Seven Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed and at least nine others injured in a fierce gun battle with Maoist guerrillas in Latehar district, Jharkhand on Monday.
RJD candidate from Maneka constituency in the poll-bound Jharkhand Ramchandra Singh and his aide were on Friday kidnapped by suspected naxalites in Latehar's Dhanukua village.
A total 61.92 per cent votes were cast in the first phase of polls in 13 of the 81 assembly seats in Jharkhand amidst sporadic incidents of damage to Electronic Voting Machines.
Superintendent of Police M S Bhatia said around hundred ultras surrounded the station and asked railway employees and passengers to vacate the place. They then exploded dynamites.
Eight persons, including six policemen, were killed and four injured when Maoists attacked the convoy of former Jharkhand Speaker and Member of Parliament Inder Singh Namdhari, who escaped unhurt, in Latehar district on Saturday. The Maoists triggered an IED blast and then opened fire on the security vehicle which was following Namdhari's car at Ladu More in the district, Director General of Police G S Rath said.
According to sources in Bhandaria police station, about 50 Maoists waiting for the police party triggered the blast around 11 am.
The Palamau Express derailed on Tuesday evening after suspected Maoists blew up a stretch of railway tracks in Latehar district but no casualty or injury was reported.
Maoist rebels have put up posters in Latehar district of Jharkhand, calling upon people to spurn the initiatives of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Home Minister P Chidambaram.
Over 600 bullets and a dozen improvised explosive devices recovered after a gunbattle.
Security forces say Naxals have amassed nearly Rs 1,500 crore through extortion, kidnapping, looting and the narcotics trade.
In a major haul, security forces seized 400 kg of local explosives and over 1,700 detonators during an anti-Naxal operation in poll-bound Jharkhand on Monday.
Polling will take place amidst tight security in 13 Maoist-affected constituencies in the first phase of 5-stage elections to the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly on Tuesday.
Enclosing the money with a letter, the workers affiliated to the Gram Swaraj Mazdoor Sangh "expressed concern" at the "meagre" hike as they felt that the central government was facing "paucity of funds", otherwise the wages would have definitely increased in tune with Jharkhand's minimum daily wage which is Rs 212.
Over 60 per cent voter turnout was recorded on Monday in 49 constituencies in six states and two Union territories in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections, with Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir recording its highest-ever voting percentage.
The extremists Thursday suffered a major blow when security forces raided their training camp at Karmadih in Latehar and recovered 10 can bombs and rations that could sustain the ultras for at least one week.
The bus ferrying the BSF personnel from Ladhup to Arah was blown by the landmine blast triggered by the Maoists at around 7.30 am killing five BSF personnel, one helper and the civilian driver, the DC said.
Singh, along with his aide and some supporters, was abducted on Thursday night by suspected Naxalites while returning from a function in Dhanukua village.
Seven security personnel were injured on Monday in a gunbattle with Maoists in the dense Sania forests on the borders of Garwah and Latehar districts in Jharkhand, police said.
A total of 149 polling stations have been relocated in 16 Maoist-hit constituencies in Jharkhand, for Friday's fifth and final phase of voting, amid air surveillance and unprecedented deployment of security personnel.
Here's a recap of the events from the past 24 hours.
The enhanced allowance will be applicable to all paramilitary personnel deployed in Jammu and Kashmir and Naxal-hit areas.
The four leg canine 'soldiers' play a crucial role in saving lives of troops and civilians, reports Mayank Singh.
550 live cartridges, an INSAS assault rifle, two other rifles and three self-loading rifle magazines were seized along with a huge quantity of explosives and detonators.
The corona-fuelled lockdown having shattered their dreams, they are now walking, cycling and hitchhiking hundreds of miles under an unforgiving sun blazing down at over 40 degrees to reach their homes in an impoverished Bihar, where an uncertain future awaits them.
'Isn't it obvious that the BJP government in Jharkand and its police force care two hoots about the Supreme Court's orders?', asks Jyoti Punwani.
Concerned over high incidents of violence, the Home ministry has asked the Election Commission to conduct the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in 33 Naxal-hit districts in the first phase to ensure maximum security and minimum casualties.
Congress on Sunday expressed surprise over the Modi government's "inability" to rein in affiliates of Sangh Parivar "brewing communal hatred and mistrust" for electoral gains.
This classification of districts is to be followed by states and union terrotories till a week post May 3, when the second phase of lockdown will end, for containment operations.
He also said that after the "historic verdict", the country has moved ahead on a new path, with a new resolve.
Within a month of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) tabling the coal block allocation report in Parliament in August last year, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a First Information Report (FIR) against Hyderabad-based Navabharat Power Private Ltd for the coal block allotted to it in Odisha in January 2008.
More than two lakh paramilitary personnel, thousands of vehicles and nearly a dozen helicopters will be deployed across the country to ensure smooth and violence-free elections beginning April 7.
The stage is now set for the first substantial round of polling in the Lok Sabha elections on Thursday, involving nearly 11 crore voters in 92 seats spread across 11 states, including Delhi and the national capital region and the riot-hit Muzaffarnagar.
The counsel claimed that the ground-level situation in these states was worrisome as the cow vigilante groups were resorting to violence there.
It was supposed to be a panacea against corruption, leakage and a magic wand for financial inclusion. But everywhere you look are people who enrolled, only to fall through the cracks again.
'The problem here is not that one community's deity has suddenly become another community's meal.' 'Hindus and Muslims have been peacefully coexisting with their cows for centuries now.' 'The problem here is that a section of Indians has been suddenly made to realise that it makes great political sense to degrade each one of the 170 million Muslims to a potential cow-killer, lynch a few of them to keep the heat on, polarise and win elections.'
Ignoring the boycott call by separatist groups and braving cold weather, nearly 70 per cent polling was on Tuesday, in most of the 15 constituencies going to polls in first of the five-phased polls in Jammu and Kashmir.
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