Ukhrul (Manipur) [India], February 25 (ANI): An earthquake of magnitude 3.3 on the Richter scale hit Manipur’s Shirui on Thursday, informed the National Centre for Seismology (NCS).
According to the NCS, the quake occurred at 9.19 am today.
“Earthquake of Magnitude: 3.3, Occurred on 25-02-2021, 09:19:01 IST, Lat: 25.21 & Long: 94.37, Depth: 48 Km, Location: 10km NNW of Shirui, Manipur,” tweeted NCB.
Earlier today, an earthquake of magnitude 2.4 on the Richter scale hit Himachal Pradesh’s Chamba at 3.55 am. (ANI)

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], February 25 (ANI): Maharashtra Police is probing the suicide angle into the death of the Navy official who succumbed to his burn injuries in Palghar, on February 6, said Dattatray Shinde, Superintendent of Police, Palghar on Wednesday.
“We found that Suraj Kumar Dubey (27) had invested money in the share market and took a loan which he couldn’t repay. To escape from this situation, we suspect he made up his abduction story,” said the SP.
He said that during the investigation, police found CCTV footage of the Dubey buying fuel at a petrol pump.
“We’re probing into the suicide angle. Before his death, he gave a statement against three persons who abducted him from Chennai airport at gunpoint and later burnt him alive in jungles of Vevaji in Palghar, Maharashtra,” Shinde added.
Dubey, a Navy official succumbed to burn injuries on February 6.
Police had earlier said, “Dubey was kidnapped from near the Chennai airport and taken to the jungles of Vevaji in Palghar. The kidnappers had demanded a ransom of Rs 10 lakh to release him, but the demand was not fulfilled by the kin of the Navy official. Enraged at this, the kidnappers set the man on fire and left him to die in the jungle.”
Based on Dubey’s statement before his death, the police had filed a case against three unidentified persons. (ANI)

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], February 25 (ANI): Central Crime Branch (CCB) arrested one person for allegedly possessing gold jewellery illegally worth over Rs 60 lakh.
“CCB, Bengaluru arrested a notorious habitual offender and seized 1.280 kilograms of gold jewellery – worth Rs 61 lakh, one pistol and five bullets from his possession,” Sandeep Patil, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) said on Thursday.
A case has been registered and further investigation is underway.
In another case on February 23, the CCB has arrested two Nigerian nationals for alleged drug peddling in the Indiranagar area here.
“CCB has arrested two Nigerian nationals on charges of drug peddling and seized 56 ecstasy pills from them in Indiranagar,” the Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) said on Tuesday. (ANI)

Nabarangpur (Odisha) [India], February 25 (ANI): A wild bear that fell into an abandoned 20-feet deep pit was rescued after almost 20 hours by the Forest Department in Odisha’s Nabarangpur on Tuesday.
The ten-hour long operation by a team of forest officials started in the morning and ended in the evening.
According to a forest official: “A team reached the spot on Tuesday morning after getting the information from the villagers. The 10-hour long operation succeeded in capturing the animal. The bear was later released into the wild after medical examination. (ANI)

New Delhi [India], February 25 (ANI): Samyukt Kisan Morcha has written to President Ram Nath Kovind demanding the immediate release of farmers arrested during the ongoing protests against Central agri laws and the removal of “false cases” against them.
A memorandum or letter to the President on Wednesday by Samkyukta Kisan Morcha read, “Regarding the unconditional release of innocent farmers lodged in jails during the farmers movement and cancellation of false cases and notices issued.”
“Sir, the humble request is that for the last six months the farmers of the country have been fighting in various ways and at various levels against the three agricultural laws and for some other demands including legal guarantee of MSP. Under the leadership of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, for the last three months, the farmers have been protesting indefinitely around Delhi, but hundreds of farmers and supporters of the movement have been jailed by the Government of India and several state governments and false cases have been made,” the letter read.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha further said, “Observing ‘Daman Virodhi Diwas’ (anti-repression day) across the country, we are sending the following demands to you through district and tehsil authorities. We hope that you will take immediate action in this regard.”
The demands include, Police cases lodged against innocent farmers lodged in jails should be dismissed and they should be released unconditionally immediately.
False police cases filed against farmers and individuals and organizations supporting their struggle should be dismissed.
The notice sent by the Delhi Police, NIA and other government agencies to intimidate the farmers involved in the struggle should be stopped immediately and the earlier notice should be cancelled, it added.
In the name of the police siege of the Kisan Morcha on the borders of Delhi, the closed roads of the common man should be opened, it said.
Farmers have been protesting at the different borders of the national capital since November last year, against the three newly enacted farm laws – Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. (ANI)

New Delhi [India], February 25 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi left for Puducherry and Tamil Nadu on Thursday morning where he is scheduled to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of various development initiatives.
“Leaving for Puducherry and Tamil Nadu to inaugurate development works that will further ‘Ease of Living’ and economic growth,” tweeted the Prime Minister.
According to an official release, at around 11.30 am, Prime Minister will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of various development initiatives in Puducherry. At around 4 pm, Prime Minister will dedicate to the nation and lay the foundation stone of multiple infrastructure projects worth over Rs 12,400 crores in Coimbatore.
The Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry are likely to take place in April-May. However, the Election Commission is yet to announce the final dates.
The Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone for the development of Minor Port at Puducherry under Sagarmala Scheme. He will inaugurate the Blood Centre at Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry, which will function as a research laboratory and a training centre for the short- term and continuous blood bank personnel training in all aspects of transfusion.
The school education department has announced a holiday for government and private schools as traffic in the city has been diverted due to the Prime Minister’s visit tomorrow.
In Tamil Nadu at around 4 pm, he will dedicate to the nation the Neyveli New Thermal Power Project.
“It is a lignite-based power plant designed for power generation capacity of 1000 MW and has two units of 500 MW capacity each. Built at a cost of about Rs 8000 crore, the pit head power plant will utilise lignite as fuel from the existing mines of Neyveli, which have sufficient lignite reserves for meeting the lifetime requirement of the project.
The Plant has been designed for 100 per cent Ash utilization. The power generated would benefit Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Puducherry, with Tamil Nadu having a major share of about 65 per cent,” read the release.(ANI)