Pioneer in short
Gulshan murder case convict dies
A 60-year-old convict in the music mogul Gulshan Kumar murder case lodged in Harsul prison in Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar has died of a heart attack, an official said on Saturday. Mohammed Rauf Dawood Merchant, a resident of Amrut Nagar in Mumbra in neighbouring Thane district, was serving a life sentence at Harsul prison, some 350 kilometres from here, since 2002 after his conviction in the sensational case, he said. “On the morning of January 8, while offering namaz inside the prison barracks, Merchant had severe chest pain and fell unconscious. He was rushed to a government hospital where he died. The post mortem report put the cause of death as severe heart attack. His kin in Mumbra took possession of his body the same evening and performed the last rites,” he informed. An accidental death case has been registered at Harsul police station, the official added.
EC appoints 4 special observers for WB SIR
The Election Commission on Saturday appointed four more Special Roll Observers (SROs) for West Bengal to strengthen supervision of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Those named as SROs were Ratan Biswas, Vikas Singh, Sandeep Rewaji Rathod and Dr Shailesh, according to a notification. "The SROs will closely monitor the revision and verification exercises and ensure strict adherence to statutory instructions," an official said.
SIX INJURED IN SMALL plane crash
Six injured as small aircraft makes emergency crash landing near Rourkela Rourkela: At least six persons were injured when a nine-seater aircraft made an emergency crash landing near Rourkela in Odisha on Saturday, officials said. The incident took place around 10 km from the city at Jalda, when the aircraft, operating under the UDAN scheme, was flying from Bhubaneswar to Rourkela. The crew had issued a ‘Mayday’ call to the nearby airport before landing in an open area. “A nine-seater private flight carrying passengers met with an accident. Passengers have sustained injuries. The incident took place at Jalda, around 10 km from Rourkela.
