Five killed in UP road accident
Lucknow, June 22: Five persons, including three women, returning from a religious congregation, were killed in an accident in Uttar Pradesh's Gonda district on Friday when a tanker rammed head on into their car, police said.
The accident took place near Anbhula on the Gonda-Faizabad highway when they were returning from the religious congregation at Haveliya Ashram, renowned by followers of Kabir, in Chandapur, police said.
The collision was so severe that the car was turned into a mangled heap of steel and the bodies had to be pulled out of by cutting the doors, station officer Vinod Kumar told IANS. The tanker driver meanwhile fled the area, he added.
While four persons were killed on the spot, one women, critically injured, was taken to a nearby community health centre where she succumbed, the officer said.
The deceased have been identified as Rakesh Pandey, 38, who was the driver, Susheela, 70, Rajaram Dubey, 40, Yashoda, 50, and Malti Devi (45). The bodies have been sent for post-mortem and families have been informed, said police.
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SC directs President's secretary to place before her Beant assassination convict's mercy plea
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday directed President Droupadi Murmu's secretary to place before her the mercy petition of death row convict Balwant Singh Rajoana, convicted in the 1995 assassination case of then Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, for consideration.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai, P K Mishra and K V Viswanathan requested the President to consider the plea within two weeks.
"Inspite of the matter being specifically kept today none appeared for Union of India. The bench assembled only for this case," the bench said.
"On the last date the matter was adjourned to enable the Union to take instructions from the office of the President as to by when will mercy plea be decided. Taking into consideration that the petitioner is on a death row, we direct the secretary to the President of India to place the matter before the President with a request to consider the same within two weeks from today," the bench said.
The matter will now be heard on December 5.
On September 25, the top court had sought responses from the Centre, the Punjab government and the administration of the Union Territory of Chandigarh on Rajoana's plea.
The then Punjab chief minister and 16 others were killed in a blast at the entrance of the civil secretariat in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995.
A special court sentenced Rajoana to death in July 2007.
Rajoana has said that a mercy petition under Article 72 of the Constitution was moved by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on his behalf in March 2012.
On May 3 last year, the apex court had refused to commute his death sentence and said the competent authority could deal with his mercy plea.
