Forest watchman killed at Manki

Kozhikode, Jul 20: A 17-year old boy died of head injuries while trying to protect his mother from being assaulted by his drunk father here, police said on Sunday.

The youngster suffered the fatal injury after his head hit against the door when his father shoved him at their home on Saturday. Venu, had come home in an inebriated state and picked up a quarrel with his wife and started beating her up, they said.

On seeing this, Alan tried to intervene. Though the boy was rushed to the hospital, his life could not be saved, they added. Venu was arrested and a case has been registered.

Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 5: One man has been arrested in connection with the death of a pregnant elephant in Palakkad district here, Kerala Forest Minister K Raju said on Friday.

"One accused identified as Wilson has been arrested in connection with the case. More people are involved. The process to arrest all the accused is underway. Strict action will be taken in the matter to ensure such incidents are not repeated in the future," Raju told reporters here.

The elephant had died in Palakkad district on May 27 after it ate a pineapple stuffed with crackers and forest officials said that it died standing in river Velliyar after it suffered an injury in its lower jaw.

Raju said that the forest department has appointed three teams to probe the matter, and added that police are also investigating the incident as explosives were used.

"There may be some type of crackers inside the fruit. In such cases, blast occurs and the animal can not even drink water. The primary post mortem reports said that this case is like that. Let it be investigated," he said.

"Man and animal conflict is natural in our state as people residing close to the forests. The government gives compensation for farmers, Rs 10 lakhs compensation if a person dies in an animal attack," the Minister added.

The death of the pregnant elephant has sparked a controversy, with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan terming the unfortunate death as "a painful thing" and Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar saying that the Centre has taken a "serious note" of the incident.

According to the preliminary post-mortem report, the immediate cause of the death of the female elephant was drowning followed by inhalation of water leading to lung failure.

The elephant was seen standing in the river with its mouth and trunk in the water for some relief from the pain after the explosive-filled fruit exploded in its mouth.

Moradabad, Jun 17: Two children died after they accidentally got locked inside a car while playing in Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad, the police said.

Four children, aged between 4 and 7 years, locked themselves inside the car while playing and were found unconscious soon after, the police added.

"All four children were found unconscious in a car and they were taken to the hospital. Two of them died and the other two are undergoing treatment at the hospital," said Amit Kumar Anand, superintendent of police (city) Moradabad.

The children were related to each other, the police said.

The man who owns the car said the children had locked themselves inside. "When we reached, the children were in an unconscious state. Two of the four children died. The incident occurred around 8 am."