Newswallah: Bharat Edition

Haryana: President Pranab Mukherjee rejected the mercy petition of Dharampal, who was convicted of raping a woman in Sonepat, Haryana, in 1991 and murdering five members of the victim’s family, The Indian Express reported. He will be hanged next week, the report said.

West Bengal: Questions are being raised over the death of Sudipto Gupta, a 22-year-old student leader, who died when the police were taking him into custody after a students’ demonstration in Kolkata on Tuesday, The Indian Express reported. The police have denied that his death was caused by police brutality; instead, they say Mr. Gupta died after his head accidentally hit a street lamp post. But his autopsy report showed that he sustained five injuries, including two close to his heart and brain, the paper said.

Arunachal Pradesh: The state, which is believed to have the potential to generate an estimated 58,000 megawatts of hydropower, has been grappling with an “acute power shortage” for more than two months, according to a Press Trust of India report in The Economic Times. The rapid drying up of rivers is slowing the water flow and hampering the ability of the state to generate hydropower.

Maharashtra: A violent clash between police officials and men who the police say were Naxalites on Thursday in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district has led to the deaths of at least seven men accused of being naxals, the Hindustan Times reported.

Gujarat: On Wednesday, five members of a Nepalese family set themselves on fire at the office of the Rajkot Municipal Corporation, killing three of them, the Hindustan Times reported. The family was protesting their imminent eviction as part of a government drive to destroy illegal structures in Rajkot.

Andhra Pradesh: K. Chandrasekhara Rao, a political party chief who advocates for a separate state of Telangana, predicted snap polls in the lower house of the Indian Parliament this June, a year ahead of the scheduled elections, The New Indian Express reported. Mr. Rao called upon his party leaders to work toward winning at least 15 Parliament seats so as to get statehood for the Telangana region.