DeMo note racket

• HYDERABAD: Four persons have been arrested here for allegedly trying to exchange scrapped currency notes. Police recovered the demonetised currency notes with a face value of Rs 2.53 crore from them, an official said. During the checking of vehicles at Bahadurpura Cross Road on January 26, the four men tried to speed away in their car. The police chased the vehicle and found the four persons with old currency notes in Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations. PTI

Pune airport plan

• MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government has received clearance from the defence ministry for preparing a detailed project report of the proposed international airport near Pune, a state revenue official has said. German company Dorsch is preparing the report, he said. The primary estimated cost of the airport is Rs 14,000 crore. PTI

NEET waiver bid

• ERODE: Tamil Nadu education minister K.A. Sengottaiyan on Sunday said the government's policy was to get exemption from the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET). He said till the exemption was obtained from the Centre, the state government had made arrangements to provide free training to students to face the exams. The test is compulsory to qualify for admission to MBBS/BDS courses. PTI

Techies killed

• HYDERABAD: Three people were killed and one injured after their car hit a tree near Hyderabad on Sunday. Two of the deceased were software engineers and another an employee of a private firm. The car slided off the road possibly because of overspeeding and hit a tree, a police officer said. PTI

J&K peddlers

• JAMMU: Two alleged drug peddlers were arrested along with poppy straw and charas in separate operations in Doda and Jammu districts, police said on Sunday. Both were booked under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. PTI

Show on arch dam

• THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The wall of a 555ft-high arch dam in Kerala's Idduki, the oldest such dam in Asia and the second such dam in the world, will soon turn into the screen of a laser show depicting the history of the southern state. PTI

SC divorce ruling

• NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has dissolved the marriage of a couple and restrained them from putting photographs of each other in any mode at any place, including the Internet and social media. While granting the divorce, a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra directed the man, an engineering and management graduate from Maharashtra, to pay Rs 37 lakh to the woman towards permanent alimony within two months. PTI

Jail tourists

• SANGAREDDY: Two Malaysian tourists have come to spend their weekend at the Heritage Jail Museum here in Telangana to experience the prison environment. Ng Inn Wo, a dentist by profession, and his friend Ong Boon Tek, owner of a restaurant in Kuala Lumpur, are visiting the jail under its 'feel the jail' programme. PTI

Ockhi operation

• KOCHI: The Indian Navy's rescue mission in the aftermath of Cyclone Ockhi was the biggest humanitarian and disaster relief operation undertaken by it after the 2004 Tsunami in terms of duration and geographical coverage, a defence spokesman said. PTI

Garment park plan

• MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government will set up a garment park and a textile training centre in Solapur. PTI

MLA booked for 'land grab'

• KORBA: Police have registered a case against a Congress MLA and his four associates for allegedly grabbing the land of a 55-year-old tribal in Chhattisgarh's Korba district. Dukhlal Kanwar had filed a petition in a court seeking action against the MLA, Jaisingh Agrawal, who represents the Korba constituency, and the four for allegedly capturing 0.45 hectare. No one has been arrested so far. PTI

Fog crash kills 7

• ALIGARH: A jeep skidded off the road and fell into a pond on Sunday morning, killing seven people, including two policemen, officials said. Sub-inspector Pradeep Sharma, 48, and constable Devinder Yadav, 27, were returning after a raid when the driver could not see the pond because of dense fog and the vehicle plunged into the water, a police officer said. The driver escaped. PTI

Lottery tax dues

• MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government has written a letter to three north-eastern states to clear lottery tax dues of nearly Rs 933 crore. The government has said it would explore legal remedies if Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Mizoram fail to pay the dues. Arunachal Pradesh owes Rs 710.96 crore, Sikkim Rs 220.04 crore and Mizoram Rs 1.7 crore to the Maharashtra government, according to the letter. PTI

BJP MLA resigns

• BANGALORE: Vijayanagara BJP MLA Anand Singh tendered his resignation from the Karnataka Assembly, saying he was "fed up with the squabbling and bickering in the party". He submitted his resignation to the Speaker K.B. Koliwad on Saturday. Koliwad had accepted his resignation. PTI

Karkare probe plea

• MUMBAI: Bombay High Court has refused to order a probe into the death of former state ATS chief Hemant Karkare and disposed of a petition alleging that his killing during the 26/11 terror attack was a conspiracy hatched by right-wing extremists. PTI

Cop in gun net

• TIRUCHIRAPPALLI: A Chennai-based police constable was arrested for allegedly possessing an "illegal country pistol" at a hotel near the central bus stand here, police said. PTI