Just In: Petrol price hiked by Rs 2.35 per litre and diesel by 50 paise, excluding state levies.

As the police await to arrest Asaram Bapu his son Narayan Sai said, "Asaram Bapu is unwell. Doctors are attending to him at the moment. Is is not running away.  As soon as he recovers he will head to Jodhpur."

"All allegations of rape against Asaram Bapu are baseless," he added.

Sai also apologised to the media for the attack on journalists by Asaram's supporters. 

Asaram aide Shiva surrenders. The police have taken him to an undisclosed location for questioning. 

Diesel prices may be hiked by Rs 3-5 per litre, kerosene by Rs 2 and LPG by Rs 50 per cylinder as Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take steps to tackle a record Rs 180,000 crore of losses arising from dipping rupee and surging oil rates.

Pakistani Judicial Commission to visit India on September 7 to cross-examine witnesses of Mumbai terror attacks.

Reports our correspondent from New Delhi: The big decision by the Bharatiya Janata Party to announce Narendra Modi as it's prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 polls is expected soon. The BJP parliamentary meet will be held on September 6 to discuss this. Seven out of the 11 parliamentary board members are in support of Modi. 

The insider view is to have secret vote if a consensus is not emerged.

Read: 'Hang those who raped my daughter'

Shattered by the verdict, the parents of the Delhi gang-rape victim broke down. "We feel cheated. It's a crime to be born a girl in this country," they said.

"The juvenile accused has been convicted in all charges. They are encouraging him by giving him only three years punishment. Such people can never change," said the brother.  

Asaram Bapu's lawyer says he will brief the media at 5 pm even as Indore police wait to arrest him.   

The probe officer in the Delhi gang-rape said today, "The verdict on the juvenile accused is okay to some extent. If the family wants they can appeal in court."  

The family of the Delhi braveheart are not satisfied with the verdict of the Juvenile Justice Board, which awarded 3 years sentence in a special home to the accused, who was 17 at the time of the rape.

"Not satisfied with the verdict, will appeal against it Three years is too less," he said.

Also read: 'Men who raped my sister stare at other women in court'

Juvenile found guilty in the December 16 Delhi gang-rape case. He will be sent to a correctional home for 3 years.

The maximum sentence under the Juvenile Justice Act is three years.   

There is ruckus inside the Indore ashram of Asaram Bapu as police enter the premises. Asaram is inside the ashram, Indore district magistrate tells CNN-IBN. He is expected to be taken to Jodhpur by road.   

Senior police officers including the inspector general, senior superintendent of police and SP reach Asaram Bapu's Indore ashram. There is heavy police deployment around the ashram.

The controversial spiritual guru's whereabouts are a mystery as the police look to question him in the sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl.    

As busloads of supporters started gathering at the ashram of Asaram Bapu in Jodhpur, the police, fearing trouble, clamped restrictions and cleared them out, reports NDTV.

The police are planning to seal the ashram to avoid further chaos.

Read the full report here

A woman has allegedly been gang-raped at an apartment in Noida in Uttar Pradesh, just across the border from Delhi, reports NDTV.   Four people, including two constables have been arrested.

The survivor filed a police case this morning.

Borders of Jodhpur have been sealed to stop Asaram supporters from entering the city. "Our team is on it's way to Indore," said DCP Jodhpur.  

The father of the 16-year-old schoolgirl has begun an indefinite fast demanding that Asaram Bapu be arrested immediately.

The self-styled godman, accused of sexually assaulting the girl, has gone underground in Madhya Pradesh as the Rajasthan police headed to Indore to interrogate him.  

Indicating that an attack on Syria is imminent, United States President Barack Obama has declared that the America had an obligation to punish Damascus for allegedly using chemical weapons and said a possible military strike would be limited "with no boots on the ground".

"We're not considering any open ended commitment. We're not considering any boots on the ground approach," Obama told reporters on Friday but emphasised that he has "not made any decisions" about what actions the US will take.

"We have consulted with allies. We have consulted with the Congress," Obama said after Secretary of State John Kerry indicated that the US is preparing to go it alone on Syria.

Indore Superintendent of Police Govind Rawat said, "Asaram Bapu is not in Indore. The Rajasthan police have not contacted us."

The police have detained 6 people from Asaram Bapu's ashram in Jodhpur for attacking television journalists this morning, reports CNN-IBN.

"We have detained six people. The attackers were mainly women," Ajay Lamba, DCP. Jodhpur. "We are stopping more Asaram supporters from entering the ashram," he added.      

Laws and policies not enough to empower women, they have to be implemented on ground, said Congress President Sonia Gandhi today. "We will take all possible steps to empower women."

Hollywood superstar Matt Damon, who found fame with his role of a mathematically gifted janitor, is on a mission in India to help more than a million people have access to safe water and sanitation in the next three-and-half years.


The 'Good Will Hunting' star and also the co-founder of non-profit organisation Water.org, has been working in India since 2008 to help needy people access small loans for water and sanitation purposes through its micro finance institution  partners.

"The target for spring 2016 is to reach an additional eight lakh people, which will put us over a million in total, which is great and we are on track to do it," Damon told PTI in an exclusive interview.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari condemns attack on journalists by supporters of Asaram Bapu. "Unfortunate that followers of a guru have attacked the media," he said.

Broadcast editors association said: We condemn the attack. We demand strict action against Asaram Bapu and his supporters. Protection of journalists is needed. 

Indian Express editor-in-chief Shekhar Gupta in a letter to Gujarat CM Narendra Modi writes, "Your party has messed up much virtuous, reformist legislation already, it has failed to live up to your own expectations on the food bill."

...."Not one senior leader of your party has, as yet, produced an argument against the land boundary agreement that India and Bangladesh have signed and which now awaits ratification through a constitutional amendment."

Read the full letter here

An erudite MP from a non-Congress, non-BJP background described the UPA government's binge of populist legislation as a "poison pill' approach.

The next government will inherit the most troubled economy in two decades. No new prime minister would have entered office in such challenging circumstances, except Jawaharlal Nehru in 1947 and Narasimha Rao in 1991, says Ashok Malik in Daily Pioneer.

Read the full column here

Irate supporters of Asaram Bapu attacked two journalists this morning in Jodhpur. Both journalists, belong to the IBN7 network, are bleeding but out of danger. The supporters also pelted stones at an OB van.

Trouble started after supporters of the controversial spiritual guru gathered outside the ashram.

The attackers were from the ashram, confirmed Jodhpur DCP to CNN-IBN. Additional police teams have been rushed to the location.

This is not the first time that Asaram aides have attacked the media. Yesterday, they assaulted a journalist in Indore.

The self-styled god is likely to face arrest today after he skipped a deadline to surrender yesterday. He has been accused of sexually assaulting a schoolgirl.        

Four militants were killed in an infiltration bid in Tangdhar district of Kashmir early today, according  to army sources.

A team of Rajasthan police is headed to Madhya Pradesh to interrogate self-styled godman Asaram Bapu, who is accused of sexually assaulting a girl in his Jodhpur ashram earlier this month. Yesterday, Asaram ignored the August 30 deadline set for him to travel to the city and meet with investigators, reports NDTV.

The Rajasthan police has said it cannot grant him an extension and will arrest him if the charges against him are proven.

Turkey's prime minister has said that the limited strikes threatened by the United States against Syria were not enough and pushed for a broader military offencive that would topple the regime. "A limited operation cannot be satisfactory for us," Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying by the NTV news channel. 

Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa chastized WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for making fun of Australian politicians in a video shot at his place of refuge in Ecuador's London embassy. 

Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria used chemical weapons on a massive scale in rebel-held areas near Damascus that killed as many as 1,429 people including 426 children, US Secretary of State John Kerry said today as US released intelligence assessment on the alleged atrocity.

At least six people were killed and dozens injured Friday in the latest round of protests against Egypt's military-backed interim government.

NATO's chief said for the first time Friday that the alliance has no plans for military action in Syria because of the alleged use of chemical weapons against its civilians.

The Obama administration on Friday forcefully presented a case for a strike on Syria, as President Obama said he was considering a "limited' attack and Secretary of State John Kerry declared there was "clear' and "compelling' evidence that the government of President Bashar al-Assad had used poison gas against its citizens. 

YSR Congress president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, who is on a hunger strike since Sunday against the proposed bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, was tonight shifted to Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences from the Osmania General Hospital on medical advise.

Jagan was earlier shifted to OGH from Chanchalguda jail when his health deteriorated following the five-day fast.

Doctors at OGH informed the authorities that certain equipment required for emergency treatment were not available, and it would be advisable to shift the Kadapa MP to Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, Deputy Commissioner of Police V Satyanarayana told PTI tonight.

Both OGH as well as NIMS are government-run hospitals. OGH doctors recommended that Jagan be shifted to NIMS, and accordingly escort was provided by jail authorities for his transfer, Chanchalguda jail superintendent B Saidaiah said.