Maharashtra: NDRF teams rushed for rescue efforts

Twelve people were killed and seven injured after a 50-year-old building collapsed in the Thane district of Maharashtra in the early hours of Tuesday. Officials said that the building collapsed at around 2.30 am, trapping at least 19 residents in debris. The Thane Municipal Corporation had served notices to the residents earlier this year to vacate the dilapidated premises.  Five families were reported to have been living at the three-storey building. This is the second major crash in the district in the past week.



Delhi: AAP criticises Jung for allowing Bharti’s prosecution

The Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday criticised Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung for giving his approval for the prosecution of former state Law minister Somnath Bharti in connection with his alleged misbehaviour with women during a midnight raid in South Delhi in January last year. Delhi Home Minister minister Satyendra Jain said that while he had sent a file to the Jung's office suggesting that he did not need to give his approval for prosecuting Bharti, the Lieutenant-Governor did not consult with him before making his decision. The Delhi police in September last year had filed a charge sheet against a mob led by Bharti for molesting and manhandling nine African women.



Madhya Pradesh: Vyapam whistleblower’s wife transferred twice in a month

The wife of a whistleblower in the multi-crore-rupee Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh has been transferred by the state government twice within a month. The order for Gauri Rai's second transfer came a few days after she and her husband, Anand Rai, filed a petition in Madhya Pradesh High Court challenging her transfer from Mhow to Ujjain. In the latest orders, she has been transferred to Dhar. Anand later accused the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led government of attempting to pressure him and his wife to ensure that they did not contribute to the probe into the scam.


Gujarat: Hearing on Zakia Jafri’s petition begins



The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday began hearing a petition filed by Zakia Jafri against a lower court's order upholding the clean chit given by a Special Investigation Team to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other accused in cases related to the 2002 riots in the state. Jafri’s lawyer Mihir Desai argued before Justice Sonia Gokani, saying that the magistrate's court that rejected her petition had wrongly held that it could not order the investigation of the riots because of jurisdictional problems. Jafri, the wife of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, had filed a complaint in the Supreme Court against Modi and 62 others including state ministers, police officials and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, alleging that they were part of a wider conspiracy behind riots. In February 2012, the SIT filed a closure report before the magistrate giving a clean chit to Modi. Ehsan Jafri was among those killed during the riots.



Kashmir: 7 arrested in Hizbul sleeper cell case

Seven suspected militants from a sleeper cell of the Hizbul Mujahideen were arrested during raids on several places in Srinagar on Tuesday. Officials said that the cell was allegedly headed by Mohammad Shaheen Baba, a physiotherapist in the UK. “So far eight members of the sleeper cell have been arrested,” said SJM Gillani, Inspector General of Police Kashmir Zone. According to reports, Baba along with other members of the cell had planned to plant and detonate several Improvised Explosive Devices in parts of the Kashmir Valley, including Srinagar.