Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party, or the AAP, has moved the Supreme Court against the Centre’s decision to impose President’s Rule in Delhi and place the assembly under suspended animation.

Mr Kejriwal, while resigning from the Delhi Chief Minister’s post on February 14, had recommended the dissolution of the assembly. The Centre, however, refused to pay heed to his advice and, instead, placed it under a spell of suspended animation.

The AAP, in its petition filed before the Supreme Court, has described the Centre’s action as “malafide” and “unconstitutional,” and alleged that President’s Rule was clamped to enable the Centre to rule Delhi by proxy and delay fresh assembly polls.

The capital came under a spell of President’s Rule on Monday, some 60 hours after Mr Kejriwal stepped down from Chief Minister’s post after the BJP and the Congress foiled his plans to introduce the anti-graft Jan Lokpal Bill in the Delhi Assembly.

In an assembly with a strength of 70, the AAP has 27 members. The BJP and its ally Shiromani Akali Dal together have strength of 32, but they have declared that they would stay away from the government-formation exercise, and have favoured a fresh round of polls.

The BJP, as part of the exercise to refurbish its image in the capital ahead of the Lok Sabha and assembly polls, had yesterday named Harsh Vardhan as the president of Delhi unit. He replaces Vijay Goel, who was made a member of the Rajya Sabha, reportedly as part of a deal worked out by the party’s top leadership.

The Congress, which suffered a shock defeat in the assembly polls held in December, plummeted to its lowest-ever tally of 8.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a supplementary chargesheet on Thursday against Indian Mujahideen (IM) co-founder Yasin Bhatkal and aide Asadullah Akhtar with a case of alleged conspiracy to carry out terror acts in the country.

The supplementary chargesheet was filed before the court of district judge IS Mehta who posted the matter for February 24 for taking cognisance on the final report.

According to court sources, Bhatkal and Akhtar have been listed in the chargesheet under various sections of the IPC, including 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 121 (waging war against the country), 121-A (conspiracy to wage war) and under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The sources also said NIA has defined the roles of Bhatkal and Akhtar in the entire conspiracy of the IM to carry out the terror activities.

Bhatkal is alleged to have been involved in the 2010 Pune Gernam Bakery blast and is reported to have planted the bombs himself. 17 people were killed in the attack.

NIA had filed its first chargesheet against IM in July last year.

The IM is under the scanner for a host of terror attacks in India. The blast outside a stadium in Bangalore in 2010 just before a cricket match is said to be one of them. It is also under the scanner for Dilsukhnagar blasts of Hyderabad and the Bodh Gaya serial blasts.

Bhatkal was arrested by the NIA from the Indo-Nepal border on August 29 last year. Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde confirmed the news the next day. Another IM leader Asadullah Akhtar alias Haddi was also picked up along with 30-year-old Bhatkal.

Bhatkal’s real name is Ahmed Siddibappa and he was one of the most wanted men in India. He was the only IM founder member who was operating in the country, with his brothers and founder members of IM, Riaz and Iqbal Bhatkal, having fled to Pakistan.

Hours after announcing his support to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the General Elections, social activist Anna Hazare said that he would back anybody doing good work.

When asked about his opinion on some charges levelled against Mamata, Anna said that one needs to change the perspective of seeing things. These days only a few negative things are being highlighted, not an ample amount of good work done by an individual.

Anna’s reaction comes after he announced that he is not backing any party but only an individual.

“I am supporting her (Mamata) but I am not supporting any political party,” he said without elaborating.

The 76-year-old activist said he was supporting Banerjee as she agreed to implement his “17 point agenda” covering a range of issues including containing graft and bringing in more transparency if she comes to power at the Centre.

Anna also said that he won’t support Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi or Kejriwal.

The social activist said that Kejriwal is now a changed person and aspiring to be the prime minister of the country.

In a matter of four months, a schoolgirl in Haryana was allegedly gang-raped twice and then sexually assaulted by her father.

In her statement to the police, the girl gave a horrifying account of repeated assault in her village in Sonepat, less than an hour from Delhi, and in her own home.

A group of boys from her village allegedly gang-raped her twice in two months.

They were all arrested, but then her father allegedly started raping her.

“My father raped me in September. He said if I tell anyone he will get me killed. I want to study but my father wants to push me into prostitution. Please save me,” she said.

Her story emerged after a local NGO took her to the police and she told them that she did not want to go home.

Her father has been arrested and booked for rape.

“My father raped me. I don’t want to live with him…he should be punished…I want justice,” she said in a letter. She has now been placed in care of the NGO.

The girl’s mother says she was not aware of what was happening in her own home. “She never told me. She only told me now,” she said, asking for strongest possible punishment for her husband.

India enacted harsher laws for crimes against women last year, after the fatal gang-rape of a young student on a moving bus in December, 2012 jolted the nation and brought thousands of protesters out on the streets.

Three little girls of a family attending a wedding in their native village in Andhra Pradesh were burnt alive on Wednesday, allegedly by their uncle, for no known motive.

Akshaya, 9, Suri, 6 and Khushi, 4, were daughters of three brothers who had come to the Nizamabad district for the wedding. Their charred bodies were found today, only a few km from the place where the family had gathered for the event, and where they were playing before they vanished.

The brothers’ cousin, Narendra Reddy, allegedly took the girls on a ride in his car on Wednesday afternoon.

The girls’ absence was noticed much later. At around 10.30 pm, Narendra reportedly called to say he was 40 km away, at a place called Basser, and was going to commit suicide. The entire family made frantic calls to him and even called the police for help. His watch and slippers have been found near a bridge.

Stunned relatives say they don’t know why the girls were murdered; there was no property or any other dispute. The police have found a bottle of petrol near the girls’ bodies. “It is a clear case of murder, but the motive is not clear,” said District Superintendent of Police Tarun Joshi.

Some relatives speculate that Narendra, who was not married, may have committed the crime out of jealousy.

The fathers of Akshaya and Suri are civil contractors in Hyderabad. Raju Reddy, father of Khushi, is a manager with Reliance.

The Congress is seeking to counter NaMo chai with RaGa (Rahul Gandhi) milk, says a report. A week after BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi held a ‘Chai Chaupal’ and interacted with people at 1,000 places in the country, Congress leaders in Uttar Pradesh have begun to sell milk in an one-upmanship campaign.

On Monday, a handful of Congress activists in Gorakhpur gave away free milk to passersby in paper cups with a picture of party vice president Rahul Gandhi embossed on it. The distribution was done at Golghar in Gorakhpur, a major political hub in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Both Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Modi have addressed political rallies in the region in the last one month.

The Congress is seeking to counter NaMo chai with RaGa (Rahul Gandhi) milk, says a report. A week after BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi held a ‘Chai Chaupal’ and interacted with people at 1,000 places in the country, Congress leaders in Uttar Pradesh have begun to sell milk in an one-upmanship campaign.

On Monday, a handful of Congress activists in Gorakhpur gave away free milk to passersby in paper cups with a picture of party vice president Rahul Gandhi embossed on it. The distribution was done at Golghar in Gorakhpur, a major political hub in eastern Uttar Pradesh.