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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
The monks termed the advertisement as disrespectful to Lord Buddha, adding that it hurt Buddhist sentiments.
"Buddhism is more relevant today than ever," said President Pratibha Patil after visiting Bodh Gaya and Nalanda
The Bihar government steps in to check the alleged abuse of the sacred Bodhi tree
Alarmed over serial bomb blasts in Bodh Gaya's Mahabodhi temple, the Bihar government has decided on Tuesday to form an Anti-Terrorism Squad on the lines of the Mumbai ATS, an official said.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The National Investigation Agency, that is probing the serial blasts at Bodh Gaya's Mahabodhi temple in Bihar, announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh for anybody providing information about suspects in the case, on Wednesday.
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.
Sons-in-laws of prominent politicians are rising against their in-laws, observes M I Khan
'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.'
Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Jitendra Rana said the main accused Kundan Kumar was arrested from Ekangalsarai in Nalanda district.
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.
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.
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.
The Patna attack was just the beginning, the alleged SIMI terrorist told NIA agents. His organisation has resolved to attack Narendra Modi wherever possible.
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 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.
Asadullah Sheikh, 35, alias Raja, a resident of West Bengal's Purba Burdwan district, was nabbed from his hideout in Chennai's Nilangarai area, he said.
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.
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.
Normal life was severely hit in Bihar's Gaya district, where the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal on Monday gave separate bandh calls to protest against the state government's alleged security lapses that led to the terror attack in the temple town on Sunday, official sources said.
Initial investigations into the Bodh Gaya blasts of Sunday are pointing the finger of suspicion on the Indian Mujahideen
An argument has already started over the nature of the alert issued by Delhi police to Bihar police, alerting the latter about a possible terror attack on Bodh Gaya
Terror outfit Indian Mujahideen and terrorist Abu Jundal may have played major roles in orchestrating the Bodh Gaya blasts, initial investigations have revealed. IM terrorists had planned the terror strike way back in 2010 to achieve two main objectives. They wanted to carry out a retaliatory strike against the arrest of their operatives across India and they wanted to send a strong message to boost the morale of their local supporters.
Rocky's father Bindeshwari Prasad was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for sheltering their son who was on the run after the killing.
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.
Rocky Yadav, son of Bihar legislator Manorama Devi, arrested for the murder of a teenager in Bodh Gaya last week, was fond of guns.
Akhtar Imam had recently revealed that he was facing a serious threat to his life as he had gifted his property to his elephants
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