A quick look at the 66-year-old leader's political journey in the mid-1970s shows how injuries and physical assaults have shaped her political career over the years.
An SIT officer probing the murder case said the investigation is in final stage and a chargesheet will be filed in two months.
A day after the bullet-riddled body of an abducted policeman was found, Maoists on Saturday said that the three other hostages with them were safe and called for talks as "time was running out" even as police arrested two Naxalites and expanded combing operations to fresh areas in Bihar to trace them.
For the first time, anti-Naxal forces are to be deployed in Assam and Uttar Pradesh. According to senior Union home ministry officials, 65 underground members of the CPI (Maoist) were arrested in UP between 2005 and August 15 this year.
Top Maoist leader Vekanteshwar Reddy alias Telugu Dipak, a close aide of Kishenji who was arrested in Kolkata on Tuesday, had focused on Nandigram, where a land war had been fought in 2007, besides adjoining Khejuri and Kolkata, a senior police official said.
The fate of Prashant Kumar Layek, the abducted Block Development Officer (BDO) of Dalbhumgarh hangs in balance as the deadline set by the Maoists for the unconditional release of 15 villagers who were arrested in the East Singhbhum District on charges of supporting rebels expires on Wednesday.
The incident comes two days after the Bharatiya Janata Party claimed that its worker Trilochon Mahato, 20, who was found hanging from a tree at Balarampur in the district on May 30, was killed by the Trinamool Congress. However, the Trinamool Congress has denied the allegations and termed it as baseless.
The anti-Maoist joint operations by Central forces and police at restive Lalgarh in West Midnapore district were not a total success as no major arrest could be made or killings stopped, the West Bengal Government said on Thursday.
'If you put colour-coded internal security maps of India in May 2014 and now, the picture won't be flattering to Modi.' 'Failures on internal security are now piling up and can break Modi's momentum,' says Shekhar Gupta.
'Saibaba has 19 ailments, including severe heart and kidney problems.' 'Even healthy persons find their systems failing after Covid.' 'What will happen to someone like Saibaba?', Professor G N Saibaba's wife asks Jyoti Punwani.
'In Bastar, as in Delhi, being branded 'anti-national' in the eyes of the government now seems to have acquired new meaning,' says Aakar Patel.
A Rashtriya Swayam Sevak leader, who was arrested in connection with anti-Christian riots last year, was gunned down by suspected Maoists in Orissa's communally sensitive Kandhamal district early on Thursday. Approximately 15 armed ultras struck Rudiguma village, about 145 km from Phulbani, in the wee hours of Thursday and shot dead Prabhat Panigrahi, who was staying at an RSS activist's house, police said. A massive combing operation has been launched to nab the assailants.
A Delhi court on Friday extended the judicial custody of Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy, who was arrested in New Delhi in September, till November 13. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja, who is likely to pronounce the order on the Delhi police's plea to conduct a narco-analysis test on Ghandy on Saturday, sent him to 14 days judicial custody.
'I don't think any other human rights person had so much of people's support,' says Mrs Ilina Sen.
More than 24 hours after Maoist rebels mowed down 17 policemen in one of the deadliest attacks in Gadchiroli district, combing operations by the Border Security Force and the state police continued even as people on Friday bade farewell to the martyrs.Hundreds of civilians gathered at the Parade ground in Gadchiroli, in a spontaneous outpouring of grief and respect for the policemen, who laid down their lives in the line of duty combating home-bred Maoist terror.
'Although I feel more comfortable living with my own people, I often remember those cricket matches by the river bank...'
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the state governments have been asked to identify Rohingya refugees in their regions and collect their biometric details.
'There are no jobs, the economy is slowing down, but the BJP is more concerned with issues like triple talaq, anti-Romeo squads and the beef ban.'
'This is how Narendra Modi-Amit Shah rule. They are now announcing that these arrested Naxalites want to kill Modi.'
The naxals were enforcing a 24-hour bandh to protest the arrest of their leaders, including its chief of Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and north Bihar, Tushar Kant Bhattacharya.
The BJP's bandh call, separately endorsed by the Maoists, was meant to mark protest against the delay in the formation of separate Telangana state by the Congress-led UPA government. However, the bandh evoked mixed response though the BJP leaders and activists went around the towns and cities across Telangana to enforce the call.
However, the US praises India for its significant counter-terrorism actions.
The arrest of Maoist leaders in Jharkhand has given an insight into their method of recruitment which could range from assistance with money and medicines to coercion at gunpoint.The Jharkhand police also have a proposal to recruit cooks who would accompany them on operations making it unnecessary for forces to return to the base camp before fulfilling their mission.
Jha, a fearless officer of the country's largest paramilitary force, led a lethal anti-Naxal operation on July 3 last year in Jamui district of Bihar.
Claiming that the case was the handiwork of the Maoists, he said it was likely to be cracked soon.
The Naxals have claimed that they do not have any hostages.
"Pawar said April 4 in the afternoon will be convenient for him as Parliament session would be over by then. Accordingly, the Commission has summoned him on April 4," Malik told reporters at the state secretariat in Mumbai.
Tribal rights activist Soni Sori, who was attacked with an acid-like chemical in Chhattisgarh last month, has said that the condition of her face is reflective of the fight in Naxal-hit Bastar area.
Rao, along with balladeer Gadar and Kalyana Rao, had recently pulled out as Maoist emissaries.
Mingma Sherpa was detained over the weekend for his suspected involvement in Maoist activities. He was later released.
The poet and professor's 'life breath is now in the hands of those sworn to uphold his Constitutional right to life.' 'Will they be true to their oath?', asks Jyoti Punwani.
Babu, who teaches English at the Delhi University, was booked under Indian Penal Code sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 121 and 121A (waging or attempting to wage war against government), 124A (sedition), among others.
Ambedkar told Rediff.com that he intended making an application that private witnesses not be cross-examined by the Bhima Koregaon Commission of Inquiry.
Amid tight security cover, polling began on Friday morning in the second phase of the Bihar assembly elections, spanning 32 constituencies spread over six Naxal-hit districts.
Railways suspect that tampering of the track near Kuneru station led to the derailment of the train.
Nearly 70 per cent of Nepal's electorate voted on Tuesday to choose an assembly that will draft a new constitution to end years of turmoil and political uncertainty though balloting was hit by sporadic violence, including vandalism and explosions that injured a dozen.
The complainant had claimed that Sundar and others had visited Nama village and asked Shamnath to support the naxal cause
'People accused of mass murder and worse are let out on medical grounds.' 'Saibaba is now 100% handicapped, and has committed no murder, yet he is not allowed to come out.'
