Ram rethink after Jessica trial blow

New Delhi (PTI): Delhi High Court has dismissed an application by Jessica Lal murder accused Manu Sharma’s counsel Ram Jethmalani seeking transfer of the case to another court.

The former law minister said he would decide whether to appear on behalf of the prime accused at all or not.

Jethmalani filed the plea after a newspaper report suggested that Justice R.S. Sodhi, who leads the bench hearing the case, had been approached by Sharma’s family in 2002 offering favours in return for an acquittal.

The defence counsel said Sharma feared that the judge would be unable to deliver an unbiased verdict following the report.

“We adopt an open court hearing of every case and they are open to public debate, discussion and criticism. Insulating ourselves will result in great injustice to the parties involved in the matter,” Sodhi said on Tuesday.

Stay on Venugopal dismissal

New Delhi: Delhi High Court has stayed the dismissal of AIIMS director P. Venugopal till February 22, 2007.

Although such stays would have attracted celebrations by a large section of the resident doctors till recently, hardly anyone barring faculty members close to him seemed particularly interested on Tuesday.

“Quite frankly, if he is dismissed again sometime next year, there will hardly be any protests. He will not be able to help us in our anti-reservation protests anymore,” an office-bearer of the AIIMS Resident Doctors Association said.

Venugopal has been facing barbs from health minister Anbumani Ramadoss for supporting strikes against reservation for backward classes.

NN Sippy

Mumbai (PTI): Film producer N.N. Sippy died at Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital on Tuesday. He was 75.

Sippy, famed for films like Kalicharan, Sargam, Chor Machaye Shor and Fakira, was admitted to the hospital with heart ailments last week. He is survived by his son and three daughters.

Mysore plot

Kozhikode (PTI): Two persons, one of them a police head constable, have been arrested in connection with the Mysore terror plot. They had allegedly helped Pakistani national and suspected al Badr terrorist Mohammed Fahad procure a fake passport.

Kids killed

Lucknow: Two schoolchildren were killed when a minibus in which they were travelling plunged into a river in Muzaffarnagar on Tuesday. The driver lost control of the vehicle while trying to negotiate a speeding truck.

The Goa government plans to convert a Portuguese-era building in Panaji into a national museum, which will show artefacts and valuables seized during anti-smuggling operations.