India

Bhopal, Aug 17 (PTI) The Congress government in Madhya Pradesh will be spending Rs 300 crore for expanding and improving the facilities for devotees at the famous Mahakal Temple in Ujjain district, an official said on Saturday.

The decision follows Chief Minister Kamal Nath's announcement in his Independence Day address that his government will build 1,000 cow sheds for stray cows across the state.

Mumbai, Aug 18 (PTI) Maharashtra NCP president Jayant Patil on Sunday hit out at the BJP for poaching leaders "groomed" by his party and the Congress, likening it to "buying ready-made clothes".

He was speaking on the sidelines of a state-level NCP meeting here which was attended by several senior leaders, amid speculation that some of those absent may be on their way to the ruling BJP or Shiv Sena.

Lucknow, Aug 18 (PTI) A photojournalist with a prominent Hindi daily and his brother were shot dead in Saharanpur district on Sunday morning following an altercation over disposal of cow dung, police said.

Ashish (23), a photographer with Dainik Jagran newspaper, and his brother Ashutosh (19) were killed by their neighbour Mahipal Saini and his sons, Senior Superintendent of Police (Saharanpur) Dinesh Kumar P said.

Lucknow, Aug 18 (PTI) The much-awaited cabinet reshuffle of the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh will take place on Monday to fill the slots that have fallen vacant in the last few months, especially after some ministers entered the portals of Lok Sabha.

Adityanath took over the reins of the state in March 2017, and this will be the first expansion of his ministry.

Three UP ministers were elected to Parliament in the recent Lok Sabha polls, while one was sacked.

Rajnandgaon, Aug 18 (PTI) Chhattisgarh police have arrested two Nigerian nationals from New Delhi for allegedly duping a Rajnandgaon-based woman of around Rs 44 lakh after befriending her on a social networking site, an official said on Sunday.

The accused, identified as Kibi Stanley Okwo (28) and Nwakor (29), were apprehended from Chanakya Place in the national capital on Friday by a special team of Rajnandgaon police, Rajnandgaon Superintendent of Police Kamlochan Kashyap said.

Banda, Aug 18 (PTI) Two minor boys were held in neighbouring Fatehpur district for allegedly gang-raping a five-year-old girl, police said on Sunday.

Circle officer of Bindki (under Fatehpur district) Abhishek Tiwari said, "On Saturday, two minor teenager boys had allegedly gang-raped a five-year-old girl at a lonely place."

"When the girl returned to her home on Sunday, she narrated the entire sequence of event. A case was registered on Sunday morning," he added.

Police also said that the medical examination of the girl confirmed that she was raped.

Mumbai, Aug 18 (PTI) Five persons, including the mother, brother and "husband", of a teenage girl have been arrested on charges of forcing her into prostitution and rape, police said on Sunday.

According to a police official, the girl's mother forcibly married her off to a man in April 2018 though she was a minor, a Mankhurd police official said.

He said her husband used to beat her up for sexual favours, following which she returned to her mother's residence in in Mankhurd in east Mumbai.

Muzaffarnagar, Aug 19 (PTI) A woman hanged herself from the ceiling of her residence after being allegedly harassed for dowry by her in-laws in Muzaffarnagar district, police said Monday.

Rashmi had married Sumit Kumar eight months ago.

Kumar and his father have been arrested on abetment to suicide charge based on a complaint by the woman's father, they said.

The suicide was reported from Goela village on Sunday.

The body has been sent for a post-mortem examination.

Panaji, Aug 19 (PTI) Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has claimed that the Modi-led government will continue to rule the country "for another 25 years".

In the coming days, the BJP-led central government will take "many decisions" which are in the pipeline and after that, "no one will be able to replace" the dispensation led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Sawant said addressing a convention of BJP workers here on Sunday evening.

New Delhi, Aug 19 (PTI) Remembering his father, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday drew attention to his achievement in bringing an information technology and telecom revolution in the country.

He said to celebrate his father's 75th birth anniversary, the Congress party will organise memorial events across the country.

The former prime minister's birth anniversary falls on August 20.