Overview
- After the BJP won 89 BMC seats, the mayoral post will be allocated by a public lottery run by the urban development department, with the two-and-a-half–year term filled once the category draw is announced.
- In Prayagraj, Shankaracharya Avimukteshwaranand refused to bathe on Mauni Amavasya and, in a Monday briefing, decried the need for ‘permission’ to reach the Sangam, while police cite crowd-safety rules and say he was asked to proceed on foot.
- Uttar Pradesh officials said redevelopment at Varanasi’s Manikarnika Ghat has not damaged temples or idols, calling viral images misleading or AI-generated, and stated fallen sculptures were secured for later reinstallation.
- Odisha police registered a mob-lynching case under BNS 103(2) in Balasore and arrested six suspects after a video showed a man being beaten who later died, with a parallel FIR filed under animal cruelty and cow protection laws related to an injured bovine found in a van.
- Mumbai’s Amboli Police arrested a former employee after CCTV showed the theft of about ₹54 lakh from MP Manoj Tiwari’s residence using duplicate keys, and Beed police confirmed a voter-coercion complaint that will be forwarded to the Pune collector.