Mallika Sarabhai slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his silence on the death of her mother, the celebrated classical dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai, The Telegraph. In a letter posted on her Facebook page on Friday, Sarabhai said: "That her death sees no word from you shows your mentality. However much you hate me, as our prime minister it behove you to recognize her contribution. You have not. Shame on you," the letter said. "You hate my politics and I hate yours. That has nothing to do with what Mrinalini Sarabhai did to promote the culture of this country to the world over sixty years."

The Maharashtra government on Friday moved the Supreme Court in a challenge to the acquittal of actor Salman Khan in the 2002 hit-and-run case, reports The Indian Express. The Bombay High Court had acquitted the actor, accused of drinking and then driving over a family of pavement dwellers, killing one, of culpability. However, the Maharastra government, in its petition to the Supreme Court, said: ".The (Bombay) High Court has not concluded as to who was driving the vehicle at the time of the accident."

In its first move against Bihar JD(U) MLA Sarfraz Alam, who had been accused on Sunday of molesting a woman on the Rajdhani Express to Dibrugarh, the Government Railway Police asked him to depose before an investigating team within 24 hours, reports The Telegraph. The victim's husband had filed an FIR against Alam on Monday, but the MLA said he had never boarded the train. However, CCTV footage proved otherwise, and since then, both the RJD and the JD(U) parties in Bihar have seemed inclined to take action against him. Alam and his police bodyguards will all be questioned.

Prashant Kishor, the strategist behind the Grand Alliance in the Bihar assembly elections, has been appointed adviser to Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, reports The Economic Times. Kishor had also managed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. With the status of a cabinet minister, Kishor will advise Nitish on development policies and their implementation. He may also be able to manage the relations of Nitish Kumar's JD(U) and Lalu Prasad Yadav's RJD in government, given his experience in getting the parties to work together for the elections. Nitish and Lalu have come close to clashing on several issues since the government was formed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks on Saturday that he "felt the pain" of Dalit student Rohith Vemula's suicide, indicates pressure from BJP leaders to rectify a "political misreading" of the situation, reports The Indian Express. The BJP's Dalit MPs had earlier asked for an investigation and an intervention by the prime minister on the issue, and other BJP leaders had warned the government that its attitude to the issue was being perceived as anti-Dalit, which could hurt the BJP as it contests four assembly elections this year, and elections in caste-ridden Uttar Pradesh next year.

A judicial panel will look into the suicide of Rohith Vemula, a Dalit student who had been suspended by the University of Hyderabad for anti-national activities, reports The Economic Times. The HRD ministry, under fire for its alleged role in the suicide of Vemula, said in a statement that the panel will look into the issue and "review the entire sequence of events and circumstances and to establish the facts and correctives in the context of the university." The panel will submit its report in three months. The ministry also announced measures to sensitise all establishments of higher education to issues of discrimination.

Fourteen men suspected of links with Syria and Iraq based terror group IS were arrested across six cities on Friday, ahead of Republic Day, reports The Indian Express. The men were apparently part of a group called 'Junud ul Khalifa e Hind' or 'Soldiers of the Indian Caliphate' which had an "ameer" (chief) from Mumbai, a military commander and a finance chief. Three of the men were from Mumbai, four from Hyderabad, four from Bengaluru, and one each from Mangalore, Tumkur and Lucknow. They had been under surveillance for six months, but arrested now as it appeared that they had were preparing for attacks on vital installations.

To commemorate Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's 119th birth anniversary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today put in the public domain 100 classified files on the life of the freedom fighter.

It was in October last year that PM Modi met members of Bose's family and announced that the Centre would declassify the files relating to the leader.

Earlier today, PM tweeted - "Remembering Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on his birth anniversary. His bravery and patriotism endears him to several Indians across generations."

File serial number 36: There is a letter from Subhas Bose's daughter Anita Pfaff on 10 December 2006 to Ejiro Noda, former Japan ambassador to India claiming that Narsimha Rao and Pranab Mukherjee were in communication with Japan government in 1995-96 for the official transfer of Bose's remains to India. This is followed by an unmarked note saying that the government's position since the two earlier commission reports is that the ashes belong to Netaji. A note in MEA's EA division says the government has been paying Renkoji temple since 1967 for the upkeep of the urn containing ashes. Rs 53.66 lakh paid till 2006 by the Indian embassy. Since 2002, Yen 1 million were given yearly.

Photo: @aNYTaxCab/Twitter

A winter storm that hit the East Coast of US on Friday is expected to continue to carry through Sunday in some regions, as much of the affected region lies under a blanket of snow. According to the National Weather Service, gusts of wind travelling at 60 miles an hour, are moving upward. Over the weekend, 20 people have been feared dead in weather-related incidents in the area. Public transit has been shut for the weekend in Washington DC and New York City. NYC is seeing 24-30 inches of snowfall and the mayor has enforced a travel ban while Washington DC is expecting another 2-3 feet of snowfall. 10,000 flights have been cancelled over the weekend. 40,000 people are without electricity in New Jersey alone.

On Sunday, three female students of VS Medical College of Naturopathy and Yoga Sciences in Vilippuram, Tamil Nadu, killed themselves by jumping into a well in the college premises. In their suicide note, they blamed the college management. The second year students had been protesting the lack of basic infrastructure facilities in their medical college. The protests, reportedly, started month back but it was over the past two weeks that the protests turned intense. The son of Institute Chairman, Shokkar Verma, has been arrested by the police and an investigation has been initiated.