Bhubaneswar: An Italy-born Odissi dancer who has made Odisha her home since 1979 was beaten up by a priest yesterday in the temple town of Puri after she refused to pay a fee of Rs1,000.
The incident occurred when 55-year-old Ileana Citaristi climbed atop a chariot to pay obeisance to Lord Jagannath. A priest allegedly beat her when she refused to cough up the amount he demanded. Two priests also abused her and forced her off the chariot.
Citaristi was conferred the Padma Shri in 2006.
UP CM’s convoy attacked
Hyderabad: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s convoy came under attack yesterday, allegedly from supporters of the Secunderabad MP here. No one was injured.
The incident took place when the chief minister’s security guards prevented Congress MP Anjan Kumar Yadav from sitting in his car. Angry over this, the MP’s supporters pelted stones at the convoy as it left Park Hyatt hotel in Jubliee Hills. Window panes of a car in the convoy were damaged. No one was injured. Police have identified four people involved in the stone pelting.
Khurana’s condition better
New Delhi: Former Delhi chief minister Madan Lal Khurana, who was hospitalised here on Thursday following brain haemorrhage, is stable and “all his vital parameters are normal”, a doctor attending on him said yesterday. “The bleeding inside his brain is clearing and his condition is improving. All his vital parameters are normal. He is opening his eyes and is responding to treatment,” the doctor said.
IANS
