India News Live Updates, 24 October 2026: Five killed in fire at Andhra road construction site

At least five people were killed in a fire at a road construction site in Pinakota village in Andhra Pradesh’s Alluri Sitaramaraju district on Saturday, possibly during the refuelling of a dumper truck, police said. Superintendent of Police Amit Bardar said workers at the site, located around 100 km from the nearest facilities, generally transported diesel in drums to refuel vehicles.

Police suspect that inadequate precautions during refuelling and a possible spark may have triggered the fire. Bardar said it was an accidental fire, not a blast, and confirmed five deaths so far. Police teams have reached the site to investigate the incident.

- With PTI Inputs

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has seized foreign currency worth around Rs 1.56 crore at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport and arrested two passengers travelling to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Acting on specific intelligence, officials intercepted a male passenger on October 22 and recovered currency worth Rs 63.62 lakh concealed among clothes in his trolley bag.

Further questioning led officials to a female passenger travelling on the same flight under a different passenger name record. A search of her baggage led to the recovery of US dollars worth around Rs 91.94 lakh, similarly concealed among clothes. The DRI said both passengers failed to produce documents establishing the lawful procurement and carriage of the currency. The entire consignment and the trolley bags were seized under the Customs Act, 1962. Further investigation is underway.

- With PTI Inputs

Delhi’s air quality improved marginally on Saturday, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) recorded at 190 at 8 am, placing it in the ‘moderate’ category, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The AQI stood at 223 on Friday and 226 on Thursday, both in the ‘poor’ category.

However, several monitoring stations continued to record poor air quality, including Jahangirpuri at 276, Punjabi Bagh at 251 and Rohini at 239. Anand Vihar (175), IGI Airport (174) and JNU (179) remained in the moderate category. The Commission for Air Quality Management has already invoked Stage I of GRAP across Delhi-NCR, with authorities reviewing measures to curb pollution, including checking pollution certificates, restricting non-compliant vehicles and controlling road dust and construction-related pollution.

- With ANI Inputs

Rajasthan Police have taken another man, Ebin Basil, a resident of Elamakkara in Kochi, into custody in connection with an alleged digital arrest fraud in which a 90-year-old retired judge was cheated of Rs 2.5 crore. Kochi City Police officials said Basil was taken into custody on Friday. Earlier, Rajasthan Police had arrested Anand Babu, a resident of Varapuzha, with assistance from their Kochi counterparts.

The victim, identified as former district judge Ganpat Singh Bhandari, was allegedly kept under digital arrest for around 15 days in August by fraudsters posing as CBI officials and an RBI manager. They allegedly linked him to hawala transactions related to the Pulwama case and threatened to arrest him. Police said the money was transferred to bank accounts held by the accused in Kerala, and further investigation is underway as more people from the state are suspected to be involved.

– With PTI Inputs

An FIR has been registered against unidentified persons after two posters questioning the government’s performance and raising various issues were found pasted inside a train on the Delhi Metro’s Airport Express Line, police sources said. The A4-sized black-and-white posters carried phrases such as “Voting Protest”, “Community Building Reform” and “Dissatisfied? You Are Not Alone”, alongside nine claims about changes in the country in recent years.

The incident came to light on October 20 when a DMRC train operator spotted the posters during an inspection after the train reached Yashobhoomi station. He removed them and alerted senior officials, following which they were handed over to police. The posters, which carried a QR code inviting people to join an online group, have been seized. The Special Cell is also involved in the investigation to identify those responsible.

– With PTI Inputs