The death toll from an apartment block collapse in central Mumbai has risen to four, police said Tuesday, with rescuers still searching for people who may be trapped under the rubble.

A section of the five-storey 'Altaf Manzil' building collapsed on Monday evening, before another part of the partially-standing structure also caved in.

Authorities on Saturday called off a search for more survivors from the collapse of a multi-storey building on Mumbai's outskirts that killed 72 people, saying there was no hope of finding anybody else alive.

The death toll from the cave-in of the unauthorized seven-storey building was one of the worst in recent years in India. The collapse highlighted widespread shoddy building standards in the country where there is huge demand for housing.

Bollywood stars have joined calls for Mumbai to temper celebrations and reduce water wastage during a riotous Hindu festival this week, as millions face their worst drought in decades.

India's Holi festival takes place on Wednesday at a time when central parts of Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital, are reeling under a severe water shortage with no rain due until the monsoon in June.

India's top court upheld the death penalty on Thursday for a mastermind of a series of bombings which killed 257 people in Mumbai in 1993, the deadliest set of attacks in the country's history.

Yakub Memon, brother of the alleged main plotter and fugitive Tiger Memon, was the only one of 11 convicts to see his death sentence upheld by the Supreme Court for his role in the blasts which wounded more than 800 people.

Hackers attacked and defaced the website of India's IT minister on Friday amid a growing campaign against a law governing online comments which has been condemned by free-speech advocates.

An amendment to India's Information Technology Act in 2009, which was championed by minister Kapil Sibal, makes it illegal to make "grossly offensive" comments online, a measure seen by critics as a draconian limit on free speech.

The Pakistani Taliban on Thursday threatened to avenge India's execution of Pakistani militant Mohammed Kasab, hanged for his role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.

The umbrella organization wants Kasab's body returned to Pakistan otherwise it would unleash worse reprisals, spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told Agence France Presse by telephone from an undisclosed location, without going into details.

The sole surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks was executed on Wednesday to the relief of survivors and victims' families, nearly four years after 166 people died in the three-day rampage.

Pakistani-born Mohammed Kasab, aged 25, was hanged for his role in the assaults that targeted luxury hotels, a Jewish center, a hospital and a bustling train station in Mumbai.

More than 200 people were bitten by dogs every day last year in India's commercial capital Mumbai, up 50 percent in four years due to a surging population of strays, a report said Monday.

The number of bites recorded since 2001 is 650,000, and last year's average of 221 a day up was up by 50 percent from 2007, according to data from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), published in the Mumbai Mirror.

Federal anti-terror agents joined local police in the western Indian city of Pune on Thursday to probe a series of low-intensity blasts the night before when the new home minister had been due to visit.

The four explosives went off in succession beginning shortly after 7:30 pm (14:00 GMT) on Wednesday, targeting a bustling restaurant and shopping area in the town in central Maharashtra state and injuring one person.

Mourners gathered in Mumbai under heavy monsoon rain to bid farewell and catch a final glimpse of Bollywood's first superstar, Rajesh Khanna, who was to be cremated on Thursday.

His body was driven from his residence on an open-back trailer with only his face showing from beneath a blanket of jasmine flowers. Onlookers, many under umbrellas, threw white petals as the funeral cortege passed.