Beijing(PTI): China on Friday defended the renaming of 15 more places in India's northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, claiming that the southern part of Tibet is an "inherent part" of its territory.

India on Thursday strongly rejected China renaming 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh and asserted that the state has "always been" and will "always be" an integral part of India and that assigning "invented" names does not alter this fact.

India's reaction came in response to China's Ministry of Civil Affairs announcing Chinese names for 15 more places in Arunachal Pradesh which Beijing claims as South Tibet.

"We have seen such. This is not the first time China has attempted such a renaming of places in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. China had also sought to assign such names in April 2017," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in New Delhi.

"Arunachal Pradesh has always been, and will always be an integral part of India. Assigning invented names to places in Arunachal Pradesh does not alter this fact," Bagchi said.

Asked for his reaction to India's assertion, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing here that the southern part of Tibet belongs to the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China and it has been China's inherent territories .

People of different ethnic groups have been living in that area for many years and have given many names for that areas , he said.

For standardised management of the area, the competent authorities in China in accordance with relevant regulations have published the names for the relevant area. These are matters that is within China's sovereignty , Zhao said.

This is the second batch of standardised Chinese names of places in Arunachal Pradesh released by China.

The first batch of the standardised names of six places was released in 2017.

China claims Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet which is firmly rejected by the External Affairs Ministry which has asserted that the state is an "inseparable part of India".

Beijing routinely protests visits of top Indian leaders and officials to Arunachal Pradesh to reaffirm its claim.

The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488 km long Line of Actual Control (LAC).

China's renaming of the places in Arunachal Pradesh came in the midst of the lingering eastern Ladakh border standoff that began in May last year.

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Mumbai, Jan 26 (PTI): A man who was detained in Durg in Chhattisgarh as a suspect in the January 16 Saif Ali Khan attack case said on Sunday that his life is in complete disarray following police action, leaving him without a job, a snub from his prospective bride and family facing ignominy.

Akash Kanojia (31), a driver, was detained from Mumbai Lokmanya Tilak Terminus-Kolkata Shalimar Jnaneshwari Express at Durg station by the Railway Protection Force on January 18 after a tip off from Mumbai police.

On the morning of January 19, Mumbai police arrested Bangladeshi national Shariful Islam Shehzad Mohammad Rohilla Amin Fakir alias Vijay Das from neighbouring Thane, after which the Durg RPF allowed Kanojia to go leave.

Saif Ali Khan (54) was stabbed repeatedly by an intruder during a robbery attempt at his 12th floor residence in Satguru Sharan in Mumbai's Bandra area in the early hours of January 16. He underwent surgery and was later discharged.

"My family was left shocked and in tears after media started showing my pictures and claimed I was the main suspect in the case. One mistake of the Mumbai police ruined my life. They failed to notice I had a moustache and the person in the CCTV grab from the actor's building did not," Kanojia told PTI.

"After the incident, I had got a call from police who asked me where I was. The call was disconnected after I told them I was at home. I was travelling to meet my prospective bride when I was detained at Durg and then taken to Raipur. The Mumbai police team that reached there assaulted me as well," he claimed.

Kanojia said after being released, his mother asked him to come home, but his life started unravelling from there on.

"When I called my employer, he asked me not to report to work. He refused to listen to my explanation. My grandmother then told me the family of my prospective bride had refused to go ahead with marriage talks following my detention," he said.

Kanojia claimed his brother died after prolonged medical treatment, which had forced his family to sell their Virar home and shift to a chawl in Cuffe Parade.

"I have two cases against my name in Cuffe Parade and one at Gurgaon. But it doesn't mean I can be pulled up as a suspect in such a manner and then be left in the lurch. I plan to stand outside Saif Ai Khan's building and seek a job as I have lost everything because of what happened to him," Kanojia said.

Kanojia said it was divine intervention that Shariful was caught within hours of him being detained at Durg railway station.

"Or else, who knows, I may have been shown as the accused in the case. I now want justice," he said irately.