Mumbai, Jul 9 (PTI) Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday sought to link the slapping incident involving a Shiv Sena MLA with purported differences between the Shiv Sena headed by Eknath Shinde and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. "Is this an attempt to malign the chief minister? He should be cautious," Thackeray replied cryptically when reporters sought his reaction on Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad slapping an employee of the MLA's hostel canteen here for serving 'stale' food...Read More
New Delhi, Jul 9 (PTI) Guru Dutt lives on only in the memories of those who knew him personally or professionally, his own voice "completely absent", says his biographer Yasser Usman describing the actor-director as a "chronic introvert". As reams get written about the legendary filmmaker, who would have been 100 on Wednesday, Usman says he remains an enigma despite so many books and documentaries analysing his life and works. Usman, the author of the 2021 "Guru Dutt: An Unfinished Story", sai...Read More
Varanasi, Jul 9 (PTI) Amid a batch of petitions seeking a stay on the release of the film "Udaipur Files", a group of women petitioners and their advocates in the Gyanvapi case have demanded tax-free status and tight security for cinemas screening the movie. They submitted a memorandum here to Additional District Magistrate (City) Alok Verma on Wednesday regarding their demands. Advocate Subhash Nandan Chaturvedi said, "The film, Udaipur Files, set to be released soon, shows the truth of Gyanv...Read More
New Delhi, Jul 9 (PTI) A man who used to physically abuse his former partner was arrested for brutally killing her and a six-month-old baby in Delhi's Majnu Ka Tila after she left him, an official said on Wednesday. The accused, identified as Nikhil, aged between 22-25 years, was held from Haldwani in Uttarakhand, which is his native place. "He put strips of tape on the mouths of the woman and the child to ensure that nobody heard their cries. He then slit the woman's throat and beheaded the c...Read More
Jaipur/New Delhi, Jul 9 (PTI) Two pilots of the Indian Air Force (IAF) were killed on Wednesday morning in a crash of a Jaguar fighter jet near Churu in Rajasthan, the third such accident since March involving the twin-engine bomber. The IAF said a court of inquiry has been constituted to ascertain the cause of the accident. "An IAF Jaguar Trainer aircraft met with an accident during a routine training mission and crashed near Churu in Rajasthan, today," it said in a brief statement. "Both pi...Read More
New Delhi, Jul 9 (PTI) Delhi Police on Wednesday argued in the Delhi High Court that the intention behind February 2020 riots in the capital was to globally defame the nation by way of a well-planned and orchestrated criminal conspiracy by the accused persons including Sharjeel Imam and Umar Khalid. Delhi Police was opposing the bail pleas of the accused persons when it argued before a bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur that it was not a spontaneous riot but a well-organised act ...Read More
Nagpur, Jul 9 (PTI) An 18-year-old boy died and another person went missing after being swept away in flood waters in separate incidents, even as 71 villages were cut off amid heavy rains in Nagpur district on Wednesday, an official said. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a 'red' alert for Nagpur and Wardha districts, 'orange' alert for Amravati and Yavatmal, and 'yellow' alert for Akola, Washim, Buldhana, Chandrapur, Bhandara and Gondia districts of Maharashtra's Vidarbha re...Read More
Indore, July 9 (PTI) Banking services in Madhya Pradesh were affected on Wednesday as around 40,000 employees of public sector and regional rural banks across 8,700 branches participated in a strike called by trade unions, an association leader said. Normal life in Indore, the commercial capital of the state, remained unimpacted. Public transport and essential services were also not affected. A forum of 10 central trade unions has called for a strike for various demands including doing away wi...Read More
New Delhi, Jul 9 (PTI) The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is likely to install rooftop solar power plants on 989 municipal buildings in a bid to reduce dependency on conventional power sources and lower electricity costs, officials said on Wednesday. The project will be executed in collaboration with NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited (NVVN), a wholly-owned subsidiary of NTPC. Under the RESCO model, the executing agency bears the cost of installation, operation, and maintenance and is reim...Read More
Mumbai, Jul 9 (PTI) The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday collected the samples of food from the canteen of an MLAs' hostel here and sent them for testing, a day after Shiv Sena legislator Sanjay Gaikwad assaulted its staffer for allegedly serving stale food to him. Gaikwad, who represents the Buldhana assembly constituency, sparked a controversy after a video of him slapping a canteen worker went viral on social media. The MLA claimed the food served to him was stale,...Read More
New Delhi, Jul 9 (PTI) Bengaluru-based realty firm Sattva Group will invest Rs 1,500 crore to develop a 30-acre mixed-use project in Vizag, Andhra Pradesh as part of its expansion plan. Sattva Group, which is one of the leading real estate firms in South India, decided to develop this project following a detailed discussion on Tuesday with Nara Lokesh, Minister for Information Technology, Electronics and Communications, in the Andhra Pradesh government. In a statement on Wednesday, Sattva Grou...Read More
Bengaluru, Jul 9 (PTI) Realty firm Prestige Estates Projects Ltd on Wednesday reported a 4-fold jump in its sales bookings to Rs 12,126.4 crore in the first quarter of this fiscal, mainly on strong demand for its housing project in Ghaziabad. The company's sales bookings or pre-sales stood at Rs 3,029.5 crore in the year-ago period. In a regulatory filing, the Bengaluru-based company informed that it has clocked an all-time high sales bookings of Rs 12,126.4 crore during the quarter ended June...Read More
Mumbai, Jul 9 (PTI) Maharashtra government on Wednesday transferred Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar Police Commissioner Madhukar Pandey, a day after a protest march led by the MNS and other groups to defend the Marathi 'asmita' (pride) following the attack on a shopkeeper for refusal to speak Marathi. Pandey has been replaced by IPS officer Niket Kaushik as the new police chief, an official said. High drama unfolded in the Mira-Bhayandar township near Mumbai on Tuesday as the march witnessed detent...Read More
New Delhi, Jul 9 (PTI) Metal stocks ended lower on Wednesday amid concerns after US President Donald Trump unveiled sweeping new measures, including a 50 per cent tariff on copper. Shares of Hindustan Copper dropped 3.76 per cent, Bhagyanagar India declined 3.03 per cent and ND Metal Industries slipped 2.15 per cent on the BSE. The stock of Hindustan Zinc declined 2.56 per cent, Hindalco lost 1.92 per cent, National Aluminium Company went lower by 1.90 per cent, Tata Steel dipped 1.82 per cent...Read More
New Delhi, Jul 9 (PTI) Bollywood actor couple Patralekhaa and Rajkummar Rao on Wednesday announced that they are expecting their first child together. The couple shared the news in a joint post on Instagram, where they posted a message that read "Baby on the way". They captioned it, "Elated." Rao, 40, and Patralekhaa, 35, dated for 11 long years before tying the knot in November 2021. Many celebrities, including Bhumi Pednekar, Farah Khan and Kiara Advani, congratulated the couple on Instagra...Read More
Chandigarh, Jul 9 (PTI) Delhi minister and BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa on Wednesday accused the AAP government in Punjab of playing politics over the issue of sacrilege, much like the Congress did during its regime. He stated that the AAP government had promised to put perpetrators of 'beadbi' (the act of sacrilege against religious texts) incidents behind bars. "Now, they are saying they will frame a law to address this issue. This indicates that they have failed to prevent sacrilege inci...Read More
Mumbai, Jul 9 (PTI) As part of the centenary celebrations of legendary filmmaker Guru Dutt, a special retrospective of his iconic films will be held across the country from August 8 to 10, Ultra Media and Entertainment has announced. The retrospective will feature restored versions of some of Dutt's most celebrated films, including "Pyaasa", "Aar Paar", "Chaudhvin Ka Chand", "Mr. & Mrs. 55" and "Baaz". The restoration of Pyaasa and other titles has been undertaken by the National Film Developm...Read More
New Delhi, Jul 9 (PTI) Former India cricketer Arun Lal was in awe of Akash Deep's performance in the second Test against England at Birmingham, saying he was "absolutely special". Akash Deep shone bright with a 10-wicket haul in India's series levelling 336-run win over England at Edgbaston. He picked up 4/88 in the first innings and then followed it up with a splendid 6/99 in the second essay to return with impressive match figures of 10/187. The 28-year-old pacer's effort helped India draw ...Read More
Balrampur (UP), Jul 9 (PTI) Authorities in Uttar Pradesh's Balrampur on Wednesday bulldozed the alleged illegal construction on government land by Jalaluddin alias Chhangur Baba, the mastermind of a religious conversion racket recently nabbed by the UP ATS, official said. Additional Superintendent of Police Vishal Pandey said a complaint was received in Madhyapur village that Chhangur Baba had grabbed government land. During a probe the allegations were found to be true. Eight bulldozers are o...Read More
New Delhi, Jul 9 (PTI) Shares of Vedanta Ltd ended over 3 per cent lower on Wednesday after US short seller Viceroy Research released a report charging billionaire Anil Agarwal's mining conglomerate to be "financially unsustainable" and posing a severe risk to creditors. The stock tanked 7.71 per cent to Rs 421 in intra-day trade on the BSE. Later, it recovered most of the lost ground and ended at Rs 440.80, down 3.38 per cent. On the NSE, the stock ended 3.28 per cent down at Rs 441.30 after ...Read More
New Delhi, Jul 9 (PTI) The Ministry of Education is organising a two-day Vice Chancellors Conference of Central Universities in Gujarat's Kevadia from July 10 and will be inaugurated by its ministerDharmendra Pradhan, officials said on Wednesday. The conference, as part of marking the five years of implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, will bring together leaders of central universities to review institutional progress and collectively shape the path ahead, they said. "St...Read More
Lucknow, Jul 9 (PTI) Six states, including Punjab and Karnataka, sent teams to study the Uttar Pradesh's excise policy, which helped the state increase revenue every year, a state minister said on Wednesday. Speaking with PTI, Uttar Pradesh Excise and Prohibition Minister Nitin Agrawal said that teams from six states of Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Punjab visited the state to study the excise policy. Asked about the policy features that were liked by the s...Read More
Mumbai, Jul 9 (PTI) It was crucial for "world-class" Shubman Gill to score truckload of runs to "call the shots" as skipper, former India batter Dilip Vengsarkar said here on Wednesday, adding that young players showed that they are capable of taking Indian cricket forward. India bounced back to pummel England by 336 runs in the second Test to level the five-Test series 1-1, after starting the tour with a disappointing five-wicket loss in Leeds. Gill has been at the forefront of India's attack...Read More
Mumbai, Jul 9 (PTI) Maharashtra Shiv Sena legislator Sanjay Gaikwad slapped an employee at the MLAs' hostel canteen in Mumbai after being served stale food, drawing condemnation from Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis as well as the opposition parties. As a video of the assault went viral and led to an outrage, CM Fadnavis said such a conduct does not behove anyone and sends out a wrong message about all legislators that they indulge in misuse of power. Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who h...Read More
Mumbai, Jul 9 (PTI) Maharashtra School Education Minister Dadaji Bhuse said on Wednesday that excessive consumption of sweets and sugary drinks, which are easily accessible around schools, has increased the risk of Type 2 diabetes among children. In a written reply to Shiv Sena MLA Kishore Patil and others in the legislative assembly, Bhuse said that the Centre on July 1 wrote to all states, informing that the incidence of obesity among children has risen due to improper eating habits. To chec...Read More
Mumbai, Jul 9 (PTI) The rupee appreciated by 6 paise to close at 85.67 (provisional) against the US dollar on Wednesday following optimism over a possible trade deal with the US and a delay in the imposition of reciprocal tariffs. A firm US dollar in overseas markets and crude oil staying near USD 70 per barrel capped the gains in the local currency, forex dealers said. At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened weak at 85.84 against the US dollar, and traded in a range of 85.93 and 8...Read More
New Delhi, Jul 9 (PTI) India's under-fire chief coach Harendra Singh on Wednesday blamed absence of senior players for women's hockey team's horrendous performance at the FIH Pro League and said the young players need to get better at decision-making to develop into world beaters. The Indian team was relegated to the FIH Nation's Cup after losing seven of the eight games in the European leg of the Pro League as it finished at the bottom. "It's a new team. Several experienced players were missi...Read More
New Delhi, Jul 9 (PTI) Merger & acquisition and private equity deals declined sharply by 48 per cent in value terms to USD 17 billion in April-June compared to the previous quarter due to mounting global uncertainties and a cautious investment climate, according to consultancy firm Grant Thornton Bharat. In volume terms, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and PE deals dropped by 13 per cent to 582 in the second quarter of 2025 compared to the first quarter. India's M&A and private equity landscape...Read More
New Delhi, Jul 8 (PTI) Two labourers fell unconscious and died while carrying out maintenance work at a private hospital in west Delhi's Paschim Vihar, police said on Wednesday. The incident happened at Action Balaji Hospital on Tuesday, they said, adding that those killed have been identified as Uttar Pradesh natives Birjesh (26) and Vikram (30). According to the preliminary investigation, the two labourers had fallen unconscious while working on the maintenance of a carbon filter system insi...Read More
Jaipur, Jul 9 (PTI) A newly-built section of a state highway in Rajasthan's Jhunjhunu district collapsed after being battered by the swollen Katli River following heavy rainfall, triggering questions over construction quality and safety oversight. The recent Sunday's downpour raised the river's water level dramatically, sweeping away a large portion of the road. According to the Jhunjhunu Police Control Room, the stretch connecting Baghuli and Jahaj villages with National Highway 52 was comple...Read More