US Attorney General Whitaker to appear for hearing on Friday

U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said on Thursday that acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker will testify on Friday after he threatened not to show up following the panel’s warning that it could subpoena him.

The Justice Department confirmed Nadler's Thursday evening statement that Whitaker will appear.

"The chairman has made the commitment that we requested and agreed that, if Whitaker voluntarily appears at tomorrow's hearing, the Committee will not issue a subpoena on or before February 8," Justice Department spokesperson Kerri Kupec said in a statement.

"In light of that commitment, Acting Attorney General Whitaker looks forward to voluntarily appearing at tomorrow's hearing and discussing the great work of the Department of Justice."

The committee’s Democrats want to question Whitaker about his oversight of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and his communications with the White House related to the probe and the firing of former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Earlier Thursday, the Justice Department said Whitaker would not appear at Friday's closely-watched oversight hearing unless he receives a written assurance he won't be served with a subpoena.

The threat for Whitaker not to testify comes after the Judiciary Committee voted earlier Thursday to authorize a subpoena for Whitaker ahead of his Friday testimony — which Nadler said he would use only if Whitaker did not appear or would not answer the committee's questions, including those about conversations with the White House involving special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe.

Democrats on the committee approved giving Nadler the authority to subpoena Whitaker over the objection of Republicans earlier on Thursday, passing the resolution on a party-line vote, 23-13.A 53-year-old man of Rajgarh village, who was attacked by his nephews on Wednesday evening after he stopped them from sexually harassing his daughter-in-law succumbed to his injuries on Thursday at a hospital in sector 32 in Chandigarh. The district police have booked two persons under murder charges.

The accused were identified as Gurpreet Singh and Varinder Singh of Rajgarh village. Both the accused are nephews of the victim.

The complainant Amandeep Singh said that his cousin Gurpreet Singh sexually harassed her wife and started pulling her to his house forcefully after which she sounded alarm for help by making noise. “My father Baljit Singh came out to rescue her, Gurpreet went inside his house and returned with a wooden log along with his brother Varinder. He attacked my father on his head causing serious injuries. We rushed him to a local hospital and later he was shifted to a hospital in Chandigarh where he succumbed to his injuries during treatment,” he said.

“On the complaint of victim's son we have booked two persons, who are his cousins. The police is investigating the case, while raids are being conducted to nab the accused,” said station house officer Harwinder Singh.

Meanwhile, a case has been registered under sections 302(murder), 354 (outrage the modesty of a woman), 34 (common intention) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Passiana police station.