S P O T L I G H T

Karnataka former minister kidnapped
Bangalore, August 25
Former Karnataka minister H Nagappa was tonight kidnapped by suspected forest brigand Veerappan’s gang from his residence in Chamarajnagar district, police sources said. They said Nagappa had just then returned home from a function when four masked men stormed into his house and took him away. 
Nagappa was kidnapped from his residence at Komageri near Kollegal, the sources said. PTI

New leads on Ravi Kant Sharma
New Delhi, August 25
The police today said they had got some new leads about IPS officer Ravi Kant Sharma, the prime suspect in the Shivani Bhatnagar murder case, even as his bail petition will come up for hearing in the Delhi High Court tomorrow. “We have got some vital leads about R.K. Sharma and the investigators are working on them,” Delhi police sources said. Declining to elaborate on the “leads” found by the crime branch investigators, the sources said teams had been sent to Uttaranchal, UP, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana following information gathered by them. PTI

Inflation rises
New Delhi, August 25
The inflation rate touched a new high of the year crossing 3 per cent in the week ended August 10, due to burgeoning prices of cereals, gram, vegetable oil, fodder, processed tea, cotton, textiles, minerals and metals. Based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), inflation surged to 3.03 per cent from 2.66 per cent in the previous week but was still lower than 5.54 per cent a year ago. PTI