New Delhi, June 15: In a major step towards strengthening railway safety, Indian Railways has approved the installation of Kavach on the remaining 811 km broad gauge sections of the Ambala Division of the Northern Railway with an investment of Rs 201 crore, according to an official statement issued on Monday.

The sanctioned work will cover important rail routes in the Ambala Division, including Ambala Cantonment–Ludhiana, Kalka–Chandigarh–New Morinda–Sahnewal, Sirhind–Daulatpur Chowk, Rajpura–Bathinda–Shri Ganganagar, and Ludhiana–Dhuri–Jakhal sections.

These routes serve as key rail corridors connecting the states of Haryana, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh. They handle substantial passenger and freight traffic and play an important role in the movement of people and goods across the region.

The work has been approved under the umbrella programme for the provision of Kavach with LTE-based communication backbone on balance routes of the Railways.

Kavach is an indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system designed to enhance operational safety. It helps prevent Signal Passing at Danger (SPAD), automatically applies brakes when required to avert unsafe situations, controls train speed in critical conditions, and significantly reduces the risk of collisions.

Indian Railways is progressively expanding Kavach across its network as part of its ongoing efforts to improve safety, reliability and capacity on high-density and strategically important routes.

Multiple projects worth Rs 1,364.45 crore have been approved to strengthen safety, signalling and communication infrastructure across its network. The sanctioned works include the provision of Kavach on locomotives, the expansion of optical fibre cable network, and the replacement of panel interlocking with electronic interlocking systems across various railway zones.

Indian Railways earlier sanctioned three itemised works in the Northern Railway at a total cost of Rs 400.86 crore for strengthening the communication backbone infrastructure. These works are part of a separate umbrella project approved at a cost of Rs 4,871 crore.

A sub-umbrella provision of Rs 871 crore has been allocated for Northern Railway for the laying of fibre cables along 926.05 route km in Ambala Division, along 1,204 route km along with Optical Fiber Communication (OFC) rooms at stations in Delhi Division, and along 1,074 route km in Lucknow Division. These works aim to enhance the capacity and reliability of communication systems across divisions, which are critical for modern signalling and Kavach deployment.

New Delhi, June 15: A Delhi court on Monday extended till June 29 the judicial custody of 10 accused in the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak case being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The accused were produced before the Rouse Avenue Court through video conferencing from Tihar Jail upon the expiry of their previously granted judicial custody. The court extended the judicial custody of Yash Yadav, Mangilal Biwal, Dinesh Biwal, Vikas Biwal, Dhananjay Lokhande, Tejas Harshad Shah, Shubham Khairnar, Manisha Waghmare, Manisha Sanjay Havaldar and Dr Manoj Shirure till June 29.

The Rouse Avenue Court also permitted the CBI to interrogate accused Shubham Khairnar, Manisha Waghmare and Dhananjay Lokhande inside jail on June 17, 18 and 19, respectively.

The probe agency has been allowed to question each of the accused for one hour as part of its ongoing investigation into the alleged examination paper leak.

The CBI has so far arrested 13 accused in the case and is investigating an alleged network involved in procuring and circulating NEET-UG question papers ahead of the examination.

Earlier, on June 1, the Rouse Avenue Court had remanded accused Dr Manoj Shirure, Tejas Harshadkumar Shah and Manisha Sanjay Havaldar to judicial custody till June 15. The Central agency has alleged that Shirure, a Latur-based doctor, played a key role in facilitating three students, including the son of an accused coaching centre owner, in obtaining Chemistry questions from alleged kingpin P.V. Kulkarni before the examination.

Shah, a Physics faculty member at Pune-based Abhang Prabhu Medical Academy (APMA), is alleged to have received leaked Physics questions from co-accused Manisha Havaldar.

The case pertains to the alleged leak of the NEET-UG 2026 examination paper, following which the CBI registered an FIR on May 12 on the basis of a complaint lodged by the Department of Higher Education under the Union Ministry of Education.

According to the probe agency, Pune-based education consultant Manisha Waghmare was among the intermediaries involved in mobilising students who allegedly paid lakhs of rupees to attend special coaching sessions where questions that later appeared in the NEET-UG 2026 examination were dictated and discussed.

The CBI has claimed that Waghmare facilitated prospective candidates for special coaching classes conducted by NTA-appointed senior Botany teacher Manisha Gurunath Mandhare, who is suspected to be the co-mastermind behind the Biology paper leak.

Chemistry professor P.V. Kulkarni has been identified by the probe agency as the alleged kingpin of the paper leak network.

Meanwhile, the Centre has stepped up preparations for the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination scheduled for June 21 after the original examination held in May was cancelled following allegations that some questions had been leaked.

Amid preparations for the re-test, Cabinet Secretary T.V. Somanathan recently reviewed the arrangements with National Testing Agency officials and warned that the “full might and weight of the law” would fall on anyone attempting to distort, disrupt or tamper with the integrity of the examination process.

The Centre has put in place enhanced security measures, including transportation of question papers by the Indian Air Force and deployment of CRPF and CISF personnel to assist local authorities in ensuring secure conduct of the re-examination.

The NTA has also announced an additional 15 minutes for candidates and increased space for rough work in answer booklets.

The Centre has maintained that coordinated efforts by the Union government, state governments and district administrations are aimed at safeguarding the integrity and credibility of the re-examination process.

New Delhi, June 15: In a major action against cyber-enabled financial crimes, the Cyber Police Station of Delhi Police’s Shahdara District has busted an online investment fraud racket linked to transactions of approximately Rs 1.56 crore and arrested two persons for allegedly operating mule bank accounts used to route and conceal proceeds of cyber fraud.

According to police, the accused were actively facilitating cybercriminals by providing and managing bank accounts used to receive the money obtained by cheating and transferring it further to obscure the financial trail. Several digital devices and incriminating evidence have been recovered during the operation.

The case was registered as e-FIR No. 90/26, dated April 9, under Sections 318(4)/319/340 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at PS Cyber, Shahdara, following a complaint by a woman resident of GTB Enclave, Delhi.

The complainant alleged that she was cheated out of Rs 21 lakh through an online investment scam. She stated that in April, she came across a Telegram advertisement promoting stock market investment opportunities with promises of high returns. After joining the group, fraudsters posing as investment experts induced her to invest money in multiple instalments.

However, when she attempted to withdraw her returns, she was denied access and subsequently blocked from all communication channels, after which she realised she had been defrauded.

Taking cognisance of the complaint, a dedicated team comprising Inspector Ashwani Kumar, Head Constables Dhanesh, Anuj, Vikas, and Mahipal was constituted under senior supervision.

Based on technical surveillance and intelligence inputs, police teams conducted raids in Uttar Pradesh’s Amroha and Moradabad districts, leading to the arrest of two accused identified as Mohd Sadik, 32, of Moradabad and Javed Ansari, 34, of Amroha.

During interrogation, the accused admitted to knowingly providing and operating bank accounts used in cyber fraud activities. They were in regular contact with associates through WhatsApp, who used these accounts for committing online investment scams and routing illicit funds.

Police said these accounts were being used as mule accounts to layer transactions and hide the money trail. Preliminary investigation has also indicated the involvement of a wider inter-state cyber fraud network.

Two mobile phones used in the offence, WhatsApp chats, and bank account credentials, along with financial records, have been recovered.

Further investigation is underway to trace the remaining accused, map the money trail, and recover the cheated amount.