The Mumbai police were looking for a 26/11 link in Salim Mozawalla, 28, an agent of Pakistani spy agency Inter Services Intelligence, who was picked up after the Varanasi blasts.
The elections in this phase are seen as a big test for the Bharatiya Janata Party
A Delhi court on Thursday extended by 14 days the judicial custody of suspected Indian Mujahideen (IM) terrorist Shahzad in the September 2008 serial blasts case in which 26 persons were killed in New Delhi.
Terming the Batla House encounter "totally fake", the Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid Ahmed Bukhari has accused the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre of harassing Muslims.
During the interrogation, Shahzad spoke of how the Lashkar along with the IM had been working closely on setting up more sea-routes into India. The Lashkar is interested setting up more sea routes since the Navy has braced up and security is particularly tight along with the Indian coastline.
Suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorist Shahzad has reportedly named at least three politicians, including a former member of the Legislative Assembly from Azamgarh, claiming they helped him flee from Delhi after the Batla House shootout two years ago, police sources said in New Delhi on Frday.
"You are safe aren't you? I hope you have not faced any danger," shot back Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Friday when asked about the law and order situation in the state in the backdrop of the Badaun gang rape and murder case and the Azamgarh gang-rape incident.
In the third phase of the Lok Sabha election on April 23, 116 seats spread across 13 states and two Union Territories, will go to the polls.
Shahzad, who was picked up by the Delhi cops from Azamgarh in connection with the Batla House case, had revealed that the IM had planned on making a strong comeback after being kept silent for more than a year.
'This is against the Constitution and we will oppose it tooth and nail.'
The death toll due to the cold wave that has disrupted normal life across north India rose to 326 on Wednesday.Another 38 deaths were reported from Uttar Pradesh, taking the death toll in the state to almost 300. The dense fog has further added to the problems of the people in the region with Kanpur recording a temperature of 3.7 degree Celsius, the coldest place in the state, followed by Varani, where the temperarure was recorded to be 4 degree Celcius.
Making a foray into politics, Azamgarh-based Ulema Council on Friday announced its plan to contest from over a dozen parliamentary constituencies in Uttar Pradesh in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
"Members of Ulema Council and other organisation will stage a demonstration at Jantar Mantar tomorrow to protest against NHRC's clean chit to Delhi Police," convenor of the council Amir Rashadi said in Azamgarh on Monday.
Nearly a dozen first information reports have been lodged since the Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020, was notified on November 27.
Now that a majority of the community has voted for the Congress, there is a sense of entitlement. And with it comes the expectations.
An accused in the 2008 serial blasts in the national capital was on Monday arrested by the Anti-Terror Squad of the Uttar Pradesh Police from Azamgarh district, a senior officer said.
Addressing a crowd of some 1000 people, most of whom had come from Azamgarh on a special train dubbed the Ulema Express to protest the harassment of Muslim youngsters and also the Batla House encounter, Rashadi said the party will contest from two seats - Azamgarh and neighbouring Lalganj -- in the coming Lok Sabha elections. "Though we do not intend forming a full-fledged political outfit, we will contest these two seats independently.
Former union minister and Lok Janshakti Party president Ram Vilas Paswan, who lost the recent Lok Sabha elections, said in Varanasi on Wednesday that his party would contest the 2010 Bihar assembly elections in alliance with Lalu Prasad-led Rashtriya Janata Dal and also welcomed Congress party to their fold.
Text messaging services of all telecom operators also remained suspended in Lucknow and some other parts of UP. In Assam, services were restored 10 days after being banned.
The 24-year-old Azamgarh youth allegedly submitted a BSc degree certificate from Allahabad University for taking admission in a post-graduation course in human rights, Joint Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Karnal Singh told PTI.
The Anti-terrorist Squad of the Uttar Pradesh police on Monday arrested an Indian Mujahideen terrorist Arif, who is allegedly involved in Ahmedabad, Delhi and Lucknow blasts.During preliminary interrogation, Arif, a close associate of Tariq Kazmi, has admitted to his involvement in the serial bomb blasts in three civil courts of Uttar Pradesh in November last year.
Those disqualified by Speaker Somnath Chatterjee are Bhalchandra Yadav (Khalilabad), Ramakant Yadav (Azamgarh) and Mohammad Shahid Akhlaque and their seats in the House have been declared vacant. Petitions for their disqualification were filed by the BSP under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution (anti-defection law) on the ground that the three MPs had voluntarily given up the membership of their party and joined the Samajwadi Party.
Thirteen people, four of them siblings, were killed in incessant rains that lashed vast areas of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab triggering house collapses and inundating low-lying areas. Major rivers, including Ganga, Gomti, Rapti and Ramganga, were also rising menacingly in Uttar Pradesh due to heavy rains, officials in Lucknow said.
The incident occurred in the wee hours when SP leader Rakesh Singh alias Pappu Singh was returning with three others after a marriage and were attacked by unidentified assailants. Singh and his companions were killed on the spot.
According to the Gujarat police, Muufi Abu Bashir was present in Ahmedabad on the day of the blasts. It is not yet known where he was from January 2007 to March 2008, when he allegedly took over as the head of the SIMI network after the arrest of Safdar Nagori, the general secretary of SIMI, and his brother Karimuddin by the Indore police in March this year
Basically, the by-elections tell us that in UP now, the number one and number two slots are occupied by the BSP and SP. The two biggest national parties, the Congress and the BJP, are so out of the reckoning, they can be ignored. They have become irrelevant to the politics of the state.
The ruling Bahujan Samaj Party has won the by-elections to all five constituencies, two Lok Sabha and three Vidhan Sabha seats, which went to polls on April 12. BSP candidate Bhismshankar alias Kushal Tiwari won the Khalilababad Lok Sabha seat by a margin of over 64,000 votes, trouncing his nearest rival Bhalchandra Yadav of SP. BSP nominee Akbar Ahmad Dampi won the Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat defeating his nearest rival Ramakant Yadav of BJP by a margin of over 53,000 votes.
Mediums may change, formats may alter but one thing remains constant -- audience making their likes and dislikes abundantly clear.
A case has been registered against Yadav, the MP from Machlishahar in neighbouring Jaunpur district, his son and some supporters after they allegedly razed some houses and shops.
Rebel BJP parliamentarian from Gorakhpur, Yogi Adityanath, on Tuesday announced plans to field 70 to 75 candidates in 14 districts of Eastern UP.
Rai said Salem's lawyers were making efforts to get his name registered in the voter list in Mubarakpur assembly segment.
Shah said not allowing trains to reach West Bengal is "injustice" to the migrant workers from the state.
The tragedy took a political hue with CM Yogi Adityanath suggesting the involvement of SP in 'such mischievous acts'.
'I've never been more nervous about any of my own films. I can't eat, sleep or speak. I can barely breathe.'
His counsel Ashok Sarogi had declared that Salem would contest the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections from Mubarakpur as an independent.
On the suspicion that the virus was being contracted by people from Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra Health Minister Vimla Mundada said she was quoting the Union health department's report on the issue.
'Cricket is a game where if you come back after a gap, then it is not easy to perform immediately.'
Stung by repeated barbs by the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders at former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that the voice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was "feebler even than that of a mouse".
The Anti-Terrorism Squad has said they need time to find out who the other assailants of Pradeep Jain were.
'I was attracted to Javed because he was exactly like my father.'
