In June this year, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had ordered a test to be conducted by Forest Research Institute experts to determine whether the branch of the bodhi tree was cut last year or not. The order was given after a criminal case was filed by a monk Arup Brahmachari against the top officials of the Bodh Gaya Temple Management Committee, including Gaya District Magistrate, in the court of the chief judicial magistrate.
Sanskriti Sinha, 29, an aeronautical engineer with private airlines Air Deccan, was crushed to death on Monday night on the airport premises in New Delhi, after being hit by a vehicle.
Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal has booked 35 special trains for the party's chetawani (warning) rally in Patna on October 28. A senior railway official on condition of anonymity told rediff.com that this was the maximum number of trains ever booked for any political function in India. "There is no record of more than 20 special trains booked for any rally in the past" he said.
Two young men were beaten to death by a mob in Patna, police sources said on Sunday.
This year, the effigies of Ravana, Meghnad and Kumbhkaran at Patna's famous Gandhi Maidan will have a more colourful look. This is the first time in the history of the festival that the three effigies have been dressed in designer gear for Dusshera. Incidentally, at the end of the hugely popular Ramleela staged at the maidan every year, the three effigies will be set on fire.
"Eight bodies have been fished out while three to four persons are still missing and feared drowned," officials said.
The ancient Mauryan empire had spread beyond India, all the way till China and Nepal, according to noted Italian archaeologist Giovenni Veradi. He has drawn this conclusion on the basis of his recent excavation in Gotiwa at Nepal. Veradi told rediff.com that his inference was based on the readings of the ancient stupas at Buddhist monasteries. "I discovered several authentic items to suggest that some parts of China and Nepal were parts of the Mauryan Empire"
A Bihar councilor with a criminal record has alleged that a Union minister for state paid him Rs 5 lakh to kill a deputy mayor. Ward councilor of the Darbhanga municipal corporation Allan Khan on Tuesday said before an executive magistrate that Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development M A A Fatmi gave a supari (a contract to kill) of Rs 5 lakh to kill Darbhanga Deputy Mayor Babby Khan.
The Patna high court on Wednesday granted bail to Janata Dal-United legislator Munna Shukla and Shashi Shekhar, another leader of the JD-U, who were last week sentenced to life for the murder of former Gopalganj district magistrate G Krishnaiah in 1994
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Wednesday said that the United Progressive Alliance government will not complete its five year term in office. Advani reiterated that the government will not last till 2009 and mid-term polls will be held in 2008. "It is certain now that the UPA government at the Centre is not going to last till 2009 because of major differences within the alliance partners. The country is heading for a mid-term polls," declared Advani.
A group of female AIDS patients were not allowed to meet Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at his much publicised janata darbar on Tuesday. "We were stopped at the gate by policemen following instruction from officials in charge of the janata darbar because we are suffering from AIDS," said Kamla Sinha.
The Patna High Court on Tuesday granted bail to former member of Parliament and Janata Dal United leader Lovely Anand, who was recently sentenced to life for the murder of Gopalganj District Magistrate G Krishnaiah in 1994. On October 3, Additional District and Sessions Judge Ramshreshtra Rai had sentenced Lovely Anand , a former MP from Vaishali, to life along with three other accused for inciting a mob to lynch Krishnaiah.
The market wore deserted look on Monday as not a single shop has opened since September 30 after Maoists issued a diktat to close down the market for violating a shutdown call by them.
National Democratic Alliance convenor George Fernandes met former member of Parliament and Janata Dal-United leader Anand Mohan Singh in Patna's Beur jail on Sunday. Singh was recently sentenced to death for the lynching of Gopalganj District Magistrate G Krishnaiah in 1994.
Bihar's high-profile politicians with alleged criminal backgrounds, widely known as bahubalis, will face the music. The government will set up special courts soon to conduct speedy trial of cases in which bahubalis are accused.
The government has already set up a special court for speedy trials of all government officials arrested for accepting bribe.
Some of the 29 state-run Mahatma ka schools, as they are known till date, do not even have a single teacher.
The public prosecutor said the court found seven of the 38 accused guilty under Section 302 of the IPC.
A group of environmentalists are on a mission to make the Ganga pollution free. They are currently on a journey from Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh to Mayapur in West Bengal, via the river, to create awareness about the issue.
A Hajipur court has issued non-bailable arrest warrants against the 10 persons accused of lynching 10 suspected thieves in Bihar's Vaishali district, police sources said on Saturday.