Mahayuti set to return in Maharashtra, edge for NDA in Jharkhand: Poll of exit polls

Indian benchmark indices opened lower, with the Nifty declining around two hundred points and slipping towards 23,200 levels amid rising crude oil prices and spiking US Treasury and domestic bond yields. Financial and banking counters led the losses across sectors, while insurance stocks witnessed severe selling following draft consultation proposals by the insurance regulator to tighten commission caps from financial year 2028. PB Fintech, Turtlemint, Max Financial, and ICICI Prudential Life recorded sharp cuts in early trade. Meanwhile, primary market activity remained in focus with anticipation surrounding the National Stock Exchange listing, even as recent entrants like Hero Motors and SS Retail traded higher. In another development, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India initiated penal action against major quick-commerce and delivery platforms, including Amazon, Swiggy Instamart, BigBasket, Flipkart India, and Zepto, citing non-compliance, misleading claims, and listings of prohibited food articles.

A minor girl in Bihar’s Samastipur was abused, harassed and molested by a group of men after they spotted her with a boy on a local embankment.

Crucial CCTV footage from an examination hall at IIT Bombay has surfaced amid the probe into the death of twenty-year-old student Sahil Wakhure. The video shows the student seated during his examination using a mobile phone, after which invigilator Professor Suryanarayana Dula approaches him, takes away his answer sheet, and escorts him outside. The student was later found dead in his hostel room in an alleged suicide. The Mumbai Crime Branch has taken over the investigation and is reviewing CCTV footage across the campus. IIT Bombay has constituted a ten-member high-level committee to examine the sequence of events and submit a report within seven days, while the professor has been sent on leave following allegations of caste harassment by the family.

The Karnataka government is contemplating moving the Supreme Court to challenge the Karnataka High Court order directing the constitution of a Special Investigation Team to probe alleged recruitment irregularities in the Karnataka Public Service Commission. The state government maintains that the Criminal Investigation Department is already conducting an effective investigation, having uncovered money trails and arrested primary culprits involved in the jobs scam. A final decision on filing the petition before the top court is expected within forty-eight hours.