The Assam Rifles in a major drug haul, have seized large quantities of drugs worth over Rs 52 crore and seized a mini-truck in West Tripura on Thursday, officials said.

Assam Rifles sources said that the para-military troops acting on secret information intercepted a mini truck at Khayerpur in west Tripura district and recovered 2,60,000 Yaba (Methamphetamine) tablets valued at Rs 52 crores.

Though the Assam Rifles seized the vehicle, the driver of the mini truck managed to escape.

The seized drugs have been handed over to the Customs Department, Agartala for further legal proceedings.

Amid the escalating Tirupati "laddu controversy," the call to free temples from government control is growing stronger.

Following the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), numerous religious leaders are joining the push for temple liberation. Is this the onset of a movement aimed at removing state regulation of temples across the country

The discourse surrounding this issue has intensified due to allegations of animal fat adulteration in the ghee used for prasadam (holy offerings) at the Sri Venkateswara temple in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh.

The momentum for freeing temples from government control has been building, with various organisations, civil society, and political figures rallying behind this cause. Debates are emerging in public forums, especially in light of the laddu scandal, and the call for reform is becoming increasingly vocal.

A five-year-old girl, reported missing for the last three days, was found dead on Thursday in the same multi-storey building where she was living with her parents in Bhopal.

As per the information, the girl's body was found floating in the water tank of the building in Bajpayi Nagar under the Shahjahanabad police station in the capital city.

The body was found after the police unlocked the door of a flat (the flat's door was shut for the last three days) and carried out a search early on Thursday.

She was missing from Tuesday afternoon and a complaint was registered at Shahjahanabad police station. Since then, several teams of police, including Dog Squad had been searching for the girl.

Forest officials in Andhra Pradesh's East Godavari district have deployed drone cameras to trace the movements of a leopard, whose presence near flower nurseries in Kadiyam for the last few days has triggered panic among villagers.

East Godavari in-charge District Forest Officer S. Bharani said the forest personnel have found pug marks of the leopard, believed to be aged 3-4 years.

She said nursery farmers along the banks of the Godavari River were being educated on how to protect themselves from possible attack by the leopard.

The forest officials believe the leopard may moved towards Mandapeta and Alamuru in the adjoining Dr B. R. Ambedkar Konaseema district.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has extended the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) in certain districts of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland for another six months with effect from October 1, officials said on Thursday.

An MHA notification said that the AFSPA has been extended for another six months in Tirap, Changlang, and Longding districts in Arunachal Pradesh as well as areas under the jurisdiction of Namsai, Mahadevpur, and Chowkham police stations in Namsai district, bordering Assam.

A separate notification of the MHA said that the AFSPA was extended in eight districts -- Dimapur, Niuland, Chumoukedima, Mon, Kiphire, Noklak, Phek, and Peren -- and 21 police station areas in five other districts of Nagaland, which has a total of 16 districts.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to Pune in Maharashtra on Thursday to inaugurate a new corridor of the metro and launch several development projects valued at over Rs 22,600 crore has been cancelled due to heavy rain in the city.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday issued a rain alert for Mumbai and Pune.

Heavy rain on Wednesday evening flooded several roads in Pune city. Vehicles moved slowly, leading to traffic jams in many parts.

The Pune district administration has also issued orders to keep schools and colleges shut on Thursday not only in Pune but also in the neighbouring Pimpri Chinchwad area.

Heavy rains that lashed Chennai city on Wednesday night have led to waterlogging in many areas.

The downpour commenced after 6 P.M. on Wednesday and many areas of the city experienced rain on Thursday also.

Many areas including Anna Nagar (East), Anna Nagar (West), Purushuwalkam, T-Nagar, Mount Road, Virugambakkam, Vadapalani, Nungambakkam, Tambaram, Pammal received more than 100 mm of rain that led to flooding of the streets.

Greater Chennai Corporation cleared garbage from the drains and used pumps to remove water from low-lying areas.

In a continuing drive against illegal constructions to save water bodies, Telangana's Sangareddy district authorities demolished a multi-storeyed building constructed in a lake with a controlled explosion on Thursday.

The four-storeyed building was constructed without permission in a lake in Malkapur in Kondapur mandal, about 60 km from Hyderabad.

Acting on a complaint by the villagers, revenue authorities demolished the structure using explosives. The owner had even constructed a ramp with a staircase leading to the building in the lake.

According to officials, a man from Hyderabad had constructed the building 12 years ago. The owner with family members was spending the weekend here. A swimming pool was also under construction.

After the torrential downpour claimed at least four lives, Mumbai braced for more rains on Thursday with the authorities declaring schools-colleges shut as a precautionary measure.

Wednesday's sudden downpour, which caught lakhs of Mumbaikars hurrying home totally by surprise, saw three casualties, including a 45-year-old woman, Vimal A. Gaikwad, who drowned in an open drain in Andheri east MIDC area.

Another woman drowned near the Zenith Waterfalls in the Khopoli area of Raigad and two persons were killed in a lightning strike at Varap village in Kalyan town of Thane.

The downpour led to flooding in large parts of Mumbai, Thane, Pune and stranded lakhs of commuters rushing home in the evening peak hours, leading to huge chaos.

One such regular commuter, businessman Sandeep Viswambhar, who was driving from Taloja to Powai got stuck in traffic snarls en route and took almost 4-5 hours for a commute that normally takes barely an hour.

In a tragic incident, a man was trampled to death by a wild elephant during the early hours of Thursday in Cherambady village of the Nilgiri district in Tamil Nadu.

The deceased was identified as Kunhimoideen of the same village. Forest department officials told that the incident occurred at 2 a.m

Officials said that Kunhimoideen had come out of his house on hearing the sound of a tree branch falling only to find a wild tusker standing in front of him. Even before he could react, the elephant attacked him,

Agitated local people blocked the Ooty-Batheri state highway. Abdul Gafoor, a local farmer told that they were regularly facing attacks from wild animals, including elephants and wild bores, destroying the agricultural farms. He said that they had complained to the forest department officials about the regular attacks but the officials did not take any action.