News Digest: Snapdeal employee's stalker to pen his 'love' story

Here are some important reports from the biggest newspapers of India.

1. Stalker to pen his 'love' story

Snapdeal employee Dipti Sarna's stalker Devender Kumar has told police he wants to chronicle his "love" for the woman he stalked for a year, and then kidnapped, in a book, said a report in The Times of India.

Devender has more cases against him than his age. Staying in barracks with 90 other inmates in Dasna jail for 3 days since his arrest on February 15 hasn't perturbed him one bit. Jail superintendent SP Yadav says he has taken to prison life quite comfortably, and spends most of his time reading what must be his favourite book - Adolf Hitler's 'Mein Kampf'.

In an earlier prison stint, too, he had asked for a Hindi translation of the dictator's autobiography and read it with great satisfaction, drawing inspiration from a book that was banned in Europe after Hitler's death. But the latest arrest clearly hasn't cured him of the obsession that saw him follow for over a year Dipti Sarna, the 24-year-old Snapdeal employee who he kidnapped on February 10 and released two days later, believing he had won her heart.

2. Until Ringing Bells, Goel had small grocery shop

Before Ringing Bells, Mohit Goel, the man behind world's cheapest smartphone that is priced at Rs 251, owned a small grocery shop before Freedom 251 happened.

According to report in The Times of India, Mohit Goel's father Rajesh Goel says he always knew his son would do something big. Even in Garhipukhta, a small town in Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh, not many knew about the Goels or their shop. It's a different story today.

Mohit, who is the managing director of Ringing Bells, has lived with his father at Garhipukhta most of his life, often helping around in the grocery shop.

3. Seven Bhopal gas case accused to face 3.8k murder charges

The CBI is set to pitch for the highest possible punishment of the seven accused in the Bhopal gas tragedy -by treating each of the 3,800 deaths separately and seeking conviction for every single death. In essence, the accused would face 3,800 murder charges.

A report in The Times of India said the counsel for CBI is likely to make submission on the matter before the court of district and sessions judge during the ongoing hearing on appeal filed by the accused against their convictions.

While four convicts, Jai Mukund, S P Chaudhary , Kishore Kamdar and V P Gokhle, were present in the court on Thursday , appeal fi led on behalf of one of the ac cused, S I Qureshi, has been withdrawn by his counsel.

4. Big 4 Take Major Leap in Woman-Friendly Policies

Even as the labour ministry is busy putting the amended Maternity Benefit Act together that would entitle working women in private sectors to 26 weeks of maternity leave from the existing 12, the big four consulting firms have already taken a leap.

According to The Economic Times, While Deloitte has declared 26 weeks of maternity leave for its woman employees, PricewaterhouseCoopers, EY and KPMG are in the process of finalising such policies.

A severe crunch of woman employees at the top has pushed these companies to not only extend the maternity leave benefit, but also in introducing a slew of other initiatives to retain the valuable resource.

5. Geelani produced at makeshift court

Former Delhi University professor SAR Geelani, arrested on charges of sedition for allegedly commemorating the death anniversary of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, was on Thursday sent to judicial custody till March 3. However, he was not produced at Patiala House for the proceedings due to security reasons. The court complex saw unprecedented violence over the past week.

Instead, he was taken to a makeshift courtroom in the Diplomatic Security Force office. The magistrate was also called there, said sources.

They also said Geelani would be kept in a high security ward in Jail 1, said a report in Hindustan Times.

6. Hunt for man who 'raped' dog on video

A dog was allegedly sexually assaulted by a man with the incident coming to light after a video of the act surfaced on Whatsapp, an animal rights organisation said on Thursday.

According to Hindustan Times, Humane Society International/ India said it would offer a reward of up to Rs 1,00,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the person responsible for sexually assaulting the dog.

"While the exact location of the incident and whereabouts of the dog are not known, it is believed that it occurred in the state of Kerala since the perpetrators were talking in Malayalam," it said.

7. Section 124A: Jharkhand tops sedition cases, J&K has none

The frequency of sedition cases is the highest in Left-wing Extremism-hit Bihar and Jharkhand which account for 72 per cent of all cases of sedition in the country — but the state worst-affected by Maoist violence, Chhattisgarh, has only one case of sedition.

A report in The Indian Express said that In Jharkhand, all 18 offences against the state were registered as sedition cases, while 16 of Bihar's 20 cases saw section 124A invoked. Senior police officers in both states, who did not wish to be named, said most of these were against suspected Maoists. The highest number of cases under "offences against the state" was 56 in Assam; only one of these cases was registered under charges of sedition.

Meghalaya, which has 32 such cases, has not slapped sedition charges in any of these. Assam's single sedition case is the only one in the Northeast, out of 100 "offences against the state" in the region.

8. IPS officer found dead in Chennai officers' mess, suicide suspected

In what is being seen as a suspected case of suicide, an officer was found dead in the IPS Officers' Mess in Egmore area of the city on Thursday morning.

According to The Indian Express, N Harish, 32, was a 2009-batch IPS officer and was posted as an assistant commissioner at the State Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-corruption here.

He came from Karnataka, where his father was a state government official.

9. IIT-Kharagpur students ride innovation, develop i-bike, a driver-less bicycle

Some engineering students from IIT Kharagpur have come up with a 'Make in India' innovation ­ a driver-less bicycle.

Inspired by the differently-abled batchmates in the campus, these students thought of developing an autonomous bicycle, 'i-bike'. In the recently held KPIT Sparkle 2016, an annual national design and development innovation contest for engineering and science students across India, these students exhibited the i-bike and took home the first prize.

The theme of the competition was 'Smart Solutions for Energy and Transportation', where the i-bike idea won from among 1,700 other innovative ideas.

The autonomous steering, braking, drive and balancing mechanisms differentiate this bicycle from other bicycles that need a rider.

10. Girl hit for asking more of mid-day meal, father killed for protesting

With just Rs 3.86 allocated per day per child at government primary schools in Bihar, the khichdi served for the mid-day meal at Rajkiya Prathmik Vidyalaya in Araria's Gokhlapur is a watery affair.

On February 10, Kasheeda, a Class V student, asked for a second helping. The 12-year-old was allegedly hit, and when her father Mohammed Shagir protested, he too was allegedly kicked. Hours later, Shagir died, said a report in The Indian Express.

According to Shagir's wife Rukhsana Khatoon, her son escaped a similar fate six months ago. Chand Babu, a Class II student, wanted a little more khichdi too, and in return was allegedly thrown off the school's roof, fracturing his right leg. He dreads going to school since.