India

New Delhi, Mar 6 (PTI) India Wednesday said its first meeting with Pakistan to finalise the modalities for Kartarpur corridor would be held at the Indian side of the Attari-Wagah border on March 14.

The announcement came a day after Pakistan said it would send a delegation to India on March 14 to discuss a draft agreement for setting up of the corridor to facilitate visa-free visit of Sikh pilgrims to the Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib.

Panaji, Mar 6 (PTI) An Israeli national, who has been booked in narcotics cases in Goa, was injured in an attack by a group of people at the Anjuna beach near here, police said Wednesday.

The incident took place Tuesday night and the Israeli, David Driham, has lodged a complaint, they said.

The Anjuna police said Driham, in his complaint filed in the wee hours of Wednesday, accused a local businessman and people associated with him of assaulting him.

Mumbai, Mar 6 (PTI) The Maratha community in Maharashtra Wednesday threatened to vote against BJP and Shiv Sena in the upcoming Lok Sabha and state assembly polls, saying the two parties had failed to fulfil their demands.

The decision was taken by members of the Maratha Kranti Morcha (MKM) at a meeting.

MKM convener Mahesh Dongre said the Sena-BJP government had failed to fulfil the promises given to the Maratha community.

New Delhi, Mar 6 (PTI) A day after rejecting an alliance with AAP for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the Congress Wednesday claimed that nine MLAs of the ruling party in Delhi were in touch with it.

Delhi Congress spokesperson Jitendra Kochar claimed that the nine AAP MLAs wanted to join the Congress.

Varanasi (UP), Mar 6 (PTI) A 21-year-old woman, who went missing nine years ago, was rescued from Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi district on Wednesday, police said.

A raid was conducted at a house in a red-light area of Maruadih town and the woman was rescued. Two men and half-a-dozen women have been detained, the police said.

The Varanasi crime branch and the local police jointly conducted the raid and freed the woman, who had gone missing at the age of 12 from her house in Chandauli district, a police officer said.

Mumbai, Mar 6 (PTI) Former Maharashtra Director General of Police (DGP) D D Padsalgikar has been appointed the new UpaLokayukta of the state.

Governor Vidyasagar Rao has approved the proposal of government to appoint the retired IPS officer as Upa Lokayukta (or deputy Lokayukta), a Raj Bhavan statement said Wednesday night.

Last week, Padsalgikar retired from the post of DGP.

Thane, Mar 6 (PTI) A court in Thane district Wednesday awarded death sentence to a man for raping and murdering an 18-year-old woman in 2013.

Additional Sessions Judge at Kalyan, N M Waghmare, held Ashok Mukane, 37, guilty under IPC sections 376 (rape) and 302 (murder), and also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on him.

The prosecution told the court that Mukane, who hailed from Shahapur in Thane district, had committed the crime on September 5, 2013.

New Delhi, Mar 6 (PTI) Patidar leader Hardik Patel is said to join the Congress soon and is likely to contest the Lok Sabha election from Jamnagar constituency in Gujarat, top party sources said on Wednesday.

"Patel, who led the agitation demanding reservation for the patidar community in Gujarat is likely to join the Congress on March 12 in the presence of party chief Rahul Gandhi," the sources said.

The Jamnagar Lok Sabha seat is currently represented by Poonamben Maadam of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Shimla, Mar 6 (PTI) All major railways station on the Shimla-Kalka heritage route will get free Wi-Fi, officials said on Wednesday.

Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jai Ram Thakur launched the free Wi-Fi facility along with the 'hop-on hop-off' service which will let passengers get down at any station and board another incoming train without purchasing new tickets.

This would help in boosting tourism on wayside stations like Barog, Solan, Shogi and so on, Thakur said.

According to a report published in The Hindu, Union government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that the documents related to Rafale fighter aircraft deal have been stolen from the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

A three-judge Bench, comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S.K. Kaul and K.M. Joseph, began the open court hearing of the Rafale case.