Gauri Lankesh case: One more in custody of special investigation team
Bengaluru, Sept 08: The Special Investigation Team probing the killing of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh has taken into custody one more person in connection with the case.
Sources in the SIT said Sudhanwa Gondhalekar, who was arrested from Pune by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad in August in connection with the seizure of a huge cache of explosives, was brought to Bengaluru Friday on transit remand.
He was produced in a local court which remanded him in police custody for 14 days. With this, 14 suspects have been arrested in the case.
A native of Satara, Gondhalekar has confessed to his role in the Lankesh killing, SIT sources said.
The Anti-Terrorism Squad of Maharashtra police had arrested three members of a suspected right-wing Hindutva outfit, including Gondhalekar, in August and seized a huge quantity of explosives, including crude bombs.
The ATS had said they would be questioned about all the cases in which the involvement of right-wing extremists was suspected, including the Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and (journalist) Gauri Lankesh killings.
Left-leaning Lankesh, who was strongly opposed to Hindutva, was shot dead on September 5 last year by two motorcycle-borne assailants near her house here, triggering outrage.
Courtesy: www.hindustantimes.com
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Rupee hits all-time low for second time in a week
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee depreciated 31 paise to settle at 91.99 against the US dollar on Wednesday, touching the lowest closing level for the second time in less than a week, amid increased month-end demand for the greenback.
Forex traders said the rupee opened higher as the US dollar index softened and a long-awaited trade breakthrough with Europe offered quiet reassurance. However, increased month-end demand for the American currency as well as the ongoing geopolitical tensions dented investors' sentiments.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 91.60 and touched an early high of 91.50, but pared all the gains to touch an intra-day low of 91.99 against the greenback.
The domestic unit settled 31 paise down, revisiting its lowest-ever closing level of 91.99 against the greenback. The Indian currency previously ended at this level on January 23 when it also hit its all-time intraday low of 92 against the US dollar.
On Tuesday, the rupee rebounded from its all-time low levels and gained 22 paise to close at 91.68 against the US dollar.
Analysts said the rupee opened higher as the US dollar index softened and a long-awaited trade breakthrough with Europe bolstered investor sentiment.
India and the European Union on Tuesday announced the conclusion of negotiations for the free trade agreement (FTA), under which a number of domestic sectors such as apparel, chemicals and footwear will get duty-free entry into the 27-nation bloc, while the EU will get access to the Indian market at concessional duty for cars and wines, an official said.
The deal has been dubbed the "mother of all deals" as it will create a market of about 2 billion people.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.07 per cent lower at 96.14.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.43 per cent lower at USD 67.28 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex jumped 487.20 points to settle at 82,344.68, while Nifty surged 167.35 points to 25,342.75.
Foreign Institutional Investors turned net buyers and purchased equities worth Rs 480.26 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
