A team of women police officials visited Sabarmati Jail in Ahmedabad and recorded statements of other prisoners in the jail at the time an NRI woman says she was raped.

Interrogations revealed that none of the inmates knew she was raped, only that she spoke of being duped. Nor did the woman approach the CID with a complaint of rape by the police officers.

The four accused police officers will be called for interrogation, and police are to analyse their phone calls.

The NRI woman has also been uncooperative with investigating officials.

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The state government has issued orders to slash the current NRI quota in engineering colleges to 5 percent from 15 percent and that only for students whose parents reside abroad. Henceforth no sponsorships from NRIs will be permitted.

The decision was made after complaints that prominent engineering colleges were misusing the "NRI-sponsored students" category by collecting large capitation fees to allot seats to local students.

NRI students must also secure 50 percent marks in the qualifying exam in group subjects to be eligible for the quota.

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Sex workers from all over the world who have been denied travel visas by the US to attend the International AIDS conference in July in Washington DC, which is an annual congregation of organisations and agencies from across the world engaged in controlling AIDS, have now decided to hold a parallel conference in Kolkata in protest.

A five-day conference will be held in Kolkata under the banner of the Global Hub of the International AIDS Conference. Over 550 representatives of sex workers from 47 countries will attend the event being hosted by the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee during which they will deliberate on the so-called 'Seven Freedoms' without which the community of sex workers cannot reduce their vulnerability to HIV.

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The US consulate in Mumbai has explained that the rules have been eased for Indians wanting to travel to the US on business or for leisure.

Some changes include - children under 7 are not required to appear for a non-immigrant visa interview after the visa application is submitted. An applicant will not have to pay visa fees again if he reapplies after his application has been kept on hold or is pending for various reasons under the US Visa rules.

The Mumbai consulate has opened over 40 windows, thus reducing the wait time for an interview with a consular officer. It has also upgraded its emergency appointment module for applicants seeking visas in the case of unforeseen travel. These applicants will receive an automated email reply notifying them of the status of their request.

US consular officials explained that they process almost 1500 applicants a day so applicants need to present their case and show genuine clear reasons for a proposed visit, as there have been instances where applicants have provided false data.

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A US Navy supply ship operating in the Strait of Hormuz, opened fire on a fishing boat near Jebel Ali Port in Dubai.

A spokesman for the US Navy's Bahrain based 5th Fleet said a security team aboard the USNS Rappahannock fired on the boat after it disregarded warnings and raced towards the ship. One Indian fisherman and three others, also Indians were seriously injured.

The dead fisherman has been identified as Sekar and the injured are Muniraj, Panpuvan and Murugan who all hail from Ramanathapuram.

The President of the Karaiyur Fishermen's Association said the fishermen were working for Dubai fishing companies on a daily wage basis.

India has called upon the United Arab Emirates to probe the circumstances of the tragic incident.

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