PATNA: S K Puri police caught three criminals from near the Rajapur Pul late on Friday night. The criminals have been identified as Sajay Singh of Bihta, Hridayanand Kushwaha of Maner and Ranjit of Vaisahli. Sajay and Ranjit were found carrying one countrymade pistol each while one cartridge was seized from Hridayanand. Police were on patrol when the trio started fleeing after spotting the cops. They were caught after a hot chase. Police said they worked as masons during daytime and committed crime after the dawn of darkness.
Meanwhile, valuables, including colour TV, gold and silver ornaments, LPG cylinders and costly sarees were stolen from the residence of Dhirendra Mohan Sinha located in S K Colony under the Patrakar Nagar police station. The house was burgled when the inmates were away from the state capital. Sinha was informed of the burglary by a neighbour. An FIR was lodged on Saturday.
In another incident, a fire broke out in the Uma Complex on Fraser Road when an unidentified person threw a cigarette on a heap of garbage. The air conditioner of the complex first caught fire which later spread to rooms. Fire tenders later doused the flames before much damage could be caused.
The Times of India. 280609.
What is the point of posting this article about masons in India who were engaged in criminal activity? Quite simply this - people who write about 'masons' often do so without explaining what kind of mason they are discussing. For that reason the headline of this article no doubt caught your attention because it was thought it was about Freemasons and criminal activity.
It is now generally accepted that in order to differentiate between the different kinds of 'masons' the following convention be used whenever writing about 'masons':
masons = stonemasons or working masons
Masons = Freemasons, members of the Masonic fraternity
(The only 'fly in the ointment' is when 'Mason' is used at the begining of a sentance and id therefore capitalised, as in the headline here, and in those circumstances the word Freemason ought to be used in preferrence to Mason when it is a Freemason is the subject).
Once this convention is widely used the confusion ought to be greatly reduced - Ed.