The bodies of two young men were recovered from a pit dug for road construction in the Tatisilwai area of Ranchi, officials said on Thursday.

The deceased have been identified as Sandeep Sahu and Gopal Sahu, both residents of Darha village under Sisai police station in Gumla district.

The discovery was made near the stretch between Ara Gate and Sanatorium in the city, within the jurisdiction of the Tatisilwai police station.

Locals alerted the police after spotting the bodies lying in the pit, which was excavated as part of an ongoing road project.

A motorcycle was also found in the pit, alongside a revolver, adding a layer of mystery to the case.

A sudden shift in weather has wreaked havoc across multiple districts of Bihar, leading to 19 deaths in 48 hours and widespread damage to crops and property.

The calamity, triggered by freak thunderstorms, hailstorms, and lightning, has impacted both lives and livelihoods.

According to official reports, at least 19 people have lost their lives in the last 48 hours.

This includes five deaths in Begusarai, five in Darbhanga, three in Madhubani, two each in Saharsa and Samastipur and one each in Lakhisarai and Gaya district of Bihar.

Five terrorists were reportedly trapped in two gunfights going on in Udhampur and Kishtwar districts of J&K on Wednesday, officials said.

The two encounters are going on between the joint security forces and the terrorists at Chatroo village in Kishtwar district and Jopher in Udhampur district.

"Operations against the terrorists are going on at both places. While 3 terrorists are reported to be trapped inside the cordon in Jopher area of Udhampur, 2 terrorists are trapped inside the cordoned area in Kishtwar district," an official said.

In the wake of scorching heat in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal, the district administration has changed timings of all private and government-run schools for students up to Class 8 on Wednesday.

A notification issued by the Education Department said that all schools up to class 8 will operate between 7 am and 12 pm.

“Due to the continuous increase in temperature in Bhopal, all schools up to class 8 will operate til 12 pm only. The decision has been taken considering the health of students. This order will come into effect from Thursday onward,” reads the notification, which was issued by Bhopal District Education Officer, N. K. Ahirwar.

However, there were no changes in timing for classes beyond Class 8, and they will operate as per their scheduled time.

At least nine schoolgirls fainted after lightning struck St. Maurya School in Markacho in Jharkhand's Koderma district on Wednesday, officials said.

The incident triggered panic among the students and teachers on the school campus, prompting immediate medical attention and an administrative inquiry.

The girls, who were playing in the school premises during a light afternoon drizzle, fell unconscious following a loud lightning strike within the campus.

They were rushed to the community health centre at the Markacho block headquarters, where doctors gave them first aid and said all nine are out of danger.

Eyewitnesses said the sound of the strike caused chaos, with other students screaming in fear.

Rescue operations in the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel in Telangana's Nagarkurnool district to trace six missing persons have been intensified, with the rescue teams making substantial progress in restoring the loco train track, officials said on Wednesday.

On the 48th day of the rescue operation, officials of various agencies were conducting a thorough inspection of the accident site in the partially collapsed tunnel.

The loco train track is being restored while simultaneous operations were underway for soil excavation, steel cutting, and dewatering. The conveyor belt and ventilation systems are being advanced in line with the excavation progress.

According to officials, rescue teams are working tirelessly and continuously to trace the missing persons.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday conducted raids at three locations in Nirsa and Chirkunda areas of Dhanbad district in Jharkhand and seized a large cache of illegal explosives, officials said.

One person has been detained and is currently being questioned in connection with the case.

The Jharkhand police said the NIA's Kolkata unit acted on intelligence inputs regarding the illegal supply and trade of explosives from the Dhanbad coal belt to other parts of the country.

During the raid, the agency recovered hundreds of kgs of ammonium nitrate packed in 50 boxes, along with a substantial number of gelatine sticks -- commonly used in blasts -- from a house located in a secluded area of Boria village under the Kalubathan Out Post.

Six police personnel, including a woman officer, were injured when a police team came under attack during a raid in Moradabad village under Sasaram Mufassil police station limits in Rohtas district on Tuesday night, officials said on Wednesday.

According to officials, the police team had gone to arrest two accused persons when they were attacked by a mob with sticks and stones. Two police personnel sustained serious injuries in the assault.

Head Constable Rajendra Singh, one of the injured, said the team was ambushed soon after reaching the village.

A gunfight started on Wednesday between joint security forces and the terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur district.

Officials said the security forces moved in after getting specific intelligence inputs about the presence of terrorists in the Jopher village of the district under the jurisdiction of the Ramnagar police station.

“As the teams of police and the security forces moved in, they were fired upon by the terrorists triggering an encounter, which is now going on,” the officials said.

Further details were awaited.

At least seven people lost their lives in separate lightning strike incidents triggered by heavy rains in Bihar’s Madhubani and Begusarai districts over the past 24 hours, officials said.

In Madhubani, three people were killed in different parts of the district on Wednesday morning. In the Alpura village of Rudrapur, under Andharathari block, 62-year-old Zakir and his 18-year-old daughter Ayesha died while trying to cover a wheat stock in their field with a tarpaulin during a sudden downpour.

In another incident, Rekha Devi, wife of Revan Mahato from Pipraulia village under the Jhanjharpur police station area of Madhubani, was struck by lightning and died while she was near the fields.