As the Uttar Pradesh police continue to quiz four persons in connection with the Agra hospital blast case there are very few indications for now to suggest that it was an act of terror. Sources informed that Saturday's blast could also be the fallout of a rivalry between local nursing homes and the privately-owned Jai Hospital.
The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday suspended the local SDM, a circle officer and four others based on the SIT report on the Hathras stampede that did not rule out a "big conspiracy" behind the incident.
A man allegedly killed his 23-year-old wife here and left their two-year-old son locked in a room with the body lying in a pool of blood before jumping to death from a metro station in Ghaziabad, police said on Monday.
About 100 American security personnel along with their 4,000 Indian counterparts will ensure a protective cover to President Barack Obama and his family when they visit the world famous Taj Mahal here on January 27.
A day after taking the competitive medical exam, Meena on May 6 sent a text message to his parents saying that he did not want to study any further and was leaving home for five years, police had said.
The self-styled godman, who is called Baba Narayan Hari and Saakar Vishwa Hari Bhole Baba, is not named in the list of the accused in the FIR filed in the incident though his name is in the complaint.
Locals blamed the administration's negligence for the tragedy.
He said retired administration and police officials will also be part of the judicial inquiry to probe the stampede.
The stampede took place as people headed home after a satsang in the district's Phulrai village, conducted by a preacher known as Bhole Baba. Twenty-seven bodies were brought to a hospital in neighbouring Etah district. Senior Superintendent of Police Rajesh Kumar Singh said 23 of them were women. And 89 lay dead in Hathras itself.
Violence erupted in Agra after four persons were run over by a speeding vehicle, with angry protesters torching 20 trucks, prompting authorities to clamp curfew in Nai ki Mandi and Mantola areas.
The victims were part of the crowd of thousands that had gathered near Phulrai village in the Sikandrarau area for the 'satsang' by religious preacher Bhole Baba.
His father Ramniwas Garg has expressed concern over the racial attack on his son and has demanded a strict punishment to the culprit.
District authorities in Agra have cancelled the permission granted to the Bharatiya Janata Party for holding a farmers' rally led by party leaders L K Advani and Varun Gandhi in Akola village on Sunday on the grounds that it could disturb the law and order situation there.
The National Investigating Agency, which is being kept busy with the probe into the Delhi high court blast, has now been taking a close look at the blast at Agra which took place on Saturday in which six people were injured.
According to the Federation of Resident Doctors Association, during the indefinite strike, all outpatient departments, operation theatres, and ward duties will be shut, but emergency services will continue to operate as usual, ensuring that urgent patient care remains unaffected.
A number of bodies were kept at the district hospital in Hathras.
Close on the heels of the gang rape of a Swiss tourist in Madhya Pradesh, a 25-year-old British woman on Tuesday jumped off a hotel room in Agra to save herself from an alleged sexual assault bid and suffered a leg fracture.
At least 10 people were killed and more than 20 injured after a container truck hit four vehicles and then rammed into a hotel on a highway in Maharashtra's Dhule district on Tuesday, the police said.
A voter turnout of 60.19 per cent was recorded till 5 pm in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections in 93 constituencies spread over 11 states and Union Territories on Tuesday with sporadic incidents of violence in West Bengal.
There have been instances in the past where groups have carried out small blasts in order to distract investigators. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
President of Phule Aarakshan Sangarsh Samiti CP Saini said if the state government fails to fulfil their demands, they will block the Jaipur-Delhi highway.
The police claimed that Altaf, 22, had strangulated himself using a string from his jacket hood in the washroom of the police lock-up and said five policemen have been suspended for negligence in the wake of the incident on Tuesday.
Nidhi was arrested in Agra in a Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, (1985) case according to an FIR registered in December 2020.
According to police sources, Bharti is believed to be hiding somewhere near Agra.
Unable to bear the pain of his daughter's death, an armyman on Tuesday ended his life by throwing himself in front of a running train in Agra. Police said Anil had fixed his elder daughter Neelam's marriage and was engaged in the preparations.
Drivers of commercial vehicles, including trucks and tankers, stopped work in several states on Monday and blocked roads at some places to protest against the provision in the new penal law regarding hit-and-run accident cases involving motorists.
The driver told the police that he was not aware that the body was stuck under the car and attributed it to poor visibility caused by dense fog.
Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla Tuesday said the decision to invoke a new penal provision related to hit-and-run cases, which has sparked protests by truckers, will be taken only after consultation with the All India Motor Transport Congress.
'If it is a crime to take pictures with me, then I should also be punished as it does not suit the government to spoil the career of these hardworking and loyal policewomen,' Priyanka added.
Her statement also mentioned that the accused had a "blood clot" in the brain and was taking medicines for the same.
In the past five years, UP's Opposition remained passive and defensive against the BJP, a trend that does not augur well for the impending battle.
While 14 bodies have been recovered, five were still missing, they said.
The government announced the decision apprehending spread of rumours through social media by anti-social elements ahead or during the rally called to be held on Monday.
Petrol pumps in many cities witnessed long queues on Tuesday as people came to fill up their vehicle tanks fearing shortage of fuel amid the protest by truck drivers against a provision in the new penal law on hit-and-run accident cases involving motorists.
Two terrorists, including a top Lashkar-e-Tayiba (LeT) commander trained in Afghanistan, were killed in a gunfight with security forces on Thursday in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, officials said.
The Uttar Pradesh police on Friday said it has arrested a "functionary" of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) from Kerala on charges of conspiracy to trigger riots in the wake of the alleged gangrape and death of a Dalit girl in Hathras in 2020.
The blast was so strong that it was heard in nearby villages. The fire and smoke could be seen from a distance.
Sheela Bhatt drives from New Delhi to Agra and Firozabad to capture the stories of an India under lockdown.
The Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha's had given a call for reciting Hanuman Chalisa inside the Shahi Masjid Idgah to mark the anniversary of the Babri Mosque demolition.
Bishada youth Jay Prakash, who was found dead under mysterious circumstances on Tuesday leading to allegations of police harassment, may have consumed poison following a fight with his wife.
