Srinagar, Aug 18: A man had very few details to share about an accient. All he knew was that the truck that ran over his wife in Nagpur had red markings, but he couldn’t identify its size or make. Using artificial intelligence (AI), the police managed to arrest the accused within 36 hours.

The victim was able to provide “very minimal information”, Harsh Poddar, Superintendent of Police, Nagpur Rural, told NDTV.

“What was done here was that CCTV footage, or as we call it metadata, of three separate toll nakas, which were at a distance of 15-20 km from each other, was collected and it was analysed using two AI algorithms. Both of which were based on a technology called Computer Visual,” Mr Poddar told Ndtv.

On Raksha Bandhan, August 9, the man and his wife were riding a bike when a speeding truck struck them in Nagpur. The woman fell onto the road and was tragically run over by the truck, which then fled the scene. In a heartbreaking response, the man tied his wife’s body to his bike—a distressing video of the incident has since gone viral—as he made his way to their village in Madhya Pradesh.

Maharashtra has created a special purpose vehicle named MARVEL (Maharashtra Research and Vigilance for Enhanced Law Enforcement), the first state-level police AI system in the country. It is owned wholly by the state.

The officer explained that the first algorithm they did was analysed the total CCTV footage to pull out and identify trucks with red markings. The second one analysed the average speed of all these trucks to be able to give an alert as to which truck could be involved. On that basis, one truck was identified. Then a team from Nagpur rural police arrested the accused and seized the truck from the Gwalior-Kanpur highway, which is about 700 km from Nagpur. Now we arrested the accused and the case has been cracked within 36 hours using AI.

“We’ve been collaborating with 13 different departments to develop AI-driven solutions. Since data is the main fuel for artificial intelligence—and the government holds vast amounts of it—we’ve been analysing this data to build solutions that work across the entire ecosystem” the officer had told NDTV

When asked how AI differs from traditional physical investigations, the officer explained that technology significantly accelerates the process. “Data that would take hours or days to examine manually can now be analysed within minutes, helping us arrive at actionable solutions much faster,” he said.

Kochi, Aug18: Passengers of Air India flight AI 504, scheduled to fly from Kochi to Delhi in the early hours of Monday, faced an unexpected delay after the aircraft aborted the takeoff due to a technical issue and returned to the bay, officials said.

According to Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL), the revised time of departure was 1:00 am on Monday.

“A technical issue caused an Air India flight bound for Delhi to abort the takeoff. Air India is rectifying it and has informed Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) that they are changing the aircraft. The expected new time of departure is 0100 hrs”, a CIAL PRO said in a statement.

The incident came to light after Congress MP Hibi Eden, who was on board the flight, posted on social media that the aircraft seemed to have skidded on the runway.

“Something unusual with this flight AI 504….it just felt like the flight skid on the runway….and hasn’t taken off yet….” he wrote in a Facebook post.

Rajya Sabha MP Jebi Mather, also on board, said the pilot later announced that the aircraft could not be used for travel.

“Now pilot announced…this aircraft cannot be used for travel. So, will be shifting passengers to another aircraft and approx by 1 am,” Mather said.

More details are awaited.

New Delhi, Aug 18: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will begin his two-day visit to India on Monday, where he will hold crucial bilateral meeting with External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar.

However, the Chinese Foreign Minister’s visit also assumes significance in view of increasing tensions in India-US relations following President Donald Trump doubling tariffs on Indian goods to 50 per cent, which included an additional penalty of 25 per cent for purchasing Russian oil.

India and China are expected to discuss new confidence-building measures for durable peace and tranquillity along their contested border during Wang Yi’s visit, which comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s China trip later this month.

The Chinese Foreign Minister’s visit is largely seen as part of ongoing efforts by the two neighbours to rebuild their relationship after it came under severe strain following the deadly Galwan Valley clashes in 2020.

Wang Yi will be in India primarily to hold a fresh round of Special Representatives (SR) dialogue on the boundary question with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

Wang and Doval are the designated special representatives for the boundary talks.

The Chinese Foreign Minister will arrive in New Delhi at around 4:15 p.m. on Monday. At 6 p.m., he will meet EAM Jaishankar for bilateral discussions.

On Tuesday morning, Wang Yi is scheduled to hold a new round of the Special Representatives (SR) dialogue with NSA Doval at 11 a.m.

The meetings could see both sides deliberate on a range of key issues, including the border situation, trade and resumption of flight services.

The Chinese Minister will then call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence, 7 Lok Kalyan Marg, at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

The meeting assumes significance as it is taking place days before PM Modi’s planned trip to China to attend the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

Though the two sides disengaged troops from the friction points, they are yet to de-escalate the situation by pulling back the frontline forces from the border.

Each side currently has around 50,000 to 60,000 troops along the LAC in the eastern Ladakh region.

As per the plan, Prime Minister Modi will visit Japan around August 29 and then travel to the northern Chinese city of Tianjin for the SCO summit.

NSA Doval travelled to China in December last year and held the SR talks with Wang Yi, weeks after Prime Minister Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping decided to revive various dialogue mechanisms between the two sides at a meeting in the Russian city of Kazan.

The military standoff in eastern Ladakh began in May 2020 and the clashes at the Galwan Valley in June that year resulted in a severe strain in bilateral ties.

The decision to revive various dialogue mechanisms was taken at a meeting between Prime Minister Modi and Chinese President Xi in Kazan on October 23, 2024.

The two sides also initiated several initiatives to rebuild ties, including the resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and New Delhi restarting the issuance of tourist visas to Chinese nationals.

Both sides are also discussing modalities to resume direct flight services between the two countries.

The flight services between the two sides were suspended following the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. It was not restored in view of the border row.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and EAM Jaishankar visited China in the last two months to attend the SCO meetings.