Investigations in the Patna serial blasts showed an Indian Mujahideen link with the Jharkand police claiming on Monday that one of the two arrested terrorists who was believed to be the mastermind belonged to the nascent "Ranchi module" of the banned terror outfit.
Special NIA judge Gurvinder Singh Mehrotra, who had on October 27 pronounced the nine guilty, also sentenced two other accused to life imprisonment, besides awarding 10 years rigorous imprisonment to as many and seven years in jail to another convict.
Rocky's father Bindeshwari Prasad was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for sheltering their son who was on the run after the killing.
Rocky Yadav, son of Bihar legislator Manorama Devi, arrested for the murder of a teenager in Bodh Gaya last week, was fond of guns.
The Supreme Court on Friday sought response of the Centre and the Bihar government to decide whether a Hindu can be the chairman of the famed Maha Bodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya and the managing committee dominated by Hindus instead of Buddhists.
"The serial blasts deserve the strongest condemnation in the strongest possible words as the perpetrators targeted the place of religious faith of crores of people with an aim to create fear among them," the Bihar chief minister told reporters after inspecting the blast sites at the Mahabodhi temple and surrounding areas in Gaya district with senior civil and police officials
Voting has begun for the by-election to 11 of the 18 assembly constituencies in Bihar on Tuesday morning. The polling will decide the fate of 99 contestants, including nine women.
Defying a poll boycott call, an estimated 49.84 per cent voters exercised their franchise on Tuesday in 35 assembly constituencies in the fifth phase of Bihar assembly elections amid stray incidents of violence.
Continuing with the leads provided by the arrested people, National Investigation Agency on Tuesday arrested two more persons from Uttar Pradesh in connection with the blasts outside the rally of the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on October 7.
The National Investigation Agency has released two local men for want of evidence in the serial bomb blasts at Bodh Gaya temple on Sunday.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Wednesday visited the Mahabodhi temple at Bodh Gaya which was rocked by multiple explosions on Sunday.
Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Monday criticised the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar for keeping the security of Mahabodhi Temple in private hands despite intelligence warnings about terror attacks.
NIA officials told rediff.com that they have intimated both the Intelligence Bureau and the Research and Analysis Wing to seek more information from Bangladesh regarding the operational capabilities of an outfit named Hizbut Tahrir, which since the past three years has been working closely with the Indian Mujahideen.
The Centre on Wednesday promised to consider requests for Central Industrial Security Force security to Mohabodhi temple and other prominent religious places in the wake of Sunday's terror attack.
Buddhist monks have demanded the arrest of chief priest of Mahabodhi temple in Bodh Gaya, Bhante Bodhi Pal, ex-officio secretary of Bodhgaya Temple Management Committee (BMTC) Kalicharan Yadav and public relations officer Bhajju Yadav for chopping off a branch of the Bodhi tree.
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.
A day after nine live bombs were found at a lodge in Hindpiri, Ranchi, security agencies are apprehensive about finding more bombs at the site.
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.
Three dead branches of the sacred Bodhi tree at the Mahabodhi temple in Bodh Gaya, Bihar were pruned by a team of scientists of the Dehradun-based Forest Research Institute to keep the tree healthy. The FRI scientists have also suggested some fresh measures for healthy growth of the tree, considered to be about 150 to 200 years old. The FRI has been given the responsibility of maintaining the sacred Bodhi tree by the state government.
'Given that they are playing at home and will have full crowd support, India, who are in peak form and whose morale is high, will be the favourites.'
The Bihar police have said they have the entire footage and this could help investigators crack the case.
The preliminary forensic sciences laboratory report on the Bodh Gaya blasts may have ruled out the use of RDX to trigger the blasts, but investigators say that the attacks bear resemblance with the blasts carried out at Ahmedabad and Jaipur by the Indian Mujahideen
Akhtar Imam had recently revealed that he was facing a serious threat to his life as he had gifted his property to his elephants
The Dalai Lama, in a message, said that since India was Tibet's southern neighbour and since a relationship between the countries had existed for centuries, he held concern from this nation for the Tibet issue was of utmost importance.
They also accused the Nitish Kumar-led government of suppressing facts on the issue.
Modi, who is in the Himalayan nation at the invitation of Deuba, is paying a day-long visit to Lumbini on the occasion of Buddha Purnima.
Investigation agencies say that Indian Mujahideen bought 170 clocks from a shop in Guwahati; 23 were used in Patna to carry out two attacks and some were recovered during a raid in Mangalore. The worry is that 110 clocks are still out there ticking. Vicky Nanajappa reports
A first-of-its-kind anti-terror academy will come up in New Delhi to keep detectives ahead of the terrorists.
Intelligence agencies welcomed the Delhi high court's decision to extend the ban on the Students Islamic Movement of India.
Security of Patna's famous Mahavir temple was beefed up on Friday following a terror threat, police officials said.
In its attempt to link a hawala transaction with the October 27 Patna blasts, the Bihar police had carried out several arrests of both Hindu and Muslim operatives. But the case linking the hawala deal to the Patna blasts is on the verge of closure as the National Investigation Agency says there is no evidence.
He recalled PM Modi's message at the United Nations and hailed India's mission "to save the planet from conflict and violence" through the principles of Buddhism.
Modi, who is on a two-day visit to Sri Lanka, made the announcement of the beginning of the flights during his address at the inauguration of the International Vesak Day, the biggest festival of Buddhists.
