2 sentenced to death

CHANDIGARH: A special court in Punjab on Tuesday sentenced two people to death and two others to life imprisonment in the Beant Singh assassination case. While Balwant Singh and Jagdar Singh Hawara were sentenced to death in assassination case of the late chief minister, Shamsher Singh, Gurmeet Singh and Lakhwinder Singh were sentenced to life imprisonment. The court had convicted the four under Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. — Agencies

Islamic ultra indicted

DHAKA: A court in northeastern Bangladesh on Tuesday indicted the leader of a banned Islamic militant group in connection with a 2004 grenade attack that wounded a British diplomat and killed three other people, a television station reported. Mufti Hannan, leader of the banned Islamic group Harkatul Jihad Al-Islami, and three of his associates face trial on charges of murder, CSB television station said. The court set August 28 to hear prosecution witnesses at the start of the trial. If convicted, the four accused could face the death penalty. — AP

Quake jolts Myanmar

YANGON: A moderate earthquake shook parts of central Myanmar early on Tuesday but no injuries or damage were reported, the meteorological department said. The 5.5 magnitude quake occurred at 5:12 am Myanmar time, and its epicentre was 320 km north of Yangon, an official from the Seismic department told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. Some residents in Yangon also reported feeling the quake. — AP

50 trapped in factory

DHAKA: At least 50 workers were feared trapped in a Taiwan-owned textile factory building, which caught fire in the outskirts of the Bangladesh capital. At least 20 workers were hospitalised after the fire that broke out on Monday evening from the storeroom of the factory located at Dhaka Export Processing Zone in Savar, New Age newspaper said. About 150 workers present in the factory broke open the doors to escape. — HNS

CBI files chargesheet

AMBALA: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a chargesheet against functionaries of the Dera Sacha Sauda religious sect at a special court in this Haryana town in two cases of murder and the rape of a woman sect follower. The CBI filed the chargesheet on Monday night at the residence of the special CBI court judge RN Bharti. Dera

chief Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh’s name also figured in it. The CBI also submitted its chargesheet in the rape of a woman devotee inside the dera campus. — HNS