Two days after the residents of Samouli village in Meerut district killed 52 snakes that crawled out of the courtyard of a farmer’s house, forest officials rescued eight snakes from the same house, officials said.

In the wake of death of six persons after being bitten by an unidentified animal in Barwani district recently, the forest department has intensified its search operation after local residents sighted a hyena in the area, officials said.

Union Minister and BJP ally Chirag Paswan has written to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, also a BJP ally, on the Muzaffarpur rape-murder case, raising serious questions on the state’s law and order situation and public health infrastructure.