PTI/IANS
Probe begins to verify if women entered Sabarimala temple
Thiruvananthapuram, April 18 (IANS): State Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran on Tuesday told media that a probe has begun into reports that a few women worshipped at Kerala’s famous Sabarimala temple last week. Photographs of woman devotees worshipping at the Sabarimala temple were published online on April 12.
According to the temple rules, women in the age group of 10-50 years cannot enter the temple premises.
Army Jawan dies in accidental misfire along LoC in Poonch
Jammu, April 18 (PTI): An Army Jawan posted along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district in Jammu and Kashmir died in an accidental fire from his service weapon. A jawan deputed on a forward post along the LoC in Mendhar sector of Poonch district received bullet wounds due to accidental fire around 2150 hours last night, Defence spokesman Lt Col Manish Mehta said today. Sepoy Manmohan Budhani (23) later succumbed to injuries, he said.
Congress woos Mani, seeks his return to UDF
Thiruvananthapuram, April 18 (IANS): Nine months after the third biggest ally of the Congress-led-UDF -- Kerala Congress (Mani) -- walked out of the alliance, the Congress party on Tuesday said it wished that the alliance partner would return. In August 2016, the Kerala Congress (Mani) led by its supremo K.M. Mani, who completed 50 years as a legislators, at its party meeting decided to walk out of the Congress-led-United Democratic Front. Since then the six legislators of the party have been sitting as a separate block in the 140-member Kerala assembly. It was state Congress President M.M. Hassan who on Tuesday extended the olive branch and wished for their return.
Former telecom ministry director, wife sent to jail
New Delhi, April 18 (IANS): A special CBI court here on Tuesday sent a former director of telecommunication department in the Ministry of Communications and his wife to judicial custody in a disproportionate assets case.Kailash Patil Aneja, a 1981 batch Indian Economic Service officer, was Director (ERU) in the telecommunication department at Sanchar Bhawan in the national capital. The special judge at Patiala House Court sentenced Aneja to four years’ rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs 25 lakh while his wife Anita was slapped with three years’ rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs one lakh in a disproportionate assets case.
Class 6 student commits suicide after tiff with classmates
Kolkata, April 18 (IANS): A Class 6 student allegedly committed suicide following a tiff with her classmates in south Kolkata’s Behala, police said on Tuesday. “Srestha Dey (11), a Class 6 student of Jodhpur Park Girls High School, committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling fan at her house at A.K. Paul Road in Behala’s Parnasree area at around 10 p.m. on Monday,” an officer from Parnasree Police Station said.
As many as 173 candidates in the April 23 civic elections face criminal cases while another 116 have serious cases of murder, kidnapping and crime against women pending against them, a report said on Tuesday. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has the highest number of candidates with criminal cases -- 35 of the 260 candidates, around 14 per cent of the total. Among other parties, the Congress had eight per cent candidates with criminal records -- 21 of its 250 contestants. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has seven per cent candidates with criminal cases against them -- 13 out of 191 candidates whose affidavits were analysed.
he Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh in a money laundering case. He must appear before it on April 20, an official told IANS on Tuesday. Earlier the ED had summoned him on April 13. But he failed to appear before it. The senior Congress leader had allegedly avoided earlier summons to get his statement recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). He is said to have excused himself by referring to his official commitments.
A Delhi court today reserved its order on CBI’s plea seeking its permission to conduct a lie- detector test on Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, who has been given a clean chit by the agency in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, and arms dealer Abhishek Verma, for further probe. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Shivali Sharma fixed the matter for May 9 to pronounce the order on the application after hearing the arguments of the counsel for CBI, Tytler, Verma and the riot victims. CBI, said that the consent for polygraph test should be unconditional.
Intense heatwave conditions continued to prevail in parts of Haryana and Punjab today, with Narnaul once again turning out to be the hottest place in the two states at 44.8 degrees Celsius. The maximum temperature recorded at Narnaul in Haryana was seven notches above normal, a MeT Department official said here. Ambala and Karnal also recorded above normal maximum temperatures of 40.2 deg C and 41 deg C respectively. Chandigarh recorded the season’s hottest day at 40 degrees Celsius, six notches above normal.
A servitor of the Jagannath Temple here was detained by the police today for allegedly threatening to oppose West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s visit to the 12th century shrine tomorrow. Somanath Khuntia, a sevayat of the temple, had reportedly claimed that the servitors were annoyed with Banerjee as she had allegedly supported the consumption of beef. “We came to know from media reports that she supports eating beef. It is against our culture and traditions. She should not be allowed to enter the Jagannath Temple. We will oppose her visit to the shrine,” he had reportedly said. Khuntia was detained for questioning by the police, Puri Superintendent of Police Sarthak Sarangi said.
