In a tragic incident, Indian Air Force’s new C-130J Super Hercules transport plane – configured for special operations and airborne assault – on Friday crashed near Gwalior, killing all five crew members, including four officers.

Two Wing Commanders, two Squadron Leaders and another crew member were killed in the Super Hercules Special Operations plane crash, Defence PRO told a news agency in Jaipur.

The IAF has ordered court of inquiry into the crash.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh paid his condolences.

“One C-130J aircraft crashed 72 miles (115 km) west of Gwalior air base. The aircraft was airborne from Agra at 1000 hours for a routine flying training mission. A Court of Inquiry has been ordered to investigate into the cause of the accident,” an IAF spokesperson said here.

Police in Jaipur said senior officials, including Superintendent of Police, Karauli, have rushed to the spot along Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh border.

Air Force officials said IAF chief Arup Raha has briefed Defence Minister AK Antony about the crash. Senior officers from the Air Headquarters have been dispatched to the crash site, they said.

Local IAF units have also rushed officers and men in choppers to the accident area, they said.

India had recently inducted six C-130J Super Hercules aircraft, which were bought from the US at the cost of around Rs 6,000 crore (USD 1.1 billion) four years ago.

The incident is shocking since the plane, known as the safest aircraft, has capabilities of landing and taking off even in improvised or short airfields, and without lights.

The home base of the 77 squadron ‘Veiled Vipers’ operating the aircraft is Hindan in Ghaziabad near here.

India had recently deployed a C-130J Super Hercules of the Indian Air Force in Kuala Lumpur to take part in the international search for the missing Malaysian airliner in the South Indian Ocean region.

The aircraft was recently landed on the Daulat Beg Oldie air field near China border and have helped in boosting IAF’s capability to airlift troops closer to the borders in times of emergency.

In a daring attack, unidentified gunmen wearing Army uniforms fired at a private vehicle in Kathua district of the Jammu region on Friday.

Four people, including two terrorists, one Army jawan and one civilian, were killed in the attack and the ensuing encounter.

The gunmen, who are suspected to be Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists, were intercepted after a two-hour chase near an Army camp and a private college in Kalibari-Janglote belt of Kathua district, triggering a heavy exchange of fire between the two sides. Two terrorists have been killed in the encounter. Meanwhile, an Army jawan, injured in the firing, has succumbed to his injuries.

The area is being searched to locate the third terrorist.

“Three persons wearing Army uniform intercepted a SUV, forced out the occupants and opened fire on them at Tarnah Nallah bridge in Dayala Chak belt of Kathua district (on the Jammu-Pathankote national highway) around 4.30 am Friday” , a police officer said.

One of the injured told police that the only word uttered by terrorist was “utro” (get down) and after which the driver was separated from the passengers.

The terrorists opened fire at the occupants, who were on their way to Gurdaspur, and hijacked the vehicle along with driver Taraseem Singh.

Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Ashok Prasad told a news agency that immediately after the police control room was informed at 4:47 AM, all check posts and security establishments were alerted.

Despite bad weather, helicopters were pressed into service to locate the vehicle which was finally spotted in a nallah (seasonal canal) outside 111 Rocket division in Kathua, he said.

Meanwhile, Army Chief General Bikram Singh has briefed Defence Minister AK Antony about the encounter, a Defence Ministry official said.

After hijacking the vehicle, the gunmen attacked an Army camp near Janglote in the same district where a gunfight started between them and security personnel, the officer added.

Senior Army officials were informed as a result of which terrorists could not even approach the main gate of the Army camp where an alert guard had engaged them in fire fighting.

The terrorists are suspected to have entered through Tarlah Nallah in order to carry out a suicide attack ahead of Lok Sabha polls.

The same route was used by terrorists to enter into the state on September 26 last year.

A Delhi court has sent a 70-year-old man to seven years in jail for raping his 20-year-old maid, observing that no lenient view can be taken towards him on the ground of his age as he should have thought about it before “resorting to such a shameless act”.

The court held Narender Mohan Mittal, a resident of Dwarka, guilty of raping the girl and threatening her, and said that the offence of rape becomes “more odious” as it was committed by an elderly person on a young and helpless girl.

“The age and state of health of the convict (Mittal), as canvassed by his counsel do not persuade me to take a lenient view against him. It was for the convict to think about his age, health and family members before resorting to such a shameful act.

“In fact, the age of the convict makes the offence committed by him more diabolical. The offence of rape becomes more odious when it is committed by an elderly person upon a young and helpless girl, who is in his custody,” Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat said.

Mittal has sought leniency saying he was 70-year-old and was suffering from various ailments like diabetes, heart enlargement, blood pressure and osteoarthritis.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on him.

According to the prosecution, the girl was raped by Mittal in October, 2012 when his wife, son and daughter-in-law were not at home.

Before the incident, the man was watching an obscene movie on the computer and asked her to fetch some water for him and when she returned, he caught her and raped her, the girl had told the court.

After the incident, the man left the house and locked it from outside so that the girl cannot go out and made a call to her threatening her that she would be killed if she narrated the incident to anybody.

Some 500 activists stormed into the Congress office in Lucknow, attacked people and damaged cars.

The activists are believed to be from the Bundelkhand Adhikar Sena, floated by a man called Guddu Rajput, who was reportedly rebuffed in his bid to contest as a Congress candidate from Hamirpur. He is said to be the son of a former MP, Gangacharan Rajput.

The attack went on for an hour before the police stepped in. The Congress says 40 of its workers were injured.

In a shocking incident reported from a remote village in Agra, a 62 year-old man ruthlessly murdered his 55 year old wife whom he suspected of infidelity.

He slit her throat and then repeatedly hit her with an iron rod 20 times till she died on the spot. He even tried to cut her body into pieces. After committing the crime, he locked the house and fled.
Dunger Singh had a fight with Ramvati at 11 pm on Thursday when their daughter-in-law and grandchildren were also present in the house. As the argument heated up, Dunger Singh ordered the daughter-in-law to lock herself into the room with her kids.

They could hear Dunger Singh thrashing Ramvati, however at 4:30 am in the morning, the altercation stopped and the daughter-in-law and kids, without checking what had happened, went off to sleep.
Next morning, when she came out of the room, she saw her mother-in-law lying in a pool of blood and found that they had all been locked up in the house. She shouted for help after which neighbours called the police.

Dunger Singh was reportedly insecure about Ramvati for many years and wouldn’t allow her to stand even at the doorstep. If he ever saw her standing on the doorstep, he would thrash her till she fell unconscious.