02 February 2026
Armed forces detected and defused two suspected box-type improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday.
The officials said the two small boxes were detected in Bhata Durian Forest during a joint search operation by the Army and police.
The boxes were suspected to be IEDs and were destroyed in-situ, they said.
This is a third instance of IEDs being detected by troops in J&K since Thursday.
NCP leader Nawab Malik claimed on Friday that he received a threat call from a person who warned him against targeting Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhede.
Nawab Malik said a complaint has been filed over the threat call. The call was made from Rajasthan, he claimed.
The NCP leader, who had been launching attacks on Sameer Wankhede over the Mumbai drug bust case, had even targeted the latter's family. He earlier questioned, "During the Covid-19 pandemic, the entire film industry was in the Maldives. What were the officer [Sameer Wankhede] and his family doing in the Maldives and Dubai?"
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut has written to BJP leader Kirit Somaiya about an alleged fraud of Rs 500-700 crore in the BJP-ruled Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation. The Rajya Sabha MP alleged that "misappropriation of government funds" happened in the corporation's 'Smart City' project.
Calling Kirit Somaiya a "scam crusader", Sanjay Raut tweeted a copy of his letter, saying, "It [the letter] gives details of misappropriation of funds to the tune of 500 cr Rs in the smart city project run by Pimpri-Chinchwad corporation ruled by BJP. Hope he will use his influence on ED to start the investigation."
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday said the onset of winter (northeast) monsoon in peninsular India is likely to start around October 26.
It also noted that withdrawal of summer (southwest) monsoon from the entire country may also happen simultaneously around the same date.
The southwest monsoon had commenced its withdrawal from northwest India on October 6. It was the second most delayed withdrawal of the southwest monsoon in 40 years. The winter monsoon rainfall occurs in south India, covering five meteorological subdivisions (Tamil Nadu, Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema, Kerala and South Interior Karnataka).
The Indian Railways, for the first time, has run a four-km-long train with four engines to supply coal to power plants. The urgency to maintain supply via special trains comes in the middle of coal scarcity reported from across the country.
Former Union Minister and Rajya Sabha MP Prakash Javadekar tweeted and wrote, “4 km long Rack train with 4 engines being run on war footing basis to supply coal to power plants. This is #Modigovt & @narendramodi Ji’s #NewIndia!”
