LIVE! Swaraj's health condition stable, likely to be discharged soon

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Sun, 08 May 2016

Swaraj's health condition stable, likely to be discharged soon

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20:48 Stop interfering in internal matters: B'desh tells Pakistan

Bangladesh today asked Pakistan to refrain from interfering in its internal affairs, two days after it expressed "deep concern" over the death penalty given to fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami chief for the war crimes committed during the 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan.

"We are disappointed with Pakistan's reaction. We never welcome anyone interfering in our internal issues," junior foreign minister Shahriar Alam said. "Despite repeated reminders, they are still doing it. They keep saying they are saddened by the verdict. But those being tried are Bangladeshi citizens after all," Alam said.

The reaction came after Pakistan's foreign ministry on May 6 expressed "deep concern" over the dismissal of Jamaat chief Motiur Rahman Nizami's final review petition against his death sentence by the Supreme Court. Nizami, 72, has been convicted of murder, rape and orchestrating the killing of top intellectuals during the 1971 Independence War.

He was given capital punishment in October 2014 after being convicted of "superior responsibility" as the chief of the infamous Al-Badr militia forces in 1971.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who is being treated for pneumonia at AIIMS, is recovering and is likely to be discharged from the hospital soon. "Swaraj is recovering from pneumonia and her condition is stable.

Her health condition is being monitored by a team of specialists and she is likely to be discharged soon," said a senior doctor at AIIMS. The doctor said it is likely that she contracted the infection due to extreme temperatures during her travels.

The 64-year-old Union minister was admitted to AIIMS on April 25 after she complained of chest congestion and fever. She is undergoing treatment in the Cardio-Neuro Centre of the hospital.

Heat wave conditions intensified in Rajasthan with Phalodi recording the highest temperature of 46.5 degrees Celsius today.

Sriganganagar boiled at 45 degree Celsius, followed by Bikaner where the maximum day temperature was recorded as 44.8 degrees Celsius, the MeT department said. Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Churu, Kota and the state capital, Jaipur registered the maximum temperatures of of 44.5, 43.5, 43.2, 42.7 and 41.6 degrees Celsius respectively, the weatherman said.

The country requires more than 70,000 judges now to clear the mounting backlog of cases, Chief Justice of India T S Thakur said today, making a fresh push for speedy appointments to the judiciary.

Continuing to express concern over the low judge-population ratio in the country, Justice Thakur said access to justice was a fundamental right and governments cannot afford to deny it to the people. The pending court cases, which has touched an alarming 3.14 crore, had led to an emotional outburst by the CJI in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a conference in New Delhi recently.

The CJI once again raised the backlog issue while addressing a gathering of legal luminaries here on the occasion of centennial celebrations of the circuit bench of the high court. "If you go by the number of people that have been added to the population, we may now require more than 70,000 judges to clear the pending cases," he said.

A nationwide strike called by Bangladesh's fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami to protest against the apex court verdict handing down death sentence to its chief for war crimes largely went unheeded today.

Witnesses and media reports said the 24-hour strike call beginning at 6 am - three days after the final verdict on Motiur Rahman Nizami was given - affected little the public life across the country including the capital Dhaka, that witnessed its regular notorious traffic jams nevertheless. Schools, offices, shopping malls and financial institutions operated as usual while transport operators said intercity buses, trains and ferries also plied as scheduled.

"We have kept a sharp vigil but no law and order situation was reported," a police spokesman told reporters.

JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who is out on bail in a sedition case, today wrote an open letter to HRD Minister Smriti Irani on occasion of Mother's Day and asked how can a "mother" punish her children on basis of biased probe reports and doctored videos.

Referring to the university investigation report of the controversial February 9 event during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised, Kanhaiya, who has been attacking Irani for her reference to all students as her children, said in the letter, "we are trying hard to study in the warmth of your motherly love.

Under your reign, we are learning how to study despite police canes and hunger". In an open letter with sarcastic overtones, the 29-year-old researcher referred to Irani as "anti-rational" mother of "anti-nationals" and extended her Mother's day wishes on behalf of students.

The Shiv Sena today said it will contest about 20 seats in the Goa Legislative Assembly polls scheduled in 2017, while claiming that the people of the state are "fed up" with the BJP-led Goa government and that the party is the only alternative left in the state.

"We have dissolved the executive working committee of the party in Goa and we are in the process of forming a new one. We have decided to contest around 20-22 seats in the Goa Assembly polls. Our work there is going on in full swing," Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, who has been appointed Incharge of Goa, told PTI. He said the party's star campaigner would be Uddhav Thackeray and that the schedule of his rallies would be made in the upcoming days. When asked if the Sena is contesting the polls to plug a hole in the BJP's vote share, Raut said, "People of Goa are fed up with the BJP and the Congress. Therefore, Shiv Sena is the only alternative left."

"We are contesting the polls to win, so there is no question of us trying to diminish the BJP's vote share," Raut said.

When asked about the electoral issues for Sena, he said there are many, including Goa government's "inability" to control the Russian and Nigerian drug mafia prevalent there.

"One of the electoral issues is language. The BJP had promised to give prominence to local languages like Marathi and Konkani. But they have failed to keep their promise," he said.

Police in Pakistan today arrested three men for allegedly parading two children naked in a street here after they were caught stealing water melons.

Senior police officer Mustansar Feroz said that Basharat and Irfan had caught two children, aged between 9 and 13, for allegedly stealing water melons from their shop.

"Both men not only subjected the children to severe torture but also paraded them naked in the street," Feroz said. He said the accused also made a video of the children and used abusive language.

On the complaint of the father of one of the children police registered an FIR against Basharat, Irfan and their accomplice and arrested them.

"They will be produced before a court on Monday for physical remand," Feroz said, adding the police have also recovered the cell phones the suspects used for making the children's video.

Reigning superstar of Telugu films Mahesh Babu adopted a village in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur district and launched several development works worth about Rs 2.14 crore today.

Mahesh adopted Burripalem, his ancestral village near here, under the 'Smart Village -- Smart Ward' programme launched by the Andhra Pradesh government. Mahesh's recent blockbuster "Srimanthudu" propagated the theme 'giving back to the society' and it's in this spirit that he chose to adopt Burripalem.

He also adopted a village in Mahbubnagar district of Telangana. "My grandmother and father (yesteryear superstar Krishna) did their bit for the development of the village. Now, I want to take it forward. This is a great opportunity for me," Mahesh said on the occasion.

An Indian-origin lawyer from Singapore's ruling People's Action Party (PAP) has been elected member of the parliament following his victory in the by-election held at suburban Bukit Batok constituency.

Murali Pillai garnered 61.21 per cent of the votes, while Singapore Democratic Party's Chee Soon Juan got 38.79 per cent of votes.

The Elections Department yesterday said a total of 24,192 votes were cast, including 622 rejected votes, which made up 94.03 per cent of the 25,727 registered electors.

Chee, a vociferous opposition leader, had challenged the ruling party in the one-on-one contest. President Tony Tan Keng Yam had issued the writ of election on April 20.

Apple has teamed up with social networking giant Facebook to help netizens celebrate Mother's Day today by making a slideshow using a photo of their mothers and sharing it on their profiles.

The site 'MomsShotOniPhone' which Apple has created is fairly simple, with the users required to enter their first name and last initial, and then adding a photo of them with their mothers.

The language options include English, French, Spanish, Portugese, German, Italian and Turkish. In the end, after approving a preview of the rolling slideshow, a one-click option is made available to post it to the user's Facebook account.

Once it is posted to the Facebook feed, it can be watched as a soft music bed plays and mothers from various Apple fans fade in and out of the frame just before ending with the image that has been uploaded and a Happy Mother's Day greeting from the user to his or her mother.

A Muslim student in the US is upset after her hijab-clad photo in her high school yearbook was erroneously labelled "Isis Phillips". The photo of the girl from Los Osos High School in Rancho Cucamonga, California, in which she is wearing a head scarf, has been captioned "Isis Phillips", that is not her name.

"I am extremely saddened, disgusted, hurt and embarrassed that the Los Osos High School yearbook was able to get away with this," the girl was quoted as saying by ABC News affiliate KABC-TV. "Apparently I am 'Isis' in the yearbook. The school reached out to me and had the audacity to say that this was a typo. I beg to differ, let's be real," she said. The Islamic monthly, a US magazine, identified the girl as Bayan Zehlif. Trevor Santellan, one of the students who worked on the yearbook, said there actually was a student named Isis Phillips at Los Osos who transferred earlier in the year.

The school's yearbook account has tweeted an apology, saying it was an unintentional mistake.

"We are extremely sorry for what occurred in the Yearbook ...It is our fault and this is absolutely inexcusable on our part," the tweet said. The school principal has also apologised and said the mistake is being investigated.

17:51 'Mrs Terror' threatens strikes in tweets in UK

A British Muslim woman who is among the world's most wanted female terror suspects has threatened new strikes against Britain on social media, according to a report today.

Sally Jones, a former punk rocker who travelled to Syria after converting to Islam, praised the publication of a hit-list of US drone pilots amid claims that Islamic State hackers have also identified British military personnel involved in airstrikes in the region, the Sunday Times reported.

Resurfacing on Twitter last week after a prolonged absence the 47-year-old wrote, "U can't just sit there with ur tea & scones ordering RAF (Royal Air Force) drone strikes on UK brothers with no comeback from the Islamic State."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today asked the people of Kerala to think of their future and not just change regimes, as he continued his tirade against ruling UDF and the LDF saying both have failed to provide even drinking water to them in so many years.

Addressing his second election rally here, Modi also accused the Congress and CPI-M of covering each other's corruption and said they would get to know that governments have to work for the people only when they are defeated.

"Kerala is surrounded by water but still there is no drinking water.

India will next year complete 70 years of her freedom. Both Congress and Communists have ruled the state by turn (all these years) but they are not concerned about even providing drinking water," Modi, whose party has so far played a marginal role in state politics, said.

Asking the people whether those who have failed to provide even basic things like drinking water should be elected or not, Modi said "both the Congress and Communists are in sync when it comes to indulging in corruption."

Aam Aadmi Party MLA Kartar Singh Tanwar and two others sustained injuries when they were allegedly attacked by four unidentified men who stopped the car in which the legislator was travelling in south Delhi's Fatehpur Beri area this morning.

"Murderous attack on AAP MLA, Kartar Singh Tanwar. Chhatarpur. Driver is injured. Attackers were carrying pistol. Kartar is safe," senior party leader Ashutosh tweeted.

According to police, the incident took place in the morning when Tanwar, the Chhatarpur MLA, was heading somewhere with an associate in his SUV, when four persons stopped them in Fatehpur Beri area and hit the windshield of the car with a rod. The assailants then entered into a scuffle with the driver and the MLA's associate.

The MLA sustained injuries while trying to defend the two.

At least 35 workers were missing and seven others injured today when a massive landslide triggered by torrential rains buried a construction site of a hydro power station in China's southern Fujian province, authorities said. The landslide has buried the builders' temporary shed in a construction site of the hydro power station and damaged its offices.

Thirty five people were missing and another seven were injured in the one lakh cubic meters of landslide which hit Taining County in Fujian, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

An initial count suggested 35 people are missing, according to a report on a website run by the county's Communist Party's publicity department. It was triggered by heavy downpours that unleashed 191.6 millimetres of rain.

The local tourism administration ordered all scenic spots to be closed. The mountainous county boasts rich scenic lakes and canyons.

Image for representation

Ousted Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat today alleged that central agencies were being misused to "harass" MLAs and leaders, who were being threatened and their phones were getting tapped ahead of the trust vote in the state assembly on Tuesday.

"Our MLAs and leaders are getting threatening messages from conduits who are posing as relatives, well-wishers and acquaintances," Rawat told reporters.

"I am also being kept under surveillance as if I am an anti-national," he alleged. Rawat alleged that his phones and those of his relatives and aides were being tapped. "Central agencies are harassing Congress people through various ways," he alleged. "Central agencies are openly being misused and not only my MLAs but political leaders are being threatened," he said.

His allegations came on a day another video of a purported sting operation was released allegedly involving Rawat and he was accused of indulging in horse-trading. Asked about the video, Rawat said that he had no information about it as of now.

In a bizarre case in the United States, a 25-year-old man shot dead his elder brother during an argument over a cheeseburger. Benjamin Middendorf, from St Cloud, Florida, is facing murder charges after shooting and killing his brother during an argument over a cheeseburger, the police said.

Benjamin called 911 on Thursday night and told the police he had just shot his brother, Nicholas, at their home, an arrest report said. Nicholas Middendorf, 28, was later declared dead at the home from a single gunshot wound to the chest, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

In the 911 call, Benjamin is heard screaming and shouting at a dispatcher that he was "trying to hold the pressure" on his brother's chest.

He is also heard telling the dispatcher they "were in a fight and I grabbed a gun and I shot him. Oh, my God."

Expelled Congress legislator Atanasio Monserratte, arrested for allegedly "buying" and raping a 16-year-old girl, underwent psychiatric tests today,police said.

"The accused was taken for psychiatric examination at the Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour near Panaji last evening and again today where various tests were conducted," a senior police official said today.

The legislator had undergone medical examination soon after his arrest three days ago.

The MLA would be produced before Goa Children's Court tomorrow where police would seek an extension of his remand. A senior police officer said the investigating agency has collected some evidence in connection with the case,including a blood-stained linen apparently used on the day of the alleged offence.

"The forensic examination would be conducted to check if the stains on the linen match the blood samples," he said.

Meanwhile, a local court today remanded another accused Rosy Ferros, who was arrested yesterday for allegedly selling the girl to the MLA, in police custody for three days.

15:32 New wasp species named after Brad Pitt!

Scientists have discovered two new wasp species from India and South Africa, and named one of them after Hollywood actor Brad Pitt. The new wasp species, called Conobregma bradpitti, belongs to a large worldwide group of wasps parasitising in moth or butterfly caterpillars.

These wasps lay their eggs into a host, which once parasitised starts hardening. Thus, the wasp cocoon can safely develop and later emerge from the 'mummified' larva. Despite their macabre behaviour, many of these wasp species are considered valuable in agriculture because of their potential as biological control.

The researchers, including Santhosh Shreevihar and Avunjikkattu Parambil Ranjith from the University of Calicut in Kerala, also describe another new species of parasitic wasp.

It is the first from its subtribe spotted in the whole of India, while its closest 'relative' lives in Nepal.

A local court in Surat has sentenced a man to three years imprisonment for possessing beef.

The court of Gandevi Judicial Magistrate (First Class) C Y Vyas on Friday sentenced Rafik Illyasbhai Khalifa (35) to three years in jail and also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on him, while convicting him under relevant sections of Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act-2011.

Notably, keeping, buying, selling or transporting beef or beef products is banned in Gujarat. While delivering the judgement, the judge observed that, "Cow is associated with the religious sentiment of a community. So such a crime threatens the peace of society. If the accused is given jail term, it will serve as an example for others to refrain from committing such a crime." He also stated that the argument of the defence that the court should be lenient because the accused was from a poor financial background, was "not justified."

A Pakistani national was apprehended after he crossed over to the Indian side along the International Border in R S Pura sector of Jammu district, the police said today.

Sahanulla, 38, a resident of Wajid Wali village in Chawinda in Sialkot district of Pakistan, was arrested yesterday by the Border Security Force when he crossed into the Indian side in Pindi area of the sector, an officer said.

Except for Rs 10 in Pakistani currency, no significant recoveries were made from him. It seems he had crossed the IB inadvertently, he said.

At a time when several parts of Uttar Pradesh are facing severe water crisis, thousands of litres of water was wasted just to clean the roads by which Cabinet Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav was due to pass by.

Yadav was to inaugurate the Alliance Buildmore Private Limited in Kanpur's Kalyanpur area where many tankers were seen wasting water on the streets.This is not the first instance when such wastage of water in the drought-hit Uttar Pradesh has been witnessed.

Earlier in April, thousands of litres of water was used for a make-shift helipad for Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in drought-hit Lalitpur.

Kim Jong Un made a major declaration during North Korea's seventh congress of the Workers' Party: His country would only use nuclear weapons if its sovereignty came under threat from another nuclear power, the government press agency reported Sunday.

Kim also pledged that North Korea would follow a policy of non-proliferation of nuclear technology.And he said North Korea is willing to improve and normalise relations with countries that have been "hostile" in the past.

Read this story HERE

The Central Information Commission has issued a fresh notice to Congress President Sonia Gandhi to explain her case before its Full Bench on allegations of not responding to queries in a RTI application despite orders of the transparency panel.

A Full Bench of the Commission comprising Information Commissioner Bimal Julka, Sridhar Acharyulu and Sudhir Bhargava will hear the complaint filed by activist R K Jain.

The fresh notice was issued after the orders of the Delhi high court which had directed in August, 2014 that the "complaint filed by the petitioner be considered expeditiously and preferably within a period of six months" and subsequent complaint to the Commission by Jain against its registrar. Jain had alleged that despite orders of the high court, Registrar M K Sharma has not fixed any date by the commission.

Threatening to file a contempt petition, Jain alleged the registrar is "deliberately, malafidely and persistently" defying the orders and directions of the Delhi high court and causing to fix the said case for hearing, despite issue of four weeks' notice.

Twelve passengers were killed and 39 others injured when a Himachal Road Transport Corporation bus plunged into a deep gorge near Jogindernagar in Mandi district late last night.

The bus carrying over 55 persons was on its way to RekongPeo, when the mishap took place about 210 km from Simla.

The condition of some of the injured persons was critical,police said, adding 39 people have been injured.

Among whom 20 were admitted in JoginderNagar Hospital and19 have been rushed to PGI Chandigarh and Government MedicalCollege, Tanda in Kangra, Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, Ritesh Chouhan said.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh this morning met the injured in Tanda hospital and announced an ex-gratia relief ofRs five lakh for the next of kin of each of the deceased.

Expressing grief over the mishap, the Chief Minister said,"It was painful to see the seriously injured at Tanda Hospital. We will provide all possible help to the injured and kin of diseased."

12:59 Canada fire out Of control, doubles in size

A wildfire that is raging across the province of Alberta is due to become Canada's costliest natural disaster later today, after reaching the size of Warwickshire.

The blaze, which has forced the evacuation of 88,000 people from the city of Fort McMurray, doubled in size on Saturday to around 494,000 acres, according to firefighters.

The English county of Warwickshire is 488,000 acres.Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale warned that the situation in the parched Alberta oil sands region was "unpredictable and dangerous".

Read this story HERE

11:44 Islamist gunmen kill 9 policemen in Egypt

In a revenge attack, Islamist gunmen today shot dead at least nine plainclothed policemen, including an officer, in southern Egypt's Helwan district.

The gunmen travelling in a truck stopped a microbus carrying the policemen in Omar Ibn Abdel Aziz street and sprayed it with bullets before fleeing from the scene, a security source said. Four armed terrorists got out of the truck and opened fire on the police microbus, according to a statement by the Ministry of Interior. Security forces have rushed to the place of the incident and are currently searching for the attackers, it said.

Islamist group Shabab el-Mokawma el-Shabia (public resistance) has claimed responsibility for the attack.

In a statement published on its Facebook page, the group said the attack was carried out in memory of Rabaa victims (who were killed during the dispersal of the Muslim Brotherhood's Rabaa sit-in in August 2013 by police).

The attack came to commemorate 1000 days of the attack, it said.

Bharatiya Janata Party MP Kirit Somaiya on Sunday said that he would be raising the Bikaner land grab issue allegedly involving Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra in Parliament tomorrow.

"Robert Vadra has parked the scam money through web of companies via these solar land transactions and parked the scam money in his own company. I am going to raise this issue tomorrow in Parliament, let government brief the people how the jija ji of Gandhi family has parked scam money," he told ANI.

Pakistani law enforcement agencies claimed to have arrested an Indian who has been illegally residing in the country with fake documents for the past five years.

The Foreigners Registration Cell said that Indian national Arshad Hussain was picked up from the Jail road area in Karachi yesterday.

"He has been living in Karachi illegally for the last five years as we have recovered his Indian passport and other documents," Arif Khan, an FRC official said.

According to Arif, Hussain had reached Karachi from Mumbai in 2011.

Suspected militants today snatched four rifles from policemen on duty at a police post in south Kashmir's Kulgam district.

The militants fled away with four rifles two SLRs and two INSAS rifles from a police post guarding the minority community in Adijan area of Kulgam at around 2 AM, a police official said.

He said the police have launched a manhunt to nab the rifle snatchers. Police has also started an investigation into the incident, the official said.

11:11 BJP executive likely to meet on June 11-12

The BJP National Executive is set to meet next month and party president Amit Shah is expected to recast the key decision making body and other frontal organisations before the exercise.

Party sources said the executive may meet on June 11-12. The meeting will come within three months of the last executive meet held in the national capital on March 19-20. Though the party's constitution envisages meeting of the executive every three months, the practice is not followed strictly. The last executive meeting had happened almost a year after the previous one in Bengaluru.

The upcoming meeting will have extra significance as Shah is set to rejig the office-bearers before that and the new team will reflect the fresh inner dynamics within the party.

There is the buzz that a reshuffle in the Union Council of Ministers will also take place around the time and some party office bearers and ministers may swap places.

Indian Railways has launched a Bharat Darshan tourist train for pilgrims to visit Shirdi, Tirupati, Jagannath Puri, Gangasagar, Baidyanath Dham and Jyotirlingams among others.

Comprising 10 coaches, the train begins its 'East Darshan' on May 8 from Chandigarh and travelling from Delhi Cantonment to cover Jagannath Puri, Gangasagar, Baidyanath Dham, Gaya, Banaras and Ayodhya.

The bookings are being done by IRCTC and it has firmed up a budget-friendly package for pilgrims, said a senior railway ministry official.

According to the package, a person has to pay Rs 830 per day to selected destinations in the east or south of the country or packages that cover major religious sites. The package includes train journey, road transportation, accommodation, sightseeing at tourist locations and onboard and off-board meals.

Bharat Darshan will also cover the '7 Jyotirlingam' package beginning on May 23 from Chandigarh through Delhi Cantonment and will cover Ujjain (Omkareshwar and Mahakaleshwar), Dwarka (Nageshwar), Veraval (Somnath), Aurangabad (Grishneshwar) and Nasik (Bhimashankar and Triyambakeshwar).

There will be another '7 Jyotirlingam' tour which begins on June 6 from Delhi Safdarjung through Lucknow covering Ujjain (Omkareshwar and Mahakaleshwar), Dwarka (Nageshwar), Veraval (Somnath), Aurangabad (Grishneshwar) and Nasik (Bhimashankar and Triyambakeshwar).

The train also offers a 'Dakshin Darshan with Shirdi' tour package which starts on June 27 from Chandigarh through Delhi Cantonment covering Shirdi, Tirupati, Kanchipuram, Rameshwaram, Madurai, Kanyakumari, Mysore and Bangalore.

The Bharat Darshan tourist train has 10 coaches and is being serviced by trained tour managers.

09:40 At least 12 killed in Himachal bus tragedy

At least 12 persons were killed on the spot and 39 others injured, when a Himachal Road Transport Corporation bus plunged into a deep gorge near Jogindernagar in Mandi district late last night, the police said.

The ill-fated bus, carrying over 55 persons was on its way to Rekong Peo, when the mishap took place about 210 km from Shimla.

Of the 12, eight bodies have been retrieved from the wreckage of the bus and more deaths are not ruled out as some of the injured persons were in critical condition, the police said, adding 39 people have been injured.

Rescue operations are in progress and the injured persons have been rushed to PGI Chandigarh, Government Medical College, Tanda (Kangra) and other hospitals. The victims are yet to identified.

(Photograph has been used for representational purpose only).

A 16-year-old girl was allegedly raped by five persons in Adilabad district of Telangana, following which all the five accused, besides 16 villagers, who held a panchayat to 'settle' the matter were also arrested on Saturday, police said.

The victim, a Class X student, had on May 5 lodged a complaint with Madamarri police station, alleging that five persons, who are her neighbours, threatened her and raped her separately since January, 2015, police inspector P Sadaiah said.

The minor girl said that she got impregnated, and the medical examination has revealed that she is 25 weeks pregnant, he said.

The accused, identified as Mahendar, his father Laxmaiah, Santosh, Vijay Kumar and Prashant, were arrested, the inspector said.

Sixteen out of 20 villagers, who had held a village panchayat seeking to 'settle the matter' concerning the alleged rape were also incarcerated, the official said.

The arrested persons were produced before a court and efforts are on to nab the four other villagers who are absconding, he said.

The girl in her complaint said she approached the villagers of Pallemguda of Kasipet mandal of Adilabad district, who held a panchayat over the issue, even as one of the accused came forward to marry her, he said.

Also, she was offered Rs 2.5 lakh (Rs 50,000 each) by the five accused 'to settle the matter', though she and her family members lodged a police complaint.

00:09 Babul Supriyo discharged from AIIMS

Union minister Babul Supriyo, who was admitted at All India Institute of Medical Science after he sustained injuries in a road accident, was discharged on Saturday.

He was injured when the motorcycle he was driving hit an SUV near southwest Delhi's Subroto Park area at around 9.10 pm.

Doctors had on Friday said that Supriyo suffered injuries on left elbow soft tissue and left chest wall soft tissue and that he had been kept under observation because of the high velocity impact of the accident.

"He was discharged today. He was kept under observation for 24 hours because of the high velocity impact of the accident," said a senior doctor of AIIMS.

The 45-year-old minister of state for urban development met with the accident when he was going to the Indira Gandhi International Airport to receive his daughter.

00:06 Top headlines at this hour

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