A Mumbai sessions court on Wednesday extended the judicial custody of alleged money launderer and tax evader Hasan Ali Khan and his associate Kashinath Tapuriah till April 26, a lawyer said.

More than 78 per cent of voters exercised their franchise by 4 00 p.m. on Wednesday in the Puducherry Assembly polls, officials here said. “At 4 00 p.M. 78.86 per cent votes were cast with Yanam region touching a figure of 92 per cent,” an election official told IANS.

Assembly elections in Kerala ended on a peaceful note on Wednesday with more than 70 per cent of the 22 million electorate voting for a new Assembly and both the rival fronts claiming that victory would be theirs.

In a development that is being termed as the first piece of biological evidence about the origin of the widely discussed Lonar Crater Lake in Buldhana, microbiologists have discovered a rare bacterium in the lake sediments.

The criteria adopted by the UK-Australia group of scientists to determine the presence of the superbug gene, New Delhi metallo-ß-lactamase 1, in drinking water samples of the national capital is “unscientific and violates the established norms of research,” argue scientists.

Eleven years after he came to power in 2000 and regularly refuting charges of numerous scams and scandals that rocked the image of his government, Orissa chief minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik now finds himself in the dock.

Mr Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy received a big setback ahead of the Kadapa bypolls as the chief minister, Mr N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, managed to win back some of his loyalists back to the Congress camp.

Charging the ruling DMK with unleashing violence ahead of Wednesday’s Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, AIADMK chief J. Jayalalithaa on Tuesday urged Election Commission and state police to ensure free and fair elections.

Defending its senior leader M.K. Stalin for his comments against AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa, the DMK on Tuesday said the deputy chief minister had only made a “true and fair comment” on her marital status, which could “never be construed as defamatory or derogatory”.

All preparations have been completed for the elections to 13th Kerala Assembly to be held on Wednesday.
Distribution of polling materials was completed on Tuesday evening. Polling will begin on 7 am and conclude at 5 pm on Wednesday.