Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi expressed condolences and directed officials to coordinate with the Madhya Pradesh government and local administration to expedite procedures for bringing the mortal remains of the victims back to Odisha. (File)Eight people, including seven members of a family from Odisha, were killed after their car fell into a rainwater-swollen drain near the Bagulamukhi temple in Nalkheda town of Madhya Pradesh’s Agar Malwa district early Saturday, officials said. The victims included three children and two women, while the eighth person was the Madhya Pradesh-based car driver.
Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi expressed condolences and directed officials to coordinate with the Madhya Pradesh government and local administration to expedite procedures for bringing the mortal remains of the victims back to Odisha. The deceased were identified as Sibaprasad Behera (43), Rojalin Behera (34), Ritarani Behera (36), Gyanendra Behera (40), Sai Swarna Prava Behera (6), Krishna Rajbir (13) and Sai Swastik Behera (10).
A female student was found dead inside a hostel at BIT Mesra in Ranchi late at night, police said. The student, identified as Anjali, was pursuing an M.Sc. course and was found in Hostel No. 9. Police reached the spot and took custody of the body, while a post-mortem examination is scheduled for Saturday. Further details are awaited.
Counting of votes for the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections began on Saturday amid heightened security and keen interest in the contest between the ABVP, NSUI and the AISA-SFI alliance. The results will decide the four-member central panel for the 2026-27 academic session.
More than 2,000 police and paramilitary personnel have been deployed across Delhi University, with traffic restrictions in place around the counting centre at the Multipurpose Hall of the University Sports Stadium in North Campus. Around 39.77 per cent voting was recorded on Friday. Student welfare, campus facilities, hostel accommodation and safety were among the key issues during this year’s campaign.
A 13-year-old boy was allegedly abducted and killed by his neighbour as part of a plan to demand ransom from his family in Bengaluru, police said on Saturday. The accused, 28-year-old Bhaskar Reddy, has been arrested, while police are searching for his alleged accomplice. According to the preliminary investigation, Reddy and his associate allegedly lured the boy into a car on September 16 on the pretext of buying firecrackers and took him to a construction site near Bagalur. Police said the boy was tied up and forced to record a ransom video for his father before he was allegedly killed. The accused then allegedly placed his body in the car boot, where it was discovered after the vehicle collided with other vehicles near Hunsmaranahalli. A case has been registered and efforts are underway to trace the second accused.
Customs officials seized 51.75 kg of ganja valued at Rs 25.88 lakh from Palakkad Junction railway station in Kerala, officials said on Saturday. The seizure was made on September 17 based on intelligence about the movement of narcotic substances through trains passing through Palakkad. A team of Customs officials spotted five unattended backpacks at the station after some trains had departed. With the assistance of the Railway Protection Force, the bags were taken into custody and found to contain five packets of ganja each, weighing around 2 kg. The packets were concealed in green polythene covers and brown adhesive tape inside the backpacks. An investigation is underway to identify those who left the bags at the station.
Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary on Friday said his predecessor Nitish Kumar stepped down from the chief minister’s post voluntarily and was not asked to resign by the BJP. Choudhary also described Kumar, now a Rajya Sabha MP, as the “NDA’s undisputed leader in Bihar”.
Speaking at an event in Patna, Choudhary said Kumar had chosen to reciprocate the gesture made by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2000, when Kumar became chief minister despite the BJP having more MLAs. Choudhary also hit back at RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav’s criticism of his appointment as a “selected, and not elected” leader, while saying his priorities as chief minister were law and order, education and boosting revenue through industrialisation.
Question papers for the Maharashtra Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) were allegedly smuggled out of an Agra printing press by employees who hid them inside their shoe insoles, a nearly 3,500-page chargesheet filed by Thane City Police has stated. The employees were allegedly paid Rs 8,000 each and promised land plots in Agra for stealing the confidential exam material. The chargesheet names 18 accused, including alleged mastermind Bijendra Gupta, who was previously implicated in an examination paper leak in Odisha. Sixteen accused have been arrested, while two others, identified as Ashok Sav and Prakash Misal, remain absconding. A Special Investigation Team is probing the case, with police saying a supplementary chargesheet will be filed as the investigation progresses.
The RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) retained its dominance in the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) polls on Saturday, winning three of the four posts. ABVP's Yash Dabas won the president's post by 2,053 votes, defeating NSUI's Vijay Shankar Meena, while Riya Chhawdi and Lakshya Raj Singh won the secretary and joint secretary posts. NSUI lost all four posts, with Independent candidate Deepanshu winning the vice-president post.
(PTI)
A 49-year-old Kolkata Police commando was found hanging inside a toilet at the Police Training School (PTS) here on Saturday, police said. The deceased, identified as Deepak Tamang, was found hanging from an overhead pipeline inside a fourth-floor toilet of the commando barracks. His colleagues broke open the door after finding it locked from inside and took him to SSKM Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
Police said preliminary findings indicated that Tamang may have died by suicide, but the exact circumstances were yet to be established. His body has been sent for post-mortem examination, and his family in Kalimpong has been informed. Police have initiated an investigation into the unnatural death, while no written complaint or FIR had been lodged in connection with the incident till the report was filed.
(PTI)
A 22-year-old IIT Bombay student died by suicide in his hostel room after he was allegedly caught using a mobile phone during an examination. IIT Bombay said he had allegedly uploaded the question paper to ChatGPT to seek answers.
However, the deceased's mother alleged that he was “tortured” and demanded justice. Police have registered an accidental death report and sent the body for post-mortem.
Students have also protested on campus, seeking an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding his death.
(PTI)
Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma paid tribute to singer Zubeen Garg on his first death anniversary, saying his absence has left a “void we learn to live with, but never truly accept”. Sarma also donated blood at a BJP-organised camp in Guwahati, where he said the party had organised blood donation drives across Assam as a tribute to the singer.
(PTI)
MNS chief Raj Thackeray opposed the Centre's proposed 0.4% MDR on merchant UPI transactions above Rs 2,000, calling it a “digital trap” for merchants and consumers. He questioned whether merchants would pass the cost on to customers and alleged that the government may have faced pressure from foreign payment companies.
(PTI)
The Supreme Court acquitted a public servant in a more than two-decade-old bribery case, citing “serious lacuna and impatience” in the CBI probe. The bench said the trap was not allowed to “run its full course” and the agency failed to establish that the recovered money was ultimately meant for the appellant. It held that the lapses raised reasonable doubt and stressed that proof of demand and acceptance of illegal gratification is central to a corruption conviction.
(PTI)
Seven people, including four members of a family, were killed in two separate road accidents near Hyderabad in the early hours of Saturday, police said. Four family members, including a couple, died after their car hit a culvert, while three others were killed when a truck rammed a stationary vehicle on the Outer Ring Road. Police are investigating the circumstances of both accidents.
NSUI candidate Vijay Meena was leading the presidential race in the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) elections by 494 votes after the 10th round of counting on Saturday.
Meena had secured 11,966 votes against ABVP's Yash Dabas, who had polled 11,472 votes. Independent candidate Deepanshu Shokeen was leading the vice-presidential race with 15,591 votes.
For the secretary post, the ABVP was ahead with 9,953 votes against NSUI's 7,712. Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha candidate Vishesh Yadav was leading the joint secretary race with 8,007 votes.
The results will decide the DUSU central panel for the 2026-27 academic session. Last year, ABVP won the president, secretary and joint secretary posts, while NSUI secured the vice-president's post.
A court in Kerala's Sultan Bathery on Saturday granted the Excise Department one-day custody of Anto Augustine, managing director of Malayalam news channel Reporter Broadcasting Company, in a liquor seizure case.
Augustine was arrested on Thursday after liquor bottles above the permissible limit were found at his ancestral house in Wayanad during a search by the Special Investigation Team probing alleged irregularities in a failed football event sponsored by the company.
The SIT handed over the seized liquor to the Excise Department, which registered a case under the Abkari Act and arrested Augustine. He was remanded in judicial custody till September 30 and is currently lodged in Wayanad district jail. A court had rejected his bail plea on Friday.
The Excise Department had sought four days of custody, but the court granted only one day after hearing both sides. Augustine has also approached the Kerala High Court for bail, with his plea scheduled to be considered on September 22.
The SUV of Samajwadi Party MP Laxmikant alias Pappu Nishad was allegedly damaged in stone-pelting during a Ganesh idol immersion procession in Uttar Pradesh’s Sant Kabir Nagar, police said on Saturday.
The incident took place late Friday night near Amardobha village when Nishad was returning after visiting a flood-hit area. According to police, people involved in a roadside protest allegedly surrounded his vehicle and pelted it with stones, breaking a window.
Police intervened and escorted the MP to safety. The incident reportedly followed a dispute during the immersion procession after police action against a DJ vehicle over loud music.
Sant Kabir Nagar Superintendent of Police Sandeep Kumar Meena said police had received a complaint from the MP and were identifying those involved. Action will be taken against those found guilty, he said.
Congress general secretary K C Venugopal on Saturday said the party would not withdraw its Nandigram Assembly bypoll candidate Milan Pradhan, who was arrested in connection with an old case related to the 2007 land acquisition movement.
Venugopal alleged that Pradhan was taken into custody shortly after the Trinamool Congress announced its support for him. He claimed police were pressuring the candidate to withdraw from the contest.
The Congress leader said the party would raise Pradhan's arrest as a national issue and alleged that the BJP was attempting to suppress Opposition voices in West Bengal. He also questioned the Election Commission's response to the development.
Pradhan, who has been named in more than 12 cases linked to the Nandigram land movement, was arrested from a hotel in Chandipur in Purba Medinipur district on Friday, according to party sources. Mamata Banerjee had announced her party's support for Pradhan after its candidate withdrew from the contest.
Venugopal said Pradhan had told the party he would continue to contest the bypoll and that Congress leaders and workers would campaign for him.
One person was killed and six others were injured after a speeding container collided with multiple vehicles near the Bhumkar bridge in Narhe on the Mumbai-Bengaluru highway early Saturday, police said.
The deceased was identified as 22-year-old Sandip Jagarnath Kumar from Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh. Police said the container first hit a concrete pump vehicle from behind around 12.15 am before colliding with a truck and a car near the bridge.
Two others travelling in the concrete pump vehicle, Devendra Yadav and Ramsingh Ramnarayan, were injured. The truck driver and cleaner, a car passenger and the container driver also sustained injuries.
The container driver, Dhanraj Vaishnav, 32, from Ajmer, Rajasthan, has been booked under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Motor Vehicles Act. Police detained him for investigation.
The injured were taken to a hospital for treatment. The accident also caused a temporary traffic jam, with police later clearing the damaged vehicles from the road.
Delhi Airport authorities on Saturday said their teams were coordinating with SpiceJet and other stakeholders to assist passengers affected by operational disruptions at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.
“We regret the inconvenience faced by passengers due to the operational disruption of some SpiceJet flights. Delhi Airport teams are actively coordinating with the airline and relevant stakeholders to support affected passengers and provide necessary assistance to help,” the airport said in a post on X.
The disruption led to delays and cancellations, leaving several passengers affected at the airport. Ground staff and airport teams were assisting passengers and coordinating with airline representatives. SpiceJet has not issued a formal statement on the disruption so far.
The latest disruption comes amid SpiceJet's ongoing financial and operational difficulties. Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu had earlier said the government was pushing the airline to step up operations and address its financial challenges.
Naidu said SpiceJet was trying to avail funds under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS). In May, the Union Cabinet approved ECLGS 5.0 to provide targeted credit support to Indian airlines facing financial stress amid rising aviation turbine fuel prices and other operational challenges.
Counting of votes for the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) elections began on Saturday amid tight security, with the results set to decide the central panel for the 2026-27 academic session.
The RSS-affiliated ABVP, Congress-backed NSUI and Left alliance of AISA-SFI are competing for the four central posts of president, vice president, secretary and joint secretary. Around 39.77 per cent voting was recorded on Friday.
More than 2,000 police and paramilitary personnel have been deployed across the university, with security tightened around the counting centre at the Multipurpose Hall of the University Sports Stadium in North Campus. Traffic restrictions are also in place until the results are declared.
The elections have drawn added attention following student protests over the NEET paper leak and examination reforms. Campus facilities, hostel accommodation and student safety also emerged as key campaign issues this year.
Last year, the ABVP won the president, secretary and joint secretary posts, while NSUI secured the vice-president's position.
