At least four Naxals including three women were killed on Wednesday in an encounter in Gadchiroli district of eastern Maharashtra, officials said.

The investigation into the suspected dowry death of Nikki Bhati has taken a new turn after the recovery of an inflammable substance from her room and the emergence of fresh video clips, prompting police to revisit the timeline of the August 21 incident, a senior officer said on Wednesday.

The 10-day Ganesh festival began in Mumbai, Pune and other parts of Maharashtra on Wednesday, with people enthusiastically welcoming their favourite elephant-headed god into their homes, housing complexes, and public pandals.

The Northern Railways on Wednesday ordered the cancellation of 58 trains to and from Jammu and Katra stations, while 64 trains were short-terminated or short-originated at various stations in the division in view of the devastation caused by record rains.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday asserted that the INDIA bloc will win the Bihar assembly polls "if the elections were free and fair", and described deletion of voters' names from electoral rolls as "worse than terrorism".

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday cited a media report which claimed that some "anonymous parties" in Gujarat received donations of Rs 4,300 crore between 2019-20 and 2023-24, and asked whether the Election Commission will investigate this or ask for an affidavit.

Haryana BJP MLA Ram Kumar Gautam has called for a law that mandates parental permission before marriage.

A startling case of financial irregularities has come to light in Gujarat. Ten little-known political parties, largely unheard of by the public, collected over ₹4,300 crore in donations between 2019–20 and 2023–24. Together, these parties contested only 43 candidates across three elections, the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha polls and the 2022 Gujarat Assembly election, and secured a mere 54,069 votes.