LIVE! Cousin strangled Qandeel to death not brother: polygraph test

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Sat, 30 July 2016

Cousin strangled Qandeel to death not brother: polygraph test

Timeline Refresh

23:50 Raj-Uddhav meeting a family affair: Sena

A day after estranged cousins Raj and Uddhav Thackeray met causing ripples in political circles, Shiv Sena today said it was a 'family meeting' and nothing more should be read into it.

Raj quit Shiv Sena in 2006 to float Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. Uddhav is the president of Shiv Sena.

"They are cousins. If not at Matoshree (Thackeray residence in suburban Bandra), should they have met at Shivaji Park?" Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut asked.

"Raj went to Matoshree and wished him (Uddhav) on his birthday. It is tradition of the Thackeray household to accord due respect to the guests and Raj is, after all, from the family," he said, adding Rahul and Varun Gandhi meet in Delhi.

Asked if the MNS chief's rushing to Uddhav was linked to the ongoing court case over late Bal Thackeray's will, Raut said, "Uddhav is capable of handling the issue on his own."

"As far as speculation about issue of ensuing Mumbai civic polls being discussed in the meeting, whatever Uddhavji has to say on these elections will soon be public," he said.

Family members of five militants, who carried out the deadly Dhaka cafe terror attack killing 22 people, have not come forward to claim their bodies, a media report said on Saturday.

The bodies of five militants, who were shot dead in a gunfight with security forces at the Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan on July 2, are kept at the Combined Military Hospital.

"No one has filed any written application to claim the bodies," said Sirajul Islam, officer-in-charge of Gulshan Police Station.

Islamist militants launched a terror attack on a posh restaurant in Dhaka's upmarket Gulshan diplomatic zone on July 1 killing 22 people, including 19-year-old Indian girl Tarishi Jain, among 20 foreigners and two police officers while six suspected militants were gunned down in the commando operation.

Five of the militants were identified as Nibras Islam, Rohan Imtiaz, Meer Sabeh Mubasheer, Khairul Islam Payel and Shafiqul Islam Ujjal, the Daily Star reported.

The body of chef Saiful Islam, who has been mentioned in in the report as an accused, also remains at the mortuary of the hospital.

However, police said only Saiful's family verbally wanted to take his body, but the law enforcers have yet to receive any written application from them in this regard.

Pakistani social media star Qandeel Baloch who was killed for bringing "shame" to the family by posting risque videos and posts on Facebook was strangled to death by her cousin and not by her brother, a polygraph test found on Saturday.

The main accused of the case Muhammad Waseem had earlier confessed that he had strangled his 26-year-old sister. However, the claim was rejected after a polygraph test of both the suspects.

According to the test, it was her cousin Haq Nawaz, not Waseem, who had strangled Qandeel to death on July 15.

They said Waseem was holding the hands and feet of the slain model at the time of murder while Haq Nawaz strangled her, Geo News reported.

Before killing Qandeel, the suspects had drugged her and her parents, they added.

Sources said video and written statements of both suspects have also been recorded.

According to them, it was shown during investigation that the elder brother Arif, who resides in Saudi Arabia, had pressurised Waseem into killing their sister Qandeel for the "honour of the family".

They said that after the conversation, Waseem and Haq Nawaz planned the model's murder.

Jermaine Blackwood slammed a quickfire half-century to rally West Indies after a horror start, on Day 1 of the second Test against India in Jamaica.

Blackwood smashed 62 from as many balls to take WI to 88 for 4 at lunch. They were struggling on 3 for seven at one stage after Ishant Sharma had taken two wickets off successive deliveries.

The decision on wrestler Narsingh Yadav's doping case has been deferred to Monday. The NADA will announce the decision at 4 pm on August 1.

"No decision could be taken today. Panel waiting for all documents and records," Naveen Aggarwal, DG NADA said.

"The decision at 4pm on Monday; Entire case to be reviewed," he added.

Authorities say there appear to be no survivors after a hot air balloon carrying at least 16 people caught on fire and crashed in Central Texas.

Officials say the balloon crashed in a pasture in Central Texas at approximately 7.40am local time.

According to Lynn Lunsford, of the Federal Aviation Administration, the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are going to the scene to investigate.

Representative image

Aurangabad Arms Haul case till August 2.

The special MCOCA court here reserved its order on quantum of sentence till August 2.

Special prosecutor Vaibhav Bagade said the entire world was now fighting the terror menace and the convicts were preparing to carry out acts of terrorism.

Rebutting the defence's argument that the convicts were merely footsoldiers and not the masterminds, Bagade said they were participating in the crime of their own will and not under somebody's pressure or under duress. "The convicts were part of the conspiracy too," Bagade said.

He also pointed out that Yakub Memon, convicted in 1993 Mumbai blasts case, was not the mastermind of the conspiracy, yet the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence.

21:20 27 killed in lightning strikes in Odisha

At least 27 persons were killed after being struck by lightning in different parts of Odisha today, police said.

While the maximum number of eight deaths were reported from Bhadrak district, there were seven casualties in Balasore district, five in Khurda, three in Mayurbhanj and one each in Kendrapara, Jajpur, Keonjhar and Nayagarh, police said.

Expressing sorrow over the deaths, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik directed the special relief commissioner to immediately provide assistance to the bereaved families in accordance with the relief code, CM's office said in a statement.

20:52 2nd Test: Ishant's double rocks West Indies

Pacer Ishant Sharma claimed two wickets off successive deliveries to give India a dream start in the second Test against the West Indies, in Jamaica, on Saturday.

Ishant claimed the wicket of Kraigg Brathwaite (1) and Darren Bravo off successive deliveries to leave the hosts tottering at 4 for 2 after three overs.

As the government gears up for a fresh push to get the long-pending GST law passed, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said the 'one nation, one tax' regime will reduce the taxation levels and also eliminate corruption.

Stressing that India cannot afford the kind of spectrum or coal mines controversies of the past, he said: "This whole idea of one nation one tax is extremely important for India, in not only reducing the level of tax but also for providing an ease (of doing business) and eliminating any forms of corruption".

He said India cannot afford to have an indirect tax system where one is taxed at every point. Jaitley was delivering the 1st Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Memorial Lecture at India Islamic Cultural Centre in New Delhi.

The proposed Goods and Services Tax will subsume most of the indirect taxes. Government has listed the Constitutional Amendment Bill for introduction of GST in Rajya Sabha for consideration and passage next week.

The Finance Minister further said India will need all forms of investments. "Now investment from private sector ... will come only if India becomes best possible investment destination.

For that India has to get rid of corruption, India has to have a quicker decision making process, India has to have business environment which is extremely easy," he said.

Hours after BJP contradicted Mehbooba Mufti's stand by saying that forces were aware of Wani's presence, Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh has make a u-turn.

Toeing CM's line Singh said, "If we would have known about this (Burhan Wani's encounter), we would have taken better precautionary measures."

"When the encounter took place, security personnel informed that four terrorists were killed, Identification took place later," said Singh.

On Thursday, Mehbooba had said the security forces were not aware of Hizbul commander Wani's presence during the July 8 raid at his hideout at Kokernag in South Kashmir in which he was killed.

However, on Saturday, Jammu and Kashmir BJP chief Sat Sharma said that security forces had the knowledge of Wani's presence at the encounter site.

West Indies captain Jason Holder has won the toss and elected to bat against India in the second Test. India lead the four-match series 1-0 .

A operative of terror outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami was on Saturday awarded death penalty in the 2005 Shramjeevi Express train blast case by a local court in Uttar Pradesh.

Alamgeer alias Rony, a Bangladeshi national, was awarded death sentence and a fine of Rs 7 lakh by Additional District and Sessions Judge Buddhiram Yadav who had held the accused guilty on Friday.

The verdict for another accused in the case, Ubed-ur-Rehman alias Babu, would be pronounced on August 2.

Twelve persons were killed and many others injured when an explosion ripped apart a coach of New Delhi-bound Shramjeevi Express from Patna near Jaunpur station in Uttar Pradesh on July 28, 2005.

The explosion was later found to have been caused by RDX stored in the toilet of the coach.

According to eyewitnesses, two men had boarded the train at Jaunpur with a white suitcase but shortly afterwards jumped out of the moving train without it and ran away. A few minutes later, the explosion shook the carriage.

Along with Rony, Ubed-ur-Rehman, Nafeequl Biswas and Sohag alias Hilal -- all Bangladeshi nationals with links to terror outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami -- were subsequently arrested by the police.

Nafeequl and Hilal are currently lodged in Hyderabad jail in connection with another case, while another accused, Sharif, is on the run. Two more accused, Ghulam Razdani alias Yahya and Sayeed, died during the pendency of the case.

19:06

With the Rio Olympics just a week away, here is a brief history of the Ancient Olympics.

18:45 BJP contradicts Mehbooba, says forces were aware of Wani's presence

Contradicting Mehbooba Mufti's stand, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday said security forces had the knowledge of Hizbul terrorist Burhan Wani's presence at the encounter site.

Terming the killing of Wani as "success", Jammu and Kashmir BJP chief Sat Sharma said identity of the terrorist "doesn't matter" in such operations.

"As far as the question of the event (killing of Wani) is concerned definitely the security forces had the knowledge ... they knew who was inside and they undertook their job after taking everything into consideration", he said, adding "without information" security forces do not act.

He said, "the people who take up gun to disintegrate the nation and don't consider Jammu and Kashmir to be part of India, they are terrorists and deserve to be killed."

"...the way our security forces have acted by eliminating the terrorist who wanted to disintegrate the country is worth commendation," Sharma said.

On Thursday, Mehbooba had said the security forces were not aware of Hizbul commander Wani's presence during the July 8 raid at his hideout at Kokernag in South Kashmir in which he was killed.

Mehbooba also indicated that had the security forces known about Wani's presence, the situation could have perhaps been controlled better.

"As far as the statement of chief minister is concerned, we must keep the morale of the security forces high. As the president of the state unit of BJP, I can say the identity of the terrorist does not matter for the security forces."

Dozens of civilians left the besieged and battered opposition-held east of Syria's Aleppo city on Saturday through a "humanitarian corridor" to the government-held west, state media reported.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported that "a number" of civilians had crossed into government territory.

The crossings were the first major movement of people from the besieged districts of the city after regime ally Russia announced Thursday that passages would be opened for civilians and surrendering fighters.

The move was welcomed cautiously by the UN, the US and some aid agencies.

The US has suggested the plan may be an attempt to force the evacuation of civilians and the surrender of rebel groups in the city.

The report also said some fighters had handed over their weapons and surrendered to the authorities.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has offered an amnesty for rebels laying down arms and surrendering within three months.

One of the jihadists who murdered an elderly French priest smiled as he carried out the attack, and nuns who witnessed the grisly murder said the killers spoke about a holy book.

The two nuns who were in the church when Father Jacques Hamel was killed, his throat slit on the altar, said the men appeared aggressive and nervous during the attack at the Eglise Saint-Etienne in Normandy on July 26.

Then, one of the attackers seemed pleased.

"I got a smile from the second (man). Not a smile of triumph, but a soft smile, that of someone who is happy," nun Sister Huguette Peron told Catholic newspaper La Vie yesterday.

Abdel Malik Petitjean and Adel Kermiche, both 19, had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and both were killed by police in the shock attack.

The men stormed the 17th-century stone church during mass in the town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, taking several hostages before killing the priest and seriously wounding another captive.

One nun fled the scene and alerted the police, leaving Sister Huguette and Sister Helene Decaux, both in their 80s, in the church with the jihadists.

At one point, Sister Helene got tired and asked to sit down. "I asked for my cane, he gave it to me," she said.

Then the men started talking about religion, asking the nun if she was familiar with the Quran.

"Yes, I respect it like I respect the Bible, I've read several suras. And those that hit me in particular are the suras about peace," Sister Helene responded.

One of the attackers replied: "Peace, it's what we want... as long as there are bombs on Syria, we will continue our attacks. And they will happen every day. When you stop, we will stop."

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's son Rakesh Siddaramaiah, who was undergoing treatment in the Belgian capital, passed away on Saturday due to multiple-organ failure.

He was undergoing treatment for acute pancreatitis at Brussel's Antwerp University Hospital.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that Rakesh went to Tomorrowland Fest-2016 in Belgium along with his friends.

After they revelled, he complained of acute stomach pain. Now, he is on ventilator and doctors said they would comment about his condition at the end of 48-hour observation period.

Sometime in November or December, Rakesh reportedly underwent treatment for liver and pancreatic issues in a city hospital.

CM Siddaramaiah along with his wife Parvathi and younger son Yathindra had flown to Brussels to be with their son.

Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar today visited the family of flight lieutenant Kunal Barpatte, who was navigating the Indian Air Force transport plane when it went missing, and reassured them that he was personally monitoring the situation.

Parrikar expressed his shock and sympathy to the parents of the officer.

"I am shocked. This was one of the IAF's safest and sturdiest aircraft. How can it go down? I am personally monitoring the situation," he said as he spoke to Rajendra, the father of Kunal.

The minister said he had instructed Air Force officials to keep in touch with family members of all the crew of the ill-fated plane and provide updates on the search operation.

Earlier, the parents had complained that despite their repeated efforts to get information after the news of the missing plane broke out, they did not receive a response from the Sulun base of IAF.

A tweet sent by one of the relatives addressing Parrikar led to official contact with the affected family after 30 odd hours.

On July 22, the ill-fated aircraft of the IAF, with 29 personnel on board, including four officers, had gone missing over Bay of Bengal on its way from near Chennai to Port Blair. soon after taking off from Tambaram air base.

Peepli Live co-director Mahmood Farooqui has been convicted by a Delhi court for raping an American researcher.

The Delhi Police had accused Farooqui of raping a 35-year-old American woman, who was in India to conduct research for her doctoral thesis from Columbia University.

Farooqui, however, had denied the allegations, saying he was falsely implicated.

On September 9 last, the court had started the trial in the case after framing charges of rape under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Farooqui.

The police had on June 19 last lodged an FIR against him on the complaint of the woman after which the filmmaker was arrested.

On June 29, a charge-sheet was filed against the filmmaker alleging he had raped the 35-year-old research scholar from Colombia University at his Sukhdev Vihar house in south Delhi on March 28.

Aam Aadmi Party MLA Naresh Yadav was today granted bail by a local court here in connection with the alleged sacrilege incident in Malerkotla on June 24.

"Naresh Yadav has been granted bail by the court of Additional District & Sessions Judge A S Virk here in Sangrur," AAP leader and Head of party's legal cell Himmat Singh Shergill said today.

On July 25, the Mehruali MLA was remanded in police custody for two days by Malerkotla court. On July 27, the AAP MLA was sent to the judicial custody till August 1 by the court.

Accusing the Parkash Singh Badal-led state government of wrongly framing Yadav, Shergill, who is Yadav's counsel, alleged, "There is no evidence with the police to link Yadav with the Malerkotla sacrilege case. Police have failed to find anything objectionable against Yadav. Police had done this at the behest of Badal government."

Punjab Police on July 24 had arrested Yadav from Delhi in connection with the alleged sacrilege incident in Malerkotla after one of the accused arrested in connection with the case claimed he had acted at the behest of the AAP MLA.

15:22 CoBRA jawan killed in gun-battle with Naxals

A CoBRA jawan was killed and another injured in a fierce gun-battle with Naxals in a dense forest pocket of Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Sukma district today, police said.

The skirmish took place in the core forests of Bhejji police station area when a squad of CoBRA's 208th battalion -- an elite unit of the CRPF -- was out on an anti-Naxals operation in the region, around 500 kms away from Raipur, a senior police official told PTI.

Security forces had undertaken the operation based on specific inputs about the movement of dreaded Maoist commander Hidma with his group in the region, he said.

When the CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) jawans were patrolling the forest between Ettrajpad and Gachonpally villages, a group of Naxals opened indiscriminate fire on them leading to a heavy gun-battle, he said. As per preliminary information, a constable-rank jawan was killed and another injured, the official said, adding reinforcement was immediately rushed to the spot.

15:18 Belgium foils terror attack plan; 2 arrested

Belgian police have arrested two men in connection with an anti-terrorism case, the Belgian federal prosecutor's office said.

The two men, named as Nourredine H, 33, and his brother Hamza were detained after house searches in the Mons region and the city of Liege.

"Both are suspected of planning a terrorist attack somewhere in Belgium," the prosecutor's office said.

No weapons or explosives were found in the searches.

Belgium is still on high alert since 32 people died in bombings at Brussels airport and a metro station in March.

15:18 Bihar MLA booked for slapping bank official

A CPI-ML Legislator Mehboob Alam was today booked for allegedly slapping a branch manager of a bank in Bihar's Katihar district.

Rakesh Ranjan, Branch Manager of Gwaltoli branch of Allahabad Bank, lodged a complaint against the MLA for allegedly slapping and abusing him besides trying to forcibly close the branch and creating disturbances in discharging duty, a police official said.

Ranjan had yesterday filed a written complaint to the Superintendent of Police Sidharth Mohan Jain about the incident that occurred at Gwaltoli branch of the Bank on Thursday.

Acting on the SP's directive, the FIR was lodged against two named persons, including the MLA, and some unnamed persons, he said. When contacted Alam, an MLA from Balirampur assembly constituency in Katihar district, said "the allegations are completely baseless.

Sri Lanka have won the test match against Australia in Pallekele by 106 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

Spinner Rangana Herath picked five wickets to send Australia crashing for 161 in their second innings.

This is Steven Smith's first loss as Australia's Test captain.

Both sides started the day in with more than a chance of winning, but the match turned in Sri Lanka's favour when Australia lost four wickets in the morning session.

In fact, there was a period when the Aussies played out 17 overs without scoring a run.

NADA verdict on wrestler Narsingh Yadav likely to come at 6 pm today, television reports said.

After the conclusion of the two-day hearing on Narsingh's dope positive case on Thursday, the NADA counsel had said that the verdict would come either 30 July or on 1 August.

"We have not been told when the verdict will come. It may be tomorrow or Monday but we don't know when," a Wrestling Federation of Indian source said, adding, "There is a 50-50 chance that he might be let off with a warning or may be handed a ban by the NADA disciplinary panel."

As per the revised NADA Code of 2015, the maximum sanction for a first-time offence is four years.

Narsingh's lawyers had presented their case on Wednesday, arguing that there was a conspiracy against the grappler while the NADA's legal team gave its arguments against the sabotage theory before the disciplinary panel on Thursday.

"The argument by NADA was that he is not eligible for remission which he has been asking. Narsingh did not produce the relevant circumstantial evidence that there could have been sabotage as had been claimed by them," NADA's lawyer Gaurang Kanth told reporters at the end of the hearing.

The wrestler, who has alleged the involvement of fellow grapplers in the conspiracy, has already been replaced by Parveen Rana in the Olympic bound squad but will be reinstated if he gets a favourable verdict from NADA.

Army today foiled an infiltration bid along the Line of Control in Naugam sector of Kashmir's Kupwara district, killing two terrorists in the operation that also left two soldiers dead.

Troops noticed suspicious movement along the LoC in Naugam sector during the intervening night and challenged the intruders, who opened fire, an army official said. The soldier returned fire leading to the gunbattle in which two terrorist were killed, the official said.

He said two soldiers were also killed while another was injured in the operation which was going on till last reports came in.

"Two AK rifles, one UBGL and other war-like stores were recovered from the scene of the gunbattle," the official said.

12:04

Explosion rocks Herat city, casualties feared: Afghan media

12:01 Modi's going back to China; will meet Xi, Obama at G-20

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to hold a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit at Hangzhou in China on September 4-5, said government sources.

Though the details of the meeting have not yet emerged, if it does take place, it would be the first meeting between Prime Minister Modi and President Jinping after their meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit held in Uzbekistan capital Tashkent, where the prime minister had urged China to make a "fair and objective assessment of India's application on merit for India's membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

Prime Minister Modi is also expected to hold a bilateral meeting with US President Barack Obama, which is likely to be their last official engagement with President Obama's presidency set to end on January 20, 2017. Both the leaders are likely to discuss among other issues concerning terrorism and NSG.

11:56 Satish Mathur appointed new Maharashtra DGP

Satish Mathur has been appointed as the new DGP of Maharashtra police, ANI reported.

Mathur, a 1981-batch IPS officer, had taken charge as the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau chief in April this year. Prior to this, Mathur was heading the Maharashtra State Police Housing and Welfare Corporation.

Known as perhaps the first National Security Guard-trained IPS officer, Mathur has held several crucial postings in the past, including his tenure with the CBI, when he was one of the officers who prosecuted the 1993 blast accused.

It was during this case that the CBI team, comprising Mathur, for the first time gave the prosecution's say to the court including hyper-links, where one could click on the name of an accused and all the details regarding him would appear.

Calling on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to launch a campaign to free Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev has said it was about time that India took concrete steps to take back the "captured and disputed" land.

"Prime Minister Modi should begin a campaign to free PoK. Nawaz Sharif has the nerve to say that Pakistan will take Kashmir at any cost. Our children look at Kashmir only on the maps but Pakistan has captured it. When a cowardly nation captures a part of a great nation, we can't just sit silently," Ramdev told the media.

He further said that the prime minister should take concrete steps to destroy active terrorist organisations targeting India from the Pakistani soil.

The Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court, which on Thursday held Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal and 11 others guilty in 2006 Aurangabad Arms haul case, is expected to announce the quantum of sentence for the convicts on Saturday.

While delivering the order, Special MCOCA Judge SL Anekar had accepted prosecution's case that there was a conspiracy after 2002 Gujarat riots to eliminate then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi and Vishva Hindu Parishad's Pravin Togadia.

The court acquitted eight others in the case while trial of two accused have been separated.

The 12 found guilty are: Abu Jundal, Aslam Kashmiri, Faisal Ataur-Rehman Shaikh, Afroz Khan Shahid Pathan, Sayyed Akif S Jafruddin, Bilal Ahmed Abdul Razaq, medico M Sharif Shabbir Ahmed, Afzal K. Nabi Khan, Mushtaq Ahmed M. Isaf Shaikh, Javed A Abdul Majid, M Muzafar Mohammed Tanveer and Mohammed Amir Shakil Ahmed.

On May 8, 2006, a Maharashtra ATS team chased a Tata Sumo and an Indica car on Chandwad-Manmad highway near Aurangabad and arrested three terror suspects and seized 30kg of RDX, 10 AK-47 assault rifles and 3,200 bullets.

11:27

2 terrorists and 2 soldiers killed as Army foils infiltration bid in Baramulla.

11:06 Curfew continues in Kashmir valley for 22nd consecutive day

Curfew and restrictions continued for the 22nd consecutive day across the Kashmir valley on Saturday following protests over the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani.

Security forces have blocked all the roads as the resistance camp extended their shutdown call till July 31.

The security forces blocked all the main roads for maintaining law and order across the Valley.

The Supreme Court on Friday declined to entertain a plea seeking Governors rule in Jammu and Kashmir under the provision of JK constitution, due to the deteriorating law and order situation in the state.

Gurugram police chalks out a detailed plan to avert traffic jams during rains this year.

14 crucial points have been chosen mainly on the NH8 and NH248A and forces deployed 24x7 for the same. At each point, an inspector rank officers will be deployed along with police as per requirement of each spot. Duties are in 2 shifts, the Gurgaon police said.

Meanwhile, work to remove potholes has begun at the Hero Honda Chowk which witnessed its worst-ever traffic jam on the intervening night of July 28-29 as thousands of motorists were stuck on this stretch of the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway for more than 12 hours.

The unprecedented jam, triggered due to heavy rain on Thursday evening and the breach of the Badshahpur drain, brought the city to a standstill on Friday morning. With their employees stuck in traffic, Gurgaon offices registered a major hit in attendance and productivity.

In view of widespread waterlogging, the administration has issued an advisory for the schools to remain closed for two days.

Rajjat Barjatya, MD and CEO of Rajshri Media, passed away on Friday at a hospital in Mumbai.

Cousin of filmmaker Sooraj Barjatya, Rajjat was suffering from cancer for a while now and took his last breath at 6:30 in the evening.

He was admitted in Jaslok Hospital from the last 10-12 days. According to media reports, Rajjat suffered from lukemia in the past and survived the same.

Rajjat was part of some of Rajshri's biggest projects, including Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Hum Saath Saath Hain and the more recent Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo.

He was also the brainchild behind the production house's progress in digital media and was touted to be responsible for Rajshri's business gains.

His last rites will be held on Saturday afternoon in Mumbai's Worli locality.

Actor Salman Khan shared one of his images (left) with Rajat on Twitter, and said, "Rest in peace my brother."

The pro-Kannada and farmer associations have called for 'Karnataka Bandh' on Saturday to protest against the Tribunal's interim order rejecting Karnataka's interim plea for sharing the Mahadayi river water with Goa.

Huge protests were witnessed on July 28 after Karnataka's petition seeking 7.56 tmcft for drinking water projects was rejected by a tribunal.

The Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) has decided to halt screening of movies in theatres, movie-shooting schedules, and other film activities today.

The Mahaydai Water Disputes Tribunal, headed by JN Panchal, on Wednesday rejected the state's petition for 7.6 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of water from the river, citing various grounds, including ecological damage the project may cause.

On Thursday areas like Hubballi, Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri and Belagavi witnessed violent protests. Incidents of stone-throwing, burning of tyres and effigies and blocking of roads and highways by thousands of farmers, students and pro-Kannada activists were reported.

The United States has handed over certain documents to the National Investigation Agency which could strengthen India's assertions of complicity of Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad in the attack on the Pathankot IAF base.

As per a report in The Times of India, these comprise of over 1,000 pages of chats and conversations between JeM handler Kashif Jaan and the four fidayeen (identified as Nasir Hussain, Punjab province, Abu Bakar, Gujranwala, Umar Farooq and Abdul Qayum, both from Sindh).

The conversations prove that terror strike on Pathankot was micro-managed from Pakistan.

The four fidayeen of JeM (who were eventually killed) were in regular touch with their handlers in Pakistan.

Telangana government decides to scrap Engineering, Agriculture and Medical Common Entrance Test-2, 2016 after CID report confirms paper leak

The EAMSAT is the entry door to bachelor of medicine and surgery and bachelor of dental surgery courses in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. About 50,900 candidates took a shot at 2,650 MBBS and BDS seats up for grabs this year, making the medical entrance exam an intensely competitive one.

According to reports, every candidate buying a leaked question paper had to pay Rs 3-5 lakh. After receiving an advance of Rs 1 lakh from each student, the racketeers would hand them the question paper 48 hours before the common entrance test.

CID officials say that atleast 30 students benefited form the leak of the question paper and they were given special coaching in different places including Resonance Medical Academy at LB Nagar in Hyderabad.

Seven people have been arrested in this connection.

Three persons, including a Delhi-based printing press worker Shaikh Nishad, a Mumbai-based broker Guddu, and a coaching academy owner Venkat Rao, were arrested in Bengaluru on Wednesday night and were brought to Hyderabad for further questioning.

According to the CID officials, a repeat offender, Rajagopal Reddy from Bengaluru, was the kingpin behind the racket and had got the exam papers leaked from a Delhi printing press in complicity with six middlemen.

An Istanbul court has remanded 17 Turkish journalists in custody over links to the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen who is blamed for this month's failed coup, charging them with membership of a "terror group".

Twenty-one journalists had their cases heard by the court, with four being freed and 17 placed under arrest ahead of trial, the state-run Anadolu news agency said. Those held include the veteran journalist Nazli Ilicak, it added.

A strong but deep 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck off the Northern Mariana Islands in the western Pacific today, but triggered no tsunami alert, US monitors said.

The quake struck at a depth of 212 kilometre at 7:18 am (local time) some 31 kilometre southwest of the island of Agrihan, according to the US Geological Survey.

No tsunami warning was issued.

The Pentagon is flatly rejecting allegations by Turkey's president that the US military was somehow involved in or in any way supported the recent failed coup in that country.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (REH'-jehp TY'-ihp UR'-doh-wahn) lashed out at the US yesterday and criticized a senior military commander who had expressed concerns that the coup could have longer-term impact on US relations with the Turkish military. Erdogan says the US was taking sides with coup plotters.

Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook says any suggestion that the U S supported the coup is absurd.

Slovak President Robert Fico today said he believed there is a high risk that fresh attacks will occur in Europe, and he blamed migrants for the threat.

In less than two weeks Islamic State group jihadists have claimed four bloody assaults in France and Germany that killed nearly 90 people, wounded hundreds and left the continent on edge.

"It is obvious that potential terrorists could have used uncontrolled migration to smuggle in weapons and explosives," said Fico, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union.

"Therefore the possibility of more ... terrorist attacks is very, very high. There is potential for this," he told reporters in Bratislava.

Fico, who was re-elected on an anti-migration platform in March, added that intelligence gathered by the Slovak secret service showed "there is a link between migration and terrorism".

00:59 New cyber attack hits Democratic Party

Democratic Party officials said today they have been targeted by a fresh cyber attack, similar to a breach at the Democratic National Committee that resulted in an embarrassing leak of party emails.

The revelation will raise further questions in the United States about the activities of Russian hackers after Hillary Clinton's campaign blamed Moscow for the initial breach that revealed how party leaders sought to undermine her potential White House rival, Bernie Sanders.

The emails were made public by WikiLeaks and the Kremlin has dismissed as absurd allegations that it was behind the hack. President Barack Obama has refused to rule out that Russia is trying to sway the US presidential election in favor of Donald Trump.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee was the target of a "cyber security incident," its national press secretary Meredith Kelly confirmed Friday.

French authorities filed terror charges today against two suspected members of the same Islamic State cell that massacred 130 people in Paris last November, a judicial source said.

The 29-year-old Algerian and the 35-year-old Pakistani were charged with "criminal conspiracy with terrorists", the source said of the men turned over earlier Friday by Austrian authorities.

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