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Mamata hits out at BJP after ED searches I-PAC office

"We will organise protests across Bengal this afternoon against ED loot of TMC documents during raids at I-PAC office," said West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee.

"What will happen if we reciprocate this ED search by raiding BJP party offices in Bengal; we are exercising restraint," she added.

Earlier today, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches on the premises of political consultancy firm I-PAC and its director Pratik Jain in Kolkata as part of a money laundering investigation.

17-member Indian team named for Asian Indoor Athletics Championships

Two-time Asian Games gold medallist shot-putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor will lead a 17-member Indian team in the 12th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships, scheduled to be held in Tianjin, China, from February 6 to 8.

The team will leave for the continental event on February 3.

Besides Toor, who is also a two-time Asian Championships gold medallist, the team also has promising shot-putter Samardeep Singh Gill.

Squad: Men: Manikanta Hoblidhar (60m), Tejas Shirse (60m hurdles), J Adrash Ram (high jump), CV Anurag and Shahnawaz Khan (long jump), Praveen Chithravel (triple jump), Samardeep Singh Gill, Tajinderpal Singh Toor (shot put), Tejaswin Shankar (heptathlon).

Women: Nithya Gandhe, Abhinaya Rajarajan (60m), Moumita Mondal and Pragyan Prasanti Sahu (60m hurdles), Pooja (high jump), Ancy Sojan and Moumita Mondal (long jump), Yogita (shot put) and KA Anamika (Pentathlon). 

TN CM launches Rs 3,000 Pongal gift scheme for ration cardholders

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin launched the distribution of Pongal cash gift of Rs 3,000 and a special package to rice category ration cardholders on Thursday, marking the simultaneous distribution of cash and gift hampers through the fair price shops across the state.

The gesture is aimed to enable people celebrate the mid-January harvest festival in a grand manner, he said.

The CM personally handed over Rs 3,000 cash, one kg raw rice, a kilo sugar, a sugarcane, a dhoti and a saree to a few beneficiaries at a FP outlet in Alandur. The Pongal gift package covers 2.22 crore rice category ration cardholders, besides the families living in the Sri Lankan rehabilitation camps in the state.

The state government had earmarked Rs 6,936 crore exclusively for the cash component. In addition, Rs 248.66 crore has been allotted for procuring and distributing the package items.

The state Food and Civil Supplies department had distributed tokens through the FP shops specifying the time of distribution, which has commenced from today.

UP court to hear Sambhal mosque dispute case on Feb 24

A court in Uttar Pradesh’s Chandausi on Thursday fixed February 24 as the date for hearing the ongoing Shahi Jama Masjid-Harihar temple dispute in Sambhal. The matter has been listed for hearing before the court of Civil Judge Aditya Singh.

Shakeel Ahmed Warsi, the advocate for the Shahi Jama Masjid, told reporters that the hearing scheduled for Thursday has been postponed to February 24 due to a stay in the Supreme Court.

While the Muslim side has challenged the maintainability of the case in the Allahabad High Court, the high court, on May 19, 2025, upheld a trial court order permitting a court-monitored survey of the mosque.

Speaking to reporters, Gopal Sharma, the advocate representing the Hindu side, said that since there is a stay order from the Supreme Court in the matter, the trial court cannot issue any orders.

The Supreme Court will hear the case on January 12, Sharma said.

SC defers hearing on pleas challenging SIR to Jan 13

The Supreme Court on Thursday deferred to January 13 the final hearing on a batch of petitions challenging the Election Commission’s decision to undertake the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in several states, including Bihar.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, which had fixed the pleas for hearing during the day, said it will resume the proceedings on Tuesday.

Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the poll panel, was to resume advancing his arguments in the case.

On January 6, the Election Commission had told the bench that it has the power and competence to undertake Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, besides there is a constitutional duty to ensure that no foreigners are registered as voters.

The pleas challenge the EC's decision to undertake the SIR exercise in several states, including Bihar, have raised significant constitutional questions on the scope of the poll panel's powers, citizenship and the right to vote. 

Union Railway Ministry approves more train stoppages in Kerala: BJP

The Union Railway Ministry has approved additional stoppages in Kerala for over 15 trains as requested by BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

The additional stoppages have been allocated from Dhanuvachapuram and Balaramapuram villages in southern Kerala to Vadakara and Kannur in the northern part of the state, the BJP said in a statement on Thursday.

The party also shared a letter sent by Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to Chandrasekhar, saying as requested by the BJP state president in December last year for more train stoppages in Kerala for public convenience, the same "have been approved".

Adhikari terms Mamata's visit to Jain's house as 'interference' in ED's probe

Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari termed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's visit to IPAC chief Pratik Jain's house during the ED raid on Thursday as "unconstitutional and interference" in the central agency's probe.

He said that the ED should take steps against the chief minister. "I feel that the chief minister and the Kolkata police commissioner's visit was unethical, unconstitutional and direct interference in the central agency's investigation," Adhikari told reporters soon after their visit to Jain's residence at Loudon Street here, as an Enforcement Directorate (ED) raid was going on there.

I-PAC also looks after the IT cell of the Trinamool Congress.

The BJP leader said that Banerjee had gone to the then Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar's official residence during a CBI raid there.

ED searches I-PAC office, its head Pratik Jain in Kolkata

The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday conducted searches on the premises of political consultancy firm I-PAC and its director Pratik Jain in Kolkata as part of a money laundering investigation, official sources said.

Jain is the co-founder of the Indian Political Action Committee, or I-PAC, they said. He is also the head of the IT cell of the Trinamool Congress, the ruling party in West Bengal. Some other premises are also being searched by the agency, the sources said.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, meanwhile, reached the residence of Jain and condemned the ED action.

I-PAC was founded by political strategist Prashant Kishor ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

The consultancy firm worked with the Trinamool Congress and the West Bengal government after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Two killed in shooting in Mormon church parking lot in Salt Lake City

A shooting outside a church building in Salt Lake City killed two people and injured six others Wednesday, police said.

The shooting took place in the parking lot of a meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon church. Dozens of people were attending a funeral inside at the time. All the victims were adults.

Police said they do not believe the shooter had any animus toward a particular faith. “We don't believe this was a targeted attack against a religion or anything like that,” Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd said.

Police also do not believe the shooting was random. Authorities said no suspect was in custody.

Several fall ill in Greater Noida after drinking 'contaminated' water

Several residents of Greater Noida’s Delta 1 Sector fell ill after allegedly consuming contaminated drinking water, prompting health concerns and complaints of sewage mixing with the supply line, officials and residents said.

The affected residents reported symptoms such as vomiting, fever, stomachache and loose motion after consuming tap water in parts of the sector on Tuesday and Wednesday.

However, officials of the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) denied any mixing of sewage with the potable water supply, claiming tests conducted so far found the water to be clean.

Rishipal Bhati, a resident and former president of the local residents' welfare association (RWA), told PTI on Thursday that overflow of sewage and leakage in pipelines, particularly in C Block, led to the problem.

“Around six to seven families fell ill with symptoms such as vomiting, fever and loose motion after consuming contaminated water,” he said, adding that similar complaints had earlier surfaced from other blocks as well.