PUNE: Marathi writer Gopal Neelkanth Dandekar, popularly known as "Gonida", passed away here today after a prolonged illness. He was 82 and is survived by his wife Meera, daughter Veena Deo, son-in-law Dr Vijay Deo and grand-daughters, the famous Marathi actresses Mrinal Kulkarni and Madhura Deo Dahanukar. Late last night, the eminent writer suffered an attack of pneumonia from which he could not recover and the end came at around 8.20 am this morning.

Christian held

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan police has arrested another Christian youth under the controversial blasphemy law after rescuing him from a crowd of Muslims which tried to stone him to death in Faislabad. Media reports said Shafiq Masih allegedly passed remarks against Islam sitting outside his house. This apparently infuriated the local population who caught him and beat him and allegedly tried to stone him to death but police rescued him.

Jammu blasts

JAMMU: Three persons were killed and20 injured, some of them seriously, in two bomb blasts in Jammu city on Monday, officials said. The first explosion took place in the office of an Army intelligence unit, killing two persons and injuring two others, including a major, sources said. The second blast occurred near a shop in the Purani Mandi area of the walled city, the sources said, adding one person was killed and 18 were injured.

Armsdrop case

CALCUTTA: A Calcutta court today rejected the bail petition of Peter Bleach, key-accused in the sensitive Purulia armsdrop case, for the third time in course of trial, while allowing relatives of two accused Latvians to meet them in jail. Bleach prayed for his release on bail on the ground of alleged unnecessary delay in trial.

IAF promotion

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court today rejected a government application seeking stay of an order of a single judge bench allowing promotion of P K Ghosh to the rank of Air Marshal in the Indian Air Force. A division vacation bench in its ordersaid it was unfortunate that the government had not put "correct position" before the appointment committee of cabinet (ACC) in its note after the court had passed an order on March 23 this year.

Orissa heat toll

BHUBANESWAR: The death toll in the unrelenting heat wave crossed the 400 mark in Orissa with reports of 59 more casualties received from the districts of Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Dhenkanal, Kalahandi and Cuttack since yesterday. The total rose to 418 with reports from several other districts yet to be received. Sambalpur district, one of the worst-hit, added 19 to its list of dead raising the toll to 101.