President Droupadi Murmu has rejected the mercy petition of a man convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing a two-year-old girl in Maharashtra in 2012, officials said on Sunday.

Senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan, citing the release of the controversial Jeffrey Epstein files in the United States on December 19, has claimed India could soon have a new prime minister.

Around 300 students from government colleges and schools in Kavoor were given free sanitary pads during an awareness programme on menstrual health and hygiene held on Saturday.

The Supreme Court on December 12 sought the Union government’s response to a petition filed by K. C. Veerendra Puppy, a sitting Karnataka MLA, challenging the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) power under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to seize and retain property for up to 180 days without judicial oversight.

Congress leader and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has called upon Indians to stand up and fight against the destruction of every democratic institution in the country.

The Delhi Police has busted a major interstate racket allegedly involved in the manufacture, repackaging and nationwide sale of spurious Schedule-H medicines, an official said on Sunday.

 A 50-year-old cloth vendor who was brutally assaulted by a mob and had his ears cut off and was branded with an iron rod in Nalanda district last week, died during treatment on Friday night, police said.

The Indian Coast Guard became a lifesaver for a 75-year-old by carrying out an urgent medical evacuation from Lakshadweep to Kochi, officials said on Sunday.