A rail accident occurred early Friday on the Katihar-Barauni rail section under the Sonpur Railway division, where the 15910 Avadh-Assam Express collided with a railway trolley between Kadhagola and Semapur stations, resulting in the death of one railway worker and serious injuries to four others.

The speeding express train, coming from Barauni, crashed into the trolley present on the down line of the track.

The trolley was shattered into pieces, and the impact led to the immediate death of one trolley man, while four others suffered critical injuries.

In a major breakthrough, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has unearthed a massive Rs 183 crore fake bank guarantee scam involving an Indore-based private firm, M/s Teerth Gopicon Limited.

The agency has confirmed the arrest of two key accused -- Govind Chandra Hansda, a senior manager at Punjab National Bank (PNB), and Mohd Firoz Khan -- both allegedly central to the fraudulent operation. The scam came to light following a directive from the Madhya Pradesh High Court, prompting the CBI to register three separate cases on May 9, 2025.

A military engineer in Himachal Pradesh was booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for demanding a bribe of Rs 40,000 from a private construction contractor in exchange for approving his pending payments totalling Rs 10 lakh, an official said on Friday.

Kulwant Singh Malik, Assistant Garrison Engineer (AGE) (Contracts), Jhakri, district Shimla, allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 40,000 from Arvind Kumar, proprietor of Haryana-based Jupiter Builders, said an official.

Arvind Kumar filed a written complaint on June 18 before, CBI, ACB, Shimla, alleging that Malik was demanding undue advantage/bribe of Rs 40,000 as a reward instead of giving technical clearance in respect of six bills and clearance for payment of final bills and ensuring payment of the pending bills of the complainant by June 19.

With the Southwest monsoon making a strong onset over Gujarat, heavy rains battered several parts of the state in the last 24 hours, officials said on Friday.

According to the State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC), 101 talukas recorded rainfall, with 30 witnessing downpours ranging from 1 to 7 inches.

Vapi in Valsad district received the highest rainfall at seven inches, followed by Pardi with 5.25 inches and Kaprada with 5 inches.

The downpour triggered flash floods and waterlogging, forcing evacuation and rescue operations across southern and central Gujarat.

As of now, more than 1,060 people have been relocated across four districts in Gujarat.

A day after a farmer was shot at in Manipur's Bishnupur district, the state government on Friday announced to provide security to the farmers in the vulnerable areas, officials said.

A senior police official said that adequate security would be provided to ensure the safety of farmers in the fields and prevent incidents involving the farmers.

A woman was killed and a farmer shot at in separate incidents in Manipur's Churachandpur and Bishnupur district respectively on Thursday.

The official said that one Ningthoujam Biren Singh, a cultivator from Phubala Awang Maning Leikai, was shot in his left arm by an unknown armed miscreant while working in his paddy field at Phubala Maning in Bishnupur district.

The Russian Defence Ministry on Friday stated that its air defences shot down 61 Ukrainian Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) over several Russian regions overnight.

“On-duty air defences intercepted and destroyed 61 Ukrainian fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles between 8 pm and 7 am. Moscow time, 22 over the Oryol Region, 14 over the Kursk Region, seven over the Belgorod Region, five over the Voronezh Region, three over the Volgograd Region, three over the Rostov Region, three over the Tula Region, three over the Bryansk Region and one over the Moscow Region,” read the statement.

The Voronezh Region Governor, Alexander Gusev mentioned on Telegram that the drones had been destroyed over the city of Voronezh and on the region’s border, adding that there were no casualties or damage as per the preliminary reports.

Bryansk Region Governor Alexander Bogomaz stated that there were no casualties or damage in the region. “Response teams are working on the ground,” Bogomaz wrote on Telegram.

Unprecedented heat wave has gripped Kashmir as temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius have prevailed for the past few days.

Srinagar city recorded 35.2 degrees Celsius as the maximum temperature on Thursday, the highest June temperature ever during the last two decades. Jammu city recorded 36.5 as the maximum, bringing down the gap between the maximum temperatures in Jammu and Srinagar cities to just 1.3 degrees Celsius.

An unprecedented heat wave has caused a sharp drop in the water level of the Jhelum River, which is the main water body of the Valley starting from Verinag Spring in Anantnag district and passing over to Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) through the Uri town of Baramulla district.

Since perennial water reservoirs in the mountains, which sustain the Valley during the hot summer months, have already been depleted because of lesser snowfall in winter, water level in mountain streams, springs, rivers, lakes and wells has also alarmingly fallen.

Nine people, all from Jharkhand, were killed in a horrific road accident in Purulia district of West Bengal on Friday morning.

The accident took place after the passenger vehicle in which the nine passengers were travelling had a head-on collision with a trailer-truck coming from the opposite direction.

The mishap took place on the Purulia-Jamshedpur National Highway Number 18.

It is learnt that the nine people, all residents of Jharkhand, came by that passenger vehicle to Barabazar area in Purulia district of West Bengal to attend a marriage function on Thursday.

On Friday morning they were heading back to their residence at Nimdih in Jharkhand.

A tragic accident in the early hours of Friday left three women critically injured in Motihari’s Rajabazar area in Bihar after a speeding car ran over them during their morning walk.

The incident occurred around 4 a.m. near the local auditorium, under the jurisdiction of Nagar police station.

According to eyewitnesses and police sources, the vehicle first rammed into a tree, then hit an electric pole before ploughing into the victims -- two women and a teenage girl -- who were walking along the roadside.

Locals rushed the injured to Rehmania Medical Centre, where all are reported to be in critical condition.

The weather has turned pleasant across Delhi-NCR as drop in both minimum and maximum temperature has brought relief to the people from the scorching heat.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a yellow alert for the next five days, forecasting rain and strong winds across the region.

On June 20, the maximum temperature is not likely to exceed 36 degrees Celsius, and the minimum is 27 degrees Celsius.

On June 21, the temperature is expected to hover around 37 degrees C (max) and 28 degrees C (min), with humidity between 80 per cent and 82 per cent.