The Akhilesh Yadav government, on Sunday imposed prohibitory orders in Ayodhya to thwart the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s “Panch Kosi Parikrama.” The prohibitory orders will remain in force until September 30, official sources said.

A near-complete shutdown was observed in western UP district in response to a bandh call given by the BJP to protest against the arrest of its legislators in connection with the riots. According to reports, all commercial establishments remained closed in Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Shamli, Baghpat, Bijnore, Saharanpur, Amroha and other adjoining districts. The response to the bandh was partial in Ghaziabad and Noida.

Eighty-five persons, including a khap council head and his two sons, have been booked by the police for their alleged involvement in the communal riots in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining areas.

In a shocking incident, a 53-year-old babysitter has been booked for rape of a 5-year-old at his residence in the posh Versova area of Andheri.

The Mumbai police chargesheet in the IPL case says that Sandeep Chhabra alias Pawan Jaipur, the wanted accused in the Indian Premier League betting scandal, had been collecting vital information from Chennai Super Kings team principal Gurunath Meiyappan through Vindoo Dara Singh even after fleeing to Dubai following the police crackdown.

Underlining the importance of electoral reforms in the country, Union minister Sachin Pilot said that holding various polls, including those for Lok Sabha and state Assemblies, can help in saving on expenses to the exchequer.

The Madhya Pradesh Congress election committee headed by state party chief Kantilal Bhuria has completed three-rounds of meetings and prepared the panel of names for allotment of party tickets for all the 230 Assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh. These names would be forwarded to the screening committee for a final decision which would coincide with the announcement of the poll schedule by the Election commission.

A 22-year-old Afghan national and a Delhi University student allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan at his rented accommodation on Sunday.

Gearing up for the September 29 rally, the Delhi BJP is all set to engage majority of parking lots, public toilets, advertisement panels and unipoles to display posters of BJP’s chief campaigner Narendra Modi.

A city court handed down life imprisonment to a 50-year-old man after observing that he committed a “diabolic and barbaric” crime by sexually assaulting his minor niece, allowing others to gangrape her and forcing her into prostitution.