The Assam Rifles and the Mizoram Police in a joint operation have seized over 10 kg of two types of highly addictive methamphetamine tablets valued at over Rs 71.15 crore and arrested a drug peddler, officials said on Wednesday.

A defence spokesman said that the troopers of Assam Rifles and police personnel acting on secret information on Tuesday night seized the methamphetamine tablets, also known as Yaba or party tablets from Vangkai in eastern Mizoram’s Champhai district, which shares an unfenced border with Myanmar.

The security personnel arrested the drug peddler identified as Vanlalruaia, 59, a resident of Aizawl.

The entire consignment and apprehended individual were taken into custody by police in Zokhawthar for further investigation and legal proceedings.

Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress MP from Rae Bareli, will be on a two-day visit to his parliamentary constituency from Thursday, party leaders said. During his stay, he will participate in various programmes and hold meetings with party office-bearers and workers.

Gandhi will enter the district by road from Lucknow airport, as per the itinerary released by district Congress president Pankaj Tiwari. At 10:30 a.m., he will interact with workers of the Bachhrawan Assembly constituency at Balaji Marriage Lawn. At 12 noon, he will meet students at Mool Bharatiya Hostel in Civil Lines.

Thereafter, the Congress MP will participate in a women’s dialogue programme at Sahkari Sangh Limited in Uttarpara at 1 p.m. He will also unveil a statue and address a gathering at Ranabeni Madhav Singh Memorial Inter College in Shankarpur, Jagatpur. Subsequently, he will proceed to Bhueamau Guest House where he will be staying.

The Centre on Wednesday released grants to the tune of Rs 1,086.06 crore under the Fifteenth Finance Commission to the Rural Local Bodies of Bihar, Haryana and Sikkim for financial year 2024–25.

Bihar has been given the 2nd instalment of Untied Grants amounting to Rs 821.80 crore and withheld portion of 1st instalment of Untied Grants amounting to Rs.47.9339 crore.

These funds are for all 38 District Panchayats, 530 eligible Block Panchayats and 8,052 eligible Gram Panchayats which fulfilled the mandatory conditions for the release of funds.

Rural Local Bodies in Haryana will get the 2nd instalment of Untied Grants amounting to Rs.202.47 crore and the withheld portion of the 1st instalment of Untied Grants amounting to Rs.7.5993 crore. These funds are for the 18 eligible District Panchayats, 142 eligible Block Panchayats and 6,195 eligible Gram Panchayats.

The bodies of three members of a family with their wrists slit were found under mysterious circumstances at their residence in the Tangra area of eastern Kolkata on Wednesday.

The deceased included two women and a girl in her teens. The bodies have been sent for post-mortem purposes and after the autopsy report is available it would be clear whether this was a case of suicide or murder, said the officials here.

The cops of the local police station have started an investigation into the case. They questioned the neighbours whether they noticed any unnatural behaviour on the part of the deceased individuals during the last couple of days.

The police recovered the bodies in the morning after they reached the residence in connection with an investigation of a road accident.

It is learnt that the husband of one of the two deceased women met with an accident near Ruby Crossing on the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass early Wednesday morning. From the identity cards of the husband, the cops attached to the traffic department of the city police came to know of the address at Tangra.

In a heart-wrenching incident, a two-year-old boy was crushed to death by a JCB (excavator/bulldozer) in Kadugodi locality on the outskirts of Bengaluru on Wednesday.

The deceased was identified as Thavan Reddy.

According to the police, the incident occurred while the boy was playing in front of his residence.

Preliminary investigations suggest that the tragedy was caused due to overspeeding and negligent driving.

The vehicle ran over the boy, causing a severe head injury. He was immediately rushed to Vaidehi Hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead.

In a step to enhance horticultural practices, the Haryana government on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of Birmingham to establish the first-of-its-kind Haryana-UK Centre of Excellence on Sustainable Crop Post-Harvest Management and Cold Chain for horticulture crops.

The centre, located in Panchkula, aims to significantly reduce post-harvest losses while maintaining the quality and freshness of horticultural produce from the farm to the consumer.

The pact was signed in the presence of Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Shyam Singh Rana.

On behalf of the government, the pact was signed by Additional Chief Secretary (Agriculture) Raja Shekhar Vundru, while Prof Robin Mason, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International), University of Birmingham, signed on behalf of the university.

After becoming the youngest debutant in the history of Women’s Premier League (WPL) by playing for Mumbai Indians against Gujarat Giants, G Kamalini said the first ball she hit for a boundary in the successful chase of 120 turned out to be exciting for her.

At 16 years and 213 days, Kamalini not only became the youngest WPL player - she also becomes the youngest player ever to feature for Mumbai Indians across all its five franchise T20 teams in the world.

On her first ball, Kamalini, who won the U19 Women’s T20 World Cup with the Indian team last month in Malaysia, got off the mark with a well-timed cut off leg-spinner Priya Mishra to pick a boundary with ease.

“I was really nervous, but it was one of the most memorable days of my life. I felt really happy. I put in a lot of hard work and I was waiting for the chance, so I am happy that I was given the opportunity. When I went to the crease, it was an enjoyable time with Sajana akka (older sister in Tamil). Then I wasn’t nervous at all. While fielding I get nervous, but while batting I didn’t get nervous at all. The first ball I hit for a boundary was exciting – the first boundary of my WPL career,” said Kamalini in a release issued by the franchise on Wednesday.

A delegation of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Wednesday met Harjinder Singh Dhami and appealed to him to continue as the President of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).

Party leader Daljit Singh Cheema told the media that the delegation met Dhami to understand the circumstances under which he had tendered his resignation as the SGPC President.

"It is clear that Dhami chose to resign due to mental agony. He has taken a few things to heart due to which he resigned all of a sudden. We have, on our part, assured Dhami that the party is with him and that the Panth needs his leadership at this crucial juncture," he said.

Following a "devastating stampede" which broke out at the New Delhi Railway Station during peak evening hours on February 15 leaving 18 dead, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday called for a response from the railway authorities.

A bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking guidelines to prevent such accidents in future.

"The unfortunate accident (stampede) that took place on February 15 in the New Delhi Railway Station could have been avoided if railway authorities followed the rules set in Railways Act, 1989; and followed their safety manuals and accident-related guidelines," said the petition filed through advocates Aditya Trivedi and Subhi Pastor.

During the course of the hearing, advocate Trivedi argued that the tragedy that unfolded on Platform No. 16 could have been avoided if railway authorities implemented the rules strictly.

The government on Wednesday said that a recent circular issued by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has no impact on the overall FASTag customer experience.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) issued a clarification after reports surfaced, citing the NPCI circular dated January 28, regarding the change in FASTag rules which reportedly declines transactions on FASTags which are not active for more than 60 minutes prior to read time and up to 10 minutes after read time.

"The Circular has been issued by NPCI to facilitate resolution of disputes between Acquirer Bank and Issuer Bank on FASTag status while vehicle crosses Toll Plazas," the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said.

The circular also aims to ensure that the FASTag transactions are created within a reasonable time of vehicle passing a toll plaza so that customers are not harassed by late transactions.

"All National Highway Toll Plazas operate on ICD 2.5 protocol which gives real-time tag status, hence the FASTag customers can recharge any time before crossing the toll plaza," the ministry said.

Some toll plazas on state highways are still on ICD 2.4 protocol which needs regular updates of tag status.