The Punjab Police has arrested an officer more than a week after he was charged in the United States in an alleged extortion conspiracy involving India-based organised crime groups, PTI reported on Saturday.

On July 7, the authorities in the US charged Gurinderjit Singh for allegedly extorting $400,000 from a family in Los Angeles by threatening to file false murder cases against their relatives in India.

First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli had said at the time that Washington will seek the extradition of the Indian police officer.

The US federal indictments alleged that he colluded with members of an organised crime group led by Jaggu Bhagwanpuria to target perceived rivals with threats of false cases and demands for money, The Tribune reported.

The indictment alleges that in April, a California-based member of the Bhagwanpuria syndicate named Gurlal Singh threatened a victim in the US before passing on the person’s details to a “corrupt law enforcement officer” in Punjab.

Gurinderjit Singh allegedly implicated the victim, as well as the victim’s father and sister in a murder case in Punjab in connection with the killing of a person in January, The Tribune reported.

When the charges were made public, Gurinderjit Singh claimed that he had no idea why he had been named, The Indian Express reported. He had been shifted to the Police Lines in Hoshiarpur and an inquiry has been ordered against him.

Crackdown on Indian gangs

Gurinderjit Singh is among 37 defendants charged for organised crimes in three indictments unsealed on July 7, the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said. The charges are part of an action against India-based transnational gangs.

Those charged include gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar for organised crimes and ordering the 2023 killing of Khalistani separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. Bishnoi is in a Gujarat jail awaiting trial in several cases. Brar, whose real name is Satinderjeet Singh, is absconding.

Those charged in the US include two “who ran their global criminal syndicates while imprisoned” in India, the federal authorities stated.

The law enforcement agencies in the US, Canada and Europe arrested 24 persons allegedly linked to three India-based transnational organised crime groups, the authorities said. Seven defendants were already in custody.

The agencies were looking for 10 fugitives, seven of whom are in the US, two in India and one in Europe, the attorney’s office said.

The persons have been charged with several criminal acts.

The arrests – codenamed “Operation Hard Ball” – followed a years-long federal investigation into Indian crime syndicates, the attorney’s office said.

The groups are alleged to be involved in racketeering, targeted killings, shootings, extortion and the smuggling of narcotics, among other crimes “whose impact is especially felt in the Indian diaspora”.

Edited by Sara Varghese.

Activist Sonam Wangchuk, who has been on a hunger strike since June 28, was forcibly taken to hospital by the Delhi Police on Saturday. The police claimed that he had been shifted to hospital for “essential medical care” in compliance with a High Court order.

Wangchuk’s fast at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, which is part of a protest led by the political campaign Cockroach Janta Party demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the alleged mismanagement of competitive examinations, had entered its 21st day on Saturday.

The activist has been admitted to the Safdarjung Hospital, Wangchuk’s wife Gitanjali Angmo said on social media.

The campaign said that Wangchuk had continued his hunger strike at the hospital.

Here are more updates from the protest:

Dipke’s fast

• Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, who was allegedly stopped by the police from returning to the protest site on Saturday morning, reached Jantar Mantar and began an indefinite hunger strike.
• Dipke called for nationwide peaceful protests. “We need to send a message that the people won’t accept this kind of dictatorship,” he said in a video shared by the political campaign.
• He said that Wangchuk’s removal from the protest site would not end the campaign and reiterated the protester’s plan to march to Parliament on Monday, when the Monsoon Session begins. “Until now, we were demanding Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation,” ANI quoted him as saying. “But after this despicable act, we will now demand the resignation of [Prime Minister] Narendra Modi.”
• Three members of the All India Students’ Association – Neha Bora, Manish Kumar and Aameen Amitosh – continued their hunger strike after Wangchuk was taken away from the protest site. Protesters formed a human chain to prevent the police from forcibly removing them.
• Hours later, an unidentified woman threw ink at Dipke while he was at the protest site, PTI reported.

VIDEO | Delhi: A woman throws ink at Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke at Jantar Mantar leading to chaos at the protest site. More details are awaited.#JantarMantar #Delhi #CJP

(Full video available on PTI Videos - https://t.co/n147TvrpG7) pic.twitter.com/VF5sG18fC2

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 18, 2026

"They can detain us or do whatever they want now," said Vivek Kumar, a protester who was injured at Jantar Mantar this morning. "We are no longer scared."

A young protester recalls the turn of events at the site on Saturday morning when #SonamWangchuk was forcibly removed. pic.twitter.com/QTLQ1eWkAQ

— Scroll.in (@scroll_in) July 18, 2026

Wangchuk in hospital

• Safdarjung Hospital said that Wangchuk was weak because of prolonged fasting and dehydration, The Hindu reported. “Although he is currently stable, he requires continuous observation, monitoring and treatment to restore his body parameters,” the hospital was quoted as saying.  
• Wangchuk’s wife said on social media that no treatment should be administered to the activist without the consent of “his family and his doctors who have been monitoring his health for the past 20 days”.
• The Cockroach Janta Party alleged that the hospital administration and the police were not sharing Wangchuk’s medical reports or allowing phones inside the room where he was being treated. The campaign claimed that his lawyer and personal doctors had also not been allowed to meet him.
• Later in the day, Wangchuk’s wife wrote to the hospital authorities seeking his discharge and transfer to a medical centre of “our choice”, saying that the “lack of transparency has shaken their trust”, The Hindu reported.
• Wangchuk “has refused all intravenous fluids, oral rehyderation or any other medication”, PTI quoted the hospital’s medical superintendent as saying in a health bulletin on Saturday afternoon.

"March for the 20th to the Parliament is on," says Cockroach Janta Party after Sonam Wangchuk was removed from the protest site and taken to the hospital.

They urge people from across India to continue their support for the movement.@AnantGuptaAG reports from Jantar Mantar. pic.twitter.com/JSUGfyNJi2

— Scroll.in (@scroll_in) July 18, 2026

Claims and counter-claims

• Earlier in the day, the Cockroach Janta Party claimed that Wangchuk had been “detained” and said it did not know where the activist had been taken.
• The campaign’s spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka said on social media that roads leading to Jantar Mantar had been blocked, and alleged that Dipke and other protesters had been beaten up.
• Dipke had also claimed on social media that he had been beaten up and detained by the police.

AISA activists Neha, Aameen, Manish and Hamad are continuing their hunger strike on 21st day at Jantar Mantar declares Ashutosh Ranka, CJP spokesperson.

Credit: CPI(ML) Liberation pic.twitter.com/UvNm0RJinR

— Scroll.in (@scroll_in) July 18, 2026

• However, the Delhi Police said that Wangchuk was shifted to hospital on expert medical advice because of his deteriorating health condition.
• Protesters tried to obstruct the action by the security personnel while they were complying with the High Court’s directions, leading to a “slight commotion”, the police added. The police claimed that its personnel exercised “maximum restrain and undertook the exercise safely”.
• On Thursday, the High Court directed the Centre and the Delhi government to monitor Wangchuk’s health daily and undertake any medical intervention required to improve his condition.
• However, on Saturday afternoon, the police claimed that the doctors had arrived at Jantar Mantar in the morning for a routine medical examination, as directed by the court, when some protesters obstructed the process. They add that Wangchuk was taken to hospital on medical advice given his “delicate health condition”, for examination and any further intervention required.
• The police has deployed several personnel at the Safdarjung Hospital and Jantar Mantar.
• The police action drew criticism from several Opposition leaders, who accused the Union government of suppressing peaceful protest. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that Wangchuk was on a non-violent hunger strike and removing him from the protest site was wrong. Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal said the action against Wangchuk amounted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi insulting the activist.

"This did not happen randomly, it was well planned to disrupt the movement," says an UPSC aspirant at the CJP protest in Jantar Mantar.

He said police had entered the premises in plain clothes to take #SonamWangchuk to the hospital, while the RAF cordoned off the stage. pic.twitter.com/EKAgdJryuJ

— Scroll.in (@scroll_in) July 18, 2026

Authorities cover the stage with plain cloths as they to take #SonamWangchuk, who has been on hunger strike, to the hospital during CJP protest demanding Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation, at #JantarMantar in New Delhi.

📷Bhawika Chhabra/ Reuters pic.twitter.com/8XnqTlSoXH

— Scroll.in (@scroll_in) July 18, 2026

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava, Sara Varghese and Nachiket Deuskar.

Also read:

• What Irom Sharmila, who fasted for 16 years, thinks about Sonam Wangchuck’s hunger strike
• ‘Modi insulted Sonam Wangchuk’: Opposition criticises activist being forced into hospital

The Bombay High Court on Saturday stayed the bail granted to Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre who was arrested for allegedly assaulting doctors and staff at a civic hospital in Maharashtra’s Dombivli, Live Law reported.

The court directed him to surrender to the police by 5 pm on Sunday.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Ravindra V Ghuge and Justice Gautam Ankhad took suo motu cognisance of reports about the July 6 assault on doctors at Shastri Nagar Hospital and the trial court’s decision to grant bail.

The High Court also stayed the bail granted to four others accused in the case.

“In the event he doesn’t surrender or isn’t reachable, the authorities will be at liberty to follow the due procedure for initiating steps for attaching his immovable properties,” Live Law quoted the bench as saying.

The High Court also appealed to doctors working in municipal and state government hospitals, as well as the Indian Medical Association, to reconsider their proposed strike “in the larger interest of society and service to mankind”, The Indian Express reported. The strike is planned to begin on Monday.

The case relates to Mhatre and his associates allegedly assaulting doctors at the hospital on July 6 after the family of a pregnant woman was asked to transfer her to another medical centre because there were no beds available in the neonatal intensive care unit, which the newborn was expected to require.

The family contacted Mhatre, a municipal corporator from the Shiv Sena faction led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who arrived at the hospital with his supporters, according to the police.

Surveillance camera footage shared on social media showed the corporator and his associates punching and slapping the hospital staff.

Mhatre had been absconding until he surrendered to the police on July 8.

After complaining of health problems, he was taken to hospital before being formally arrested following his discharge. His associates had been arrested earlier.

He was granted bail by a court in Kalyan on Tuesday.

While staying the bail, the High Court said the magistrate had failed to adequately consider Mhatre’s criminal antecedents, Live Law reported.

It noted that 18 criminal cases had been registered against him in the past 36 years and observed that the bail order did not deal with his antecedents or the alleged assault on three doctors, The Indian Express reported.

“We find from the order granting bail that the magistrate did not even notice that the accused was not even interrogated after recording his first statement,” the judges further stated.

The High Court also questioned the circumstances surrounding Mhatre’s release.

It noted that he had been admitted to Thane District Government Hospital while in custody because of health issues, including high blood pressure, and was discharged after being granted bail.

“Till the bail was not granted, he was hospitalised, and the moment bail was granted, he became fit to be discharged,” The Indian Express quoted the bench as having verbally remarked.

When asked why the state had not challenged the bail order earlier, Advocate General Milind Sathe and Chief Public Prosecutor Shishir Hiray told the bench that the trial court’s order had been made available only on Friday night.

The case will continue being heard on Tuesday, Live Law reported.

Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

Manipur activist Irom Sharmila said that Indians in large numbers should join activist Sonam Wangchuk, who has been on a hunger strike at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar since June 28. The “burden to correct the system” does not fall solely on Wangchuk, but is the responsibility of every citizen who has a conscience and wants to bring about change, she said.

Wangchuk’s hunger strike is part of the protest by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign to demand the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on account of alleged mismanagement in conducting competitive exams.

“It is not Sonam’s burden alone and people should not expect him to be martyred,” Sharmila told Scroll over a phone conversation from Bangalore, where she now lives with her twin daughters and husband. “It is a collective cause and demand, and everyone should join him and if everyone comes to the street, the security forces won’t be enough and the government will have to address the issue.”

She added: “For collective cause, persistence and united voices are needed for social change. You can not just let the individual protestor become a martyr.”

Indian activist Sonam Wangchuk’s indefinite hunger strike has entered its 20th day, with the Ladakh-born educator losing more than 9 kilograms as he demands examination reforms and the resignation of a key Modi ally over alleged exam paper leaks. pic.twitter.com/zGQfjzHL28

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) July 16, 2026

Sharmila, now 53, fasted for 16 years from November 2000 to demand the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, which has been operational in Jammu and Kashmir and parts of North East–Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.

The act creates a culture of impunity by granting security forces immunity from prosecution, enabling human rights abuses, legal experts say.

Sharmila was 28 when she started her fast to protest the killing of 10 civilians in Malom town by Assam Rifles personnel, and to demand that the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act be repealed. Three days into her protest, she was was charged with attempting to commit suicide under Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code. She was later transferred to hospital and force-fed through her nose.

As Scroll reported in 2014, two years before she ended her hunger strike, every year since she began in protest, “in what has been a cynical routine, Sharmila is charged with attempting to commit suicide…imprisoned for about 365 days (the maximum punishment under Section 309), released for two-odd days, and then taken back into custody”.

On Friday, Wangchuk’s protest entered its 20th day. The Indian government is yet to respond to his demands.

“The demand is big, but as the people are not united, the impact of the protest on the government is not there,” Sharmila said. “That’s why the government doesn’t care. The government does not get threatened by a protest of a single person. The government just waits and sees, avoids and lets it go.”

Sharmila cited the example of the year-long farmers’ agitation in 1920-’21, which forced the government to agree to repeal the three farm laws that the protestors contended were unfair. Lakhs of farmers participated in the protest.

“A protest will be successful only if there is a mass united agitation,” Sharmila said. “When I was doing a hunger strike in Manipur, the support from the public was not there much.”

Tweet does not exist

Sharmila said that she did not receive the support of the public when she needed it. “People in Manipur wanted me to be a martyr for its cause,” she said. “They want to sacrifice me. Because they saw that I was the only one who was protesting, all the responsibility and burden was on my head despite it being a collective cause. The people were only singing my glory that I was protesting for years. But the people did not help when I needed help.”

When asked in light of Wangchuk’s protest, how does she view fasting as a method of protest to make demands of the government in the current Bharatiya Janata Party regime, Sharmila said that political parties in India – be it the Congress or the Hindutva party – do not respect democratic rights.

“In India, they will just kill and jail whoever criticises the government,” Sharmila said. “There is no real democracy in India.”

Even though Wangchuk has been staging a non-violent protest at the heart of the country’s capital Delhi, where millions of people live, only a few hundred young people are participating the protest, she said.

“In a democratic society, its youth have a duty to correct a wrong in the system or administration,” Sharma said. “It is not just Sonam Wangchuk’s responsibility. Sonam Wangchuk needs a collective moral support, commitment and participation of the masses. If the people are united and physically go there at Jantar Mantar, the government will be afraid and will be forced to address the demands.”

The Election Commission on Friday extended the enumeration deadline for the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Maharashtra till August 8, The Indian Express reported.

The poll panel gave booth level officers 10 additional days to complete the house-to-house verification of voters, extending the deadline from what was July 29.

The extension was granted after Maharashtra’s chief electoral officer sought additional time, citing heavy rainfall in the state.

The draft voter list will now be published on August 17 instead of August 5, The Hindu reported.

Under the revised timeline, claims and objections against exclusions can be filed between August 17 and September 16. Earlier, the deadline for filing the objections was September 4.

The final electoral roll will be published on October 19 instead of October 7.

Data shared by the Election Commission showed that only 35.1% of the enumeration forms had been digitised in the state as of Friday. The digitisation rate was 15.3% in Mumbai city, 8.3% in its suburbs and 8.4% in neighbouring Thane district.

Yavatmal district had recorded the highest form digitisation rate of 67.6%, followed by Ratnagiri at 65.9%.

Maharashtra is among the 16 states where the voter roll revision is underway in the third phase of SIR.

On Wednesday, the poll panel had extended the timelines for the exercise in Delhi, Punjab, Karnataka and Telangana.

In 2025, the first phase of the exercise was conducted in Bihar. It was extended to 12 states and Union Territories in the second phase in late 2025 and the first half of 2026.

Since it began, concerns have been raised that the revision could eliminate genuine voters from the rolls and even shape electoral outcomes, as Scroll has reported.

In May, the Supreme Court upheld the legality of the revision, but said that the exercise does not mean that the Election Commission can decide on whether the person is an Indian citizen.

Edited by Sara Varghese.

The Opposition on Saturday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of insulting activist Sonam Wangchuk after he was forcibly taken to hospital by the Delhi Police from Jantar Mantar where he had been on a hunger strike.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that Wangchuk was on a non-violent hunger strike and removing him from the protest site was wrong. “The core tenets of the Modi government are Asatya [falsehood] and Hinsa [violence],” Gandhi said on social media.

The leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha said that paper leaks, the rising cost of education and student suicides are critical issues for India’s future. “No amount of force can deter India’s students, and those of us who love and believe in them, from raising these issues,” he said.

Wangchuk, who has been on a fast since June 28, was taken away from the protest site on Saturday morning, with the police claiming that he had been shifted to hospital for “essential medical care” in compliance with a High Court order.

His fast, which is part of a protest led by the Cockroach Janta Party demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the alleged mismanagement of competitive examinations, had entered its 21st day on Saturday.

Follow the latest updates from the protest here.

Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal said on social media that the government should have held a dialogue with Wangchuk instead. In another post, Kejriwal said that the government should focus on reforming the country’s education and examination system rather than “crushing the cockroach movement”.

“The Modi government’s defeat is in forcibly dealing with Sonam Wangchuk,” the former Delhi chief minister said.

Kejriwal also called on the public to join the protest by the political campaign Cockroach Janta Party. Wangchuk, the campaign’s founder Abhijeet Dipke and the young protesters were fighting for the future of children, the AAP chief added.

इतना अहंकार ठीक नहीं है।

उन्हें जबरन उठाने की बजाय, मोदी सरकार को सोनम वांगचुक से बात करनी चाहिए थी।

कॉकरोच आंदोलन को कुचलने की बजाय, देश की शिक्षा और परीक्षा व्यवस्था सुधारो

सोनम वांगचुक के साथ ज़बरदस्ती मोदी सरकार की हार है।

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) July 18, 2026

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge described the incident at Jantar Mantar as “another black stain on democracy” and the Constitution.

“This tyrannical government has spared no one”, Kharge said on social media. “In their eyes, anyone who raises their voice is an ‘Anti-National’, a ‘parasite’!”

Congress’ General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal said that instead of sacking Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the government had removed Wangchuk from the protest site.

Venugopal said there was a need for “compassion and humanity” from the government, but alleged that it had chosen to break up a peaceful protest as public pressure mounted. He described the action as “highly condemnable” and said the public would punish the government “at the appropriate moment”.

111 दिन तक माँ गंगा को बचाने के लिए आमरण अनशन पर बैठे प्रो॰ जी डी अग्रवाल हों या हरियाणा की ओलिंपिक रेसलर हों,

हमारे 750 अन्नदाता किसान हों, दलित-आदिवासी हों, या फ़िर पेपर लीक की बलि चढ़े 25 बच्चे और उनके परिजन,

इस तानाशाह सरकार ने किसी को नहीं बख़्शा…

इनकी नज़र में कोई भी…

— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) July 18, 2026

Instead of removing Dharmendra Pradhan from his post, they removed Sonam Wangchuk ji from his protest site.

There was need for compassion and humanity on part of the Government, but in true fascist fashion, they chose to break a peaceful protest because the public pressure was…

— K C Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) July 18, 2026

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said she was concerned about Wangchuk’s health.

The activist had sought dialogue, but his appeal had been met with silence, the former West Bengal chief minister said. “In a democracy, peaceful dissent deserves engagement, not silence,” she said.

She demanded that the activist be moved to a private hospital.

The activist has been admitted to the Safdarjung Hospital, Wangchuk’s wife Gitanjali Angmo said.

Deeply concerned about Sonam Wangchuk's health and well-being. He asked only for dialogue, yet his appeal has been met with silence for weeks. In a democracy, peaceful dissent deserves engagement, not silence.

His voice has been ignored, just as the voices of countless young…

— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) July 18, 2026

TMC’s Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose alleged that the police action was taken “because the Modi government is rattled” and was in “a state of panic”, ANI reported. “It is dictatorship and is unacceptable, unfortunate, and constitutes an assault on democracy and on the rights of the people,” she added.

#WATCH | Delhi: TMC MP Sagarika Ghose says, "This action has been taken because the Modi government is rattled; it is in a state of panic. They are panicked because Sonam Wangchuk had announced a march to Parliament on the 20th. I, too, was going to join that march; I was going… pic.twitter.com/fgysFOwXRj

— ANI (@ANI) July 18, 2026

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said it was “utterly reprehensible” that Wangchuk was forcibly removed from his indefinite hunger strike and demanded that his medical care be conducted under judicial oversight.

Yadav also criticised the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party saying that it was “not the BJP government – it’s arrogance!”. He alleged that the Hindutva party’s “divisive” mindset led it to disperse movements based on unity and solidarity.

Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav described the action as an “assault on democracy” and said the BJP government could no longer tolerate peaceful protests.

श्री सोनम वांगचुक जी को ‘बल-प्रयोग’ करके, ज़बरदस्ती उनके आमरण अनशन स्थल से उठाकर ले जाना अत्यंत निंदनीय समाचार है। आज सुबह घटी ये घटना थोड़ी ही देर में पूरे देश और संपूर्ण विश्व में फैल चुकी है। सारी दुनिया और देशभर में श्री सोनम वांगचुक जी को लेकर गहरी चिंता है और भाजपा सरकार के…

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) July 18, 2026

Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat visited Jantar Mantar and expressed her solidarity with the protesters after the police action.

Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) spokesperson Anish Gawande said that the right to protest was a fundamental right and questioned the decision to move Wangchuk to hospital without the consent of his family and doctors.

“This is a country of Mahatma Gandhi,” he said. “Disobeying a Satyagrahi’s wishes goes against the moral fabric of this country.”

The right to protest is a fundamental right. How have they picked up Sonam Wangchuk? If they had so much concern, why did they not save G.D. Agarwal's life?

Sonam Wangchuk's wife has said that he cannot be fed except with her wishes. Her wishes have to be respected. This is a…

— Anish Gawande (@anishgawande) July 18, 2026

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Aaditya Thackeray also criticised the police action, saying that peaceful protests against exam paper leaks were being broken up by a government that believed in “dictatorship” instead of “simple dialogue”.

To the world watching our democracy ending, this is how peaceful protests against examination paper leaks by students are broken, by a regime that believes in dictatorship, and not in a simple dialogue on its own failures. https://t.co/0IdGgWoRMT

— Aaditya Thackeray (@AUThackeray) July 18, 2026

Lok Sabha MP Chandra Shekhar Azad criticised Wangchuk’s forced removal, saying “democracy is once again disgraced”. He alleged that the action was “a direct assault on democratic values”.

“Has the right to peaceful protest now been limited only to the convenience of those in power,” the Bhim Army chief asked.

लोकतंत्र एक बार फिर शर्मसार!

दिल्ली के जंतर-मंतर पर पिछले 21 दिनों से शांतिपूर्ण अनिश्चितकालीन भूख हड़ताल पर बैठे सोनम वांगचुक जी को सादा कपड़ों में पहुँचे पुलिसकर्मियों द्वारा जबरन अस्पताल ले जाना तथा उनके साथियों के साथ मारपीट कर उन्हें हिरासत में लेना अत्यंत निंदनीय और… pic.twitter.com/fnFnQRZPCe

— Chandra Shekhar Aazad (@BhimArmyChief) July 18, 2026

Written by Sara Varghese. Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

Also read: What Irom Sharmila, who fasted for 16 years, thinks about Sonam Wangchuck’s hunger strike

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Friday said the state’s proposed Uniform Civil Code would legally recognise only one marriage and that only those with one legal spouse would have the right to live in the state, ANI reported.

The Uniform Civil Code aims to introduce a common set of laws governing marriage, divorce, succession and adoption for all citizens. Currently, such personal affairs of different religions are based on community-specific laws, largely derived from religious scripture.

A government-appointed committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai submitted its draft Uniform Civil Code report to Yadav on Monday, recommending that Adivasis be excluded from the proposed law.

#WATCH | Katni: Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav says, "...Why should there be separate laws for Hindus and Muslims? There should be one law for everyone. If Ram will marry once, why should Rahim marry twice or four times? Muslim sisters are also our sisters. Under the proposed… pic.twitter.com/rz8nwRNCsQ

— ANI MP/CG/Rajasthan (@ANI_MP_CG_RJ) July 17, 2026

On Friday, the chief minister said that the draft bill would be approved at the next Cabinet meeting. It will be introduced in the Assembly during the Monsoon Session which begins on July 20.

“Why should there be separate laws for Hindus and Muslims?” ANI quoted him as saying. “There should be one law for everyone. If Ram will marry once, why should Rahim marry twice or four times? Muslim sisters are also our sisters.”

Referring to the abolition of instant triple talaq, Yadav said that anyone who said “talaq” three times would be sent to jail, adding that the “era of triple talaq is over”.

Triple talaq allows a Muslim man to instantly divorce his wife by pronouncing “talaq” three times.

The Muslim Women Protection of Rights on Marriage Act criminalises instant triple talaq, or Talaq-e-Biddah, and provides for imprisonment of up to three years for any man who seeks to divorce his wife in this manner.

The Act was notified on July 31, 2019, and came into force with retrospective effect on September 19, 2018. The law was implemented over a year after instant triple talaq was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on August 22, 2017.

BJP and UCC

It has long been on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s agenda to implement a common personal law and several states ruled by the party have made progress towards achieving the goal.

In January 2025, BJP-ruled Uttarakhand became the first state to implement the Uniform Civil Code after independence. The Gujarat Assembly cleared a similar legislation in March amid protests by the Opposition.

The Assam Assembly on May 27 passed the Uniform Civil Code bill seeking to ban polygamy and make the registration of live-in relationships compulsory. The Opposition had demanded that the bill be sent to a select committee for scrutiny.

A common civil code has been in place in Goa since the Portuguese Civil Code was adopted in 1867.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

India on Friday said cooperation with Japan on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed railway project is “progressing well” and both sides have agreed to launch the first section in 2027, after a former Japanese minister blamed the Indian side for delays in a social media post.

Hideki Makihara, who was involved in the project while serving as Japan’s vice minister of economy, trade and industry, alleged on Wednesday that India’s “sheer recklessness” during meetings and negotiations had slowed progress. He also alleged that New Delhi did not “keep promises”.

“For the honour of all the Japanese folks who poured their hearts into this, I have to say it: I feel 100% that the reason this hasn’t moved forward is entirely on the Indian side,” he added.

Responding to the remarks, external affairs ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the comments reflected “an individual opinion and [were] at considerable variance with facts”.

He added that discussions between India and Japan are progressing well and that construction has “rapidly progressed”, with the first section due to open in 2027.

Jaiswal also said Japan will be able to provide the E10 train series only in the early 2030s because it is still under development.

“Both sides agreed to start the operations with Indian high-speed train,” he said, adding that the signalling equipment had been ordered in line with international specifications and that no Japanese offer had been received on this aspect.

He said the project was being executed in line with the shared goal of starting high-speed rail operations at the earliest.

Makihara’s post was linked to an article by Isao Tsujimura, a Japanese engineer based in India, who claimed that India’s choice of European-origin signalling equipment and an indigenous high-speed train could make the system incompatible with Japan’s Shinkansen trains.

The Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor, India’s first bullet train project, will span 508 km across Maharashtra and Gujarat, with trains expected to run at speeds of up to 320 km/h. The first section between Surat and Bilimora is expected to open on August 15, 2027, though the project has faced delays and cost overruns since it was launched in 2017 and missed its original completion target of 2023, Hindustan Times reported.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

The Supreme Court on Friday permitted the animated film Mahaprabhu Jagannath to be released nationwide on or after July 28 after the annual Jagannath Rath Yatra festivities conclude, Bar and Bench reported.

The bench was hearing a plea by the film’s producer challenging an interim order by the Orissa High Court that had blocked its release scheduled for Friday. The High Court had held that releasing the film during the Rath Yatra could hurt religious sentiments and disturb public order.

The Supreme Court noted that the festivities will conclude on July 27 and allowed the film to be released after that.

The court observed that the Central Board of Film Certification had cleared the film for release and that a television series based on the same topic was available on YouTube, Bar and Bench reported.

A row had erupted after the administration of the Jagannath temple in Puri and others objected to the film’s teaser over some depictions.

The producers screened the film before the temple administration and the Gajapati Maharaja, the titular king of Puri, during which the film’s makers were asked to make changes to some scenes.

However, the producers had scheduled the film's release on July 17 allegedly without making the changes, Bar and Bench reported.

A plea had been filed in the High Court seeking that the film’s certification be revoked.

While passing its interim order, the High Court had said that while the Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and expression, it must be exercised with the reasonable restrictions permitted, The Indian Express reported.

During the hearing in the Supreme Court, Justice BV Nagarathna asked how the “devotion of the writ petitioners comes down” because of an animated film. “It will not come down,” she was quoted as having said.

Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.

The Supreme Court verbally reiterated that persons excluded as voters during the special intensive revision of electoral rolls will not automatically lose their citizenship. The court said that it had ruled in May that the Election Commission, which is conducting the voter roll revision, does not have the authority to determine a person’s citizenship status.

The bench was hearing a plea seeking that the hearing process in the appellate tribunals of West Bengal be streamlined.

On Wednesday, the court had verbally observed that persons whose names were removed from the electoral rolls after the special intensive revision exercise in West Bengal would still be entitled to certain welfare benefits, including subsidised rations. Read on.

The United States struck a tower at Iran’s Chabahar port, a photo shared by US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth showed. The strike on what appeared to be the maritime control tower of the port was part of a series of wider attacks on Iran for the sixth consecutive night. The photo posted by Hegseth showed the tower collapsing. Iran had been operating the port with support from India.

Bridges in the Hormozgan province, railway infrastructure near Bandar Abbas and the airport in Iranshahr were among the sites struck by the US.

In response to the strikes, Iran targeted US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait. Read on.

The Supreme Court deferred the elections to five municipal corporations in Bengaluru in view of the special intensive revision of voter rolls underway in the state. The Karnataka government, the State Election Commission and the Greater Bengaluru Authority had sought more time to conduct the elections citing logistical challenges posed by the electoral roll revision.

The court had earlier directed that the elections be held by June 30 before extending the deadline to August 31. It had also criticised the delays in holding the civic polls. Read on.

A man was killed in police firing in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda district after he allegedly attacked security personnel on Thursday night. Three Special Operations Group personnel were injured in the incident.

The man was identified as 30-year-old Aarif Hussain from the Cheeka village of the Doda district.

The incident took place near Bhaderwah after a police team was deployed along the Jaie-Gandoh road following information about suspicious movement in the area.

At about 11.30 pm, the team intercepted Hussain, who allegedly attacked them and tried to snatch a service rifle, PTI quoted an unidentified police officer as claiming. Read on.

The Delhi High Court sought the police’s response to a bail petition filed by activist Sharjeel Imam in the 2020 riots conspiracy case. A bench issued notice on Imam’s appeal challenging the trial court’s July 4 decision rejecting his second regular bail application.

The court questioned whether there had been any change in circumstances warranting the grant of bail. Imam’s counsel argued that the trial had made little progress in seven months.

It also noted that the Supreme Court had granted Imam liberty to approach the courts again if the trial was delayed. Read on.

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The Supreme Court on Friday verbally reiterated that being excluded as a voter during the special intensive revision of electoral rolls will not automatically result in the persons losing their citizenship, Live Law reported.

The court said that it had ruled earlier that the Election Commission, which is conducting the voter roll revision, does not have the authority to determine a person’s citizenship status.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana made the observation while hearing a petition that the hearing process in the appellate tribunals of West Bengal be streamlined.

The tribunals were set up by the Supreme Court in March for persons to challenge their exclusions from the voter list.

The lawyer representing the petitioner said, citing reports, that 34 lakh appeals were pending before the tribunals. He said that only about 38,000 challenges had been adjudicated upon and that they show that at least 70% of the appeals are accepted.

The counsel submitted that even as the appeals were pending, the West Bengal government had notified measures that would deny benefits under the public distribution system and welfare schemes to persons conclusively excluded from the voter list, Live Law reported.

Caste certificates were also being denied to the persons, the counsel was quoted as having told the court.

The lawyer said that if a person has a passport, “it should be a clear pass” for proving citizenship. In the past few weeks, the Ministry of External Affairs has been reiterating that a passport is a travel document and not proof of citizenship.

The bench listed the matter to be heard along with other pleas challenging the voter roll revision in West Bengal.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court verbally observed that persons whose names were removed from the electoral rolls after the special intensive revision exercise in West Bengal would still be entitled to certain welfare benefits, including subsidised ration.

On May 27, while ruling on pleas challenging the special intensive revision of voter lists in Bihar in 2025, the Supreme Court upheld the legality of the exercise. However, it said that the Election Commission’s inquiries for the purpose of including a person in the voter list do not mean that it can decide on whether the person is an Indian citizen.

Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.

The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Rajasthan government to examine the health reports of religious leader Asumal Harpalani, also known as Asaram Bapu, to determine whether his condition warrants his release on interim bail on medical grounds, Bar and Bench reported.

The hearing took place after Asaram’s counsel informed the court that the religious leader had developed “acute internal bleeding”.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the state government, informed the court that Asaram was fit and had visited Ayodhya and Varanasi some months ago, while on parole.

However, Mehta said he would seek further instructions from the authorities, the legal news outlet reported.

The bench asked the government to respond by Tuesday.

On June 30, the Supreme Court rejected Asaram’s bail plea, saying that it would consider granting it only if there was a grave medical necessity, “such as danger to life”.

The court was hearing a plea by Asaram challenging the Rajasthan High Court’s decision to uphold his conviction for raping a minor in 2013. He has also sought interim bail while his appeal is pending.

In April 2018, a sessions court in Jodhpur sentenced Asaram to life imprisonment for raping the minor at his ashram in 2013. He had been convicted under several provisions of the Indian Penal Code, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the Juvenile Justice Act.

In May this year, the High Court acquitted Asaram on charges related to gangrape. However, it upheld his conviction for rape.

While rejecting Asaram’s petition to set aside the life sentence, the High Court bench had held that the charges of rape under the IPC, sexual assault under the Pocso Act and offences under the Juvenile Justice Act had been proved.

In January 2023, a sessions court in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar also sentenced Asaram to life imprisonment in a separate case about raping a 16-year-old girl several times at his ashram between 2001 and 2006.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

The Supreme Court on Friday permitted the Greater Bengaluru Authority and the Karnataka State Election Commission to defer elections to the five municipal corporations in Bengaluru until December in view of the special intensive revision of voter rolls underway in the state, The Indian Express reported.

The court had earlier directed that the elections be held by June 30 before extending the deadline to August 31. It had also criticised delays in holding the civic polls, The Hindu reported.

Elections to the Greater Bengaluru Authority were last held in 2015. The tenure of the elected representatives ended in 2020.

The Karnataka government, the State Election Commission and the Greater Bengaluru Authority had sought more time to conduct the elections.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Greater Bengaluru Authority, told the court that the State Election Commission had sought the extension as conducting the polls before the completion of the revision exercise could leave many voters out of the electoral rolls, The Indian Express reported.

The Karnataka government also cited logistical challenges in conducting the polls. It told the court that the administrative machinery and field staff were engaged in the house-to-house revision exercise and could not simultaneously conduct the civic polls.

“Proceeding with elections on out-of-sync, unrevised rolls prior to the conclusion of the SIR would lead to dangerous anomalies where voters appear in one roll but not the other, which may degrade the sanctity of a free and fair election,” the newspaper quoted the state as submitting before the court.

In a separate application, the Greater Bengaluru Authority also said that conducting the elections before the rolls were corrected would undermine the integrity of the electoral process.

Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.

The Delhi High Court on Friday sought the police’s response to a bail plea filed by activist Sharjeel Imam in the 2020 riots conspiracy case, Bar and Bench reported.

A bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Vikas Mahajan issued notice on Imam’s appeal challenging the trial court’s July 4 decision rejecting his second regular bail application. The court posted the case for hearing on August 27.

Imam, Umar Khalid and the other activists had been arrested between January 2020 and September 2020 in connection with the communal violence that broke out in North East Delhi in February 2020 between supporters of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act and those opposing it. The violence had left 53 dead and hundreds injured. Most of those killed were Muslims.

The persons accused in the matter have been charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, the Arms Act and sections of the Indian Penal Code.

The police have claimed that the violence was part of a larger conspiracy to defame the Narendra Modi government and was planned by those who organised the protests against the amended Citizenship Act.

During the hearing on Friday, the court questioned whether there had been any change in circumstances warranting the grant of bail.

Imam’s counsel, Talib Mustafa, argued that the trial had made little progress. “The trial is still at the stage where it was seven months back,” Bar and Bench quoted Mustafa as telling the court.

He added that arguments on framing charges had continued for more than 200 days.

Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the government, said that a reply would be filed.

“What is the position of the protected witness?” the court asked.

“I don’t think the trial has started,” the legal news outlet quoted Raju as submitting before the court.

The High Court issued notice to the Delhi Police, asking it to respond within two weeks.

It also noted that the Supreme Court had earlier granted Imam liberty to approach the courts again if the trial was delayed.

On July 4, a Delhi court rejected Imam and Khalid’s bail petition. Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai of Karkardooma Courts said that he was bound by the Supreme Court’s order from January that denied them bail.

The Supreme Court in its January order had said that both the activists can file fresh petitions after all protected witnesses are examined or after one year.

However, the bench had granted bail to Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shifa-ur-Rehman, Shadab Ahmed and Muhammad Saleem Khan.

Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

Also read:

• Why SC denied bail to Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam but awarded it to five other anti-CAA activists

• Why has the JNU sedition case gone nowhere in a decade?

• Umar Khalid’s five years of incarceration: ‘Do I even know the world any more?’

A man was killed after the police opened fire when he allegedly attacked a team of security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda district on Thursday night, PTI quoted officials as saying. Three Special Operations Group personnel were also injured in the incident.

The incident took place near Bhaderwah after a police team was deployed along the Jaie-Gandoh road following information about suspicious movement in the area.

At around 11.30 pm, the team intercepted a man who allegedly attacked them and tried to snatch a service rifle, an unidentified police officer told PTI.

“During the scuffle, [Special Operations Group personnel] opened fire,” the news agency quoted the officer as saying. “The youth sustained bullet injuries, while three police personnel were injured in the incident.”

All four were taken to hospital, where the man, identified as 30-year-old Aarif Hussain of Cheeka village, succumbed to injuries.

Hussain’s relative has claimed that he had left home for a picnic and that the family was initially informed by the police that he had met with an accident before learning that he had been shot, ANI reported.

A religious preacher has also reportedly been detained for questioning. However, his link to the case has not yet been established.

Preliminary investigations have found no terror angle, with the police suspecting that Hussain was allegedly involved in cattle smuggling, Kashmir Life reported.

Additional personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force and the police have been deployed in Bhaderwah as a precaution, while the Army has launched a search operation in the Jaie area, PTI reported.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

Freedom of the press cannot be used as “a shield for irresponsible journalism, intimidation or the dissemination of content that jeopardises public order”, the Delhi High Court said on Thursday.

Justice Girish Kathpalia made the observations while granting bail to two persons accused of assaulting two freelance YouTubers who make news content.

The alleged incident took place on July 4, 2025, when two persons claiming to be “from media” were recording videos in an unauthorised colony in Delhi’s Seemapuri area.

They were allegedly assaulted by a few residents, who also damaged their motorcycle and took away their belongings including their mobile phones.

A first information report was lodged the following day based on the allegations.

The prosecution argued that the attack amounted to an assault on press freedom.

However, the court noted that the complainants were not associated with any accredited media organisation and were working as freelancers for a YouTube channel.

The court said the complainants’ decision not to inform the police before beginning the recording exercise did not justify the alleged assault. However, it added that the broader question raised by the prosecution, that the attack amounted to an assault on press freedom, required consideration.

In its order, the court said the rapid growth of social media and digital platforms had resulted in a significant section of the media becoming “largely unregulated and unorganised”.

“Today, virtually anyone armed with a mobile phone and a microphone can proclaim themselves to be a ‘reporter’, often without any journalistic training, ethical grounding, or accountability,” the judge observed.

He added that it had become increasingly common for “self-styled reporters” to aggressively approach citizens with microphones and demand immediate responses. When individuals chose not to respond, which was their right, such silence was sometimes portrayed as an attempt to avoid questions.

“Such conduct creates misleading public narrative and generates unwarranted public pressure,” the court said.

It also cautioned against selective reporting, sensationalism and unverified allegations targeting social groups, saying such practices could deepen divisions, inflame public sentiment and potentially lead to communal disharmony or public disorder.

“The time has come for the legislature to consider an appropriate regulatory framework that preserves freedom of press, while ensuring professional accountability, ethical standards, and respect for the rule of law, the rights of citizens and the larger public interest,” the court said.

Written by Sara Varghese. Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

Two children and a man were killed after a train collided with a school van at a railway level crossing in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district on Friday morning, a railway official was quoted as saying by ANI.

The accident took place around 7 am near Karna Subarna railway station. The level crossing had been closed for an express train and was reopened after it passed, even though the Nimtita-Katwa local train was scheduled to pass shortly afterwards, The Indian Express quoted an unidentified police officer as saying.

The van driver and a man on a bicycle attempted to cross the tracks. The passenger train then struck the van.

The gateman at the level crossing has been arrested, Eastern Railway Chief Public Relations Officer Shibram Manjhi told ANI. A 10-member railway team also arrived at the site to investigate the accident, he added.

The impact of the accident crushed the van and flung it off the tracks. The schoolchildren from Gobindpur village and a cyclist, identified as 50-year-old Jamshed Sheikh, died on the spot, The Indian Express reported. Several others were reportedly injured.

Manjhi told ANI that a compensation of Rs 10 lakh had been announced for the families of those killed.

Hundreds of residents gathered at the crossing to rescue the persons involved in the accident.

Edited by Sneha.

In 2021, Britannia launched a new version of its waffle-shaped Milk Bikis biscuit. The company claimed it was made of “100% atta” and had “doodh roti ki shakti”, or the energy of milk and roti.

The company’s claim that the factory-manufactured biscuit was as wholesome as wheat rotis and milk ran into trouble with India’s food safety regulator.

In January 2023, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India flagged these claims in a meeting. It wrote to the company, seeking justification for them.

The company responded to the regulator’s notice. But when the matter came up for discussion again in November, the food regulator rejected the justification, documents obtained through a Right to Information application show.

The regulator noted that the label was making an unacceptable comparison between “processed food” and “freshly cooked food”. It stated, “The claim of Dudh Roti ki Shakti cannot be accepted and is misleading.”

In February 2024, the company sent “revised artwork” of the label to the regulator. But the changes, too, did not satisfy the regulator – the documents note that in a March 2024 meeting, the regulator found the revised label “unsatisfactory” and directed an official to ensure that the company “shall mandatorily remove the claim”.

Two years later, however, in April 2026, we found that the biscuit was still being sold with the same packaging on e-commerce websites.

We placed an order on Amazon – the packet that was delivered featured the tagline “doodh roti ki shakti”. Britannia responded to queries from Scroll, stating that the matter is “of confidential nature and meant for exchange between the organisation and FSSAI alone”. Further, it stated that the cases had “all been successfully closed with full compliance from the brand”.

The FSSAI did not respond to Scroll’s queries.

This is not the only case in which claims that the food safety regulator flagged as misleading continue to be in circulation.

The documents Scroll accessed contain information about 163 cases, the earliest from 2022, which were discussed in a meeting held by the Food Safety and Standards Authority in March 2024.

Our analysis found that most of these products continue to be sold with the same claims that the regulator had flagged as being misleading. These include products from Britannia, Dabur and Patanjali, among other fast moving consumer goods giants.

While regulations set out a time frame of a maximum of 165 days within which concerns about a product’s claims must be resolved after they are first raised, several companies continued to make allegedly misleading claims years after the food regulator had flagged them.

This dramatically low rate of enforcement of food advertisement regulations was even underlined in the Economic Survey of 2026, published in January. In a section on “the challenge of ultra-processed foods”, the survey noted that though there were many regulations in place to prevent misleading food advertisements, enforcement against them “leaves much to be desired”.

Scroll emailed the FSSAI, seeking responses to criticisms that it had not done enough to protect Indian consumers from misleading food claims. This story will be updated if it responds.

Unhealthy packaged food is fuelling an epidemic of lifestyle diseases in India. The government knows this. But its measures to regulate the industry are falling short. This series, based on previously unpublished internal documents, takes a hard look at this failure.

How the process works

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, which functions under the union health ministry, is responsible for regulating the production and marketing of food in the country.

One of its internal panels, called the advertisement and claims monitoring committee, is tasked with implementing regulations, including those that mandate that all claims made on food products are “truthful, unambiguous, meaningful, not misleading”. Further, any claim of nutritional or health attributes has to be “scientifically substantiated”.

As part of its work, the committee examines food products that appear to have made false or misleading claims. These include products that it identifies itself, as well as those brought to its attention by other entities, such as other food and beverage companies or other arms of the government.

If the committee needs more information, it can seek clarifications from the food business or marketer in question. The firm must send the information within 30 days of receiving the request. The regulator is required to pass an order accepting or rejecting the clarification within 90 days.

But the regulator may also suggest “improvements” to the claim made in the product label or advertisement, which the company is then required to implement within 45 days.

A firm can also be directed to run a corrective advertisement within 30 days of being ordered to do so by the regulator, using the same medium, to “neutralise the effect” of the original advertisement whose claims the regulator flagged.

The regulations allow FSSAI to impose a financial penalty on companies that do not comply with its directions – the maximum amount of this penalty is Rs 10 lakh, a limit that has remained unchanged since the Food Safety and Standards Act was enacted in 2006, and is a fraction of what a large FMCG company can earn from the sales of a product that makes misleading claims.

The regulator can also impose “other stringent punishments” such as suspension or cancellation of a company’s license “in case of repeated offences”.

Despite the public interest inherent in the work it does, the proceedings of the advertisement and claims monitoring committee are not public. There is no information in the public domain about how frequently the committee meets. Nor are there any public disclosures about companies whose food products it has examined and found guilty of making misleading claims, and against which it has taken punitive action.

Rather, the FSSAI’s annual reports only furnish numbers for instances of “labelling defects/misleading claims/others”, without disclosing the names of products and companies in question.

The products flagged

For this report, Scroll reviewed more than 230 pages of documents containing details of the correspondence between the FSSAI’s advertisement and claims monitoring committee and companies whose products were flagged as misleading. The documents, most of which emerged out of a meeting held in March 2024, were obtained through a Right to Information request.

Of the 163 products that were examined in the March 2024 meeting, 136 had been flagged earlier for making misleading claims, like Milk Bikis. In these cases, the regulator had already issued improvement notices to the companies.

Issued under Section 32 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, a notice is the first sign that the regulator has found a company’s claims about a product to be in violation of regulations. The company in question is expected to take remedial measures within a stipulated period or face a penalty and even suspension of its licence.

Another three cases pertained to Dabur Real juice products. In the March 2024 meeting, the regulator flagged them as being of potential concern. Since then, it has explicitly stated in a petition in a court case in the Delhi High Court that it considers claims made about the products misleading. Dabur has contested this in court.

Of these 139 products, 120 continue to be sold with the same claims that had been flagged as misleading. In this report, we examine a representative list of cases, across different product ranges.

In the March 2024 meeting, the regulator also discussed another 24 products for which it has not publicly released any further findings.

There were only two instances recorded in the documents of companies taking down misleading claims – in only these did the regulator recommend closure of the cases.

To obtain more information about the cases listed in the documents, and how they had progressed since March 2024, Scroll filed a right-to-information request in February, seeking copies of the minutes of the meetings of the committee held from January 2023 onwards, and for copies of its action taken reports.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority rejected the request by citing two clauses of the transparency law that allow information to be withheld if it is related to “commercial confidence”, “trade secrets”, or “intellectual property” and data held in a “fiduciary” capacity.

While the act allows public authorities to hold back information on these grounds, it maintains that the information can be divulged if the authority is convinced of its “larger public interest”.

We emailed the food regulator on May 26 to ask why it considers information on how it dealt with food claims flagged as misleading to not be in the public interest. This story will be updated if we receive a response.

After our right-to-information request was rejected, we also emailed the regulator specifically asking for information on the products that it had discussed in March 2024. We followed up with the regulator twice, but did not receive a response.

It has also similarly stonewalled others. Earlier, in May 2024, a food activist had filed a right-to-information request, asking the FSSAI to share details of the companies whose licenses had been revoked for violating food advertisements regulations. In response, the regulator had said that “no such information is available”.

Claims about juices

Among the major companies whose products appear in the documents is Dabur. The document shows that FSSAI officials flagged different products from Dabur’s Real range of juices twice over seven months – first in November 2023, and then again in the March 2024 meeting.

In November 2023, the regulator noted that the company’s statements about the composition of its mixed fruit juice seemed to be “ambiguous”, and that its claims about “health and sehat” were “misleading” and violative of regulations. It directed officials to “close the matter at the earliest”.

But the same juice – along with grape and apple juices – was examined again in 2024. In each case, the regulator noted that the company’s claims that the products were “100% juice” were misleading, since they were made from concentrates ranging in percentages from between 6.80% and 22%.

Minutes of the March 2024 meeting show that the regulator decided to put the case before a scientific panel the following month. The authority recommended that after receiving comments from the panel, officials should meet and seek clarification from Dabur “before initiating action”.

The regulator also took note of the fact that the juicebox carried the disclaimer that “Real” was only a “trademark and does not represent its true nature” at the back of the pack. But it pointed out that when a product used terms like “natural” and “real”, companies were required to carry such disclaimers at the front of the packet.

Scroll bought a box of Real juice from a retail store and found that the packaging did not carry the disclaimer at all. On e-commerce websites, products continued to be described as “100% juice”.

Indeed, the most widespread violation identified across the database involved the misuse of terms such as “natural” and “pure” to describe products. The committee repeatedly noted that such claims violated the Food Safety and Standards (Advertising & Claims) Regulations, 2018, which restricted the use of these terms – the term “pure”, for instance, can only be used for “a single-ingredient food to which nothing has been added”.

In fact, three months after the March 2024 meeting, the FSSAI issued a broad directive stating that there was “no provision” under the law for companies to claim they sold “100% Fruit Juice”. Further, it noted that they were not permitted to use the term “100%” when fruit juices were “reconstituted using water and fruit concentrates/pulp”.

Ten months later, Dabur India challenged this directive in the Delhi High Court, arguing that it was “legally unsound”. While the regulator’s objections had thus far been confined to internal documents, now, in court, the FSSAI stated that Dabur’s claims that its products were “100% juice” were “misleading”.

The next hearing in the case is on July 13.

In parallel to this case, a disclosure by the company to the National Stock Exchange revealed additional legal problems. The document noted that the additional district magistrate of Almora had on April 10 fined the company Rs 4 lakh over a product label that violated the food safety law. The company did not specify which product the case pertained to, but said it would appeal the penalty.

Scroll emailed Dabur, seeking its comments on the FSSAI’s findings. This story will be updated if the company responds.

Britannia flagged, not only for biscuits

Britannia did not come under the regulator’s scrutiny only for its Milk Bikis biscuits.

The regulator noted that Britannia’s 100% Wheat Bread “is not complying the standard of Whole wheat bread”. It pointed out that under the regulations, bread could only be described as “whole wheat” if it contained a minimum of 75% of whole wheat flour. The Britannia product falls short of this proportion, and contains only 62.5% whole wheat flour.

Officials first flagged the product in August 2023. In October 2023, they issued an improvement notice, and in the next month rejected Britannia’s response, noting that it was “unsatisfactory”. It then issued a “show cause notice” to the company.

Scroll’s queries to Britannia included queries about the notices it received about its wholewheat bread. The company did not respond separately to queries about different products, only stating broadly that the matters were “of confidential nature and meant for exchange between the organisation and FSSAI alone”. Additionally, it noted in the general response that the cases had “all been successfully closed with full compliance from the brand”.

In April 2026, Scroll purchased a packet of the bread and found that it still claimed to be “100% wholewheat bread”, even though, according to its label, it contained 62.5% whole wheat flour. On e-commerce platforms, too, we found the product listed with less than the mandated percentage of wholewheat flour.

Concerns over gummies

Among the categories of products that the regulator flagged were gummies, which companies claim impart a variety of benefits. In August 2023, officials scrutinised Tata 1mg’s Biotin Gummies. They came to a categorical conclusion about its composition: “The claim ‘Health gummies with non-caloric sweetener stevia’ is misleading since the product also contains sugar along with stevia.”

FSSAI officials also raised concerns about the product’s use of the word “healthy”. They noted that this was “misleading” and in violation of food safety regulations, which stipulate: “Food shall not be described as ‘healthy’ or represented in a manner that implies that a food in and of itself will impart health.”

Scroll found that the product is listed on Tata 1mg’s own platform, still described as containing the “non calorie sweetener Stevia” – its list of ingredients still included sugar.

Further, the words “healthy” and “health” appeared multiple times on the product page. Scroll emailed Tata 1mg, seeking its responses on the FSSAI’s findings. This story will be updated if it responds.

The vegan question

The regulator also flagged numerous companies for claims they made pertaining to products labelled as vegan.

In all, the document showed that more than 20 products market themselves as “vegan” without procuring the mandatory vegan certification from FSSAI, or displaying the required FSSAI vegan logo on physical packaging. These included an unsweetened almond beverage made by Epigamia, a Brooklyn Creamery dessert and almond milk made by Raw Pressery.

As of the March 2024 meeting, none of these cases had reached a conclusion – rather, the food safety regulator directed officials to take “suitable” and “necessary” action in them. Ahead of publishing this story, Scroll found these products still available online, with their claims of being vegan intact.

Also among the products that were flagged was Nourcery’s coconut milk powder. FSSAI officials noted that the product’s label of “vegan” was “misleading” because it “contains Milk protein in it as per the information provided on the label”. FSSAI officials called on the licensing authority to take “suitable action” – but the case remained “under process” 132 days after the regulator issued an improvement notice to the company.

The powder is still sold as a vegan product on its own website and Amazon.

Numerous other products were also flagged for claiming to be vegan without the mandatory FSSAI approval. These included Alt Co’s oat milk, soy milk and almond milk, Drupe’s almond milk, HealthSetGo’s Relax Gummies, One Good’s Cashew Mylk and Tata 1mg’s Biotin gummies.

Scroll found all these products still available on the companies’ websites or e-commerce websites, with the claim intact. We emailed the companies whose products the FSSAI had flagged. One Good responded that all their products were “100% plant-based” and “carry the required FSSAI license details and relevant regulatory markings on the packaging”. This story will be updated if we receive any other responses.

Products that claimed health benefits

The regulator’s most grave concerns pertained to products that made claims of providing medical and therapeutic benefits and advantages. Among these were products that claimed to prevent breast cancer, and others that claimed to treat diabetes, kidney diseases, urinary tract infections and insomnia. They also included products that made claims of being sugar-free.

In all, Scroll identified more than 20 products that had been flagged for such concerns.

Among them was Patanjali’s honey, about which the regulator received a complaint from the Central Consumer Protection Authority, a consumer rights-enforcement body under the union department of consumer affairs. The claims committee discussed the matter in December 2023 – it determined that justification should be sought from the company for claims it made, such as that the honey “scores 100% on more than 100 parameters of purity”, and that it “Can be taken along with juice of ginger for cough relief and for other ailments.” As of March 2024, the matter remained unresolved.

At the time of publishing this story, on its own website and e-commerce websites, the company continued to make the claims that had been flagged by the authority, two-and-a-half years after the FSSAI committee first probed the claims.

This was not the only Patanjali group product that the regulator flagged for claims related to managing sugar levels. In September 2022, FSSAI officials flagged the entire range of the group’s Nutrela Nutrition products. The regulator sought justification from the company for a variety of claims it made about the products, including that they helped improve insulin sensitivity, helped with weight reduction, and hunger and sugar craving management.

The regulator also stated that claims “related to organic on all the products is misleading,” because none of them carried the mandatory certification. They also termed “misleading” the claims, “No doping ingredient and banned substance free”, and directed the company to have them removed.

The minutes of the March 2024 meeting note that after these concerns were raised, the regulator extended a “final hearing opportunity” to the company – despite the fact that regulations do not provide for any such extensions.

As of April 2026, some of these claims persist, both on e-commerce platforms and on Nutrela Nutrition’s website, even though these products are no longer described as “organic” on the company’s website. Scroll emailed the company, seeking its responses to these concerns. This story will be updated if the company responds.

Products flagged for potentially misleading health claims also included Purifry, a product made by D Technology that is added to cooking oil, and which the company claims “acts like a sponge for harmful contaminants – making your cooking oil cleaner and better for reuse”. The regulator flagged the company for claims that the product reduces substances in oil that cause cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure and acidity.

Scroll emailed the company at the end of May about the claims and the FSSAI notification.When we checked the product’s website on June 1, it still made these claims. The same day, however, the company responded that it had “not made any claim of reducing the risk of any disease. We have mentioned it reduces the intake of Free Fatty acids and Peroxides which cause heart disease”.

It added, however, that the phrasing “may be interpreted as a claim” and thus that it had “updated the wordings of the same with immediate effect”. By the end of the first week of June, the claims had been removed from the website.

Three products of the company Indian Chai were flagged for claims including that they helped tackle diabetes and insomnia, and improved the function of organs such as the liver and kidneys. In all these cases, the regulator recommended that officials “close the matter” after taking “suitable action” against the company. Scroll found that the company still made these claims about its products on its website and e-commerce websites.

Indian Chai, in a response to Scroll, said their “products are marketed as traditional herbal and wellness infusions based on commonly known Ayurvedic ingredients and practices. We do not intend to position these products as medicines or as substitutes for medical treatment.” Further, the “product labels carry a disclaimer stating that the information provided has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and that the product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease”.

‘Sugar-free’ claims

A large number of cases pertained to products that claimed to be sugar-free, or promised to help tackle diabetes.

For instance, the regulator flagged the entire “sugar-free” catalogue of Anand Sweets, a Bengaluru-based sweets-maker and seller. The committee alleged that each of these items used sugar substitutes that disqualified them from claiming that they were “sugar-free”. It directed officials to initiate “suitable action”.

In a response to Scroll, Anand Sweets said that it took the FSSAI’s “feedback seriously and are actively reviewing and modifying the packaging labels, website descriptions, and marketing claims for the specified products. We are working to ensure that all ingredient disclosures and product descriptors strictly conform to the updated FSSAI guidelines on sugar substitutes and sweeteners”.

In the case of Medinutrica’s Sugartone Anti-Diabetic Tea Powder, the regulator noted in September 2023 that the manufacturing unit “had been closed” and that “the license has been surrendered”. But it then observed that the product was still available on Amazon. Three years after the unit was said to have been closed, Scroll found the product still available on at least one e-commerce platform.

One ad, for a herbal capsule made by a company named Sheopal’s, which claimed to control diabetes, shows an elderly man eating syrup-drenched gulab jamun. The accompanying text promised that the product would help “balance sugar” and “enhance insulin production”.

The regulator issued an improvement notice to the company in February 2024, and received a response the same month. The regulator then recommended that an official assess the response and “close the matter at the earliest”. It noted further that the claim that the product was natural was “still mentioned” on websites selling it. Scroll found that the company continued to make these claims on its website.

Other companies

The products detailed in this report are illustrative examples. A longer list of several of the companies that the FSSAI flagged for making misleading claims can be seen here in this table. Scroll found that all these claims can still be found on the companies’ websites or e-commerce platforms.

Only in a few cases did the companies respond to Scroll’s request for comment. The comments have been summarised in the table, which will be updated if we receive more responses.

In the third part of this series, we investigate concerns that the FSSAI raised over one of India’s best known beverage mixes.

Read the full series here.

Correction: The FSSAI first flagged Milk Bikis in a 2023 meeting, and not a 2024 meeting.

Two persons died after an “unprecedented rush” at the annual Jagannath Rath Yatra in Odisha’s Puri on Thursday, reported The Indian Express.

The state government denied that the rush led to a stampede, according to ANI.

Seven devotees had become unwell during the festival and were taken to hospital, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi’s advisor Prakash Mishra told the news agency.

A 60-year-old man later died. The exact cause of his death was being acertained.

Another man, aged 35, suffered a cardiac arrest and died despite immediate medical intervention, ANI quoted the chief minister’s office as saying.

State Health Minister Mukesh Mahaling said that “there has been no stampede during the Rath Yatra”.

Inspector General of Police for Fire and Emergency Services Umashankar Dash had earlier told ANI that about 100 persons “who were getting suffocated and pressed inside the crowd, and were feeling uncomfortable” had been rescued.

Videos shared by the Odisha Police on social media showed an ambulance making its way through large crowds.

A devotee who appeared to have fainted was promptly attended to and taken for medical treatment amid the large gathering at the Rath Jatra 2026.

Extensive security and crowd management arrangements are in place to ensure the safety of devotees and the smooth conduct of the… pic.twitter.com/i4TYL0ha2F

— Odisha Police (@odisha_police) July 16, 2026

Majhi expressed condolences to the families of the two men and prayed for the speedy recovery of those receiving treatment.

In 2024, a person died of suffocation and several were injured during the yatra.

During the annual festival, thousands of devotees pull the chariot carrying idols of three Hindu deities to the Gundicha temple from the Jagannath temple.

Edited by Sneha.

In April, Mumtaz Begum’s husband got a call from her lawyer.

She had good news. The Gauhati High Court had referred the case of the 44-year-old Bengal-origin Muslim woman back to the foreigners tribunal in Assam’s Nagaon district.

Foreigners tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies unique to Assam that decide on matters of nationality on the basis of documentary evidence.

The Nagaon tribunal had declared Begum a foreigner in 2019, saying she could not prove that she was her father’s daughter.

But the High Court set aside the tribunal order and asked it for a fresh decision, as it had failed to consider all the evidence that Begum had submitted.

On May 30, Begum woman appeared before the tribunal and her lawyer submitted her petition to the court.

Within minutes, however, the tribunal member called the police and ordered Begum’s arrest, without passing any order, her lawyer alleged. She was taken to the Juria police station, and later to the office of the Nagaon superintendent of police and from there to the Matia detention centre in Goalpara district.

A week later, when her husband went to meet her, Begum was no longer at the camp, India’s largest detention centre.

Begum had been pushed into Bangladesh – as the family eventually found out when it filed a habeas corpus petition at the Gauhati High Court.

HRA Choudhury, the senior advocate who represented Begum in the High Court, told Scroll that the tribunal had “exceeded its power” by sending her to jail as its duty is limited to give an opinion on her nationality.

“It is not the job of the tribunal member to hand her over to the police,” he said. “That is the job of the executive. The tribunal does not have the power to do so. I am not going into the merits of the case but this conduct is objectionable and illegal.”

Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde pointed out that when the High Court had remanded the matter back to the tribunal, “the question of her citizenship had still not been decided”.

“The tribunal could not have ordered her arrest and detention when the matter was pending before it,” he said.

In the last four decades, Assam’s tribunals have stripped about 1,30,000 people of Indian citizenship through a process that has been criticised by courts, legal experts and human right groups as arbitrary and loaded against the poor and marginalised.

‘Vanished from police custody’

On May 30, Mumrej Ali accompanied his parents to the Nagaon tribunal from their home in Dhinggaon village.

“We were happy and hopeful when we went to the court,” the 26-year-old said.

Ten minutes after their lawyer approached the tribunal member, as adjudicating officers of the foreigners tribunals are called, all hell broke loose. “The lawyer came to me and said that my mother would be arrested,” Ali said. “My mother started to weep.”

Advocate Hasina Ahmed, who was present at the tribunal, said: “She was arrested within 30 minutes from the tribunal premises without even providing us a copy of the order.”

The next day, Begum’s fingerprints and biometrics were recorded at the office of the Nagaon superintendent of police and she was sent to the detention centre in Goalpara.

When Ali went to the transit camp on June 8, he was “informed that she had been taken away by the police to Nagaon”.

“Since then, her whereabouts are not known,” he said. “My mother vanished from police custody.”

Ali said while the High Court had not given Begum “direct relief”, it did not direct her arrest. “It only asked the tribunal to examine the documents,” he said. “How could she be taken away?”

Begum’s lawyer Choudhury claimed that when Begum’s husband approached the tribunal member, he said “he will pass the order the way he wishes”. “The tribunal member was angry that his order was cancelled and the High Court had asked for fresh consideration,” Choudhury said.

On June 16, Begum’s husband filed a habeas corpus petition with the Gauhati High Court.

On June 24, the Assam government informed the High Court that 10 days earlier Begum had been taken to Kalainchera in Cachar district, which shares a boundary with Bangladesh, and pushed into the neighbouring country.

The #Assam Government's parameter of deciding a Foreigners Tribunal member's performance is whether he or she declares more people foreigners or not. The system is rigged to strip people of their #citizenship. The system is #DesignedToExclude.https://t.co/aikyVAK4cg

— Amnesty India (@AIIndia) March 13, 2020

From D voter to citizen to foreigner

Begum’s citizenship has been under question since 1997. In these three decades, her case has been tossed back and forth through the courts.

In 1997, the Election Commission had carried out a revision of electoral rolls and cancelled the voting rights of three lakh residents of Assam. Begum was one of those labelled “D or doubtful” voters.

A year later, the border police of Nagaon registered a case against her based on the Election Commission report. In 2015, the case was registered at the Nagaon foreigners tribunal.

Two years later, the tribunal ruled in her favour. Begum was among 188 Nagaon residents who were declared “not foreigners” by the concerned member.

But that relief was short-lived.

In 2018, the Gauhati High Court took up a suo moto petition based on a letter from the member of the Nagaon tribunal who succeeded the official who certified Begum was a citizen.

The letter said that the previous member had disposed of 188 petitions, but order sheets laying out the judicial reasoning behind the decisions in each of these cases were missing.

The Gauhati High Court ordered a retrial of all the cases.

Begum went back to the tribunal, but this time she was declared a foreigner.

In 2019, she challenged the order in the Gauhati High Court again.

In its order in April, the High Court set aside the tribunal judgement and remanded the matter to the tribunal for a fresh decision. The court said it was "surprising" that the tribunal had not discussed or assessed at least two pieces of documentary evidence that Begum had submitted nor had it examined a third document.

It then remanded the matter to the tribunal for a fresh decision after stating that the tribunal opinion is “vitiated for non-discussion of the evidence on record”.

“It is the law that a tribunal’s order must be reasoned,” advocate Sauradeep Dey, who represents many citizenship cases in the High Court told Scroll. “Only upon evaluating the evidence in whole should an order be passed. In a trial court matter, it is all the more important to consider the entire evidence and then render an opinion as evaluation of evidence is the primary function of a trial court.”

The evidence

To prove that she was an Indian citizen, Begum had submitted several documents.

This included a school transfer certificate stating she was born in 1982, and certificates from her village headman and the gram panchayat saying that she was the daughter of Tayab Ali, that she was an inhabitant of Kachakhaiti village, and that she had married Muzammel Hoque in 1996.

The tribunal refused to accept these certificates as “valid pieces of evidence” as they were embossed with the national emblem of India. The higher courts have held several times that using the emblem on unauthorised private or non-governmental documents is illegal.

Begum had also submitted voter lists from 1965 and 1970 which included her grandfather’s name, a 1977 voter list with her father’s name and her mother’s name as included in the land records for the year 1968-69.

All of this was to prove that Begum’s ancestors were residents of the state before March 24, 1971 – which is the cut-off date to determine Indian citizenship in Assam.

The tribunal took no cognisance of those documents. In this April order, the High Court pointed out that the tribunal had discarded those documents “without any discussion”.

The court also asked the standing counsel for foreigners tribunal matters to ask the home department if the state should ask members of the tribunals “to be periodically trained to upgrade their skills”.

The arrest and pushback

However, the High Court order did not have any impact on the tribunal member.

The May 30 tribunal order, which was seen by Scroll, declared Begum a foreigner again without discussing the merits of the documents she had submitted.

“The new tribunal order is almost the same as the old one,” advocate Hasina Ahmed said. “The tribunal did not examine what the High Court had asked it to examine.”

When the habeas corpus petition was heard on June 19, the High Court directed the authorities to get information about Begum’s whereabouts and directed that she shall not be deported without the order of the court.

Six days later, the government informed the court that Begum had already been forced out of the country. The next hearing is on July 17.

One person died and about 100 were injured in a stampede-like situation during the annual Jagannath Rath Yatra in Odisha’s Puri on Thursday, The Times of India reported.

The newspaper quoted unidentified officials as claiming that there had been no stampede. However, the death took place amid a heavy rush of devotees.

The man was taken to a hospital but was declared dead, The Indian Express reported.

Inspector General of Police for Fire and Emergency Services Umashankar Dash told ANI that about 100 persons “who were getting suffocated and pressed inside the crowd, and were feeling uncomfortable” had been rescued.

“We have rescued them and taken them to temporary hospitals, to ambulance,” Dash was quoted as saying.

Videos posted on social media showed devotees helping others who had fainted.

VIDEO | Puri: Several devotees faint during Jagannath Rath Yatra.

(Full video available on PTI Videos - https://t.co/n147TvrpG7) pic.twitter.com/nejFj72WE7

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 16, 2026

#WATCH | Odisha: Security personnel move injured and unwell devotees away from the crowd for medical attention, amid the Jagannath Rath Yatra in Puri. pic.twitter.com/K7wxoNyHnu

— ANI (@ANI) July 16, 2026

The Odisha Police said that the persons who were rescued were provided with first aid and oxygen support before being shifted to nearby hospitals for further medical care.

Former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik expressed his condolences and said that he was praying for the “swift recovery of the more than a hundred injured devotees”.

The Biju Janata Dal leader said that he hopes the state government will ensure “the convenience and safety of the devotees by properly managing the crowds”.

In 2024, a person had died of suffocation and several were injured during the yatra.

During the annual festival, thousands of devotees pull the chariot carrying idols of three Hindu deities to the Gundicha temple from the Jagannath temple.

Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.

The Congress urged activist Sonam Wangchuk to end his hunger strike in Delhi. The party said that it shared Wangchuk’s concerns and that it would continue to demand the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

This was the first comment about Wangchuk’s protest by the largest Opposition party, which, along with its allies, has been demanding Pradhan’s resignation.

Wangchuk’s fast is part of the protest by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign to demand Pradhan’s resignation on account of alleged mismanagement in conducting competitive exams. The activist began the hunger strike at Jantar Mantar on June 28. Read on.

The Delhi High Court directed the Centre and the Delhi government to ensure that Wangchuk’s medical condition is monitored daily. The court added that any medical intervention necessary to improve his health should be undertaken by the government.

The court also took note of the Centre’s submission that Wangchuk’s health was already being monitored by government doctors. It went on to dispose of a petition seeking intervention to break the activist’s fast.

The petition, filed by a lawyer and activist, stated that Wangchuk’s health had deteriorated rapidly and that he had lost 8.5 kg during the protest. If the hunger strike continued, he could die within two days, it added. Read on.

The authorities in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur have ordered the demolition of 38 out of 40 buildings at Mohammad Ali Jauhar University, founded by jailed Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan. All the buildings on the campus except the medical college building and the academic block were constructed “without approval”, the order by the Rampur Development Authority claimed.

Khan had served as the president of the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust, which operates the university. However, the Samajwadi Party leader and his family resigned from the trust in January.

The university has been given 15 days to remove the allegedly unauthorised structures, failing which the administration will carry out the demolition. Read on.

More than 500 persons are feared dead after reports of two large shipwrecks off the coast of Myanmar since late June, the United Nations’ refugee and migration agencies said. Those who were on the boats that capsized are mostly Rohingya, some of whom had travelled from refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, the United Nations said.

One of the boats, believed to be having about 250 persons on board, lost contact shortly after departure. The second boat, reported to be having about 280 persons on board, is believed to have sunk off Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady coast on July 8.

The maritime incidents and casualties are yet to be formally confirmed, the agencies said. Read on.

The country’s maritime regulator directed shipping companies not to deploy Indian seafarers on vessels transiting through the Strait of Hormuz. This came after a series of attacks on commercial ships in the waterway amid renewed tensions between the United States and Iran.

The Directorate General of Maritime Administration also asked vessels operating in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and nearby waters to maintain heightened security, monitor navigational warnings and security advisories, and comply with ship security measures under the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code.

At least 13 Indian sailors have died in the region since the war in West Asia began on February 28, The Indian Express quoted unidentified government officials as saying. Read on.

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India has been building up its renewable power. Installed capacity is now at 275 gigawatts, which more than doubles the 136 GW of 2020 and brings the country closer to its target of 500 GW by 2030.

Yet there has been a key absence in the operational power mix: geothermal energy.

As India pushes toward its 2070 net-zero commitment, and seeks reliable round-the-clock renewable sources to support intermittent solar and wind, geothermal is beginning to move from the margins into national energy planning, with a policy on generation published last year. As of 2024, the country has an estimated potential capacity of 10.6 GW drawn from 381 hot springs.

Geothermal energy harnesses the Earth’s internal heat, and is capable of delivering uninterrupted electricity, direct heating and storage. In 2023, existing projects worldwide had an average utilisation rate exceeding 75%, far surpassing wind and solar projects.

Home to numerous unexplored hot springs, the north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh in the Eastern Himalayas is especially promising. The state is estimated to contribute around 2 GW to the national potential, says Tana Tage, director of the Centre for Earth Sciences and Himalayan Studies (CESHS), an autonomous organisation within the Arunachal Pradesh state government’s Department of Science and Technology.

In May 2025, CESHS drilled north-east India’s first geothermal production well in Dirang, West Kameng district, for direct-use applications such as space heating and drying facilities for fruits and meat. It is also eyeing a new project in Tawang district, which based on current assessments could generate an estimated 0.25-1 megawatt of electricity, according to Tage.

For the Tawang project, a focus on homegrown technology offers potential breakthroughs for India’s geothermal power sector. But while the region has much untapped potential, several factors pose challenges to these ambitions.

Geographical advantages

Geothermal resources are reservoirs of steam, hot water or hot rocks located beneath the Earth’s surface. To access this heat, wells are drilled, ranging from a few hundred feet to several kilometres deep. The depth, location and temperature of these wells determine whether a geothermal project is technically and economically viable.

Due to its location near the Main Central Thrust, a major geological fault, Arunachal Pradesh is especially conducive for geothermal projects, explains Rupankar Rajkhowa, head of green energy studies at CESHS.

The ongoing collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates causes faults and fractures, creating pathways for fluid to circulate deep into Earth where it is heated and rises back up. This leads to geothermal activity.

While Arunachal Pradesh’s location makes it prime for geothermal, it also poses certain complications.

The state lies in seismic zone five in India’s earthquake mapping, indicating the highest risk of earthquakes. In such regions, “drilling through hard rock carries the risk of induced seismic activity”, says Tage. To mitigate this, he explains that detailed structural mapping of the region has been undertaken, to be followed by geophysical surveys and 3D modelling to map underground conductivity and enable more accurate and safer drilling.

Other potential risks include geothermal fluid leaks as seen at Ladakh’s Puga Valley project, where warm water from underground containing various dissolved minerals flowed into a nearby stream. To avoid this, CESHS has partnered with Oil India Limited to oversee drilling and install blowout preventers – safety devices to prevent dangerous, uncontrolled eruptions during drilling.

Many geothermal-rich areas in Arunachal Pradesh are logistically isolated, making it difficult to transport heavy drilling rigs and specialised equipment, Tage notes. This slows project timelines and raises initial capital costs. However, he adds that the long-term economics are favourable, with geothermal generation costing nearly 50% less than solar energy.

Homegrown technology

The most ambitious aspect of the Tawang project is the development of homegrown technology capable of generating electricity from a lower-than-usual temperature for a binary geothermal power plant. This type of plant uses heat from geothermal water to vaporise a “working” fluid that has a lower boiling point, using that vapour to power the turbine that generates electricity.

The technology being developed can operate from 68 degrees celsius, compared to binary power plants’ conventional requirement of above 100 degrees celsius. The ability of the technology to operate efficiently at lower temperatures enables access to geothermal resources in the Eastern Himalayas, where underground heat is limited.

Rajkhowa explains that the project’s long-term success is dependent on a secure, sustainable Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) fluid supply, the cycle referring to the closed-loop system where the water vaporises the ORC fluid. Such fluids can vaporise at much lower temperatures, compared to the water or steam used in conventional geothermal plants, making them especially suited for Himalayan conditions.

Unlike geothermal fields driven by volcanic activity, Himalayan geothermal systems are driven by tectonic forces, with heat coming from the pressure and movement of rocks deep in the Earth’s crust, rather than from magma. Rainwater and snowmelt seep through faults and fractures, get heated and rise back up as thermal sources.

The Himalayan region’s tectonic forces and faults mean the environment is more sensitive, and geothermal exploration in the area requires additional studies like remote sensing, geophysical surveys and chemical and structural analysis. But the imported instruments currently used to carry out these activities are expensive, large and not optimised for Himalayan logistics and maintenance in high-altitude terrain lacking paved roads. “Indigenous technology ensures cost-effectiveness, repairability and self-reliance,” Rajkhowa noted.

The technology was developed by CESHS alongside Delhi’s Shriram Institute of Industrial Technology, which also helped develop India’s first operational geothermal power pilot project in Manuguru, Telangana. It was designed and tested in India, used in the Manuguru plant, and is now progressing toward a 0.25-MW demonstration unit in Arunachal Pradesh.

Other homegrown engineering innovations have been incorporated by SIIR researchers to adapt the system for the area’s low temperatures. These include integrating technology to reuse thermal energy, and adding a pre-heater to raise the initial temperature of the working fluid, enhancing system efficiency.

Rajkhowa added that Shriram Institute of Industrial Technology and Pandit Deendayal Energy University in Gujarat have been conducting research to develop ORC fluids suitable for the low temperatures of the Himalayan geothermal projects.

If these are successful, they could be a game changer for India’s geothermal industry.

”India still lacks the expertise to establish large commercial geothermal plants,” said Dornadula Chandrasekharam, a former professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at IIT-Bombay and an ex-board member of the International Geothermal Association.

The drilling rigs currently available in India are suited for oil wells rather than deep geothermal reservoirs in the granite formations commonly found in the Himalayan region, he noted. “Developing ORC fluids and mastering granite drilling technology will be critical if India wants to leapfrog in this sector.”

Navigating cultural and spiritual dimensions

Beyond scientific challenges, geothermal development in Arunachal Pradesh must consider the cultural and spiritual significance of hot springs, which are sacred, historically revered and central to healing and purification rituals for Tibetan Buddhists – many of whom live in the same areas eyed for geothermal projects, such as Dirang and Tawang.

“The most efficient drilling site is often at the mouth of the spring, but local communities have built kunds [bathing pools] there,” explains Tage. “Respecting their sentiments, we trace the underground source and drill away from the visible outlet, which requires more effort and resources.”

However, recognising that they may need to drill at spring mouths in the future, CESHS is conducting awareness campaigns on clean energy, explaining geothermal power, its safety and potential community benefits, says Tage.

“The hot spring [being drilled] is on my private land, but people from nearby villages have been using it for generations, believing its waters ease body pain and improve skin health. We even drink from it,” says Karma Tsering, a resident of Dirang.

“When we were first told about the project, it sounded like a promising opportunity for the community, so I agreed. After the initial drilling, further work [and] related discussions are yet to take place, but I’m happy to cooperate,” Tsering adds.

Geopolitics adds another layer of complexity. Some of the geothermal sites in Tawang lie close to the Indo-China border, and special clearance is required from the Ministry of External Affairs for these projects, Tage adds. The border has been the subject of a long-standing bilateral dispute.

A national policy for geothermal energy

According to Tage, limited knowledge sharing and research silos hamper progress. Restricted access to, and the often scattered locations where existing geological and hydrological data are stored means teams must often start from scratch on surveys and baseline mapping. The lack of baseline data also makes it difficult to conduct comparative studies to assess temporal changes.

“Compared to the Western Himalayas, where geothermal systems have been studied extensively, the Eastern Himalayas remains poorly understood,” Tage says, noting that extensive exploration of the region has been delayed due to its geological complexity, accessibility challenges and strategic constraints.

“Most existing research here relies heavily on spatial data, remote sensing and modelling, with limited fieldwork,” he notes. “India must invest in dedicated institutions focused on the Himalayan geology of the north-east, including geothermal, seismic, hydrological and ecological complexities.”

India’s National Policy on Geothermal Energy, published by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy in September 2025, envisages the creation of a comprehensive geothermal resource data repository built through inter-agency and international collaboration.

It will consolidate datasets from government bodies, research institutes, and the oil and gas sector, including technical expertise, and equipment and well data. Eligible geothermal operators can access the repository if they commit to submitting data acquired from their surveys, ensuring coordinated research, resource evaluation and development planning.

Tage says the policy will boost the centre’s work, noting that it “facilitates access to dedicated financial schemes for exploration and pilot plants, streamlines approvals with state, defence and forest authorities critical in border districts like Tawang, and opens opportunities for public-private partnerships and foreign technology transfer”. The policy text noted that the government may look into the possibility of preferential tariffs and viability gap funding, which Tage says reduces regulatory uncertainty, accelerating the path from exploration to pilot demonstration.

However, Chandrasekharam countered that the policy is too general and vague. “Without greater clarity and specificity, especially on tariffs, it is unlikely to attract serious investment from international geothermal companies into India’s programme.”

He adds: “Just as India’s space programme began with international collaborations and gaining access to proven technology and expertise, we should approach geothermal development similarly and gradually build homegrown solutions to make the sector self-reliant.”

Barasha Das is an independent journalist based in Assam, India.

This article was originally published on Dialogue Earth under the Creative Commons BY NC ND licence.

The Delhi High Court on Thursday directed the Centre and the Delhi government to ensure that the health and medical condition of activist Sonam Wangchuk, who has been on a hunger strike at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar since June 28, is monitored daily, Bar and Bench reported.

The court added that any medical intervention required to improve his health should be undertaken by the government.

Wangchuk’s fast is part of a protest by the political campaign Cockroach Janta Party to demand the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan after alleged mismanagement in conducting competitive exams.

On Thursday, the court said that “life of any citizen is previous and all efforts ought to be made by government authorities to save the same”, Live Law reported.

The court also took note of the Centre’s submission that Wangchuk’s health was already being monitored by government doctors. It went on to dispose of a petition seeking intervention to break the activist’s fast.

The petition, filed by lawyer and activist Rakesh Kumar Saini, stated that Wangchuk’s health had deteriorated rapidly and that he had lost 8.5 kg during the demonstration. If the hunger strike continued, he could lose his life within two days, it added.

Saini had sought directions to the Centre and the Delhi government for taking Wangchuk to a hospital and force-feeding him.

If the activist dies, it would be a matter of great shame for the country and the world, the lawyer had said in his petition.

On Thursday, Wangchuk’s physician, Dr Satish Lamba, said that the activist had lost more than 9 kg since beginning his fast, ANI reported.

“He is mentally alert,” Dr Lamba said. “His current weight is 56.9 kg.”

#WATCH | Delhi: On the health of activist Sonam Wangchuk, Dr Satish Lamba says, "Today, on the 19th day of hunger strike, his total weight loss exceeds 9 kilograms. His blood sugar today is 80 mg/dL, and his pulse is 72 beats per minute. His blood pressure readings are 105/61… https://t.co/6miDskF7S7 pic.twitter.com/hMyR7HBbXJ

— ANI (@ANI) July 16, 2026

On Tuesday, more than 1,800 members of civil society urged Wangchuk to withdraw his hunger strike.

In a letter, the signatories said that they were appealing for an end to the hunger strike because the Union government “does not have a heart or a conscience”.

The signatories include actors Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah, author Arundhati Roy, academics Nivedita Menon and Jean Drèze, and activists Lalita Ramdas and Kavita Srivastava.

Abhijeet Dipke, who founded the campaign, said on Tuesday that after 17 days of the hunger strike, Wangchuk had started losing muscle mass and was in “immense pain”.

Dipke added that he had “begged him to end his fast”. He quoted Wangchuk as having asked in response why the Union government was not willing to hold a dialogue with the protesters.

Edited by Sneha.

The Rampur Development Authority in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday ordered the demolition of 38 of the 40 buildings at Mohammad Ali Jauhar University, founded by jailed Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, PTI reported.

All the buildings in the university campus except the medical college and the academic block were constructed “without approval”, PTI quoted unidentified officials as having alleged.

Khan had served as the president of the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust, which operates the university. However, the SP leader and his family resigned from the trust in January.

The demolition order was issued under the 1973 Uttar Pradesh Urban Planning and Development Act, the news agency quoted officials as saying.

The university has been given 15 days to remove the allegedly unauthorised structures, failing which the administration will carry out the demolition, The Indian Express reported.

The action was initiated based on a report by the regional junior engineer alleging unauthorised structures on the campus, PTI quoted Rampur District Magistrate Ajay Kumar Dwivedi as saying.

He said that the university management had been served a notice and given an opportunity to present its case.

The university submitted its reply on July 8, while a personal hearing was conducted on July 15.

During the hearing, the university said that the Singankhera village, where the campus is located, was not in the Rampur Development Authority’s jurisdiction before September 27, 2024, the news agency reported. Therefore, the university argued, no approval was required for its building plans from the authorities.

The institution further contended that the buildings had been constructed much earlier and could not be declared unauthorised under the current rules.

However, the development authority rejected the arguments, saying that buildings in areas that are subsequently brought under its jurisdiction can be considered as lawful only if they had secured the approval from the authorities when they were constructed, The Indian Express reported.

The order further alleged that the university management was aware of the need for prior approval, as it had obtained permission from the zila panchayat for two buildings but had constructed the other structures without sanction, PTI reported.

The university, established in 2006, was a prominent project for Khan. However, since the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in Uttar Pradesh in 2017, the university has been involved in legal battles pertaining to land encroachment and alleged lease violations.

Khan is in the Rampur jail. More than 81 cases have been registered against Khan after the BJP came to power in the state, The Indian Express reported citing police records.

SP spokesperson Juhie Singh told The Indian Express that the university is an important educational institute where a large number of students pursue their studies at affordable fees, with many also receiving fee reimbursement.

She alleged that ordering the demolition of such a large educational institute reflected a “targeted campaign” against Khan and the institution established by him.

Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

The Congress on Thursday urged activist Sonam Wangchuk to end his hunger strike in Delhi.

Wangchuk’s fast is part of the protest by the political campaign Cockroach Janta Party to demand the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on account of alleged mismanagement in conducting competitive exams.

Wangchuk began the hunger strike at Jantar Mantar on June 28.

Congress leader KC Venugopal said the Opposition party had also been demanding Pradhan’s resignation for more than a month and a half.

“We share the anguish and outrage that Shri Wangchuk ji feels, especially due to the lack of accountability within the Modi government – for the collapse of the examination system in particular,” the Congress’ organisation secretary said on social media.

The Congress leader said that in view of Wangchuk’s health condition, the party was appealing to him to end his fast.

“His concerns are our concerns and that of other Opposition parties as well,” Venugopal said. “Rest assured, we will continue to confront the Modi government and demand the education minister’s resignation.”

This was the first comment about Wangchuk’s protest by the largest Opposition party, which, along with its allies, has separately been demanding Pradhan’s resignation.

On Tuesday, Abhijeet Dipke, who founded the campaign, said that after more than two weeks of hunger strike, Wangchuk had started losing muscle mass and was in “immense pain”.

Dipke said that he had “begged him to end his fast”. He quoted Wangchuk as having asked in response why the Union government was not willing to hold a dialogue with the protesters.

On Thursday, Wangchuk’s physician told reporters that the activist had lost more than 9 kg since beginning his fast.

Earlier in the day, the Delhi High Court directed the Centre and the Delhi government to ensure that Wangchuk’s health and medical condition is monitored daily. The bench court added that any medical intervention required to improve the activist’s health should be undertaken by the government.

The court’s orders came on a petition by a lawyer and activist seeking its intervention to end Wangchuk’s fast, citing health concerns.

Also read:

• Why INDIA bloc is welcoming the Cockroach Janta Party – but Congress is not
• Watch: Meet the ‘cockroaches’ who crawl out every night at Jantar Mantar
• How the ‘cockroaches’ at the Jantar Mantar sit-in are keeping themselves busy

On Wednesday, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor had urged Wangchuk to end his fast.

“You have awakened the conscience of the nation; that is what a fast is meant to do,” Tharoor said on social media. “India needs your voice for the long road ahead.”

The Congress MP had said that with the Monsoon Session of Parliament starting on Monday, “we will have an opportunity to raise the students’ issues in the highest forum of our democracy”.

On Wednesday and Thursday, several Opposition leaders such as Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Aazad, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi’s Prakash Ambedkar and Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav visited Wangchuk at the protest site.

Some other politicians as well as actors and comedians have expressed support for Wangchuk on social media.

On Tuesday, more than 1,800 members of civil society urged Wangchuk to withdraw his hunger strike, citing concerns about the protesters’ health. The signatories that include academics, artists and activists said that the Union government “does not have a heart or a conscience” and that the fast should be ended “in the interests of the longer and more difficult struggle” ahead.

Written by Nachiket Deuskar. Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.

Also read:

• Why India’s Opposition parties should be worried about the cockroach movement
• ‘We want accountability’: Voices from the Cockroach Janta Party’s protest in Pune

The Supreme Court on Thursday verbally observed that the Central Board of Secondary Education’s mandatory three-language policy should be introduced from Class 6 instead of Class 9, Bar and Bench reported.

This came after the board said in a May 15 circular that studying three languages would be mandatory for Class 9 students from July 1. Among the three languages, at least two must be Indian.

On Thursday, the court remarked that introducing a third language in Class 9 would be stressful for the students.

A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and R Mahadevan was hearing the Tamil Nadu government’s plea challenging a Madras High Court judgement that had directed it to set up Navodaya Vidyalayas in every district, Bar and Bench reported.

During the hearing, the topic of the three-language policy in Central Board of Secondary Education’s schools came up.

“Third language should stop in Class 9, not start in Class 9,” The Hindu quoted Nagarathna as saying.

The pressure of the Class 10 board exams starts as early as Class 8, she said.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court refused to stay the three-language policy for the 2026-’27 academic year, saying that “learning a language never goes to waste”, The Times of India reported.

The petitioners had contended that the policy being implemented in the middle of an academic session would impose additional burden on students and disrupt their preparation for the Class 10 board exams.

They also argued that several schools lack trained teachers, textbooks and the infrastructure to implement the policy effectively.

The bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana had issued notice on the petitions, the newspaper reported. The matter will be heard further on July 22.

CBSE’s three-language policy

Class 9 students will need to study three languages of which two must be Indian. Those who currently have two Indian languages can either take up a foreign language or a third Indian language.

Class 9 students who currently have one Indian and one non-native language can choose any Indian language as the third language. Those who are currently studying two foreign languages have been given a “special one-time relaxation” under which they can add an Indian language as the third one.

There will be no board exams for the third language for the current batch of Class 9 students, and there will instead be an internal school-based assessment.

Class 7 and Class 8 students who have already chosen two foreign languages can continue studying them. However, the students will have to study an additional Indian language till Class 10. The CBSE said that the third language for these batches will also be assessed by the school through an internal evaluation.

The three-language policy will apply in full to the batch of students currently in Class 6, who will not be given a transitional relaxation.

Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to entertain contempt petitions alleging that demolitions were being carried out in violation of its November 2024 judgement that laid down guidelines against punitive action, Live Law reported.

The court said that the concerns should be raised before the High Courts.

There are no provisions in Indian law that allow for the demolition of property as a punitive measure. However, the practice has become commonplace in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states.

In November 2024, the Supreme Court held as illegal the practice of demolishing properties of persons accused of crimes as a punitive measure. It said that processes must be followed before removing allegedly illegal encroachments.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said that there will be factual disputes in individual cases and that the top court cannot adjudicate each claim. It passed an order sending the contempt petitions to the High Courts.

The Supreme Court had earlier issued notice to the authorities in some of the petitions, Live Law reported.

A counsel in one of the petitions pertaining to the allegedly unlawful bulldozing of mosques in Gujarat’s Somnath urged the Supreme Court to intervene in the cases, contending that these were evidently egregious violations, Live Law reported.

A lawyer appearing in a contempt case from Maharashtra was quoted as having said that many demolitions had followed public declarations by politicians about taking "bulldozer action".

The chief justice observed that the court’s November 2024 judgement had laid down exceptions, including one that the guidelines will not apply to structures that allegedly encroach on public spaces, Live Law reported. When the authorities invoke such exceptions in their defence, it is a factual dispute that cannot be adjudicated in a contempt jurisdiction, Kant was quoted as saying.

In February, the Allahabad High Court observed that demolitions had continued to be used as punishment in Uttar Pradesh despite the November 2024 ruling by the Supreme Court against the practice.

Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.

The Nagpur Cyber Police have registered a first information report against several social media content creators for allegedly running a defamatory online campaign against Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, ANI reported on Thursday.

The case was filed in the backdrop of a heated online debate about the government's E20 fuel policy. Several vehicle owners have claimed that the E20 variant of petrol, which has 20% ethanol, reduces mileage and damages vehicles.

The complaint was filed by BJP Nagpur City Social Media Cell Convener Shishir Arun Tripathi, ANI reported.

The complaint has alleged that a YouTube video uploaded by content creator Manish Kashyap on July 3, 2026, contained false, defamatory and misleading claims about Gadkari and E20 fuel, with the intent to mislead the public, the news agency reported.

Other YouTube and Instagram accounts named in the FIR include Desi Boys NCR, Harshit Rathi and Anklesh Invate.

The FIR has been filed under Sections 356, 352 and 296 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, along with Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

After the FIR was filed, Rohit Kumar, who runs the Delhi Boys NCR page posted a video on Instagram, in which he apologised for using “abusive” language. However, he remarked: “If someone who earns Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 a month has to waste an additional Rs 5,000, would the person not feel bad?”

Kashyap, however, said that he would not delete his video about the subject, The Indian Express reported. In a video addressed to Gadkari, he said: “If you publicly say that my video is false, I am ready to go to jail. But I will not retract what I have said.”

Consumer concerns

Consumers have complained that the new fuel mix damages engines and reduces their mileage.

An opinion poll by LocalCircles published on July 5 showed that 53% of the surveyed petrol vehicle owners said that they believe that the government’s handling of the E20 rollout was “disastrous” or “ineffective”.

Sixty-six percent of the respondents said that they were experiencing a more than 10% drop in mileage with E20. Forty-five percent of the surveyed users said that their cars had suffered a moderate to major increase in wear and tear, or needed repairs, according to the polling conducted in June.

A report in October, which analysed government and industry data, said that only about 20% of new petrol vehicles sold in India in the last 15 years were compliant with the E20 fuel blend.

Gadkari has claimed that while the average mileage of vehicles may have marginally reduced because of blending petrol with ethanol, the claims made online about damage to cars are “overblown” and part of a “false narrative”.

Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.

The Uttar Pradesh Police on Thursday told the Supreme Court that its investigation had found no evidence linking Ashish Mishra or his father, former Union minister Ajay Mishra, to allegations of witness intimidation in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, Live Law reported.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana was hearing Ashish Mishra’s bail plea.

He remains on bail granted by the court, which is monitoring the progress of the trial in the main case.

The bench was informed that the investigation into the first information report alleging witness intimidation had been completed and that no incriminating material had been found against Ashish Mishra, Ajay Mishra or others named in the complaint.

The bench took note of the police status report, which stated that a chargesheet had been filed only against one person, Amandeep Singh and that an appropriate court had taken cognisance of the matter.

Ashish Mishra’s lawyer submitted that his client had not been named in the chargesheet and said the trial would conclude within three months, Bar and Bench reported.

The Supreme Court granted the complainant two weeks to file an additional affidavit in response to the police’s status report.

The case alleging witness intimidation was registered in October after the Supreme Court criticised the Uttar Pradesh Police for failing to act on a complaint by Baljinder Singh.

The case filed at the Paduwa police station, named Ajay Mishra, Ashish Mishra and two other persons.

On June 20, 2025, Singh had filed a written complaint alleging that an unidentified person offered him Rs 1 lakh and threatened him with consequences if he testified in the case, advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the complainant, had told the court in August.

The court then questioned the police for failing to look into the witness’ complaint and directed them to verify the allegations.

The main case pertains to the death of eight persons, including four farmers, on October 3, 2021, as violence had broken out after a vehicle belonging to Ashish Mishra, had allegedly run over a group of demonstrators.

The violence had broken out in Lakhimpur Kheri district during a protest against the Centre’s now-repealed agricultural laws.

Ashish Mishra was first arrested in the case on October 9, 2021. He walked out of jail on February 15, 2022, after the Allahabad High Court granted him bail. However, families of those killed in the violence challenged the bail order in the Supreme Court, which overturned the High Court verdict and cancelled the bail in April 2022.

After setting aside the High Court’s bail order, the Supreme Court asked that another bench be assigned to hear his plea. The new bench denied Ashish Mishra bail in July 2022, after which he moved the Supreme Court once again to challenge the order.

In July 2024, Ashish Mishra was granted bail by the Supreme Court but he was only allowed to stay in Delhi or Lucknow. In May, the bail conditions were relaxed to allow him to visit Lakhimpur Kheri every Saturday evening and return to Lucknow on Sunday.

Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.

The Congress on Wednesday asked Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal to clarify the Centre’s position after a bipartisan group of United States senators introduced a bill proposing 100% tariffs on imports from India and four other countries for purchasing Russian oil.

Apart from India, the proposed legislation would apply to China, Slovakia, Hungary and Azerbaijan, PTI reported.

It exempts 15 European countries that continue to purchase Russian gas, with the legislators arguing that those imports make up only a small share of their energy needs. They also said that the countries were reducing their dependence on Moscow.

On Wednesday, Congress leader Pawan Khera said that Goyal, who had earlier dismissed reports that India was holding out for a better trade deal with the US, should “clarify this”.

Khera highlighted that the proposal came from Republican senators backed by US President Donald Trump rather than House Democrats.

“Imagine the humiliation: needing Trump’s approval to buy Russian oil, and now being threatened with punitive tariffs for doing exactly that,” added the Congress leader

.@PiyushGoyal, who is quick to dismiss reports that India is holding out for a better trade deal with the US, should clarify this.

These aren't House Democrats. These are Republican Senators - backed by Trump himself - demanding 100% tariffs on India and four other countries for… pic.twitter.com/3s1uvkMxtQ

— Pawan Khera 🇮🇳 ಪವನ್ ಖೇರಾ (@Pawankhera) July 15, 2026

If passed, the bill would mark the first time the US Congress has explicitly authorised the use of tariffs as a geopolitical tool to penalise countries accused of helping finance another country’s war effort through energy purchases, PTI reported.

Indian goods had been facing a combined US tariff rate of 50%, including a punitive levy of 25% imposed in August for buying Russian oil.

The US had repeatedly alleged that India’s purchases of Russian oil helped fuel the war in Ukraine, while New Delhi had maintained that its oil purchases were aimed at ensuring its own energy security.

On February 7, Trump issued an executive order to remove the additional 25% punitive tariff on imports from India. This brought the effective US tariff rate on Indian imports to 18% after the interim trade deal was agreed to.

Written by Sara Varghese. Edited by Sneha.

Why should some small cup-like depressions and a maze of lines recently discovered on a rock in New Delhi matter? What do these markings mean and how can we decipher their date?

The large outcrop stands in the Central Ridge forest, not far from Sardar Patel Marg.

It was one that the writer and naturalist Pradip Krishen had visited innumerable times in past years, a big rock where he used to take his dogs for a walk and one whose patches of living stable biocrusts he had watched over the seasons as they turned from brown to green with the first rains.

The markings on the rock, though, had somehow escaped his attention. These he noticed for the first time when he went there some weeks ago with the forest analyst Chetan Agrawal who had seen such cupules – so called because they are cup-like, round depressions – in the Haryana Aravalli hills on many occasions. The discovery is now in public domain and has been widely reported.

My purpose here is merely to explain why these are significant and deserve protection.

The cupules – as these photographs reveal – have been embedded in the rock in the form of small round depressions to make two sets of parallel lines. Ten such markings – five in each row – are visible in one instance while the second set is made up of twelve cupules arranged in parallel lines of six. A maze-like impression can also be seen on the rock.

The Central Ridge carvings are humanly created and I have seen this kind of cupule rock art in many parts of India. The challenge in every instance is to try to estimate their age.

One way of doing this is to look at associated human evidence. So, for instance, the cupules in a rock shelter in Daraki Chattan in the Chambal basin have been dated to the Palaeolithic because researchers found detached rocks with such markings in the lowest occupational level. It is imperative that the landscape around the Central Ridge rock be examined closely to see if there are stone tools or debitage or pottery that provides insights into the ancients who made these rock impressions.

The other possibility is to look for such markings in the same kind of formation and within a little distance of the Central Ridge.

In 1986, I was part of an exploration of prehistoric sites in the Delhi and Haryana Aravallis. Led by the archaeologist Dilip Chakrabarti, the exploration began with a visit to the minor rock edict of Emperor Ashoka at Srinivaspuri – the only in-situ message of the Mauryan ruler in Delhi.

The high outcrop in the middle of a residential colony today appears incongruous, but in the 1960s the area was still being developed. It was then that ancient writing on the rocks was discovered by a contractor who saved it by drawing the attention of the Archaeological Survey of India to it. A causal search in that area in 1986 revealed a stone microlith which suggested that the spot had been occupied much before Ashoka’s words were embedded into the rock there.

Some months ago, the prehistorians Malavika Chatterjee and Akash Srinivas of Ashoka University noticed a series of cupule marks – similar to those on the Central Ridge – on the very rock where Ashoka’s words were carved. These, as they pointed out, had also been mentioned by Harry Falk in his compendium on Ashokan inscriptions but what made their observations important was that they thought that some of these could be earlier than the emperor’s edict. So, when Pradip Krishen drew attention to the cupules on the Central Ridge, my first thought was to follow through on what they had suggested.

Neelam Singh of the Indian Institute of Heritage, who has a PhD on rock art and many publications to her credit, has now photographed and examined the cupules on the Ashokan rock. She has enhanced the photographs through DStretch, a tool that is used by rock art researchers to make markings embedded in rock more visible.

Her surmise is that there are some cupules in a linear pattern that have characters of the Ashokan Brahmi script on top of them which, as she puts it, “sets the chronology of these linear cupules to before the third century BCE”. If these are earlier than the Ashokan inscription, then they are likely to be prehistoric.

Whichever way one looks at it, within a few kilometres of the Delhi Central Ridge and in a geographical setting very similar to it, cupule marks were made on a big rock much before the words of an emperor in the third century BCE came to be inscribed there.

In the same way, well before Malcha Mahal in the 14th century came to grace the Central Delhi ridge, the land had been walked and used and marked by ancient people whose markings can still be seen. The sets of markings on the rocks in central and south Delhi are likely to have been made around the same time period.

Here, I have a suggestion for the Delhi Forest Department. Usually, forest departments treat the landscape with much respect because habitat protection leads to species protection, some of which are endangered.

Archaeological sites too, it needs to be remembered – like animals and flora – are an endangered species and protecting their surroundings will surely help in better protecting these sites. The rock on the Central Ridge falls within the jurisdiction of the forest department, and it is imperative that they take the initiative in safeguarding the landscape around it.

Nayanjot Lahiri is Professor of History at Ashoka University. The views expressed here are the personal views of the author.

Also read: Uprooting a forest for a park: The destructive ‘restoration’ of Delhi’s Central Ridge

New Delhi on Thursday directed shipping companies not to deploy Indian seafarers on vessels travelling through the Strait of Hormuz.

This came after a series of attacks on commercial vessels in the waterway amid renewed tensions between the United States and Iran.

The Directorate General of Maritime Administration, the country’s apex maritime regulator under the Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, issued the directive to ship owners, ship managers and recruitment and placement service licence companies.

It also asked vessels operating in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and nearby waters to maintain heightened security, monitor navigational warnings and security advisories, and comply with ship security measures under the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code.

The authority said that it would continue to “closely monitor the evolving security situation”.

Advisory for Indian Maritime Stakeholders

In view of the heightened security situation in the Gulf region, the Directorate General of Maritime Administration (DGMA), through DGMA Circular No. 36 of 2026, has directed Ship Owners, Ship Managers and RPSL Companies to avoid… pic.twitter.com/s8XgKI1ifn

— Directorate General of Shipping, Govt. of India (@dgshipping_IN) July 15, 2026

On Sunday, an Indian seafarer went missing after a Cyprus-flagged ship transiting the waterway was targeted. His family later said that he has died, though the Indian government has not confirmed his death.

The vessel, GFS Galaxy, was attacked off the coast of Oman and disabled after a fire damaged its engine room.

On Tuesday, the Union government confirmed that another Indian sailor was killed and 10 others were injured after Iran attacked two ships in the Strait of Hormuz. It was unclear when the attacks took place.

Following the recent attacks, the government on Wednesday announced plans to establish a dashboard to track in real-time, Indian seafarers on vessels operating in the conflict-hit Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman.

India has more than 3.1 lakh seafarers working on merchant ships, making it one of the largest suppliers of maritime workers, according to estimates cited by Bloomberg from shipping associations.

At least 13 Indian sailors have died in the region since the conflict in West Asia began on February 28, The Indian Express quoted unidentified government officials as saying.

Written by Sara Varghese. Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

India on Tuesday summoned an Iranian diplomat to register a “strong protest” after an Indian sailor was killed in attacks on two oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.

The attacks took place when the tankers were transiting the southern shipping lane of the strait, within Omani territorial waters, the United Arab Emirates said. The attacks also damaged the ships and resulted in fires on board.

The Emirati Ministry of Defence did not specify when the attacks took place.

On Tuesday, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said that the two vessels – Mombasa and Al Bahiyah – had a combined crew of 46, including 30 Indian seafarers.

Of the 12 Indians on board Al Bahiyah, one was killed and another was injured. Of the 18 Indian citizens on board MT Mombasa, nine were injured, including two who were seriously hurt, the external affairs ministry said.

The ministry said its diplomatic mission in the United Arab Emirates was in contact with the Emirati authorities to provide assistance to the Indian seafarers who had been affected.

It added that Mohammad Javad Hosseini, Iran’s deputy chief of mission in Delhi, was summoned on Tuesday and a “strong protest” over the attacks was conveyed.

“We strongly condemn these attacks and acts of violence targeting seafarers and disrupting free and safe navigation through international waterways like the Strait of Hormuz,” the ministry said in a statement.

This came two days after an alleged Iranian attack on the Cyprus-flagged container ship GFS Galaxy left an Indian crew member missing. Ten other Indian seafarers on board the vessel were rescued after it was targeted off the coast of Oman.

The Indian external affairs ministry had said on Sunday that continued attacks on commercial shipping in West Asia were “deeply worrisome”. It called for the de-escalation of tensions and for the “conclusion of ongoing negotiations for a diplomatic solution so that peace and stability can return to the region”.

Written by Sara Varghese. Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

The Supreme Court verbally observed on Wednesday that persons whose names were removed from the electoral rolls after the special intensive revision exercise in West Bengal would still be entitled to certain welfare benefits, including subsidised ration, Live Law reported.

The court, however, declined to entertain a plea challenging the suspension of the petitioner’s ration card following a June order issued by the West Bengal Department of Food and Supplies. It directed him to approach the Calcutta High Court for relief.

The June order links beneficiary status under the public distribution system and the state government’s Annapurna Yojana scheme to an individual’s classification after the special intensive revision exercise.

It also states that the ration cards of persons deleted from the voter list during the special intensive revision would be marked as inactive.

In his petition, Mohibulla Mondal also sought a direction that his supply of subsidised food grains continue until his appeal against his exclusion from the electoral rolls is decided by the appellate tribunal.

During the hearing, Chief Justice Surya Kant observed that deletion from the electoral rolls would not by itself deprive a person of certain welfare benefits.

“You are entitled to certain benefits,” Live Law quoted Kant as saying. “Go through jurisdictional High Courts, they will grant it."

The Supreme Court also requested the appellate tribunal to decide Mondal’s appeal as early as possible, preferably within two months, before disposing of the petition.

The special intensive revision of voter rolls in West Bengal was carried out before the Assembly elections in April.

Final rolls published in February initially excluded more than 61 lakh voters, with the process continuing through supplementary lists and adjudication of about 60 lakh “doubtful and pending” cases.

By April 6, about 91 lakh voters, nearly 11.9% of West Bengal’s electorate before the revision process began, had been removed from the electoral rolls.

Ahead of the Assembly elections, about 34 lakh appeals were reportedly pending before appellate tribunals. Of these, 27 lakh were filed by persons who were excluded from the voter list. The tribunals, set up as part of the special intensive revision process, had allowed 1,607 names to be added back to the electoral rolls.

What Bengal government order means

The state’s order effectively means that beneficiaries who were marked as absent, shifted, duplicate or dead in the draft voter list published in December would become ineligible under the public distribution system. Those who were removed from electoral rolls in the subsequent supplementary lists would also become ineligible.

Unmapped voters identified during the revision exercise who were excluded after the hearing process and persons removed from the electoral roll after adjudication will also be ineligible under the public distribution system.

However, persons who have filed appeals before the appellate tribunals or submitted their applications under the Citizenship Amendment Act will receive the benefits until the process concludes.

In June, a separate Supreme Court bench directed another petitioner, the Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity, a farm labourers’ union, to approach the Calcutta High Court after it challenged the West Bengal government’s decision to link ration benefits to exclusion from the electoral rolls under the special intensive revision.

The union had argued that the policy could render between 35 lakh to 60 lakh ration cards inactive.

The organisation had contended that linking ration benefits to the electoral roll revision exercise violated the fundamental rights to equality and life, noting that the court itself had clarified that exclusion because of the special intensive revision would not determine economic vulnerability or the citizenship status of a person.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

Defending her nephew and party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said that he had continued to “fight like a tiger” despite facing investigations in multiple cases, The Hindu reported.

Abhishek Banerjee has alleged before the Calcutta High Court that multiple “unreasonable complaints” have been filed against him since the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in West Bengal after defeating the TMC in the Assembly election in May.

Mamata Banerjee’s comments came on the day Abhishek Banerjee gave his voice sample in a case pertaining to allegedly inflammatory statements made by him during the Assembly election campaign.

The remarks are being seen as the former chief minister’s strongest public endorsement of Abhishek Banerjee since the TMC was hit by a rebellion following the Assembly election. Abhishek Banerjee has faced criticism from within the party, with several leaders blaming him for the electoral loss.

Nearly 60 out of the TMC’s 80 MLAs have rebelled against the party leadership to choose Ritabrata Banerjee as the leader of the Opposition in the House.

The group has been recognised by the Assembly speaker as the party’s legislature party in the House, and Ritabrata Banerjee has been recognised as the leader of the Opposition.

In June, TMC leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said that 20 of TMC’s Lok Sabha MPs will merge with the Tripura-based Nationalist Citizens’ Party and back the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. Abhishek Banerjee has urged Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to disqualify the 20 rebel MPs on the grounds of leaving the party.

On July 9, three TMC Rajya Sabha MPs who had resigned from the House joined the BJP.

On Wednesday, Mamata Banerjee said that the rebel MLAs were using Abhishek Banerjee as an excuse.

“His family members were summoned,” The Hindu quoted Mamata as saying. “Had he wanted, he could have got relief. But he did not run away from the battlefield. The way he has continued to fight, even if he has made any mistake, that should be forgiven.”

Banerjee also claimed that the rebel leaders were joining the BJP out of fear of the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation.

“The BJP is using the police to break the Trinamool,” she said. “They are using fear and threats to dismantle municipal boards.”

The TMC chief added: “Those who have a setting are joining the BJP’s washing machine. Those MLAs and MPs who have joined the ‘setting company’ have done so because they are afraid. Don’t lie. You are free to go if you want. Go, join the BJP’s washing machine.”

Hours before Mamata Banerjee’s statement, MLA Madan Mitra, considered one of her closest loyalists, quit the TMC, alleging that the party leadership was focused on promoting Abhishek Banerjee instead of strengthening the organisation.

Mitra’s resignation came a day after his wife and two sons were issued summons by the ED in a municipal recruitment scam case.

Edited by Sneha.

Also read: Why the Trinamool Congress is collapsing like a house of cards

The Election Commission on Wednesday extended deadlines for house-to-house verification as part of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Delhi, Punjab, Karnataka and Telangana. The timeline for publishing the draft and final electoral rolls has also been moved ahead.

The poll panel is carrying out the exercise to revise electoral rolls through house-to-house enumeration and verification of old voter data.

In Delhi, the deadline for the house-to-house verification, which began on June 30, has been extended by 10 days. The exercise that was scheduled to conclude on July 29 will now continue till August 8.

The draft electoral roll will be published on August 17 instead of August 5. Claims and objections can be filed from August 17 to September 16 and will be disposed of by October 15. The final electoral roll will be published on October 19.

In Punjab, house-to-house verification has been extended till August 3 from July 24. The draft rolls will be published on August 13 instead of July 31, while the final rolls will be released on October 12, two days later than originally scheduled.

In Karnataka, verification has been extended till August 8 from July 29. The draft rolls will be published on August 17 instead of August 5, and the final rolls on October 19 instead of October 7.

In Telangana, the draft electoral rolls will be published on August 10, while the final rolls are scheduled for publication on October 12 under the revised timeline.

On Tuesday, the Election Commission extended the Special Intensive Revision schedule for Haryana and Andhra Pradesh.

The five states, along with Delhi, are part of the third phase of the special intensive revision. With this phase, the exercise will cover the entire country except Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. The Election Commission said that the schedule for the revision in these regions will be announced later, considering the Census exercise and the adverse weather.

In 2025, the first phase of the voter roll revision exercise was conducted in Bihar and the second phase in 12 states and Union Territories.

Concerns have been raised that the exercise could remove eligible voters from the roll.

Several petitions were filed in the Supreme Court against the voter roll revision.

On May 27, the Supreme Court upheld the legality of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls conducted by the Election Commission, saying that the exercise “advances the constitutional imperative of free and fair elections”.

However, the court said that the poll panel’s inquiries for the purpose of including a person in the voter list do not mean that it can decide on whether the person is an Indian citizen.

Written by Tanya Shrivastava. Edited by Sneha.

The University of Jammu on Wednesday ordered a “comprehensive audit and inspection” of all its libraries, offices and digital repositories to ensure that no books or publications containing “anti-national, separatist or objectionable content” are available on campus, The Indian Express reported.

In a circular issued by the registrar, the university sought compliance reports from all departments and said that it would constitute a committee to formulate a standard operating procedure for procuring books and academic material.

The mechanism will include a screening process, periodic random scrutiny by a panel of academicians and regular examination of the university’s websites and digital repositories.

The directive came days after the Bharatiya Janata Party protested against the procurement of certain books by government schools, accusing the Union Territory’s National Conference government of promoting “academic jihad”.

Following the protests, two books were withdrawn from school libraries and eight officials were suspended, while a contractual employee was terminated, over the inclusion of what the government described as “pro-separatist content” in the books.

The withdrawn books, Personalities and Legends of J&K by Hilal Ahmed and Santosh Meena, and Great Personalities of Jammu and Kashmir by Dr Sushant Giri, were supplied to school libraries under the Samagra Shiksha programme for higher secondary classes.

The police also searched the premises of a publisher linked to one of the books after a first information report was registered under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

On July 12, the counter-intelligence unit of the Jammu and Kashmir Police arrested three publishers – Inderpaul Singh from Oberoi Book Service, and Amardeep Singh and Girish Arora from the Noida-based Dominant Publishers.

Both Oberoi Book Service and Dominant Publishers were also blacklisted by the government.

This fresh row over books came almost a year after the lieutenant governor banned at least 25 books, including works by author and activist Arundhati Roy and former Supreme Court lawyer and constitutional expert AG Noorani.

Edited by Sneha.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted the Odisha government time till August 19 to decide on the remission plea of Bajrang Dal member Dara Singh, who is serving a life sentence for the 1999 murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons.

The bench was informed that the state’s sentence review board had sought records but had not yet received them, preventing it from considering Singh’s plea.

The court took note of the submission and adjourned the matter till August 19, saying that it expects the panel to decide in the meantime.

Staines and his minor sons were burnt to death by a mob led by Singh in Odisha on January 22, 1999, when they were sleeping in a jeep. The attackers had accused the missionary of illegal religious conversion. The murders had sparked national and international condemnation.

Singh was among the 14 persons convicted in 2003 by a special Central Bureau of Investigation court. He was sentenced to death by the CBI court, but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 2005 by the Orissa High Court.

The High Court also acquitted 11 others in the case. Another person accused in the case, who was a minor at the time of the murders, was released in 2008.

The Supreme Court had upheld Singh’s conviction in 2011.

In his plea, Singh argued that he should be considered for remission as he is above the age of 60 and has been in jail for more than 24 years, Bar and Bench reported. Singh told the court that he regretted his actions, which the petition described as having been in the context of “protecting the nation”, the legal news outlet reported.

He also told the court that he had never been granted parole.

In April 2025, Mahendra Hembram, another person convicted in the case, was released from a jail in Odisha on the grounds of “good behaviour”.

Written by Nachiket Deuskar. Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.

Trinamool Congress MLA Madan Mitra, considered a key loyalist of party chief Mamata Banerjee, resigned from her faction and joined the rebel group. This came a day after Mitra’s wife and two sons were issued summons by the Enforcement Directorate in a municipal recruitment scam case.

Mitra claimed that his decision was not related to the summons and said that his family would cooperate with the central agency in its investigation.

The Kamarhati MLA said he was resigning from Mamata Banerjee’s faction as he was “no longer able to work efficiently” in it. He alleged that the leadership was focused on promoting TMC National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee rather than strengthening the organisation. Read on.

A mob attacked an Assam Rifles camp in Manipur’s Senapati district on Tuesday night after security forces launched an operation against suspected armed cadres earlier in the day. While the mob allegedly threw stones, damaged property and set vehicles on fire, no injuries were reported.

The Assam Rifles had launched a patrol and search operation near Makuilongdi based on intelligence inputs about the presence of cadres of the armed Naga group, NSCN(I-M), outside designated camps, the defence ministry said.

The NSCN(I-M), or the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland, has been under a ceasefire agreement with the Union government since 1997. On Tuesday, intelligence reports and social media posts indicated that armed cadres of the group were moving outside designated camps while carrying weapons and wearing uniforms, in violation of the agreement, the ministry said. Read on.

An Indian sailor who went missing after a commercial vessel was attacked off the coast of Oman has died, his father-in-law said. The body of Heramb Karmarkar, a 30-year-old marine engineer from Pune, has been recovered. The Indian government has not yet confirmed the death.

On Sunday, the Ministry of External Affairs said that one Indian seafarer was missing and 10 were rescued after the commercial vessel GFS Galaxy was attacked off the coast of Oman. The vessel had been disabled after a fire damaged its engine room. The United States had accused Iran of carrying out the attack.

The incident came amid a series of attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, as tensions between the US and Iran escalated again. Read on

The Karnataka government closed disciplinary proceedings against three Indian Police Service officers in the Bengaluru stampede case that killed 11 people. The state government has cleared the officers of all the charges.

The stampede had taken place at a gate of the Chinnaswamy stadium on June 4, 2025, leaving 11 dead and more than 50 injured. Fans had gathered at the stadium to celebrate the Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s victory in the Indian Premier League.

The government said that the decision was taken after reviewing the officers’ written defence and the recommendations of the administrative department. Read on.

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India’s fast disappearing grasslands have long been targeted for afforestation – a practice that encourages tree planting on “degraded” parcels of land. With their vast and open landscapes, savannahs and grasslands are often considered barren land in need of more dense tree cover. But how does converting grassy, arid land to something woody and canopied transform an ecosystem, and the life within it?

New research from Maharashtra studies how old-growth savannahs, when planted with trees, changes bird populations and distributions. Grasslands and savannahs are estimated to cover 15%-20% of India’s land mass, and yet remain under-researched.

The lack of recognition of grassland ecosystems has meant their role in regulating microclimates and hosting endemic biodiversity has largely gone unnoticed. “There are very few studies on dry savannahs in general, and even fewer on the impacts of afforestation on them,” said Abi T Vanak, Director of the Centre for Policy Design at ATREE and a scholar of India’s grasslands.

The study from Maharashtra compared bird species and abundance across undisturbed savannahs and well-established plantations, creating new evidence for how the impacts of afforestation go beyond just changes to tree cover. It found that afforestation rendered the area uninhabitable for grassland specialist species like the Indian courser – a long-legged bird which scans the grass to forage – and the tawny pipit, which nests on the ground – among a host of others.

Instead, bird populations were maintained by an influx of other species better adapted to woody and forested habitats. The shift in species composition is a matter of concern because grassland specialists are declining at alarming rates across the country. The 2023 State of India’s Birds report found that across a 30 year period, from 1992 to 2022, populations of birds occupying open and natural ecosystems declined by half.

The recent study renews focus on the importance of landscape-level conservation, which is gradually finding recognition in state policies. On May 7, the Maharashtra government published a resolution mandating that afforestation drives be avoided on grasslands and wetlands, making it the first state in the country to do so.

“The intent of afforestation is to create rainforest density plantations everywhere, but water is a key limiting factor. Even if tree planting has to be done, it can be done in a way that suits the local climate and rainfall regimes,” said Vanak, adding, “You’d create a more open area that not only looks more natural, but consumes less water and improves the survivability of those trees.”

Relic of colonial rule

The impulse to plant trees in open natural ecosystems is a legacy of British colonial rule, when grasslands were labelled “wastelands” because – unlike forests, which could be harvested for timber – they did not generate revenue for the crown.

British policies in the 1860s thus focussed on making “improvements” to these lands by encouraging cultivation or afforestation on them, a 2019 study tracing the historical roots of India’s grassland governance, notes. “The colonial misconception of grasslands as degraded forests continued post-independence, creating an ostensible need to ‘reforest’ those landscapes that remained,” the paper added.

In Maharashtra, this legacy took shape in the form of Gliricidia sepium plantations. This exotic tree with pink flowers and a wide canopy was first brought to India for its ornamental value, and later planted widely in the state in the 1950s to improve fodder availability for livestock and biomass.

These plantations also provided the ideal setting to study how afforestation affected local bird populations, said Prabhav Benara, a student of wildlife biology and conservation at National Center for Biological Sciences, and a co-author of the Maharashtra-based study. “Birds are excellent habitat indicators, helping us understand how native biodiversity responds to land-use change,” he said. Benara worked with a team of five other students and researchers on the study.

Vishwatej Pawar, co-founder of the Grasslands Trust, a Maharashtra-based NGO dedicated to grassland conservation, who was not part of the study, said research into the state’s grasslands were needed to counter misconceptions about their utility. “There is no clear understanding of what a healthy grassland is, and what a degraded grassland is,” he said, adding, “There’s a basic need to document the biodiversity that exists on these lands, either through government departments or through gram sabha systems and people’s participation, to understand how rich these ecosystems are.”

The Grasslands Trust’s submissions and trainings on grassland management played a significant role in the state government’s adoption of its new resolution.

Winners and losers

Afforested patches of G sepium are located close to native, old-growth savannahs in the Pune and Satara districts, making comparison across both habitats viable.

The researchers recorded the presence of birds across 15 sites – each with one old growth savannah and one tree plantation – and divided them into three categories: savannah specialists (adapted to open grasslands), generalists (found in a wide variety of habitats) and woodland specialists (birds that thrive in more densely forested habitats).

Between December 2023 and February 2024, a total of 1,079 individual birds belonging to 69 species were recorded across all study sites. Out of these, 22 species were found only in the old-growth savannas, 21 species were found only in the tree plantations, and 26 species were found across both land uses.

Old growth savannahs included in the study were qualified by those which showed evidence of abundant native grasses, cattle grazing, and fire use – methods that humans have used to maintain grasslands for centuries – but were undisturbed by non-traditional interventions like mining and agriculture. Afforested patches that predominantly contained G sepium, as well as a smaller proportion of Eucalyptus, were also included for comparison.

All sites fell across an annual rainfall gradient ranging from 459 mm to 1,007 mm, indicating wide variation in precipitation levels. “We wanted to see whether rainfall also had an effect on which species were occupying these habitats. Both land use change and rainfall can affect biomes and species pools,” Benara explained.

The results show that while rainfall levels didn’t significantly impact the presence of savannah-specialist species across sites, those with tree plantations saw the biggest losses of these specialists in terms of both richness (diversity) and abundance (population). Woodland specialist species emerged winners, benefiting the most from the afforestation.

“Grassland specialist species like the harriers actually play an important role in stabilising the populations of insects, pests, and even rodents, which helps farmers,” said Pawar, adding, “When their habitats change, either due to afforestation or due to trenches, they compete for space or are unable to nest, roost, or properly forage, which causes population decline.”

Savannah specialist species like the rufous-tailed lark, tawny pipit, rock bush quail and long-tailed shrike saw the steep declines, according to the study.

How rainfall changes the picture

Factoring rainfall into the impacts of afforestation brings out an even more nuanced picture of how they change bird species composition.

For example, in areas that received intermediate rainfall (between 560 and 920mm), old-growth savannahs were found to host 11 more species compared to tree plantations. However, in areas with extreme rainfall (920 mm of rain and higher) or extreme dryness (560 mm of rain and less), afforested patches were found to host more diversity – up to 22 and 14 more species compared to savannahs.

According to the paper, “In the driest rainfall end, tree plantations have sparser canopy and relatively intact endogenous disturbance regimes (fire and cattle grazing), this leads to a mosaic of habitat patches that increases bird diversity in drier plantations… in comparison to the homogeneous, tree-less, drier old-growth savannas.” In the case of wetter regions, savannah specialists were relatively unaffected because these areas were less likely to host a diversity of them anyway.

The worst affected regions by plantations were in the intermediate rainfall zones, where plantations became dense enough to replace grassy understorey. “Tree plantations in this rainfall range are thus structurally homogeneous, and consequently lead to greatest diversity losses — with savanna specialists being the worst affected,” the paper reads.

“It’s not surprising that rainfall plays an important role in species diversity, but an important takeaway is that consistently, they found that savannah species tend to not do well where plantation density increases,” said Vanak from ATREE, adding, “Such insights are often missed in most restoration practices because savannah species aren’t treated with as much importance in India.”

Benera said the paper’s insights could also offer clues into how changing temperature and precipitation patterns due to climate change can affect plantations and biodiversity in the future. “Our findings suggest that as rainfall is projected to increase across Western Maharashtra, drier plantations may support fewer bird species as these habitats transition towards higher-rainfall conditions,” he said.

Apart from rainfall, irrigation from agriculture also contributes to making dry savannahs wetter, added Pawar of the Grasslands Trust.

The foremost recommendation is to stop planting over old-growth savannahs and focus on their conservation. “But a dual focus on preserving old-growth savannas and simultaneously acknowledging the supplementary role of some plantations and production landscapes in general might be pragmatic, given how rapidly old-growth savannas are disappearing despite our best efforts,” the paper stated.

This article was first published on Mongabay.

The Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) has not yet decided on its position about the delimitation bill, and media reports attributing a definitive stand to it are without basis, party leader Supriya Sule said on Wednesday.

Sule said that recent reports that the NCP(SP) would support the bill if it provided for a 50% increase in the number of Lok Sabha seats for all states were “inaccurate and speculative”. The party will decide its stand only after discussing the matter within the organisation and with the members of the Opposition INDIA alliance, she said.

Earlier in the day, the MP was quoted by The Indian Express as saying: “If the Union government amends the delimitation Bill by bringing a 50% increase in seats, then we will support it. This is not something new that I am saying. We have always maintained that we will support the bill if these amendments are brought.”

However, Sule said at a press conference on Wednesday that she had only told a journalist that her party would “consider” supporting the bill if the 50% increase was introduced, and that how the bill would be implemented remained a question.

“It would be inappropriate to comment on any proposal until the government formally places the revised delimitation legislation before Parliament,” she said on social media. “Since no such bill has yet been made available, any speculation regarding its contents or our position would be premature.”

In April, the NCP(SP) was among the Opposition parties that voted against the 2026 Constitution 131st Amendment Bill introduced in the Lok Sabha. The draft legislation proposed to amend the 2023 Women’s Reservation Act and redraw the boundaries of electoral constituencies.

The bill, one of the three draft legislations that were introduced, required a two-thirds majority of votes in Parliament to pass. The ruling National Democratic Alliance does not have a two-thirds majority of MPs in any House. Therefore, it required the support of Opposition parties to pass the amendment.

The consideration of the bill was rejected by the Lok Sabha with 298 MPs voting in its favour and 230 against. With 528 MPs present in the Lower House, the bill would have required the support of 352 of them.

After the bill was defeated in the Lok Sabha, the government withdrew the two other legislations, saying that they were linked and therefore could not be taken up for consideration separately.

#WATCH | Mumbai: NCP-SCP MP Supriya Sule says, "... We have neither held discussions with anyone regarding delimitation, nor has anyone approached us about it. We will formulate our stance once the bill is introduced. However, we will discuss any upcoming bill in detail within… pic.twitter.com/2fsSNfFKPX

— ANI (@ANI) July 15, 2026

She added that her party, along with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Samajwadi Party, had earlier stated that they would consider supporting the legislation if it incorporated the demand for a 50% increase in seats.

Sule added that once the bill is introduced, the NCP(SP) will discuss it with other parties in the Opposition INDIA bloc.

“We will take a collective decision,” she said. “It is important that the delimitation formula is also presented to us and we are told how new demarcation will be done.”

Sule’s remarks came amid reports that some NCP(SP) leaders favour a tie-up with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra.

The speculation intensified after leaders of the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party faction, which is part of the state’s ruling coalition, and the NCP(SP) held a meeting at Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ residence. The Sharad Pawar-led NCP group is part of the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance that includes Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena faction and the Congress.

Sule’s remarks also came ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, which will begin on July 20.

A contentious bill

The bill introduced by the Union government in April sought to increase the strength of the Lok Sabha to 815 from 543 and to operationalise the 33% quota for women in the Lower House and the Assemblies under the 2023 Women’s Reservation Act.

The INDIA bloc had said at the time that while it supports women’s reservation, it will oppose the bill for delimitation of Lok Sabha seats.

Opposition parties have said that population-based delimitation would give an undue advantage to northern and central states in the Lok Sabha, as the proportion of seats in the North would be higher. They also noted that the ruling BJP has greater support in northern states than in the South.

Written by Tanya Shrivastava. Edited by Nachiket Deuskar and Neerad Pandharipande.

Also read:

• How Modi government aims to use women’s representation to expand Lok Sabha using 2011 census numbers
• Why delimitation in Assam and Kashmir led to charges of gerrymandering
• The delimitation trap: Is India moving towards the Chinese model of domesticating debate?

The Karnataka government on Tuesday formally closed disciplinary proceedings against three Indian Police Service officers in the 2025 Bengaluru stampede case that killed 11 persons, The Indian Express reported.

The government cleared the officers of all the charges.

The stampede had occurred at Gate Number 3 of the Chinnaswamy stadium on June 4, 2025. More than 50 were injured. Fans had gathered at the stadium to celebrate the Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s victory in the Indian Premier League.

The government dropped departmental inquiries against former Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda, former Additional Commissioner of Police Vikash Kumar Vikash and former Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Shekhar H Tekkannavar.

It said that the decision was taken after reviewing officers’ written defence and the recommendations of the administrative department, the newspaper reported.

A day after the stampede, the government had at the time suspended five officers including Dayananda, Vikash and Tekkannavar for being “irresponsible and negligent”. The two others were Assistant Commissioner of Police C Balakrishna and Cubbon Park Inspector AK Girish.

The suspensions of all the officers, except Vikash, had been revoked on July 28, 2025.

Vikash had approached the Central Administrative Tribunal to challenge his suspension. The tribunal ruled in his favour, set aside the suspension and asked the government to extend the same relief to him as his colleagues. The state subsequently revoked his suspension.

By September 8, 2025, all five police officers had submitted detailed written responses to the home department, denying the allegations of negligence and seeking to be cleared of all charges, The Indian Express reported.

Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

Trinamool Congress MLA Madan Mitra, long considered a key loyalist of party chief Mamata Banerjee, on Wednesday resigned from her faction and joined the rebel group led by Leader of Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee.

This came a day after Mitra’s wife and two sons were issued summons by the Enforcement Directorate in a municipal recruitment scam case.

Mitra said that his family will cooperate with the central agency in its probe and claimed that his decision was not related to the summons, the Hindustan Times reported.

He had been appointed as one of the general secretaries of the Mamata Banerjee-led faction earlier this month.

Mitra told ANI on Wednesday that he was quitting because he was “no longer able to work effectively” in it.

“More and more of Mamata Banerjee’s long-time associates are leaving the party because, in my view, the leadership is focused on promoting Abhishek Banerjee rather than strengthening the organisation,” Mitra told the news agency. “TMC is not one person’s party...”

Abhishek Banerjee is the Trinamool Congress’ national general secretary, the party’s leader in the Lok Sabha and Mamata Banerjee’s nephew.

Mitra said that he had raised the concerns with Mamata Banerjee on several occasions, but they had not been addressed.

“In my view, Abhishek Banerjee wants decisions to be made solely on his terms and does not allow others to play a meaningful role,” the MLA told ANI. “As a result, I believe the party’s position is weakening...”

Mitra represented the Kamarhati constituency between 2011 and 2016 and again since 2021. He was a minister in the Mamata Banerjee government between 2011 and 2015.

The TMC has been beset by internal divisions and rebellions after it lost the Assembly elections to the Bharatiya Janata Party in May. Nearly 60 out of the TMC’s 80 MLAs have rebelled against the party leadership to choose Ritabrata Banerjee as the leader of the Opposition in the House.

The group has been recognised by the Assembly speaker as the party’s legislature party in the House, and Ritabrata Banerjee has been recognised as the leader of the Opposition.

In June, TMC leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said that 20 of TMC’s Lok Sabha MPs will merge with the Tripura-based Nationalist Citizens’ Party and back the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. Abhishek Banerjee has urged Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to disqualify the 20 rebel MPs on the grounds of leaving the party.

On July 9, three TMC Rajya Sabha MPs who had resigned from the House joined the BJP.

Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, which is investigating the June 2025 Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad that killed 260 persons, told the Supreme Court that the “media speculation and narrative attributing blameworthiness to the pilots” had made some witnesses “restrictive and non‑responsive”, The Indian Express reported on Wednesday.

The bureau’s director general said in an affidavit that investigators were collecting evidence, and technical and forensic examination, “which is the core fact-finding stage”, the newspaper reported.

The investigation is expected to be completed within about six weeks and the draft final report may be ready by October, it added.

The affidavit was filed in response to a plea by Pushkarraj Sabharwal, the father of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, the pilot-in-command. Pushkarraj Sabharwal and the Federation of Indian Pilots had moved the Supreme Court in October seeking a court-monitored judicial inquiry into the crash.

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, which was en route to London’s Gatwick airport from Ahmedabad, crashed 33 seconds after taking off on June 12, 2025. There were 242 persons aboard the aircraft. One passenger survived with impact injuries.

Nineteen persons were killed on the ground after the aircraft crashed into the hostel building of the BJ Medical College and Hospital in Ahmedabad.

The petitioners had contended that the preliminary findings of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau were “biased and incomplete”, and appeared to suggest pilot error while ignoring possible technical and systemic failures that warranted an independent probe.

In its preliminary report in July 2025, the bureau found that moments after the aircraft took off, its fuel control switches transitioned from “run” to “cut off” within a second of each other, because of which both engines shut down. The report said that one of the pilots could be heard on the cockpit voice recorder asking the other why he shut down the fuel, in response to which the other pilot said that he did not.

After about 10 seconds, the switches went back to the “run” position, in what appeared to be an attempt by the pilots to regain thrust in the engines. Subsequently, one of the engines progressed to recovery, and deceleration stopped. But deceleration could not be stopped on the second engine.

The Supreme Court judges hearing the matter in November had noted that the bureau’s preliminary report did not make any adverse findings against the pilot.

‘Narrative blaming pilots led to non-responsive witnesses’

In the affidavit filed on July 11, the bureau said that the investigators were at a stage where they were decoding the flight data recorder, collecting radar and air traffic control communications and maintenance records, among other details, and were consulting technical experts and the manufacturers. The phase had not concluded, it was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

The authority said that speculation in the media and a narrative “attributing blameworthiness” to the pilots had “caused some witnesses to become restrictive and non-responsive”. This was the “kind of prejudice to the investigation that the confidentiality protections” under the 2025 Aircraft Investigation of Accidents and Incidents Rules were designed to prevent, it added.

The bureau said that according to the rules, unless the Union government decides otherwise, it cannot disclose statements recorded from persons by the investigators, communications, medical and private information, transcripts of the cockpit voice recordings and air traffic control data, and opinions expressed while analysing the information.

If witnesses and persons involved in the operation of the aircraft know that their statements may be disclosed in litigation or public proceedings, they will become unwilling to cooperate or provide guarded responses, which will hurt the investigation, the bureau was quoted as saying.

It also opposed a request for the cockpit voice recordings to be made public, saying it was “an absolute statutory prohibition”, The Indian Express reported.

Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought responses from the Centre and the Delhi government on a petition seeking urgent intervention to end activist Sonam Wangchuk’s hunger strike, reported Bar and Bench.

Wangchuk has been on a hunger strike at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar since June 28. His fast is part of a protest by the political campaign Cockroach Janta Party to demand the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan after alleged mismanagement in conducting competitive exams.

Describing the matter as urgent, a bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia posted the public interest litigation for Thursday. It noted that nobody was present on behalf of the Union government on Wednesday, Bar and Bench reported.

The petition, filed by lawyer and activist Rakesh Kumar Saini, stated that Wangchuk's health had deteriorated rapidly and that he had lost 8.5 kg during the demonstration. If the hunger strike continued, he could lose his life within two days, it added.

Saini has sought directions to the Centre and the Delhi government for taking Wangchuk to a hospital and force-feeding him.

If the activist dies, it would be a matter of great shame for the country and the world, Bar and Bench quoted the plea as saying.

On Tuesday, more than 1,800 members of civil society urged Wangchuk to withdraw his hunger strike.

In their letter, the signatories said that they were appealing for an end to the hunger strike because the Union government “does not have a heart or a conscience”.

The signatories include actors Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah, author Arundhati Roy, academics Nivedita Menon and Jean Drèze, and activists Lalita Ramdas and Kavita Srivastava.

Abhijeet Dipke, who founded the campaign, said on Tuesday that after 17 days of the hunger strike, Wangchuk had started losing muscle mass and was in “immense pain”.

Dipke added that he had “begged him to end his fast”. He quoted Wangchuk as having asked in response why the Union government was not willing to hold a dialogue with the protesters.

Also read:

• Watch: Meet the ‘cockroaches’ who crawl out every night at Jantar Mantar

• How the ‘cockroaches’ at the Jantar Mantar sit-in are keeping themselves busy

In August 2024, Vikas Garg was appointed the convenor of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s economic cell in Delhi. Eight months later, his firms were raided by the Enforcement Directorate.

But the agency did not disclose what had prompted the action.

More than a year later, in a statement released on July 10, it has finally revealed that Garg is being prosecuted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, for his involvement with “the Mahadev Online Book/Skyexchange illegal online betting case”. He was arrested in the case on Tuesday.

The Mahadev Book is a mobile app that claims to be a platform for “sports insights”. It has more than a million users. Skyexchange is a Dubai-based betting platform associated with Mahadev app.

Since 2022, central agencies have been investigating Mahadev’s promoters on charges that they used the app to run an illegal betting syndicate that laundered revenue through benami bank accounts, cryptocurrency and hawala networks, some of which was allegedly used to manipulate the Indian stock market.

The case first made national headlines in 2023 when the Enforcement Directorate alleged that the promoters of the app, Chhattisgarh-based businessmen Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal, had paid nearly Rs 508 crore in kickbacks to then chief minister Bhupesh Baghel of the Congress party.

The revelations came months before the state assembly elections. Congress lost the election. Baghel has denied any wrongdoing.

Subsequently, the inquiry into the app by the Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation extended to private Indian firms, foreign institutional investors and even Bollywood celebrities who had attended Chandrakar’s lavish wedding in Dubai in February 2023.

While most of these alleged connections made headlines, what went unnoticed was that a member of the BJP was also under the scanner.

Businessman Vikas Garg belongs to an old BJP family. His father, Nand Kishor Garg, has been elected three times from the capital’s Trinagar constituency on the party’s ticket.

Although the central agencies remained silent on the proceedings against him, Garg’s firms acknowledged the Enforcement Directorate investigation as part of their mandatory stock market disclosures in 2024. In their annual reports, the firms denied all the allegations.

When Scroll asked Garg for a response in April, his lawyers sent a notice, threatening legal action. “That the contents of your communication with regard to the proceedings of Enforcement Directorate, it is submitted that the same is sub judice,” it said. “My Client has NOT been convicted of any offence of money laundering and/or any other offence, till date.”

In its July 10 statement, the Enforcement Directorate has said that it has attached assets worth Rs 940.7 crore worth belonging to Garg, his family and his firms under the money-laundering law. The agency described the attachments as “proceeds of crime” from illegal betting operations that were “routed into the entities owned and controlled by Vikas Garg”.

Garg did not respond to a request for comment.

In March 2026, the Enforcement Directorate said that it had searched more than 175 premises across the country in connection with this case, arrested 13 people, chargesheeted 74 and frozen assets worth nearly Rs 4,336 crore in India and abroad. In its latest statement, it pegged the value of attached assets at Rs 3,800 crore.

The BJP connection

Garg is the promoter of Vikas Lifecare Limited and Vikas Ecotech Limited, which manufacture chemicals and are listed on the National Stock Exchange, Ebix Limited, a global digital and financial exchanges firm which is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, and Ebix Inc, which is listed on the American stock exchange Nasdaq.

On his social media profiles, he describes himself as “Convenor – Economic Cell, BJP”. A list of functionaries released by BJP Delhi in August 2024 also identifies him as holding this position.

Garg’s social media accounts showcase photos of him with senior BJP leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The photos show him meeting Union Parliamentary Affairs minister Kiren Rijiju in April 2025, former Union minister Anurag Thakur in September 2024, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in November 2022, and BJP’s former Delhi chief ministerial candidate Manoj Tiwari in November 2021.

In September 2025, Garg met Harsh Malhotra, the Union minister of state for corporate affairs and road transport and highways, and tweeted that they had discussed “key issues related to the economic cell and its functioning”. In May 2026, Malhotra became the president of the BJP in Delhi.

Raids and probes

The first time that Enforcement Directorate officials visited Garg and his firms was on April 16 last year, Vikas Lifecare disclosed in a filing to the National Stock Exchange on April 18.

The disclosure was made under regulation 30 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, which mandates listed entities to disclose significant information to stock exchanges to ensure transparency and prevent insider trading.

The firm said that Enforcement Directorate officials had visited its office and Garg’s home and the office of one of his companies. It added that the investigation pertained to “third-party entities and transactions”.

On April 21, an Enforcement Directorate statement said that it had raided premises across several Indian cities on April 16 in the Mahadev betting app case.

It added: “During the searches, evidence has been recovered to suggest that the promoters of such companies collaborated/colluded with the accused persons to manipulate to share prices of such companies with the help of ‘tainted money’ to raise their company’s valuation using a string of agents and middlemen.”

The agency did not name any firms and promoters.

In its 2024-’25 annual report published in September 2025, Vikas Lifecare, said that the Enforcement Directorate had initiated proceedings “against various persons including officials of the Company” under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

It denied the allegations and said that it was in the process of moving the High Court to quash the proceedings. While Scroll could not find pleas filed by the firm against the Enforcement Directorate in the Delhi High Court in 2025 and 2026 on the e-courts website, court proceedings from April 2026 show that Garg has moved the Prevention of Money Laundering Act appellate tribunal against the Enforcement Directorate’s Raipur branch, which is investigating the Mahadev betting operation.

In a stock filing on June 24, Vikas Lifecare said that the Enforcement Directorate had attached immovable properties worth Rs 13 crore as part of its investigation into the Mahadev betting app. Ebix Limited put out a similar filing on June 23 which did not mention the value of the attachments.

“The Parent company has represented that it is neither involved in nor a beneficiary of the alleged activities under investigation and is contesting the attachment before the appropriate legal forums,” Vikas Lifecare said.

The Enforcement Directorate, in its July 10 statement, said Garg’s attached assets included residential properties, land parcels, equity shares and other securities.

The Dubai connection

Since 2022, the Enforcement Directorate has released more than a dozen press releases on its probe into the Mahadev betting app, naming the owners Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal and several others as under investigation. It has named those it has arrested and searched, detailed the modus operandi of the accused, and stated the assets it has frozen.

In a press release in March 2024, it identified businessman Hari Shankar Tibrewala “who hails from Kolkata but currently residing in Dubai” as a “huge hawala operator” who had partnered with the promoters of the Mahadev betting app and “owned and operated” Skyexchange.

Hawala is a network of brokers who move money across countries without physically transferring cash or using traditional banks. It is prohibited under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999.

In July 2025, India Today, based on information shared anonymously by officials, reported that the agency suspected that Tibrewala’s overseas firms had allegedly laundered the money generated by the Mahadev app by investing it in listed Indian firms and inflating their stock prices. Some of these listed firms, the report claimed, were owned by Garg.

The Enforcement Directorate did not respond to an email sent by Scroll to confirm these details.

However, filings with the National Stock Exchange show that in 2022 and 2023, Garg’s listed firms received investments from individuals and entities based in Dubai and Kolkata, which were accused of involvement in the Mahadev betting app in 2024.

For instance, Vikas Lifecare Limited’s shareholding disclosure from September and December 2022 shows that a Dubai-based investor, Ecotek General Trading LLC, had a 1.76% stake in it, valued around Rs 10 crore.

By March 2023, five other firms from Kolkata bought nearly 8% of Vikas Lifecare: Brilliant Investment Consultants Private Limited, Discovery Buildcon Private Limited, Dream Achievers Consultancy Services Private Limited, Forest Vincom Private Limited and Sawarnbhumi Vanijya Private Limited. This investment was worth nearly Rs 38 crore.

The common director in the Kolkata firms was a man named Suraj Chokhani, whom the Enforcement Directorate had described as an associate of Tibrewala in a March 2024 press release.

Sawarnbhumi Vanijya also owned 1.1 % shares of Vikas Ecotech as of September 2023, worth nearly Rs 5 crore.

National Stock Exchange data shows that towards the end of 2023, these investors sold their shares in Garg’s firms.

All six investors – the five Kolkata firms and the Dubai firm – have been accused of being part of the money-laundering operations of the Mahadev betting app, according to Enforcement Directorate documents. One is a March 2024 letter from the agency to the Chhattisgarh government’s Economic Offence Bureau and the Anti-Corruption Bureau. The other is a freezing order from February 2024.

The names of the Dubai and Kolkata firms also feature in a list shared by the Ministry of Finance as part of a Lok Sabha reply in August 2024. The list disclosed the names of 1,519 firms against whom the Enforcement Directorate had filed prosecution complaints – or chargesheets under the money laundering law – between 2019 and 2024.

Tibrewala, Chokhani and the six firms in Kolkata and Dubai did not respond to emails seeking comment.

In a bail hearing in the Supreme Court last year, Chokhani’s counsel had argued that his alleged involvement in money-laundering operations of the betting app was comparatively minor and limited to managing companies, not owning or operating the app directly.

The counsel also argued that the Enforcement Directorate case relied on statements by the co-accused, which were inadmissible in court and purportedly under retraction.

Chokhani was granted bail by the court citing extended duration of his custody, the fundamental right to a speedy trial, and the absence of trial proceedings.

In a petition before the Patiala house court in 2024, Tibrewala had denied any role in the Mahadev betting app and objected to being labelled a “hawala operator”.

Indian authorities have been trying to extradite and prosecute the app’s promoters – Uppal was reportedly arrested by the United Arab Emirates police in December 2023 and fled custody in November 2025. Chandrakar is reportedly in Oman.

A mob attacked an Assam Rifles camp in Manipur’s Senapati district on Tuesday night after security forces launched an operation against suspected armed cadres earlier in the day, the Ministry of Defence said.

The mob allegedly threw stones, damaged property and set vehicles on fire. No injuries were reported.

The Assam Rifles had launched a patrol and search operation near Makuilongdi based on intelligence inputs about the presence of cadres of the armed Naga group, NSCN(I-M), outside designated camps, the ministry said.

The NSCN(I-M), or the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland, has been under a ceasefire agreement with the Union government since 1997. The group refers to itself as the National Socialist Council of Nagalim.

On Tuesday, intelligence reports and social media posts indicated that armed cadres of the group were moving outside designated camps while carrying weapons and wearing uniforms, in violation of the ceasefire agreement, the ministry claimed. The matter was also reported to the Ceasefire Monitoring Group, it said.

The Assam Rifles said that as its personnel approached Makuilongdi and Oklong villages during the operation, they were obstructed by residents, including women. The force claimed that its personnel exercised “maximum restraint” and informed local representatives that the operation was aimed at maintaining security and that they would not enter any village without the consent of the authorities.

The ministry said that despite the withdrawal of the security columns, a mob reached the Assam Rifles camp at around 9.30 pm, and attacked it.

Security personnel, along with the Manipur Police and the Central Reserve Police Force, used tear gas grenades and fired blank rounds to disperse the crowd, the statement added.

One Assam Rifles vehicle was set on fire, two trucks were overturned and damaged, and a civilian car was also reportedly burnt. The situation was brought under control by midnight, the ministry said.

Three detained in Ukhrul

Three persons were detained on Tuesday in connection with the July 6 gunfight near Ukhrul town in Manipur in which two Assam Rifles personnel were killed, the Manipur Police said.

Ukhrul is a Tangkhul Naga-majority district.

However, the Tangkhul Naga Long, the apex body of the Tangkhul Naga community, claimed that four persons had been detained during the operation.

It demanded their release, alleging that those detained were “innocent villagers”.

This came against the backdrop of tensions between Kukis and Nagas in Ukhrul that had erupted on February 7 after an alleged assault involving members of the Tangkhul Naga and the Kuki-Zo communities escalated into clashes. At least 25 persons from the two communities have been killed since tensions erupted.

Ethnic clashes had first broken out in Manipur in May 2023 between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo-Hmar communities. At least 260 persons have been killed and more than 59,000 persons displaced since then in the conflict.

Biren Singh had stepped down as the chief minister in February 2025 amid allegations from Kuki-Zomi-Hmar groups that his response to the violence had been partisan and that he had stoked majoritarianism.

After he resigned, Manipur was under President’s Rule for a year until Yumnam Khemchand Singh took oath as chief minister on February 4.

Written by Sara Varghese. Inputs from Rokibuz Zaman. Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

Also read:

• How ambush of church leaders on a forested road escalated Naga-Kuki conflict across Manipur hills
• Naga-Kuki strife began with a drunken brawl. But five months later, Manipur fault lines run deeper

A court in Maharashtra’s Kalyan on Tuesday granted bail to Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre, who was arrested for allegedly assaulting doctors and staff at a civic hospital in Dombivli, Bar and Bench reported.

Mhatre had been remanded to judicial custody on Monday after his police custody ended. His lawyer filed a bail application, which was heard on Tuesday.

The police opposed the plea, arguing that Mhatre's release could endanger the complainant doctor. They cited his alleged criminal record, including multiple first information reports registered against him, Bar and Bench reported.

The alleged assault on members of the medical profession warranted rejection of the bail application, the police further argued.

However, Mhatre's lawyer said that in almost all the cases cited by the police, the corporator had either been acquitted or the proceedings had been quashed, and that only one criminal case was currently pending against him.

His lawyer also said that the court could impose conditions to address the concerns raised by the police.

The court was also told that Mhatre has only one kidney and suffers from multiple ailments, Bar and Bench reported.

After hearing both sides, the court granted Mhatre bail on a bond of Rs 50,000.

The case relates to Mhatre and his associates allegedly assaulting doctors at Shastri Nagar Hospital on July 6 after they asked the family of a pregnant woman to transfer her to another hospital because there were no beds available in the neonatal intensive care unit, which the newborn was expected to require.

The family contacted Mhatre, a municipal corporator from the Shiv Sena faction led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who arrived at the hospital with his supporters, according to the police.

Surveillance camera footage shared on social media showed the corporator and his associates punching and slapping the hospital staff.

Mhatre had been absconding until he surrendered to the police on July 8.

After complaining of health problems, he was taken to hospital before being formally arrested following his discharge. Three of his associates had been arrested earlier.

The police have registered a case against Mhatre and his associates under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to assaulting a public servant, voluntarily causing hurt, criminal intimidation, unlawful assembly and rioting.

At least one of the doctors allegedly assaulted in the incident has resigned, saying he no longer feels safe returning to work.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.