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Maharashtra legislative council's privileges committee has summoned stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sushma Andhare for a hearing over their alleged insulting remarks against Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

BJP MLC Prasad Lad, who is the chairperson of the privileges committee, told PTI on Wednesday (February 4) that the notice was issued to Kamra and Andhare 15 days ago.

They have been asked to appear before the committee for a hearing at 2 pm on Thursday (February 5), he said. "If they fail to turn up after two summons, the committee will decide on action against them," Lad said.

BJP MLC Pravin Darekar had moved the breach of privilege notice against Kamra and Andhare for "derogatory remarks" against Shiv Sena leader Shinde, whose party is a constituent of the BJP-led Mahayuti.

Kamra, who has often courted controversy for his anti-establishment views, targeted Shinde in a song parody last year, indirectly referring to him as a traitor without naming him.

Andhare, leader of the rival Sena (UBT), had supported Kamra.

Twenty-two people, including 15 women, were arrested from Bihar's Patna district for their alleged involvement in a cyber fraud, police said on Wednesday (February 4).

The arrests were made during raids at three locations - Lakhan Kutir, Ved Nagar and Saubhagya Sharma Path - in Patna’s Saguna Mor and Rupaspur areas.

“We received information from the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) that illegal call centres were being operated in the Saguna Mor and Rupaspur areas to defraud people via cybercrimes. During raids, we arrested 15 women and seven men from three specific locations,” Cyber Police Station (Patna) DSP Sangeeta told reporters.

Nineteen laptops, one desktop computer, 53 mobile phones, 12 ATM cards, and several documents were recovered during the raids, she said.

“Their primary targets were owners of cyber cafes. They download data and have a team to call the targeted people. They defraud them by promising B2B services and setting up Aadhaar centres," the DSP said.

Sangeeta said that the apprehended women were paid Rs 8,000 to 10,000 per month, and were primarily responsible for making calls to "bring in clients".

“The gang had been operating for approximately 12-18 months,” she added.

The DSP said that efforts are on to nab the remaining members of the gang.

Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday (February 4) cited former Army chief MM Naravane's unpublished "memoir" to claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not fulfil his responsibility during the India-China conflict in 2020 and passed the buck on to Naravane.

Addressing reporters in the premises of Parliament House complex, Gandhi held up Naravane's unpublished "memoir" and said he would like the youngsters in India to know that this 'book' exists despite the government claiming otherwise.

"The Speaker has said this book does not exist, the government has said it does not exist, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh ji has said this book does not exist. Every youngster in India to see this book exists," Gandhi said.

Around 20 government school children fell ill due to suspected food poisoning linked to the midday meals, police said on Wednesday (February 4). The incident occurred on Tuesday at Jamaalapura government primary school in Aurad taluk, Bidar district, they said.

The students were admitted to the hospital after they complained of stomach ache, and developed nausea and dysentery. 

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Former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has thrown his weight behind senior batting stars Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, saying nobody should tell them whether they can continue or not, while backing the "dangerous" Indian T20 team to defend its world title on home turf.

Dhoni was the first Indian captain to win it back in 2007 and when asked about the chances of the Suryakumar Yadav-led current side, he said the hosts will have to be mindful of the dew factor at this time of the year.

"It's one of the most dangerous teams...what all is needed in a good team, everything is there. They have the experience especially when it comes to this format, the experience is vast.

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IT stocks tumbled on Wednesday (February 4) morning trade, in-line with heavy sell-off in tech companies in the US.

Shares of LTIMindtree dropped 7.57 per cent, Persistent Systems tanked 7.53 per cent, Infosys plunged 7.30 per cent and Tech Mahindra tumbled 6.55 per cent on the BSE.

The stock of Wipro declined by 6.57 per cent, HCL Technologies tanked 6.40 per cent, Tata Consultancy Services dropped 6 per cent and Hexaware Technologies edged lower by 5.29 per cent.

The BSE IT index declined by 5.83 per cent to 34,984.16.

"US markets fell overnight led by losses in tech shares. Investors seemed shifting capital from high-value tech stocks to broader economy stocks. At close, Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq were down by 0.3 per cent, 0.8 per cent, 1.4 per cent respectively," according to SBI Securities.

The Nasdaq Composite index tumbled 1.43 per cent on Tuesday (February 3).

IT stocks were the biggest drag on the markets. The 30-share BSE Sensex traded 140.22 points lower at 83,604.59. The 50-share NSE Nifty quoted 14.35 points down at 25,721.45.