New Delhi, June 13: Former President Pranab Mukherjee, who was in the eye of a storm and the butt of criticism from some Congress leaders for going to the RSS headquarters, attended the Iftar party hosted by Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former President Pratibha Patil and former Vice President Hamid Ansari were among the dignitaries who attended the function at a hotel where leaders from opposition parties including rebel Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yadav, Communist Party of India-Marxist General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, Janata Dal-Secular leader Danish Ali, Trinamool Congress leader Dinesh Trivedi and Bahujan Samaj Party's Satish Chandra Mishra were also present.

Nationalist Congress Party leader D.P. Tripathi, DMK's Kanimozhi, Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Jha, and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha's Hemant Soren were the other opposition leaders who were present along with Congress leaders P. Chidambaram and A.K. Antony.

Mukherjee, whose acceptance of the RSS invite became a matter of big controversy, greeted those present at the function as he moved among the guests. Rahul Gandhi welcomed him and other guests.

There was even speculation whether Mukherjee would be invited but the party issued an official statement to set at rest any such reports by saying that the former President has indeed been invited. 

Mukherjee left after a while.

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New Delhi (PTI): Four more accused have been arrested in connection with the alleged assault on an Army brigadier, his son and threatening his wife in southwest Delhi's Vasant Enclave area, police said on Friday.

The accused have been identified as Surjit Singh (36), Sunil Sharma (53) and Ashish (32), all from Mehram Nagar in Delhi, and Satender (35) of Bhiwani in Haryana, police said.

According to police, Surjit Singh was known to the main accused Satender, a director of an aviation company. All of them were sitting together in Mehram Nagar when Satender called them regarding a quarrel in Vasant Enclave.

"Following the call, all four left for the spot in Surjit's white Hyundai Aura. After reaching there, they got involved in the altercation and assault before returning to their respective homes," a senior police officer said.

After learning about the registration of the case, the accused fled and went into hiding, he said.

"Teams were constituted to trace them and all four absconding accused were arrested," he said.

The Hyundai Aura used in the incident has also been recovered, police said.

Further investigation into the case is underway. The role of each accused is being examined, they said.

According to the investigators, the incident took place on the night of April 11, when the brigadier and his son objected to the two men allegedly consuming alcohol inside a car parked outside their residence. Soon, others reached the spot and allegedly assaulted the officer and his son, besides abusing and threatening his wife.