Chief of fundamentalist group held for role in Shaikh's killing
The Pune police on Tuesday charged Dhananjay Desai, head of the fundamentalist Hindu Rashtra Sena, for conspiring to murder 28-year-old IT worker Mohsin Shaikh on June 2. Shaikh was killed by a mob as protests broke out in the city earlier this month against morphed pictures of Chhatrapati Shivaji and Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray appearing on social media. The police clarified that Shaikh was not involved in uploading the images.
Taliban launches second attack in Karachi
Heavily armed Taliban terrorists on Tuesday assaulted a camp of the Airport Security Force Academy near the Karachi International Airport, two days after the group had attacked the main airport on Sunday. Thirty people, including ten terrorists, were killed in Sunday's assault, but there were no casualties in Tuesday's attacks, the authorities said.
Food prices soar on fears of delayed monsoon
Speculation that the monsoon will be delayed is driving up food prices. Over the past two weeks, onion and potato prices in the Mumbai wholesale market have risen by Rs 5-6 per kilo to Rs 24-26 per kilo. However, the Centre has decided to take measures to pre-empt price rises and has ordered the cabinet secretary to take stock of the situation every fortnight.
Greenpeace threatens national security, claims Intelligence Bureau
An Intelligence Bureau report claiming that foreign-funded NGOs hurt India's economic development has described Greenpeace as “a threat to national economic security”, The Indian Express reported. The newspaper said that the IB based its conclusion based on the environmental group's protests against nuclear and coal plants and funding of “sympathetic” research. It also alleged that Greenpeace helped an Aam Aadmi Party candidate in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
VK Singh criticises army chief
Former Army chief V K Singh, who is now a minister in the Narendra Modi government, has accused the officer who is poised to take over as head of the army of trying to protect a unit that “kills innocents,” and “does dacoity”, The Indian Express reported. In a direct attack on Lt Gen Dalbir Singh, VK Singh tweeted: “If unit kills innocents, does dacoity and then head of organization tries to protect them, should he not be blamed? Criminals should go free!!"