documents related to Indian defence installations.

A resident of Bhavalnagar in Punjab province, Salim was arrested following the interrogation of Ainul Haque of Howrah. Haque was arrested around 7 pm while he was about to board a bus to Basirhat in North 24-Parganas from Esplanade. Several defence-related documents were also found on him. “We are still in the preliminary stage of investigation but it appears that they were assigned the task of sending vital inputs about Indian defence installations to Pakistan,” detective department deputy commissioner Gyanwant Singh said.

Birla unit shut

Chinsurah: The management of the B.K. Birla-owned Kesoram Rayon at Kuntighat in Hooghly declared suspension of work on Monday. The factory, 58 km from Calcutta, employs about 4,000 people and produces artificial fibres and cellophane paper.

Cong leader

Burdwan: The Youth Congress president of Purbasthali Block-II, Kamal Dafadar, was shot in the head four times before his throat was slit on Monday. When Kamal, a fish trader, reached the wholesale market near Patuli station ? 180 km from Calcutta ? around 5 am, four masked men surrounded him.