The Bharat Shah case seems to following a pre-written script. By last week, 12 high-profile witnesses, including superstar Shah Rukh Khan, had turned what is termed "hostile". Khan and the Bollywood brigade-Rakesh Roshan, Mahesh Manjrekar, Sajay Gupta, Ali and Mohammed Morani, Ratan Jain, Harish Sugandh, Aftab Patel, Mansoor Sidiqqui and Kumar Mangat-refused to acknowledge or recognise the people accused of holding them to ransom, most notably gangster Chhota Shakeel.

BEATING RETREAT: Roshan and Khan (below) retracted theri stand

Their statements in court differ from what they allegedly told the police earlier. Jain of Venus Records denied speaking to Shakeel and said he had casual conversation with "someone" whom he did not know. Producer Sugandh admitted the phone conversation but denied the person at the other end was Shakeel. Director Manjrekar denied that he ever spoke to Shakeel and said he did not know who had spoken to him from the Hotel Taj in Nashik. Film producer Roshan, who survived a shootout and went to the police instead of succumbing to the extortion threat, did a dramatic volte face and claimed he knew nothing and never received any threats from Shakeel.

Ironically, some of these film personalities are still enjoying police protection provided to them following their complaints of threats from underworld dons.

The Bharat Shah-Nazim Rizvi case and the Shakeel case are at a crucial stage. Out of 101 witnesses, 50 have already testified. Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt are other prime witnesses who are due to testify soon. But with most turning hostile, the legal drama has taken a serious turn. Says a senior police official: "They might have become paranoid or they have been instructed to seal their lips and feign ignorance but they should not forget that if they don't help themselves then no one else can." But if the witnesses remain tightlipped, then Shakeel surely will have the last laugh.

-Sheela Raval

Updating Curriculum

In sports-crazy Kolkata, it took six years to persuade the Calcutta University to include a certificate course on sports medicine in its curriculum. All thanks to Sunil Thakur, an orthopaedic who specialises in treating Kolkata's football brigade. "People don't understand how badly we need doctors who can not only treat sportsmen, but also understand their psyche," he says.

But officials say the medicos don't understand either. Though the course was introduced in 2000-1 academic session, there was "total lack of interest among the medical community", says a senior university official.

Jadavpur University may not face such problems. It has tied up with the Postal Department to introduce a three-month course on the history of post and telegraph. The syllabus also covers its relevance to the socio-political history of a nation, besides the printing technology.

The course is the first of its kind in India and philately has finally acquired a scholarly stamp.

-Suman K. Chakrabarti

AWARDED: The Dalai Lama, Tibetan leader, the Basavashree Award, by the Murugharajendra Bruhan Mutt.

AWARDED: Mahatma Gandhi, the Order of the Companions of O.R. Tambo posthumously, by the South African Government.

APPOINTED: Prabhakar Kaza, the gm of State Bank of India's UK operations

WON: Jyoti Randhawa, golfer, Davidoff Tour Asian Order of Merit title, in Kuala Lumpur.

DIED: Sripad Mishra, 80, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Congress leader in Lucknow.

APPOINTED: Parvati Barua, pachyderm expert, by the Chhattisgarh Government, to tame wild elephants in the state.