Dhirendra Pratap Singh, a BJP leader in Ballia, UP, was arrested for allegedly shooting dead a 46-year-old man following a quarrel over public allotment of ration shops on October 15. The event was attended by senior district and police officials. Local MLA, Surendra Singh, defended the suspect, saying he “fired in self-defence” and accused the administration of being partisan.
At least 70 people died as torrential downpour battered Telangana last week, with Hyderabad experiencing the heaviest rain (nearly 20 cm) since 1916 for an October day. Several districts in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh were also submerged as the receding tail of the monsoon wreaked havoc.
Actor Vijay Sethupathi has quit 800, a biopic on M. Muralitharan, after the Sri Lankan cricketer asked him to. The movie has riled Tamil fringe groups and political parties sympathetic to the LTTE. They accuse the spinner, a Lankan Tamil with 800 Test wickets, of supporting a regime that crushed Tamil freedom fighters.
