Indian Sub-continent

New Delhi, Feb 20; GANASHAKTI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday held RCom chairman Anil Ambani and two others guilty of contempt of court for violating its order by not paying dues of Rs 550 crore to Ericsson, and said they faced a three-month jail term if Rs 453 crore was not paid to the telecom equipment maker in four weeks.

The Supreme Court held that the RCom chairman as well as Reliance Telecom chairman Satish Seth and Reliance Infratel chairperson Chhaya Virani breached the undertaking given to the apex court and related orders.

New Delhi, Feb 21 (PTI) The Supreme Court has agreed to hear on Friday a PIL seeking a direction to authorities to protect Kashmiri students who are allegedly being attacked across the country in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror strike.

A bench, comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices L N Rao and Sanjiv Khanna, on Thursday took note of senior advocate Colin Gonsalves' submission that the plea needed to be heard urgently as it relates to the safety and security of students.

New Delhi, Feb 21 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued shooting for a film in the Corbett National Park for his "propaganda and publicity" till the evening of February 14 despite the Pulwama attack taking place in the afternoon that day, the Congress on Thursday alleged, citing reports in a section of the media.

There was no immediate reaction from the Prime Minister's Office and the BJP over the allegations.

Hyderabad, Feb 21 (PTI) The Congress has gone well beyond whatever it has done in the past to reach out to opposition parties and bring them together to take on BJP-led NDA in the Lok Sabha elections, says senior party leader Salman Khurshid.

The former union minister also said Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's recent entry into active politics has energised the Congress 'troops' ahead of the Lok Sabha elections due by May and the party workers' enthusiasm is very high.

New Delhi, Feb 20 (PTI) Supreme Court judge, Justice L Nageswara Rao, Wednesday recused himself from hearing the CBI's plea alleging obstruction in its probe into the multi-crore Sarada chit fund scam probe by West Bengal authorities.

A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Rao and Sanjiv Khanna adjourned the hearing on pleas of the CBI, saying that one of the judges was not inclined to be part of the bench to hear the matter.

Justice Rao said he had appeared for the state as a lawyer and therefore cannot hear the case.

New Delhi, Feb 20 (PTI) Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson Wednesday said it has started deploying 5G-ready equipment on Vodafone Idea network.

The equipment will be used for 4G services at present and can be upgraded to provide 5G services as per business requirement of Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL), Ericsson said.

Thane,Feb 20 (PTI) A leopard was spotted at a shopping mall and a hotel in Thane city of Maharashtra on Wednesday morning and later caught by forest officials after over six hours, an official said.

The big cat was initially thought to be a panther but it was later found to be a leopard.

New Delhi, Feb 20 (PTI) Two Kashmiri shawl vendors have claimed they were beaten up and called "stone pelters" by unidentified men on a train, forcing them to cut short their business trip to Rohtak, officials said Wednesday.

The incident comes amid reports of some Kashmiri people claiming they were being targeted in many parts of the country in the aftermath of the February 14 attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama that left over 40 personnel dead.

Lucknow, Feb 20 (PTI) Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati claimed on Wednesday that the BJP was afraid of its tie-up with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh and was now desperate to forge an alliance of its own.

Her remarks came in the wake of the BJP announcing a tie-up with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu.

New Delhi, Feb 20 (PTI) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday took over the probe into the February 14 terror attack in Pulwama from the Jammu and Kashmir police, officials said.

The agency has re-registered the case and formed a team to investigate the audacious terror strike in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed, an NIA spokesperson here said.