Indian Sub-continent

Jalna, Dec 29 (PTI) Forty-five people have been booked for allegedly encroaching upon, transferring and selling Waqf land in Jalna in Maharashtra, police said on Wednesday.

A Partur police station official said these people had usurped a 30 acre plot belonging to Lal Masjid here and had carried out illegal transactions, besides making homes and shops there.

The case was taken on the complaint of Waqf official Mohammad Latifuddin, he added.

New Delhi, Dec 29 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has left for a brief visit abroad, a day after the party celebrated its 137th foundation day.

Gandhi is learnt to be on a short visit to Italy.

"Rahul Gandhi is on a brief personal visit. BJP and its friends in the media should not spread unnecessary rumours," AICC chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said.

Congress sources said Gandhi is scheduled to address an election rally in Moga in Punjab on January 3 and may return in time for the event.

Kanpur: Akhilesh Yadav- led Samajwadi Party Corporators endured a big jolt when its few members joined Congress party in the presence of State Congress Chief Ajay Kumar Lallu.

Those are Suhail Ahmad, leader of the Samajwadi Party corporators in Kanpur Municipal Corporation House, Shibbu Ansari, Shashi, Rakesh Sahu, Abid Ali and Mahendra Pratap Singh.

Congress MLA Suhail Ansari was present on the occasion when Suhail Ahmad and others took membership of the Congress Party in Lucknow.

All these corporators belong to the Sisamau Assembly seat.

Srinagar, Dec 29 (PTI) The National Conference Wednesday expressed dismay over the "clean chit" given by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Jammu and Kashmir Police to security forces in the Hyderpora encounter, saying the report fails to address the legitimate concerns of the aggrieved families and the general public.

Demanding an independent investigation into the matter, NC spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar said the "self-trial" by police in the form of SIT "stands rejected" by the affected families.

New Delhi, Dec 30 (PTI) Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Thursday urged the Centre to reimburse to the state a sum of Rs 15,000 crore it had spent on central security forces deployed for anti-Naxal operations in the state.

At the meeting of state finance ministers with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman here, Baghel also asked the Centre for payment of GST compensation and transferring of the amounts collected as 'additional levy' from coal block companies.

Dehradun, Dec 30 (PTI) Uttarakhand Raksha Abhiyan founder Darshan Bharti has submitted a complaint to Dehradun SSP Janmejay Khanduri against AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi for allegedly instigating people against the Hindu religion and issuing an open threat to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, endangering his life.

In a letter handed over to the senior superintendent of police (SSP) on Wednesday, Bharti accused the Hyderabad MP of instigating people against the Hindu religion and threatening those who believe in it.

Kohima, Dec 30 (PTI) The Centre's decision to extend the stringent Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act by another six months has raised the hackles of prominent Naga outfits, which said the measure was "unacceptable" and made with the intention to "suppress Nagas for generations to come".

The Centre on Thursday declared the entire state of Nagaland a "disturbed area" for six more months with effect from December 30 under the AFSPA while terming the situation there as "disturbed and dangerous"

Kanpur: Four persons have been arrested for vandalising a car with PM Narendra Modi's poster on it.

The four arrested persons have been accused as Mulayam Singh Youth Brigade spokesperson Sukant Sharma, National Secretary of the SP students' body Sachin Kesharwani, city secretary of the youth brigade Abhishek Rawat, and Nitesh Kumar.

An FIR was registered against 8-10 persons in Kanpur after Samajwadi Party workers allegedly went on a rampage, following the departure of PM Modi's convoy on Tuesday. They allegedly vandalised a car with PM Modi's poster on it.

Chandigarh, Dec 28 (PTI) Farmers on Tuesday lifted their blockades on rail tracks at several places in Punjab after representatives of the farm body spearheading the agitation held a meeting with Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi here.

Farmers under the banner of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) had started their 'rail roko' stir on December 20 at various places, affecting the movement of several trains and causing inconvenience to passengers.

Kolkata, Dec 28 (PTI) "The doors of the Mother House are open to all," said a nun nonchalantly as she went about doing her work. Money, apparently, doesn't matter in a place where service is not a dogma but a way of life.

At Mother House, the abode of Saint Teresa, it was work as usual on Tuesday as the nuns went about attending to the destitute, the wayward alcoholic, and the leper, with crumbling maggot-filled limbs.