S P O T L I G H T

Accused ‘torched’ Staines’ vehicle
Bhubaneswar, February 1
In a startling disclosure, one of the 13 accused in the Graham Staines murder case today confessed before a trial judge that he had set ablaze the Australian missionary’s vehicle. Graham Staines and his two minor sons were burnt alive by a mob at Monoharpur village in Orissa’s Keonjhar district on January 22, 1999. Accused Mahendra Hembram said he had torched the vehicle while the Staines’ were asleep. UNI

Train mishap averted
Phagwara, February 1
A major train mishap was averted here today. The 2926 Down Amritsar-Mumbai Paschim Express was approaching the local railway station, however, electrification work was going on at the tracks and poles were being loaded in an open wagon of a goods train. One of the poles hit the engine. Had the train not slowed for stopping at the station which was hardly 50 yards away, it would have derailed. OC