As the year draws to a close, Rediff's Senior Contributor Roshmila Bhattacharya takes a look at the hits and misses, the highs and lows, the newsmakers and the dealbreakers in alphabetical order.
In half a century, actors have aged or passed away, the shape of the city has altered, the film industry has changed beyond recognition, most single screens have made way for multiplexes, audiences tastes have changed, rural life is very different now, and inflation has devalued the rupee. But a great film is forever. Deepa Gahlot salutes Sholay, as it re-releases in theatres.
The protesters torched tyres and old furniture in the middle of the road in Kwakeithel and Uripok, demanding the release of the leader. The situation remained tense on Sunday morning.
If women voters are mobilised in big numbers to the voting booths on November 6 and 11 by the Nitish Kumar-led NDA, then it will be quite difficult for the Tejashwi Yadav-led Mahagathbandhan to defeat the incumbent government, points out Sheela Bhatt.
"My son died in agony. All the culprits should be hanged to set an example, so that no family loses its son to such crime in future," Raghuvanshi's father Ashok Raghuvanshi told PTI.
A 40-year-old Dalit man was allegedly lynched by villagers in Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh, who mistook him for a thief. The incident occurred amid rumours of drone surveillance being used to mark houses for robberies. Five persons have been arrested, and three police personnel have been suspended for alleged negligence. The Congress party has demanded a SIT probe and the resignation of the Chief Minister.
A batch of 35 Indians deported from the US included people from Kaithal, Karnal, and Kurukshetra districts in Haryana. They recounted their experiences and the financial burdens they faced trying to immigrate to the US.
The family of Raja Raghuvanshi, an Indore-based businessman murdered during his honeymoon, is demanding the death penalty for his wife, Sonam, the prime accused, and four others. Meghalaya police have filed a chargesheet against eight individuals in connection with the case.
The mother of Raj Kushwaha, arrested for allegedly plotting the murder of Indore businessman Raja Raghuvanshi with the latter's wife Sonam during their honeymoon in Meghalaya, on Tuesday claimed her son was innocent and framed in the case.
A committee formed to support the family of deceased Haryana IPS officer Y Puran Kumar has issued a 48-hour ultimatum for the removal of state police chief Shatrujeet Kapur, who is accused of abetting Kumar's suicide. The family has refused to conduct the post-mortem and cremation until their demands are met.
"We stand vindicated. Those who tried to tarnish the image of Sohra and its people as violent have now been exposed," said a visibly relieved Pde.
Raja Raghuvanshi's wife Sonam (25), allegedly involved in the murder of her husband, surrendered before the Nandganj Police Station in Ghazipur district in adjoining Uttar Pradesh and was later placed under arrest, according to the Meghalaya police.
The brother of Sonam Raghuvanshi, who is among the five arrested for the murder of her Indore-based husband Raja Raghuvanshi, on Wednesday came out in support of the victim's family and vowed to fight a legal battle to get justice for them.
Sonam Raghuvanshi, the prime accused in the Raja Raghuvanshi murder case who was initially reported missing in Meghalaya, apparently visited Indore after her husband was murdered and stayed in a rented flat for three days, a police official said on Tuesday.
The incident took place on September 19 at around 5:50 pm when a vehicle-based column of troops of 33 Assam Rifles was moving from its Patsoi Company Operating Base to Nambol Company Operating Base.
Bharat Adivasi Party MLA Jaikrishn Patel was arrested by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Rajasthan on Sunday for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 20 lakh to drop three questions in the state Assembly. The ACB claims to have audio and video evidence to prove that the MLA had demanded and taken the bribe. The party has said it will take action against the MLA if his involvement is found.
Sonam surrendered before the Nandganj police station in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur, while three other assailants were arrested in overnight raids. Of the three arrested men, two are from Madhya Pradesh's Indore and one from Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh, she said. According to PTI Video, East Khasi Hills SP Vivek Syiem said one more was arrested from Madhya Pradesh's Sadar district on Monday.
For the first time since curfew was imposed three days ago in violence-hit Leh town of Ladakh, the restrictions were relaxed Saturday afternoon in a phased manner for a few hours, providing relief to residents who lined up outside shops selling essential commodities.
Ahead of the impending assembly polls, the rising crime graph and poor law and order situation have led to demands being revived to adopt UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's 'bulldozer' and police encounter policy in Bihar to deal with criminals.
The Meghalaya Police on Monday arrested the owner of a flat where Sonam Raghuvanshi, accused in the murder of her husband during their honeymoon, stayed in Indore after fleeing the northeastern state following the crime last month, an officer said.
A member of the Meitei outfit Arambai Tenggol was apprehended for allegedly firing at security personnel during the recent protests in Manipur over the arrests of a leader of the organisation and four others, police said on Wednesday.
The police officials got down into the drain in Palasia area along with real estate businessman Shilom James who has been arrested in the case, said an eyewitness.
The Meghalaya Police, which codenamed the investigation as 'Operation Honeymoon', collected evidence from the residences and other places frequented by the accused in Indore and Ghazipur, Syiem said.
The video posted by a tourist named Dev Singh shows the couple trekking up a steep mountain path in Meghalaya's lush landscape.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids on the premises of Rajasthan Congress leader and former minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas and Punjab AAP MLA Kulwant Singh as part of a money laundering probe linked to the Rs 48,000-crore PACL Ponzi scam. Khachariyawas, who served as a minister in the Ashok Gehlot government, claimed the ED action was politically motivated due to his criticism of the government. Singh, a real estate promoter, is reported to be Punjab's richest MLA with assets worth Rs 1,000 crore. The ED has been investigating the PACL scam since 2015, alleging that the company defrauded investors of Rs 48,000 crore through fraudulent investment schemes.
Following Sonam Raghuvanshi's surrender in the Meghalaya honeymoon murder case in Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh, her brother Govind Raghuvanshi on Monday has refrained from commenting further.
Raja Raghuvanshi, the Indore resident killed while honeymooning in Meghalaya, was told by his wife Sonam that she would let him consummate the marriage only after making an offering at the Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati, investigators said on Wednesday.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has nominated Maharashta Governor Chandrapuram Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan as their candidate for Vice-President of India. The announcement was made by BJP President J P Nadda, highlighting Radhakrishnan's extensive public service and cross-party respect.
She has been booked under the relevant sections of the Official Secrets Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, said the police.
The Uttar Pradesh Police on Monday said it has gunned down a second accused in the Sultanpur jewellery store robbery case in a pre-dawn encounter in Unnao district. "Akhilesh Yadav's wish has been fulfilled, a Thakur has been encountered," said the father of Anuj Pratap Singh.
A pregnant woman and her unborn child died during delivery at an unregistered "hospital" in Budhana, Uttar Pradesh, India. Police arrested an unqualified woman posing as a doctor who was running the facility.
'Sonam's phones must have been destroyed somewhere on the way, but we cannot confirm it until we start questioning her.'
While six of them have been held from Punjab, five were nabbed from neighbouring Haryana, and one from Uttar Pradesh.
On the 94th anniversary of the revolutionary giant's martyrdom, Utkarsh Mishra revisits the events of February 27, 1931.
Radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh has distanced himself from his mother's statement in which she had said that her son was not a Khalistani supporter, according to a statement issued by the Khadoor Sahib MP.
Amid this unrest came the verdict of the Allahabad high court on June 12, 1975 that found Gandhi guilty over discrepancies in the electoral campaign, which led to the Emergency on the night of June 25.
What stood out in his 15-year journey as a member of the political executive at the Centre was his glowing record as India's most successful and effective finance minister. Both as prime minister and finance minister, he understood the importance of gradualism, except when the economy or the polity was in a crisis.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested two persons including a key accused in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) paper leak case who allegedly stole the paper from a National Testing Agency's trunk in Hazaribagh in Jharkhand, officials said Tuesday.
Standing near the noose, he recited a couplet in which he said he wished nothing but to sacrifice his life for the motherland. Utkarsh Mishra remembers Ram Prasad Bismil on the revolutionary leader's 128th birth anniversary.
It took Udham Singh 21 years to avenge the massacre of Jallianwala Bagh. And 34 years for his remains to return to India after execution in a British prison.
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