Indian Sub-continent

Raipur, Nov 20; PTI:  Voting for the second and final phase of Chhattisgarh Assembly elections began on Tuesday amid high security.

A total of 1079 candidates are contesting in the 72 constituencies of 19 districts in the state with an electorate of 1,54,00,596.

This is the last of the two-phase polls to the 90-member Assembly where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been in power for the last 15 years.

Wardha (Maha), Nov 20; PTI:  At least six people were killed and 10 others injured when an explosion took place near an ordnance depot in Maharashtra's Wardha district on Tuesday while ammunition was being unloaded, officials said.

The blast took place between 7.10 am and 7.15 am at the explosive demolition ground near the Central Ammunition Depot (CAD) at Pulgaon town, a Defence official said.

Around 10 to 15 contract labourers were at the site when the explosion occurred, Wardha's Additional Superintendent of Police Nikhil Pingle said.

New Delhi, Nov 20 (PTI) The Supreme Court Tuesday adjourned the hearing on CBI Director Alok Verma's plea challenging the government's decision to divest him of his duties, expressing anguish over the alleged leak of his response to a CVC report.

The court, while adjourning the hearing to November 29, also expressed displeasure over publication of graft allegations by CBI DIG M K Sinha against senior officers.

The top court adjourned the matter twice, soon after the hearing began and again later in the day.

Dumka (Jharkhand), Nov 20 (PTI) Four Maoists have been arrested along with arms and ammunition in Dumka district, a senior police officer said Tuesday.

Superintendent of Police, Kishore Kaushal told reporters here that the four Maoists identified as Babujan Hembram (23), Govind Hembram (20), Baburam Tudu (22) and Nelson Hembram (35) were arrested Monday from Saldaha village.

New Delhi, Nov 20 (PTI) The Congress Tuesday condemned the attack on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and said it does not support anyone practising such "dirty politics".

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said he would not take even 30 seconds to condemn such an act and anyone who practices such politics.

Muzaffarpur (Bihar), Nov 20 (PTI) The CBI late on Tuesday arrested a quack from a remote part of the district in connection with the shelter home sex scandal.

Ashwani, who practised quackery in the district's Kurhani block, was arrested and brought to the CBI camp office in the town by the investigating agency following information that he allegedly used to visit the shelter home to administer injections laced with sedatives to the inmates, official sources said.

Muzaffarnagar, Nov 21 (PTI) A special POCSO court here has sentenced a 26-year-old man to seven years in prison for abducting and raping a 15-year-old girl in 2014.

In the judgement pronounced on Tuesday, Additional District Judge Ram Sudh Singh found Virender Kumar guilty of offences under sections 363 (kidnapping) and 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The court also slapped Kumar with a fine of Rs 30,000 and ordered that half the amount will go to the victim.

KANPUR: Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (PSP) was prepared for the parliamentary polls, said Shivpal Yadav, its chief at a meeting here on Tuesday. Adding his point, he also stated that the party workers were working confidently at the booth level. The party activists were devoting their time whole-heartedly on the ground level. 

Meanwhile, it was also declared that membership drive of the party was also in full swing. The party was even attracting the SP workers in its fold. 

New Delhi, Nov 19 (PTI) Indonesia is interested in buying sugar from India but wants latter to cut import duty on refined palm oil and the sweetener substantially to 45 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively, according to sources.

An Indian delegation is scheduled to visit Indonesia this week to negotiate trade between the two nations for these two commodities.

While India is the world's largest sugar producer with huge quantity of exportable surplus, Indonesia is a major producer of edible oils, particularly palm.

Islamabad, Nov 19 (PTI) Pakistan Army said on Monday that despite restricted liberty of action due to presence of "our Kashmiri brethren" on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC), Indian fire is always "effectively responded".

Army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor made the comments while talking to a group of journalists from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Hazara Division of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.