Holi was celebrated with pomp and splendor across India on Friday, with people soaking in the festivities by smearing 'gulaal' on each other and exchanging greetings and sweets. Homes and streets wore a colourful look as the revellers splashed colours and feasted on traditional delicacies. Public transport did not ply in the morning in most major cities while metro services started functioning from noon. As Holi coincided with the second Friday prayers during the holy Islamic month of Ramzan, security -- including increased patrolling and picketing -- was beefed up in several states. In Delhi, more than 25,000 security personnel were deployed. Police closely monitored about 300 sensitive areas with CCTV cameras and drones.
Get prepared to be floored by their architecture.
Here's a recap of events that occurred in India in the past 24 hours.
The Bhiwandi police had registered a case against Sharma following a complaint lodged by a representative of the Raza Academy on May 30, he said.
Union External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid took time off from his election campaign in Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh to speak to Kavita Chowdhury on Congress politics and the minority community.
Delhi's Jama Masjid chief cleric Syed Ahmed Bukhari has said investigation agencies have the tendency to name perpetrators of any bomb blasts in the country much before initiation and conclusion of their probes.
'Delhi's streets were not alleys but an artist's canvas,' the eminent poet Mir Taqi Mir noted more than 150 years ago. Syed Firdaus Ashraf savours the sights and cuisine of the national capital.
Curbs under Section 163 (power to issue an order in urgent cases of nuisance or apprehended danger) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), which were set to expire on Sunday, have now been extended till December 31 in Sambhal.
Suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorist Fasih Mohammed, who was deported from Saudi Arabia last year and is accused in terror strikes in India, Tuesday sought bail from a Delhi court.
The Delhi Police has charge-sheeted a suspected Indian Mujahideen operative for his alleged role in the Jama Masjid blast-cum-shootout case.
Of all the homegrown outfits that the Inter-Service Intelligence has created in India, they have found the Indian Mujahideen to be most effective, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
Interpol issued the Red Corner notice against 28-year-old Mehmood on a request from the Central Bureau of Investigation for offences of terrorism and crimes involving the use of weapons and explosives, the official website of the international police said
Ramzan food walk reveals Old Delhi's culinary tradition!
Homegrown terror outfits are using money from petty crimes such as robberies, and extortion to fund its activities making it difficult for investigators to track their financial trail. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Vice President Hamid Ansari has said that it is important to remember that those advocating extremist, fundamentalist and terrorist causes constitute a tiny minority. "They neither have the religious nor political mandate for their abhorrent actions and ideologies," Ansari said.
Delhi Police on Wednesday claimed to have smashed a pan-India terror module with the arrest of six suspected Indian Mujahideen operatives, including a Pakistani, allegedly involved in blasts in Pune, Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore and Delhi's Jama Masjid.
In the wake of the Jama Masjid firing incident, the government has briefed the International Security Liaison Group, monitoring the security arrangement in the Commonwealth Games, and assured foolproof security during the fortnight-long sporting event beginning October 3.
Saudi Arabia has told Indian authorities that Faish Mohammed, a suspected terrorist, has been apprehended by local authorities and may be deported soon. An engineer by profession, 28-year old Fasih is alleged to have been involved in the Chinnaswamy Stadium blast in Bangalore and the shooting incident near Delhi's Jama Masjid in 2010. He is wanted by both the Delhi and Karnataka police.
Aazad may visit Delhi for medical reasons and election purposes. The court had earlier restrained him from visiting Delhi for four weeks and directed him to not hold any 'dharna' till the elections in the national capital.
We no longer have the ambition to rival China save through words. We are happy to be fighting ourselves and digging up disputes from centuries ago as a substitute for real development, argues Aakar Patel.
India's largest mosque is set to come up near Kozhikode in Kerala, covering an area of 12 acres on the sprawling 'Knowledge City' complex of Islamic religious and Cultural Jamia Markazu Ssaquafathi Ssunniyya.
A team of Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad, probing the German Bakery blast, has left for Delhi to question the six suspected Indian Mujahideen operatives held recently for alleged involvement in blasts in Pune, Bangalore and Delhi's Jama Masjid.
After the anti-halal meat drive, right-wing outfits led by Bajrang Dal and Sriram Sena have now called for a ban on loudspeakers in mosques.
Even as senior Delhi police officials maintained that the firing and the consequent pressure cooker blast near Jama Masjid on September 19 could be the handiwork of 'disgruntled youth,' the National Investigating Agency has been asked to conduct investigations into the case.
The development comes a day after a shootout near Delhi's Jama Masjid, which left two Taiwanese tourists injured, prompted authorities to place both New Delhi and Mumbai on red alert.
Investigations into the car that went up in flames barely minutes after two bikers opened fire at a tourist bus near Jama Masjid in New Delhi have revealed that explosives were actually used to trigger fire.
'It was inspired by the Hamas attack and was like their attack -- well planned and well executed.'
Bollywood's stars are travelling... and here's where they were this weekend.
Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal on Tuesday night faced the ire of people at a government hospital when he arrived there to visit those injured in the Old Delhi building collapse.
At least five persons were killed and 25 injured on Tuesday night when a 70-year old three- storeyed building collapsed near Old Delhi's Jama Masjid, prompting Municipal Corporation of Delhi to initiate an inquiry into the incident and on dilapidated structures in the area.
Several organisations on Monday staged protests in Delhi on the third anniversary of the Batla House encounter, in which three alleged Indian Mujahideen terrorists were killed, to demand a judicial probe into the incident. Security apparatus has been strengthened against the backdrop of a terror attack carried out on the same day last year outside Jama Masjid, in which two Taiwanese nationals were injured, to avenge the 2008 Batla House encounter.
Sahim Salim spoke to Muslims in the national capital to get a sense of what they think about Anna Hazare's anti-corruption campaign.
Bukhari had expressed strong resentment and sought to know why Hazare and his campaign managers had not done more to involve Muslims in their anti-graft movement.
Prominent maulanas and Islamic scholars of Uttar Pradesh have reacted strongly to Delhi Jama Masjid Shahi Imam Ahmed Bukhari's diktat to Muslims to keep off Anna Hazare's anti-corruption campaign because his supporters were chanting 'vande mataram'.
A brief history of Mumbai's tryst with bomb blasts
Delhi police is likely to seek an extension of remand of 26/11 handler Abu Jundal, which may put a spanner in Mumbai police's efforts to question him soon.
Delhi's Jama Masjid Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari was stopped in Deoria, Uttar Pradesh on Monday afternoon for nearly two hours while he was on way to the native village of DSP Zia-ul-Haq who was killed by a mob last Saturday.
The investigations into the four incidents of terror -- Jama Masjid in New Delhi, 13/7 blasts in Mumbai, the German Bakery in Pune and Chinnaswamy blasts in Bengaluru -- may appear as though they are taking longer than usual to crack.
