India

Mumbai, Oct 12 (PTI) Dissident BJP leader Ashish Deshmukh, who resigned as a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly last week, has also quit the primary membership of the party.

He alleged that policies of the BJP-led state government had created a "paralysis".

Deshmukh, who represented Katol Assembly constituency in Vidarbha region, sent his resignation letter to BJP president Amit Shah Thursday.

Pune, Oct 12 (PTI) A case of alleged extortion has been registered against Yogesh Tilekar, a BJP MLA from Pune, and two others, police said Friday.

Tilekar, his brother Chetan and his associate Ganesh Kamthe were booked under IPC section 385 (extortion) for allegedly demanding Rs 50 lakh from a private firm to allow it to lay optical fibre cables for internet, police said.

(Maha), Oct 12 (PTI) Days after a local woman BJP activist was killed in her flat here in Maharashtra, her domestic help has been arrested for the crime, police said Friday.

Rupali Chavan (36) was found dead in her house in the Nallasopara area of Palghar district on October 9. She was killed two days earlier, the police had said early this week.

Mumbai, Oct 12 (PTI) Congress and NCP leaders in Maharashtra met here Friday to continue their discussions on alliance for the next year's LokSabha and Assembly elections.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar had held a discussion on alliance in Delhi on Thursday.

"Our endeavour is to ensure that a maximum number of like-minded parties come together to defeat the BJP," state Congress chief Ashok Chavan said Friday after the meeting.

Srinagar, Oct 13 (PTI) An unidentified militant was Saturday killed in an encounter with security forces in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said.

Based on specific intelligence inputs, security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Babgund area of the south Kashmir district in the morning, a police official said.

He said the search operation turned into an encounter after the militant fired upon the forces who retaliated.

In the ensuing gunfight, the militant was killed, the official said.

Badaun, Oct 13 (PTI) A five-year-old girl was raped by a neighbour, who left her in an unconscious state, in the Sahasawan area here following which the accused was arrested, police said Saturday.

Superintendent of Police (Rural) Surendra Pratap Singh said, "The five-year-old girl was raped by her neighbour after he found her alone in the house.

"He fled the spot when she fell unconscious. The incident came to light, when her mother reached home, and found the girl lying unconscious."

Aizawl, Mijoram; Oct 13 (PTI) A Champai district court has sentenced a man to 18 years rigorous imprisonment for raping a minor girl three years ago.

Special judge R Vanlalena convicted Lalventhanga of Biate village in Champai district, which borders Myanmar, under the POCSO Act and slapped a fine of Rs 5,000 on him on Thursday.

Lalventhanga, on February 26, 2015, had lured the girl with some sweets into his house and raped her in his bedroom.

KANPUR: A 30 MLD sewage treatment plant is to be constructed at Panki by the year 2020, as reports said.

The new plant will purify the tributary river Pandu, which originates from Farrukhabad district and joins the Ganges at Fatehpur district passing through various districts.

An amount of Rs 223 crore was estimated for its construction, and the work was expected to begin from October 15.

Aligarh (UP), Oct 12; PTI:  Three Kashmiri students of the AMU were suspended after they allegedly tried to hold a prayer meeting for Hizbul Mujahideen commander Manan Bashir Wani, who was killed in a gunbattle with security forces in north Kashmir, officials said Friday.

Some Kashmiri students of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) on Thursday had gathered near Kennedy Hall in the campus to hold funeral prayers for Wani, following which the varsity staff and student union rushed to the spot and tried to stop them, AMU spokesperson and Professor Shafey Kidwai said Friday.

Tiruchirappalli, Oct 12; PTI:  Passengers of a Dubai-bound Air India Express flight had a miraculous escape when their aircraft's wheels hit a perimeter wall during take off here in the early hours of Friday, officials said.

The plane, with 136 passengers and crew members on-board, continued for Dubai and was eventually diverted to Mumbai after Trichy airport officials reported to the pilots that the aircraft might have come in contact with a wall.