Home » Catch Wire » Your Wire on 14 July
 

Sheila Dikshit is Congress' chief ministerial candidate in Uttar Pradesh

Sheila Dikshit, the former chief minister of Delhi has been named the Congress chief ministerial candidate for Uttar Pradesh.

"It's a big responsibility for me, I want to thank the party high command," Dikshit said after the announcement.

Her candidature was announced at a press conference addressed by senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on 14 July.

"Sheila Dikshit is experienced and hard working. No one can undermine her 15 years of work in Delhi," said Azad.

According to ANI, veteran leader Dikshit had said she was prepared to play "any role" in Uttar Pradesh or Punjab and the party should finalise its strategy for the two poll-bound states as time was running out.

Jigisha murder case: Court holds three accused guilty of murder

A Delhi court on 14 July held the three accused - Amit Shukla, Baljeet Malik and Ravi Kapoor - guilty in the Jigisha Ghosh murder case. The three were convicted of murder and abduction.

The quantum of punishment will be announced on 20 August.

"Jigisha was robbed off gold chain, 2 mobile phones & rings. Amit, Ravi & Baljeet committed the crime," the Court said, according to CNN News18.

Jigisha, 28, who was working with Hewitt Associate Pvt Ltd as operations manager, was abducted and killed on 18 March 2009, after she was dropped near her home in the Vasant Vihar area of South Delhi by her official cab around 4 am.

Wing Commander Pooja Thakur moves court after being denied permanent commission by IAF

Wing Commander Pooja Thakur has moved the Armed Forces Tribunal after being denied permanent commission by the Indian Air Force (IAF).

The Armed Forces Tribunal has admitted the matter and has sought the IAF's response within four weeks, Thakur's lawyer Sudhanshu Pandey told ANI.

In her petition, Thakur said that the IAF's decision to reject her permanent commission is "biased, discriminatory, arbitrary and unreasonable".

Last month, the IAF scripted history by formally commissioning its first three women fighter pilots, but on short service commission. This means that the officers can serve for a maximum of 14 years and retire without benefits.

Key Godhra conspirator arrested after 14 years

Imran Batuk, a key conspirator in the attack on the Sabarmati Express at Godhra station in Gujarat in 2002, was arrested by the Ahmedabad Police at Malegaon, Maharashtra, on Wednesday.

Batuk had been absconding for 14 years, ever since he participated in setting on fire the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express that was filled with kar sevaks returning from Ayodhya, said Detection of Crime Branch officials.

The Godhra incident that killed 59 people took place on 27 February 2002, and is said to be the trigger for the 2002 anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat, according to the Hindustan Times.

VK Singh to lead rescue mission for Indians in South Sudan today

Junior foreign minister VK Singh will be part of India's Sankat Mochan operation that will fly into Juba, South Sudan, today, to evacuate Indian nationals stuck in the country's civil war.

Two C-17 transport planes have been pressed into service to pull out about 250 Indians, mostly from Kerala, who have applied to the Indian embassy to leave Sudan, says The Telegraph.

However, the rest of the 400-strong Indian population of South Sudan does not want to leave, thanks to a ceasefire between President Salva Kiir and first Vice-President Riek Machar that has lasted two days now.

Jharkhand: Tribal woman sells baby to buy goats for sacrifice

A tribal woman in Jharkhand sold her three-day-old baby son to a businessman for Rs 2,000 to buy two male goats that, according to local tradition, are meant to be sacrificed by any family with a new-born baby to appease the forest gods.

The woman has been impoverished since the death of her husband six months ago. She has been selling neem twigs for datum to feed herself and four children, and the fifth child became a burden too heavy to bear.

The child was sold on 10 July and has since been retrieved by the district administration and returned to the woman, Devi, according to the Hindustan Times.

Two alleged suicides at IIT Madras on Wednesday

Two women on the campus of IIT Madras allegedly committed suicide on Wednesday. One was a research scholar and the other the wife of a professor.

The body of 34-year-old P Maheswari, the research student, was found hanging in her hostel room on Wednesday, according to the police, who are investigating the case.

Details about the professor's wife are not yet known, says NDTV.

Pokemon Go player finds dead body

With the release of Pokemon Go, users, young and old, have hit the streets in their quest to catch 'em all. However, one gamer in Wyoming, USA, got more than she bargained for when she found not a wild MewTwo, but an actual dead body.

Shayla Wiggins found the body by the riverside when trying to find a Pokemon from a natural water resource. Wyoming police say that the cause of death appears to be accidental.

UN's World Food Programme needs $610 million for southern Africa drought relief

The United Nations' food agency has said that it needs $730 million to counter the drought crisis in seven southern African nations over the next 12 months.

The World Food Programme (WFP) has said that it is facing a $610 million shortfall in relief for Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho, Madagascar, Swaziland and Zambia.

The El Nino pattern has triggered severe drought across the region.