India

Pithoragarh (U'khand), Apr 29 (PTI) Uncertainty prevails over the timely start of Mansarovar Yatra' through the Lipulekh pass this year, with preparations for the annual pilgrimage yet to begin.

The pilgrimage begins by the second week of June every year and the preparations for the yatra usually begin two months in advance, but the COVID-19 induced lockdown has delayed the process.

Aizawl, Apr 29 (PTI) Home is where the heart is, in life and in death, too.

The 23-year-old Raphael AVL Malchhanhima was a distraught man when his friend Vivian Lalremsanga died of suspected heart attack on April 23 in Chennai.

The lockdown had shuttered the city and cluttered his mind.

Muzaffarnagar, Apr 29 (PTI) A 16-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly raped by her neighbour when she was alone at home in a village in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district, police said on Wednesday.

The 21-year-old accused was arrested, they said.

Mumbai, Apr 29 (PTI) Irrfan Khan, one of India's finest and most versatile actors, lost his battle with a rare form of cancer and died in a Mumbai hospital on Wednesday, a statement from his family said. He was 54.

Irrfan, who was diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumour in 2018, is survived by his wife Sutapa and his sons Babil and Ayaan.

Kozhikode, April 28 (PTI) The remains of seven people who died in the Gulf countries were airlifted from Dubai by a cargo flight which arrived here Tuesday, ending the uncertainty over bringing back the bodies of those who died following non-Covid-19 reasons.

Airport sources said the flight reached the airport by around noon.

The bodies include natives of Kerala, one each of people from Goa and Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu.

Indore, Apr 28 (PTI) Nine more prisoners lodged at the Central Jail in Madhya Pradesh's Indore city have tested positive for coronavirus, an official said on Tuesday.

With this, the total number of those who contracted the infection in the jail in last 14 days has gone up to 19, including 17 prisoners and two jail guards, prison superintendent Rakesh Kumar Bhangre said.

New Delhi, Apr 28 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has directed that arrests in connection with the recent riots in the national capital, shall be done in accordance with the Supreme Court guidelines related to arrest and detention.

The direction was issued by a bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh which also issued notice to the Centre, Delhi government and police seeking their stand on a plea alleging that arrests in connection with the riots were being made during the coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic.

Mumbai, Apr 28 (PTI) The Maharashtra government has decided to send about 100 buses to Kota in Rajasthan to bring back nearly 2,000 students stranded there due to the lockdown, Maharashtra Transport Minister Anil Parab has said.

Buses of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) will be sent to Kota in the next two days, Parab said late Monday night.

Mumbai, Apr 27 (PTI) Two persons accused of attacking journalist Arnab Goswami's car while he was on his way home last week were granted bail by a court in Mumbai on Monday.

The two motorcycle-borne men allegedly tried to break the glass window of the car in the early hours of Thursday on on Ganpatrao Kadam Marg, when Goswami was returning from a studio located in Bombay Dyeing Complex in Lower Parel area, NM Joshi Marg police had said.

Metropolitan Magistrate SV Pimpale of Bhoiwada court in Dadar granted the two bail on a surety of Rs 15,000.

Chennai, Apr 27 (PTI) The Tamil Nadu government on Monday announced returning 24,000 rapid test kits imported from China, hours after the ICMR asked states to stop using the COVID-19 rapid antibody kits procured from two companies in the Asian country to be sent back to the suppliers.

The government and opposition DMK clashed over the pricing of the kits, with the latter demanding 'transparency' while the ruling dispensation asserted that the procurement was done based on rates fixed by the Centre.