India

Banda, Jun 20 (PTI) A truck driver was shot dead by security guards of a sand mine in Uttar Pradesh's Hamirpur district on Thursday for allegedly paying Rs 30 as 'rangdaari' (extortion) to them instead of Rs 50, a police official said.

Station house officer, Sisolar, Rakesh Kumar Pandey, said the incident took place around 4 am.

The security guards at Bhulsi sand mine-3 got into an argument with the truck driver, Arun Kumar (22), after he paid Rs 30 instead of Rs 50 as 'rangdaari', he said.

New Delhi, Jun 20 (PTI) Days after the AAP approached the Delhi Assembly Speaker seeking disqualification of its two rebel MLAs, the ruling party in the national capital Thursday said it can take similiar action against its other rebel legislators.

The AAP had on June 10 moved a petition in the Delhi Assembly and sought disqualification of its two rebel MLAs -- Anil Bajpai from Bijwasan seat and Devinder Sehrawat from Gandhi Nagar -- who had been openly critical of the party and had joined the BJP on May 3 and May 6 respectively.

Bengaluru, June 20 (PTI) Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy Thursday alleged the BJP was continuing its efforts to 'destabilise' the Congress-JD(S) coalition government led by him, but asserted it was stable and would complete its term.

He also said the challenge before him was to take the administration close to the people in a way that they should repent about their decision not to support Congress-JD(S) alliance in the Lok Sabha elections.

Bulandshahr (UP), Jun 20 (PTI) A 19-year-old man was arrested Thursday for allegedly raping a minor in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr district, police said.

The accused, a resident of a village under the Khanpur police station here, had allegedly been raping his 16-year-old neighbour for the past six months and had threatened her with dire consequences if she spoke to anyone about it, Siyana Circle Officer (CO) Dhan Prakash Tyagi said.

New Delhi, Jun 20 (PTI) Four of the six Telugu Desam Party members of Rajya Sabha Thursday joined the BJP and sought merger of the TDP Legislature Party with the saffron party.

Y S Chowdary, C M Ramesh, Garikapati Mohan Rao and T G Venkatesh met Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu and handed him a letter of a resolution passed by the legislature party urging its merger.

Hyderabad, Jun 20 (PTI): A nine-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a worker in an under-construction building here Thursday, police said.

The 22-year-old accused took the girl playing near her hut to the building site and allegedly raped her, the police said based on a complaint lodged by her parents.

The girl's mother noticed blood stains on her clothes after she returned home and enquired about the matter. It was then the minor narrated the incident, an investigating official said.

Bhopal, Jun 20 (PTI) A man was Thursday arrested for allegedly repeatedly raping and impregnating a 13-year old girl here, police said.

The accused was identified as Shivraj Yadav (45), a vendor, police said.

The incident came to light after the girl's family members found that she was pregnant, T T Nagar Police Station in-charge Virendra Chouhan said.

Bhopal, Jun 20 (PTI) A court here Thursday sentenced BJP leader and former Madhya Pradesh minister Harendrajit Singh Babbu to one year's rigorous imprisonment in a two- decade old case of assault on a police constable.

Judge Suresh Singh found Babbu guilty under IPC section 353 (assault to deter public servant from discharge of his duty). The court also imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 on him.

He was, however, granted bail after the ruling.

Mumbai, Jun 20 (PTI) Jet Airways Thursday became the first domestic airliner to go into bankruptcy as the NCLT admitted an insolvency petition filed by State Bank on behalf of 26 lenders, sending its share price soaring a whopping 150 percent after having plumbed life-lows for many days.

Botad, Jun 20 (PTI) Eight persons were arrested in Botad district of Gujarat Thursday for allegedly killing the husband of a Dalit sarpanch.

Manjibhai Solanki (51), resident of Jalia village, was beaten to death on Ranpur-Barvala road in the district Wednesday.

His wife Geeta Solanki is the sarpanch of Jalia.