Indian Sub-continent

New Delhi, Oct 18 (PTI) Police Thursday prevented Delhi Congressmen from torching a specially-designed effigy having 16 heads, two of them in the centre representing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, on Dussehra.

The Congress unit wanted to torch the 50-foot effigy to register their protest over the sealing of illegal commercial establishments in Delhi.

New Delhi, Oct 18 (PTI) Tata Sons is mulling acquiring stake in crisis-hit Jet Airways, according to sources.

The diversified Tata Group owns majority stakes in two airline joint ventures -- Vistara and AirAsia India.

Sources said Tata Sons is mulling purchasing stake in Jet Airways and that the plans are at a very early stage.

Tata Sons is the promoter of the major operating Tata companies.

Bhubaneswar, Oct 18 (PTI) A 25-year-old woman from West Bengal was allegedly gang raped for 10 days in confinement at a market complex in Puri district, police said Thursday.

Police have detained two youths in connection with the crime and interrogating them, Puri district additional superintendent of police Gagarin Mohanty said.

The woman was rescued by the police after breaking the lock on Wednesday after she raised an alarm from the roof top of the building where she was detained.

Pune, Oct 18 (PTI) A 28-year-old woman who had undergone a uterus transplant gave birth to a baby girl at a private hospital here Thursday.

A doctor who treated her claimed that it was the first such case in the country.

Meenakshi Walan, resident of Vadodara, underwent the transplant in May 2017, said Dr Neeta Warty, one of the doctors who oversaw the delivery.

Walan'smother donated her uterus to her daughter as Walan's uterus had become non-functional following a miscarriage, she said.

Mumbai, Oct 18 (PTI) In an apparent dig at the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray said Thursday that there was no "wave" in the country like the one in 2014.

In 2014, the BJP's success in Lok Sabha elections had been widely attributed to a "Modi wave".

Thackeray was addressing party workers at the Sena's annual Dussehra rally at Shivaji Park here.

"There is no wave as it was in 2014," he said, suggesting that the BJP would not be able to replicate its 2014 success in the Lok Sabha elections next year.

Muzaffarnagar (UP), Oct 19 (PTI) A 65-year-old farmer was allegedly beaten to death by unidentified miscreants in Shamli district's Titoli village, police said Friday.

The farmer, Karan Pal had gone to irrigate his fields Thursday but he did not return home, SHO Adarsh Mandi Police station Anil Singh said.

After a search, Pal's body was found with injuries and bruise marks in his field. It was sent for postmortem, the SHO said.

A case of murder was registered under the Indian Penal Code, he added.

Srinagar, Oct 19 (PTI) Two militants were Friday killed by security forces in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said.

The militants, travelling in a car, were asked to stop at Kraalhaar but they opened fire at the security personnel, a police official said adding, that the duo was killed in retaliatory fire.

Some arms and ammunition were recovered from the scene, he said. Further details were awaited.

Lucknow, Oct 19 (PTI) The VHP Friday hailed the Uttar Pradesh government's decision to adopt a proposal to rename Allahabad as Prayagraj and demanded that the name of Faizabad be changed to "Sri Ayodhya".

VHP spokesman Sharad Sharma said the renaming of Allahabad aimed to free the mindset of slavery and added all sections of people had hailed this step of the state government.

Chandigarh, Oct 19 (PTI) A suspended Chandigarh Police sub-inspector has been booked for allegedly raping a 25-year-old model from Mumbai, police said on Friday.

The victim told the police that Naveen Phogat raped her in June this year and he claimed to have objectionable videos and photos of her.

Phogat used these to blackmail the woman to get sexual favours from her in lieu of getting her money back from a man who had fraudulently transferred Rs 12 lakh from her account, the police said.

Jaipur, Oct 19 (PTI) The number of people infected with Zika virus rose to 109 in Rajasthan on Friday.

According to a spokesperson of the state medical and health department, the nine new cases confirmed were from Jaipur.

However, 91 Zika virus infected patients are healthy now after treatment, he said, adding the department is making all efforts to contain mosquito larvae in the affected area.

Most of the cases have been reported from densely populated Shastri Nagar locality of the state capital.