India

Jammu, Mar 15 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir BJP president Ravinder Raina on Sunday announced a month-long 'Jana Jagaran Abhiyaan' (public awareness campaign) against coronavirus in the Union Territory from March 20.

"The sensitization programme against the coronavirus will be kick started at the district level on March 20 and will be taken to the block level," Raina said chairing a meeting of office-bearers of the party here.

Mumbai, Mar 15 (PTI) A 22-year-old carpenter was arrested on Sunday for allegedly raping a mentally challenged woman in Vakola in Mumbai, police said.

Dinesh Sharma was raping the 22-year-old woman repeatedly for the past three months in Dutt Mandir locality, and the crime came to light after she got pregnant, said an official.

"She named Sharma after which he was arrested," said the official.

New Delhi, Mar 16 (PTI) A fourth batch of 53 Indians returned to India from Iran on Monday, taking the total number of people evacuated from the coronavirus-hit country to 389.

This comes a day after over 230 Indians were brought back from Iran to New Delhi and quarantined at the Indian Army Wellness Centre in Jaisalmer, the third batch to be evacuated from that country.

New Delhi, Mar 16 (PTI) Asking states to stop thermal coal imports, the government in Rajya Sabha on Monday said that a lobby was active in some states that was behind dry- fuel imports despite sufficient domestic stock.

Replying to a query in the Upper House during Question Hour, Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi said India houses the fourth largest resources in the world yet thermal coals were being imported and should be stopped.

Banda, Mar 16 (PTI) A girl was allegedly raped by three men in a village in Chilla area of Uttar Pradesh's Banda district, police said on Monday.

Circle officer (Banda Sadar) Raghvendra Singh said the girl, aged 15, was allegedly gang-raped on Sunday afternoon.

Bengaluru, Mar 16 (PTI) Amid the rising number of coronavirus cases in the country, the order of closure of malls and multiplexes across many top cities by the respective state governments to prevent people congregating for any reason, has caused the organised retail scene there to come to a grinding halt, according to a property consultant.

Raipur, Mar 16 (PTI) A Border Security Force (BSF) jawan was on Monday injured in an encounter with naxals in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district, police said.

The skirmish took place when a team of the BSF's 157th battalion was out on a patrolling duty, a police official told PTI.

When the team reached near Musaghat area under Partapur police station limits, a group of ultras triggered an IED (improvised explosive device) blast and opened indiscriminate firing on security forces, he said.

Tura (Meghalaya), Mar 16 (PTI) Three persons have been arrested after photographs of them trapping, killing and eating a leopard cat near their village in Meghalaya's North Garo Hills district went viral on the social media, wildlife officials said on Monday.

With leopard cats being an endangered species, the photographs posted by one of the poachers triggered a social media outrage leading to their arrests, they said.

Belagavi, Mar 16 (PTI) Despite his own government's order banning large gatherings in the wake of the COVID-19 scare, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa attended large-scale wedding celebrations of the daughter of a BJP MLC here.

The state government had advised putting off weddings, among other events, till the virus is contained or restricting the number of guests below 100 for a week from last Saturday.

New Delhi/Mumbai, Mar 16 (PTI) Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani has been summoned by the ED in connection with its money laundering probe against Yes Bank promoter Rana Kapoor and others, officials said on Monday.

They said Ambani was asked to depose at the Enforcement Directorate office in the Ballard Estate area of Mumbai on Monday as his group companies are among the big entities whose loans allegedly went bad after borrowing from the crisis-hit bank.