India

Ranchi, Oct 4 (PTI) Two policemen were killed when Maoists opened fire on security forces in Ranchi district in Jharkhand on Friday, a senior police officer said.

Following a tip that members of the banned CPI (Maoist) group had gathered near Dassam falls between Bundu and Namkum, security forces rushed to the area around 4 am, Additional Director General of Police Murari Lal Meena told PTI.

New Delhi, Oct 4 (PTI) Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday attacked the Modi government over alleged lockdown in Jammu and Kashmir for the last two months, saying it has affected innocent children the most.

The Congress general secretary also tagged a media report on Twitter which claimed that children in Kashmir were away from schools and were disconnected from friends.

Thane, Oct 4 (PTI) The police have arrested a man from Jalgaon in North Maharashtra for allegedly repeatedly raping his 15-year-old mentally challenged niece and impregnating her, an official said on Friday.

The accused later abandoned her at Kalyan railway station in Thane district, he said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police of Zone III Vivek Pansare said the victim was found at Kalyan station on May 29, 2019.

New Delhi, Oct 3 (PTI) Former Union finance minister P Chidambaram will now be able to relish home-cooked food in Tihar Jail once daily as a Delhi court allowed his plea in this regard on Thursday after noting his medical condition.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Chidambaram, told the court that the 74-year-old Congress leader was suffering from multiple ailments, including dyslipidemia and irritable bowel disease.

Shahjahanpur, Oct 3 (PTI) A local court here on Thursday extended the judicial custody of former Union minister Swami Chinmayanand till October 16.

A law student has levelled rape charges against the BJP leader.

His counsel Om Singh said the BJP leader was produced in the court through videoconferencing from the jail because of security reasons and CJM Omvir Singh extended his judicial custody by 14 days.

Imphal/Kohima/Shillong, Oct 3 (PTI) Two days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah's announcement that the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) would be brought in Parliament, protests were held in Manipur, Nagaland and Meghalaya on Thursday against the controversial piece of legislation.

In Imphal Valley, members of a large number of civil society bodies and university and college students held protests amid tight police security and no untoward incident was reported from any part of the state.

New Delhi, Oct 3 (PTI) The Congress on Thursday named 17 more candidates for the Maharashtra assembly elections, taking to 140 the total number of party nominees it has announced for the elections to the 288-member assembly.

Among the new names in the fourth list released by the party is Sushil Amrutrao Rane from Kankavli after its MLA from there Nitesh Rane joined the BJP.

The Congress also replaced two of its candidates.

Elections in Maharashtra will be held on October 21 and results will be out on October 24.

Raipur, Oct 3 (PTI) Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Thursday said Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was part of the conspiracy to assassinate Mahatma Gandhi.

The Congress leader said there was enough evidence to show that Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse was a disciple of Savarkar.

Baghel said the Father of the Nation advocated non- violence, Savarkar stood for violence.

Muzaffarnagar, Oct 3 (PTI) The body of a newborn girl was found abandoned in a garbage dump in Makki locality here, police said on Thursday.

After some passersby spotted it, they informed the police about it. The body was sent for postmortem, they said, adding a search was on to trace her parents.

Two incidents of girls being abandoned were reported recently in the neighbouring Shamli district. On October 2, a newborn girl was found abandoned in some fields in Banat town and she was later taken to a hospital.

Muzaffarnagar, Oct 4 (PTI) Thirty-five years after she applied for Indian citizenship, a Pakistani woman, married to a man in Muzaffarnagar city and residing in the country on a long-term visa, has been granted Indian nationality.

According to a local intelligence official, 55-year-old Zubeda had married Syed Mohammad Zaved, a resident of Yogenderpur locality here, 35 years ago. She had applied for Indian citizenship immediately after her marriage; however, it was not accepted on some legal grounds.