The Delhi High Court on Friday (November 21) has stayed the initiation of court martial proceedings against retired Lt General S K Sahni for alleged corruption in procurement of food items for troops in J&K.

The High Court passed interim order after the Army decided to initiate court martial proceedings against Sahni.

"We direct that there shall be no court martial proceedings convened in the meantime," a Bench headed by Justice A K Sikri said.

Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad has said that Rahul Gandhi is doing the same thing as (Mahatma) Gandhi by going to the people directly and getting the feel of the problems of the people.

"Rahul Gandhi is doing what (Mahatma) Gandhiji did on his return to India (from South Africa). He is going to the rural areas to gauge the pulse of the people. His family has sacrificed a lot for the country. He has my best wishes. If the party reaps the benefits of his effort, that will be good," he said in a summit at New Delhi.

Father Jose Puthrikayil, arrested in the sister Abhaya murder case, had filed a petition in the Kerala High Court seeking to quash the order of a chief judicial magistrate.

Earlier he was remanded to 14 days' CBI custody by the order of the Magistrate.

The High Court is likely to hear the case on Nov 24.

Puthrikayil was arrested along with Father Thomas Kottur and Sister Sephi in connection with the murder of Sister Abahya.

Sister Abhaya, a Nun of the St Pius convent was murdered on March 27, 1992.

Violent protests rocked Srinagar ahead of second phase of polling in J&K.

Assam police has arrested 15 persons directly involved in the serial blast that rocked the North-Eastern state on Oct 30.

Master minds behind the blast also have been identified, said Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.

"The main brains or sources behind the blasts here are suspected to be based in Bangladesh," he said.

"We have been able to identify all those directly involved in the blasts, barring for the explosion at Kokrajhar," the CM added.

At least 52 LTTE militants were killed in fierce battles with the Sri Lankan army near the Jaffna peninsula officials said on Friday.

The Army also captured a Tamil Tigers' airstrip in nearby Kilinochchi.

"Smashing the conventional notion that the Tigers' Forward Defence Lines in Muhamale and Kilaly cannot be challenged, troops in Jaffna on Thursday overran the first LTTE Forward Defence Line in the strategic bottleneck and the lagoon to the north and south of the Jaffna-Kandy Highway killing over fifty militants," the army said.