A 45-year-old tribal woman, aunt of Indian cricketer Minnu Mani, was mauled to death by a tiger on Friday in Mananthavady of Kerala's Wayanad district.

The deceased was identified as Radha, the wife of a temporary Forest Watcher.

Expressing deep pain over the demise of her aunt, Mani said she wished the killer tiger was taken to task.

Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra expressed deep sadness over the incident.

At least eight people were killed and seven others injured in a massive blast at an ordnance factory in Maharashtra's Bhandara district on Friday.

The blast occurred around 10.30 a.m. at the factory in the district, said District Collector Sanjay Kolte. Rescue and medical staff were searching for survivors while firefighters were engaged in containing the situation.

Confirming the deaths in the incident, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said, "Preliminary reports say that eight people had been killed and seven others were injured in the blast." He said this while addressing a press Conference organised by the Association for Industrial Development in Nagpur. Halting the media event, the Minister paid condolences and offered a minute silence in respect.

"There has been an accident of blast at Ordnance factory Bhandara today morning. The rescue & medical teams are deployed for survivors and rescue is underway," authorities have said in a statement.

District Collector Kolte said a roof collapsed and at least 12 people were under it during the explosion.

West Bengal Police busted a major contraband narcotics racket operating through the Siliguri corridor in the northern sector of the state by nabbing six people, including three women, and recovered Rs 1.5 crore worth of banned narcotics from their possessions.

The entire operation was conducted by a joint team of the Siliguri Police Commissionerate and Special Operations Group (SOG) of West Bengal Police which continued for around 12 hours from Thursday night till early Friday morning.

According to Deputy Commissioner of the Commissionerate Rakesh Singh, the six persons, including three women, had plans to smuggle those seized drugs consignment through the Siliguri corridor.

“Further investigation is on to trace others involved in the racket,” he added.

A JEE aspirant in Kota committed suicide by hanging himself from a fan, said police officials on Friday.

The student has been identified as Abhijeet Giri (18), a resident of Odisha, who was living in Kota since April 2024. The reason for the suicide is not yet known.

This is the third case of suicide of a coaching student in Kota in the last 10 days.

ASI Lal Singh Tanwar said that information was received that a JEE student committed suicide by hanging himself from a fan in Jain Villa Residency Hostel in Ambedkar Colony.

In a tragic incident that occurred on Friday afternoon at Tiru Falls in Ranchi, three youth lost their lives due to drowning, police officials said. Among the deceased, two were siblings.

The victims were identified as Ashish Kumar and Ankur Kumar, residents of Hehal in Ranchi city, and Deepak Giri, a resident of the Chanho police station area of Ranchi. Their age ranged between 20 and 25 years.

The trio had gone to Tiru Falls for a picnic along with a group of friends. While bathing in the falls, Ashish ventured into deep water and began to drown.

In an attempt to rescue him, Ankur and Deepak also went into deep water and got swept away.

Four members of a family tragically drowned in the Bharathapuzha River on Thursday while the deceased have been identified as Kabir (47), the owner of Cheruthuruthy Sara Bakery; his wife, Rehana (36), a resident of Cheruthuruthy; their 10-year-old daughter, Sara; and Rehana’s 12-year-old nephew, Sanu (Fuad).

The tragedy occurred while the two children were bathing in the river and were swept away by an underwater current. Kabir and Rehana jumped in to rescue the children but were themselves caught in the strong currents and drowned.

The incident took place at the Painkulam cremation ghat on the Bharathapuzha River. Although local residents and fire and rescue services managed to save Rehana and rush her to Jeevodaya Hospital in Chelakkara, she could not be revived.

he security personnel in separate incidents destroyed drugs valued at Rs 156.84 crores in Assam and 90,000 ganja (cannabis) plants, valued at Rs 3.5 crore in Tripura on Thursday, officials said.

An Assam police spokesman said that the Sribhumi district (formerly Karimganj) Police destroyed drugs worth Rs 156.84 crores in the Sharif Nagar area. The destroyed drugs had been seized earlier from various parts of the district over the past few months.

The drug destruction event was attended by key officials, including Deputy Inspector General of South Range Kanakjyoti Saikia, Superintendent of Police Partha Pratim Das, and the District Commissioner, among others.

Both DIG Saikia and SP Das commended the efforts of the Sribhumi Police, highlighting that 196 drug traffickers had been apprehended and sent to jail in recent months. They expressed hope that with continued legal action, the district could eventually eliminate drug-related crimes.

Mizoram Police in a major breakthrough has seized a large cache of arms and ammunition while these are being supplied to an insurgent outfit based in Myanmar to the rebel group in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of southeast Bangladesh, an official said here on Thursday.

A senior police official said that a huge cache of sophisticated arms and ammunition was recovered by Mizoram Police and sister intelligence agencies from the Saithah village in bordering Mamit District on Wednesday night.

Quoting the preliminary investigation, the police official said that the confiscated arms and ammunition were intended for trade between the Chin National Front (CNF) from Myanmar, a prominent rebel organisation and the United People's Democratic Front (UPDF-P), another insurgent group active in the CHT.

“This operation highlights the transnational character of illegal arms dealings and emphasises the ongoing threats to regional stability. With this catch, a serious threat to regional peace and stability has been neutralised,” he pointed out.

The Border Security Force (BSF) claims that it has strengthened security along the Indo-Bangladesh Border (IBB) in West Bengal, in the light of infiltration attempts on a regular basis.

On Wednesday, five Bangladeshi nationals were 'chased away' from Indian territory in the districts of North 24-Parganas and Malda, an official said.

On Tuesday, 13 Bangladeshi infiltrators were pushed back in these two districts, he said.

Rajasthan's Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) has arrested 26-year-old Sudha Kanwar, wife of gangster Amarjeet Vishnoi, an active member of the Rohit Godara and Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

Kanwar was apprehended on Wednesday in Trapani City in Italy’s Sicily with assistance from local police. She had fled India on a tourist visa with help from her husband. Kanwar is accused of threatening businessmen, firing at them, and being involved in the Raju Thehat murder case.

Additional Director General (ADG) Dinesh MN stated that the AGTF arrested Kanwar, a resident of Bichwal, Bikaner, with coordination from Interpol at the international level. The operation led to her capture in Trapani, Sicily, on Wednesday.