India

Kota (R'than), Dec 12 (PTI) An eight-year-old Dalit girl, who had gone missing after she went to graze cattle, is suspected to have been strangled to death after being raped in a village in Rajasthan's Jhalawar district, police said Wednesday.

The deceased, a Class III student, was missing since Tuesday night and her body was found in a mustard field in her village on Wednesday. Prima facie, the girl was strangulated and she was also raped, a police officer said.

Hyderabad, Dec 12 (PTI) TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao, who led his party to a resounding victory in the assembly elections, would be sworn in as the Chief Minister of Telangana for a second straight term Thursday.

The swearing-in ceremony would be held at the Raj Bhavan at around 1.30 pm, official sources said Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Rao was unanimously elected leader of the TRS Legislature Party by the newly-elected MLAs.

Ghaziabad, Dec 12 (PTI) A man was arrested here for allegedly killing a 26-year-old woman after being hired by her husband, police said Wednesday.

The accused, Deepak Panchal, was arrested near a soap factory in Loni. He was allegedly hired by Rinkoo alias Gyanesh to kill his wife, Kavita, as he had suspected him of infidelity, the police said.

He was on the run while her husband Rinkoo and his one of his accomplice were arrested earlier, the police said.

KANPUR:  Acting upon the complaints received from different college managements in the city, the district examination committee has cancelled as many as 18 UP Board examination centres. A total of 64 Higher Secondary & Inter Colleges have approached with objections on the centres fixed at a little long distance from the examinees’ place.

Srinagar, Dec 11 (PTI) The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Tuesday said the results in the assembly polls to five states have shown that political awakening is on the rise in the country as people have rejected the communal politics.

The Congress was on Tuesday set to wrest Rajasthan and Chattisgarh from the BJP which was trailing marginally in Madhya Pradesh in a cliffhanger while the TRS stormed back to power in Telangana and the MNF dislodged the Congress in Mizoram.

Chandigarh, Dec 11 (PTI) Terming the assembly poll results in three Hindi heartland states as a mandate for the leadership of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday claimed that it was the "beginning of the end" of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government.

The Chief Minister said the Congress' performance showed that the party was on an upswing across the country.

New Delhi, Dec 11 (PTI) The Congress on Tuesday hailed its good showing in assembly polls in three Hindi heartland states and thanked people for choosing "love over hate".

The Congress appeared set to wrest Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh from the BJP, which was trailing marginally in Madhya Pradesh in a cliffhanger.

"Democracy has won! Thank you India, you have chosen love over hate, peace over violence & truth over lies. This victory is yours," read a tweet on the party's official Twitter handle, with the hashtag 'CongressWinsBIG'.

Aizawl, Dec 11 (PTI) After leading the Mizo National Front (MNF) to power in Mizoram, chief minister-designate Zoramthanga Tuesday said he would impose total prohibition in the state as promised by his party.

Total prohibition was imposed in this highly-literate and Christian-majority state since February 20, 1997 by the then Congress government. However, it was lifted in early 2015 by enforcing the Mizoram Liquor Prohibition and Control Act, 2014. Following this, wine shops were opened in the state from March 16, 2015.

New Delhi, Dec 11 (PTI) Former bureaucrat Shaktikanta Das, who spearheaded the post-demonetisation normalisation of the economy, was Tuesday named the new governor of the Reserve Bank of India.

Das, 61, replaces Urjit Patel, who shocked the establishment and markets by announcing his exit from the central bank Monday.

Das will have a three-year term, an official order said.

He will be the first bureaucrat to head the central bank in almost five years.

Hyderabad, Dec 11 (PTI) The TJS, part of the Congress-led 'People's Front' which received a drubbing in the Telangana assembly elections, Tuesday said his party accepted the people's verdict.

Telangana Jana Samiti president M Kodandaram congratulated the TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao on his party's emphatic victory.