India

Mumbai, Dec 3 (PTI) A special NIA court here on Thursday said the trial in 2008 Malegaon blast case will resume from Friday and directed all the seven accused to remain present before it on December 19.

Special NIA court judge P R Sitre had earlier directed all the accused in the case, including BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, to remain present in the court on Thursday.

However, Thakur and three others did not appear in the court.

Only three of the accused turned up before the judge.

Mumbai, Dec 3 (PTI) The Bombay High Court on Thursday said the condition of poet-activist Varavara Rao, arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, had improved but he will continue to remain at a private hospital till December 14.

A division bench of Justices S S Shinde and M S Karnik perused a medical report submitted by the Nanavati hospital here where Rao was admitted on November 18.

Shillong, Dec 4 (PTI) Six person were arrested in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills district with a huge quantity of explosives and detonators, police said on Friday.

Acting on a tip-off about possible movement of explosives, police conducted raids in the 4 Kilo area on Wednesday night, they said.

Jaipur/Kota, Dec 3 (PTI) Protests against the Centre's new farm laws gained momentum in Rajasthan on Thursday as farmer organisations blocked roads and held demonstrations and rallies in solidarity with thousands gathered at the national capital's borders as part of their 'Delhi Chalo' march.

A group of farmers, under the banner of Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Sangharsh Samanvay Samiti, held a protest at Jaipur's Surajpole mandi and blocked the Jaipur-Delhi highway for nearly an hour to demand a repeal of the laws.

Mumbai, Dec 3 (PTI) A member of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee on Thursday sent a legal notice to Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut over her tweet allegedly targeting farmers protesting against the new farm laws.

The notice was sent by advocate Harpreet Singh Hora on behalf of the committee member Jasmain Singh Noni.

The notice said that when Ranaut's premises (in Mumbai) were demolished, she used social media "to gather solidarity" from her fans, stating that the action was an attack on her fundamental rights.

Kolkata, Dec 3 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, without naming anyone, Thursday said that there is need for inclusive growth rather than polarisation in the COVID-19 pandemic scenario.

The pandemic has caused a lot of people to lose their jobs and their lives, Banerjee said while speaking at the virtual Infocom 2020, a business-technology event organised by a private group.

"We will have to wait for the vaccine (for COVID-19).

Bhubaneswar, Dec 3 (PTI) Barely four days after his expulsion from the ruling BJD on the charge of "anti-people" activities, Gopalpur MLA Pradip Panigrahi was on Thursday arrested for allegedly defrauding people promising them jobs, and sent to jail.

The Crime Branch sleuths picked up Panigrahi from his residence without any prior notice and took him to an undisclosed destination.

He was arrested after being interrogated in a fraud case relating to illegal collection of money from unemployed youths in Ganjam district, police said.

Jammu, Dec 3 (PTI) The Jammu and Kashmir BJP on Thursday expelled 10 members for anti-party activities after eight of them contested the District Development Council (DCC) polls and the panchayat by-elections in the union territory against the party's official candidates.

They were found guilty of anti-party activities and expelled on the recommendations of the disciplinary committee of the party, BJP functionaries said.

Banda (UP), Dec 4 (PTI) A 55-year-old debt-ridden farmer allegedly committed suicide in a village here by hanging himself from a tree in his field, police said on Friday.

Chunbaddi had taken a loan of Rs 2.5 lakh from a bank and could not repay it, his wife Gangia Devi told police.

The body was found on Friday morning in Barai Maanpur village in Girwan area here, a police officer said.

#FarmerProtest

Mumbai, Dec 4 (PTI) The Reserve Bank of India on Friday said retail inflation is likely to remain elevated and pegged it at 6.8 per cent for the third quarter of the current fiscal.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is of the view that inflation is likely to remain elevated, barring transient relief in the winter months from prices of perishables.