Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday left for a two-day visit to India during which he will offer prayers at Bodh Gaya and Tirupathi. He would visit Bodh Gaya and Tirupathi and the visit was of a personal nature, presidential officials said.
"Buddhism is more relevant today than ever," said President Pratibha Patil after visiting Bodh Gaya and Nalanda
A fast track court in Bihar's Gaya district on Monday sentenced to life imprisonment three convicted men in the gangrape case of a Japanese woman tourist near Bodh Gaya on April 16. The decision came after a speedy trial was conducted in the case.
The Bihar government has decided to develop the road connecting Bodh Gaya to Patna into a four-lane express highway with funding from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, officials said on Saturday. "The proposed project of widening of the 110-km stretch between Bodh Gaya to Patna and developing it as a four lane express highway is ready and work will begin soon," said an official in the Chief Minister's Office. At present, the road only has two lanes.
A year after serial bomb blasts hit the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya, Bihar still awaits a security beef up. Central Industrial Security Force personnel are yet to be deployed at the shire, a police official said.
Local medicine store owners at Bodh Gaya said that the sale of condoms had suddenly had increased three to four times during Kalachakra puja, thanks to arrival of devotees from across the world.
The much awaited work to inlay with gold the dome of Bodh Gaya's 1,500-years-old Mahabodhi temple began on Wednesday by a team of technical experts from Thailand.
A Supermoon occurs when a full moon is within 90 per cent of perigee or the point where the moon is closest to Earth in its orbit.
The monks termed the advertisement as disrespectful to Lord Buddha, adding that it hurt Buddhist sentiments.
A twitter account, purportedly belonging to terror outfit Indian Mujahideen, has warned that the next target would be Mumbai, prompting the state authorities to tighten security across the city.
'The world is reeling under violence, often in the name of religion. This must not happen and humanistic values must be promoted'
The Mahabodhi temple in Bodh Gaya, declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation as a World Heritage Site, shined as its dome was inlaid with 280 kilograms of gold donated by devotees from Thailand.
The Bihar government steps in to check the alleged abuse of the sacred Bodhi tree
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.
Rocky Yadav was found guilty of IPC sections 302 (murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 427 (mischief causing damage) and section 27 of the Arms Act.
A joint team of the NIA and Bihar Police reached Tehseen's house in Maniyarpur village, about 12 km from the district headquarters, and attached the property in the presence of his father Wasim Akhtar and other family members, Officer in-Charge of Maniyarpur Police Station Asgar Imam said.
Sources also states that Rocky's gun license will be suspended soon and added that he procured a gun in 2013 stating that it was to protect himself from Naxals.
Arrested Indian Mujahideen operative Yasin Bhatkal and his associate have "without any remorse" acknowledged that they carried out many bomb blasts so as to "send a message", a top district police official who interrogated the terror mastermind, said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has demanded the arrest of Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's son Perween Manjhi for alleged sexual exploiting a woman police official at a plush hotel in Bodh Gaya town.
The Janata Dal-United on Sunday condemned the road rage incident in which party Member of Legislative Council Manorama Devi's son shot dead a youth and assured that appropriate action would be taken against him as per the law.
The cabinet of the new government led by Rekha Gupta balances representation of all major communities that propelled the Bharatiya Janata Party to power in Delhi with a massive majority after over 26 years.
In the wake of the National Investigation Agency issuing a fresh alert to the Himachal Pradesh Police about a possible strike on the Buddhist people and their places of worship in the state, the investigation agency has been probing a couple of youth from Assam in connection with the Bodh Gaya attack.
Even though the NIA claims that more than 90 per cent of cases charge-sheeted have ended in conviction, the figure is likely misleading. To date, very few cases investigated by the NIA have resulted in a completed trial, points out former CBI joint director Navneet Rajan Wasan.
The National Investigation Agency on Monday arrested two persons from Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh in connection with the blasts outside the rally of BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on October 27.
The transferred officers included 22 IAS, 79 IPS, 45 Bihar Administrative Service officers
Sons-in-laws of prominent politicians are rising against their in-laws, observes M I Khan
Amid protests by various political parties to his visit Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who arrived in Indian early on Friday morning, offered prayers at the Mahabodhi temple at Bodh Gaya in Bihar, soon after his arrival.
Polling began in four naxalite-hit constituencies in Bihar's Gaya district on Friday morning amid tight security, with Indian Air Force helicopters maintaining aerial surveilance, official sources said.
On the request of investigators, micro-blogging site Twitter has suspended an account claiming to be that of the terror group Indian Mujahideen, which is suspected to have orchestrated the Bodh Gaya serial blasts.
Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Jitendra Rana said the main accused Kundan Kumar was arrested from Ekangalsarai in Nalanda district.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar dismissed any slide in law and order situation in the state in the wake of estranged NDA partner BJP's allegations that 'jungle raj' has returned due to a weak government after its departure.
Pakistan's spy agency Inter Services Intelligence had drawn up a plan to target Buddhist religious sites in India to avenge the alleged atrocities against the Rohingya Muslim community in Myanmar.
The Patna attack was just the beginning, the alleged SIMI terrorist told NIA agents. His organisation has resolved to attack Narendra Modi wherever possible.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and other opposition parties on Sunday accused the Centre and the Bihar government of failing to take steps to avert the terror strike at the Mahabodhi temple despite specific warnings of intelligence agencies.
Chief priest of Mahabodhi Temple of Bodh Gaya Bhadant Bhodipal has resigned, fearing prosecution on criminal charges in a case related to the illegal felling of a branch of the sacred Bodhi tree.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Friday led a state-wide protest against the visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to India, accusing him of making efforts to 'annihilate' the Tamils in the island republic.
A Twitter account, allegedly operated by terror outfit Indian Mujaideen, has attracted the unwelcome attention of India's security agencies.
Amid high alert and tight security in the wake of serial blasts at Bodh Gaya, the world famous annual Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath celebrated on Wednesday with fanfare, religious fervour and a spirit of camaraderie.
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