Just in: 23-year-old gang-rape victim shifted out of Safdarjung hospital, says the Delhi Police

She is being taken to Singapore for further treatment.

This came after the girl and her family were issued visas earlier in the day

In a bid to make public transport in Delhi safer, the Delhi government today decided to double the number of Delhi Transport Corporation buses that ply along the capital's routes at night. Additionally, home guards will be deployed on buses at night to ensure the safety of passengers, reports NDTV.

Read the full report here

Citing the recent gang-rape of a young girl in New Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday asked the police to make protection of women their priority and advised them to change their image which is not good among general public.

Addressing a group of India Police Service probationers at his residence, Dr Singh said there should be behaviourial and psychological studies to see why people indulge in heinous crimes like gang-rape and efforts should be made to "wean" them away.

He said fast-paced urbanisation was leading to increased migration of job-searching youth from rural areas and they could become a "menace" if they do not get "well absorbed" in the processes of development.

The Delhi Police today asked the Medical Superintendent of Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital to appear before them after the post-mortem of constable Subhash Tomar contradicted his version that the cop did not suffer any injuries.

A senior police official said they have issued a notice to Dr T S Sidhu, asking him to appear before them with all medical records of Tomar who died yesterday after battling for life for three days.

Tomar was injured in the violence on Sunday during protests against the gang-rape of a 23-year-old woman in a moving bus on December 16.

Naxalites allegedly shot dead a special police officer (SPO) at his native village Aurapani in Jashpur district of Chhattisgarh today, police said.        

 

"Siyaram Ekka (40) was shot dead in his native village Aurapani, located close to Jharkhand-Chhattisgarh border in the district, by suspected Naxalites in the morning," SP Manish Sharma said.         

 

Siyaram was recently deputed as assistant constable and was staying at Jashpur district headquarters Police Line, the SP said.         

 

According to the officer, Siyaram had left for his village yesterday without informing anyone.          Sharma said police were also investigating whether old rivalry could be the motive behind the incident.

Four Indian nationals, including a woman, have been arrested and almost 30 kg of drugs seized from them in connection with separate cases of alleged smuggling attempts.         

 

Customs director at the Kuala Lumpur International airport, Badaruddin Mohamed Rafik, said the drugs seized from the possession of the four Indians was worth $564,096(Malaysian Ringgit 1.73 million).         

 

The four suspected drug smugglers were arrested in different cases over three days last week and have been remanded to 14 days of custody for investigation.        

 

"So far this year, 19 Indian nationals were arrested for attempting to smuggle 111.58 kg drugs worth RM 10.54 million ($3.4 million)," he told a press conference. Among the four was a 40-year-old housewife who is alleged to have tried to sneak in 11.85 kg of ketamine.         

 

The other three suspects included a 38-year-old technician from Mumbai, a 27-year-old man from Gaya and a 54-year-old businessman who is said to have entered the country eight times so far this year.

Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde has ordered an inquiry into the spat between Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Delhi Police over the recording of the gang-rape victim's statement, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said on Wednesday.

Government has decided to withdraw all security cover provided to former Army Chief Gen V K Singh, who has been taking part in a number of protests over corruption, Delhi gang-rape incident and other issues. 

Congress leader Dijvijaya Singh today alleged that violence erupted at India Gate during the protest against the Delhi gangrape case after Yoga Guru Ramdev and Arvind Kejriwal reached the spot. Singh also lashed out at media over the incident. "The violence started during the agitation after Ramdev and Kejriwal reached there... Subhash Tomar, a constable was killed but the media is presenting a boy, who is claiming that he took him to the hospital," Singh said, addressing a party convention at Congress office in Delhi.

During the hearing on the constable Subhash Tomar's death today, accused Nafees Ahmad, who was granted bail along with seven others on December 24, told the court that he was unable to find a person who can stand as his surety. "He (Nafees) is a worker. He is not able to find any person to stand surety for him. Everybody is scared by Delhi Police; so nobody is standing as surety for him," his counsel said.

"Why had you (Nafees) come to India Gate? With whom had you come?," the magistrate asked.

At this, Nafees told the court that he had gone there to join the protest against the gang rape incident. The court then granted him time till December 28 to furnish the surety bond. It also accepted the surety bonds of two other accused Kailash Joshi and brother Amit.

According to the FIR lodged against the eight accused, they indulged in violent protests in which over 20 buses and other government vehicles were damaged by the agitators.

It said Constable Subhash Tomar, who succumbed yesterday to his injuries allegedly sustained during the protest, was badly injured in the protest. The police also alleged in its FIR that 10 rounds of bullet were found missing from a sub-inspector's official pistol, while some agitationists had also snatched two boxes of the tear gas shell from police officials who were preventing them from causing damage at the India Gate.

In other news: India's massive cash-to-the-poor program, set to launch officially on Jan. 1, isn't going anywhere without the help of people like Kalawati Devi Munda. Mrs. Munda is the 'mukhiya,' or leader, of a group of four villages in eastern Jharkhand state known as Dohakatu panchayat. Read

A Delhi court today took note of the plea of two brothers, accused with six others in the case of death of a constable deployed during the protests in Delhi against the gang rape incident, that they were in a metro train during occurrence of the alleged incident.

Metropolitan Magistrate Navita Kumari sought replies of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and Delhi police by tomorrow on to pleas of Kailash Joshi and Amit Joshi that CCTV footages of Rithala and Rajiv Chowk Metro stations of December 23, when the violent protests took place in and around India Gate here, be preserved.

"Issue notice to the SHO and the DMRC for December 27," the court said. "I have one request. Two of the accused were travelling in the metro when the incident (protest) happened. Its footage has to be preserved as it is an important evidence," Somnath Bharti, counsel for the accused, said.

Besides the two brothers, six others - Nafees, Shankar Bisht, Nand Kumar, Shantanu Kumar, Abhishek and Chaman Kumar - have been made accused for allegedly taking part in protests which later turned violent and in which constable Subash Chand Tomar got injured. All the accused were granted bail on December 24.

So, eyewitnesses, doctors at Ram Manohar Lohia hospital says constable Tomar suffered no injuries, but the autopsy report that's just out says the cop had severe internal bleeding, broken ribs which indicate he was hit with a blunt object. The cardiac arrest was precipitated because of these injuries, says the autopsy.

NDTV's Sonia Singh tweets: Think final verdict on what caused his death HAS to wait for post mortem but footage clearly shows how Yogendra, Pauline rushed to his aid.

See our 16:33 pm post.  

Of the eight people arrested for the death of constable Tomar, are some members of Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Admi Party.
Yesterday, Anna Hazare's India Against Corruption (IAC) accused Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Admi Party of disabling its mailing list for which they earlier blamed "hackers affiliated to the government".

"It is orchestrated by Team Arvind because we recently circulated some messages about Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers beating a cop to death. We also circulated another message about Kiran Bedi and us terminating her from IAC primary membership at her request," IAC national cyber media coordinator Ajay Dixit said.A statement from IAC blamed "Team Arvind" for disabling and shutting their "primary mailing list with over 27,000 registered subscribers and members".

The Delhi BJP has demanded a judicial inquiry into the issue of the constable Tomar's death and accused the government of covering up its "mistakes and failures".
"The way Home Minister, Home Secretary, Delhi Chief Minister, Delhi Police Commissioner, SDM Vivek Vihar and the doctor who made preliminary examination of the constable's body were giving contradictory statements, it seems that all are hatching a grave conspiracy. This conspiracy may only be exposed by judicial enquiry," Delhi BJP Chief Vijender Gupta said. He alleged that the government and the police were behaving in an "immoral way to cover up their mistakes and failures".

The police have maintained that constable Tomar was severely injured in the anti gang-rape protests in Delhi. Protestors allege that this accusation has been used to combat charges of the lack of restraint shown by the cops while they used batons, tear-gas and water cannons to dispel the protests. Eight people including some from the Aam Admi Party have been charged with inciting violence and riots during the weekend's protests.

KC Dwivedi, additional commisioner of the Police, Delhi issuing a statement on the post-mortem report. "Constable Tomar was grievously injured on his head, neck, chest, feet and he suffered a cardiac arrest as a result of these injuries," he says. 

While Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Monday assured people that justice would be served to the 23-year-old paramedical student, who was gang-raped by six men recently, he became a subject of discussion following a gaffe in his televised address to the nation. As per reports, the Prime Minister was heard asking his staff 'theek hai' (alright) at the end of his address to the nation, which was aired unedited.

Read more: 'Theek hai most natural expression EVER by PM'

Image: A placard outside Safdarjung Hospital where the gang-rape victim is being treated.

The autopsy also indicates internal bleeding, serious injuries, three ribs on the left side were fractured, says the post-mortem report. Details awaited. 

Just in: The post-mortem report of constable Subhash Tomar is out. CNN IBN reports that the report says that the cop suffered from 'serious ante-mortem' (injuries received before death) and that the cardiac arrest could be because of injuries he received on his neck and chest. "Cardiac arrest was precipitated by injuries to neck and chest. Effusion of blood present in neck muscles, tissues " the report said.

This comes even as two eye-witnesses said the cop was not assaulted and "simply collapsed on the road".

In other news: In a controversial order, Mumbai Police have directed all public call office operators to maintain a record of every person who uses their phone. As per the direction, a customer using a PCO phone will have to produce a proof of his/ her identity before being allowed to make a call, police sources said.

The measure is being put in place to tackle the menace of hoax calls, they said. Mumbai Police Commissioner Dr Satyapal Singh recently mooted this idea after it was observed that in most cases, hoax calls were traced to PCOs.

Just in: A gang-rape protestor Pauline tells CNN IBN that constable Subhash Chand Tomar was not attacked by anyone. In fact, there were no protestors around the cop when he collapsed at Jantar Mantar. "We immediately went to help him and raised an alarm, but the police nearby simply stood and watched. The cop was not injured. He simply fell down, he collapsed," Pauline tells CNN IBN.

She is the second eye-witness to say that Tomar was not attacked, contrary to what the Delhi police have claimed that he died of injuries received from the protestors.

In fact, the Dr TS Sidhu, medical superintendent, Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, said earlier, "He died of cardio-pulmonary arrest at 6:40 am on Tuesday. He was brought to the hospital in a state of cardiac arrest and was given CPR. Our bed-side investigations found no gross internal injuries or bleeding and externally also only few bruises on the chest." 

Update on the Delhi gang-rape victim: The condition of the survivor continues to remain critical and she has been put on a ventilator. However, the Safdarjung Hospital, where she is being treated, will not issue a medical bulletin today. Dr BD Athani, who is the Medical Superintendent of Safdarjung Hospital, is not there today.

An official US report has warned that future terrorists could come from many different religions, including Christianity and Hinduism. The reports added that right-wing and left-wing ideological groups will also pose threats. The report, however said it hopes that the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq and a reduced military presence in Afghanistan will also decrease the terrorists'' ability to use America for stirring up Muslim anger, reports The Dawn.

Of its Rs 10,500 crore investment plan for India, IKEA has got FIPB approval to bring in only Rs 4,200 crore, even as Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma today batted for allowing the Swedish furniture major's global model which includes cafeterias inside their stores. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), under Sharma, has already forwarded a request to Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in the Finance Ministry for reviewing its November 20 decision giving part approval to IKEA.

A fishmonger from Pakistan has become Britain's latest musical sensation after a song he sang at an East London fish market went viral on the Internet.The song -- 'One Pound Fish' -- has been made into a video and is currently number 29 on the British charts. Read

Even as the government today set up a Commission of Inquiry to identify lapses and fix responsibility in the gang-rape of 23-year-old girl in New Delhi, an issue that was discussed by the Union Cabinet with ministers expressing concern over the incident, women in Delhi continue to live in fear.

This is a tweet from the Indian Express's entertainment writer: @Harneetsin
Travelling in a bus from Delhi to go to Chandigarh. Parents calling up every 5 mins to check if I'm ok. The fear is real. For all of us.for women.

Aggravated sexual violence in Guwahati in July 2012 and gang rape in Delhi this month have led to public outrage and anger, compelling the media and the government to take serious note of the rampant sexual violence against women. Read

The number of foreign pilots employed by India's aviation industry has fallen sharply in the past year, a move that will likely strengthen the financials of the carriers.A total of 340 foreign pilots were employed as of the end of November, a decline of 35% from a year earlier, said K. C. Venugopal, junior minister for civil aviation, in a recent written response to questions in Parliament. Read

A local court is likely to frame charges against LeT operative and key 26/11 handler Abu Jundal next month in the 2006 Aurangabad Arms Haul Case. "The (MCOCA) court has issued production warrant against Jundal for January 9 and charges are likely to be framed on that date," said Jundal's lawyer Ejaz Naqvi. The production warrant was issued after Jundal told the court that he wanted to talk to his lawyer before the framing of charges, Naqvi said. Jundal was today produced in the court via video link from Tihar jail.

SP leader Azam Khan's take on the punishment for rape. Khan has demanded that rapists should be "stoned" to death in public as per Islamic law, saying capital punishment is much less for such a heinous crime. Advocating reverting to 'Sangsar', punishment by stoning, the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Minister made these comments during an interaction with reporters here yesterday.

Five cadets of the National CadetCorps (NCC) from Delhi, who were taking part at a nationa ltrekking camp at Malayatoor in Ernakulam district, drowned in Periyar River today. The tragedy struck the cadets when they had gone to the river for a bath, police said. The victims were part of the over 1000 NCC cadets from across the country who had congregated at Malayattoor, a hilly area, for the 8-day camp which began on December 23. Defence Minister A K Antony expressed his anguish at the tragedy. 

It's not only individual lives that author Rohinton Mistry paints with such meticulousness; it's how he stretches his canvas to embrace the wider world that makes his work comparable to the contemporary giants of literature.Read

To counter the imminent rise of Narendra Modi after his thumping victory in the Gujarat assembly elections, many in the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh are looking to another successful chief minister: Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Read more. 

The government has decided to withdraw the Z-plus security cover given to former army Chief V.K. Singh. General Singh, who lives in an official accommodation in Delhi Cantonment, was categorised in the Z-plus security bracket which was given for a sixmonth duration that expired on November 30. After receiving communication from the government, the army headquarter is in the process of withdrawing the cover, sources said. Read more

If you're headed to Dhaka, this is a must read. The capital of Bangladesh, may have been named after  a local tree or a 16th-century temple. Or the name may come from the Bengali word that means 'covered' or 'hidden'. Read

Even as questions continue to be raised over the way protests against the gang rape of a medical student turned violent at India Gate resulting in the death of constable Subhash Chand Tomar, agitators at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday expressed remorse and betrayed a sense of guilt over the tragedy. But they blamed "hooligans' for the death, which, they argued, occurred due to "mishandling' of the situation by the authorities. Read more

A couple of reads from the WSJ: The number of foreign pilots employed by India's aviation industry has fallen sharply in the past year, a move that will likely strengthen the financials of the carriers.A total of 340 foreign pilots were employed as of the end of November, a decline of 35% from a year earlier, said K C Venugopal, junior minister for civil aviation, in a recent written response to questions in Parliament. Read

Here's what's being done to make Delhi safer for women. Amid national outrage over the gang-rape of a young student on a moving bus in Delhi, the government announced today that a new committee is being set up to look at the lapses that enabled the horrific assault and what needs to be done to urgently improve the safety of women in the capital."The steps are being taken with the serious intent to find a lasting solution to the problem (of rape) that plagues all metros and other towns of India," said senior minister P Chidambaram today. "That it is happening in Delhi is a matter of shame. The committee announced today will be headed by a retired Delhi High Court judge named Usha Mehra. It will submit its report within three months. More

Again and again, the 19-year-old dialled the number of the Delhi police women's unit. There was no response.Then she tweeted: "'terrified please help'.Shambhavi Saxena was terrified. Earlier in the afternoon, a policewoman had apparently dragged the student of English honours by her hair into Parliament Street police station.Her crime? According to the police, she was part of a group of 20 people, mostly school students, who were inciting crowds at Jantar Mantar and were marching towards Parliament Street where prohibitory orders were in force.
Read more on the Telegraph.

Many Indians, including members of Parliament, have called for capital punishment to deter potential rapists in the wake of the brutal assault on a young woman in a Delhi bus, but police in some of the world's biggest metropolises follow a method that looks at prevention. Police manuals in cities like London, Toronto and New York have special operating procedures for sex crime units, where policemen are trained not only to spot offenders but also create an environment where they cannot operate. Read

Syed Akbaruddin MEA spokesperson tweets: India-Pakistan to meet on December 27-28 to discuss Conventional and Nuclear Confidence Building Measures (CBMs).

Indian-origin hedge fund portfolio manager Mathew Martoma has been indicted in one of the "most lucrative" insider trading schemes ever involving USD 276 million and will be arraigned in a court here next month. Martoma, 38, was arrested last month at his home in Boca Raton, Florida, on charges of using material, non-public information he received from a doctor on the clinical trial of an Alzheimer's disease drug to make profits and avoid losses for his hedge fund in an amount totaling USD 276 million.

An eyewitness account of the Delhi police and RAF violence at India Gate on December 23, Sunday. Read the blog

Twitter-happy Narendra Modi after he was sworn in as chief minister of Gujarat for the fourth time today:  @narendramodi: My thanks to people, senior leaders & spiritual leaders who graced the occasion & to all who watched the event LIVE across 83 nations. 

Union finance minister P Chidambaram's press conference on the Cabinet briefing. On the Delhi gang-rape case, Chidambaram says the government is "Open to suggestions on what more needs to be done to bring about a more safety and make the capital secure for women." He promises that the perpetrators will be brought to justice soon and the government would 'try' and find out lapses in the system that led to the gang-rape. He also said this was not the time to sack Delhi police commissioner Neeraj Kumar. It may be recalled that CM Sheela Dikshit wants Kumar sacked.

Meanwhile, the transport ministry has said the number of night buses will be increased and a home guard will be present in every bus.

The recent re-election of Narendra Modi and his party to the state legislature in Gujarat for the third time, preceded by the horrific gang-rape and near-murder of a young girl and her male companion in a Delhi bus, are both developments that ought to be read as alarms going off to indicate the high, almost catastrophic, degree to which the Indian polity is in a state of crisis. Read

As prominent trials against policemen and Khalistan militants move towards culmination, the acrimony between the Punjab police and the judiciary is increasing. Readthe opinion piece on the Hindu. 

Caught as they were between the stony silence of an impassive government and the cynically simplistic demands of Opposition politicians for instant justice, it is hardly surprising that the leaderless crowds which spontaneously gathered at India Gate on Saturday and Sunday to protest the recent incident of rape in the Capital should have ended up in a violent skirmish with the police. Read more

Reuters: The cabinet has approved selling a further stake in state-run Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd, a minister said on Wednesday. The move is part of the government's plan to raise 300 billion rupees by selling part of its holding in state-run companies in the current fiscal year that ends in March. The minister, who declined to be named, did not specify the quantum of stake to be sold in the fertiliser maker. The government, which owns 92.5 percent of Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers, had earlier indicated it may sell 12.5 percent stake in the company.

Pakistan People's Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will make his formal entry into the hurly burly of Pakistani politics at an event to be held tomorrow to mark the fifth death anniversary of his mother Benazir Bhutto. "Bilawal will make his entry into active politics during the meeting to be held at Garhi Khuda Bux (in Sindh) and take over the PPP's campaign for next year's general election," said a confidant of President Asif Ali Zardari.

Just in: The Madurai police have issued summons to Union minister MK Alagari's son Durai Dayanidhi in an illegal mining case. Durai, who is a partner in the firm, 'Olympus Granites', was among the nine leading quarry-owners facing charges of encroachment of public as well as private land and illegal mining. He has been charged under various sections of IPC, including 120 b (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating). The High Court on Monday, granted him and 14 other accused, anticipatory bail. It also quashed the non-bailable arrest warrant against Durai Dayanidhi, issued by the Melur court.

Local police have failed to serve Salman Khan summons in the 2002 hit-and-run case since November 30 and claim he is not in Mumbai. Read

How atheist innovator Leonardo da Vinci used religious commissions to test-drive his greatest invention -- the flying machine. Read

Yesterday, millions of American children will be opening gifts left under Christmas trees. Sadly, many of those trees are decorated with ornaments produced by involuntary child labor. Read

Ministers sworn in today: Nitin Patel, Anandi Patel, Raman Vora, Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, Saurabh Patel, Ganpat Vasawa, Babhbhai Bokhiariya took oath as Cabinet ministers, while Purshottam Solanki, Parbat Patel, Vasuben Trivedi, Pradeepsinh Jadeja, Liladhar Vaghela, Rajnikant Patel, Govind Patel, Nanubhai Vanani and Jayanti Kavadiya took oath as Ministers of State.
Other ministers will be sworn in on January 1.

Police today eased traffic restrictions at India Gate and Raisina Hill, but did not lift prohibitory orders even as protests over the gang-rape of a girl calmed down. Questions were also raised over the cause of a Constable's death during demonstrations.

A journalism student Yogendra, who claimed to be an eye-witness, contradicted police version that Constable Subhash Tomar was beaten up by protesters leading to his death, saying he fell down on his own. Delhi Police declined to be drawn into the controversy with its spokesperson Rajan Bhagat saying "no comments till the post mortem report is out".

In other news: When a massive hoard of treasure was discovered in the vaults of a Hindu temple in Kerala last year one question begged for an answer: who owns it?
Read

The crisis arising from the gangrape of a young woman, the resultant protest movement and its mishandling by the police, has led to a full-fledged war over who ought to have custody of the Delhi Police. The Sheila Dikshit government has made it abundantly clear it would prefer the city police commissioner to report to the chief minister. Read more here.

Just in: Delhi Police's Crime Branch to investigate the death of Constable Subhash Tomar during Sunday's violence at India Gate.

With 77 commendations to his credit, constable Subhash Chand Tomar earned the 78th - his last - on Tuesday when his boss saluted him at his cremation site. Tomar's wife had stopped him from joining duty on Sunday when his bike didn't start initially and then developed a puncture. Read more

There is a heady feeling in the air that we have a licence to defy and disrupt, and force our rulers to make concessions on our terms. Read former media adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Harish Khare's column on the Hindu.

In other news: Doctors at Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, who attended to the constable Subhash Tomar, who died allegedly due to injuries received from protestors at India Gate, say he had NO major injuries which could have led to his death. "There were no injuries on the body, except for bruises. He suffered a cardiac arrest and passed away before he was brought to the hospital," say doctors.
This dovetails with what an eyewitness at the anti-rape protests said to CNN IBN, that the constable was beaten up by protesters. The eyewitness said the constable was not assaulted by protesters but simply collapsed while walking and chasing the crowd. "He was not assaulted, nor was he beaten up," said the witness to his
A post-mortem report is awaited. "He died of cardio-pulmonary arrest at 6:40 am on Tuesday. He was brought to the hospital in a state of cardiac arrest and was given CPR. Our bed-side investigations found no gross internal injuries or bleeding and externally also only few bruises on the chest," said Dr TS Sidhu, medical superintendent, Ram Manohar Lohia hospital.

Another update from Ahmedabad's Sardar Patel Stadium. Pradipsinh Jadeja takes oath as MoS. He is Modi's trusted man elected from Vatava in Ahmedabad.  #LIVE-Modi-swearing-in

In other news: After just four days of vacation, President Obama is leaving Hawaii early to return to Washington in a last-ditch effort to reach a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff.A White House official said Obama would fly home Wednesday evening --  him only five days before an automatic series of deep spending cuts and sharp tax increases on nearly all Americans begins to take effect. Read

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray, Indian National Lok Dal leader Om Prakash Chautala, former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje, BJP leaders Shahnawaz Hussain, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Anurag Thakur, Smriti Irani, Prakash Javadekar and Navjot Singh Sidhu were present to witness Modi''s crowning moment.

Unlike his victory speech last week, which was in Hindi, Narendra Modi takes oath in Gujarati.  And so, Modi is sworn in as the CM. It's the sixth straight victory for Modi in Gujarat. Gujarat governor Kamla Beniwal offers a bouquet of roses to Modi. Tomorrow, Modi is headed to Delhi.  #LIVE-Modi-swearing-in
Watch it here.

Always a showman, Modi flashes the victory sign. Governor Kamla Beniwal arrives, to deliver the oath. Modi has always had a mercurial relationship with Beniwal. Narendra Modi takes oath as Gujarat's chief minister for the fourth term.
#LIVE-Modi-swearing-in 

Modi's unprecedented win for the third consecutive time has profound implications for Indian politics. The near certain rise of Modi within the Bharatiya Janata Party, and by extension in the national political scene, challenges the assiduously built political consensus since Independence. Naturally, this has set the cat amongst the pigeons, especially amongst those who have been beneficiaries of the "system." Read

J Jayalalithaa and Sushma Swaraj seated next to each other at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad. Other cchief ministers present at the venue include Parkash Singh Badal of Punjab, Manohar Parrikar of Goa, Shivraj Singh Chauhan of Madhya Pradesh, Raman Singh of Chhattisgarh. Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik was also expected to attend the ceremony, but can't be seen. Other ministers in the Gujarat assembly will be sworn in on January 1.   #LIVE-Modi-swearing-in

Modi now moving towards the podium. Jayalalithaa, Modi and Sushma Swaraj share a photo-op. Modi now greeting all the leaders present. Ravi Shankar Prasad, Anant Kumar, Navjot Singh Siddhu, Sahara chief Subrata Roy, Smriti Irani (in the news for Sanjay Nirupam's thumka comments), Narhari Amin all being greeted by Modi. Interesting to see BJP President Nitin Gadkari there. The stadium is packed with Modi's followers.  
Click here to watch the swearing-in live #LIVE-Modi-swearing-in

Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal, Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa at the ceremony. Modi seated next to senior party leader Arun Jaitley. LK Advani, Rajnath Singh, Najma Heptullah, Vasundhara Raje Scindia also present at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad. 
Yesterday, Narendra Modi was unanimously elected the leader of Gujarat BJP legislature party, which later met Governor Kamla Beniwal and staked claim to form a new government in the state under his leadership.    

Narendra Modi to be sworn in as Gujarat chief minister any time now. All top BJP leaders are at the venue in Ahmedabad. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and MNS chief Raj Thackeray are at the venue as are Bollywood stars like Vivek Oberoi, Kiron Kher.

Although the condition of the gang rape victim was a "shade better" on Tuesday, doctors say there has been no significant improvement. Doctors attributed the improvement in her vital parameters like blood pressure, pulse, platelet and white blood cell counts to the supplementation give to her. Read

An interesting story on the TOI: Rs 198 lakh of the taxpayers money was spent when the President was in Belgaum to inaugurate the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in October. The government renovated the Circuit House (CH) ahead of President Pranab Mukherjee's visit. It spent over Rs 161 lakh on renovation and around Rs 37 lakh on furnishing the room, where Mukherjee spent just an hour on October 11. Read

After three days of dense fog, operations at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here remained largely normal today. Though there was shallow fog in the morning, visibilty remained above 1500 metres and flight operations remained normal with departures and arrivals as per schedule, airport sources said.

Some flights were delayed and some cancelled but they were due to operational reasons, they said. Flight operations were badly hit at the IGI Airport due to dense fog for past three days leading to delay in schedules of hundreds of aircraft.

An interesting tussle might be on the cards as the government braces for Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, upbeat from his third straight win, expected to use the National Development Council (NDC) platform on Thursday to showcase a vision of governance while attacking the UPA. Read

The swearing-in ceremony of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is about to start. 

A military plane carrying 27 passengers, including the chief of Kazakhstan's border service, crashed in the southern part of the country on Wednesday.

The home ministry today announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh to the next of kin of Delhi police constable Subhash Chand Tomar, who died in Delhi.        

Queen Elizabeth II thanked Britain for a memorable year -- with the London Olympics and Diamond Jubilee celebrations -- in a national broadcast that was telecast in 3D.

Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh today said that the government would want to hold talks with Naxals, if they drop arms and adopt a democratic ideology.

Top BJP leaders and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa will attend the swearing-in ceremony in which Narendra Modi will take oath as Gujarat chief minister on Wednesday.

The biting cold across north India continues to claim more victims.

A case of attempted rape in a bus has been reported from Kolkata.

India and Pakistan today finalised the terms of reference for a judicial commission expected to visit India to gather evidence on the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks after talks held over the past five days.        

A 47-year-old spectator, who was present at the Chinnaswamy stadium for the India-Pakistan T20 match on Tuesday, died after he apparently suffered a heart attack.        

Egypt's electoral commission today announced  that voters had approved overwhelmingly the constitution drafted by President Mohamed Mursi's Islamist allies.