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Former Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Jawahar Prasad has been arrested by Bihar Police in connection with its investigation into communal clashes that erupted during a Ram Navami procession in Sasaram district in March this year.

The BJP alleged that the former Sasaram legislator was arrested to 'appease' the minorities.

Prasad, a five-term MLA from Sasaram assembly seat, was arrested from his house on Friday night.

A court in Rohtas had issued a non-bailable warrant against him.            

Sasaram and Bihar Sharif, the district headquarters of Rohtas and Nalanda districts respectively, had witnessed violence following during Ram Navami processions on March 31 and April 1.

One person was killed in the clashes.

Commenting on Prasad's arrest, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told reporters on Saturday, "Police are investigating the matter. The guilty will be brought to book, irrespective of their political affiliation. Investigators are doing their job  I never intervene in the police probe."

The BJP, on the other hand, claimed that Prasad was arrested to further the 'appeasement politics' of the ruling alliance.

BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand, in a statement, said, "The communal violence in Sasaram was completely state-sponsored just to prevent the BJP from celebrating Emperor Ashok's birth anniversary in which Union Home Minister Amit Shah was the chief guest."

'The person who was killed in the riot belonged to the OBC category. And now the state government wants to make a popular OBC leader (Prasad) a scapegoat in the case,' it said.

The BJP claimed that the Nitish Kumar government wanted to book Prasad and other subaltern leaders as culprits to further its 'appeasement politics'. -- PTI

The 74-year-old royal will be formally crowned as monarch along with his wife, Queen Consort Camilla, at Westminster Abbey in London on May 6 and millions are expected to join in the celebrations over a long holiday weekend.

Kapoor has been invited to deliver an exclusive spoken word piece at the highly-anticipated Coronation Concert where she will be introducing Steve Winwood & the exclusive Commonwealth virtual choir on May 7 at the Windsor Castle, a press release stated.

The concert -- produced, staged and broadcast live by the BBC and BBC Studios -- will feature global music icons and contemporary stars celebrating the historic occasion.

"I am honoured to join the Commonwealth virtual choir for this ceremony, celebrating His Majesty's love for music and art. It's a momentous occasion that signifies a commitment to a positive, inclusive, and optimistic future for the United Kingdom, with the Choir's music paying tribute to the royal legacy and promoting unity, peace, and joy," the 37-year-old actor said in a statement.

Kapoor's piece will serve as a prelude to the inspiring virtual choir performance by the Commonwealth, made up of choirs, solo artists and duos from the 56 Commonwealth countries, alongside Steve Winwood, who will perform a modern version of his iconic song Higher Love accompanied by a 70-piece orchestra, the release stated.

Sonam will be the only Indian celebrity to be present and participate in the event.

Hosted by Hugh Bonneville, the concert will feature artists such as Perry, Richie, Andrea Bocelli, Bryn Terfel, Freya Ridings, Alexis Ffrench and a collaboration of five Royal patronages among others.

Global stars including Tom Cruise, Joan Collins and Tom Jones will appear via pre-recorded video messages.

Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda's proposed visit to India has been delayed further due to internal reasons, including the jolt in the recent by-polls, and it is unlikely that his first foreign visit will take place before June, according to his top aide.

This is the second time that Prachanda's visit to India has been postponed due to internal reasons.

The visit to India would have been his first foreign trip after he assumed charge as prime minister for the third time in December last year.

Nepal government is preparing to present its annual budget for the coming fiscal year towards May-end and the prime minister's visit to India will take place only after that, the top aide close to Prime Minister Prachanda told PTI on Saturday.

The proposed visit by the prime minister has been further delayed due to internal reasons and it is unlikely that the first foreign visit will take place before June, the aide, who did not want to be quoted, said.

Earlier, the government was busy preparing for Prachanda's visit to India between May 2nd and the 3rd week.   -- PTI

The wife of slain IAS officer G Krishnaiah, who was lynched by a mob led by former Bihar MP Anand Mohan in 1994, has moved the Supreme Court challenging his premature release from prison.

Mohan was released from Saharsa jail on Thursday morning following an amendment in Bihar's prison rules.

Uma Krishnaiah, the wife of G Krishnaiah, has contended that the sentence of life imprisonment awarded to the gangster-turned- politician meant incarceration for his entire natural course of life and it cannot be mechanically interpreted to last just 14 years.

Life imprisonment, when awarded as a substitute for death penalty, has to be carried out strictly as directed by the court and would be beyond application of remission, she said in her petition before the Supreme Court.

Mohan's name figured in a list of more than 20 prisoners who were ordered to be set free by a notification issued by the state's law department earlier this week as they had spent more than 14 years behind bars.

The remission of his sentence followed an April 10 amendment to the Bihar Prison Manual by the Nitish Kumar government whereby the restriction on early release of those involved in killing of a public servant on duty was done away with.

This, the critics of the state government claim, was done to facilitate the release of Mohan, a Rajput strongman, who could add heft to the grand alliance led by Nitish Kumar in its fight against the BJP.

Several others, including politicians, benefited from the amendment to the state prison rules.

Krishnaiah, who hailed from Telangana, was beaten to death by a mob in 1994 when his vehicle tried to overtake the funeral procession of gangster Chhotan Shukla in Muzaffarpur district.

Mohan, then an MLA, was leading the procession.  -- PTI

A ground-plus-two-storey godown collapsed on Saturday in Bhiwandi in Maharashtra's Thane district, trapping several people living and working on the premises, four of whom have been rescued, a civic official said.

Massive rescue and relief operations are underway at the site in Valpada in Mankoli, with one team each of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the Thane Disaster Response Force having arrived and another NDRF team on the way, District Disaster Control Cell chief Anita Jawanjal told PTI.

Earlier, Thane Municipal Corporation Regional Disaster Management Cell chief Avinash Sawant said four families resided on the upper floors and several labourers worked on the ground floor of the ground-plus-two storey building in Wardhaman Compound that collapsed at around 1.45 pm.

He said fire brigade personnel from Bhiwandi, Thane and other surrounding areas have been deployed for search and rescue operations.

Many persons are feared trapped in the debris, Sawant said.  -- PTI

A man with past history of poaching has been nabbed from the core area of Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park (KNP), which is home to cheetahs brought from Namibia and South Africa, an official said on Saturday.

A gun has been recovered from the man, Alam Mongia.

He had hidden the firearm by burying it in a riverbed in the area, said Divisional Forest Officer P K Verma.

Mongia, in his 40s, lives in the vicinity of the national park and is the fourth poacher to be nabbed from the protected forest since cheetahs were brought into it to revive the species in the country, said the official.

According to the official, Mongia was rounded up in the core area of KNP on April 16 but they kept his detention under wraps to track down two of his associates, who are still at large.

All the four poachers arrested since the launch of the cheetah project were not involved in killing carnivores.

They set up snares to hunt herbivores for bushmeat, Verma said.

Mongia has poached animals in the past, Verma said.

We grilled him. He has no connection with any big poachers' gang, the DFO said.

In December 2022, the carcass of a big cat was found hanging from a tree in a clutch-wire trap near MP's Panna Tiger Reserve, with officials suspecting poachers' role in the animal's death.

The Kuno park has been under the spotlight ever since prime minister released the first batch of eight cheetahs brought from Namibia into quarantine enclosures there on September 17 last year.

Of them, a female cheetah died due to a kidney ailment later.

The second lot of 12 cheetahs imported from South Africa was released on February 18.

Of them, a male cheetah succumbed to cardiopulmonary problems.

The big cats have been brought to Kuno under an ambitious inter-continental translocation programme to revive their population in India.

The country's last cheetah died in Koriya district of present-day Chhattisgarh in 1947 and the species was declared extinct in 1952.   -- PTI

An MP MLA court in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur on Saturday convicted jailed mafia Mukhtar Ansari in a kidnapping and murder case pertaining to the killing of Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Krishnanand Rai and sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment.

A fine of Rs 5 lakh was also imposed on the jailed mafia.

He was produced virtually before the court today.   -- ANI

Rekha Singh, wife of Naik Deepak Singh who was killed in the Galwan Valley clashes in 2020, has been commissioned into the Indian Army as a Lieutenant, officials said on Saturday.

She has been posted to a frontline base along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, they said Lt Singh on Saturday completed her one-year training at the Chennai-based Officers Training Academy (OTA).

Naik Singh was from the 16th Battalion of Bihar Regiment and he was posthumously awarded Vir Chakra in 2021.

'Woman Cadet Rekha Singh, wife of Late Naik(Nursing Assistant) Deepak Singh, #VirChakra(Posthumous) got commissioned into #IndianArmy after completing her training from #OTA #Chennai,' the Army tweeted.

It said Deepak Singh made the supreme sacrifice during the Galwan Valley clashes.   -- PTI

Training guns on the Congress over its president M Mallikarjun Kharge's 'venomous snake' barb at him, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said till now that party and its leaders have hurled at him different types of abuses 91 times.

Accusing the Congress of also abusing the dominant Lingayat community in poll-bound Karnataka, the prime minister further said the grand old party had even abused Babasaheb Ambedkar and were engaged in abusing Veer Savarkar.

Hitting out at the Congress, Modi -- on his first visit to the state for campaigning after elections were declared on March 29 -- said, people will respond to its abuses with votes, and as much mud they sling at the Bharatiya Janata Party, the lotus will bloom.

"The Congress hates everyone who speaks about the common man, who brings out their corruption, who attacks their politics of selfishness. Congress's hate against such people will become permanent. In this election too, the Congress once again has started abusing me," Modi said.

Addressing a public rally here in Bidar district, he said, "Someone has made a list of such abuses against me and it has been sent to me. Till now Congress people have abused me 91 times with different types. Had Congress people put efforts in good governance and boosting the morale of its workers, instead of wasting time on this dictionary of abuses, Congress would not have been in such a pathetic plight."

Making a speech in a campaign rally in poll bound Karnataka, which goes to polls on May 10, on Thursday Kharge likened Modi to a venomous snake. As a row erupted, he later backtracked stating that his intention was not to hurt anyone's feelings and the 'statement was not for PM Modi, but for the ideology he represents'.

Modi said: "Insulting those who work for the poor and the country is Congress' history."

"I'm not the only one who has been attacked like this. Last election they ran a campaign 'chowkidar chor hai', then they said 'Modi chor', then they said 'OBC community are chor', and now just the election season has started in Karnataka they showed the guts of calling my Lingayat brothers and sisters chor."

"Congress people listen with open ears, whenever you have abused someone they have punished you in such a way that you have not been able to withstand it. This time Karnataka has decided to respond to the abuses, the pain inflicted to their pride, through votes," he said.

Noting that abuses are hurled at him by top Congress leaders, Modi said the Congress is such a party that had abused Babasaheb Ambedkar.

"Babasaheb Ambedkar himself had once said in detail that Congress abused him repeatedly. Congress had called Babasaheb Ambedkar 'rakshas', 'Rashtra Drohi', 'Dagabaaz Dost'...you will be shocked to hear. Even today we see how Congress abuses Veer Savarkar. Congress has abused stalwarts of this country," he said.

"Looking at this I feel that Congress respects me like they did to Babasaheb Ambedkar, Veer Savarkar, as Congress is abusing me in a similar way. I feel it as a gift to me. Let the Congress abuse me, I will continue to work for the country and its people. With your blessings all their abuses will get mixed in mud. Congress people understand, as much mud you sling at us, the lotus will bloom," he added.

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Union minister Bhagawanth Khuba among others were present.  -- PTI

For the first time, the Indian Army has inducted five women officers into its artillery regiment.

The women officers have joined the Regiment of Artillery after successfully completing their training at the Officers Training Academy (OTA) in Chennai on Saturday.

Military sources said the women officers who joined the Regiment of Artillery are Lt Mehak Saini, Lt Sakshi Dubey, Lt Aditi Yadav and Lt Pious Mudgil.

Out of the five women officers, three are posted to units deployed along the borders with China and the other two in 'challenging locations' near the frontier with Pakistan, the sources said.

The commissioning of women officers into the Regiment of Artillery is a testament to the ongoing transformation in the Indian Army, a source said.

In January, Chief of Army Staff Gen Manoj Pande announced the decision of commissioning women officers into artillery units.

The proposal was later approved by the government.  -- PTI

The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday said it has searched the Bengaluru office and residential premises of Ed-tech major BYJU's CEO Raveendran Byju and seized 'incriminating' documents and digital data as part of a foreign exchange violation probe.

A total of three premises, two business and one residential, were raided recently under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), it said in a statement.

The agency said it has seized various incriminating documents and digital data.

It said the action was taken on the basis of 'various complaints' received by private people and alleged that Raveendran Byju was issued 'several' summons but he remained 'evasive and never appeared' before the ED.

The searches found that his company, Think & Learn Pvt. Ltd., received foreign direct investment (FDI) to the tune of about Rs 28,000 crore during 2011-2023.

'The company also remitted about Rs 9,754 crore to various foreign jurisdictions during the same period in the name of overseas direct investment,' the agency said.   -- PTI

The situation in violence-hit Churachandpur in Manipur remained grim, with unidentified miscreants setting afire a government building, even as night curfew was imposed in the district from Saturday, officials said.

A group of people torched the office building of the Range Forest Officer in Tuibong area around midnight, and several fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames, they said.

Public property worth lakhs were reportedly destroyed and official documents burnt in the blaze, a police officer said.

Night curfew has been imposed in the district from 5 pm to 5 am from Saturday until further orders, according to an official notification.

Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC and suspension of mobile internet services will also continue in the district, the officials said.

"The situation is still grim. Security has been bolstered at all major junctions and large localities of the town to prevent any untoward incident," the police officer said.

Fresh clashes had erupted between demonstrators and police personnel in Churachandpur town on Friday night, with the security forces using batons, tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the mob.

Locals claimed that some people were killed and many injured in the police action, hours after a bandh called by Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF) concluded at 4 pm.

However, there was no official confirmation on casualties or injuries to people. The eight-hour shutdown, called to protest against the eviction of Kuki villagers from protected forests, paralysed normal life in the tribal-dominated southern Manipur district.

Earlier on Friday, clashes broke out between protestors and police at Sadbhavna Mandap in New Lamka in Churachandpur district, the venue where Chief Minister N Biren Singh was scheduled to address a public meeting, police said.

Singh, however, deferred the visit following protests and the call for bandh. -- PTI

Former Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara who sustained a head injury during a roadshow in a village in this district in a stone-pelting incident is recovering, doctors treating him said on Saturday.

The former state Congress chief got a deep wound on the head when a miscreant threw a stone at him at Bhairenahalli in Koratagere Taluk on Friday.

He is contesting the May 10 assembly elections from Koratagere.

Soon after the injury, a profusely bleeding Parameshwara was rushed to a nearby Primary Health Centre, and thereafter taken to another hospital for further treatment.

A team of doctors was now monitoring his condition at his residence.

The Congress leader is expected to meet his supporters and well-wishers on Saturday.

According to his close confidantes, this was the third occasion when stone pelting happened during election time.

The first time was when he was participating in an election rally with the Congress president M Mallikarjun Kharge and the second incident took place when he was heading to file his nomination papers.   -- PTI

India saw a single-day rise of 7,171 new coronavirus cases, while the active cases have decreased to 51,314, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Saturday.

The death toll increased to 5,31,508 with 40 deaths, which included 15 reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated.

The total tally of Covid cases was recorded at 4.49 crore.

The active cases now comprise 0.11 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate has been recorded at 98.70 per cent, according to the health ministry website.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,43,56,693 while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.18 per cent.

According to the ministry's website, 220.66 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far.   -- PTI

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar called on Lalu Prasad, as the Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo landed in his hometown after seven months, amid speculations that the two leaders will jointly work towards forging a country-wide opposition unity to take on the BJP in next year's Lok Sabha polls.

 

Kumar drove to the residence of Rabri Devi, former chief minister and wife of Prasad, late on Friday evening, hours after the RJD supremo arrived.     

Prasad had been away for close to seven months, during which he underwent a kidney transplant in Singapore and convalesced at his eldest daughter Misa Bharti's house in Delhi.

It was not known what transpired during the meeting between the two veteran leaders that lasted for less than half an hour.

Known as 'bada bhai-chhota bhai' (big brother-little brother) in the political lexicon of Bihar, the RJD chief and the JD-U supreme leader have been close associates since the 遷P Movement' of the 1970s when both were student leaders.

The political stock of the two OBC leaders rose in the post-Mandal era, which also saw them parting ways and bitterly fighting each other for decades.

The two came together in August last year when Kumar junked the BJP, a domineering ally, but retained power thanks to the prompt offer of support from Prasad, whose party has the largest number of MLAs in Bihar. -- PTI

Parts of eastern India, including Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha, are likely to face above-normal temperatures in May with a likelihood of heat wave conditions on some days, the weather office has said.

However, parts of northwest and west-central India may experience warmer nights and below-normal temperatures during the day, the India Meteorological Department said in the monthly outlook for temperature and rainfall for May.

It said normal to above-normal rainfall is expected in the northwest and west central parts of the country in May, including in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and parts of western Uttar Pradesh. Large swathes of the northeastern region, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and south Karnataka, are expected to witness below-normal rains.

According to the weather office, the average rainfall in May is likely to be 91-109 per cent of the Long Period Average of 61.4 mm.

"Above-normal heat wave days are expected over most parts of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Gangetic West Bengal, east Uttar Pradesh, coastal Andhra Pradesh and some parts of North Chhattisgarh, east Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and coastal Gujarat during May," IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said here.

He said the neutral El Nino prevalent over the equatorial Pacific region is expected to continue through May with a majority of weather models indicating the region beginning to warm up during the monsoon season.

El Nino, or warming of the equatorial Pacific Ocean, is said to have an impact on monsoon rains in India. However, other factors such as the sea surface temperatures in the Indian Ocean (known as the Indian Ocean Dipole) are also known to influence the weather.

Mohapatra said the neutral IOD conditions prevailing over the Indian Ocean are likely to turn positive during the upcoming season. He said positive Indian Ocean Dipole conditions are known to favour the Indian monsoon and help temper the impact of El Nino.

Earlier this month, the IMD forecast a normal monsoon season with 96 per cent rainfall of the Long Period Average of 87 cm rainfall. The weather office is expected to update its forecast towards the end of May. -- PTI

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra met protesting wrestlers at Jantar Mantar here on Saturday and expressed solidarity with them.

Priyanka Gandhi, who is scheduled to take part in a series of poll campaign events in Karnataka later in the day, reached Jantar Mantar in the morning and interacted with the wrestlers.

 

The Congress general secretary was seen hearing out ace women wrestlers such as Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat.

 

Earlier this week, Priyanka Gandhi had voiced support for the protesting wrestlers and slammed the government, asking whether it wants to save the culprits in the matter.

 

The Congress general secretary had also said that the pleas of the sportspersons, who enhance the country's honour, were being ignored, and asserted that "when the arrogance of a party and its leaders" is sky high, then such voices are crushed.

 

Congress leaders such as Bhupinder Hooda, Deepender Hooda and Udit Raj had also joined the protesting wrestlers at Jantar Mantar earlier this week to express solidarity with them.

 

With the chorus of support for the protesting wrestlers growing, Delhi Police on Friday filed two FIRs against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh on allegations of sexual harassment levelled by seven women wrestlers.

 

The First Information Reports (FIRs) were filed hours after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Delhi Police, told a Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha that a case will be registered on Friday. -- PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address three public meetings and hold a road show in Karnataka on Saturday as he embarks on a two-day visit to the poll-bound state.

 

Since February this year, this is Modi's ninth visit to Karnataka where Assembly elections to 224 seats are due on May 10.

 

According to his itinerary, Modi will fly from Delhi on Saturday at 8.20 am by a special aircraft and reach Bidar airport at 10.20 am from where he will take a helicopter to Humnabad in Bidar district to address a public meeting at 11 am.

 

After the meeting, he will fly to Vijayapura where he will address another public gathering at 1 pm. He will then fly to Kudachi in Belagavi district where he will address people at about 2.45 pm.

 

Later, Modi would fly to Bengaluru in the evening to hold a road show in Bengaluru North.

 The Prime Minister will stay in Bengaluru on Saturday and will depart from Raj Bhavan on Sunday morning to hold public meetings in the district headquarter town of Kolar, Channapatna in Ramanagara district and Belur in Hassan district.

He will also hold a road show in Mysuru on Sunday before flying back to Delhi. -- PTI 

Jammu and Kashmir Police has developed a new strategy to keep track of women involved in crime.

Along with male policemen, women personnel have also been deployed on night duty at all border checkpoints in Jammu.

A police officer said that women have been posted at checkpoints in Jammu city to keep an eye on women drug smugglers and help women during the night.

It happened for the first time that women police officers have been appointed on night duty.

Two women officials are on duty at each checkpoint from 10 pm to 6 am.

So far, women personnel have been deployed at 12 prominent checkpoints in Jammu city, not only to keep an eye on any untoward incident but also to make women safer, especially working women at night.

He said that since there has been an increase in the involvement of women drug dealers in the recent past, the deployment of woman constables will also help in keeping a check on suspicious movements and curbing illegal trade.

In the next phase, women constables will be deployed in rural areas.  -- ANI