A probe has been ordered after at least two persons, who were reportedly part of a religious procession, fired in the air from their guns in Kundanpur village near Bhuj today. 

The corps commanders' conference of the Pakistani army, which took place at Rawalpindi today "took serious notice of RAW's involvement in whipping up terrorism in Pakistan.' 

Indian-origin migrants that form the UK's largest foreign-born voter population could play a decisive role in the country's May 7 general elections which may result in a hung Parliament. 

The UK's flag carrier British Airways has offered free flying to children under two years of age to celebrate the birth of the new Princess in the British Royal family.

Veteran Bollywood actor Anupam Kher has been denied a visa by Pakistan, citing security reasons, according to a media report here. An NGO had invited Kher for an event in Lahore which he was keen to attend, Express News reported.

A local court today remanded in judicial custody till May 18 the eight persons arrested in connection with a complaint of rape and extortion filed by an upcoming model.

Asserting that India "quickly became a rich vein" of Clinton Foundation, a controversial book which hit the stands today has alleged that the then Indian government rewarded hotelier Sant Chatwal with one of its highest civilian awards for getting Hillary Clinton support the landmark Indo-US civil nuclear deal in 2008.

Safe use and storage of firearms, provisions for consolidation of multiple licences and permission for add-on licences for individuals within the family are a few key provisions which are part of a draft to amend an over half-a-century-old Arms Act being prepared by the Home ministry.

After the government was left red- faced for its contradictory reply in Parliament on the whereabouts of Dawood Ibrahim, junior Home Minister Kiren Rijiju said the underworld don lives in Pakistan and the Centre would continue to pursue the case very seriously.

Expressing "surprise and shock" at the Centre's stand that it was not aware of the location of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, Congress today said Pakistan's ISI would have given a similar reply had it been asked the same question.

A face-off between the opposition and government over the Goods and Services Tax bill is likely with the Congress and some other opposition parties insisting that it be sent to the Parliamentary Standing Committee for scrutiny.

The Gujarat High Court adjourned the hearing of a petition filed by Zakia Jafri, widow of slain Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, against the Special Investigation Team's closure report in the 2002 post-Godhra riots.

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will hold talks with his Indian counterpart Manohar Parrikar here tomorrow to "launch negotiations" for the 36 Rafale fighter jets that India has decided to buy from France.

Drian will arrive here later tonight after his visit to the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

The French Minister will meet Parrikar tomorrow during which he will "pursue" discussions on matters that were taken up during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to France last month, a French Embassy statement said.

This includes negotiations for the acquisition of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft.

High drama was witnessed at the Delhi Commission for Women today as a member revolted against its chief alleging that she maligned the image of AAP leader Kumar Vishwas by issuing summons to him on the basis of complaint by a party volunteer that he did not dispel rumours of an illicit affair with her.


DCW member Juhi Khan stormed out of a joint press interaction with DCW chief Barkha Singh, calling "politically motivated" the decision to issue summons to Vishwas and his wife and said she was resigning from the panel in protest.


The DCW had yesterday issued summons to Vishwas and his wife, asking them to appear before it by 3 pm today, but the AAP leader did not depose before the panel and said he has not received any communication from it.


As Singh told the media that fresh summons have been issued against Vishwas asking him to appear before the Commission by 12 noon tomorrow, Khan, who was sitting next to the panel chief, protested the decision and said the AAP leader is being targeted for political gains.


Singh is a former Congress MLA and had a tussle with the AAP government during its first stint over then minister Somnath Bharti's alleged involvement in a midnight crackdown on a prostitution ring.


"It is a politically-motivated conspiracy. I am resigning in protest," said Khan, storming out of the joint media interaction with the panel chief. The DCW chief, on the other hand, alleged that Khan has joined AAP recently and that was the reason why she opposed the move.

The government today said the birth rate in India is greater than that of China and said the country's population will cross China's by 2028.


"Yes. As per World Population Prospects - the 2012 revision, the population of India will cross the population of China by 2028," Health Minister J P Nadda told Rajya Sabha.


He was replying to a question whether the birth rate in India is greater than that of China and if this trend continues, India will surpass the population of China. Naddam, however, said the population control measures taken by the government were not ineffective.

Taking a cue from Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag on Tuesday directed his officers and others not to clap after his address.


"After I finish my address please do not clap. Hereafter, we will maintain the decorum of not clapping in uniform," Gen Suhag said after a round of applause following his address at an Army event in the capital.


The General also noticed that he had forgotten to mention it at the start of his address.


He also referred to Parrikar, who after his address at Commanders' conference last month, had said he was under the impression that people in uniform don't clap after an individual's address.

Salman Khan reaches Mumbai ahead of his verdict in the hit-and-run case tomorrow.


Salman Khan is charged with killing one person and injuring four by ramming his SUV into a bakery shop in suburban Bandra 13 years ago. Police have geared up to provide tight security in the court to restrain the actor's fans from entering the premises with a view to avoiding overcrowding, sessions court sources said.


Judge D W Deshpande had declared last month that he would pronounce the verdict on May 6. He also summoned the actor to remain present in the court at 11.15 AM on the day.

Subhas Chandra Bose's family on the government's decision to conduct any probe into reports of surveillance on family members by the Intelligence Bureau for 20 years.

Chandra K Bose, Netaji's grandnephew says, "When Surya Bose met PM Modi in Berlin, he had a very positive discussion with the PM. The PM has given us assurance; let us give him some time. The snooping angle will also be clarified the moment these files are put in the public domain.  These 164 files have to be declassified in order to find the truth of Subhas Chandra Bose's disappearance. There are 100 files with the government and 64 with the Bengal government. It's no longer a family issue, it;s the people's demand. How can the elected government reject the people's demand for declassification."


Last month, the NDA government has constituted a committee to examine the provisions of the Official Secrets Act (OSA), framed by the British in 1923, in the light of the RTI, amid growing clamour to declassify the files related to Bose. 

"The whole world knows where Dawood Ibrahim is, and you (GoI) don't know? You can say that we are unable to get him, but to say this (we don't know where Dawood is) weakens India's fight against terror," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi. 

Lessons India hopes to learn from China.

Arvind Subramanian (Chief Economic Advisor) ahead of the PM's trip to China on  May 14, "The one big lesson to learn from China is how should state provide essential services like health, education, infrastructure etc." 

With a population rapidly approaching that of China crammed into just one third of the area, India suffers from resource scarcity on a level unlike any other nation. So while it nominally faces many of the same challenges as other BRIC nations -- water scarcity, dirty energy supplies, human rights issues -- India's population density makes its situation exponentially more difficult. Read

Delhi CM and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal on the DCW summons against his colleague Kumar Vishwas.

This is Kejriwal's first reaction since the story broke yesterday.

Kejriwal goes on the defensive, saying, "Why are you (media) targeting our children and wives? We have decided to keep quiet now. Questions about our government will be answered, but we won't answer on this.  From the past two to three months some media houses are making efforts to defame the AAP.


"News is being run that Kumar Vishwas has an illicit affair with someone.  Vishwas is denying it, the girl herself is denying it. Unke pure parivar ko depression mein daal diya, unki bachhi se school mein pucha ja rha hai ki tumhare papa ke kya sambandh hain. Aap logon ki humse ladayi hai, humse rajneeti hai, aap humare parivar, humare bachhe, humari patniyon ko baksh dijiye. (His (Kumar Vishwas's family is depressed. His daughter is being asked about it in school. You (media) have a problem with us, leave our children and our wives alone.)


The DCW had summoned Kumar Vishwas on the complaint of a party volunteer who has accused the AAP leader of not doing enough to put an end to rumours of his 'illicit relations' with her.

Former Minister of State, Home, RPN Singh, reacts to the government's statement in Parliament today that it had no idea where Dawood Ibrahim was. Singh said that the UPA government had given Pakistan evidence of Dawood being in their country. "Statement today compromises our national interest," he said.


The central government admitted today that it was unaware of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's whereabouts. The Home Ministry confirmed in Parliament today that the don is not on the Indian intelligence radar and the extradition process is only possible after Dawood is located. The Indian government has always maintained that Dawood was in Karachi under ISI protection.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley holds forth on the GST Bill in the Lok Sabha. After several adjournments since morning, the Lok Sabha on Tuesday took up the GST Bill after the Speaker rejected the demand for referring it to Standing Committee.


The Congress party supported the GST but wanted Constitutional Ammendment Bill to be sent to select panel.

Jaitley said, "What existed in the original Constitution, if it exists in a constitutional amendment, then that isn't a violation since we are moving to a different system of taxation.

"Power to remove difficulties lies with the President, and therefore with the council of ministers. It is not indefinite. It is only in the transitional phase.   


"This argument is no longer valid that it has not gone to a standing committee. It spent two and a half years in front of a standing committee    If you want to further delay the GST Bill, the deadline of April 1, 2016 will be lost.

"State finance ministers and Centre must work together. I beseech you, rise above party considerations. If all our chief ministers agree, why are we delaying ?"

Nepalese Prime Minister Sushil Koirala today visited Barpak in Gorkha district, the epicentre of the deadly quake, 11 days after the temblor jolted the Himalayan nation, to take stock of the situation.


During the visit, he pointed out the need for formation of a separate ministry to deal with the aftermath of any natural disasters in the future. Visiting Barpak and other quake-affected areas in the district, Koirala said that the government was fully committed to carry out relief works, and the rehabilitation of the damaged houses and communities would begin soon after the relief distribution ends.


"Tents and food are in much demand here and the government is coordinating with neighbouring countries to deal with the post-quake situation," Koirala said. The premier said he was discussing the issue of rebuilding the houses damaged by the April 25 temblor.

Can Islamic Republic of Pakistan be a secular state? The question was raised by Pakistan's Chief Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk himself while hearing petitions challenging the procedure for appointment of superior court judges under the 18th Amendment and establishment of military courts under the 21st Amendment to try terrorists.


A 17-judge full court is hearing the case. Mulk wondered if article 2 of the Constitution stating Islam as state religion can be replaced with secularism and asked could it be done by the present parliament or a Constituent Assembly would be needed, Dawn newspaper reported.


"Can a political party with unequivocal support in its manifesto to secularism, if given vast majority by the people, still be entitled to change the Constitution," asked Justice Main Saqib Nisar.


"Not without a referendum," said senior counsel Hamid Khan, representing at least three district bar associations which had challenged the amendment.

The salient feature of the Constitution that "recognises Islam as a grundnorm (fundamental norm)" is not open to changes, he said. The debate on secularism started when Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, while sharing his thoughts, observed that Pakistan had been created in 1947 in the name of Islam and it was declared that Islam would be the state religion. After the formation of Pakistan, majority population from East Pakistan broke away and carved a new state called Bangladesh and framed a new Constitution by changing its basic feature to be secular.


Even when Bangladesh's former president General Hussain Mohammad Ershad tried to change the basic feature to Islam, it was challenged and struck down by the Supreme Court of that country, Justice Khosa said.

Delhi court grants bail to six accused, including four corporate executives, arrested in Petroleum Ministry documents leak case. Bail was granted on Rs 50,000 personal bonds to the six accused.


Among the 13 chargesheeted accused are five corporate executives Shailesh Saxena from RIL, Vinay Kumar from Essar, KK Naik from Cairns India, Subhash Chandra from Jubilant Energy and Rishi Anand from Reliance ADAG.


The other accused are Ishwar Singh, Asharam, Lalta Prasad and  Rakesh Kumar, who were working as multi-tasking staff in the ministry; defence ministry staffer Virender Kumar; Rajkumar Chaubey (a private person); energy consultant Prayas Jain and journalist Shantanu Saikia.


In a case reminiscent of the spy scandal in the mid 80s, some journalists who claimed to be independent energy consultants, and employees of certain petro companies were also said to have been detained for questioning in the development that has set off sensation in political and corporate circles.

Lok Sabha takes up GST bill after Speaker rejects demands for referring it to Standing Committee.

A special NIA court, which convicted 13 people in the sensational hand chopping case of a college professor in Kerala in 2010, will pronounce the quantum of punishment on May 8.


The prosecution lawyer argued that the convicts don't deserve any mercy as they had indulged in "offence of terrorism" for which they have so far shown "no amount of remorse".


He argued for maximum punishment prescribed under the law to the convicts, of which 10 have been found guilty under various sections of the central law dealing with terror-- the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

The fortunes of the Left in India are not going to change dramatically just by effecting a change in its leadership. Writer Arundhati Roy, who was in Chennai to receive the 'Ambedkar Sudar' award conferred by the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, was pessimistic about the chances of the Left emerging as a credible opposition to the politics of the Hindu Right, which has sought to combine communal polarisation with corporate-driven economic development. Read

The central government admitted today that it was unaware of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's whereabouts. The Home Ministry confirmed in Parliament today that the don is not on the Indian intelligence radar and the extradition process is only possible after Dawood is located. The Indian government has always maintained that Dawood was in Karachi under ISI protection.


Ever since Narendra Modi became the prime minister, reports have been emerging that the BJP government at the Centre is trying its level best to locate Dawood and bring him to justice.


Dawood is the mastermind of the 1993 Mumbai blasts. On March 12, 1993, serial bomb blasts rocked the western metropolis at various places, killing more than 250 and injuring over 700.

Former Delhi police commissioner Neeraj Kumar on Saturday denied reports that quoted him saying that Dawood Ibrahim wanted to surrender, and that the then government scuttled the plans at the last moment.


Neeraj Kumar in an interview to a national daily last week, was quoted as saying Dawood, labelled by the US as 'Specially Designated Global Terrorist', had got in touch with him and wanted to surrender, but the plan was shelved by the government.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday shared a gardening tip that may not impress his neighbours, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi, but is quite the sensation on social media.

Gadkari revealed that he once used his own urine on plants in his lawns at his 2, Motilal Nehru Marg residence, a bungalow that used to be the office of the former National Advisory Council headed by Sonia Gandhi and is just across the road from her 10, Janpath home.

"I started storing my urine in a plastic can. And after collecting all of it in a 50-litre can - I have a big bungalow in Delhi. It used to be Sonia Gandhi's bungalow. There is a one acre field in the bungalow," Mr Gadkari is heard saying in a video uploaded on YouTube by ABP Majha.

"There are a lot of trees there. So one day I called the gardener and instructed him to water some plants with this. And I'm telling you, there was so much difference, the trees grew one-and-a-half feet more than other plants," boasted the Transport Minister.

His anecdote had a disclaimer: "I feel a little awkward but I will tell you about it. Please do not misunderstand. I have done an experiment."

Gadkari was addressing a workshop organized by his party, the BJP, on fighting drought.-- NDTV

The government has no plans to conduct any probe into reports of surveillance on family members of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose by the Intelligence Bureau for 20 years.


"There is no proposal to probe into the spying...," Minister of State for Home Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary told Lok Sabha today.


The Minister said a large number of files relating to Netaji, including those relating to Khosla Commission and Mukherjee Commission, have been already declassified and sent to the National Archives of India.


There are, however, some classified files with the central government and some files are with the West Bengal government relating to Bose, Chaudhary said.


A controversy recently broke out following reports that Netaji's family was kept under surveillance by the IB for 20 years, much of it during the tenure of Jawaharlal Nehru.

Islamic State group says it was behind the attack on the Prophet Muhammad cartoon event in Texas in which two gunmen died, the BBC reports.


The gunmen were shot dead following a shootout at the 'Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest' at Curtis Culwell Centre in the Texas city of Garland.


The City of Garland administration, in a statement on its Facebook page, said: 'As today's Muhammad Art Exhibit event at the Curtis Culwell Centre was coming to an end, two males drove up to the front of the building in a car. Both males were armed and began shooting at a Garland ISD (Independent School District) security officer.


Garland Police officers engaged the gunmen, who were both shot and killed." It added that police suspected the gunmen's vehicle could contain an "incendiary device" and a bomb squad was at the scene.


About 200 people were inside the conference centre at the time and were moved to the back of the building before being evacuated using school buses, police said.

An engineering graduate from Hyderabad, who joined the terror group ISIS, has died "while fighting in Syria," Intelligence sources today said quoting his family members. Mohd Haneef Waseem, 27, had reportedly joined the ISIS in Syria in February this year, they said.


The Telangana Police are in the process of gathering more information about Haneef's alleged links with Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). They are also trying to find out how he could have gone to Syria. "We are collecting more information and the process in this regard is on," a top Intelligence officer said.

Three mountaineers, who escaped the avalanche at Everest Base Camp, decide to get involved in the earthquake relief work, serving puris and vegetables to affected families. Text and photographs by Anusha Subramanian for Rediff.com. Read

Remember the Drama in Real Life section in the Reader's Digest? Well, Parliament saw some of that today.


Heated exchanges were witnessed in Rajya Sabha between BJP's Vinay Katiyar and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien today after the latter refused permission to the ruling party member to speak on a motion that had already been disallowed.


Trouble broke out after Kurien disallowed Naresh Agarwal's notice under rule 267 seeking suspension of business to discuss a US Congress-established panel's report which said that Indian minorities were being subjected to "violent attacks" and "forced conversions" after the Modi government assumed power in 2014.


Agarwal said the minorities were feeling unsafe under the BJP rule and wanted the government to respond to the report.


Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said India's Constitution and culture "guarantees religious freedom. We don't need any certificate from anyone."


After this, Kurien said he is not allowing the motion. However, Katiyar wanted to speak on the subject. Kurien said once the motion has been rejected and the Minister has responded on behalf of the government, there is no need for anyone else to speak. Katiyar however continued to insist on speaking.


"Minister has spoken. I am not allowing," Kurien told an unrelenting Katiyar who continued to be on his feet.


Katiyar refused to take his seat even when the Deputy Chairman was on his feet to bring the House to order. Kurien insisted that he would not allow Katiyar to speak.


"You cannot browbeat me. Don't browbeat me. Nothing should go on record," he said. He went ahead and called Mayawati to speak on a separate issue of Moga incident in Punjab.


This agitated Katiyar who angrily stormed into the Well of House and was seen speaking to Kurien from right next to the Chair. This infuriated the Opposition members who strongly protested at Katiyar's behaviour. Naqvi rushed to bring Katiyar back.

Lok Sabha adjourns till 2 pm after Opposition uproar over demand for Telangana High Court and Moga incident. 

A fresh tremor of magnitude 4.0 today jolted quake-hit Nepal, where the death toll from the April 25 deadly temblor has risen to over 7,500. " The feeble tremor at 6:39 am, was epicentred on the border of Dhading and Nuwakot districts," National Seismological Centre chief Lok Bijaya Adhikari said.


The two districts which are the part of Nepal's Bagmati Zone have suffered extensively in the April 25 earthquake which left a trail of death and destruction.


Several aftershocks have followed since the 7.9-magnitude quake, which besides claiming an overwhelming number of human lives from the remote Sindhupalchowk district to the heart of the capital in Kathmandu, have turned people anxious and paranoid.


"143 aftershocks of magnitude greater than 4.0 on Richter Scale have occurred after the April 25 quake," Adhikari said. "Today, we also did survey of some of the eastern parts of the country like Sindhuli and Udayapur districts and assessed the damage there and relief requirements further thereof," he added.

Pakistan's former president Asif Ali Zardari today failed to appear before an anti-corruption court due to food poisoning, his lawyer said. Zardari's counsel told the court that the former president was suffering from food poisoning and was vomiting and should be granted exemption from appearance. Justice Khalid Mehmood Ranjha of the court accepted the request and adjourned the case till May 13.

A Maha Panchayat is underway in Moga, Punjab, to discuss the bus molestation issue.

The Gujarat High Court adjourns a hearing on Zakia Jafri's petition challenging a clean chit to PM Narendra Modi, others in the 2002 post-Godhra riots.

On day 2 of the DCW summons against Kumar Vishwas, the AAP leader says that he is still to receive the summons. Speaking to reporters, Vishwas, who pride's himself as one of India's best known Hindi poet, quipped, "Aap uss purush ke paas jaiye jisko apni patni ke character certificate ke liye kisi aur ka sahara chahiye. I ask the media, do you not have sisters and mothers at home?"

The poet-cum-politician is accused by a female member of AAP of staying mum on rumours of having illicit relationship with her. The Delhi Commission for Women has summoned the AAP leader and his wife on the basis of a complaint filed by the female party volunteer. 

AAP MLA Jarnail Singh is absconding, says Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi.


The Delhi Police had booked Singh for allegedly assaulting a South Delhi Municipal Corporation engineer and stopping him from carrying out his duty.


The Tilak Nagar legislator is also accused of tearing up official documents and threatening to frame junior engineer Athar Mustafa in a false corruption case.


A former journalist, Singh catapulted to fame for throwing a shoe at former Home Minister P Chidambaram.

The Supreme Court has declined to entertain a petition filed by lawyer ML Sharma demanding a stay on proceedings initiated by the Bar Council of India and SC Bar Association after his controversial statement in BBC's documentary India's Daughter.

Lok Sabha adjourns for the second time for 30 minutes amid protests by TRS members demanding High Court for Telangana.

26/11 plotter Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, recently released on bail in Pakistan, seeks exemption from court appearance citing security reasons.

Lakhvi and six others have been charged with planning and executing the Mumbai attack in November, 2008 that left 166 people dead.

Lakhvi, 55, a close relative of LeT founder and Jamaat-Ud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, was arrested in December 2008 and was indicted along with the six others on November 25, 2009 in connection with the 26/11 attack case. The trial has been underway since 2009.

A Pakistani court had on April 9 set free Lakhvi, a development which India said eroded the value of assurances repeatedly conveyed to it by Pakistan on cross-border terrorism.

On May 3, India sought the United Nations intervention in Lakhvi's release saying it was in violation of the norms of the global body and it should raise the matter with Pakistan.

"You have set the proverbial political stage on fire by making scathing attack on the one year performance of the National Democratic Alliance government. In a television interview to the wily Karan Thapar, you, the first activist-journalist of our times, as Madhu Trehan calls you, have come down heavily upon the Modi sarkar."

An open letter to Arun Shourie. Read

Rajya Sabha adjourns for 10 minutes after Opposition uproar over Moga molestation issue.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today officially announced his visit to China from May 14 to 16 on the microblogging website Weibo, saying he is looking forward to have productive discussions with top Chinese leadership.


"Looking forward to visiting China from 14-16 May to strengthen friendship between our two ancient civilisations and the two largest developing countries," Modi wrote on the Chinese equivalent of Twitter that has over 500 million users.


"Eagerly awaiting my visit to Xi'an, Beijing and Shanghai and my productive discussions with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang," he said in another post. This is the first time his visit has been officially announced.

Read: 5 things Modi should understand about China

Lok Sabha adjourned briefly amid protests by TRS members demanding separate High Court for Telangana.

The Lok Sabha was adjourned over the Moga molestation case today, with the Congress Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha Amarinder Singh moving an adjournment motion to discuss the law and order situation in Punjab.


The party wanted suspension of Question Hour to take up the issue immediately, however the Speaker has said the Congress can raise the issue during Zero Hour. The AAP also forces with the Congress over the issue.


The decision of the former Punjab Chief Minister to move an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha comes days after a teenaged girl was killed in Moga after being thrown off a moving bus by her molesters.



Singh, who met the parents of the girl in Moga yesterday, said that she was pushed off from a moving Orbit bus owned by the ruling Badal family, which reflected complete breakdown of the law and order situation in Punjab.


He had yesterday demanded imposition of President's Rule in Punjab and alleged that the law and order machinery in the state has "total collapsed".

'There is a communication gap between the Modi government and the allies. During the last one year, the NDA has met only once and that was two hours before the land bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha. The heavens would not have fallen if they had delayed the bill by a few months. We have to be seen to be a sympathetic government which is willing to hold the hands of the farmer. Unfortunately, this signal has not been sent out by this government," reports Rashme Sehgal. 

A sessions court is all set to deliver its verdict tomorrow in the hit-and-run case involving Bollywood actor Salman Khan, who is charged with killing one person and injuring four by ramming his SUV into a bakery shop in suburban Bandra 13 years ago.


Police have geared up to provide tight security in the court to restrain the actor's fans from entering the premises with a view to avoiding overcrowding, sessions court sources said.


Only mediapersons, lawyers and the court staff would be allowed inside the court, the sources said. Judge D W Deshpande had declared last month that he would pronounce the verdict on May 6.


He also summoned the actor to remain present in the court at 11.15 am on the day. The prosecution and defence concluded arguments on April 21 in the trial which was conducted afresh after a Magistrate added the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and referred the case to the sessions court.


The culpable homicide offence, which provides for punishment upto 10 years, is triable by a sessions court and not by a magistrate.


Earlier, the magistrate was trying Khan for rash and negligent driving, an offence under IPC which attracts punishment upto two years. Khan, 49, pleaded he was not driving the car at the time of mishap and that his driver Ashok Singh was behind the wheel.


This has been corroborated by Singh who appeared as defence witness. However, prosecution led by Pradeep Gharat alleged that Khan was driving after consuming 'Bacardi Rum' in a bar.


The actor, on the other hand, argued he was having a glass of water and not alcohol. While prosecution pleaded that there were three persons in the car -- Salman, his police bodyguard Ravindra Patil and singer friend Kamal Khan, the actor argued that there was a fourth person and he was Ashok Singh.


A court had in 2013 framed charges in a fresh trial against Khan for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.The prosecution examined 27 witnesses to prove its case.

It promises to be a stormy session in Parliament today. The Congress to give notice for adjournment motion in Lok Sabha on the Moga molestation case.

The bodies of about 100 Nepali and foreign trekkers have been found in a remote village that was buried by an avalanche following last month's massive earthquake, officials say.

Cases of dengue have soared in Brazil where the disease has caused 229 fatalities this year, the Health Ministry has said, as authorities try to combat its spread using transgenic mosquitos. 

Since at least 2007, the FBI has been able to recognize the voice of Elton Simpson '" one of the men suspected in the Texas shootings outside a contest featuring cartoons of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad.

Even as Afghan security forces battle Taliban insurgents and cross-border criminal networks, President Ashraf Ghani said he plans to devote at least 30 percent of his time to his country's battered economy.

Police in Burundi shot dead at least four demonstrators and wounded dozens of others today, in running battles with protesters angry at a bid by President Pierre Nkurunziza to extend his rule.  

A Syrian rights group reported today that the death toll of civilians purportedly killed in airstrikes by the US-led coalition on a village controlled by the Islamic State group in Syria has risen to 64, including 31 children, as the US military said it is assessing whether to launch a formal investigation into the claim. 

Egypt's deposed longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak celebrated his 87th birthday today by waving to some 100 supporters gathered outside of the military hospital where he is being held in Cairo. 

Wave after wave of migrants have been rescued from rubber dinghies and rickety fishing  boats in the Mediterranean over the last three days, with thousands ferried to Italy's southern shores.

The Taliban declared Monday that it was open to peace talks with the Afghan government, but only if all US and other international forces withdraw from Afghanistan and key Taliban figures are removed from a UN terrorism blacklist.

A top Maoist leader, wanted in at least 20 cases in Kerala, his wife and three others, were arrested today near Coimbatore in a "big breakthrough" for the police of four southern states. 

National carrier Air India today terminated the services of one of its cabin crew members for allegedly delaying its flights from Jeddah for several months by "refusing" to fly citing "inadequate" rest, sources said. 

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