The inquiry ordered by National Women's Commission Chairperson Poornima Advani into the affidavit filed by a Madhya Pradesh schoolteacher accusing five IAS officers of exploiting her sexually for seven years is embarrassing for Chief Minister Digvijay Singh. The five officials in the dock are considered close to him. One of the officers is now an office bearer of the PCC having resigned from the services. Another was suspended by the Chief Election Commissioner for irregularities in the voters' lists but was saved by Digvijay's stout defence. The track records of the other three are equally sorry.

The inquiry ordered by Advani (right) is bad news for Digvijay

The affidavit may not be sufficient to implicate the officers but the public opinion and even peer opinion is set against them. A journalist, who allegedly ran the sex racket, has accused the teacher of playing into the hands of Digvijay's enemies and has filed a case accusing her of blackmail. But the schoolteacher, whose husband is on the staff of a cabinet minister, has more credibility than the officers involved.

-Neeraj Mishra

Shattered Chances

Singh at a Ludhiana hospital

President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was among the hundreds who sent him get-well-soon messages, but things don't look too good for Jugraj Singh, the 20-year-old who played the sheetanchor in India's comeback in international hockey. A road accident has left him with fractures on his right thigh bone, elbow and pelvis. After eight hours on the operation table, doctors say, he will remain off the field for at least eight months. Says orthopaedic surgeon J.L. Bassi, who fixed his fractured bones with steel plates and screws: "The most worrying is the injury to his elbow bone that broke into pieces. Chances of full recovery are quite low." But the good news is that "Jugraj has shown amazing will power". Where there's a will there's a way.

-Ramesh Vinayak

Warning Bell

Chakrabory with the seizure

Kolkata Police's seizure of a cache of ammunition last week from a truck with an Assam registration confirmed what Kolkatans have always suspected-the city is fast becoming a transit point for militants, arms and drugs from across the border or the Northeast. Three suspected ISI operatives were picked up in the city in the past few months, but no one knows for whom the haul of 25,000 rounds of AK-47 bullets was meant for. The police first thought it was headed for Kashmir, but later said it might have been for the People's War Group or the Maoists in Nepal.

Now the police are tracking the trail in the Northeast. Says a harried Kolkata Police Commissioner Sujoy Chakraborty: "We are the gateway to the Northeast and we share 2,200 km of border with Bangladesh." Clearly a tough call for Kolkata Police.

-Labonita Ghosh

DIED: Gulabrai S. Ramchand, 76, former Indian cricket captain, of a heart condition, in Mumbai.

RETURNS: Union minister Murasoli Maran, to Chennai, after treatment for heart problems in the US for 10 months. He was admitted to Apollo Hospital.

DROPPED: Charge of culpable homicide, against actor Salman Khan in the hit-and-run case, by the Bombay High Court.

BOOKED: 25 sadhus, who had thrown coins on the street, for the August 27 Nashik stampede.

APPOINTED: B.P. Mishra executive director of the IMF. He replaces Y.V. Reddy.

AWARDED: Mahesh Elkunchwar, Marathi playwright, the Saraswati Samman, by the K.K. Birla Foundation, for Yugant.