A senior Pune-based official of the Registrar of Companies has come under the CBI scanner for taking Rs 3 lakh bribe and allegedly harassing senior officials of a company against which he had launched an inquiry for alleged wrongdoings.

The probe agency is gearing up to question Ajay Pawar, Assistant Registrar of Companies and inspector, Pune ROC office, and assess his assets after registering an FIR against him on Wednesday under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

CBI sources said that a representative of Birla Gold and Precious Metals Limited paid Rs 3 lakh as part-payment of the bribe to Pawar on October 7.

As many as 19 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were injured in a road accident in J&K's Budgam district on Thursday, officials said.

Officials said that a truck carrying personnel of 181 Bn's F Company went out of the driver’s control at Khaigam village in Budgam.

"After it went out of the driver’s control, the truck carrying personnel of 181-F company of the CRPF skidded off the road and dropped into a side gorge. Nineteen CRPF jawans were injured in this road accident. Immediately after the accident, a rescue team reached the accident site and evacuated the injured jawans. They were shifted to the Chrar-e-Sharief town hospital in Budgam district for treatment, " an official said.

"Attending doctors at the hospital referred 9 injured to SMHS hospital in Srinagar city for specialised treatment. Doctors said two of the injured jawans had sustained serious injuries," the official said.

Road accidents occur in the Valley due to rash and negligent driving amid the challenging terrain.

Bihar Education Department has banned the entry of YouTubers and other unauthorised individuals with recording equipment, such as microphones and cameras, into government school classrooms.

The department’s Director Administration has issued a letter to all district education officers, emphasising that such unauthorised entries have recently been observed and disrupted the functioning of schools.

He pointed out that individuals representing various organisations have been entering school premises without permission, causing interruptions in the educational environment.

These disruptions not only impact teaching but also raise concerns about the security and well-being of students and teachers.

In a tragic incident, a 12-year-old boy was washed away in an overflowing open drain in Haveri district of Karnataka on Thursday, officials said.

The deceased was identified as Nivedan Basavaraj Gudikeri, a resident of Haveri city.

The boy had gone out to see the overflowing water on the road and not able to realise that there was an open drain, stepped into it and got washed away.

The incident had taken place in front of the SP’s office. The authorities have launched a search operation and the victim’s mother has fallen sick after hearing about the tragedy. She has been taken to the district hospital.

Another National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) aspirant from Uttar Pradesh allegedly died by suicide in Rajasthan's Kota district, police said on Thursday.

The deceased, identified as Ashutosh Chaurasia (20), a student from Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, preparing for NEET in Kota, was found hanging from a fan in his room in the Dadabari police station area on Wednesday night.

Chaurasia's family has been informed and the body has been kept in the mortuary, the police said.

The police said the post-mortem will be done after his family members arrive.

The incident came to the fore when Chaurasia's family members, who were trying to contact him, did not get any reply, and they enquired with the Paying Guest (PG) owner.

Two crocodiles were re-captured after they escaped after a truck carrying wild animals from Patna to Bengaluru overturned in Telangana’s Nirmal district, officials said on Thursday.

The incident occurred around 1 a.m. on National Highway 44 near Mondigutta village in Nirmal district when the truck, transporting the wild animals from Patna's Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park to Bengaluru’s Bannerghatta National Park, overturned.

The truck, carrying eight crocodiles, two white elephants, two tigers, and other animals, crashed into cement pillars and fell off the road into the wild after the driver lost control of the vehicle.

Following the accident, two crocodiles managed to escape.

Seven members of a family were killed when a car in which they were travelling fell in a canal in Telangana's Medak district on Wednesday evening, police said.

The accident occurred at Usirikapalle village in Shivampet mandal.

According to police, the car plunged into the canal after hitting the culvert. Seven persons, including four women and two girls, drowned.

The person driving the car sustained critical injuries and was admitted to a hospital.

The car apparently rammed into the culvert as the driver lost control of the vehicle after it hit the potholes on the highway. The deceased were returning home after worship at Muthyalamma temple at Toopran.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has formed a special team and registered a fresh FIR to trace a girl who went missing after leaving home for college in which she was pursuing MBA in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district two years ago.

The development brings hope to the girl's family, which has been trying to seek justice after her alleged abduction amid a cold response from the state police.

The federal agency has launched an investigation into the alleged abduction of Yashi Singh, a student of L.N. Mishra Business Management College and resident of Sadar area in the district, on the direction of the Patna High Court, which pulled up the state police for their failure to make headway in the case.

Sources in the CBI said the investigation will be conducted under the supervision of CBI director and cited the High Court's direction which said: "The director of CBI shall take charge of the case and draw a plan for further investigation of the case."

The Jharkhand Police have requested deployment of 590 paramilitary personnel to ensure security during the upcoming Assembly elections to be held in the month of November.

During the recent Lok Sabha elections, 230 paramilitary personnel were deployed across three phases of voting in the state.

The Assembly elections, covering 81 seats, will be held in two phases on November 13 and 20, with results to be announced on November 23. The Election Commission of India has called for stringent security measures to ensure a fair and fear-free election process.

Phase 1 of the voting will cover 43 seats, while 38 seats will go to polls in the second phase of November 20. The total number of voters is 2.6 crore, with 29,562 polling stations, of which 5,042 are in urban areas. On average, there are 881 voters per booth.

The water level in Mettur Dam in Tamil Nadu's Salem district has risen and reached 92 feet after the inflow into the dam increased following heavy rains in the catchment areas, officials said on Wednesday.

The release of water from the dam, which was generally 7,000 cusecs, has now been reduced to 500 cusecs. The water level has touched 92 feet, and the total water in the Mettur Dam at present is 54.96 TMC.

With the northeast monsoon affecting southern states, including the catchment areas of the Mettur Dam, the inflow into the dam, which was 15,531 cubic feet per second (cusecs) on Tuesday, has increased to 16,196 cusecs on Wednesday.