India

NEW DELHI, May 18 (Reuters) - India's Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the release of A.G. Perarivalan, who was convicted of involvement in the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.

Gandhi was killed by an ethnic Tamil suicide bomber while campaigning in an election in the southern Indian town of Sriperumbudur in May 1991. His killing was seen as an act of retaliation after he sent Indian peacekeepers to Sri Lanka in 1987.

Perarivalan was convicted in 1991 of purchasing the batteries used to detonate the bomb that killed Gandhi.

Balasore (Odisha)/New Delhi May 18 (PTI) The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Navy Wednesday successfully conducted the maiden flight-test of indigenously-developed Naval anti-ship missile launched from a Naval helicopter from Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur off the coast of Odisha, DRDO sources said.

The mission met all its objectives. It is the first indigenous air launched anti-ship missile system developed for the Indian Navy, they said.

Mathura (UP), May 17 (PTI) A group of lawyers and law students has filed a plea in a court here demanding that Muslims be restrained from offering prayers at the Shahi Idgah mosque, which they said has been built at the place believed to be the birthplace of Lord Krishna.

Ten separate petitions have earlier been filed in Mathura courts by different Hindu groups seeking the removal of the mosque, which they claimed was built at the birthplace of the deity, within the 13.37-acre premises of the Katra Keshav Dev temple.

Jaipur, May 17 (PTI) Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday accused the BJP of creating a new drama in the country on the issue of Varanasi's Mandi Gyanvapi mosque and asserted that saffron party's policies are going to ruin the nation.

"BJP has no faith in democracy Its leaders are doing politics wearing the mask of democracy. The policies, programmes, and principles of these (BJP) people are going to ruin the country," Gehlot said, while addressing the Azadi Gaurav Yatra of Congress Seva Dal here.

New Delhi, May 17 (PTI) The construction work of Ram temple at Ayodhya, a three-storey structure, is proceeding as per schedule, an official statement said on Tuesday.

According to the statement from the Ram temple construction committee Chairman Nripendra Misra's office, the construction of plinth with granite stone, which started in February 2022, is planned for completion by August 2022. About 17,000 stones of size 5ftx2.5ftx3ft will be used in the construction of the plinth.

Lucknow, May 18 (PTI) No new madrassa will be given a grant by the Uttar Pradesh government, the state cabinet has decided.

UP minister of state for minority welfare Danish Azad Ansari told PTI on Wednesday that the decision was taken at the state cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath a day earlier.

The minister said that the madrassas currently receiving government grants will continue to get it, but no new beneficiary will be included in the list.

Ghazipur (UP), May 18 (PTI) A 22-year-old woman was allegedly killed for dowry at a village here, police said on Wednesday.

Chanda's body was found hanging in her room Tuesday morning at her in-laws' Sakra village, they said.

In a police complaint, her father claimed that Chanda's in-laws were demanding a motorbike in dowry, and they allegedly killed and hanged her body.

Mumbai, May 18 (PTI) The rupee on Wednesday declined by 16 paise to close at its fresh lifetime low of 77.60 against the US dollar amid unabated foreign fund outflows and a stronger greenback in overseas markets.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened lower at 77.57 and later hit the day's low of 77.61 as the dollar rebounded in global markets following hawkish comments from US Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell.

Crude oil prices also surged over 1 per cent, which weighed on the rupee.

Chitrakoot (UP), May 18 (PTI) A 26-year-old woman was allegedly raped by an occultist and her relative here on the pretext of treating her headaches, police said on Wednesday.

The incident took place on the night of May 13 under Mau police station area. One of the accused has been arrested, they said.

Station House Officer (SHO), Mau, Bhaskar Mishra said the woman had gone to the occultist, Rambabu alias Bengali Baba, along with her elder sister and a relative to seek treatment for her headaches.

Ahmedabad, May 18 (PTI) Patidar quota agitation leader Hardik Patel on Wednesday resigned as the Gujarat Congress working president and from the party's primary membership.

Before quitting, Patel (28), who had joined the Congress in 2019, wrote a scathing letter to party chief Sonia Gandhi, claiming the Congress "only played to the role of a roadblock" over certain key issues in the country and was "merely reduced to opposing everything".