India

New Delhi, Mar 17 (PTI) A Group Captain of the Indian Air Force was killed in an accident involving a MiG-21 Bison aircraft at an airbase in central India on Wednesday, the IAF said.

The accident took place when the aircraft was taking off for a combat training mission, the IAF said on Twitter.

New Delhi, Mar 17 (PTI) India on Wednesday said its engagement with China is "complex" and the two countries agreed that the future direction of ties should be built upon respecting each other's sensitivities, concerns and aspirations.

Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan also said in the Lok Sabha that India will continue discussions with China to resolve the remaining issues along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh to achieve the objective of disengagement from all friction points.

Shahjahanpur (UP), Mar 16 (PTI) A Class 5 girl was allegedly molested by the principal of her school here, police said on Tuesday.

The incident took place in Jagatiyapur village on Monday.

A case was lodged against Shameem Ahmed under relevant sections of the law for child abuse on the basis of the complaint received from the victim's mother, Superintendent of Police (SP) Sanjeev Bajpai said.

The victim told her mother that she was playing outside her house when Ahmed took her away and molested her.

Ballia (UP), Mar 16 (PTI) A 12-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly kidnapped and raped in a village under Reoti police station area here, police said on Tuesday.

The girl was allegedly kidnapped by a man on Monday and raped, Superintendent of Police Vipin Tada said.

On the complaint of the girl's mother, an FIR was filed against the accused and he was arrested on Tuesday, the SP said.

The girl has been sent for a medical examination and further investigations are on, the SP added.

Chandigarh, Mar 16 (PTI) A court in Punjab's Sangrur acquitted AAP MLA from Delhi Naresh Yadav on Tuesday in a case of desecration of the Quran in Malerkotla town of the district in June 2016.

However, Sangrur Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Prashant Verma convicted former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) "pracharak" Vijay Kumar and another accused, Gaurav Kumar, in the case and sentenced them to two years in jail.

Lucknow, Mar 16 (PTI) The Congress will contest on all seats during the upcoming panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh, said state party president Ajay Kumar Lallu on Tuesday.

A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting chaired by Lallu, in which party MLAs and former MPs took part, a release issued here said.

According to the release, it was unanimously decided that the Congress will contest the elections on issues like unemployment, inflation, and farmers' woes.

Mumbai, Mar 16 (PTI) After asking employees and officials not to wear T-shirts and jeans at office, the Maharashtra government on Tuesday amended the order by dropping jeans from the prohibition.

Government employees must not wear T-shirts while on official duty, the new order said.

By an order on December 8, the government had prohibited wearing of jeans and T-shirts, a fiat that had met with opposition from employees.

Purulia, Mar 16 (PTI) A portion of a bus designed as BJPs Rath' was vandalised by unidentified miscreants on Tuesday evening in West Bengals Purulia district.

The BJP has alleged that Trinamool Congress is behind the incident, but the ruling party has termed the allegation as baseless.

Mumbai, Mar 17 (PTI) BJP leader and former Union minister Dilip Gandhi died at a hospital in New Delhi on Wednesday, family sources said.

He was 69.

Gandhi had served as the Minister of State for Shipping in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led central government.

He recently tested positive for coronavirus and was undergoing treatment for multiple ailments, the sources said.

The BJP leader, who started his career as a corporator in late 80s, had won the Lok Sabha elections three times since 1999 from Ahmednagar in Maharashtra.

New Delhi, Mar 17 (PTI) India recorded its highest daily tally of coronavirus cases this year with 28,903 new infections, taking the total COVID-19 tally to 1,14,38,734, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

The death toll increased to 1,59,044 with 188 new fatalities, the highest in around two months, the data updated at 8 am showed.