Punjab: Badal appeals for calm after violence
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal ordered a judicial probe into the violence that erupted in Faridkot on Wednesday after more than 100 pages of the holy book Guru Granth Sahib were found strewn near a gurudwara on Monday. Two people were shot dead and 75 others were injured in clashes between the police and protesters. While the protesters said they were rallying peacefully, police said they opened fire in self-defence. Appealing for calm, Badal described the incident as a conspiracy aimed at inciting communal tension and destabilising the hard-won peace in Punjab.

Uttar Pradesh: Police investigating terror threats
Uttar Pradesh police are on high alert after an intercept shared by the Intelligence Bureau claimed that terror groups are trying to activate sleeper cells across the state to launch bomb attacks in the wake of the Dadri lynching and the Mainpuri riot. According to the Times of India, the five-page intercept contains a list of targets, including top Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders Ashok Singhal and Pravin Togadia.

Assam: Gogoi hits out at Modi on Brahmaputra dam
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said on Wednesday that China’a commissioning of the $1.5 billion Zam Hydropower Station on the Brahmaputra river will cause irreparable damage to the state and other parts of the river’s basin. Gogoi criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not taking up the matter seriously with China despite repeated pleas, calling it “an utter failure at the highest diplomatic level”.

Delhi: Tortured domestic worker rescued in Gurgaon
A 14-year-old domestic worker from Jharkhand was rescued by the police after she was found locked inside a closet in a Gurgaon businessman's home, with signs of torture on her body. The girl told the police that she was beaten up and starved by her employers. She was rescued after one of the businessman's neighbours called the police helpline and complained that his family was torturing her. The police said the girl was brought to Gurgaon from Jharkhand seven months ago by her uncle.

Maharashtra: Mumbai corporators oppose water to illegal slums
The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena joined hands with the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to reject a proposal to legalise water supply to slums built after January 2000. Even as the Congress and the Samajwadi Party supported the proposal, the MNS, BJP and Shiv Sena stated that illegal slums should be razed at the earliest. The Bombay High Court had ruled in December that water supply cannot be denied to illegal slums until they are razed.

after more than 100 pages of the holy book Guru Granth Sahib were found strewn near a gurudwara on Monday.