Train Death

A 24-year-old man died after he was allegedly thrown off a train by a railway official for travelling without a ticket in Burdwan district of West Bengal. The incident took place when a group of six travelling ticket examiners (TTE’s) caught Suraj Pande travelling ticketless. He was slapped with a Rs.200 fine (C$5) but Pande had only Rs.40, (C$1) which he did not want to part with. As a result, Pande was pushed out.

According to co-passengers, an altercation followed between Pande and the ticket checkers and.

“Witches” killed

Two elderly women were allegedly murdered by their sons in Orissa’s Keonjhar district for practicing sorcery. The youths told police they killed their mothers, in their 60s, because a witch doctor told them that their mothers were trying to kill them in order to achieve success in witchcraft after killing their fathers, who had both died some time ago.

Witchcraft related crimes are common in Orissa. Last month, residents of a village in Balasore district beheaded four people, including three women, for sorcery.

Wildlife racket

Three people have been arrested and three sloth bears rescued from them during an anti-poaching operation in the Koppal district of Karnataka. A four-month old bear cub and two other bears were being used for performing shows and stunts, which is banned under the law.  The total number of dancing bears rescued in the last 5 yrs has risen to 400 in India by the state forest departments and Wildlife S.O.S

Delhi book fair

With thousands of books from various countries under its belt, the 13th Delhi Book fair which runs until Sept 9 has attracted over 200,000 avid readers from all over the country. Around 235 companies from the publishing sector, including 13 from overseas, displayed over 50,000 new books in the fair. Publishers from China, Pakistan, Iran, UAE, and US are present.

nd Vietnam will display the best of their books. Meanwhile, more than 40 Indian publishers will participate in the world’s largest book fair to be held at Frankfurt in October.

Mathematics teacher

Uma Khurana, a teacher accused of forcing girl students into prostitution, has been sacked even as the Delhi government assured that private security will be deployed at state-run girl schools to ensure such incidents do not occur. Khurana faced the ire of an angry crowd at the school when a TV news channel aired the footage of its sting operation.