LATEST News Updates: Binoy Kodiyeri absconding, Mumbai police team in Kerala to arrest rape accused 

BSP chief Mayawati Sunday appointed her brother Anand Kumar as the party's national vice president and named her nephew Akash Anand as its national coordinator, a senior leader said.

The decision was taken at a meeting held here, which was attended by top functionaries of the party.

A police team from Mumbai reached Kerala on Sunday to arrest Kerala CPI-M leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan's son Binoy Kodiyeri, who has been absconding for the past five days after rape case filed against him in Mumbai last week. The police team put up notices at several places asking Binoy to appear before it.

In the FIR filed at the Oshiwara police station in Mumbai's Andheri area, the 33-year-old city-based woman, who hails from Bihar, alleged that Binoy sexually exploited her for several years on the promise of marriage and they also have a child.

A part of roof outside the ICU of Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) in Muzaffarpur has collapsed. No injuries reported. 109 people have died due to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) at the hospital.

Dilbagh Singh, DGP J&K Police on today's Shopian encounter: It was a successful operation in which 4 militants were neutralised. All of them were sort of IS inspired militants who were commanded by Shaukat Ahmed Butt of the same area.They were wanted in many terror-related crimes.

A teenage boy is in critical condition after he sustained bullet injuries along with two others following a clash between workers of the Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at Patrasayer in West Bengal's Bankura district.

A clash erupted in the area on Saturday after the BJP activists allegedly shouted "Jai Shri Ram" slogans at Trinamool workers when they were returning from a Trinamool Congress rally led by state Minister and senior party leader Suvendu Adhikari.

Following the clashes, a 14 year-old victim, Soumen Bauri, is battling for his life at Bankura Medical College and Hospital.

Seven people were injured in an accident on the Srinagar-Leh highway in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, police said.

A taxi travelling from Srinagar to Kargil town in the Ladakh division collided with a truck on the Srinagar-Leh national highway and injured the seven occupants in the taxi, police said.

The wounded passengers belong to Doda district and have been shifted to a hospital.

The chief of staff of the Ethiopian army was shot dead during a coup attempt in the northern Amhara region, the Prime Minister's office announced on Sunday on state television.

General Seare Mekonnen died after being shot while trying to prevent the coup attempt on Saturday night, in which another military chief, General Gezai Abera, also died, the office said on state television ETV.

The president of Amhara region, Ambachew Mekonnen, as well as his adviser, Ezez Wasie, were also shot dead in their office in the regional capital, reports Efe news.

The ruling BJP in Uttarakhand has suspended Khanpur MLA Kunwar Pranav Singh Champion from the party for three months on charges of indiscipline, a party spokesman said on Sunday.

Champion's suspension on Saturday night came after a preliminary report prepared by the state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Disciplinary Committee found him guilty of gross indiscipline. It also took cognizance of the legislator's alleged threats to a journalist.

A woman journalist was said to be in a stable condition after she was shot and wounded early on Sunday by a group of unidentified men in east Delhi's Vasundhara Enclave, police said.

The incident occurred at 12.30 a.m. when Mitali Chandola was driving her Hyundai i20 car when the attackers in another car intercepted her and fired two shots aiming to kill her.

"She received bullet injuries on her arm and is out of danger. Prima facie it appears to be a case of family dispute," Deputy Commissioner of Police Jasmeet Singh said.

The Congress on Sunday slammed the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh over the killing of a Dalit girl in Unnao and alleged that law and order has collapsed in the state.

"The Ajay Singh Bisht rule has become synonymous with Dalit atrocities and heinous crimes," Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted.

The rape and then killing of a minor girl by hitting her with bricks in Unnao is very shameful, he said.

The India Meteorological Department Sunday predicted widespread rainfall over Konkan region in Maharashtra and neighbouring Goa starting from Sunday till June 27.

In a statement released Sunday afternoon, the IMD forecast widespread rainfall in Madhya Maharashtra and heavy rainfall in Marathwada, the intensity of which would go down progressively over the week.

Vidarbha would continue to receive moderate showers but the intensity would go down from Monday onwards, the statement said.

Virat Kohli has been fined 25% of his match fee for breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct during the match against Afghanistan yesterday. He was found to have breached Article 2.1 of the Code of Conduct, which relates to “Excessive appealing during an International Match”.

Danish Ali has been elected as the leader of BSP in Lok Sabha. Anand Kumar appointed as the Vice President of the party. Akash Anand and Ramji Gautam to be the National Coordinator of BSP.

Madhya Pradesh: Former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union Minister Thawarchand Gehlot, Rakesh Singh and other BJP leaders paid tribute to Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee on his death anniversary today.

India on Sunday rejected a US religious freedom report, saying it sees no locus standi for a foreign government to pronounce on the state of its citizens' constitutionally protected rights.

In its annual 2018 International Religious Freedom Report, the State Department alleged Friday that mob attacks by violent extremist Hindu groups against minority communities, particularly Muslims, continued in India in 2018, amid rumours that victims had traded or killed cows for beef.

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh yesterday hosted the Sikh regiment’s jawans and officers to mark 100 years of the Patiala family’s association with the battalion and the Indian Army.

Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari has received a death threat through an SMS on his personal phone number, in which the sender said he is under "extreme compulsion" to eliminate the leader.

The unidentified person also threatened to eliminate the prime minister "if need be", Tiwari said.

"I have informed the police about the threat," said Tiwari.

The Madras High Court has passionately argued for grant of citizenship to 65 Tamils who fled Sri Lanka after the 1983 riots, saying the conditions in the Tamil Nadu camp in which they are housed are "hellish".

The Tamils crossed the narrow strip of sea dividing Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu way back with a view to make India their permanent home but the Centre has refused to give them citizenship all these years.

They have been engaged in a legal battle for more than two decades. Although the Indian government has promised not to deport them, it has not acceded to their demand for Indian citizenship.

Dera Sacha Sauda sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who is facing a 20-year jail for raping his two disciples, has sought a parole of 42 days for tendering sprawling fields in his sects headquarters in Haryana's Sirsa town, officials said on Sunday.

"We are awaiting a reply from central security and intelligence agencies and also from the Sirsa District Magistrate that whether his parole at this point in time is feasible or not," said a government official.

The official said his parole could create law and order problem in the state at the time of his release and surrender later.

Lucknow: Leaders who arrived at BSP Chief Mayawati's meeting had to deposit their belongings including mobiles, bags, pens, car keys etc before entering the meeting hall.

An advertisement from the State Level Banker's Committee (SLBC) that appeared in leading dailies in Kerala on Sunday has upset the government as it stated that recovery procedures on farmers loans will go ahead on defaulters.

Speaking to the media, State Finance Minister Thomas Issac said this issue will be taken up strongly at the upcoming SLBC meeting to be held here on June 25.

"They have written off Rs 5 lakh crore of outstanding amount of the corporates, but have come out with rules against the farmers and are threatening with recovery procedures. It's not right to say that only paddy cultivation is classified under agricultural loans. If agricultural land means only paddy fields, then in Kerala it's just 15 per cent. We will raise this issue at the SLBC meeting very strongly," said Issac.

Even before the dust could settle on the murder of a two-and-a-half year old girl in Aligarh, the news of the rape of a four-year-old girl has sent shock waves in the Uttar Pradesh city.

According to reports, the incident took place on Friday night in Zakir Nagar locality. The accused lured he girl with a Rs 10 note and took her away to a secluded spot and raped her.

The girl was later found in critical condition by her family members. She has been admitted to the Deen Dayal Hospital.

Tamil Nadu: In Iravathanallur area of Madurai city, Madurai Corporation is providing RO water 6-days a week, to the residents there. The Corporation has issued one coupon per ration card for the distribution of water.

Violence-hit Bhatpara in West Bengall's North 24 Parganas district on Sunday wore a deserted look as very few people stepped out amidst prohibitory orders in the area.

Shops remained closed as an atmosphere of panic and apprehension prevailed in the area under the Barrackpore industrial belt, three days after clashes that claimed two lives and left at least four people injured.

Kankinara market, which otherwise bustles with buyers on Sunday mornings, remained empty with very few people moving out of their houses.

Sunil Kumar Shahi, Superintendent at Sri Krishna Medical College & Hospital, Muzaffarpur on deaths due to AES: Since last evening there has been one death. A total of 109 deaths occurred at the hospital, 225 patients have been discharged, 39 more will be discharged today.

Bihar Minister Ashok Chaudhary on skeletons found near SKMCH in Muzaffarpur: Sometimes bodies have no claimants so Govt gives ₹2,000 (to post mortem dept) to burn the bodies, which they don't do many times. Probe will reveal the truth behind this, media projecting it differently.

Four militants were killed on Sunday in a gunfight with the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian district, police said.

Defence Ministry spokesman, Colonel Rajesh Kalia said: "Four terrorists have been killed in Daramdora village of Shopian district. Weapons and other incriminating material have been recovered from their possession."

The operation is now over and identities and group affiliations of the four slain militants are being ascertained, police said.