India: Today’s news in pictures

India news in pictures -- a roundup of today’s top news across the country from a slum fire in Bandra to the transfer of Brajesh Thakur, the prime accused in the Muzaffarpur shelter home sex scandal case to a high-security jail in Punjab’s Patiala. ...read more

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Updated on Oct 31, 2018 09:33 AM IST

A boy pours water trying to douse a fire at a slum in Mumbai. Two children were injured and nearly 70 houses were gutted in a fire that broke out at around 11.30 am and was brought under control by 1 pm. A senior fire department official said that 7-8 gas cylinder blasts led to the massive blaze. (Rafiq Maqbool / AP)

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets as with his Italian counterpart Giuseppe Conte at Hyderabad House in New Delhi. During his visit, Conte will hold talks with PM Modi to boost cooperation in key areas such as trade and investment, besides participating in the India-Italy Technology Summit. (Mohd Zakir / HT Photo)

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Workers stands near the under construction Statue of Unity at Kevadiya Colony, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from Ahmadabad. Built at a cost of over Rs 2,300 crore, the statue is scheduled to be inaugurated tomorrow on Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s birth anniversary by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, five years after work began on the world’s largest statue. (Ajit Solanki / AP)

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The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed all southern India states to burst crackers for two hours on Diwali morning. The order came on a petition by the Tamil Nadu government requesting the court to let the state burst crackers for two hours each in the evening and morning. (Sonu Mehta / HT File)

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A woman colours earthen lamps ahead of Diwali festival in Jammu. People buy these lamps to decorate their homes during the annual Hindu festival of lights, which will be celebrated on November 7. (Channi Anand / AP)

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On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ordered the transfer of Brajesh Thakur, the prime accused in the Muzaffarpur shelter home sex scandal case, to a high-security jail in Punjab’s Patiala. Over 30 girls were allegedly raped at the shelter home run by Thakur, the chief of a state-funded NGO. (PTI File)

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Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad with Reliance Industries Limited Chairman Mukesh Ambani at the 24th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking (ACM Mobicom) 2018, in New Delhi. (Atul Yadav / PTI)

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Updated on Oct 31, 2018 09:33 AM IST

BJP workers began a dawn-to-dusk hunger strike in front of Kerala DGP’s office, intensifying an agitation against the government’s crackdown on Sabarimala protesters. Over 3,500 people have so far been arrested and 529 cases registered in connection with the protests and demonstrations against the implementation of the Supreme Court verdict. (PTI File)