UP: 15 killed as bus rams into tree

Tamil Nadu, Jul 12: An alleged attempt by a 19-year-old man to "open a branch of the State Bank of India" at Panruti near Tamil Nadu was scuttled and he was arrested for forgery, police said on Saturday.

The man, son of retired SBI employees, had readied fake seals and challans of the public sector lender, and had other paraphernalia like a cash counting machine needed "to run a bank branch," on an upper floor of his residence at Panruti, about 25 km from Tamil Nadu.

He had not, however, put up any signboard. The SBI Panruti branch manager lodged a complaint with police seeking action following a tip-off by a customer that the man was "opening an SBI branch and has challans as well."

A printer who printed the challans and another who had made fake seals were held for similar offences and abetment.

They were produced before a magistrate court and enlarged on bail.

Asked if the man had cheated people by soliciting deposits or facilitating loans, Panruti police inspector K Ambethkar said, "no..we have not received any such complaint so far."

The man's late father had worked for SBI and his mother had retired from the same bank some time back, he said.

To a question, the police inspector said the man's mother, who has mobility issues, and another woman a relative living in the same house had no clue about his "idea."

Investigations revealed that he aspired to work for a bank and since he had closely watched banking operations for long he was "very knowledgeable" about it.

On the suspected motive, he said several of his replies were incomprehensible, childish, and strange notwithstanding his excellent understanding of the banking processes.

"He even calmly told us that he awaited approval from Mumbai to open the (SBI) branch and that he was about to put up a signboard," the inspector said, adding that the man had tried unsuccessfully to get employment on compassionate grounds in the SBI following the death of his father in harness.

Kolkata, Jul 4: Two people were killed and around four injured when the bombs they were allegedly manufacturing went off inside a house in Murshidabad district, a senior police officer said on Saturday.

Their identities were yet to be established as the condition of those injured and undergoing treatment at a hospital was still "critical", he said.

The thatched roof of the house, where they were allegedly making bombs, also blew off in the explosion, which occurred at Suti town in Jangipur subdivision of the district around 9:00 pm on Friday, the officer said.

The house has been damaged completely, and its owner is on the run, he said.

As of now, the wife of the house owner is being questioned in connection with the incident, the officer added.

Mathura, Jul 22: A local court in Uttar Pradesh's Mathura on Wednesday sentenced 11 policemen, including the then Deputy Superintendent of Police, to life imprisonment in a case pertaining to the murder of royal Raja Man Singh in 1985.

District Judge Sadhana Rani Thakur announced the life imprisonment sentence a day after holding them guilty of the killing. Three policemen were, however, acquitted. Four men died during the trial.

The policemen were convicted under Section 302 (murder), 148 (rioting) and 149 (Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) of the Indian Penal Code.

The verdict comes 35 years after Man Singh was killed. He, along with two others, was shot dead in police firing a day after he crashed his jeep into the then Rajasthan Chief Minister Shiv Charan Mathur's helicopter in a fit of anger.