A 19-year-old woman was allegedly gang-raped by 23 people over six days, with the accused drugging her and taking her to several hotels as they passed her on for abuse, police said in Varanasi on Monday.
Shops in Varanasi's Muslim-dominated areas remained closed and the police sounded an alert in the entire district ahead of the Friday namaaz, following the district court order to allow Hindu prayers in a cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque.
Accompanied by a large entourage, including the kids, the couple reached Varanasi by a private plane in the afternoon.
The rural parts of the Varanasi constituency have voted better compared to the urban areas. The Election Commission, which gives out an interim figure of the overall polling statistics, states that polling was anything between 55.34 to 57 per cent in the nigh-profile constituency.
Bharatiya Janata Party is making hectic preparations ahead of the visit by BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, who will undertake a "grand road show" before filing his nomination on Thursday for the mega battle in this holy city where he is challenged by AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal and others.
Sumit Bhattacharya paradrops into the eastern Uttar Pradesh temple city to find it enjoying its moment in the national sun.