The two women, who had earned their daily bread selling lottery tickets on the streets of Kochi, were allegedly sacrificed by the accused to settle their financial issues and bring prosperity in life, police said.
LIVE! Incessant rains: Red Alert in 5 Kerala districts
The IMD has issued Yellow alert for Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Idukki, Thrissur, Malappuram and Kozhikode districts for today whereas Wayanad too has Yellow alert on May 22.
Beginning with the bird's eye view of itself -- a narrow state of hills, rivers and high population density, in a tapering part of the Indian subcontinent. It can be a beautiful place shaped by aesthetic founded in appropriate lifestyle and progressive views, or a junkyard shaped by money and what money buys. The choice is Kerala's, notes Shyam G Menon.
In the human sacrifice case, a pervert is the prime accused, who exploited the fears of a man and his wife over their financial woes and two women were killed following torture, police said.
The Army, the National Disaster Response Force, police and the fire force along with the locals began rescue operations on Sunday morning at Koottickal and Kokkayar panchayats where over a dozen people are listed to be missing due to numerous landslides accompanied by heavy downpour since Saturday.
The ambulance driver Noufal, 29, was taken into custody on Sunday based on a complaint by the victim's mother to the hospital authorities and the police.
As the low-pressure area in the south-eastern Arabian Sea intensified into a severe depression on Friday, heavy rains lashed many parts of Kerala and huge tidal waves started hitting low-lying coastal areas.
Airlines have been advised to reschedule services, to the convenience of passengers.
Authorities have sounded red alert in three districts of Kerala on May 14 and five districts on May 15, indicating the possibility of extremely heavy rains under the influence of a low pressure area over the Arabian Sea.
The bodies of 13 people who were killed in a landslide at Plaupally in Koottikkal village (Kanjirapally Taluk, Kottayam District) were recovered.
Kerala Minister Saji Cheriyan on Tuesday landed in trouble for his harsh remarks against the Constitution, triggering a huge political row in the state with the opposition demanding for his sacking, but the Left leader later expressed regret and claimed news reports in this connection were 'distorted'.
A protest march of the SFI, the students wing of ruling CPI-M, against Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's office in Wayanadon Friday turned violent as a group of protestors allegedly entered the Lok Sabha member's office and vandalised it.
More than 1,30,000 cases of the novel coronavirus have been recorded in 116 countries and territories, killing at least 4,900 people.
For Pinarayi, a victory in Thrikkakara would have come as public endorsement of his development initiatives, including controversial K-Rail project, which has witnessed widespread protest
In a letter to Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana, Karnataka and Maharashtra, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan highlighted that a few states were reporting a higher contribution to India's caseload, indicating the possibility of a localised spread of the infection.
Rehana Fathima was seeking anticipatory bail in cases against her for allegedly circulating a video in which she was semi-nude, allowing her minor children to paint on her body. The bench said it was a little baffled at the kind of case that has come up before it.
Sooraj, hailing from Elanthur in Pathanamthitta district, was one of the main accused in the incident which took place on Tuesday when the hill shrine was opened for the two-day-long "Chithira Atta Thirunal," a special ritual.
According to BJP insiders, every Union minister has been given 3-4 seats to mentor and has been told to work hard on these constituencies in the next 20 months to ensure the party's victory.
The incident is said to have occurred in the wee hours when a huge mound of earth fell on the 'row houses' and two children and five women were among the deceased, most of whom were plantation workers from neighbouring Tamil Nadu.
'Because of the melting of ice as well as irresponsible human behaviour such as throwing soil and plastic into the sea, there has been a rise in temperature.' 'I fear there will be direct and dangerous consequences for us.'
'When we talk of disaster, it is a combination of hazard and vulnerability.' 'If we reduce vulnerability, it will remain a hazard.'
801 cases have been registered in connection with violent protests which were witnessed during the dawn-to-dusk hartal called by pro-Hindu outfits on Thursday, police said, adding that 717 people are now in preventive custody.
Moved by the plight of a poor student, Dr M S Sunil reached out and provided him with a roof above his head. But this was just the beginning for the zoology professor from Pathanamthitta, a town in Kerala. Today, she has constructed 15 houses for the needy, transformed the lives of tribes from Sabarimala and started her own literacy campaign for the orphans, all by herself. Rediff.com's Arun Lakshman catches up with Pathanamthitta 'home maker'.
Thomas Abraham, 93, and his wife Mariyamma, 88, both have been fully cured after days of life-and-death battle against the deadly virus. The secret behind their recovery seems to be the healthy lifestyle they have been leading.
Temple priest performed a 'purification' ritual for an hour before the doors were opened again.
After the Onam festivities, medical experts had predicted that the TPR would go beyond 20 per cent and that the number of infections would rise further.
Panic-struck relatives are also sharing the location of their near and dear ones trapped in various places using Google maps.
Kerala Bharatiya Janata Party chief K Surendran said the BJP's central leadership alone will decide on the party's chief ministerial candidate.
"Such was their efficiency that in fact, no deaths by drowning were reported in any area where Naval teams systematically organised their rescue efforts," he said.
Sasikala, said she was not allowed to undertake the trek to the shrine and sent back by the police, official sources said that she entered the sanctum sanctorum and offered prayers.
Mathai George George Muthoot joined the family business as an office assistant and in 1979 he became the managing director and group chairman in February 1993.
Jasna Salim, a 28-year old homemaker in Kerala's Kozhikode district, has drawn hundreds of paintings of Lord Krishna in the last six years but her faith has not permitted her to keep any one of them in her home.
The activist will be produced before the magistrate court in Kochi after completing formalities of her arrest, they said.
State health authorities stepped up efforts to contain the problem with the help of medical teams from the armed forces, which have been active since Sunday.
Earlier, two women devotees could not proceed to the shrine after protesters forced them to return. Protesters pelted police with stones and the latter hit right back with vengeance wielding batons with telling effect, leaving many fallen and writhing in pain on the road.
22 cases of the Delta Plus variant of the coronavirus have been detected in India, with 16 of them being reported from Maharashtra and the remaining from Madhya Pradesh and Kerala, the government said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-National Democratic Alliance, which fought the April 2 assembly polls with the fancy claim of winning at least 35 seats in Kerala, on Sunday came a cropper as it failed to retain even its lone segment Nemom, even as all its major contestants, including 'Metroman' E Sreedharan and party state chief K Surendran, fell by the wayside.
'The situation is quite bad. We are trying to rescue people. Right now we are giving them food and water so that they can at least survive until the water recedes,' says Squadron leader V Joshi.
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