India

Ajmer, May 24 (PTI) Two persons were booked here on the charge of rape, police said Friday.

The accused were identified as Kamal Meghwanshi (20) and Ramesh Meghwanshi (21), both residents of Kanwali village in Pushkar, police added.

The victim had lodged a complaint Thursday, accusing them of raping her in March, police said.

"Kamal allegedly abducted the victim and took her to Gujarat in March, where he along Kamal raped her," police said.

Chennai, May 24 (PTI) The Madras High Court has quashed a criminal case pending against senior IPS officer Jaffer Sait for alleged loss caused to the Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) in connection with allotment of a residential plot in his wife's name under the government discretionary quota (GDQ).

Justice P Rajamanickam on Thursday quashed the proceedings of the criminal case as the Union Home Ministry declined sanction for prosecution against the officer through an order dated November 29, 2013.

Despite such an order, the case had been kept pending for over five years.

Patna, May 24 (PTI) Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan on Friday mocked the Congress for eyeing the prime minister's post, but ending up with a tally which falls short to even help it get the chair of leader of the opposition.

Paswan further said he had predicted victory of his ministerial colleague Smriti Irani from Amethi against Rahul Gandhi.

Raipur, May 25 (PTI) A major tragedy was averted when security forces recovered five powerful IEDs, planted by Naxals, in Chhattisgarh's Kondagaon district, police said Saturday.

The IEDs, weighing 10 kg each and packed in cookers, were unearthed from a dirt track near a well between Uparchandeli and Khalichandeli villages under Keshkal police station when a joint team of security forces was carrying out a de-mining operation on Friday to detect explosives planted by ultras, a senior police official told PTI.

New Delhi, May 25 (PTI) Top Congress leaders from across the country Saturday got together to review the party's drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls, as the Congress Working Committee meeting got underway here.

The CWC meeting, chaired by Congress president Rahul Gandhi, is being attended by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Uttar Pradesh (East) in-charge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and chief ministers of four party-ruled states -- Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh -- and of the Union Territory Puducherry.

19 teenage students have died on Friday in a coaching centre located in Takshashila Arcade in Sarthana area of Surat when part of the building caught fire.

Srinagar, May 24: A Kashmiri named Zakir Musa has been killed in an alleged encounter with Indian security forces in Dadsara in Tral area of Pulwama district, an Indian official said.

The Indian security forces' spokesman alleged that a cordon and search operation in Dadsara in Tral area of Pulwama was conducted following information about presence of Kashmiris separatists.

23 May 2019; AFP: Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed an "inclusive" future for all Indians on Thursday after a landslide election victory that crushed the Gandhi dynasty's comeback hopes once again.

"Together we grow. Together we prosper. Together we will build a strong and inclusive India. India wins yet again!," Modi tweeted as delirious supporters of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) celebrated nationwide.

23 May 2019; AFP: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani rival Imran Khan sent messages highlighting the need for "peace" Thursday after Modi's hawkish party won a new term in power.

While the nuclear-armed rivals launched cross-border air strikes at each other barely three months ago, some analysts say the return of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in a new landslide could help peace prospects.

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi described his first term as “filling in potholes” — shorthand for addressing the country’s basic needs.

In a campaign speech in April, he pledged his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in the next five years would “try to address people’s aspirations and take the country to new heights.”

Modi claimed a decisive victory in India’s elections, the vote count showing his BJP winning a commanding majority in the lower house of Parliament allowing it to form a form a government on its own.