India

Pakur (Jharkhand), Sep 28 (PTI) A local court has sentenced a 28-year-old man to 15 years of imprisonment for raping a 12-year-old girl in Pakur district two years ago.

District and Additional Sessions Judge Ramesh Kumar Srivastav convicted Gulab Sheikh under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code on Friday, Public Prosecutor Sivendra Kumar Singh said on Saturday.

Mumbai, Sep 27 : NCP chief Sharad Pawar, named in a money-laundering case by the ED in connection with a scam at Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank, on Friday said he won't visit the agency's office "for now", much to the relief of police and common citizens.

Pawar's decision came after Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Barve met him at his residence and requested him not to visit the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) office as it may create a law and order situation.

Kottayam (Ker), Sept 27; GANASHAKTI: The ruling CPI(M)-led LDF in Kerala on Friday won the by-election to Pala assembly constituency, wresting the seat from the opposition Congress led UDF.

LDF candidate Mani C Kappen defeated Jose Tom Pulikkunnel of the opposition Congress-led UDF in a closely contested  fight.

Kappen, leader of the Nationalist Congress Party, defeated Pulikkunnel, a faction leader of the Kerala Congress (M) by 2,943 votes.

Jodhpur, Sep 27 (PTI) A Jodhpur court will on Friday take up Bollywood actor Salman Khan's plea against his conviction in the blackbuck poaching case.

The actor had filed a plea against his conviction by a lower court, which had sentenced him to five years in jail.

However, there are apprehensions that the actor may not appear before the court in view of a death threat issued by a gangster, 'Garry Shooter', of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang on Facebook last week

New Delhi, Sep 27 (PTI) Swiss-based EST Group on Friday said it is planning to invest USD 250 million (around Rs 1,770 crore) in next 18 months into Indian startups that are focused on fintech applications and related business models.

The group is very bullish about India market and believes that when markets are slow they provide new opportunities, its chief executive officer and director Sindhu Bhaskar said in a statement.

Puducherry, Sep 26 (PTI) The CPI (M) on Thursday claimed that the country had entered a stage of recession with factories in large numbers being shut down and huge retrenchment of employees taking place.

Besides, farmers suicides continued and the country`s growth rate had fallen steeply and this scenario had clearly marked that the country was in a stage of recession, CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury alleged.

Palghar, Sep 26 (PTI) A man, who married a 22-year-old woman but later deserted her as she belonged to a "lower caste", has been booked for allegedly raping her, police said on Thursday.

The accused, Swapnil Mali from Saravati in Bhiwandi, was booked by the district rural police on Wednesday, an official said.

"As per the complaint filed by the woman from Achole in Nalasopara, Mali had befriended her on a social media platform and married her at a court in Bandra months later," Palghar police spokesperson Hemant Katkar said.

Agartala, Sep 26 (PTI) A woman was gangraped in a moving vehicle here while returning home after visiting her ailing six-year-old daughter in Agartala Medical College and was thrown out on a road in the town at around midnight by her tormentors before fleeing, a police official said on Thursday.

The gruesome incident took place on Tuesday and the 32-year-old woman was thrown out of the vehicle near the circuit house here and admitted to G B Hospital later by the people who found her lying on the road.

New Delhi, Sep 26 (PTI) A Delhi court on Thursday recorded statements of two witnesses in a case related to the alleged murder of the Unnao rape survivor's father.

District Judge Dharmesh Sharma, holding in-chamber proceedings, recorded the statement of a police official -- who had registered the FIR against the victim's father-- and another person, a lawyer related to the case said.

The court will further hear the matter on Friday.

Chandigarh, Sep 26 (PTI) A day after the CBI submitted before a Mohali court that a new special investigation team will probe the desecration of religious texts in Bargari, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said the state government had no faith in the premiere central agency.