India

Akola, Oct 8 (PTI) For most of us, the festival of Dussehra is a day to celebrate Lord Ram's victory over Ravan, symbolising triumph of good over evil, but residents of a tiny village in Maharashtra's Akola district worship the demon king with equal fervour.

An enormous black stone statue of Ravan, with 10 heads and 20 arms, stands tall in Sangola village where, according to locals, the Lanka king is being worshipped for the last 200 years.

Deoria (UP), Oct 8 (PTI) Some unidentified people allegedly shot dead a trader in Uttar Pradesh's Deoria district on Tuesday and fled with his bag containing Rs 10 lakh, police said.

At around 5 am, Subhash Madheshia (55) was going to Tarkulwa from a railway station here when the assailants looted and killed him, the police said.

Madheshia had reached Deoria from Muzaffarpur, where he had gone to purchase a truck, they said.

An investigation is underway but no arrests have been made so far, the police said.

Kanpur: Traders looked deeply upset with the city's poor road condition. They were not happy with the irresponsible attitude of the Nagar Nigam and the state public works department offiçials. Staging a Dharna at the dilapidated road iñ Fazalganj area on Monday they raised slogans like stop such atrociousness flaying administrative machinery.

They were covering dilapidated and potholed roads with the white shroud. Besides they also offered flowers after placing fragrant sticks. They nearly mourned road death. This was in a different way the last rites performed by them.

Panaji, Oct 7 (PTI) A Goa Court on Monday adjourned till October 21 the trial against Tehelka magazine founder Tarun Tejpal in a sexual assault case lodged by his former woman colleague, after the victim failed to attend the hearing.

The additional district and sessions court at Mapusa will continue hearing on October 21, 22 and 23, when the victim would be cross-examined by Tejpal's counsel, special public prosecutor Francisco Tavora told reporters.

New Delhi, Oct 6 (PTI) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been elected unopposed as JD(U) president for another term, his party said on Sunday.

The party's national returning officer Aneel Hedge said Kumar was the only candidate for the post and was officially declared as its president after the time of withdrawal for nomination ended on Sunday.

Four sets of nominations were filed by groups of party leaders on Kumar's behalf.

Pune, Oct 7 (PTI) Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil, who is fighting his maiden Assembly election, is up against a united opposition from Pune's Kothrud seat, and it will be interesting to see how he takes up the challenge.

The state minister, who is considered no. 2 in the Devendra Fadnavis Cabinet, is also facing the tag of being an "outsider", since he hails from Kolhapur.

He is pitted against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) candidate Kishor Shinde, who also has the backing of the opposition Congress and NCP.

Muzaffarnagar, Oct 6 (PTI) A gang-rape victim has committed suicide at Behdi village here by hanging herself from the ceiling of her house after being allegedly harassed by her assaulters to withdraw the case against them, police said.

The 24-year-old woman has also written the names of the accused on her hand before committing the suicide on Saturday evening under Chapar police station area in the district.

The woman was raped by three men about an year ago and the accused were on bail since then, police said.

Jaipur, Oct 6 (PTI) Three people were arrested for molesting a Dailt girl and circulating the video of the incident on social media in Rajasthan's Karauli district, police said Sunday.

One of the accused is a relative of the girl, they said.

The arrested persons have been identified as Raghuveer Mali (35), Pintu Mali (22) and Mahesh Mali (21).

Agra, Oct 6 (PTI) The administration here on Sunday sealed an orphanage and booked its management citing irregularities, days after an inmate alleged that she was raped by three men inside the premises, officials said.

Chief Development Officer (CDO) J Reebha said the sealing was initiated around 7 pm and a case was registered against the management of the orphanage.

Banda (UP), Oct 7 (PTI) A 25-year-old college student allegedly committed suicide here after he failed to get a job, police said on Monday.

The incident took place in Jaraili Kothi locality under City Kotwali police station limits on Sunday, they said.

Nagendra Singh, pursuing Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) degree at a college in Baberu area, was found hanging from the ceiling of his rented room, Station House Officer Baljit Singh said.