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Court limits Muslim gatherings at mosque after Hindu idols found
A court on Monday limited the Muslim prayer congregation in one of north India's high-profile mosques, after a survey team found relics of the Hindu god Shiva and other Hindu symbols there, a lawyer involved in the case said.
Lawyer H. S. Jain said the judge at the court in Varanasi, Hinduism's holiest city and site of the historic Gyanvapi mosque, ruled that gatherings at the mosque be limited to 20 people.
The court ordered the survey of the mosque after five women sought permission to perform Hindu rituals in one part of it, saying a Hindu temple once stood on the site.
India to resume wheat shipments
India will allow overseas wheat shipments once they get customs clearance, the government said on Tuesday, introducing some leeway for overseas sales after it banned exports of the staple on Saturday. India will also allow wheat exports to Egypt.
India banned wheat exports days after it forecast record shipments of 10 million tonnes this year, as a scorching heat wave curtailed output, sending domestic prices to record highs.
Modi skips opening of Nepal's Chinese-built airport
Nepal on Monday opened a Chinese-built airport intended to capitalise on Buddhist tourism as India's Prime Minister landed a few kilometres away to mark the birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha.
Mr Narendra Modi flew by helicopter directly from a nearby Indian airport to Buddha's birthplace at Lumbini, bypassing the new facility as his Nepali counterpart Sher Bahadur Deuba inaugurated it.
The sequence of events illustrates the competition for influence in the landlocked Himalayan country by its two giant neighbours.
Biggest blaze since 2019 puts focus on Delhi's fire safety rules
The tragic death of 27 people in a fire in a building in Mundka on Friday has underlined that Delhi city authorities learnt little from similar incidents in the past and exposed the utter lack of safety mechanisms.
The Mundka building, according to an inquiry by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, had no sanctioned plan and was operating a factory without a licence - like the building in north Delhi's Anaj Mandi area where a fire in 2019 killed 43 people.
Close aide of actor Dileep arrested in actress abduction case
The crime branch of the Kerala Police on Monday arrested Sarath G. Nair, a hotel owner and friend of actor Dileep, who is an accused in the case of sexual assault on an actress.
Sarath was arrested for handing over to Dileep the assault visuals shot by gangsters who abducted the actress and destroying the evidence related to the case. But he declared he was innocent when he was out on bail.
Post-mortem of Bengali TV actress Pallavi hints at suicide
A post-mortem report on Bengali television actress Pallavi Dey's death suggests that she committed suicide.
She was found hanging at her rented apartment in South Kolkata on Sunday and was declared dead when taken to a nearby hospital.
Her parents alleged that Pallavi was troubled because she learnt that her live-in partner Shagnik Chakraborty was already married.
Marathi actress sent to judicial custody for objectionable post
A court in Thane, Maharashtra, on Wednesday remanded Marathi actress Ketaki Chitale in judicial custody for allegedly sharing an objectionable post on social media about Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar.
The Facebook post shared by the 29-year-old had phrases like "hell is waiting" and "you hate Brahmins", believed to be referring to Mr Pawar, whose party shares power in Maharashtra with the Shiv Sena and Congress.
Thieves return stolen temple idols after haunting nightmares
A gang of thieves returned more than a dozen idols they stole from an ancient Hindu temple in Chitrakoot district, Uttar Pradesh, after they were haunted by nightmares.
According to police, the group stole 16 statues from a 300-year-old temple of Lord Balaji - an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu - on May 9.
On Monday, they left 14 of them near the house of the temple's chief priest, along with a note: "We have not been able to sleep, eat and live peacefully. We are fed up with the scary dreams and returning your valuables."
Cops in video clip spark row
A video clip in which five police constables are seen enacting the roles of hero and villain has gone viral, causing embarrassment to the Ahmedabad Police.
Most of the dialogues in the video between police officers and goons are from Hindi and Southern movies, and depict the police in poor light.
The Ahmedabad Police are investigating the video clip.
Ramgarh Vishdhari Sanctuary is India's 52nd tiger reserve
The Ramgarh Vishdhari Sanctuary in Rajasthan was on Monday declared India's 52nd tiger reserve.
It is the state's fourth tiger reserve after Ranthambore, Sariska and Mukundra.
Work on highway stopped for 54 days to let python hatch eggs
The authorities stopped work on a new four-lane highway in Kerala's northern-most district of Kasargod for 54 days to let a python, found at a construction spot, to hatch its 24 eggs there.
Work resumed on Monday after a snake catcher collected 15 small pythons that broke out of the shells and released them into the forest.
The rest of the hatchlings will be released soon.
Hot-headed wrestler gets life ban for punching referee
Wrestler Satender Malik has been banned for life after punching a referee as tempers boiled over in a sweltering New Delhi arena with no air-conditioning during an intense heatwave.
He was sweating it out in the 125kg class during trials on Tuesday for this year's Commonwealth Games in Birmingham when the referee ruled in favour of his opponent.
Seething with anger and covered in sweat, Malik stormed across the mat, shouted expletives at referee Jagbir Singh and punched him in the face.
"Never before has such a thing happened," Mr Vinod Tomar, an official with the Wrestling Federation of India, told AFP.
"He not only hit the referee but also threatened to kill him. A police complaint has been made and we have banned him for life."
