Mumbai train fire

Ahmedabad, Sept. 24: Five coaches of the Mumbai-bound Awadh Express were charred in an early-morning fire near Bharuch on Monday but no passengers were injured.

The cause of the fire was not known but railway officials ruled out sabotage.

Some panic-stricken travellers jumped out, though the train was stopped at Palej station, near Bharuch, by a passenger who spotted the fire in one of the coaches and pulled the chain.

But the blaze spread quickly and, within minutes, the four adjoining coaches were charred.

Fire tenders could not reach the spot because there was no approach road, Prashant Kumar, the railway commissioner of safety, said.

Pirated DVDs

Melbourne (PTI): Authorities in Australia have confiscated over 11,000 pirated DVDs of Hindi films that were sent from Singapore, customs spokesperson John Potter said in Sydney. The DVDs will be destroyed this week, according to reports in The Age.

Manager shot

Jhansi (PTI): A Gramin Bank manager in Uttar Pradesh was shot dead on his way to office on Monday. A.K. Khare was killed by motorcycle-borne assailants in the Punch area of this heartland district, the superintendent of police (Dehat), Balwant Rai, said.

Fake drugs

Muzaffarnagar (PTI): Criminal cases have been filed against two pharmaceutical companies for allegedly supplying spurious medicines in this Uttar Pradesh district, the drug control department has said.

Dowry cop

Salem (PTI): A sub-inspector has been suspended for allegedly torturing his wife for dowry. Police said the sub-inspector’s wife had complained that her husband had married a woman sub-inspector and both of them were harassing her for money.