Baljeet Kapoor

Ludhiana: At a time when police have intensified surveillance in view of the model code of conduct ahead of Lok Sabha elections, two men carrying 65kg poppy husk managed to cross several checkposts during their 300-km journey from Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir in a truck without raising any suspicion. It was only after the team of Special Task Force (STF) nabbed the duo in Dehlon area in Ludhiana on Sunday night that their secret of how they got so far without getting caught was out in the open.

BJP leader Varun Gandhi talks to Priyangi Agarwal about speculation he may join Congress and if he will campaign against his cousins. Why did you swap seats with your mother? You are fighting from Pilibhit and she from Sultanpur. I have represented this constituency before. Both constituencies are home for us. I have familial relations with people in Pilibhit since I was nine, when my mother was first elected. The party leadership took a decision and we carried forward their orders.

CHENNAI: After the northeast monsoon skipped Chennai, avian visitors from afar were a no-show at Pallikaranai as most parts of the wetlands remained dry. A small 10-acre patch, however, had painted storks, spot-billed pelicans and purple moohens nesting and breeding in the trees around a small pond. This little oasis is on the campus of the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), with plenty of water and little noise or other pollution.