-The Hindu Sequence of attacks on “well-known business units” suggests violence was not spontaneous Last week’s violence in Faizabad district during the Durga Puja procession which left two persons dead, several injured and dozens of shops razed, was executed in a planned manner and the targets had been selected, according to a fact-finding team and accounts by victims and eyewitnesses. The fact-finding team of human rights organisation Rihai Manch said the sequence of...

'This will send a strong message that State will not compromise on corruption' Even as an hour-long meeting on Saturday between Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav indicated that the phase of Centre-State confrontation might just be over, the Central Minister has urged Mr. Yadav to recommend a CBI probe into the irregularities in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee...

West Bengal: The murder of two CPI(M) leaders in Bardhaman district points to an increase in political violence in the State. THE brutal murder of Pradip Tah, a former legislator belonging to the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or the CPI(M), and Kamal Gayen, another senior leader of the party, in broad daylight, allegedly by Trinamool Congress supporters, in West Bengal's Bardhaman district on February 22 once again points to an...

A day before he was killed in broad daylight on Wednesday, former CPI(M) MLA Pradip Tah had filed an official complaint with Superintendent of Police, Burdwan, S N Mirza stating that his life was under threat. He named 10 men, all reportedly Trinamool Congress members, of whom eight were later named in the murder complaint filed by Tah’s brother, Prabir Tah. In his complaint, a copy of which is with The...

Raising questions of credibility and independence, the state police today did not seek custody of the four Trinamool Congress supporters named in the FIR for the murders of a former CPM MLA and a CPM district committee member. This despite the fact that they were booked under Sections 302 and 304 of IPC. The judge had to grant “judicial custody” to the four accused. Senior police officials said that the norm...