A case has been registered against a youth, who had uploaded a 'prank' video on YouTube in which he could be seen kissing girls randomly and running away, for outraging modesty of women and publishing obscene material.

Dependra Pathak, joint commissioner of police (Southwest) and Delhi Police spokesperson, said a case under sections 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code and 67 Information Technology Act (Punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) has been registered against Sumit Verma, whose YouTube channel goes by the title 'The Crazy Sumit'.

Police said a case has been registered since social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube, where the controversial video were uploaded, will be able to share the data with them only after legal action is initiated in the matter.

Police will scan Sumit's Facebook profile to gain the details about his whereabouts and will also write to the social media network to share the log details of his profile.

The video in question was apparently shot in Connaught Place. It drew criticism and provoked public outrage in wake of mass molestation incident in Bengaluru and similar incidents in New Delhi's Mukherjee Nagar on New Year's night.

The video has been taken down following criticism on social media. -- PTI

JUST IN: Trinamool Congress member of Parliament Sudip Bandyopadhyay's CBI remand extended by four days by a Bhubaneswar court in the Rose Valley chit fund scam case.

Finance Ministry today invited suggestions and comments from Twitterati on the focus of upcoming Budget to generate employment.

People can exercise their voting option on the official twitter handle of the Ministry of Finance. The voting would remain open for next 4 days.

'Which area (MSME/low cost housing/automobiles and spare parts/garmenting) Government should give priority to generate employment? Please vote and give your valuable suggestions in the comments section,' the tweet said.

Initial voting trend suggests focus of the Budget for 2017-18 to be unveiled on February 1 should be on MSME followed by low-cost housing and automobile to generate employment.

'Which section (farmers/youth/women&children/ underprivileged) needs more focus in the forthcoming Budget? Please vote and give your valuable suggestions in the comments section,' another tweet said.

Initial voting trend to this post suggests focus should be on farmers followed by youth and underprivileged.

Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav has said that there is 'no question of split in the party'.

"The party is one and we will begin campaign shortly," he told ANI.

He also said that Akhilesh Yadav will return as the chief minister after the elections (if the party wins).

He said he has tried his best to keep the party united. -- ANI

Sources from the income tax department have said that several cooperative banks have been found involved in laundering unaccounted cash at unprecedented scale post November 8.

They said that cash in unallotted and benami lockers was seized from cooperative banks at several places, including Solapur and Pandharpur in Maharashtra, Surat in Gujarat and Jaipur and Alwar in Rajasthan.

In Alwar, a cooperative bank was found to be laundering personal unaccounted cash of Rs 2 crore by the management. Directors cheated the bank of Rs 8 crore, they said.

In a cooperative bank in Jaipur, unrecorded cash worth 1.5 crore was found secreted away in an almirah in the bank, the I-T sources said. -- ANI

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly today said he has received an anonymous 'threat letter' that has warned him against attending a University programme in Medinipore.

"Yes I have received the letter on January 7 and I have informed this to the police and the organisers," Ganguly said about the Vidyasagar University programme to be jointly organised by the District Sports Association on January 19.

The Cricket Association of Bengal president however did not rule him out in attending the programme.

"Let's see, nothing has been decided yet but it will be a live show programme and you all will come to know if I go there," he said. -- PTI

For the April-December period of the current fiscal, indirect tax receipts soared 25 per cent to Rs 6.30 lakh crore, which is about 81 per cent of Budget Estimates. Direct tax collection was also up 12.01 per cent at Rs 5.53 lakh crore, 65 per cent of BE.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said his government is focused on development of railways shedding earlier practices wherein the ministry was used as a "bargaining tool" by the main ruling party to "distribute trophies to its allies". 

The Congress today moved the Election Commission demanding removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's photograph from government posters at public places, including petrol pumps, ahead of assembly polls in five states. AICC Secretary and head of Legal and Human Rights department, K C Mittal, raised strong objection to presence of Modi's photograph in posters of oil companies put up to popularise cooking gas distribution initiative.


He said the EC should order removal of such posters as they are not permissible during the operation of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) in wake of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur.


"The hoardings, posters, banners of the central government with the photographs of the Prime Minister at any place within the election-bound states cannot continue, since it is in violation of the MCC and will interfere with free and fair elections.


"It is requested that the Commission may please order removal of all such hoardings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the petrol pumps and any other place in these states along with other posters, banners of the central government or central bodies in the form of any advertisement by them," the Congress complaint to EC said. In his complaint to Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi and other ECs, Mittal said the Commission has got removed such posters carrying the photograph of Chief Ministers of the states going to polls. The same should be done in the case of Prime Minister's photo, he said.

Our favourite tweeple lures us with this gorgeous picture of Gulmarg. ‏@abdullah_omar  "This is what our ski slopes in #Gulmarg look like now. I've to be in Jammu for the assembly session. What's your excuse for not being here?" With an honorary 'tourism minister' like Omar Abdullah, the former J&K CM has us packing our bags. 

Priyanka Chopra took to Twitter to share a picture of hers with Meryl Streep. The two are happily posing backstage at Golden Globes. Streep was honored at the Golden Globes with a Lifetime award and she took the opportunity to attack US President-elect Donald Trump, without actually naming him. In a nearly 6-minute address while accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award, the actress denounced Trump's campaign rhetoric and criticized him for mocking a disabled reporter.

Priyanka Chopra who was at the Globes to present an award to Billy Bob Thornton, shared her fan girl moment on Twitter, posting, "Quoting my favourite #MerylStreep, as I call an end to this night...when u have a broken heart..make art. You are astounding.#fangirl"


Also see: Golden Globe 2017: Priyanka sizzles in gold!

CBSE class X and class XII exams to now begin from March 9 in view of the state assembly elections in five states.

Two Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel were suspended in connection with the alleged thrashing of a differently-abled man at Balasore station in Odisha after Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu ordered a probe into the incident.


The information about the suspension came into light through a twitter post by Prabhu, who had yesterday directed the Director General of RPF to investigate the matter after a video clip of the incident went viral on local news channels.


"I had taken immediate cognisance of the case, had ordered enquiry.  Subsequently two RPF personnel responsible have been put under suspension," Prabhu tweeted.


The suspended personnel were on train escort duty at the time of the incident, Railways officials said. Action was taken after three personnel from Balasore RPF who were on platform duty on that day were summoned by the Railways authorities at Kharagpur and interrogated, they said.


The video clip, taken from a mobile phone by an onlooker, showed unidentified armed personnel kicking the differently-abled man, evoking sharp criticism from different sections of the society.


While locals alleged that the man was assaulted by RPF personnel on January 3 on a platform, local officials of the RPF said they had no information about the incident and had not received any complaints regarding it. Both RPF and GRP of Balasore said they had no knowledge about such an incident. It was alleged that the differently-abled man (who has lost one leg), was thrashed for allegedly stealing a mobile phone of a passenger in a Guwahati-bound train.

The Madhya Pradesh government on Monday announced major tax exemptions on purchase of point-of-sale (PoS) machines to promote cashless and digital transactions."There would be exemption of 14 per cent in VAT and two per cent in entry tax on the purchase of PoS machines. State cabinet has approved the proposal in this regard," MP finance minister Jayant Malaiya told journalists after the cabinet meeting.


Also read: The foot soldiers of Modi's cashless India

The Central Election Committee of BJP is set to meet on Wednesday to finalise first list of party candidates for the assembly elections in five states starting February 4.


The committee, whose members include Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah, is likely to announce the names of candidates for Punjab and Goa, two states going to poll on February 4.


The Goa unit of BJP has already declared names of party candidates for most of the 40 seats in the state and the CEC is likely to approve them in its meeting. The notification for Goa and Punjab polls will be issued on January 11 with the last date of filing nominations on January 18, according to the schedule announced by the Election Commission. After Punjab and Goa, Uttarakhand goes to polls on February 15 and the schedule for two-phase Manipur elections is March 4 and 8.


The crucial seven-phase Uttar Pradesh assembly polls are scheduled for February 11, 15, 19, 23, March 4 and 8.

Just in: Congress seeks the removal of the PM's posters form petrol pumps before the five-state polls and writes to the poll panel.

US president-elect Donald Trump slammed Meryl Streep as 'one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood' after she used her Golden Globes acceptance speech to publicly slam him. @realDonaldTrump  tweeted saying, "Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn't know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a..... "


Streep who was honoured with the Cecil B DeMille lifetime achievement award at the Globes today, did not name Trump, but used her entire speech to say his actions legitimised bullying.


The president-elect, who is due to be inaugurated in less than two weeks, had dismissed the actress as "a Hillary lover" in a telephone interview with the New York Times.

A month after former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's death, groups of AIADMK loyalists continue to throng the house of her niece Deepa Jayakumar, urging her to float a political party. Read more

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today urged President Pranab Mukherjee to "save" the people of the country from the hardship caused by demonetisation and the resultant cash crisis, while claiming that the CBI was being used to victimise her party.


"I urge the President, who is the constitutional head of the country, that if some government through its arbitrary decisions takes the country to the brink of disaster, as the protector of the Constitution give protection to the people and save the people," the Trinamool Congress chief said.


"Famine has started. Indications of the beginning of the famine are coming. So save the people. If people don't survive then nothing will happen," she said while inaugurating the 'Mati Utsav' (Soil Festival) here. Asking the common people to rise in protest, Banerjee said, "there will be some hardship, but someone has to bell the cat. Trinamool Congress will do that".


"We will take care of all the hardship that may befall us owing to our protests," she said.


File pic.

Rajeev Sharma informs us: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is learnt to have told BJP leaders at the closed door session of the January 6-7 BJP national executive meeting in New Delhi that the BJP will win at least 275 seats in the Uttar Pradesh assembly election.

The UP assembly has 403 seats.

Modi told the meeting of former BJP presidents, party chief ministers and around 350 party members that the people of UP had wholeheartedly welcomed and supported his demonetisation scheme, which will be translated into votes in the state election.

Knowledgeable sources said the prime minister made it clear that he would brook no intervention from any quarters in the BJP's ongoing elections campaign as he is personally leading the campaign and knew what was the best for the party.

BJP insiders are flummoxed by Modi's assertion of the party winning at least 275 of the 403 seats.

Narendra Modi's crackdown on civil society in India. Read more

The Rajya Sabha Chair Dr Hameed Ansari has received a letter from Mulayam Singh Yadav asking for the expulsion of SP RS MP Ramgopal Yadav from the Upper House. The request will be examined.


Ramgopal Yadav is an Akhilesh Yadav loyalist.


Also readformer SC Justice Markandey Katju's column: Why I think there's no way the BJP can win the UP assembly elections.

As I watched Donald J. Trump campaigning, I thought, I've seen this show before. It was in the 1990s in Bombay (now called Mumbai). And the man playing the Trump part was Bal Keshav Thackeray, the leader of the Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena party, who rode to power on a wave of outrageous stories, bluster, lies, bigotry and showmanship. He died in 2012 after ruling -- and ruining -- the city I grew up in. The road to understanding Mr. Trump might just lie through understanding Mr. Thackeray, and what became of Bombay, writes Suketu Mehta for the New York Times.  Do read

Details of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Delhi University degree, sought aggressively by Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party, may be released soon, reports NDTV.

The Delhi University's objections to providing these details to a Right To Information (RTI) campaigner have been overruled by the Central Information Commission.

RTI petitioner Neeraj Sharma, said to be an AAP supporter, had asked for the records of all those students who graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1978, the year PM Modi secured his degree, according to the university.

But he was told that the information is "private" and has nothing to do with "public activity or interest".

Boris Johnson has arrived in New York for talks with senior members of Donald Trump's transition team, the Foreign Office said.News of the Foreign Secretary's surprise trip emerged just hours after Theresa May labelled the US President-elect's controversial comments about groping women "unacceptable". Johnson was expected to meet Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and the president-elect's strategist Steve Bannon in New York.  Read more

French police have arrested 16 suspects in connection with the robbery of the US reality TV star Kim Kardashian West in Paris in October, reports the Guardian.

The suspects, a number of them reportedly well known to detectives for armed robbery, were picked up in coordinated early morning raids, most of them in theParis region but also in Normandy and the French Riviera.Police had identified two of the suspects from fingerprints left at the luxury apartment where Kardashian West had Euro 9 million in jewels and valuables snatched during Paris fashion week, and immediately put them and their associates under surveillance. The oldest is said to be in his 60s.


Detectives can hold them for questioning for up to 96 hours.

Days after the Madras High Court expressed doubt over the circumstances leading to the death of former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, the Apollo Hospital in their argument stated that it will file a response petition in a sealed cover to the court.


The hospital in their argument said that it is ready to submit all medical reports and discharge summary in a 'sealed cover' to the Madras High Court.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday urging the latter to consider promulgating an ordinance to resume the sport Jallikattu on Pongal this year.


The bull-fighting sport had been banned by the Supreme Court in May 2014 owing to animal welfare issues.


"Given that Pongal festival, which holds great importance to the people of Tamil Nadu, is less than a week away and Jallikattu is an integral part of the Pongal festivities, considering the urgency of the issue, Government of India should consider promulgating an ordinance removing the legal impediments, enabling the conduct of Jallikattu during Pongal, 2017," he said in the letter.


Panneerselvam also added that even Jayalalithaa had put forth a demand to Modi that the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests "should clearly denotify bulls as performing animals from a 2011 notification by the Ministry.


The other demand was to "suitably amend Section 11(3) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 by introducing a new clause 'f' in sub-section (3) of Section 11 specifically exempting Jallikattu in addition to other exemptions already provided in the Act," reports PTI.


The chief minister said that there has been "no action yet from government of India' on the aforesaid suggestions.

In Delhi as Akhilesh Yadav loyalists Ram Gopal Yadav and Naresh Agrawal arrive at the Election Commission office to stake claim to the party symbol -- cycle, Mulayam Singh addressing the press clarified that there was no problem between him and his son (Akhilesh Yadav). He said only one person was causing the rift in the party. "Akhilesh is my son. There are a few differences within the party which we will solve soon. The Election Commission will decide on our symbol," Mulayam Singh said.


Earlier today, Mulayam accompanied by brother Shivpal Yadav and close aide Amar Singh, met the Election Commission in Delhi to stake claim to the cycle.


On Saturday, Akhilesh's uncle and chief aide Ram Gopal Yadav carried to the Election Commission six boxes of documents to prove that the UP chief minister now heads the state's ruling party, having been named party president in place of his father at a meeting attended by most Samajwadi Party MLAs, other leaders and about 5,000 workers on January 1.

There will be no extra charge for card transactions at petrol pumps, the government decided today after petrol pump owners threatened to stop accepting cards. Petrol pumps will also continue to accept card payments.


"Consumers will not pay extra for digital transactions," Minister of State for Petroleum Dharmendra Pradhan said after a meeting.  There would be no burden on retail fuel outlets as well, he said.


According to the minister, banks and oil firms are in discussion on who will bear the extra cost charged by banks on card payments.After the government stepped in, petrol pumps deferred their move to stop credit and debit card transactions till January 13.


To promote cash-less transactions, the government had waived the Merchant Discount Rate on fuel purchase post demonetisation for consumers. But after the 50-day window, the banks decided to resume the charge on petrol pump owners.

Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis dedicated phase I of the ambitious Mumbai WiFi project. The WiFi city project envisages 1,200 hot spots, under an ambitious smart city mega-project by May 1, 2017.


Fadnavis says that 500 WiFi Hotspots will go live across various locations in Mumbai . Mumbai Wifi is Indias largest Public WiFi service and one of the largest globally too. "As committed, 1200 WiFi hotspots will be active by 1st May 2017. We will also monitor the progress on connectivity and speed. We are committed to give good experience to Mumbaikars and will resolve issues on priority. During the trial period from 2nd to 8th Jan about 23,000 users across the city signed up & and downloaded more than 2 TB of data.  It is an important step by our Government in the continual commitment of Aaple Sarkar for digital empowerment of Maharashtra!"

India has said Pakistan is behind the Akhnoor attack which killed three people. Minister of State, PMO Dr Jitendra Singh, said the terrorism perpetrated in India is from Pakistan.


At least three civilians employed as labourers with the General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF) were killed in a pre-dawn attack in Jammu districts Akhnoor sector on Monday, defence sources said.

The GREF is the parent cadre force of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) that builds and maintains border roads in the country.

Sources said two to three attackers launched an assault on the camp in in Battal village around 1am in Jourian area, 55km from Jammu, near the border with Pakistan.

Troops cordoned off the camp and launched an operation against the gunmen after this years first attack in the Jammu region.

Just in: Salman Khan will be handed out the verdict under the Arms Act case in the black buck poaching case of 1998 on January 18. Salman has been charged for poaching with a gun whose licence had expired.


In 2006, Salman had been convicted by the trial court and handed sentences of one and five years respectively for allegedly poaching three Chinkaras in two separate instances.

In February 2006, Salman Khan was convicted under the Wildlife Act for poaching a Chinkara at Bhawad near Jodhpur during the shooting of film Hum Saath Saath Hain in September 1998. Salman Khan was sentenced to one-year imprisonment and was slapped a fine of Rs 5,000.

Salman was accused of hunting two Chinkaras at Bhawad in Mathania near Jodhpur on September 26, 1998, and another Chinkara at Ghoda farms two days later on September 28th, while he was in Jodhpur.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi could be asked to explain his abrupt demonetization drive to a parliamentary committee, its chief, Congress leader VK Thomas, said today, reports PTI.


The Public Accounts Committee has ordered Urjit Patel, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, to meet it on the 20th of this month to explain both how the decision to demonetize was taken as also the impact on the country's economy.


Patel has also been sent a detailed list of questions on the process that abolished 500 and 1,000-rupee notes at just a few hours' notice on November 8.


The cash shortage that resulted has eased up a little in recent days, but there's still nowhere near enough of the new notes in supply and economists predict a slowdown in growth.


"The committee has all right to call anybody involved in the matter. But that will depend on the outcome of the January 20th meeting. We can call PM on demonetisation issue if members unanimously decide," said Thomas. 


He also said that when he met with the PM after the reform was introduced, "He said that the situation will be normal after 50 days by December-end. But it does not looks like (it)."RBI Governor Patel has been heavily faulted, including by opposition leaders, over the shortage of replacement currency and the continuing restrictions on the cash that people can withdraw from banks. 

SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav reaches the Election Commission office. 

Finance minister Arun Jaitley is addressing a press conference over a host of issues surrounding the note ban and the criticism of it. Direct and Indirect taxes moved up post note ban and collections are up in December as compared to November.

In a statement, the finance minister said that in December, customs collections dipped 6.1 per cent as gold imports came down; excise, which is linked to manufacturing increased 31.6 per cent; service tax up 12.4 per cent. Indirect tax collection in December 2016 up 14.2 per cent, excise collection up 43 per cent, service tax 23.9 per cent, customs duty increases 4.1 per cent, indirect tax collection in April-December 2015 up 25 per cent. April-December 2016 direct tax collection up 12.01 per cent. 

Former PM Manmohan Singh releases the Punjab Congress Manifesto for the upcoming polls.

Hillary Clinton will not run for any elected office again after losing to Donald Trump in the US Presidential polls, her Indian-American aide Neera Tanden has said amid reports that the former secretary of state could run for the post of New York Mayor.


"I think she's going to figure out ways to help kids and families. That's been what she's been focused on her whole life, and a lot of issues that are affecting them, over the next couple of years," Tanden told CNN. "But I don't expect her to ever run for any elected office again," she said.

State-run Dena Bank today said its board has approved raising of share capital by up to Rs 360 crore through issue of equity shares.