,
The teaser for the track shows a dashing Kartik Aaryan, lip syncing to the lyrics of Bhool Bhulaiyaa’s original title track. The actor is also seen grooving to the music, while Diljit and Pitbull’s voices chime in.

In a big boost to the armed forces, India has signed a deal with the United States to acquire 31 MQ-9B Predator drones. 

The Indian Navy is likely to get 15 of the drones, which will be the ‘SeaGuardian’ variant while the Army and the Air Force will be allotted eight ‘SkyGuardian’ Predator drones each. Sources told NDTV that the total cost of the deal is likely to be under $3.5 billion. 

The deal for acquiring the drones from American manufacturer General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) under a Foreign Military Sales contract between the two governments was cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security earlier this month.

The MQ-9B Predator drone is a variant of the MQ-9 ‘Reaper’ developed by GA-ASI and is categorised as a high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The drone can fly for 40 hours at a time at altitudes over 40,000 feet. It has an external payload capacity of 2,155 kg. 

Apart from its surveillance capabilities, the MQ-9B is armed with strike missiles, allowing it to hit targets with high precision. It is capable of automatic take-offs and landings, and can safely integrate into civil airspace. 

These abilities make the drone ideal for land and maritime surveillance, anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare, electronic warfare and expeditionary missions, which involve going to a particular place and carrying out a specific objective in response to a crisis. 

In February, Matthew Miller, a spokesperson for the US State Department had highlighted the importance of the deal in furthering strategic technology cooperation with India and enhancing military collaboration in the Indo-Pacific. 

“The US-India Defence Partnership has seen significant growth over the past decade. This is a proposed sale that was announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit last year. We believe it offers significant potential to further advance strategic technology cooperation with India and military cooperation in the region,” he said.

Despite his gang claiming responsibility for the firing outside actor Salman Khan’s house in April and now former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique’s killing last week, the Mumbai Police has not been able to get custody of dreaded gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, who is in a jail in Gujarat. Sources said that, after the April firing, the Mumbai Police filed several applications to get the custody of Bishnoi, who is in the Sabarmati jail, but they have been denied because of a Home ministry order barring his transfer.

Bishnoi was moved to the Sabarmati jail from Delhi’s Tihar in August 2023 in connection with a drug smuggling case and the Ministry of Home Affairs had issued an order under Section 268 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) stating that no state or agency can seek his custody for a year. The section gives the government the power to bar the movement of prisoners when doing so can affect law and order.

The order was supposed to be in effect till August this year, but sources said it has been extended for another year. 

The Bishnoi gang made national headlines after claiming responsibility for killing Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala in 2022. It then said it was responsible for the firing outside Salman Khan’s house, Galaxy Apartments, in Bandra in April. 

The gang, whose day-to-day operations are now run primarily by Bishnoi’s brother, Anmol, and gangsters Goldy Brar and Rohit Godara, has said it wants to kill Salman Khan because of his alleged involvement in shooting blackbucks at Bawad in Mathania near Jodhpur in September 1998, during the filming of the film ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’.

The alleged act had upset the Bishnoi community, which considers the blackbuck sacred.

Lawrence Bishnoi had said during a court appearance in 2018: “We will kill Salman Khan in Jodhpur. Everyone will know once we take action. I have not done anything as of now, they are accusing me of crimes for no reason.”

A member of the gang, who has now been taken into custody, has said that the murder of Siddique on Saturday was also its handiwork.

Lonkar claimed that Siddique had been killed because he was linked to India’s most wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim, was close to Salman Khan and because of the death of Anuj Thapan, one of the arrested suspects in the shooting outside Mr Khan’s house, in police custody.

Police are verifying the authenticity of the post.