Gunmen held ahead of Sonia visit

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Hours ahead of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's visit to Kottayam on Wednesday, police picked up eight people from a lodge after they couldn't explain why there was a loaded pistol in the room.
Police said the men, who claimed to be lottery agents, were detained during a security drill. Three of them were from Tamil Nadu and another three from Bangalore.
Those detained were identified as Nidhin Raj, Senthil Kumar, Natarajan, Sreekumar, Rajesh, Murugan, Rameshan and V K Raja.
A laptop was also recovered from them, police said adding it was being examined by experts. All of them were placed under preventive arrest in view of Sonia's visit to the town.