A passenger was killed while several others were injured after a bus, in which they were travelling, overturned in Madhya Pradesh's Barwani district on Friday

The tragic incident occurred in Khetiya town, located on the left bank of the Narmada, in Barwani. The pilgrims were going to 'Prakasha', a significant Hindu pilgrimage site in the Nandurbar district of northern Maharashtra.

Pilgrims had come from Omkareshwar in neighbouring Khandwa and participated in Narmada Parikrama (spiritual journey) in Barwani. After completing Narmada Parikrama, they were going to 'Prakasha'.

Upon receiving information, a team from the Khetiya Police Station swung into action and rescued the passengers with support from the residents. Injured persons were rushed to a nearby hospital in multiple ambulances.

In a major crackdown on food adulteration, the Eastern Range-I of the Delhi Police Crime Branch busted an illegal factory manufacturing adulterated 'desi ghee' in Bawana Industrial area, officials said on Friday.

The raid executed on Thursday led to the arrests of two persons, and over 3,700 litres of fake desi ghee, along with raw material, machinery, and counterfeit packaging material, were also seized from the premises.

According to police, a team led by Inspector Lichhman, along with other personnel acting on credible intelligence, conducted a raid on October 29 under the supervision of ACP Sunil Srivastava.

The factory was found operating under various brand labels and producing spurious ghee using refined oils and non-dairy substances.

The vigilance of the security agencies once again came to light along the India-Pakistan International Border after the Border Security Force (BSF) apprehended a suspicious individual in the Murar border area of Jaisalmer during routine patrolling.

According to sources, the individual has been identified as Mohammad Iqbal (40), a resident of Araria district in Bihar.

The BSF personnel intercepted him late Thursday night after noticing his suspicious movements near the border. During initial questioning, Iqbal reportedly failed to provide a convincing reason for his presence in Jaisalmer and his approach toward the International Border.

Persistent drizzle and fog blanketed large parts of Rajasthan on Thursday, ushering in a sharp wintry chill across several districts including Jaipur, Udaipur, Alwar, Sikar, and Karauli.

The intermittent rainfall since morning caused a significant drop in temperature, while dense fog enveloped rural and semi-urban areas, reducing visibility on key highways and affecting vehicular movement.

The Meteorological Department on Thursday issued a yellow alert for rainfall across 17 districts, warning of light to moderate showers accompanied by gusty winds in parts of the state.

At least two persons were feared dead and several others injured in a tragic accident that occurred on Thursday morning in the industrial town of Pithampur in Madhya Pradesh's Dhar district, where a crane engaged in railway bridge construction overturned and crushed a moving pickup van.

The incident occurred around 8.30 a.m. in the Sagaur police station area of the Pithampur industrial zone, triggering panic among workers and passersby, a police official said.

According to a senior police official, the crane was lifting a heavy cement pillar as part of ongoing work on a 500-metre-long railway over-bridge that has been under construction for nearly three years.

Three people were killed and another sustained serious injuries after a goods vehicle rammed into a tree early Thursday morning in Shivamogga district of Karnataka.

The deceased have been identified as 35-year-old Asadulla, 33-year-old Firoz, and 31-year-old Sadiq, all residents of Tavare Chatnalli.

The driver of the vehicle, Irfan, sustained serious injuries, and locals shifted him to Meggan Hospital in Bengaluru.

Severe cyclone Montha, which crossed the Andhra Pradesh coast in the early hours of Wednesday, wreaked havoc, killing two people, damaging houses, crops, and electricity towers and disrupting vehicular traffic.

Strong winds uprooted trees and electricity poles, while heavy rains resulted in the lakes and streams overflowing.

Villages and residential areas in some towns in coastal districts were inundated. Roads were also flooded in a few areas, disrupting vehicular traffic.

Teams of the NDRF and the SDRF were engaged in the work to remove fallen trees and poles. Efforts were also being made to restore the electricity supply in the affected areas.

The weather in Delhi-NCR has taken a U-turn, with temperatures steadily falling from the last week of October into the first week of November. Light fog has begun appearing across several parts of the region, signaling the arrival of early winter conditions.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the maximum temperature in the coming days is likely to remain between 30 and 31 degrees Celsius, while the minimum may drop to around 17 degrees Celsius. Humidity levels are expected to stay between 50 and 90 per cent, resulting in a smog during the morning and evening hours.

As per the IMD forecast, the maximum temperature on October 29 is expected to be 28 degrees Celsius, with a minimum of 18 degrees Celsius and shallow fog conditions. On October 30, light fog is likely to persist, with temperatures hovering around 30 degrees (max) and 18 degrees (min).

Heavy rain has been lashing parts of Telangana under the impact of severe cyclone Montha, which crossed the Andhra Pradesh coast near Narsapur.

Heavy rain inundated low-lying areas and disrupted vehicular transport in some areas.

Authorities in Khammam, Warangal, Mahabubabad, Suryapet and some other districts have declared a holiday for educational institutions.

Overflowing rivulets, streams and water bodies flooded the roads, cutting off villages in Nagarkurnool district, which shares a border with Andhra Pradesh.

The impact of Cyclone Montha is being increasingly felt across Bihar, with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issuing a heavy rainfall alert for several districts.

According to the latest IMD forecast, districts including West Champaran, Kaimur, Banka, Rohtas, Gaya, Sheikhpura, and Nawada are expected to receive moderate to heavy rainfall on Wednesday as the cyclone’s outer bands move northward.

The cyclonic system is also likely to cause a notable drop in temperatures and strong gusty winds across parts of southern and western Bihar over the next 24 hours. The weather office has urged farmers to suspend harvesting and drying activities, while residents have been advised to avoid open areas and weak structures.

A fire broke out on the second floor of the State Bank of India's branch in the Dhakuria area of Kolkata on Wednesday.

Locals and bank security guards observed smoke emanating from the bank and immediately notified the Fire Department.

After receiving information, six fire engines rushed to the spot and brought the blaze under control.

No one was injured in the incident.

The Fire Department has started investigating the cause of the fire.

Preliminary investigation revealed that a short circuit might have caused the fire.

Two people were killed while 12 others suffered burn injuries after a bus carrying labourers came in contact with a high-tension power line in the Manoharpur area, about 50 kilometres from Jaipur, on Tuesday.

According to officials, the labourers were being transported to a brick kiln in Todi village when the accident occurred.

The bus reportedly brushed against an overhead high-tension line, causing an electric current to surge through the vehicle and triggering a fire. Locals rushed to the scene and helped rescue those trapped inside the burning bus.

Eyewitnesses said several passengers sustained severe burns before they could be pulled out.

With severe cyclone Montha in the Bay of Bengal hurtling towards the Andhra Pradesh coast, the state government has introduced a real-time voice alert system in coastal districts.

Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority (APSDMA) said on Tuesday that, as per Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu's directive to provide cyclone information to the public in various forms, cyclone warnings through real-time voice alerts were introduced on a pilot basis in 26 coastal villages.

Real-time voice alerts for the Montha cyclone warnings are being delivered within minutes in these coastal villages on an experimental basis.

With severe cyclone 'Montha' in the Bay of Bengal racing towards the Andhra Pradesh coast, authorities have hoisted danger signal number seven at Kakinda port.

Cyclone Warning Centre, Visakhapatnam, has issued danger signal number six at Visakhapatnam and Gangavaram ports.

Danger signal number five has been hoisted at Machilipatnam, Nizampatnam and Krishnapatnam ports.

Informatory messages have been sent to Kalingapatnam, Bheemunipatnam and Vadarevu ports.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers conducted raids at the house of a business family in Kolkata on Tuesday.

The central investigation agency officials raided the house of the business family at 75 Hemchandra Naskar Road in the city's Beliaghata area at around 7 a.m. About six ED officials carried out the raid.

According to ED sources, the house belongs to Biswajit Chowdhury and Ranajit Chowdhury, famous for their clothing business.

Biswajit Chowdhury, the elder brother, has a clothing business. On the other hand, Ranajit Chowdhury is involved in the construction business.

Cyclone Montha in the Bay of Bengal has intensified into a severe cyclone and is likely to cross the Andhra Pradesh coast between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam near Kakinada on Tuesday night.

Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority (APSDA) said in the morning that the cyclone moved at a speed of 15 km per hour during the last six hours and is currently centered 190 km from Machilipatnam, 270 km from Kakinada, and 340 km from Visakhapatnam.

ASDMA Managing Director Prakhar Jain said that at the time of the cyclone’s landfall, strong gales with a speed of 90-110 kmph are likely. Under the impact of the cyclone, very heavy rainfall is likely along the entire Andhra coast from Srikakulam to Nellore. Some areas may receive extremely heavy rainfall.

Taking a serious note of an acid-attack on a 20-year-old woman in northwest Delhi, Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena on Monday directed Police Commissioner Satish Golcha to take strict action against the culprits.

“He has instructed the Commissioner of Police to ensure that the guilty are arrested and brought to the book at the earliest and the most stringent punishment under law is sought against them,” said a Raj Niwas official.

The official, in a post on X, said, “The LG has taken an extremely serious view of the recent unfortunate incident of acid attack in the Capital.”

The Sunday incident that caught the attention of the LG involved a 20-year-old woman who sustained burn injuries on her hands after being allegedly attacked with acid by her stalker and his two associates.

Several parts of Saurashtra and South Gujarat were drenched in heavy unseasonal rain over the past 24 hours, with Mahuva in Bhavnagar district receiving the highest rainfall at 195 mm.

According to data from the State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC), Shihor in Bhavnagar followed with 128 mm, Songadh in Tapi recorded 100 mm, while Jafrabad in Amreli, Una in Gir Somnath, and Umarpada in Surat each received over 90 mm of rainfall. Other areas witnessing significant showers included Sutrapada (79 mm), Rajula (77 mm), Palitana (76 mm), Dediapada (74 mm), Bhavnagar city (72 mm), and Jesar (67 mm).

The Meteorological Department here has reported that the depression formed over the southeastern Bay of Bengal has now intensified into a deep depression, which is expected to develop further under the influence of Cyclone Montha.

As a result, several Indian states, including Rajasthan, are witnessing a fresh spell of heavy rainfall.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the impact of Cyclone Montha will be most significant between October 27 and 29.

Cyclone Montha in the Bay of Bengal is racing towards the Andhra Pradesh coast and is likely to intensify into a severe cyclone before making landfall near Kakinada on Tuesday night, Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority officials said on Monday.

The coastal districts are on high alert in view of the forecast of heavy to very heavy rains and strong gales with a speed of 110 kmph.

Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority (APSDMA) said on Monday morning that the deep depression intensified into a cyclonic storm.

The cyclone moved at a speed of 15 kmph during the last six hours. It is currently centred 560 km from Chennai, 620 km from Kakinada, and 650 km from Visakhapatnam, said APSDMA Managing Director Prakhar Jain

A tragic road accident in Jodhpur district of Rajasthan on Monday left one person dead and 30 others injured, ten of them critically, said officials here.

The accident occurred around 8 a.m. near Naiyon Ki Dhani on the Osian–Chadi Road, when a private bus carrying about 40 passengers collided head-on with an oncoming car.

According to police, the bus was travelling from Osian to Chadi, while the car was heading towards Jodhpur. The impact was so severe that the bus overturned and the car was completely crushed.

The investigation into the ghastly bus fire tragedy that claimed 19 lives took a new turn on Saturday with the police taking custody of a youth who was riding pillion on the motorbike, which is believed to have triggered the blaze after being hit by the bus.

While B. Shiva Shankar (22), who was riding the motorcycle, died on the spot, his friend Erriswamy, riding pillion, escaped with minor injuries. He allegedly fled the scene after the bus caught fire.

Police officials were questioning Erriswamy about the sequence of events that led to the bus catching fire.

They were trying to ascertain if the motorcycle had already met with an accident before the bus hit the two-wheeler lying on the road, as claimed by the bus driver, or if the bus had hit the motorcycle from behind and run over it.

The well-marked low-pressure area over the southeast Bay of Bengal intensified into a depression on Saturday and is expected to develop into a cyclonic storm named ‘Montha’ by Monday (October 27), according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

In its latest bulletin, the IMD said the system, currently centred around 990 km east-southeast of Chennai, is moving west-northwestwards and is likely to intensify into a deep depression by Sunday (October 26).

It is then forecast to become a cyclonic storm over the southwest and adjoining west-central Bay of Bengal by early Monday morning. Once formed, Cyclone Montha is projected to move northwestwards towards the Andhra Pradesh coast, with a possible landfall between Machilipatnam and Visakhapatnam early next week.

The explosion of a consignment of 234 smartphones in the Hyderabad-Bengaluru bus that caught fire in Andhra Pradesh's Kurnool district, killing 19 passengers, may have aggravated the blaze, indicated the preliminary investigation by the Andhra Pradesh Police.

The consignment of smartphones worth Rs 46 lakh belonged to a Hyderabad-based businessman and was to be delivered to a company in Bengaluru.

Survivors told police that when flames engulfed the bus, they heard a series of explosions.

Police in Maharashtra’s Satara district arrested one accused on Saturday in connection with the death of a female doctor who allegedly committed suicide after being repeatedly raped by a police officer and being pressurised by an MP to falsify medical reports of accused in cases.

According to officials, the arrested person has been identified as Prashant Bankar, the son of the doctor's landlord whose name was mentioned in her four-page suicide note.

Districts of south Bengal including Kolkata will receive heavy rain from Tuesday due to a low pressure area in the Bay of Bengal which is likely to develop into a cyclone, said the Met office on Saturday.

According to the Met department, a low pressure area has formed in the southeast Bay of Bengal. It is gradually moving west and north westwards. On Sunday, it will gain strength and turn into a deep depression. Moreover, there is a possibility of that system developing into a cyclone.

As a result, heavy rain has been forecast in south Bengal districts and Kolkata from Tuesday onwards.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a weather alert for Gujarat, predicting light to moderate rainfall over the next seven days, with the intensity of showers expected to increase within the next 48 hours.

It has also forecast thunderstorms for the next four days, particularly across the southern and coastal regions of the state.

According to the IMD, South Gujarat districts, including Dang, Tapi, Navsari, Valsad, and adjoining parts of Maharashtra, are likely to witness light to moderate rain or drizzle accompanied by thundershowers.

The weather department further noted that this rainfall activity could extend to the Union Territories of Daman and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, while most other districts in Gujarat are expected to experience dry conditions with no significant temperature fluctuations.

Two elderly women were killed in a road accident on Mahadevpura–Gwada Road in Bijapur, Mehsana district in Gujarat.

According to police sources, an unidentified speeding vehicle rammed into the victims before fleeing the scene.

The collision was so severe that both women sustained fatal head injuries and died on the spot.

The deceased have been identified as Puri Thakor and Mooli Thakor, both residents of the local area.

Four workers suffered burns in an explosion in the furnace section of the NRVS Steel Plant located in Taraimal, under the Punjipathra police station area in Chhattisgarh's Raigarh district on Friday.

One of the workers remains in critical condition and has been referred to a hospital in Raipur, police officials said.

The incident caused panic within the plant premises and a stampede-like situation in the surrounding area.

Immediately after the explosion, the plant management launched rescue and relief operations.

As many as 19 passengers were burnt alive as a private Volvo bus carrying over 40 people caught fire after hitting a two-wheeler in Andhra Pradesh's Kurnool in the wee hours of Friday.

The Volvo bus belonging to a private travel operator was registered in Odisha and was heading to Bengaluru from Hyderabad when it met with the accident near Chinnatekur village on the outskirts of Kurnool at around 3.30 a.m.

Police said 21 passengers survived as they managed to escape through the emergency door and broke glass windows to get out. A couple of passengers remained untraced.

The bus belonging to Vkaveri Travels had 43 people on board, including two drivers. The passengers included 10 women and two children.

 One patient admitted to a private nursing home at Siliguri in Darjeeling district of West Bengal was killed late on Thursday after a fire broke out at the nursing home after midnight. However, the other patients who had been admitted to the private nursing home could be safely evacuated following prompt action by the hospital staff and the cops who joined the evacuation operations.

It is yet to be clear whether the deceased patient, who was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital, died because of suffocation due to the smoke from the fire or other causes.

A Bangladeshi infiltrator and an Indian broker were arrested from the India-Bangladesh border area in West Bengal's Murshidabad district early on Wednesday.

The arrested Bangladeshi youth has been identified as Maruf Ali. His home is in the Chapainawabganj area of Bangladesh. The arrested broker was identified as Ansar Ali, a resident of the Ramnagar area under the Lalgola police station in Murshidabad district.

It is learned that the police of Raninagar police station received information that an attempt was being made in the border area to smuggle a Bangladeshi into the country. Acting on the information, the officers conducted a raid at the Katlamari gram panchayat area under the Raninagar police station in the early hours of the day.

It was at that time that the police arrested the two people. During interrogation, it was learned that one of them lives in Bangladesh and the other lives in India.

A suspected self-styled Sergeant Major of United Liberation Front of Assam-Independent (ULFA-I) was killed by the Army and Assam Rifles in a joint operation in Arunachal Pradesh's Namsai district on Wednesday, officials said.

A defence spokesman said that on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday, an operation was launched by Army and Assam Rifles units and then established contact with terrorists at 6 Mile Lekang Khampti areas in Namsai district.

The search conducted after first light revealed one dead body of a militant, identified as Iwon Axom, a self-styled Sergeant Major of ULFA-I. One Rifle, one rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) round, and three rucksacks were recovered along with the body of the militant from the spot.