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An uneasy calm prevailed in Gujarat two days after the Patel OBC quota stir turned violent. The death toll in the violent clashes between police and Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti activists increased to 10, even as a defiant Hardik Patel vowed to intensify the agitation.

Notwithstanding appeals for peace by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, 22-year-old Hardik, who is spearheading the agitation, on 27 August upped the ante asking farmers of his community not to supply essential commodities like vegetables and milk to cities and support the demand for reservation in jobs and education under OBC quota. He has also demanded a compensation of Rs 35 lakh for the next of kin of those killed in the 25 August clashes.

Murkier details emerged in the sensational Sheena Bora murder case as former STAR CEO Peter Mukerjea admitted that Sheena had told him that she was not his wife Indrani's sister. Earlier he had said that he was not aware of the fact that Sheena wasn't Indrani's sister but daughter.

Police investigation so far revealed that it was a cold-blooded murder. Mumbai's top cop Rakesh Maria grilled Indrani, her driver and stepson Rahul Mukerjea while her son Mikhail was questioned in Guwahati and her former husband Sanjeev Khanna in Kolkata. Driver S P Rai and Sanjeev Khanna have told police that Indrani had done a recce of Raigad's Pen area in Maharashtra, the place where Sheena's body was to be dumped, a day before the murder on April 24, 2012.

In another statement Khanna said while he was present in the same car in which Sheena was found dead, he didn't come to know about it as he had fallen asleep.

The Law Commission of India will recommend abolition of death penalty in the country, as is evident from the 272-page draft report prepared on the direction of the Supreme Court. The apex court had last year tasked the Commission to review the death penalty in Indian statute and submit a report. However, in cases of terrorism, the commission makes an exception.

The report says, "The Commission suggests that the death penalty be immediately abolished for all crimes other than terror offences" -The Commission is most likely to submit the report to the government over the weekend or on Monday, The Indian Express reported.

India is one of 59 countries where the death penalty is still awarded by courts. Recently, the hanging of 1993 Mumbai blast convict Yakub Memon had sparked off a debate on whether the it was time to abolish capital punishment all together. India has the policy of awarding death penalty only in the rarest of rare case.

In a major success, army captured a Pakistani terrorist after killing his four associates in a two-day operation in Kashmir, about three weeks after Naved from Pakistan was caught alive in Udhampur.

The arrested terrorist has been identified as 22-year-old Sajjad Ahmed from Muzaffargarh in south west Pakistan was captured from a cave in Rafiabad area in Baramullah, about 100 kms from Srinagar.

Sajjad, part of a five-member group of infiltrating terrorists, was nabbed after an operation which began on 26 August near the Line of Control (LoC). Four terrorists were gunned down while one soldier was injured in the encounter.

Photo: Raj K Raj/ Hindustan Times/Getty Images

In a major setback to government's efforts to break the deadlock over the demand for implementation of the One Rank-One Pension (OROP) scheme, protesting ex-servicemen walked out of a meeting with Army Chief General Dalbir Singh. There were disagreement regarding the proposed annual hike in pension and the date of implementation of the revised pensions.

Veterans have threatened to intensify their protests with many threatening to boycott the golden jubilee celebrations of the 1965 Indo-Pak war on 28 August. Meanwhile, two other veterans have been admitted to the hospital after their health condition deteriorated due to the hunger strike.