India

Lucknow, Nov 17 (PTI) Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday alleged that the BJP rigs elections and urged people to stay vigilant in the 2022 assembly polls.

He also accused the BJP of not letting free and fair polls happen.

The SP chief's statement has come in the wake of his party's poor show in the bypolls to seven assembly seats in the state. The BJP had bagged six seats while the SP won one. He had earlier too accused the BJP of rigging elections.

New Delhi, Nov 17 (PTI) India and Kazakhstan on Tuesday carried out a comprehensive review of their cooperation in key areas of trade, energy, defence and space.

The two sides reviewed the entire spectrum of their ties at a virtual meeting under the framework of the foreign office consultations.

"The talks were held in a friendly and cordial atmosphere," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

Kolkata, Nov 17 (PTI) The CBI on Tuesday arrested a BSF commandant for his alleged involvement in a cattle smuggling racket operating at the Indo-Bangladesh border in West Bengal, a statement by the investigating agency said.

Satish Kumar, the BSF commandant who is now posted at Raipur in Chhattisgarh, was summoned to Kolkata for questioning in connection with the case by CBI.

He was arrested after the CBI interrogated him for hours.

Shillong, Nov 17 (PTI) Editor of The Shillong Times Patricia Mukhim Tuesday resigned as member of Editors Guild of India (EGI) in protest against what she called, the organizations "complete silence" on the recent High Court ruling which refused to quash an FIR against her and held her guilty of creating communal disharmony through her Facebook post in July.

Chatra/Lohargada, Nov 17 (PTI) A Naxal belonging to the proscribed Tritiya Sammelan Prastuti Committee (TSPC) outfit, carrying a reward of Rs 5 lakh on his head, was arrested in Jharkhand's Chatra district on Tuesday, police said.

Acting on a tip-off, police personnel arrested the outfit's self-styled 'zonal commander' Krishna Ganju near Bhangiya river in Pratappur police station area, Superintendent of Police Rishabh Kumar Jha told PTI.

A .315 bore rifle, a country-made gun and several cartridges were seized from his possession, the officer said.

Srinagar, Nov 18 (PTI) A soldier was killed and two others were injured after an avalanche hit an Army post in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Wednesday.

The avalanche hit the Army post near the Line of Control (LoC) at Roshan Post in Tangdhar area of north Kashmir's Kupwara district late on Tuesday night, the officials said.

They said an Army soldier was killed and two others were injured in the incident.

The injured soldiers were rushed to a hospital.

Mumbai, Nov 18 (PTI) Mumbai police on Wednesday asked Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut and her sister Rangoli Chandel to appear before them on November 23 over "objectionable comments" on social media aimed at spreading communal tension.

This is the third time Mumbai police have asked the actor to appear before the Bandra police in the matter.

Kangana had earlier informed the police that she was busy with a wedding in the family and will be available only after November 15.

Allahabad, Nov 17 (PTI) The granddaughter of Allahabad MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi has died of burns received during bursting of crackers, a close aide of the BJP leader said on Tuesday. She was six-year-old.

The MP's aide said Kiya died around 2 am on Tuesday at the city hospital where she was admitted following the incident on Monday afternoon.

He said the Bahuguna's granddaughter was bursting crackers with a couple of other children when the accident took place.

Washington, Nov 17 (PTI) Indian students contributed USD 7.6 billion to the US economy in the academic year 2019-20, even though there was a 4.4 per cent drop in the total number of Indian students, according to a report.

China remained the largest source of international students in the US, with the number of Chinese students in the country increasing for the 16th consecutive year. There were over 372,000 Chinese students in the US during 2019-20 year, said the report "Opens Doors 2020."

Fatehpur (UP), Nov 17 (PTI) The bodies of two Dalit sisters were found with eye injuries in a pond in a village in Uttar Pradesh's Fatehpur district, with their families alleging that they were killed after an unsuccessful rape bid, police said.

The bodies of the girls, aged 8 and 12, were retrieved from the pond late Monday evening, ASP Rajesh Kumar said.

Both the bodies had injury marks on the eyes, he said.

The girls had gone to the field in the afternoon to get vegetables but did not return, the police said.