Amid criticism over killing of a DSP in Pratapgarh, the Samajwadi Party today said it is not shielding former minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh 'Raja Bhaiya', who his facing charges of his involvement in the murder.        

 

Rajya Sabha MP Ram Gopal Yadav Raja Bhaiya would not have been booked in the case had the party been trying to save him. Alleging conspiracy to tarnish the image of Uttar Pradesh, Yadav said the number of crime cases reported in UP are well below that reported in Delhi, despite the fact that the latter is several times bigger than the national capital region.        

 

On Jama Masjid Shahi Imam Syed Ahmad Bukhari's allegations that UP government has failed to give security to Muslims, Yadav said the SP is more concerned about Muslims than the cleric.  

Activist and politician Arvind Kejriwal has been invited to replace Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the keynote speaker at an event at the Wharton Business School later this month.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II was today discharged from a hospital here after being treated for symptoms of gastroenteritis. She was expected to stay for a couple days but spent just 24 hours at King Edward VII's Hospital after being admitted on yesterday afternoon. 

Bangladesh today conferred its second highest award on President Pranab Mukherjee for his valuable contribution to the country's liberation war in 1971.

At least 15 people were killed in attacks by machete-wielding gangs on Monday as millions of Kenyans voted in the first presidential election since a disputed 2007 poll unleashed weeks of tribal bloodshed.

PCI chief Markandey Katju today likened Pakistan to Jurassic Park, saying violence and deaths are being reported everyday due to inherent faults in that country's formation. 

Another devastating bomb attack on Pakistan's minority Shi'ite community - this time in Karachi - has killed 45 people and injured 150, raising fears the country's spiralling sectarian violence could delay imminent elections and further destabilise its already fragile democracy.

The Joint Parliamentary Committee, probing the 2G telecom spectrum allocation scam, is unlikely to call former telecom minister A Raja as a witness before it.  

Dropping broad hints regarding it, Congress spokesperson and JPC Chairman P C Chacko today said that "no rule specifies the right of a man to appear before a committee."   

"No such rule exists that a man has a right to appear before a committee. A man may be called for the benefit of a committee or before the JPC but it has to be decided that whether calling him is beneficial for the Committee," he said.

With no breakthrough in February 21 twin blasts at Dilsukhnagar here that left 16 dead and 117 injured, the Andhra Pradesh government today decided to hand over the investigation to the National Investigation Agency.   

The decision to hand over the probe to the NIA was taken at a review meeting chaired byChief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, state's Home Minister P Sabita Reddy told reporters.

Priyanka Gandhi today underwent a minor surgery of gall bladder in a private hospital in New Delhi.

Forty-one-year-old Priyanka underwent the surgery at Gangaram Hospital and is stable. It was conducted by a team of doctors led by Dr Praveen Bhatia of the Department of Minimal Access Surgery.

"During routine check up, Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra was found to have stones in the gall bladder and elective (planned) gall bladder surgery has been done this morning successfully. She is stable now," Dr D S Rana, Chairman (Board of Management of the hospital), said.

Policemen in Punjab are seen hitting a girl who allegedly tried to complain about harassment by a truck driver. The shocking footage was shot on a cellphone by a witness, reports NDTV.

Read the full report here

The Uttar Pradesh Food and Civil supplies department, which was held by Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya, has been allocated to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

"After acceptance of Raja Bhaiya's resignation, Uttar Pradesh Governor B L Joshi today allocated his department to the Chief Minister," an official release said today.

Yadav is already holding portfolios of 66 departments, including home, personnel, planning, excise and sports. Raja Bhaiya resigned today after he was booked for criminal conspiracy in the killing of DSP Zia-ul-Haq in Pratapgarh district.

Join the swarm at the largest religious gathering in human history -- the Mahakumbh. Read

Three police officials, who arrested one of the accused in the December 16 gangrape and murder of a 23-year-old girl in a moving bus in Delhi, testified as prosecution witness before the fast-track court today.

Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna is recording the evidence of witnesses in in-camera proceedings and the media has been restrained from reporting.

The three officials, who had arrested accused Pawan Gupta, deposed as prosecution witnesses today. The court has also recorded the statement of one more witness.

The judge, who is recording evidence in the case on daily basis, could not hold the proceedings since February 27, as there was some bereavement in his family.

The five adult accused are facing trial in the case for rape and murder of the girl, who died on December 29, 2012 in a Singapore hospital as a result of grievous injuries she had suffered when she was sexually assaulted by six people in the capital.

The sixth accused is a juvenile who is facing proceedings before the Juvenile Justice Board and he has also been charged for rape and murder of the girl.
Bus driver Ram Singh and his brother Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Singh and the juvenile have pleaded not guilty to the charges framed against them and had claimed trial in the case.

UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has promised a CBI probe into the murder of Dy SP Zia-ul-Haque. Haque's wife has said she will not bury the body till Akhilesh met the family and promised a CBI probe. Haque was dragged and shot dead by a mob of alleged Samajwadi supporters in a village last night after the murder of a ruling party pradhan and his brother, prompting allegations of a collapse of law and order.

MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin tweets: India-Portugal discuss issues regarding extradition of Abu Salem & confirm resolute opposition to terrorism.

Raja Bhaiya, a politician with a lengthy criminal record, has resigned as a minister in the Uttar Pradesh government over alleged links to the murder of a senior police officer on Saturday night in his constituency of Kunda. "If I had a problem with him (the policeman), I would have had him transferred, not killed," said Raja Bhaiya, whose real name is Raguraj Pratap Singh. -- NDTV.

The fading bungalow at 38 Amrita Shergil Marg does not immediately shout real estate bling. There is no tennis court, no infinity pool, no Sub-Zero refrigerator or walk-in closet. The paint is chipped, the bathrooms are musty and the ceilings have water stains. The house may ultimately be torn down. The house was sold for $29 million. More

The Kerala High court today adjourned to March 15 the Suryanelli gangrape case, allegedly involving Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien, as it is awaiting various records from the apex court, including the case diary and deposition of witnesses. Earlier the bail pleas had been posted for today.

UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav reaches Deoria to meet the family of the slain deputy superintendent of police. His wife has said that her husband will not be buried till the CM meets the family and assures them that the accused in the murder, SP minister Raja Bhaiiya is arrested.

As the police investigate the deaths of three young sisters in a small village in central India, they are certain of one thing: someone killed the girls, ages 6, 9 and 11, sometime after they were last seen on Feb. 14 in Murmadi, in the Bhandara district of Maharashtra, and then dumped their bodies into a well in a rice field, where they were found on Feb. 16. Read more

Pregnant with quadruplets, Emma Robbins was told again and again that she should terminate two of her babies to give the others a better chance of survival.Again and again, she told doctors she had no intention of sacrificing any of her boys, who were conceived naturally at odds of 750,000 to one. Read more

Pope Benedict XVI's decision to resign has rekindled debate within the Catholic Church and worldwide speculation about the possibility that the church will reach beyond the European clergy who have long held power in the Vatican to choose the next pope.

With an eye to vibrant Catholic communities in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia, the Sacred College of Cardinals may weigh the pros and cons of selecting the next pope from another continent. Here are cardinals believed to be possible choices... Read

The government is aware of China's military modernisation and infrastructure development along the Sino-India border and it regularly reviews the threats to national security, Defence Minister A K Antony told the Lok Sabha today.

Development of infrastructure and operational capabilities to achieve desired defence preparedness to safeguard sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of India are an ongoing activity, he said in a written reply.

Also read:  Analysis: China's next inner circle

India is making positive strides in reducing child mortality through new policies and ambitious programs, but preventing the deaths of millions of children remains one of the country's greatest challenges. Read

Eight MPs -- four from the Rajya Sabha, apart from ministers and finance minister P Chidambaram met Rahul Gandhi today for 30 minutes to discuss the political situation in Tamil Nadu over the Sri Lanka issue. The TN Congress MPs are believed to have briefed Rahul Gandhi about DMK's stand in the Sri Lanka issue. The need for a strong stand to support Lankan Tamils was emphasised.

Our sources in Delhi tell us that that the final decision on whether Renuka Chaudhary will head the JPC on the helicopter scam rests with Sonia Gandhi. Chaudhary, who is the Congress MP in the Rajya Sabha is tipped to be the Chairman of Joint Parliamentary Committee. Since the resolution for the formation of a JPC was moved and passed in the Rajya Sabha, naturally the chairman of the JPC will also be from Rajya Sabha.  

Early February, Subra Suresh became the ninth president of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, another significant step in the career of man who left India in 1977. More

India hopes to get a "correct response" from Pakistan on the issue of death of Captain Saurabh Kalia, who was tortured and killed by Pakistan Army personnel during the Kargil war in 1999.

"This has been a very sad and condemnable incident that has taken place, which the Indian government has condemned. And it is something that we hope that we will get a correct response to what we have asked from Pakistan. That is all I can say at the moment," Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur said.

She was asked about British lawyer of Indian origin Jas Uppal planning to raise the issue of the Captain's death before the Committee of Human Rights of British Parliament. Uppal has launched an international campaign to highlight the case.

In May 1999, Captain Kalia had gone out for patrol duty in Kaksar area of Kargil along with five other soldiers --Sepoys Arjunram Baswana, Mula Ram Bidiasar, Naresh Singh Sinsinwar, Bhanwar Lal Bagaria and Bhika Ram Mudh.

They were caught by the Pakistan Army, which kept them in captivity for over 22 days and subjected them to brutal torture which was evident from their bodies that were handed over by the Pakistan Army to India on June 9, 1999.

A U.S. business school cancelled plans for a video address by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, underscoring the challenges the divisive Indian politician would face if he took on a greater national role. Read

Government officials often get flak for being inefficient or corrupt. But for millions of Indians, working for the government remains a dream job. Read

In the Central Hall of Parliament, Narendra Modi's remark calling Dr Manmohan Singh, night watchman -- seems to have caused quite a stir among Parliamentarians both ruling party and opposition -- who were saying, "Kya kamaal ki baath hai!" 

Priyanka Gandhi underwent a minor surgery in a private hospital in New Delhi today. Priyanka (41) underwent gall bladder surgery at Gangaram Hospital and is stable, sources said though officially no comments came from the hospital. Her mother and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and brother Rahul Gandhi visited her at the hospital. "Priyanka is alright," Rahul told reporters when asked about his sister but did not give any further details.

It was the taxi ride from the Mumbai airport that pulled Sharath Jeevan off the corporate ladder. Although born in Chennai, India, he had been raised mostly in Saudi Arabia and England, graduating from Cambridge with a degree in economics. An M.B.A. from Insead, a prestigious France-based business school, led to a management consultant's job at Booz Allen and then a job with eBay in Britain. Read

There have been 188 instances of ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir between 2010 to 2012 and three Indian Army personnel were killed in these, Defence Minister A K Antony told the Lok Sabha today.

In a written reply to the House, he said, "Government of India has taken up the issue of ceasefire violations with Pakistan consistently."

In 2010, Pakistan violated the ceasefire agreement with India on 44 occasions. 51 such incidents were recorded in 2011 while it peaked to 93 in 2012. Two Army personnel were killed during these violations in 2010, followed by a single incident in 2012. A total of 16 military personnel were injured in these incidents from 2010 to 2012.

"All violations of ceasefire are taken up with Pakistan military authorities at appropriate level through established mechanism of hotline, flat meetings as well as weekly talks between the Director Generals of Military Operations," Antony said.

Eight policemen have been suspended for allegedly fleeing from the spot where a DSP was attacked and killed by a mob in Pratapgarh after he reached the area to look into killing of a village head. Eight policemen, including inspector of Kunda, have been suspended as they had fled from the scene when DSP Zia-ul-Haq was attacked. Meanwhile, the slain DSP's wife Parveen Azad is demanding a CBI inquiry into the incident alleging that it was a premeditated murder.

MNS goons go on a rampage again in Satara. The workers allegedly attacked parents and students applying to a military school in Satara saying they had submitted fake documents. The students are believed to be north Indians.

This is the second time in less than a week, that MNS workers went on a rampage. Tension triggered by the stone-pelting incident on Feb 26, targeting Raj Thackeray's convoy escalated with MNS workers and supporters vandalising NCP offices in several parts of Mumbai and adjoining Thane.

Police lodged two FIRs against MNS activists, arrested six of them and registered some non-cognizable offences in several parts of the metropolis, officials said.

Update on the blast outside the Dhaka hotel where President Pranab Mukherjee is staying.

The President's Press Secretary Venu Rajamony said in a statement that "Bangladesh authorities have informed that about an hour back a crude cocktail was found and they are investigating into the matter".

"None of the delegation members heard any explosion nor knew of any such incident," the statement said. "Indian security officials have expressed the view that this was a minor explosion", it said, adding that "bursting of such cocktails are common in Bangladesh during hartals and cannot be described as a bomb".

The statement said, "life in and around the hotel in Dhaka, where the President is staying, is completely normal."

The President this morning addressed 10,000 students in an open air pandal in the Dhaka University to great acclamation from the students. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the President of Bangladesh who is also Chancellor of the University at the function.

UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has agreed to meet the family of slain Deputy Superintendent of Police Zia-ul-Haque of Kunda, UP. His wife said her husband's body would not be buried till the CM paid a them a visit.

Uttar Pradesh minister Raja Bhaiya resigned over the murder of the cop.

A homemade bomb was hurled outside the Sonargaon Pan-Pacific hotel in Dhaka where President Pranab Mukherjee is staying, says PTI.

An official of the Home Ministry has been questioned by the police and other agencies in connection with an espionage case in Rajasthan.

The official, who works with the foreigners division of the Home Ministry, has been questioned for his alleged links with a suspected ISI agent arrested in Pokhran last month, sources said.

The official's name allegedly figured in the call data records of the suspected ISI agent, Sumer Khan, who was arrested last month on the charge of passing on information about IAF's exercise to an ISI operative in Pakistan.

The official is also being accused of helping certain persons getting extension of visa, the sources said

One person died and 14 others were injured in a major fire which broke out after a gas tanker exploded at Mankhurd in Mumbai early today. One person was killed, civic sources said, adding the 13 injured are undergoing treatment at the Sion hospital, while another person is being treated at the Rajawadi Hospital. Five fire engines were rushed to the spot to control the blaze, sources added. The cause of explosion in the gas tanker was not known yet.

Traffic alert: Traffline.com says VN Purav Marg, where the incident occurred, has been closed at both directions between Mankhurd junction and Shivaji Chowk/Deonar Depot.  Use the Eastern Expressway and Ghatkopar-Mankhurd Road as alternatives. For more traffic updates call Traffline.com at 9223111000.

Update on the Dhaka explosion: Sources from the Ministry of External Affairs has told rediff.com that there has been no bomb blast outside President Mukherjee's hotel in Dhaka.

India received a diplomatic snub that could mark the watershed moment for New Delhi's strategic choices in Bangladesh, when leader of Opposition Begum Khaleda Zia refused to meet President Pranab Mukherjee who is on a state visit to Dhaka.Meetings with leaders of the Opposition are necessarily a part of diplomatic courtesies extended by countries during state visits.

The prime minister's scheduled speech thanking President Pranab Mukherjee, which was likely to take place today, has been scheduled for tomorrow, since the Parliament was adjourned. The BJP has said that it is willing to hold talks with the government on the anti-rape ordinance, but the Bill, which expires on April 4, will have to be taken up in Parliament immediately.

Just in: There's been an explosion outside President Pranab Mukherjee's hotel in Dhaka. The president is on a three-day visit to Bangladesh. 

Swapan Dasgupta's take on the feeble PC for PM chant on Budget day. Read

Dr Helen Pankhurst, the great-granddaughter of the the suffragette Emily Pankhurst feels as strongly about women's rights as her famous ancestors. Read

The buzz from Parliament today.

BJP leader Yashwant Sinha went up to where DMK MP A Raja was seated at the Central Hall of Parliament and spoke to him for 10 minutes.

Raja has plans to call  MPs to his house where he will give his side of the 2G story. He also intends to have the meeting telecast live.

In Lok Sabha , the first question during Question Hour was on the the AgustaWestland helicopter scam.

The BJP Parliamentary Party will meet on Tuesday at 9.30 am, to take forward the political venom emitted by Modi against the Congress at the BJP meet. 

Mumbai's restaurants offer a range of all-you-can-eat buffets, but at Amadeus the smorgasbord comes to you. The flying buffet -- no, the food doesn't hurtle across the room -- is chef and owner Farrokh Khambata's take on the unlimited lunch. The staff serves each course at the table, with samplings of nine dishes rather than a three or four course meal. Read

Early February, Subra Suresh became the ninth president of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, another significant step in the career of man who left India in 1977. Read

Jawaharlal Nehru's impact on India was so extensive that even his sartorial choices left a mark, with a collar and a vest-like jacket named after him.But his trademark outfit over his 17 years as India's first prime minister was the achkan, a knee-length coat with a stand-up collar, which he wore with a rose in its buttonhole. Read

The latest issue of terror outfit al-Qaeda's online English magazine Inspire released last week talks about Hindu aggression in the state ruled by BJP's CM Narendra Modi and also in Kashmir. The 58-page latest issue, titled "We are all Usama", also talks about 'torching cars and causing road accidents as new means of jihad' and names writer Salman Rushdie as one of its targets for crimes against Islam. Read

Seven people were killed and three others injured when a Tata Sumo carrying them met with an accident near Panvel in Navi Mumbai this morning.  According to reports, the accident took place at around 4.30 a.m. when the car overturned while on its way from Pune to Thane. The injured passengers were admitted in a nearby hospital

And the horrors continue: A girl student of Class VI was allegedly raped by a constable of the Indian Reserve Battalion after he forced her to drink alcohol at Longding district of Arunachal Pradesh, official sources said today.

The student of a government higher secondary school, who was raped on March 2 recovered consciousness yesterday at the community health centre where she was taken to after being found lying beside the Circuit House, the sources said. The victim was sent for medical examination. The IRB constable, Lukbom Yonggam, was arrested yesterday after local people caught him, they said.

The Wharton India Economic Forum's decision to cancel a speech by Narendra Modi to the conference by video link in three weeks i s reminiscent of one of the most popular items of graffiti that used to be on the Berlin Wall, once a powerful symbol of the divisions between the East and the West. Read

They had boarded the flight from Assam for the Vijay Hazare Trophy campaign with unenviable tags -- underdogs, minnows and what-have-you. After over two weeks of hard-fought battles, the Assam cricket team is ready to return with an enviable tag '" tigers, may be, even if they are from the land of the rhino? And even if they tripped at the final hurdle, losing to Delhi in the final today. Read

Blame it on the hurly-burly of the Union Budget in a pre-poll year or Mrs G's pointed disinterest, but JMM's power duo -- Shibu and Hemant Soren -- came back from Delhi yesterday, empty-handed. Read

The Congress today hit out at BJP for its focus on Narendra Modi, saying it betrays a "leadership vacuum" in the main Opposition party as the Gujarat Chief Minister is "not a leader of stature".

"Modi is speaking in a very foul language. He is not a leader of stature. He does not have a political culture. Modi is a state Chief Minister. BJP is totally blank on leadership ...there is leadership vacuum in BJP. They have no other leader so they are banking on him," Union Minister V Narayanasamy told reporters outside Parliament.

At a BJP meet yesterday, which saw the Opposition party virtually stopping short of naming Modi as its next Prime Ministerial candidate, the Gujarat Chief Minister had launched an all-out attack against Congress saying it was destroying this country like "termites" for which the only medicine was sweat of the BJP worker.

Even after a cyclical rebound, the Indian economy will find it difficult to breach 7% growth without structural reforms. Read

In a breakthrough, a two-year-old baby girl in the US born with HIV has been "functionally cured" for the first time, scientists have said. US Researchers said they believe early intervention -- in this case within 30 hours of birth -- with three anti-viral drugs was key to the outcome.

A "functional cure" is when the presence of the virus is so small, life-long treatment is not necessary and standard clinical tests cannot detect the virus in the blood.

The finding was announced at the 2013 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Atlanta. Dr Deborah Persaud, lead researcher and a virologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, presented the findings at the Conference.

The results of the findings could possibly lead to a cure for children infected with HIV. The unidentified girl from Mississippi was born HIV-positive to a mother who received no prenatal care and was not diagnosed as HIV-positive herself until just before delivery.

In other news: Astonishing new research suggests Holocaust may have killed as many as 20 million. Nazis' murder machine was on far bigger scale than  previously thought. Read

A Patiala House court in New Delhi today framed charges against social activist Irom Sharmila for attempting to commit suicide in 2006 when she sat on a fast at Jantar Mantar in the capital.

"There is evidence that you want to take your life," the judge told the activist in court.

However, Ms Sharmila, also known as the Iron Lady of Manipur, refused to plead guilty.

The court has set May 22 as the next hearing date in the case. The social activist, has been on a fast for nearly 12 years demanding the repeal of the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).

She was flown in to the national capital yesterday to appear before the court in connection with a fast she undertook over the repeal of the controversial legislation.

"Government should listen to the will of the people, not the will of the Army. I am also a human being, as a human being I have right to happiness and freedom," she said.

She had to appear before the court under Section 309 (attempt to commit suicide) of the Indian Penal Code for fasting at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.Ms Sharmila launched her fast-unto-death in 2000 after 10 civilians were killed by personnel of the Assam Rifles at Malom area near Imphal airport. She is now in jail and is being fed through her nose at JNIMS Hospital in Imphal. -- NDTV.com

Also readIrom Sharmila's story on rediff.com: The tragedy of being Irom Sharmila.

The Supreme court has issued a notice to the government on the basis of a PIL asking what steps it has taken to prevent the killing of Indian soldiers by Pakistanis at the Line of Control. The SC has also tagged the PIL with the killing and torture of Saurabh Kalia. Two Indian soldiers were killed and one beheaded by Pakistani troops in January this year. 

There seems to be a tectonic shift in the global media scene. After providing the leadership for nearly three centuries, the legacy media in the United States is slowly ceding the ground to the media houses of Asia, Africa and Latin America. Media organisations from these emerging economies are not only growing but are also recognising the value of investment in quality and ethics. Read

A JPC without documents, investigations or even an FIR on which to base its inquiry in the AgustaWestland bribes case cannot perform a meaningful role. Read

Tiger stir-fry, good for health; tiger wine, supposedly with magical, forceful, Elysium-like qualities. These are the dishonest myths peddled by a multimillion dollar poaching trade, bolstered by consumers enjoying the lure of illegal wildlife contraband. Read the opinion piece on the Hindu.

The primary objective of the Bharatiya Janata Party's two-day National Council meeting held in Delhi was to confirm the appointment of Rajnath Singh as the new helmsman. But as expected, the event turned into a showcase for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi who, in turn, received the blizzard of praise as if he already knew his destiny. It was to have been the incoming president's special moment. And yet if Mr. Singh felt discomfited by having to defer to a Chief Minister, he betrayed nothing. More

While the people of Jammu & Kashmir have a deep-rooted mistrust of state institutions, there are also substantive and unacceptable provisions in the proposed legislation. Read

A deputy superintendent of police was dragged and shot dead by a mob of alleged Samajwadi supporters in a village last night after the murder of a ruling party pradhan and his brother, prompting allegations of a collapse of law and order.

The police are yet to indicate the identity or motives of those behind the killings, which took place at Kunda in Pratapgarh district, about 170km from Lucknow.DSP Ziaul Haque, 32, the circle officer of Kunda, had arrived at Balipur village at the head of a police team after headman Nanhe Lal Yadav, 43, and brother Surendra, 37, were gunned down at a tea shop around 8.30pm.

The double murder had started an immediate riot, said the additional director-general of police (law and order), Arun Kumar.He said a mob of 200 armed Samajwadi supporters attacked and torched a part of the home of Yadav's rival and former village chief Kamta Prasad Pal, whose supporters retaliated.

As bullets flew around in the darkness, Ziaul reached the spot but was surrounded by a Samajwadi mob, police sources said. He was dragged into the paddy fields around 10.30pm and his body, with a bullet wound in the head, was found an hour later. His service revolver was missing.

Ziaul's sobbing father, Shamshul Haque, 72, told reporters at his native Deoria that his son was "a patriot and a fearless fighter' and demanded his killers be arrested. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has announced a relief of Rs 20 lakh. More

A man has been arrested in Ranchi in connection with the February 21 Hyderabad blasts, police said today.

"A man identified as Manzar Imam has been arrested," Superintendent of Police Vipul Shukla told PTI. However, he refused to give details. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has been searching for him for the last two years in connection with the Ahmedabad blast incident too and had come twice to Ranchi's Bariatu area looking for him in the past. The twin blasts in Hyderabad's Dilsukhnagar had left 16 people dead.

Eleven children were killed when a a private school bus collided with a truck in Jaheer village of Punjab's Jalandhar district on Monday morning. According to reports, the school bus collided with truck head on at around 8am. The mishap took place when the bus of Akal Academy was taking students to the school, Jalandhar Rural SP (D) Rajinder Singh said. More

Mulayam Singh Yadav says the law and order situation in UP was worse under Mayawati's rule.

So, who is Raja Bhaiiya? Read this: Raghu Raj Pratap Singh, famously known as Raja Bhaiya was sworn in as a minister in UP for the second time in 2012. For a man, who till March 2012, had 48 criminal cases pending against himself, his meteoric rise has had all the elements of a Bollywood film.

His political career has been pulled in different directions by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati over the past decade. A stint of Mayawati rule meant Raja Bhaiya had to go to jail and a stint of Mulayam Singh's SP rule meant him becoming a minister, a reflection of the deep Dalit-Thakur divide in UP.

In November 2002, Mayawati as the UP chief minister had slapped POTA charges against Raja Bhaiya on the basis of a complaint by an MLA. But in 2003, within half an hour of Mulayam Singh Yadav taking over as the chief minister, all charges against him were dropped.

In 2007 again when Mayawati became the chief minister of a full majority government, Raja Bhaiya had to cool his heels for almost a year in jail in UP. The script changed again in 2012 when Akhilesh Yadav took over as the Chief Minister and Raja Bhaiya became the minister for jail affairs itself.  More

Also read the 2002 piece on Raja Bhaiiya on rediff.com: Beware! Raja Bhaiya may be watching you

Raja Bhaiiya has now submitted his resignation to the UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. He has been booked on charges of murdering a DSP. His two aides have also been booked on the same charges.

Former UP CM Mulayam Singh and Akhilesh Yadav's father says Raja Bhaiiya's resignation has been accepted, but the allegations are baseless.

Uttar Pradesh minister Raja Bhaiya on Monday morning rushed to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's residence and reportedly offered to resign.

Eleven children and a bus driver were killed when the bus they were travelling in collided with a truck in Jalandhar on Monday morning.

The cycle of violence continued unabated in Bangladesh on Monday.

Irom Sharmila will appear in a Delhi court on Monday to face charges under Section 309 -- attempted suicide. 

Queen Elizabeth was admitted to a London Hospital on Sunday after she suffered a serious bout of gastroenteritis, said a spokesperson of the Buckingham Palace.

Uttar Pradesh Minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh, better known as Raja Bhaiya, has been booked for the murder of a senior police officer.