Indian Sub-continent

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.

KANPUR: Determined to conduct copy-free examinations of Kanpur University, the administrative officials of the university were showing attentiveness. In the raid at Karmshetra Degree College, Auriya conducted under university registrar on Sunday, the examinees were caught with copying materials and the mobile sets.

ISLAMABAD, March 5 (Xinhua) -- The Pakistani government has launched a major crackdown against proscribed organizations operating in the country banned by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) by freezing bank accounts and assets, local reports said on Tuesday.

The reports quoted the country's Foreign Ministry as reporting that the government had issued an order to streamline the procedure for implementation of UNSC sanctions against designated individuals and entities.

Gurgaon, March 6 ( PTI) A 27-year-old woman was raped by an occultist whom the victim and her husband had invited to perform a religious ritual in their home to drive away their poverty, police said Tuesday.

Guragon ACP (Crime) Shamsher Singh said the victim and her husband had come in the contact of one Amit of Ballabhgarh in Faridabad, who boasted of having divine powers.

New Delhi, Mar 6 (PTI) Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to file a case against him over allegations from BJP leaders that he was an anti-national and a Pakistan supporter.

In a series of tweets, Singh, who stirred a controversy on Tuesday by referring to the Pulwama terror attack as an "accident", questioned why calling the attacks a "durghatana" prompted Modi and three Union ministers to term him anti-national.

New Delhi, Mar 5 (PTI) The Congress will not form an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party in the national capital for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit told reporters on Tuesday.

"A unanimous decision has been taken that there will be no alliance in Delhi," Dikshit said.

The announcement by the former Delhi chief minister came following a meeting with Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Jaipur, Mar 5 (PTI) Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot said Tuesday the party will contest all 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state in the upcoming elections.

"Selection of nominees is in the final stage and a lot will be clear after the screening committee meeting on March 8 in New Delhi," Pilot told reporters.