FORCES GUN DOWN 2 JAISH MILITANTS, SEIZE SNIPER GUN

SRINAGAR: Two Jaish-e-mohammad militants were killed and an M-4 carbine was recovered, after a day-long encounter with security forces in Tral area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, officials said. One of the militants, identified as

Usman Hyder, is suspected to be a relative of Jaish chief Masood Azhar. However, there was no confirmation by the police. While two bodies were recovered, that of one more militant was expected to be retrieved from the rubble soon, officials said. The M-4 Carbine rifle recovered from the encounter site was possibly used by the group to carry out sniper attacks on security forces, they added.

HRD to take call on Motihari VC’S resignation soon

NEW DELHI : The HRD ministry is likely to take a call on the resignation of Arvind Agrawal, the vicechancellor of the Mahatma Gandhi Central University, Motihari, in a couple of days, a senior official said Tuesday. “The V-C’S resignation was received today and will be considered. The matter is likely to be put before HRD minister Prakash Javadekar tomorrow,” the official said. Agrawal’s resignation has come after the ministry received a complaint against him regarding alleged “inaccuracies” related to academic credentials in his application for the top post. According to senior officials in the ministry, a complaint was received that he had wrongly claimed to have obtained his PHD degree from a German institute.

SC upholds life term to RJD leader Shahabuddin

NEW DELHI : The Supreme Court has upheld the conviction and sentence of former MP and RJD leader Mohammad Shahabuddin and three others in a 2004 double murder case in which two brothers were killed for not paying extortion money. A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph dismissed at the threshold, the four appeals filed by the convicts against the Patna High Court judgement. “We find no ground to interfere. The Special Leave Petitions are dismissed,” the bench said adding that the case was of grievous nature in which a person, who had witnessed the killing of his brother, was also shot dead. Satish and Girish Roshan were murdered in August 2004 in Siwan for refusing to pay extortion money.