India

New Delhi, Jul 31 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought a report from its secretary general as to why a letter written by the Unnao rape victim to Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, apprehending threat to her life, was not placed before him.

"Unfortunately, the letter is yet to see the light of the day and yet the newspapers flashed it as if I have read the letter," Justice Gogoi said.

The observations came when senior lawyer V Giri, who is assisting the court as an amicus curiae in child rape cases, sought urgent listing of the Unnao rape case.

Mangaluru, Jul 31 (PTI) The body of Cafe Coffee Day founder V G Siddhartha, who had gone missing, was found on Wednesday in the Netravati river in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka after 36 hours of intense search, officials said.

The body had washed ashore near Ullal and was fished out by local fishermen.

Mangalore MLA U T Khader said friends and relatives have confirmed that the body is of Siddhartha.

Mumbai, Jul 30 (PTI) A special POCSO court here has awarded 20 years' rigorous imprisonment to a 19-year-old man for sexually assaulting a minor school girl.

Siddhesh Kamble, alias Sunny, was found guilty under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act (POCSO) and section 376(2) (rape) of the Indian Penal Code by judge S J Gharat on Monday.

New Delhi, Jul 30 (PTI) Rajiv Kumar, currently serving as Financial Services Secretary, was on Tuesday designated as the new Finance Secretary.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the designation of Kumar as the new Finance Secretary, according to an official order.

Kumar is a 1984 batch IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre.

Thane, Jul 30(PTI) A 54-year-old security guard was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly molesting his 32-year-old woman colleague at a resort here in Maharashtra, police said.

The alleged incident occurred on July 25 when the accused, Ranveer Singh Sanmeda, touched the woman inappropriately when she resisted his demand for physical relations, a police officer said.

The woman narrated the incident to the security contractor who approached police.

Sanmeda has been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

New Delhi, Jul 30 (PTI) As the Parliament cleared the triple talaq bill, the Congress on Tuesday said there was no need to criminalise the practice which had already been struck down by the Supreme Court, while senior party leader Raj Babbar termed the bill's passage as a "historic mistake".

Lucknow, Jul 30 (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh BJP said on Tuesday that rape-accused MLA Kuldeep Sengar was suspended from the party long ago, amid growing demands to sack the lawmaker after the Unnao rape survivor was critically injured in a car-truck collision.

"Sengar was suspended by the party earlier and there is no change in his status," state BJP president Swatantra Dev Singh told PTI. "There is no change in the position of the party and the government, which is standing with the victim of the Unnao (rape) case."

New Delhi, Jul 30 (PTI) The CBI has booked London-based Rolls Royce in a corruption case for allegedly paying over Rs 77 crore as commission to an agent to win contracts from public sector undertakings HAL, ONCG and GAIL during 2007-11, officials said Tuesday.

The action comes after a five-year-long inquiry by the agency initiated on the basis of a complaint from the Defence Ministry which had received a letter about the engagement of Singapore-based Ashok Patni and his company Aashmore Pvt Ltd by Rolls Royce, they said.

Raipur, Jul 31 (PTI) A CRPF jawan was killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast triggered by Naxals in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh on Wednesday, officials said.

The blast took place around 6 am near a camp of 195th battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) at Pushpal in Bastar when one of its patrol teams was on its way back, they said.

A constable-rank jawan was trapped in the blast, the officials said.

New Delhi, July 31 (PTI) Concerns were raised in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday over children falling into the trap of drugs, with a Congress Member saying that 25,000 school children in Delhi have turned drug addicts.

Raising the issue through a Zero Hour mention, T Subbaram Reddy said 25,000 school children in Delhi are addicted to drugs while police has turned a blind eye to the menace.

He said narcotics were easily available and destroying the lives of innocent children not only in Delhi but in the entire North India.