N A T I O N

‘Lagaan’, ‘DCH’ sweep Screen awards

Mumbai, January 19 Sunny Deol and Kajol were adjudged the best actor and actress for their performances in the biggest blockbusters of 2001 “Gadar-Ek Prem Katha” and “Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham” respectively, at the Eighth Annual Screen Awards function.

A scene from film ‘Lagaan’

Remand of Dec 13 attack accused extended
New Delhi, January 19
The judicial remand of all accused of the Parliament House attack has been extended for another 14 days by a special court today.

DMK seeks suspension of Andipatti poll
Chennai, January 19
The DMK leader, Mr M. Karunanidhi, has made a last-ditch effort to get the suspension of Andipatti byelection by appealing to the President, Mr K.R. Narayanan, to intervene “to restore people’s faith in our system of universal franchise.”

Hawala operators held for aiding LeT
Mumbai, January 19
The police has swooped on the homes and offices of two city-based hawala operators and arrested them for siphoning off money to the Lashkar-e-Toiba.

Kalchakra Puja: testing time for security
Bodhgaya (Bihar), January 19
“Around five lakh Buddhist monks gathered for the world famous Kalchakra Puja here has virtually made the task of security for the Dalai Lama and Karmapa very difficult, given the Union Government alert over possible threat to Dalai Lama, specially the Karmapa from Chinese insurgents”, a top police official has said here.

Satpal Maharaj quits Cong
New Delhi, January 19
Mr Satpal Maharaj, a senior Congress leader from Uttranchal, today resigned from the party in protest against the manner in which his supporters had been ignored in the distribution of party tickets. 

MPCC gen secy does volte-face, tenders apology
Nagpur, January 19
In a dramatic about turn, the general secretary (women’s cell) Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee, has tendered a public apology and confessed that she had slammed a sexual harassment charge against two politicians out of pique on being denied a party ticket for the February byelections.

PWG offers talks to AP Govt
Hyderabad, January 19
In a significant climb-down, outlawed naxalite outfit People’s War Group has made an “unconditional offer” of talks with the Andhra Pradesh Government, at the same time seeking a conducive atmosphere for dialogue by a halt to “police encounters and raids for a couple of months”. 

Waterlogging damages PWD office
Hanumangarh, January 19
Waterlogging has badly damaged the building housing the office of the Assistant Engineer, PWD, in Rawatsar subdivision of the district.

Video

After the United States and Israel, India becomes the third country to successfully design and produce unmanned helicopter. (28k, 56k)

Tallest man, largest book and camel bone artefacts are some of the attractions of Swadeshi Mela, an indigenous fair of Indian exotica in Jodhpur. (28k, 56k)

Manoj Pradhan, a member of Loing village panchayat of Raigarh block in Madhya Pradesh, has been suspended from the village panchayat's committee for having a third child. (28k, 56k)

‘Lagaan’, ‘DCH’ sweep Screen awards

Mumbai, January 19
Sunny Deol and Kajol were adjudged the best actor and actress for their performances in the biggest blockbusters of 2001 “Gadar-Ek Prem Katha” and “Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham” respectively, at the Eighth Annual Screen Awards function.

It was truly a nail-biting climax for the who’s who of the Hindi film industry as well as cinelovers here last night as two other acclaimed films “lagaan” and “dil chahta hai” (‘DHC’) vied for the top honours in various categories — popular as well as technical. “Lagaan” walked away with eight, while “Dil Chahta Hai” won nine trophies.

“Lagaan”, India’s official entry to the Oscars, was declared the Best Film of the year, while Ashutosh Gorwarikar was honoured with the Best Director Award.

“Lagaan”, appreciated by the masses as well as the classes in India and abroad, bagged awards for best story, editing, cinematography, art direction with celebrated nitin desai picking up his fifth Screen Award trophy in this category, Best Female Singer (Asha Bhosale for “Radha kaise na jale...”) and Promising Newcomer (Female) (Gracy Singh).

Debutante director Farhan Akhtar (“Dil Chahta Hai”) received a Special Jury Award for “redefining the style of film making” while Akshaye Khanna was the recipient of another Jury Award for essaying “a multilayered role with poise in ‘Dil Chahta Hai’.

“Dil Chahta Hai” also won trophies for best dialogue, special effects, choreography (“Woh ladki hai kahan...” by Farah Khan), best lyrics Javed Akhtar (“Jane kyoon log pyar karte hain”), Male Playback Singer Sonu Nigam (“tanhayee...”), Best Music Director (Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy) and Best Supporting Actor Saif Ali Khan.

Superstar Amitabh Bachchan’s home production “AKS” received the award for background score and publicity design. Raveena Tandon won the Best Supporting Actress award, while Manoj Bajpayee won the award for the Best Actor in a Negative Role for the same film.

Yesteryear romantic hero Shammi Kapoor was honoured with the lifetime achievement award, given away by Salman Khan.

The veteran star of evergreen classics like “Tumsa Nahin Dekha”, “Teesri Manzil” and “Junglee” received a standing ovation from the film fraternity gathered at the venue. “I am honoured. Thank You all,” he said in an emotion-choked voice.

Madhuri Dixit, in a shimmering red sari, paid tribute to one of Hindi cinema’s doyens Ashok Kumar who died last month.

Aishwarya Rai, looking glorious in white, gave a special trophy to Randhir Kapoor as a mark of respect from the film fraternity to the late showman Raj Kapoor.

Among the other award winners were “Chandni Bar” for best story, “Zubeida” for best sound recording and “Gadar” for best action. Model Arjun Rampal won the promising Newcomer (Male) Award.

Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol were the recipients of Star India Television’s Jodi No 1 award. The award was given away by Rishi and Neetu Kapoor. UNI

Remand of Dec 13 attack accused extended
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 19
The judicial remand of all accused of the Parliament House attack has been extended for another 14 days by a special court today.

The accused include Mohammad Afzal, Syed Abdul Rehman Geelani, who was a lecturer in Zakir Hussain College (evening) of Delhi University, Shaukat Hussain and his wife Afsan Guru, alias Navjot Sandhu. Afzal is prime accused in the December 13 attack case.

They were arrested by special cell of the Delhi police on December 15 last year and booked under the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance.

All accused except Afsan Guru, who is in her initial statg of pregnancy and undergoing medical treatment, were produced today before the court of Special Judge S.N. Dhingra.

The Special Judge received the confessional statements of Afzal and Shaukat recorded in front of a DCP soon after their arrest.

DMK seeks suspension of Andipatti poll
A. Balu

Chennai, January 19
The DMK leader, Mr M. Karunanidhi, has made a last-ditch effort to get the suspension of Andipatti byelection by appealing to the President, Mr K.R. Narayanan, to intervene “to restore people’s faith in our system of universal franchise.”

Having failed to persuade the Election Commission (EC) to reconsider its decision to hold the byelection in Andipatti, where the AIADMK chief, Ms J. Jayalalithaa, is contesting, Mr Karunanidhi has sent a letter to the President alleging that the Tamil Nadu Government has been reduced to the ruling party’s “extension counter” in view of the byelections.

Obviously unnerved at the prospect of Ms Jayalalithaa’s winning the February 21 poll in Andipatti and likely return to power, Mr Karunanidhi has chosen to describe the byelection as a “farce” and hinted at the possibility of the DMK boycotting it.

“If election is going to be reduced to a mere number game that can be manipulated according to the wishes of the ruling party, we might be forced to rethink about our participation in this farce called election in Andipatti,” Mr Karunanidhi said in his letter.

He contended that right from the beginning, the byelections for the three Assembly segments — Saidapet, Andipatti and Vaniyambadi — had been subjected to blatant manipulation by the ruling party. First, they openly indulged in including thousands of bogus voters in the voting list. Most of these names were added in bulk without following any of the EC norms. Andipatti byelection is expected to take place as scheduled, despite the appeal of Mr Karunanidhi to the President. Ms Jayalalithaa will be filing her nomination next week. 

Hawala operators held for aiding LeT

Mumbai, January 19
The police has swooped on the homes and offices of two city-based hawala operators and arrested them for siphoning off money to the Lashkar-e-Toiba.

Rajesh Prajapati (24) and Mehboob Merchant Karim (37) were today produced before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate V.P. Taware who remanded them in police custody till January 22.

They were handed over to the Delhi police which had tipped off their Mumbai counterparts in the wake of the arrest of Dilip Barot, another hawala operator, who allegedly transferred Rs 2,825,000 to Nasar alias Nazir, one of the arrested militants.

A special team of the Crime Branch last night raided M. Rameshkumar and Company at Bhuleshwar and arrested Prajapati.

Based on the information given by Prajapati about the source of the money recovered, the police said they raided Mehhis Office on Dimtimkar Road at Hagpada and arrested Mehboob, alias Babubhai Karim Merchant.

Barot, who was arrested in New Delhi, and Prajapati and Mehboob were allegedly supplying money to four terrorists — Mohammed Afzal Kumbhar, Adil Nazir Khan, Billal Ahamed Mir and Ansar Ahmed Dar.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) B.S. Mohite, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Detection) Pradeep Sawant and Assistant Commissioner of Police Shankar Kamble led the operation. UNI

Kalchakra Puja: testing time for security
Santosh Jha

Bodhgaya (Bihar), January 19
“Around five lakh Buddhist monks gathered for the world famous Kalchakra Puja here has virtually made the task of security for the Dalai Lama and Karmapa very difficult, given the Union Government alert over possible threat to Dalai Lama, specially the Karmapa from Chinese insurgents”, a top police official has said here. The security ring around Dalai Lama has been tightened more as it has been tipped off that Chinese ultras and Bihar extremist groups like MCC might use the occasion to embarrass India by creating terror during the Kalchakra Puja.

The state Home Department maintained that following the alert over the possible ‘mixing’ of Chinese troublemakers in the Kalchakra Puja festival at Bodhgaya and their possible attempt to harm the Dalai Lama and the Karmapa, the Special Security Bureau sleuths on Indo-Nepal borders have been asked to seal the borders and prevent any infiltrations till the puja is over. The number of securitymen around Dalai Lama has been increased.

The puja will start on January 21 and continue till January 31 and the Dalai Lama is to stay here till then. The Karmapa is likely to join him soon. Intelligence sources say that as the Chinese and all other monks look the same so it is hard to prevent the mixing of possible Chinese insurgents. Also as the gathering includes the Queen of Thailand and Ambassadors of almost all Buddhist South-East Asian nations, an all-out exercise for security like frisking and other restrictions are not possible.

Satpal Maharaj quits Cong
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 19
Mr Satpal Maharaj, a senior Congress leader from Uttranchal, today resigned from the party in protest against the manner in which his supporters had been ignored in the distribution of party tickets. The party released its list of candidates today.

In his resignation letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Mr Satpal, a former Union Minister, said that instead of giving ticket to committed Congressmen the President of UPCC, Mr Harish Rawat, along with some other leaders had arbitrarily given ticket to persons having “tarnished image.” He said ticket in several cases had been given to persons belonging to liquor mafia and even to those who had worked against the party.

Observers here said Mr Maharaj was a contender for the post of Chief Minister but mostly the ticket had been given to supporters and confidants of Mr Rawat.

MPCC gen secy does volte-face, tenders apology

Nagpur, January 19
In a dramatic about turn, the general secretary (women’s cell) Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC), has tendered a public apology and confessed that she had slammed a sexual harassment charge against two politicians out of pique on being denied a party ticket for the February byelections.

“I expressed my anger at the party leaders for the injustice caused to me in denying the party ticket,” she said in a signed statement delivered personally here late last night.

Ms Phulbande said she was profusely apologetic about the mental agony she had caused to Mr Chaturvedi and Mr Muttemwar, who had always treated women activists with utmost respect.

Ms Phulbandhe had told two media channels last week that she had been sexually harassed by the Maharashtra Textiles Minister Satish Chaturvedi and city Congress MP Vilas Muttemwar. UNI

PWG offers talks to AP Govt

Hyderabad, January 19
In a significant climb-down, outlawed naxalite outfit People’s War Group (PWG) has made an “unconditional offer” of talks with the Andhra Pradesh Government, at the same time seeking a conducive atmosphere for dialogue by a halt to “police encounters and raids for a couple of months”.

“We are not setting any pre-condition for talks. We only request the government to stop encounters, arrests, raids and combing operations at least for two to three months,” the PWG said in an undated letter to the Committee of Concerned Citizens (CCC), a copy of which was released to the Press today.

The offer comes in the backdrop of the outfit “expressing regret” for killing Congress legislator Raghya Naik in Mahaboobnagar district early this month. PTI

Waterlogging damages PWD office
Our Correspondent

Hanumangarh, January 19
Waterlogging has badly damaged the building housing the office of the Assistant Engineer, PWD, in Rawatsar subdivision of the district.

Water accumulates in the building, which is a lower level, whenever it rains. About two years ago, the building had to be evacuated as it was submerged in water. Congress grass has grown at various places inside the building. Cracks have developed in the walls and plaster has worn off because of waterlogging.

As the building is unsafe, the office of the Assistant Engineer, PWD, has been officiating from the rest house of the department.

NATIONAL BRIEFS

SAI BABA DENIES BID ON LIFE
BANGALORE: In the first public reaction after surviving a possible attempt on his life on Thursday, Godman Sai Baba on Saturday accused the media of making a “mountain out of a molehill”. “Nothing happened. There is no truth in it. No one came close to me. They were utter and blatant lies”, Baba said, denying that there was a possible attempt on his life. PTI

MAHENDRA KAPOOR TO GET LATA AWARD
INDORE: Noted singer Mahendra Kapoor will be conferred with the prestigious Lata Mangeshkar award on February 10. The award function will be organised here from February 8. Several noted singers are likely to participate in the three-day musical event. UNI

MANIPUR EX-CM’S HOUSE SET ABLAZE
IMPHAL: Suspected militants set ablaze the residence of Manipur’s former Chief Minister W. Nipamacha Singh and attacked the house of former Union Minister Chaoba Singh in Manipur, official sources said on Saturday. Both Nipamacha Singh and Chaoba Singh were not present at their residence at the time of the incident. PTI

MAN HELD FOR SELLING FAKE TIGER SKIN
BHOPAL: The police has arrested a man attempting to sell the coloured skin of a dog as tiger skin. The accused, who run a STD booth, had accepted Rs 2,000 in advance from a dealer for the skin. The price sought for the same was Rs 1,00,000. The customer suspected some foul play when he came to collect the skin and informed the police. A case of cheating has been registered. UNI

MAN-EATER KILLS 11-YEAR-OLD-BOY
DEHRA DUN: An 11-year-old boy was killed by a man-eater leopard in Chamba in Tehri district of Uttaranchal on Thursday night. According to villagers, the leopard picked up the boy, Pankaj Chamoli, from the fields. Though the villagers tried to rescue, their efforts went in vain. The mauled body was brought home by the villagers and had been sent for a post-mortem. UNI

5 COPS GET RI FOR CUSTODIAL DEATH
SATNA (MP): Five policemen, including a police station in charge, have been sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment each by a local court in connection with a custodial death. Third Additional Sessions Court Judge Pradumna Singh on Friday also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on the then Ahmedpura police station in charge, Sub-Inspector Yogendra Singh Jaisoor, Rs 15,000 on as Rajmai Singh and Rs 10,000 each on constables Chhotelal Garg, Ramesh Kumar Sharma and Balgovind. UNI