In a freak incident, a wheel of the speeding Gorakhpur-Yeshwantpur Express broke into two pieces near here on Tuesday morning but alert railway staff averted any tragedy, officials said.

"By looking at the selfie he posted we could trace his location from seeing the background and nabbed him today (Tuesday)," said a police officer.

 Militants on Tuesday shot and critically injured a special police officer (SPO) in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, police said.

Claiming that the 104-day long complete shutdown in the hills of Darjeeling from mid-June to September last year had critically impacted the development and economy of the region, she said the state government and the local administrative boards like Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) have to work hand in hand to recover the lost ground.

Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani on Tuesday pooh-poohed Congress President Rahul Gandhi's statement that he was ready to be the Prime Minister in case the Congress emerged as the single largest party after the 2019 general elections.

Slamming the Narendra Modi government for failing to reduce prices of petroleum products, the Congress said it is only engaged only in managing elections and headlines.

 Top India and Pakistan army commanders on Tuesday spoke over a special hotline contact and committed to peace on the borders in Jammu and Kashmir amid persistent crackling of gunfire and mounting casualties on both sides.

With the source of the Nipah virus outbreak that has caused 14 deaths in Kerala's Kozhikode and Malappuram districts yet to be ascertained, a batch of fresh five samples from fruit bats will be sent on Wednesday to the Bhopal-based National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases, said officials.