India

Palanpur (Guj), Oct 22 (PTI) A 13-year-old girl was abducted and raped allegedly by a local farm labourer in Vav in Gujarat's Banaskantha district, police said Monday.

The incident happened in Dethdi village in the early hours Saturday and a complaint was filed by the minor's mother Sunday, a Vav police station official said.

Mumbai, Oct 22 (PTI) A Right to Information plea has found that 18,423 people died and 18,847 people were injured in suburban train-related mishaps between January 2013 to August 2018.

Replying to the RTI query filed by activist Shakeel Ahmad, the Mumbai railway police commissionerate said that these casualties occurred due to passengers falling from trains, dashing against poles, crossing railway tracks or travelling on the roof of trains.

KANPUR: A heavy crocodile dragged a girl into the river in Sajeti village of Tehsil Ghatampur under Kanpur Nagar District. Villagers and a team of Forest Department attempted to search the girl but efforts remained ineffective. Neither the crocodile nor the girl was eventually traced.  

New Delhi, Oct 21; PTI:  In the long list of renamed Indian cities, Shimla could be the latest entrant as the ruling BJP government is considering a proposal to change its name to Shyamala.

A campaign has been launched by some right-wing Hindu groups demanding that the capital of Himachal Pradesh be renamed.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and state health minister Vipin Singh Parmar said many cities in different parts of the country used to have historic names but they were changed.

So, there would not be any harm in reverting to those names.

New Delhi, Octber 21; GANASHAKTI: In an interesting development, India’s premier investigating agency The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has named its Special Director Rakesh Asthana as an accused for allegedly demanding and taking bribe from a businessman who was being investigated in the Moin Qureshi corruption case by a special investigation team led by Rakesh Asthana.

Mumbai, Oct 20 (PTI) A special NIA court rejected 2008 Malegaon blast case accused Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit's petition challenging the validity of the prosecution sanction for his trial under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

Special NIA court judge Vinod Padalkar rejected his petition after hearing the arguments of Purohit and other accused in the case.

The court has set October 26 as the next date of hearing in the case.

Lucknow, Oct 21 (PTI) To give an edge to the BJP in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, four spokespersons from the party's Uttar Pradesh unit have been dispatched to the neighbouring state for effective media management, a party leader said Sunday.

The spokespersons will be responsible for disseminating information pertaining to various welfare measures initiated by the Centre and ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state, where voting will be held on November 28.

Jammu, Oct 21 (PTI) Buoyed by the Urban Local Bodies (ULB) election results in Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP said Sunday it is hopeful to win over 50 assembly seats in the next elections and form a government on its own in the state.

The BJP swept the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) elections and made some advances in Kashmir, by winning 100 wards in the Valley, in the four-phased ULB elections in the state that were marred by boycott by the NC and PDP.

Jaipur, Oct 21 (PTI) Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot Sunday said the people of the state would celebrate Diwali twice this year, first on November 7

and again on December 7 when the Congress will come to power here.

Speaking at a 'Booth Jitao, Bhrashtachar Mitao' event here, Pilot said the BJP will be removed from the state and a new government will be formed on December 7.

Bhubaneswar, Oct 20 (PTI) The toll in Cyclone Titli and the subsequent floods in Odisha rose to 61, with the state government confirming four more casualties on Saturday.

Reports of death of 11 more people were being verified at district level, Chief Secretary A P Padhi said after a review of relief and restoration activities in the 17 affected districts.

He said four more people had died in the cyclone and the resultant floods.