The CBI on Saturday conducted a lie-detector test on Dhruv Narayan Singh, a BJP MLA from Bhopal, in connection with the Shehla Masood murder case. The role of the BJP MLA is under the scanner of the agency because of his alleged closeness with Zahida Parvez, a Bhopal-based interior designer and a prime suspect in the case.

The outlawed CPI(Maoist) on Saturday alleged atrocities by security forces on tribals during the last week’s anti-Naxal operations in Abujhmad, a densely forested area extending from south Bastar in Chhattisgarh to Gadchiroli in Maharashtra.

Abducted BJD legislator Jhina Ekaka had overlooked the standard operating procedure (SOP) prescribed by the state home department after the February, 2011 abduction of R. Vineel Krishna, ex-collector of Malkangiri.

In a bid to perhaps assuage any hurt or anger that Sri Lanka might feel following India’s vote against it at the UN Human Rights Council, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has written to President Mahinda Rajapakse hoping ties between the two nations will “continue to grow from strength”. Dr Singh has also affirmed to the Sri Lankan leader that New Delhi had introduced “an element of balance in the language of the resolution”.

As negotiations continued between the Orissa government and the Maoists for the release of two abducted Italian tourists, the rebels struck again early Saturday, kidnapping a tribal BJD MLA from Laxmipur, Jhina Ekaka, from Tayaput in Koraput district. The abduction was by Maoists who belong to the Srikakulam-Koraput divisional committee.

Two BJP MLAs accused of watching obscene pictures during House proceedings were on Friday given a clean chit by the Gujarat Assembly Speaker after the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) here found nothing objectionable in their iPad having over 4,000 pictures and 11 video clips.

Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs from Uttarakhand, who secretly arrived at Ujjain on Thursday, offered prayers at the sacred Mahakal Temple early morning on Friday and spent the remaining part of the day visiting the holy town of Omkareshwar.

Norway on Friday said it was willing to look for “new solutions” in the interest of the two NRI kids kept in foster care, a day after it expressed its inability to hand them over to their uncle in the wake of a “conflict” in the family which has now prepared a fresh custody agreement.

A ray of hope for release of the two Italian nationals held hostages by the Maoists in Orissa emerged on Friday with the two interlocutors and state government representatives declaring that they would reach “some conclusion” by Saturday evening.

Ahead of its President’s visit to New Delhi next week, China, for the first time, indicated that it has discontinued the policy of issuing stapled visas to residents of Jammu and Kashmir.