India

Pune, Mar 1 (PTI) A special POCSO court here in Maharashtra sentenced a man to death for raping and killing a two-and-a-half-year old girl last year.

Principal District Judge (special judge for POCSO cases) Sanjay Deshmukh convicted Sanjay Baban Katkar (38) on Monday evening.

According to public prosecutor Vilas Pathare, the convict kidnapped the girl on February 15, 2021.

He then raped her and strangled her to death. There were 11 bite marks on the girl's body, Pathare said.

Kanpur: An unknown youngster was brutally murdered and his corpse was set on fire. It was reportedly dumped on the side of the Delhi-Kanpur highway.

The incident took place at around 10 p.m. on February 28. The body was set ablaze to erase his identity.

Upon seeing the fire on the side of the Highway, passersby informed the police.

The incident happened near the Yashoda nagar crossroad in the Naubasta area.

After setting the body on fire to hide his identity, the killers fled from the scene.

Hyderabad, Feb 28 (PTI) Political strategist Prashant Kishor's meeting with Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao here has assumed political significance ahead of next year's Assembly elections in the state, even as the TRS supremo is making efforts to stitch up an anti-BJP bloc comprising various regional leaders including Mamata Banerjee and Uddhav Thackeray.

Ambedkarnagar (UP), Feb 28 (PTI) Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday claimed the BJP is hatching a conspiracy to end reservation and hence, is selling government organisations to the private sector.

Addressing an election meeting in the Jalalpur assembly constituency, Yadav said his party will win all the seats of Ambedkarnagar as well as of neighbouring Azamgarh district in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

"The BJP is hatching a conspiracy to end reservation, and hence it is selling government organisations to the private sector," he said.

Kolkata, Feb 28 (PTI) Exporters on Monday said they will face more difficulties for their shipments to Russia with a decision to exclude selected Russian banks from the global financial system SWIFT as the move would hamper direct payments for goods shipped out to the CIS country.

The US along with its key allies, including the European Union and the UK, have decided to disconnect key sanctioned Russian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

New Delhi, Feb 28 (PTI) India on Monday decided to send relief supplies to Ukraine to deal with the humanitarian situation along its bordering areas arising out of tens of thousands of people attempting to flee the Russian invasion.

After a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that reviewed the efforts to bring back Indians from Ukraine, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the relief supplies will be sent on Tuesday.

Kanpur: Have you noticed the bull that entered the crowded road at the time of school break?

The school's gate open just on the road connected with the highway in Jajmau here.

As the students and parents were standing at the mouth of gate there was enough crowd.

It was so much disturbing that the  parents waiting at the gate were causing problem to other parents looking for their wards.

Lucknow, Feb 28 (PTI) What's in a name? For three candidates in this Uttar Pradesh assembly election, being called Akhilesh Yadav might have helped them a bit in their fight.

Besides the Samajwadi Party (SP) president, the Congress nominee from Bikapur, an independent from Gunnaur and the SP candidate from Mubarakpur also have the name Akhilesh Yadav.

Gwalior, Feb 28 (PTI) A 33-year-old Dalit Right to Information (RTI) activist was allegedly beaten up and forced to drink urine by seven people after he sought information related to a village panchayat in Madhya Pradesh's Gwalior district, police said on Monday.

After initial treatment in a hospital here, the severely injured victim, Shashikant Jatav, was shifted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, for further treatment, an official said.

New Delhi, Feb 27 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of distracting the country when it needs action.

"Our country needs action. PM only provides distraction," Gandhi said on Twitter.

Gandhi has been criticizing Modi for distracting people from issues of unemployment, the economy, and price rise.