S P O T L I G H T

Blast near CM ’s house, 12 hurt
Guwahati, April 28
Twelve AGP activists were injured, three of them seriously, when ULFA militants hurled grenades at an AGP election office, barely half-a-km away from Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta’s residence, here tonight. “The ultras came in vehicles and hurled grenades when a party meeting was on in the office resulting in the injury to 12 activists,” Mr G.P. Singh, SP said. The injured were admitted to a hospital, Mr Singh said adding that the police had launched a hunt to nab the attackers. PTI

Pension via post office
New Delhi, April 28
Pensioners will now be able to receive their pension through post offices, besides nationalised banks. “Out Reach Programme”, the new pension payment through 26,000 post offices across the country, will benefit pensioners in rural and semi-urban areas. It will be launched on Monday by Union Labour Minister Satya Narayan Jatia and Communications Minister Ram Bilas Paswan. More than 947,000 pensioners at present receive their monthly pension through nationalised banks. UNI

Hospitalised
Panaji, April 28
The condition of Goa Governor Mohammad Fazal, who was admitted to the cardiac care unit of the Medical College Hospital at Bambolim, near here, is reported to be stable. Mr Fazal was admitted to the ICU after he complained of uneasiness last evening. “The condition of the Governor is normal and he would be kept under observation for the next 72 hours”, Goa Medical College doctors said. UNI

DNA test
Kokrajhar (Assam), April 28
The Assam police has served notice to state Tribal Welfare Minister and AGP leader Rajendra Mushahary to undergo a DNA test in a rape case. Highly placed police sources told UNI here this afternoon that Mr Mushahary, who was a sitting MLA from Gossaigaon, under the Kokrajhar district, has been asked to undergo the test as part of the prosecution efforts to seek clinching evidence against him. UNI

Border tremors
Shillong, April 28
An earthquake of moderate intensity, measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale, rattled the Nepal-Tibet border at 4.08 p.m. today. According to the Shillong Central Seismological Observatory Centre here, the quake was epicentred at latitude 28.4° north and longitude 87.1° east. Yesterday, an earthquake, measuring 4 on the Richter scale rocked parts of Meghalaya and Assam which was epicentred at about 51 km north-west of the state capital here. UNI

Bachchans
New Delhi, April 28
Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan and his wife Jaya owe nearly Rs 1,510 lakh to the Income Tax Department, the Lok Sabha was informed yesterday. Replying to a written question, Minister of State for Finance G.N. Ramachandran informed the House that Amitabh Bachchan had an outstanding of Rs 1267.16 lakh on account of income tax against him as on December 31, 2000 while his wife Jaya owed Rs 243.52 lakh to the department. Shahrukh Khan owed Rs 271.36 lakh to the Income Tax Department, the minister informed the House. PTI