S P O T L I G H T

15 charred to death in bus mishap
Jabalpur, April 13
Fifteen members of a wedding party were charred to death and seven received serious burns when the bus in which they were travelling caught fire near Chavdi village, 8 km from Seoni district, last night. According to the Seoni police control room, the bus, carrying 50 passengers, was going from Beheriya village to Seoni. The police attributed the accident to ignition of the petromax in the bus. UNI

CBI probe
New Delhi, April 13
The CBI has registered a regular case and began investigation into the killing of Tripura Congress MLA, Madhusudan Saha after the state government sought a CBI probe, agency sources said here today. The CBI Special Crime Branch, probing the murder, registered a regular case following a notification received from Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar. PTI

EC restraint
Guwahati, April 13
The Election Commission today directed private TV channels to observe restraint while reporting election campaigns for the coming Assembly elections in Assam in order to preempt violence and ensure smooth conduct of poll. PTI

Cong challenged
New Delhi, April 13
The BJP today challenged the Congress to openly declare that the temple in Ayodhya be replaced by a mosque. “We challenge the Congress to come out openly and state that the temple at the site in Ayodhya be replaced by a mosque. Whatever Home Minister L.K. Advani had said before the Liberhan Commission was based on facts”, senior party leader J.P. Mathur said here. PTI

17 executed
Beijing, April 13
A total of 17 persons have been executed in China for a range of offences including murder, robbery, rape and kidnapping, the China News Service news agency reported today. Ten persons were executed on Thursday in the central city of Xi’an while the day before, seven persons executed by a firing squad in the north-eastern city of Harbin, the agency said. DPA

Nanavati panel
New Delhi, April 13
The Justice Nanavati Commission will finally take up from April 17 hearing of witnesses in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi. Former Prime Minister I.K. Gujral, Union Ministers Ram Vilas Paswan and Sharad Yadav, BJP leader Madan Lal Khurana, eminent writer Patwant Singh and columnist Khushwant Singh are likely to appear before the panel. UNI

Prison seized
Rio De Janerio, April 13
Inmates seized a prison in a remote Brazilian city and took hostage 120 family members, including 50 children, to demand reviews of their prison sentences, the police said today. The riot in Cuiaba, capital of sparsely populated western Mato Grosso state, started yesterday afternoon during visiting hours. The 368 prisoners overpowered four guards and took visiting relatives and friends hostages. Reuters

Emissaries sent
New Delhi, April 13
With senior BJP leader Hiranya Bhattacharya quitting the party and forming “Assam BJP” in protest against the party’s alliance with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) in the May 10 Assembly elections, a three-member party delegation today left for Guwahati to sort out the issue with the dissidents. PTI