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Jharkhand: Two Catholic priests killed in road accident in Khunti

wo Roman Catholic priests were killed and another was injured after the car they were travelling in collided with a truck in Jharkhand’s Khunti district, police said on Thursday.

The accident occurred on the Ranchi-Simdega Main Road late on Wednesday, Torpa police station officer-in-charge Mukesh Kumar said.

The deceased were identified as Father Sushil Praveen Tiru and Father Sunil Bhengra, both residents of Dodma. The injured priest, Father Johnson Bhengra, was initially taken to Sadar Hospital in Khunti and later referred to Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi, due to his critical condition.

The priests were travelling from Torpa towards Dodma at the time of the mishap, Kumar said. Doctors at Sadar Hospital declared Father Tiru and Father Bhengra dead on arrival, he said.

Gunfight breaks out between armed groups in Manipur's Kangpokpi

A gunfight broke out between two armed groups on Thursday morning in Manipur's Kangpokpi district, officials said.

Suspected cadres of the banned Zeliangrong United Front (S Kamson), who went to destroy an alleged illicit poppy cultivation at Kharam Vaiphei, engaged in a gunfight with armed Kuki underground groups, they said.

There is no report of any casualty in the firing, officials said, adding that firing has stopped. Additional security forces have been rushed to the peripheral areas. The sound of firing created tension and panic in the peripheral villages of Imphal West district, which share boundaries with Kangpokpi district and have witnessed large-scale gunfights between Kuki and Meitei groups in 2023 and 2024.

Meanwhile, ZUF S Kamson, in a statement, said it engaged in a gunfight at around 7.40 am at Kharam Vaiphei with armed Kuki groups, where unlawful activities, including illicit poppy cultivation and setting up of underground camps of Kuki Suspension of Operations groups, have been reported.

ED raids in six states in govt jobs scam

The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday undertook searches at 15 locations in six states as part of a money laundering probe into a scam under which fraudulent joining letters for government jobs were sent, officials said.

An organised gang is under the scanner of the agency. The Patna office of the ED is conducting searches in Bihar, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, the officials said.

They said the scam was initially detected in the name of Railways but an in-depth investigation found that it covers over 40 other government organisations and departments including Forests, RRB (railway recruitment board), India Post, Income Tax Department, some high courts, PWD, Bihar government, Delhi Development Authority, Rajasthan secretariat and others.

The gang used fake email accounts impersonating official government domains to send fraudulent joining letters, the ED found. To gain trust of the aspirants, the gang paid initial salaries for 2-3 months to some victims who were fraudulently placed in organisations like RPF (Railway Protection Force), Railway TTE (Travelling Ticket Examiner) and technician etc.

NRAI suspends national coach after minor accuses him of sexual harassment

A prominent member of India's shooting coaching staff, Ankush Bhardwaj, has been accused of sexual harassment by a minor shooter, prompting the national federation to suspend him.

NRAI (National Rifles Association of India) confirmed that an FIR has been filed against Bhardwaj in Faridabad. "NRAI has suspended him and we will issue a show-cause notice," NRAI secretary Rajiv Bhatia told PTI.

"He has been suspended on moral grounds. Now, he has to prove himself innocent. Till the inquiry is not completed, he will not be associated with any coaching activity," he added.

Bhatia said NRAI had recommended Bhardwaj for a place in the 37-strong coaching team after the Paris Olympics in 2024. "It was on the recommendation of the NRAI that he was appointed by SAI as one of the coaches. It is a case of sexual harassment which happened in Surajkund," said Bhatia.

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Ex-TDB secretary appears before SIT for interrogation in Sabarimala gold case

Former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) secretary S Jayasree appeared before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Sabarimala gold loss case here on Thursday, officials said.

Jayasree, who is the fourth accused in the case related to the loss of gold from Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) plates, was the TDB secretary in 2019. She was granted interim protection from arrest by the Supreme Court last month, considering her health condition, as she is undergoing treatment for a kidney-related ailment.

According to the SIT, the Supreme Court had directed Jayasree to be present before the probe team for interrogation on January 8 and 9.

Jayasree, along with her family members, reached the SIT office in the morning, officials said. The allegation against Jayasree is that, following her order, gold-clad copper plates of the Dwarapalaka idols were handed over to prime accused Unnikrishnan Potty for replating in 2019.

Renowned Hindi writer Gyanranjan passes away at 90

Writer Gyanranjan, a prominent storyteller and renowned literary figure of the progressive movement of the 1970s, has died at the age of 90 in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur city, an associate said on Thursday.

He was suffering from age-related ailments and was admitted to a private hospital after his health deteriorated on Wednesday morning. He breathed his last at 10.30 pm on Wednesday, family friend Pankaj Swami told PTI.

Gyanranjan, who served as the editor of 'Pahal', a prestigious literary magazine, was born on November 21, 1936, in Maharashtra's Akola district. He spent the early years of his life in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, and received higher education from Allahabad University.

Gyanranjan published several short story collections, and his unique prose work, 'Kabadkhana', became very popular. He was a recipient of the Sahitya Bhushan Award from the Hindi Institute, the Subhadra Kumari Chauhan Award from the Madhya Pradesh Sahitya Parishad, the Shikhar Award from the Madhya Pradesh Culture Department, and the Maithili Sharan Gupt Award.

Odisha to start first phase of Census from April

Odisha is all set to begin the first phase of the census exercise from April by engaging about one lakh enumerators, and the final population count will start in February 2027, a senior official said.

Director of Census Operations in Odisha, Nikhil Pavan Kalyan, said this after attending the State-level Census Co-ordination Committee meeting held under the chairmanship of Development Commissioner, DK Singh on Wednesday.

"The first phase, encompassing house listing and housing census operations, is scheduled to take place over one-month duration between April and May 2026. "This foundational step will be followed by the primary population enumeration phase, which is mandated to occur from February 9 to February 28, 2027. A brief revision round will conclude the process in early March 2027 to ensure no resident is excluded from this critical count," an official said.

Stating that preparations are made for the mammoth exercise in which at least one lakh enumerators and 15,000 supervisors will be involved, Kalyan said one such enumerator will cover about 200 houses, approximately housing 800 people.

The training for enumerators and others to be engaged in the census exercise to be held in January, February and March, he said, adding that each enumerator will receive a financial incentive of Rs 25,000 for their services.

SIR hearing summons to Amartya Sen, Shami part of routine verification: Bengal CEO

The office of the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has clarified that the SIR hearing summonses issued to Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, cricketer Mohammed Shami and Bengali actor-turned-TMC MP Dev were part of a routine electoral verification process and not targeted actions.

The notices issued to these well-known personalities had sparked controversy. In a clarification issued on Wednesday, the CEO said scrutiny of the enumeration forms showed that the mandatory linkage columns had been left blank by the concerned electors.

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Tilak undergoes surgery for groin issue; set to miss NZ T20 series

Indian batter Tilak Varma has undergone a surgery for a groin issue that triggered acute pain and is all set to miss the upcoming T20 International series against New Zealand besides being in serious doubt for the first couple of matches in next month's T20 World Cup.

The 23-year-old was rushed to a hospital after complaining of acute pain in Rajkot, where he is with the Hyderabad team for the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy One-day Championship. The five-match T20 series against New Zealand starts January 21 in Nagpur.

"Tilak Varma reported acute Testicular Pain in Rajkot where he is part of the Hyderabad team for the Vijay Hazare tournament. He was taken to Gokul Hospital and on scan was diagnosed with Testicular Torsion (sudden, intense pain) and was advised immediate surgery," a BCCI official told PTI.

"We got an opinion from our specialists who agreed with the same. Tilak Underwent successful surgery and is doing well now. "We will update you as soon as we have more information on his recovery and expected time-frame for his return to play post discussion with the medical panel," he added. It is reliably learnt that Varma is certain to be out of the series against New Zealand.

Actor assault case: Prosecution calls Dileep acquittal unsustainable

The prosecution in the 2017 actor assault case has evaluated the trial court judgement acquitting Malayalam film star Dileep and three others as unsustainable.

The report filed by Special Public Prosecutor V Aja Kumar and submitted to the Director General of Prosecution for filing an appeal against the judgment of the Ernakulam District Principal Sessions Court was highly critical of the acquittal of the accused persons, including Dileep, and the sentence awarded to six convicted persons.

“The trial court has applied double standards of evaluation of evidence while evaluating the evidence of prosecution as against A1 to A7 and as against A7, A8, A9 and A15, especially in respect to A8 and A15,” the report said. A8 is Dileep and A15 is his friend Sarath G Nair.

The prosecution, in its report, said that evidence adduced by it was appreciated in a most unfair, non-judicious and partisan manner.

“Most of the valuable pieces of evidence were either ignored or discarded without any valid reasons,” the report said.