Bellucci may look up Sonia

New Delhi (PTI): Italian actress Monica Bellucci, who was to play Sonia Gandhi in a shelved movie, could come to the city next month to meet the Congress chief and attend an international women’s film festival.

“We have written a letter to Sonia seeking Bellucci’s appointment with her. If that is granted, there is every possibility that the actress will make it to Delhi for three days from December 17,” festival director Shyamali Deb said.

Traci, the secretary of the 38-year-old actress, whose latest film Napoleon and Me premiered at the Rome festival last month, told the organisers of the women’s film festival that Bellucci was keen to meet Sonia.

Her chances of going to Delhi for the festival would brighten if she gets an appointment with the Congress president, Deb said.

Bellucci was to play Sonia in a film proposed by Jagmohan Mundra, a US-based Indian director. But his project was set aside following reservations by the Congress.

Chennai cops swoop on bars

Chennai (PTI): Police have cracked down on bars run in star hotels, which were found to be serving liquor well beyond midnight.

The police raided two three-star hotels in the city after midnight on Saturday.

“Not only were the hotels found to have been serving alcohol even after the stipulated time limits, but they also served it in areas outside the bar,” a senior police official said.

Seventeen employees of both the hotels were arrested and booked under Sections 4 (1) (k) of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition and Enforcement Act, the police said.

Karachi ferry

Islamabad (PTI): India and Pakistan would soon resume the ferry service between Karachi and Mumbai and a protocol would be signed by the month-end, Pakistan’s ports and shipping minister Babar Khan Ghauri said.

Ghauri will visit New Delhi to sign the shipping protocol for the ferry service.

5 killed in crash

Agra (PTI): Five persons were killed when a bus collided with a tempo carrying people from the Bateshwar fair on the Agra-Bateshwar road on Sunday. As many as 10 persons were injured.

Body found

Gurgaon (PTI): The body of a youth,who was missing since October 29, was found in a gutter on Saturday. The family of Gwalior resident Ashish, 23, had got suspicious calls from his mobile phone after he went missing from Gurgaon, a police official said.

A gold-plated bulb of the kalash at Kedarnath temple, missing since Tuesday, has been recovered about 1 km away from the shrine. It was thought to have been blown away by the wind.