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The police also mentioned that in 2015, the father Chetan Kumar’s live-in partner died under suspicious circumstances after falling from the roof of a flat at Rajendra Nagar Colony.

GHAZIABAD: Investigation into the suicide of three minor sisters in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad has revealed that they were depressed because their father had snatched their phones after observing that they were obsessed with the Korean culture, police said.

Due to this, the girls could not play online games and talk to their Korean friends, the police said, adding that their father later sold the phones.

On the night of the incident, they took their mother’s phone, but could not access the Korean app on that device.

The forensic team, which reached the spot and seized the mobile phone, could not find any access of the Korean app.

The fingerprints, including the handwritten suicide note and the messages, have been sent to the forensic science laboratory, the report of which is still awaited, DCP (Trans Hindon) Nimish Patil told PTI on Saturday.

In 2015, the father Chetan Kumar’s live-in partner died under suspicious circumstances after falling from the roof of a flat at Rajendra Nagar Colony in the Sahibabad police station area.

Later, the police dismissed the case, treating the death as a suicide, Patil told PTI.

Nishika (16), Prachi (14) and Pakhi (12) jumped to their deaths from the ninth floor of their residential tower in Bharat City Society under the Trans-Hindon police station jurisdiction earlier this week.

Interrogation has confirmed that currently, Kumar has three wives – Sujata (Nishika’s mother), Heena (Prachi and Pakhi’s mother) and Tina.

All three wives are biological sisters.

All three minor sisters who committed suicide were more attached to their father instead of mothers.

That is why they addressed their father in the suicide note, and nowhere they mentioned their mother’s name.

Cyber crime teams are trying to trace the buyers who purchased the mobile phones through the IMEI numbers so that data of Korean apps could be relieved, DCP Patil said, and added that the police are probing the case from various angles and waiting to get the report of forensic science laboratory.

The police have maintained that the case is being treated as a suicide, and the probe is focused on verifying the father’s claims regarding alleged online gaming obsession and examining all related aspects, including family circumstances.

Preliminary findings, which include a nine-page pocket diary recovered from the room of the sisters on Thursday, point to an intense attachment to the Korean culture and alleged family discord.

Patil said one mobile phone was purchased by Kumar for Nishika about three months ago, and another for Prachi around 15 days ago.

The three sisters were cremated at Delhi’s Nigam Bodh Ghat on Wednesday evening.

This financial collapse had direct affects for the girls, police said, adding that they were pulled out of school years ago and never sent back

As investigators piece together the family’s life, they say it was marked by a series of complex and layered dynamics — from financial stress that began during the pandemic and intricate marital relationships, to years of school dropout and a growing sense of isolation the girls experienced within their home.

Investigators said the sisters, aged 16, 14, and 11, lived with their father – a 42-year-old stock trader – his two wives (who are sisters), a 13-year-old deaf and specially-abled brother, and a four-year-old sister.

The family structure, at least three investigators that HT spoke to said, was convoluted: the father first married 18 years ago, and after struggling to conceive, he married his wife’s younger sister 15 years ago. The eldest daughter was born to the first wife; the two younger girls to the second.

The challenges that the family faced started getting compounded from 2020 with the father facing economic hardships following the pandemic, an officer cited above said.

Once comfortably middle-class, with a car and the children attending private school, the father suffered heavy losses. “Around eight to nine years ago, the family lived near Shastri Park and the girls were enrolled in Greenfield School in GTB Enclave. The eldest daughter attended school in Nainital for a brief period but dropped out after Class 5. At that time, the family owned a car and appeared financially stable.”

“But after the pandemic, he faced losses in his business and struggled to get a job… Due to the heavy losses, he took loans from people which he was not able to repay,” a senior investigating officer said. The family now lives in a rented apartment for which they pay ₹12,000 monthly.

This financial collapse had direct affects for the girls, another officer added. They were pulled out of school years ago and never sent back. “The father made them drop out as he believed they weren’t doing well in academics,” an officer stated.

Another officer said persistent financial distress led to frequent domestic disputes. “There were constant fights in the household. The father was extremely strict with his daughters. Initially, the girls shared two mobile phones and operated a common social media account in the eldest sister’s name. But due to mounting financial pressure, the father sold both phones – one around six months ago and the second barely 10 to 15 days before the incident,” the officer said, stating that this severely cut the girls’ only link to the Korean pop culture they cherished.

The two wives left the home in 2025 for a few days, fed up with the arguments, the officer said. “In May 2025, both wives left the house after repeated fights, leaving the children behind. No formal complaint was lodged, but the father contacted local police. The women returned within two to three days. Their current house has minimal furnishings — old furniture, a television and a few basics,” the officer said, adding the kids mostly stayed indoors.

Stranded at home, the three sisters started becoming insular, according to the testimonies the family members have given to the police. The officer said that the girls started “doing everything together”, while growing estranged from their siblings.

Investigators also noted the girls had a “failed relationship” with their mute brother and younger sister. This rift is detailed in their suicide note, where they expressed hatred for Bollywood –which they said that their siblings were “encouraged to like” – and eventually terming them their “enemy.”

The girls’ paternal uncle told HT that the family had little interaction with relatives. “They kept to themselves, and their father was always upset. He often told us about losses.”

Ghaziabad’s Additional Commissioner of Police Atul Kumar Singh reportedly noted the unusual, swift cremation of the girls’ bodies at Delhi’s Nigam Bodh Ghat on Wednesday evening.

LUCKNOW: The 9-page pocket diary recovered by the cops from the room of the three minor sisters who jumped to death from the 9th floor of their Bharat City residence in Ghaziabad in the wee hours of Wednesday, begins with a declaration: “We love Korean. Love Love Love.”

The note written by the minor girls before taking the extreme step ends with an apology, saying ‘sorry’ to Papa.

The sources claimed that the diary also spoke about their younger sister, referred to as “Devu.”

The sisters wrote of their failed bid to share their Korean passion with Devu, alleging their parents introduced her to Bollywood, something they claimed to hate more than our lives.

This led them to declare Devu their enemy.

“We separated Devu from ourselves and told her that we are Korean and K-Pop and you are Indian and Bollywood,” the note read.

Meanwhile, the investigators are also looking at the family’s financial condition.

An office-bearer of the residential society claimed, seeking anonymity, that the girls’ father, Chetan Kumar, was under severe stress after alleged stock market losses exceeding Rs 2 crore.

This used to lead to frequent domestic clashes in the family.

Meanwhile, Ghaziabad’s Additional Commissioner of Police Atul Kumar Singh reportedly noted the unusual, swift cremation of the girls’ bodies at Delhi’s Nigam Bodh Ghat on Wednesday evening, suggesting it may have been due to the family’s “personal reasons.”

The post-mortem report of the three girls — identified as Nishika, 16, Prachi, 14, and Pakhi, 12 — confirmed head injuries as the cause of death.

However, the diary recovered by the police would be the main document leading the investigation into the alleged triple suicide.

In the diary, the girls had registered that repeated parental opposition to their interests was culminating in the tragic final act.

“You tried to make us give up Korean fandom. But it was our life.. you expected us to marry an Indian, that can never happen,” a statement in the diary reads.

The girls have also allegedly accused the parents of physical punishment.

“Death is better than your beatings. That is why we are committing suicide,” the girls wrote.

The incident occurred around 2.15 am on Wednesday when the sound of the impact awoke residents.

The sisters had locked their room from the inside before jumping from the balcony window one by one, according to police accounts.

By the time family members forced entry, it was too late.

They were pronounced dead at a hospital in Loni.

As per the sources, the diary also revealed the that the area of girls’ interest had expanded beyond Korean culture to Thai, Chinese and Japanese films and music, Hollywood , English songs and cartoons.

Police said preliminary inquiries indicated that the sisters had developed a growing dependence on an online task-based interactive game, and had been spending increasing amounts of time on it.

LUCKNOW: Three minor sisters died after allegedly jumping from the balcony of their ninth-floor apartment in Ghaziabad in the early hours of Wednesday, with the police suspecting that the incident followed a dispute at home over excessive online gaming.

The victims–Nishika (16), Prachi (14) and Pakhi (12)–were found lying on the ground outside their residential tower in Bharat City township, under the Teela Mor police station limits, after local residents reported hearing a loud noise around 2–2.15 am, the police said.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Shalimar Garden) Atul Kumar Singh said the police received information at 2:18 am and reached the spot immediately.

The girls had jumped from a height of 80 feet. The girls were rushed to a hospital in Loni, where doctors declared them dead on arrival.

The family said they heard a noise and ran outside. “We saw the room was locked. Then we broke the door and found the girls were not there. We ran downstairs and saw the girls lying on the ground,” they said.

As per police sources, all the three girls locked the room from inside and jumped from the balcony.

ACP Singh said preliminary inquiries indicated that the sisters had developed a growing dependence on an online task-based interactive game, and had been spending increasing amounts of time on it.

“The parents had objected to their excessive gaming, which appears to have led to discussions and disagreements at home,” he said.

According to the police, the sisters had also begun skipping school frequently and spent most of their time together at home.

Investigators said the siblings had become accustomed to doing most activities together, including studying and playing online games.

Sources said the girls were so obsessed with the game, they thought of themselves as Korean princesses.

The eldest daughter, Nishika, was born to Chetan Kumar and his first wife. The younger daughters were born to Kumar and his second wife.

According to ACP Singh, the girls were with their mother till midnight. After around 12:30 am, the girls left their room saying they wanted to get water to drink. The girls then bolted the balcony door and jumped, allegedly after being forbidden from playing the game.

The night of the incident, Kumar had forbidden the girls from playing the game. Kumar and his wife were sleeping with their son while the three daughters were resting in their room.

Police sources found a diary in the sisters’ room containing an eight-page suicide note. The diary also contained details about their lifestyle and their obsession with the task-based game, said police officers.

The note read: “Mom-Dad, sorry… we cannot quit the game. Now you will realise how much we loved the game, which you wanted us to give up.”

“I’m really sorry. Sorry, Papa, we could not leave the game. The Korean game is our life, our world,” the note said.

The father, Chetan Kumar, said he did not realise the intensity of their addiction. He said, “They had not been attending school for the past two years. They played games all day long. They did not talk to people around them. They often said that they wanted to go to Korea.”

Kumar said his daughter told him that she was the master and that her sisters listen to her commands. Prachi played the role of the game character ‘Death Commander’ and her sisters would follow everything she said.

Bhakti Mehare, Hema Ahuja, and Ankita Khandelwal—3 of her seniors—were initially arrested on charges of harassment & casteist remarks but later released on bail. Case remains stalled.

Mumbai: The Supreme Court’s January stay on the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) fresh rules to tackle caste-based discrimination in colleges has once again turned the spotlight on the 2019 suicide of Payal Tadvi. A second-year postgraduate student of gynaecology and obstetrics at Mumbai’s BYL Nair Hospital, she died by suicide in her hostel room, her case eventually leading to the amended rules, which have now been stayed.

Just like University of Hyderabad student Rohith Vemula (26) died by suicide in 2016 following alleged caste discrimination, the 26-year-old Payal, who belonged to the Tadvi Muslim Bhil Scheduled Tribes community, was allegedly a victim of casteism.

Three of her senior colleagues—Bhakti Mehare, Hema Ahuja, and Ankita Khandelwal—were initially arrested on charges of harassment and casteist remarks on Payal.

In July 2019, the Mumbai Police filed the chargesheet against the trio. During the trial proceedings, Bhakti, Hema, and Ankita were granted bail in August 2019, only three months after their arrest. In February 2020, the Bombay High Court ordered their medical licenses—which had been suspended when the case broke— restored.

The case is yet to reach any conclusion, with Payal’s parents, Abeda and Salim Tadvi, awaiting closure more than six years after their daughter’s death.

“Initially, we were told that the case would be fast-tracked, and we would get a judgment in nine months. But, it’s been seven years now, and we are still waiting,” Abeda Tadvi told ThePrint.

In 2019, Abeda, along with Radhika Vemula, the mother of Rohith Vemula, filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court, listing demands to combat caste discrimination on college campuses and to enforce the 2012 UGC regulations in this regard.

After the 2026 rules were updated at the end of the case, students from the ‘general category’ led countrywide protests. There is now a stay on the implementation of the new rules.

Small quarters, big dreams
Payal grew up in Jalgaon in a modest two-bedroom house with her parents and brother Ritesh, who is polio-affected. She left her home for the first time to study MBBS at the Government Medical College in Miraj, roughly 670 kilometres from Jalgaon.

After her graduation, Payal completed a one-year-long internship at Sangli-based PVP Government Hospital. In 2016, she got married to Salman Tadvi on Valentine’s Day. Like her, Salman was a doctor pursuing his MD in anaesthesia at the King Edward Memorial Hospital in Mumbai. He later took a job at the Cooper Hospital in Vile Parle, and after some time, Payal moved to Mumbai for her postgraduate studies. Salman rented an apartment in Mahalaxmi—close to Nair Hospital.

Traditionally an agricultural community, Tadvi Muslim Bhils were largely left on the margins of the education system, with Payal’s aspirations standing out within and outside her community. After Payal died, her grieving parents told the media she was not only the first doctor in the family but, perhaps, the first woman doctor ever from the entire community.

After Payal’s death, her friends from her MBBS days had told ThePrint how she was a warm, happy-go-lucky girl who, like any other quintessential young adult, loved watching ‘Game of Thrones’ and going out with her batchmates.

One of her friends from Miraj college—Dr Romil Kakad—had told ThePrint in 2019 that Payal, whose course at Nair Hospital started on 1 May 2018, had been disturbed for several months before she ended her life.

She had sent him a text message on 30 November 2018, discussing how everyone was stressed that she might commit suicide. Dr Kakad had mentioned Payal telling him about her three seniors, who were targeting her and not allowing her to perform procedures, such as deliveries and episiotomies—a surgical cut at the vagina to aid a difficult delivery—and that they would loudly scold her in front of patients and relatives.

The letter: ‘Bullied & ignored’
Following Payal’s death, all three accused seniors were booked under sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and immediately suspended from the college. Their medical licenses were suspended. In the remand hearing, the accused maintained that they did not make casteist remarks against Tadvi and that all their comments were about Payal allegedly shirking work.

While there was no physical suicide note at the spot, the Mumbai Police had recovered a photo of a handwritten note in Payal’s room, and a forensic report had confirmed it as Payal’s handwriting.

The suicide note, which was addressed to her parents, squarely blamed the three senior women for her condition and that of another fellow student, Snehal Shinde.

In the note, Payal wrote that they would not let her learn anything at Nair Hospital and restricted her to clerical work and that her complaints to the head of the department also did not help.

The 1,203-page chargesheet filed in July 2019 in three volumes carried statements from nearly 180 witnesses. Some of Payal’s colleagues and staff members, whose statements were attached, spoke about how the accused targeted her for being from the Scheduled Tribes community and getting admission in the medical course through the reserved category.

What is of note is that the chargesheet was filed over six years ago, but the charges are yet to be framed.

In August 2019, the Bombay High Court granted bail to the three accused, but under stringent conditions, which have since been relaxed.
“Most of the time since then has gone in hearing different pleas by the accused asking for relaxations in their bail conditions. The main case has been completely sidelined,” Abeda Tadvi told ThePrint.

The only thing that gets them going
In November 2024, Pradeep Gharat, then the special public prosecutor, made an application before the Mumbai sessions court, where the case was being heard, to include Dr Ching Ling Chiang, the former head of gynaecology and obstetrics at Nair Hospital, as an accused.

The court granted the request to add Chiang as an accused in the abetment to suicide case in February 2025.

However, in March 2025, the Maharashtra government abruptly removed Gharat from the position of special public prosecutor, replacing him with another prosecutor.

Unhappy, Abeda approached the Bombay High Court, challenging the state government notification that removed Gharat the same month that Chiang was named as a co-accused. That case is still pending.

Abeda and Salim have been visiting Mumbai to personally appear at the court hearings since 2019.

“Until about six months ago, we used to come two times a month. But our case has been stalled in the Bombay High Court for a year now, and even the sessions court is not giving any dates. So, our lawyer advised us to come only when there is a major development,” Abeda said.

“We have fought for so long already in the hope for justice that we feel we must see this through till the end. That’s the only thing that keeps us going.”

Accused of a 1982 murder involving a land dispute, Dhani Ram was in his 50s when he was convicted. His challenge to the trial court conviction has been pending for over 40 years.

New Delhi: In a case pending for more than four decades, the Allahabad High Court Wednesday acquitted a 100-year-old murder accused. The court ruled for his acquittal, citing gaping holes and contradictions in the prosecution’s case as well as its eventual failure to establish the accused’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Accused of a 1982 murder involving a land dispute, Dhani Ram was in his 50s when he was arrested and, subsequently, spent some years in jail before he was released on bail.

A Hamirpur trial court found him guilty in July 2024, but he filed a challenge to this verdict that has remained stuck in the legal system for more than 40 years.

The high court, on 4 February, finally settled the matter, emphasising, “It is not in dispute that the appellant is now of extremely advanced age, stated to be about 100 years old.

”A division bench of justices Chandra Dhari Singh and Sanjiv Kumar said the prolonged pendency of the criminal proceedings, along with Dhani Ram’s advanced age and long periods of freedom on bail, prompted “relevant and weighty” considerations on their end, after which they decided in favour of relief for the accused.

The court opined that prolonging the custodial consequences for the elderly man would serve no useful purpose.

Pointing to significant inconsistencies between the medical evidence and the ocular evidence—essentially what’s witnessed by a person present during a crime, more commonly known as eyewitness evidence—the court exonerated Dhani Ram.

“Where guilt itself is not established beyond a reasonable doubt, and the accused has survived under the weight of the accusation for four decades, the only outcome consistent with justice, fairness, and human dignity is complete exoneration, with a conscious recognition that prolonged pendency and extreme age further militate against any residual penal consequence,” the bench said.

Speaking to ThePrint, Dhani Ram’s lawyer Ramesh Prajapati welcomed the judgment while saying that the accused had had been out on bail for quite some years now.

The murder case
The case dates back to August 1982. A man, called Raja Bhaiya, sent a written report to the Maudaha Police Station, saying that he and his elder brother were returning home after fetching water from a pond, when his brother was shot at by the accused, including Dhani Ram.

One of the accused was allegedly armed with a spear, while another had an axe. His complaint added that the men exhorted him to kill his brother, owing to past animosity between the two parties. His brother had allegedly taken over their six bighas, worth roughly 3.72 acres.

While Raja screamed, several locals rushed towards the spot, and the accused ran away. At the site, an empty cartridge had later been found, leading to a criminal case against the men, including Dhani Ram. Under the investigation that ensued, blood-soaked pellets and blood-stained soil were found at the spot. Forensics collected what they needed. The body was sent for a postmortem.

Although the accused, including Dhani Ram, pleaded not guilty before the trial court in 1984, the court convicted all of them of murder, taking into account eyewitness testimonies and other evidence in the case. The court sentenced all to life imprisonment.

Allahabad High Court ruling
After looking at the evidence—especially eyewitness accounts—“carefully” and “with due caution”—the high court found that their testimonies did not inspire confidence to sustain the conviction.

Accepting these testimonies as the “gospel truth”, without testing them on the anvil of settled legal principles, had resulted in a grave nuisance of justice, the high court noted, while adding that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

Relying on the 2025 Supreme Court ruling in the state of Madhya Pradesh vs Shyamlal matter, where the court dealt with an 1989 incident—where the accused was nearly eighty years old—converting his murder conviction to culpable homicide, not amounting to murder, the Allahabad court said “the fact that the appeal was being considered after more than three decades and that the accused had remained on bail during the pendency of the proceedings” were among the factors that the SC had then taken into consideration.

On Wednesday, the Allahabad court noted that Dhani Ram, according to the charge sheet, was already more than 94 years of age when his appeal was first considered.

He “faced the agony of investigation, trial and appeal for over twenty-five years and had already undergone more than six years of actual incarceration, with total custody including remissions exceeding eleven years,” the court noted, reducing his sentence to what has already been served.

“When the system itself has been unable to deliver finality within a reasonable time, courts are justified in adopting a tempered, human approach while fashioning relief,” the court said, acquitting Dhani Ram.

A video alleging that Ridhima Sharma performed a Hindu–Muslim act inside Rajasthan’s Gogaji Maharaj Temple sparked controversy online. Locals reportedly objected, accused her of disturbing communal harmony, and asked her to leave. Claims of an FIR in Raebareli surfaced but remain unverified. The incident triggered sharp, divided reactions on social media

A video featuring social media figure Ridhima Sharma has sparked intense debate online after it was shared with claims that she attempted a Hindu–Muslim act inside the Gogaji Maharaj Temple in the Gogamedi area of Hanumangarh district, Rajasthan. The clip, which continues to circulate widely, has led to polarized reactions and renewed discussions around religion, public spaces, and communal harmony.

What the viral video claims

According to allegations made in the video, locals present at the temple objected to Sharma’s actions, accusing her of trying to disturb communal peace within the religious premises. The situation reportedly escalated, with temple visitors confronting her and eventually asking her to leave. The video claims she was removed from the temple following the disagreement.

It has also been alleged online that an FIR has been registered against Ridhima Sharma in Raebareli, although official confirmation from authorities regarding the details and sections involved has not been publicly verified at the time of writing.

Social media reactions pour in

The video quickly went viral, drawing sharp and divided reactions from netizens. Several users criticised Sharma and questioned her intent. One user commented, “Their thinking is already filled with garbage; they bring up caste everywhere. If this sister talked about cleanliness, good governance, education, employment, healthcare, then in the present time, people would appreciate her. But they know that if this works out this month, then I too will be roaming around in big cars like those babas.”

Another user reacted more harshly, saying, “This women needs to be locked up”.

At the same time, some comments called for religious tolerance and inclusivity. One user wrote, “me being catholic just asking one question like are Muslim and catholic not allowed at religious places of Hindus we dont stop hindus at our religious place and one thing maas machi khana is not the issue its about the inner heart how you worship god he doesn’t see religion”.

Temple’s significance and broader context

Gogaji Maharaj Temple is a revered site in Rajasthan, attracting devotees from multiple communities. Incidents like this underline how viral content can quickly inflame sentiments, even before facts are fully established.

Authorities are yet to release a detailed statement, and viewers are advised to approach unverified claims with caution as investigations, if any, continue.

The father rushed hid daughter to a nearby government hospital after assaulting and lied to the doctors that she had slipped from the staircase.

CHANDIGARH: Krishna Jaiswal, a 31-year old man, thrashed his daughter, Vanshika, studying in Class 1, to death in Faridabad after she failed to count to 50 as part of her homework.

The accused has been arrested by the Haryana Police after a complaint was lodged by his wife.

Sources said that the accused was teaching his daughter, Vanshika, at home on January 21. She was enrolled in a government school in Jhar Setli, Sector 58.

When he asked his daughter to count to 50, she was unable to do so. He turned furious and beat her severely. In a fit of rage, he repeatedly assaulted her with a rolling pin and kept slamming her to the floor.

She turned unconscious. He rushed her to a nearby government hospital, where he lied to the doctors that she had slipped from the staircase. However, the doctors declared that she was dead.

Thereafter, he called his wife and reportedly told her that their daughter was playing upstairs and had fallen from the stairs, sustaining injuries.

His wife immediately rushed to the hospital and noticed several injuries on the body of her daughter. She turned suspicious and reported the matter to the police.

The seven-year-old son of the accused, who was present in the house at the time when his father was assaulting her sister, narrated the entire incident, first to his mother and later to the police.

The deceased individual sustained over a dozen bruises, fractures, and severe head injuries in the alleged assault.

Acting on the complaint, the police team arrested the father of the deceased and carried out sustained interrogation, during which he confessed to the crime.

Faridabad Police spokesperson Yashpal Yadav said that the accused Krishna Jaiswal, a resident of Kharantiya village in Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh, was living with his wife in a rented house in Jharsaintli village of Faridabad in Haryana for several years.

The incident took place between 12.10 pm and 12.30 pm on Wednesday.

“She could not count numbers from one to fifty, which enraged him,” Yadav said.

He added, “The accused was taken into custody, and the brother of the deceased was counselled. He narrated the entire sequence of events. He said he was playing while his father was making his sister do her homework, and when she failed to count the numbers, he began hitting her.’’

The couple was working at private companies. Jaiswal worked the night shift at a private firm in Ballabgarh, while his wife, Ranjeeta Kumari, is employed on the day shift with another private firm. The couple has three children, including a seven-year-old son, a 4.5-year-old daughter, and a two-year-old daughter. Jaiswal hails from UP.

A case was registered under Section 103(1) (murder) against Jaiswal at Sector 58 police station on Thursday, and he was formally arrested on the complaint of his wife.

The accused was produced before a Faridabad court on Friday and was sent to a one-day police remand for interrogation.

On January 14, a man was beaten to death in Odisha’s Balasore district on suspicion of his involvement in what is now being called cattle trafficking by the police. Satyasundar Barik visits the family to piece together the events of that day, and examine how cattle trading is emerging as a flashpoint, deepening mistrust between majority and minority communities

Clasping her two-month-old daughter close to her chest, Manori Bibi sits silently inside her mud house. Her face is expressionless even as her baby’s first social smile flickers across her face. Under a thatched roof riddled with holes, torn apart not by a storm, but by poverty, Manori’s life appears more difficult than it already was in Astia village of northern Odisha’s Balasore district.

Her husband, Seikh Mukander Mohammed, a 35-year-old mason, whose meagre daily wages kept the household afloat, died on January 14. His life was allegedly taken after he was lynched by gau rakshaks (cow protectionists), who operate openly in vigilante groups predominantly across Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled States.

Odisha has recorded an average of about 20 cow-related episodes of obstruction and violence in a month since mid-2025, as per the Odisha Police’s Crime Branch. Typically, groups that operate in the name of preventing alleged cattle smuggling obstruct vehicles carrying cattle. They call the police thereafter. After Mukander’s death, the police in Keonjhar, the home district of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, launched multi-district raids to dismantle organised cow smuggling.

Rizwan, a resident of the village and a photographer with an Odia daily, says Mukander’s family now faces a double battle: “They will grapple with both social stigma and deepening financial distress.”

In the early hours
Mukander was born and raised in Astia village, 12 kilometres from Balasore town and about 15 km from Chandipur’s Integrated Test Range, India’s premier missile testing centre. Astia’s lanes tell a different story from many rural settlements: Hindu and Muslim households sit side by side, often within 50 metres of each other. With no agricultural land to inherit, Mukander turned to daily-wage labour. Over time, he picked up masonry skills, earning about ₹100 more a day than an unskilled labourer. The improvement did little to ease the family’s precarity.

“On average, my brother got work for barely 18 days a month at ₹500 a day. For the remaining days, he did odd jobs to survive,” says his younger brother, Seikh Jitender Mohammed. Their father is bedridden. January 14, 2026, was Makar Sankranti, a major Hindu harvest festival. It would mean almost a complete halt to construction work in the area. With no wages for the day, Mukander needed alternative work.

His mother, Manwari Bibi, recalls that he received a phone call in the early hours of the day. “He was asked to accompany a fish-laden pick-up van to its destination, and was promised ₹1,000. He accepted gladly,” she says. Mukander left home between 2.30 a.m. and 3 a.m. Manori says the family had borrowed money from two self-help groups, and the debt had climbed to ₹90,000. “Work comes rarely. When it does, you cannot refuse,” she says.

A few hours later, the family received frantic phone calls from villagers saying Mukander had met with an accident, she says. By the time they reached Jaydev Kasaba, where the pick-up van had skidded off the road, Mukander had already been shifted to the hospital by the police. He died later that afternoon.

Initially, the police treated the case as cattle smuggling having gone wrong. “An injured cow was found near the vehicle, so we invoked provisions of the Odisha Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, 1960; the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960; and relevant Sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023,” says Debajyoti Dash, Additional Superintendent of Police, Balasore.

As the day progressed, videos began doing the rounds of a person, allegedly Mukander, being mercilessly beaten by a group of men. While the authenticity of the footage is being verified by the police, the visuals showed the person being forced to chant slogans such as “Jai Shri Ram” and “Go mata, mo maa” (The cow is my mother).

Mukander’s brother Jitender filed a complaint, following which the police registered a new case under Section 103(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, dealing with mob lynching. “We have arrested six persons in connection with the incident. The investigation is ongoing, and no one will be spared,” says Balasore Superintendent of Police Pratyush Diwaker. A resident living near Jaydev Kasaba, the site of the incident, about 10 km from Mukander’s home, says there were nearly 10 men who intercepted the van in the early hours of the morning.

On the streets
Odisha Police’s Crime Branch records show a recurring pattern: cattle-laden vans being waylaid and frisked by vigilante groups. In November 2025 alone, at least 20 cattle transport vehicles were tracked down by the groups across different parts of the State. In several instances, the groups were linked to Hindu organisations, say the police.

On November 5, 2025, acting on information provided by members of the Hindu Ekta Manch, a group for a Hindu rashtra (nation), the police say they seized four bullocks and arrested a man from Barbil in Keonjhar district. Four days later, on November 9, a Bajrang Dal member filmed the alleged slaughter of a cow in Jagatsinghpur district, following which a case was registered at Balikuda police station.

On November 14, Bajrang Dal members intercepted another cattle van in Bhadrak, rescuing eight animals, say the police. On November 18, gau rakshaks alerted Khordha police about a truck allegedly carrying 12 buffaloes. Yet again, on November 21, Bajrang Dal members intercepted a cattle vehicle in the Sukinda area of Jajpur district, leading to the seizure of 12 cattle.

September 2025 saw cattle transport vehicles being intercepted on 26 occasions across Odisha. In at least 8 of these cases, including 6 involving Bajrang Dal members, and one each involving the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and gau rakshaks, the groups reached the spot before they alerted the police.

Police records show that 30 cases related to cattle transportation were registered in August 2025. On August 4, a BJP zilla parishad member tipped off authorities about the assembly of 21 cows in the Sinapali area of Nuapada district. According to police documents, at least 15 people associated with Sangh Parivar organisations, including the VHP, Bajrang Dal, and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, had first confronted a person linked to the cattle before the police stepped in and formally registered a case.

However, while police reports routinely acknowledge the role of these groups in intercepting cattle vehicles, they rarely document whether violence preceded their arrival on the scene. Some of those caught were Hindus.

In 2021, as many as 80 incidents of Hindu-Muslim tension were recorded, 35 of them triggered by issues related to cows, including alleged trafficking and slaughter. The number of communal incidents stood at 58 in 2022, and rose sharply to 85 in 2023 with cow-related issues emerging as the flashpoint in 30 and 60 cases respectively. By July 2024, up to 65 Hindu-Muslim incidents had already been reported, of which 49 were centred on cow-related disputes.

As Mukander’s death triggered outrage, gau rakshaks denied any role in the violence that led to his killing. “We have grown into an organised group of volunteers who only inform the police about cow transportation and slaughter. We have never been involved in violence,” says Jitendra Swain, secretary of Maa Bharati Go Seva Kendra in Balasore, which claims to shelter nearly 3,000 stray cattle.

According to Swain, around 30 gau rakshaks and a much larger number of gau sevaks (servants) are active in the district. “We not only hand over those involved in cow trading to the police, but we also follow the cases to their logical conclusion. We ensure the police do not dilute cases at any stage of the investigation, and we even fight cases in court so that culprits do not go unpunished,” he says. Swain claims public support is growing. “The winds of change have started blowing. More people are coming forward to fund efforts to save cows in Odisha,” he says.

Operating extra-constitutionally
Human rights activists express serious concern over the violence that often precedes police action in cases of alleged cattle trading. “We have a more than 60-year-old law in the form of the Orissa Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, 1960. Where does it mention the role of cow vigilantes? Who has given them the power to assault people, even if they are on the wrong side of the law?” says Biswapriya Kanungo, a human rights lawyer.

Kanungo says gau rakshaks are exercising “private-army-like” powers. “If they are such nationalists, how many ganja-laden trucks have they intercepted? What have they done to stop the theft of minerals from the State?” he says. By seeking assistance from gau rakshaks to curb cattle transportation while turning a blind eye to their high-handedness, Kanungo says, the police appear to have effectively let these forces loose on the streets of Odisha.

The Balasore district police cannot remember gau rakshaks ever being educated on their role as informers rather than street-level enforcers. “During the Ama Police meetings, we do discuss the duties and responsibilities of citizens. People are informed about the repercussions of taking the law into their own hands,” says Balasore SP Diwaker.

Kowtowing to the cow
The killing on the streets of Balasore failed to provoke much of a political response. Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Bhakta Charan Das addressed a press conference to condemn the killing of Mukander while the Biju Janata Dal dispatched a State-level delegation to Astia village five days later to meet the bereaved family. A team from the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) also visited the family. Beyond these gestures, however, there was little evidence of sustained political agitation or serious efforts to hold the administration accountable.

In the third week of January, the focus of public attention shifted. Keonjhar police launched one of the largest crackdowns on alleged cattle smugglers in recent memory, conducting raids across Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Bhadrak, and Jajpur districts. The police seized ₹1.4 crore in cash, 1 kilogram of gold, and 3 kg of silver. They arrested 9 people linked to the cattle trade. The scale of the operation dominated headlines, while Mukander’s death was pushed to the margins.

Amplifying the police action, Animal Husbandry Minister Gokula Nanda Mallik told PTI that the government was acting firmly against cattle smuggling. “Properties worth more than ₹50 crore belonging to cattle traders have been confiscated. The Chief Minister has instructed officials to keep a close watch on cattle smuggling,” he said.

On the alleged involvement of gau rakshaks in violence, Mallik said the cow protection was linked to “religious sentiment and asmita” (pride), adding that while social activists often assist the police, “they should not take the law into their own hands”. Addressing the Fisheries and Livestock Conclave, Chief Minister Majhi warned cattle smugglers, saying strict action would be taken against them. Revenue and Disaster Minister Suresh Pujari announced that cow shelters would be constructed across the State. For this, the government would provide the land.

The 2015 mob lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq that shocked the nation would continue to be heard by same judge of fast-track court.

New Delhi: A sessions court in Gautam Buddha Nagar has dismissed a plea filed by the accused in the 2015 Mohammad Akhlaq lynching case to transfer the case out of the fast-track court, underlining that criminal proceedings cannot be shifted on “speculative grounds”.

In rejecting the plea on Thursday, the court in Greater Noida’s Surajpur relied on precedents set by the Supreme Court to stress that criminal trials cannot be transferred “for the convenience of parties”.

The transfer plea filed by the six accused claimed there are “compelling circumstances” to contend that continuing the trial before the same judge would leave the accused with no prospect of getting justice.

The rejection of the transfer plea comes weeks after the fast-track court dismissed the Uttar Pradesh government’s application seeking withdrawal of the prosecution in the case. With both pleas turned down, the trial is set to continue before the same court as before.

In his order, sessions judge A. Shrivatava said, “A sessions trial cannot be transferred from one court to another merely on the basis of possibilities.”

Citing the Supreme Court’s judgement in Abdul Nazar Madani v. State of Tamil Nadu and others case, the judge held that a sessions trial case “cannot be transferred for the convenience of parties or merely on the basis of apprehensions”.

The court held that such grounds, without substantive material, do not justify shifting a trial from the court lawfully seized of the matter.

The plea “lacks merit and is dismissed”, the judge said.

Before Thursday’s order, the matter had last come up for hearing the previous week, when the state government sought an adjournment on the ground that it intended to file additional documents in the same case.

Advocate Yusuf Saifi, representing Akhlaq’s family, said that the trial will now continue before the same judge.

Meanwhile, the trial has already reached the evidence stage before Judge Saurabh Dwivedi and was scheduled to be taken up on Friday, January 23. However, the hearing could not take place as proceedings across courts were delayed due to rainy weather.

The Uttar Pradesh government’s plea to withdraw the case against the accused, filed under Section 321 of the Code of Criminal Procedure—which allows a public prosecutor to withdraw from prosecution with the court’s consent—had cited inconsistencies in eyewitness accounts, lack of evidence of prior enmity, and the need to “restore social harmony”.

The lynching
Mohammad Akhlaq was killed on 28 September 2015 after a mob attacked his home in Bisahda village under the Jarcha police station area in Greater Noida. The violence followed allegations that Akhlaq had slaughtered a cow and stored beef in his refrigerator.

The mob, allegedly led by Vishal Rana and his cousin Shivam, dragged Akhlaq and his 22-year-old son Danish out of their house and assaulted them. Akhlaq, then 52, later succumbed to his injuries at a Noida hospital. Danish survived after undergoing major head surgery.

The incident sparked nationwide outrage and a broader debate on mob violence and communal tensions.

The bodies of the couple were found behind a temple on the outskirts of their village in the Pakbada police station area of Moradabad on Wednesday.

An interfaith couple was brutally murdered, allegedly by the girl’s brothers, in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad in what is suspected to be an ‘honour killing’.

The incident took place under Pakbara police station area of Moradabad district in western UP.

The bodies of the couple—a 24-year-old Muslim man and an 18-year-old Hindu woman—were found behind a temple on the outskirts of their village.

Both Kajal Saini and Mohd Arman were residents of Umri Sabzipur village.

After receiving the information, district police, in the presence of a magistrate, exhumed the bodies on Wednesday night and sent them for post-mortem.

The action followed a complaint filed by the boy’s father, after which police registered an FIR against the brothers. Two of the accused were taken into custody.

According to sources, Kajal, a resident of Umri Sabjipur village, was a student who also taught at a private school. She had been in a relationship with Arman for the past two years.

On the night of January 18, Arman went to Kajal’s house to meet her, sources said. Family members allegedly caught the couple together and, angered by the relationship, detained them.

The relatives are accused of killing the couple with spades. To destroy evidence, they allegedly took the bodies out of the village to the banks of the Gagan river near the Neem Karauli Baba temple and buried them in a pit.

Meanwhile, Arman’s family grew worried when he did not return home and approached the local police seeking help to trace him. Sources said the family had been visiting the police station for the past three days and had also filed a complaint, expressing fear of an untoward incident.

However, the cops at the local police station ignored their concerns. Due to this supine attitude of the local police station, the accused got three days to tamper with the evidence.

Ultimately, the deceased boy’s family met Moradabad SSP Satpal Antil, on whose orders action was initiated.

As per the SSP, the boy and the girl knew each other. After a thorough investigation, the police suspected the girl’s brothers and took two of them into custody.

During the interrogation, they admitted to the crime, stating that they had murdered their sister and her lover. Both bodies were buried in a field behind the temple, the SSP said.

On Wednesday, teams from the SP Crime office, Pakbara Police, and the police stations of Katghar, Majhola, Mugalpura, and Munda Pandey began excavation along River Gagan.

After several hours, the bodies of Armaan and Kajal were recovered from a pit near the Neem Karauli Baba Temple.

As the recovery became known, people from both communities gathered at the spot. In view of the situation, the CO Civil Lines called in additional police force along with PAC.

The bodies were later sent for post-mortem.

Superintendent of Police Amrita Duhan said the accused were intercepted following specific intelligence inputs about cross-border drug trafficking.

Gharsana (Rajasthan): Security agencies have arrested three men and seized 4.88 kg of heroin worth an estimated Rs 20 crore near the India–Pakistan international border in Rajasthan, officials said on Friday.

The arrests were made during a joint operation by the police and the Border Security Force (BSF) in Rawla village, located close to the international boundary. Superintendent of Police Amrita Duhan said the accused were intercepted following specific intelligence inputs about cross-border drug trafficking.

According to the police, the trio was spotted near a canal bank close to the 15 KND culvert under Rawla police station limits while carrying a plastic bag. They attempted to flee on noticing a police vehicle but were apprehended after a brief chase. A search led to the recovery of 4.88 kg of heroin.

Preliminary investigation revealed that the narcotics had been smuggled into India from Pakistan using a China-made drone, which was also seized during the operation.

The arrested men have been identified as Jagandeep Singh alias Labbu Singh (26), a resident of Anupgarh; Neetu Singh alias Ravneet Singh (21), a resident of Hanumangarh; and Satpal Singh (27), a resident of Ghadsana. Police said 1,019 grams of heroin was recovered from Jagandeep, 2,048 grams from Neetu, and 1,021 grams from Satpal, who was also found carrying the drone.

A case has been registered against the accused under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, and further investigation is underway.

Officials said the three accused had been detained a day earlier in a preventive action for breach of peace and were later released on bail. Following their release, police received fresh inputs about a likely drug consignment from across the border. Acting on the information, the accused were arrested with the heroin and drone at a location around four kilometres from the international border.

A heated scuffle broke out between devotees and volunteers at Uttarakhand’s Siddh Bali Temple after a dispute over darshan lines for incoming and outgoing visitors. The altercation, caught on camera and now viral, shows pushing and shoving inside the crowded premises. No case has been registered and no arrests have been reported so far.

A heated argument broke out between devotees and volunteers inside the Siddh Bali Temple premises in Kotdwar, Uttarakhand, on 2 January morning. The incident was caught on camera, and the video has since gone viral on social media.

Violence Caught on Camera

The video shows devotees and volunteers pushing and shoving each other amid raised voices in the crowded area near the temple entrance. As the altercation escalates, a man wearing a white shirt is seen striking another individual with a stick and charging towards him, while the other person attempts to fight back.

Several onlookers can be seen trying to intervene and defuse the situation. However, the footage shows multiple people charging at one another, adding to the chaos inside the packed temple premises.

According to Hindi media reports, the dispute was over entry and exit darshan lines between devotees and volunteers. No case has been registered, and no arrests have been reported so far.

Similar Incident at Badrinath Temple

In another incident of violence at a religious site, a video that surfaced on social media on July 3, 2025, shows devotees involved in a physical fight on the staircase of the Badrinath Temple in Uttarakhand.

According to reports, the fight broke out following a dispute over taking photographs for social media. The brawl, which was also captured on camera, shows devotees engaged in a heated physical altercation over access to a spot on the temple stairs.

Dispute Over Photos Turns Violent

The viral footage shows two men arguing and pushing each other within the temple premises, as other devotees present at the spot attempt to separate them. Reports suggest the altercation began when one individual tried to take photos on the staircase and another group objected, leading to a full-blown fight between the two sides.

New Delhi [India], January 3: Delhi Police have busted a major cyber crime syndicate operating through a web of shell companies, arresting two accused and uncovering transactions linked to nearly Rs 180 crore in cyber fraud cases traced across the country.

The crackdown was carried out under Operation Cy-Hawk, launched to dismantle organised cyber fraud networks and choke illicit financial channels used for routing cheated money.

According to the Cyber Police Station of the New Delhi District, the operation focused on mule accounts, cash handlers and shell companies allegedly created to launder proceeds of cyber fraud. Investigators identified multiple hotspots in the district linked to suspicious financial activity. Scrutiny of complaints on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) revealed that an IDFC Bank account was being repeatedly used to receive fraud proceeds. The account was registered in the name of M/s Kudremukh Trading (OPC) Private Limited, based in Connaught Place.

Police said the account bore the hallmarks of a mule account, with multiple complaints pointing to organised cyber crime. An FIR was registered on November 19, 2025, under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and an investigation was initiated.

During the probe, it emerged that the company account was opened in the name of Rajesh Khanna, who later disclosed that he had acted on the directions of Sushil Chawla and Rajesh Kumar Sharma. Investigators found that the duo controlled fund transfers and had allegedly opened 20 shell companies to siphon off the money. Further scrutiny revealed links to 176 cyber fraud complaints amounting to approximately Rs 180 crore, with funds routed through multiple layers of these companies.

Police said Rajesh Khanna has since died in Noida. The remaining accused, Sushil Chawla and Rajesh Kumar, initially joined the investigation but later evaded notices and failed to cooperate, following which they were arrested. Digital evidence suggested Khanna was allegedly used as a pawn, while the accused claimed links to a person reportedly involved in similar fraud cases in West Bengal.

Two mobile phones and a laptop have been seized. Devices and bank accounts are being examined with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre for nationwide linkage, as further investigation continues.