At least 15 people, including four women and an equal number of children, travelling in a van were killed on Friday after a roadways bus hit the vehicle from behind on National Highway 93 here, officials said.

Thirteen others were injured in the accident and they have been admitted to a government hospital.

Taking cognisance of the accident, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed district officials to reach the spot and take care of relief measures. The CM has also asked officials to ensure proper treatment of the injured.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Nipun Agarwal said, “The accident occurred when the bus hit the van while trying to overtake it on the Agra-Aligarh National Highway.”

The accident occurred near the Kanwarpur village, about 10 kilometers away from the district headquarters.

The passengers were on their way to Agra from Hathras.

Condoling the deaths, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished a speedy recovery to the injured. The local administration is providing all possible help to the victims under the supervision of the state government, he said on X.

He announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the family of each deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured.

President Droupadi Murmu also condoled the loss of lives in the accident and prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured.

“The news of the death of several people in a road accident in the Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh is extremely sad. I express my deepest condolences to the bereaved families who lost their loved ones and pray for the speedy recovery of those injured,” Murmu said in a post on X in Hindi.

The Congress on Friday released its first list of 31 candidates for the Haryana Assembly polls, fielding former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi, state unit chief Udai Bhan from Hodal and wrestler Vinesh Phogat from Julana.

The list was released after the Central Election Committee (CEC) of the Congress met here, with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Sonia Gandhi, party general secretary in-charge organisation K C Venugopal, All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of Haryana Deepak Babaria and Hooda, among others, attending the meeting.

Besides Hooda, Bhan and Phogat, the Congress has fielded Mewa Singh from Ladwa to take on Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini.

The party has also fielded Surender Panwar from Sonipat, Bharat Bhushan Batra from Rohtak, Kuldeep Vats from Badli, Chiranjeev Rao from Revari and Neeraj Sharma from Faridabad NIT.

Earlier, on the possibility of any MP contesting the polls, Babaria said after the CEC meeting, “To date, no MP has been permitted to contest Assembly elections.” Asked about Phogat contesting the polls, he said, “I think it has been decided that she will contest from Julana.”

The Congress is also engaged in seat-sharing talks with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)for the Haryana polls, with hard bargaining going on from both sides.

However, the prospects of a tie-up appeared bleak on Friday with both sides hardening their stance.

The Congress has been engaged in hectic consultations over the last few days to explore the possibility of an alliance with the AAP for the Haryana polls, even as some of its leaders have expressed reservations over a tie-up with the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.

The sources said the Hooda faction of the grand old party and some other leaders are opposed to a seat-sharing deal with the AAP. According to these leaders, Kejriwal’s party does not have much ground in Haryana.

Olympians Phogat and Bajrang Punia, who were at the forefront of the wrestlers’ protest against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh last year, entered the political arena on Friday by joining the Congress with a vow of “not being scared or backing off”.

Hours after joining the Congress, Punia was appointed the working chairman of the All India Kisan Congress. It seems unlikely now that he would be fielded in the polls.

The 90-member Haryana Assembly is scheduled to go to polls on October 5 and the counting of votes will be undertaken on October 8.

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: A man was assaulted in Maharashta’s Beed city in the early hours of Friday allegedly by five persons who suspected he was a cattle transporter, a police official said.

At around 12:15am, victim Mohammad Hazek (28) took the photograph of a cow that was hit and injured by a four-wheeler and sent it to his fiancée over phone, the official said.

“While walking back home, five men hit him with sticks after accusing him of being a cattle transporter. They thought so because he had taken a photograph of the injured cow. On his complaint, four persons identified as Mandar Deshpande (30), Omkar Lande (23), Anil Ghodke (26) and Rohit Lolge were arrested,” the Beed city police station official said.

They have been charged under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for wrongful restraint, voluntarily causing hurt and other offences, the official added.

An 11-year-old student of a government school was allegedly sexually assaulted in her classroom by a self-defence trainer on Friday in Sultanpuri area of outer Delhi, triggering protests, police said.

The police have arrested the accused, Satish (45), who was conducting self defence classes for free of cost through an NGO, they said. He was not a regular teacher at the school.

Education minister Atishi has ordered an “immediate comprehensive and detailed inquiry” into the matter, said a statement from the Delhi government.

“The most stringent and decisive actions will be be taken based on the findings. The government remains firmly committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of all students,” it said.

A senior police officer said the family members and their neighbours gathered outside the police station and demanded action against the accused.

According to the victim’s father, his daughter called him in the afternoon stating that her sports teacher touched her inappropriately during the class and threatened her during the act.

He further said that they approached the school principal and also informed the local police about the matter.

On Friday at 12.12 pm, information was received regarding sexual harassment by school teacher, police said.

A case under sections 351 (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act has been registered at Sultanpuri police station. Her counselling and medical examination is being conducted, police said.

Further investigation is underway, police added.

Two coaches of Indore-Jabalpur Express train derailed on Saturday morning when it was approaching the Jabalpur station in Madhya Pradesh, railway officials said.

No passenger was injured in the derailment that occurred around 5.40 am, they said.

Restoration work is underway and a committee has been formed to probe the incident, according to them.

Jabalpur station falls under the West Central Railway (WCR) zone.

“Two coaches of the Indore-Jabalpur Superfast Express (22191) derailed when the train was approaching platform number 6 of the Jabalpur station,” an official said.

The derailed coaches were positioned just behind the engine, he said, adding that the derailment took place around 50 metres away from the platform.

Madhur Verma, senior Divisional Commercial Manager (DCM) of WCR’s Jabalpur Rail Division, “The train’s scheduled arrival time is 5.35 am. The derailment occurred at 5.38 am when the train was about to enter the Jabalpur station. The loco pilot immediately stopped the train and saved other coaches from getting dragged.”

“Two coaches adjoining the engine got derailed, but fortunately, no passenger was injured in the incident,” he said.

The passengers got off the train and traffic on the adjoining tracks was stopped for around half an hour, Verma said.

“A multi-departmental inquiry committee has been constituted to carry out a probe,” he said.

There was no major impact on the railway traffic as only platform number six of the station was closed for operations, he said.

Harshit Shrivastava, chief public relations officer of the West Central Railway said, “The train was running at the dead-stop speed of 5 kmph when the incident occurred.”

The cause behind the derailment will be known after a probe, he said, adding that railway traffic on the route was normal and efforts to re-rail the derailed coaches were on.

Vistara on Saturday said it is dispatching an alternative aircraft along with a fresh set of crew to fly the passengers of its Mumbai-Frankfurt flight to their destination after it was diverted to Erzurum Airport in Turkey due to an alleged bomb threat on Friday.

The substitute aircraft is expected to arrive at the Turkish airport by 12.25 (local time) and depart for Frankfurt with all passengers by 14.30 hours (Local time), Vistara said in an updated statement of X (formerly Twitter).

The flight UK 27, operating on Mumbai-Frankfurt route, departed from Mumbai at 1.01 pm on Friday after a delay of an hour and was scheduled to arrive in Frankfurt (Germany) at 5.30 pm (local time).

The Dreamliner 787-9 aircraft was, however, diverted to Turkey after the airline’s crew on-board found a paper note stating that there was a bomb on the aircraft, Vistara sources had said.

According to an AP report, the aircraft had 247 passengers and crew on board.

The flight landed safely at Erzurum Airport at 1905 (local time) on Friday, the airline had said.

“Since the crew have exceeded their duty time limitation, we are sending an alternate aircraft, with a fresh set of crew, to Erzurum Airport, Turkey, which is expected to arrive there by 1225 hours (local time) and depart for Frankfurt, with all customers, by 1430 hours(local time),” Vistara said in its updated statement.

It said that all the necessary checks have been conducted and the customers, along with the crew and aircraft, have been cleared by the security agencies.

In the meantime, all efforts are being made to minimize inconvenience to customers, including offering them refreshments and meals, Vistara said in the statement.

On Friday the airline had said its Flight UK27 from Mumbai to Frankfurt, “has been diverted to Turkey (Erzurum airport) due to security reasons and has landed safely at 1905 hours”, without divulging the number of passengers and crew on board the aircraft.

New Delhi: Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Saturday said the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir was a “massive booster dose” for the party and heralded a change in the country’s politics.

“Today is the 2nd anniversary of the start of the truly transformational Kanyakumari to Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra. Over 200 Bharat Yatris led by Rahul Gandhi completed the 4000 km long yatra, overwhelmingly on foot, over a period of 145 days and covering 12 states and 2 UTs,” Ramesh said.

“This yatra led to unprecedented connectivity and collectivity and was a massive booster dose for the Indian National Congress. It heralded a change in the politics of our country as well,” he said.

It provided the impetus for the Manipur to Mumbai Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra during Jan-March 2024, Ramesh added.

Rahul Gandhi launched the yatra from Kanyakumari on September 7, 2022. It culminated on January 30, 2023 as Gandhi capped his ambitious 145-day journey in Srinagar.

During the course of the yatra, he addressed 12 public meetings, more than 100 street corner meetings and 13 press conferences. He had over 275 planned walking interactions and more than 100 sitting interactions.

With over 4,000 kilometres under his belt, Gandhi had managed to catch the attention of his supporters as well as detractors. The march saw participation from a cross-section of society, including film and TV celebrities such as Kamal Haasan, Pooja Bhatt, Riya Sen, Swara Bhasker, Rashami Desai, Akanksha Puri and Amol Palekar.

Besides, writers and military veterans, including former Army chief Gen (Retd) Deepak Kapoor and ex-Navy chief Admiral (Retd) L Ramdas, and noted people such as former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan and ex-finance secretary Arvind Mayaram had also participated in the yatra.

Opposition leaders such as National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah, PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti, Shiv Sena’s Aaditya Thackeray, Priyanka Chaturvedi and Sanjay Raut and the NCP’s Supriya Sule, had also walked alongside Gandhi at various points in time during the march.