IMPHAL, July 24: A court of inquiry has been ordered by the CRPF authorities to investigate into the allegation of rape of a woman by two CRPF personnel at Lamdan village on July 19 last according to an official source. The source said the Director General of Police, Manipur has already been requested by the CRPF authorities to arrange to get DNA test conducted of the blood and semen of the victim, her husband and the alleged rapists. The sources further said the police authorities have also been requested by the CRPF to visit the latter's headquarters at Loktak to carry out necessary...

AGARTALA, July 24: Suspected All-Tripura Tiger Force militants attacked Autonomous District Council member Budhu Debbarma and three of his aides at Chebri in Tripura's Khowai sub-division yesterday. Another group of militants abducted two traders from Samcherra near Dharmanagar town in North Tripura. Police sources said Debbarma, who is from the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura, was heading for Tulasikhar from his home constituency of Champahaor when a group of rebels waylaid his vehicle. The Tiger Force rebels took Debbarma and his three aides, including his guard, to a nearby jungle and...

Situation one: Thuingaleng Muivah, the all-powerful general secretary of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN(IM)) is in jail in Thailand since January. Situation two: The terms of the on-going ceasefire between the NSCN(IM) and the Indian government, first agreed upon in July 1997, come to an end on July 31. And K Padmanabhaiah, the Prime Minister's official negotiator in the Naga peace process, has said that it was time the NSCN(IM) deputed or delegated another person instead of Muivah so that the process could continue. Talks between the government and the NSCN(IM), in fact...

GUWAHATI, July 23: Despite perennial insurgency, the Northeast Frontier Railway (NF Rly) has earned Rs 684.04 crore during 1999-2000. Out of Rs 684.04 crore, the Frontier has generated Rs 432.27 crore and Rs 184.99 crore from goods and passengers respectively. According to official statistics, earnings of the previous year (1998/99) stood at Rs 592.27 crore as against the financial target of Rs 544.05 crore. Sources said that due to suspension of night-running trains in the wake of spurt in activities of the insurgent groups particularly in Lower Assam, the overall earnings had gone down to...

AGARTALA, July 23: India and Dhaka will sign an agreement next month to start Agartala-Dhaka bus service after the successful running of the 'Souhardha' service between Calcutta and Dhaka, reports UNI. A senior official told newspersons here on Sunday that a 16-member joint Indo-Bangla official team had recently conducted an-the-spot survey to examine the 144-km-long road with its infrastructural facilities to commence the service. The joint working group that held a meeting with Tripura Chief Secretary V Thulasidas on this subject on July 18 came here by road. The senior officials of the two...