Friends of TV actress Pratyusha Banerjee who committed suicide on 1 April say that her boyfriend, Rahul Raj Singh, "cheated on her" and used to slap her in public.

Kamya said: "Some days ago she called me and said Rahul is cheating on her. She said she can't live like this anymore and wanted to get out of this relationship. She said she needed help and wanted to file a case against Rahul."

Vikas claimed that Rahul's ex-girlfriend Saloni Sharma assaulted Pratyusha, according to the Hindustan Times.

Students in Gujarat seeking admission to four educational institutions linked to BJP leader Dilip Sanghani will have to write 'Bharat mata ki jai' in their application forms.

Sanghani, who heads the Shree Patel Vidhyarthi Ashram Trust that runs the educational institutions, said: "The decision has been taken to instil nationalism in students at a young age at a time when we are witnessing anti-national sloganeering in campuses."

The 'Bharat mata ki jai' slogan is currently being used by Hindutva organisations like the RSS and the BJP as a tool to 'prove nationalism and patriotism', according to the Hindustan Times.

The Central government on Monday told the Supreme Court that it does not support minority status for the Aligarh Muslim University.

The Supreme Court has been hearing the appeals of the University as well as the Centre against an Allahabad High Court ruling that the AMU is a central university, not a minority institution.

Arguing on behalf of the Centre, attorney general Mukul Rohatgi said: "AMU is a central university established by a central act. We have taken a conscious decision that AMU is not a minority institution."

The AMU has been given four weeks to respond, says The Economic Times.

India's defence forces lack basic equipment such as ammunition, bullet-proof jackets and vehicles, as much as they lack warplanes, submarines and artillery guns, revealed a discussion at a parliamentary panel meeting on Monday.

During the meeting which was also attended by the defence secretary and two other senior ministry officials, senior army, air force and naval officials told the standing committee on defence that India is lagging "far behind" its neighbours in terms of defence capabilities, according to the Hindustan Times.

The stage used in the Art of Living event on the Yamuna floodplains in mid-February is still standing more than three weeks after the event, and the Art of Living Foundation has yet to pay the initial compensation of Rs 5 crore for misusing environmentally sensitive land imposed by the National Green Tribunal.

The fee was due on 1 April, but that very day, the foundation sought permission to submit a bank guarantee for Rs 4.75 crore in place of the payment. The AOLF had already paid Rs 25 lakh on 10 March as a token of faith, according to The Indian Express.

Seven men have been arrested in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, for raping a minor Dalit girl for more than two months, and blackmailing her with the visuals.

The police made the arrests on Monday and said more men are likely to be involved in the case.

The gang lured the girl to a deserted area two months ago and raped her brutally, filming the assault on a mobile phone to threaten her with blackmail. Over the next two months, they raped her repeatedly, joined by several other men, says The Indian Express.

The Reserve Bank announced its first bi-monthly policy review for this fiscal on Tuesday and has cut the repo rate by 25BPS, which has come down to 6.50% from 6.75%.

The announcement has come as a big relief for home buyers as home loans are now expected to be cheaper as a result of the cuts.

The RBI Governor, however, left the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and the Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) unchanged.The decision comes nearly a month after the government presented the Union Budget for 2016-17, sticking to its fiscal consolidation targets and unveiled what the analysts termed was a marked improvement in the quality of its spending.

A select group of former cricketers and commentators picked up both the men's and women's teams for all conditions on the basis of the players' performances in the World T20, which concluded here last night with West Indies winning both the titles.

Kohli was adjudged Man of the Tournament for his sublime form which made him the backbone of India's batting line-up. Nehra handed India an early breakthrough in almost every game. He took only five wickets but was economical in all five games.

Besides two Indians, the men's team also comprised four players from runners-up England, two from the West Indies and one each from Australia, Bangladesh, New Zealand and South Africa.

Bihar is now a dry state after the state government officially banned all liquor in the state on Tuesday. The Cabinet imposed a prohibition on the sale of any kind of liquor including Indian Made Foreign Liquor with immediate effect. A ban on country liquor was implemented on 1 April.

Bihar joins ranks as the country's sixth dry state after Gujarat, Kerala, Lakshwadeep, Manipur, Nagaland. The CM said the move had garnered terrific response from the women and youth of the state.