The probe into how Hindu outfits accused of terrorism had links with some Army men brought a few business houses under the scanner of Maharashtra's ATS and Central Security agencies investigating the finances of the group allegedly responsible for Malegaon blast.

The Democratic Front government in Maharashtra on Monday asked industries in the state to provide between 50 to 80 percent jobs in various categories to locals.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said on Tuesday that the government would ask Railways to hold recruitment exams in Marathi.

Maharashtra's Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) is considering pressing charges under the stringent MCOCA against all the nine accused in the Malegaon blast case, including Lt Col Shrikant Prasad Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, prosecution sources said on Sunday.

Twenty-one people died and 30 others injured as a Maharashtra State Transport bus fell into the valley in Mhasala taluka of Raigad district on Saturday, local police said.

If there is any justifiability at present in imposing President's rule on a state, it is in Maharashtra and Orissa. But governments at the centre have misused this constitutional provision so often in the past that the present regime lacks the moral authority to take the necessary step.

Heavy stone pelting was resorted to by MNS activists on Tuesday outside a magistrate court in suburban Bandra where the party chief Raj Thackeray was produced after his arrest in Ratnagiri.

Rejecting charges that the Centre had not acted effectively to bring the situation in Maharashtra under control, Home Minister Shivraj Patil said on Tuesday that at least three advisories have been sent to the state government in the wake of attacks on north Indians.

Political parties of various hues on Monday strongly attacked the UPA government over its "failure" to curb violence against north Indians in Maharashtra by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena cadres.

India has registered 6464 incidents of communal violence since 2000 to September this year with Maharashtra topping the states with maximum number of such cases.

Terming the recent terror attacks and communal clashes in Maharashtra as "aberrations", Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Monday assured the National Integration Council that the state government will make every attempt to maintain communal harmony and peace.

The district administration on Sunday relaxed curfew for three hours this morning in north Maharashtra's Dhule town, as the situation was under control and peaceful with no fresh incidents of arson reported since Thursday.

Maharashtra government's nod to the 'live-in' proposal, wherein it considered giving the status of a 'wife' to a woman, if she is involved in such a relationship for a "reasonable period", has received mix reactions, raising fears of misuse.

In a bold step to "legalise" the live-in relationships, Maharashtra cabinet approved a proposal on Wednesday, suggesting a woman involved in such a relationship for a "reasonable period" should get status of a wife.

The central administrative tribunal (CAT) on Wednesday quashed the appointment of Maharashtra Director-General of Police AN Roy following a complaint that he had superseded three officers.

Shoot-at-sight orders were issued in north Maharashtra's Dhule town as the situation remained tense here with curfew being imposed for third day on Tuesday.

The situation in north Maharashtra's Dhule town continued to remain tense on Monday, as the death toll mounted to four after members of two communities clashed with each other, police said.

Three persons were killed and 82 injured as two groups clashed in North Maharashtra's Dhule town prompting authorities to clamp curfew, police said on Sunday.

At least five people were killed and several injured in seperate blasts in two communally sensitive towns in Gujarat and Maharashtra late on Monday night.