Crime
From courts to politicians, bulldozer under attack in Assam, Tripura

Besides other parts of the country, the BJP’s bulldozer politics has also drawn severe criticism both from the political spectrum and the courts in the northeastern states specially in Assam and Tripura.
During his recent three-day (May 8-10) visit to Assam, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that 10,700 bighas encroached upon by infiltrators have been freed.
The Assam government has also cleared over 3,800 hectares of forest land of encroachments during the past few years.
Before Assam’s BJP led government’s eviction drive, the saffron party led Tripura government after coming to power in March 2018 bulldozed a large number of opposition party offices across Tripura.
The Assam government had last year undertaken eviction drives in different districts to free government land encroached by hundreds of people for years. Various opposition parties including the Congress had criticised the BJP government for evicting the people without making alternate settlements.
In one of the violent eviction drive, two persons, including a 12-year-old boy, were killed while 20 others were injured after a mob clashed with the police in Darrang district on September 23 last year.
A video of the clashes, which went viral, also showed a photographer engaged by the Darrang district administration stomping on the body of a man shot by the police.
The eviction drive was launched by the police and the district administration to vacate 4,500 bighas (602.40 hectares) of government land, allegedly encroached upon by several hundreds of Bengali-speaking Muslim families in Darrang district.
Hearing a public interest litigation filed by Debabrata Saikia, Leader of Opposition in the Assam Assembly, the division bench of the Gauhati High Court headed by the then Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia (who was recently elevated to the Supreme Court) had termed the Darrang district incident as “a big tragedy and very unfortunate” and directed the state government to file a detailed affidavit in the matter.
“This was a big tragedy, very unfortunate. Those who are guilty, if at all, must be punished, no doubt about that. Khoon zameen par gir gaya (blood has been spilt),” the Chief Justice had remarked.
The court wanted to know whether the National Rehabilitation Policy is applicable in Assam, and directed the state government to file a detailed affidavit in the entire matter within three weeks.
The Assam government had ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident.
Assam government officials said that around 800 families of Bengali-speaking Muslims were unlawfully occupying about 4,500 bighas (602.40 hectares) of government land for many years and the government recently decided to use the land for agricultural purposes by removing the settlers.
Besides various opposition parties including the Congress and the Badruddin Ajmal-led All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), the All Minority Organisations Coordination Committee, which includes the All Assam Minority Students Union and the Jamiat-e-Ulema, among others, had organised a series of agitations against the eviction drive.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier claimed that the Popular Front of India (PFI) was involved in the Darrang violence.
Besides Sarma, other BJP leaders accused the migrant Muslims of encroaching upon a huge area in Assam.
Muslims comprise 34.22 per cent of the 3.12 crore population of Assam, of which 4 per cent are indigenous Assamese Muslims and the remaining are mostly Bengali-speaking Muslims.
Muslim votes are the determining factor in at least 30 to 35 seats out of Assam’s total 126 Assembly seats.
Of Assam’s 34 districts, 19 districts have 12 per cent or more Muslim population, and in six districts (out of these 19 districts), the Muslim population constitutes 50 per cent or more.
In Tripura, after the BJP government wrested power from the Left parties defeating the CPI-M led Left Front, it bulldozed 185 CPI-M party and Left trade union offices across the state alleging that all these party offices were set up on government land.
The BJP government had also demolished eight Congress party offices in different districts.
CPI-M central committee member Jitendra Chaudhury said that BJP governments across the country tried to enforce one party rule.
“The BJP not only bulldozed the physical structures of the opposition parties, they also bulldozing the society, mindset of the people, communal harmony and the democratic structures of the country. They are not maintaining the demarcation between the party and the government,” Chaudhury told IANS.
Supporting the BJP government’s stand and action, the party’s Rajya Sabha member Manik Saha said that the government has been doing its work as per the law.
“If any party or individual occupying the government lands and properties, these should be vacated by the law enforcing agencies. A few of our party offices were also removed in Tripura,” Saha, who is also the president of the BJP Tripura unit, told IANS.
After coming to power in the politically important Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC), the civic body led by Dipak Majumder evicted many hawkers from shops in the capital city.
Almost all opposition parties and civil society activists criticized the AMC’s action.
They argued that without making alternate arrangements and rehabilitation of the hawkers, the authority should not do this unilaterally.
Crime
Delhi: Three thieves arrested, six stolen phones recovered

crime
New Delhi, June 20: Three thieves were arrested and six stolen mobile phones were recovered along with a dummy pistol and a scooter used in multiple crimes by the Tilak Marg Police in Delhi, an official said on Friday.
The accused have been identified as Arbaz (22) of Sarai Kale Khan, Pankaj Mourya (22) of Jungpura, and Rahul Bagh (26) of Chirag Delhi.
“Six stolen mobile phones, one dummy pistol and a scooter used in the crime were recovered from the accused,” said Delhi Police in a statement.
The official said that the arrested accused had been selling stolen mobile phones on e-commerce platforms using fake Aadhaar cards and forged invoices.
The breakthrough in the case came after a complaint was filed by a Blinkit delivery boy, who reported the theft of his mobile phone, stating that it was stolen while he was delivering an order on Pandara Road.
The accused had tricked him by pretending to make an online payment before fleeing with his mobile phone. An E-FIR (No. 80056549/2025) was registered under Section 303(2) BNS at PS Tilak Marg on June 13, 2025.
A special team led by SI Kamlesh Kumar, along with HC Sanjeet Kumar, Ct. Jhabbar Mal and Ct. Ram Tyagi worked under the supervision of SHO Gurmail Singh and ACP Nageen Kaushik to crack the case.
CCTV footage from the area showed the culprits fleeing on a scooter. Order details from Blinkit and further analysis of internet logs helped police trace one suspect to Sarai Kale Khan. However, he vacated the premises a month ago.
Using technical surveillance and informants, police eventually tracked the trio to a rented house in Chhatarpur.
So far, three E-FIRs from Tilak Marg, Kalkaji, and Vasant Kunj South, and one lost report from Sunlight Colony, have been worked out with these arrests.
The official said that further investigation is underway to uncover the full extent of the racket and recover additional stolen items.
Crime
Honeymoon murder case: Meghalaya Police question over 20 people in Indore

Indore, June 19: A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Meghalaya Police, which arrived here on Tuesday in connection with the ongoing investigation pertaining to the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi, has questioned around 20 people, including Sonam and Raj Kushwaha’s family members, to date.
Apart from the family members, Meghalaya Police also visited Sonam’s brother Govind Raghuvanshi’s plywood factory and questioned employees working there, who were known to Sonam and Raj Kushwaha, key accused in the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi.
During cross-examination of arrested accused — Sonam, her alleged boyfriend Raj Kushwaha and his three friends — the Meghalaya Police learnt that they had discussed the entire plan to execute crime at a restaurant located in Super Corridor area in Indore.
The owner of the restaurant, where Sonam and Raj Kushwaha along with others reportedly planned the murder, is also said to be ‘under suspicion’.
Speaking to media on Thursday, he said that he came to know about the sensational murder case from news reports.
“A number of customers visit my restaurant every day, so I can’t remember them. Yes, there is one corner area here (at restaurant) where people sit for hours. But we just take orders from them and serve,” restaurant owner Jai Soni said.
Asked if Meghalaya or Indore police visited his restaurant for investigation, he said: “Not yet.”
He added: “We will cooperate if they (police) would visit here. This incident has brought shame for entire Indore city. We will provide them CCTV footage.”
Meghalaya Police on Wednesday visited the Indore residence of Sonam Raghuvanshi — the prime accused in the case pertaining to the murder of her husband Raja Raghuvanshi and questioned her family members in connection with the probe into the case.
The Meghalaya Police team had also visited Raja Raghuvanshi’s home and met his family members, including mother on Tuesday night.
During half-an-hour’s meeting, Meghalaya police asked about Sonam’s behaviour during her three-day stay in Raja’s home.
Notably, Raja and Sonam had got married on May 11 in Indore, and she lived in Raja’s home till May 13. She had returned to her parental home on June 14, and then, the couple had left for their honeymoon trip Meghalaya on May 21.
Crime
Honeymoon murder case: Sonam made 239 calls to Raj, saved number as ‘Sanjay Verma’

Shillong, June 19: In a chilling twist to the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi during his honeymoon in Meghalaya, police investigations have revealed that his wife, Sonam Raghuvanshi, the prime accused, was in regular contact with her lover Raj Kushwaha — whom she had saved in her phone as “Sanjay Verma” — both before and after her marriage.
According to Meghalaya Police, Sonam made and received over 239 calls from the number in just 39 days.
The police confirmed that the so-called Sanjay Verma is, in fact, Raj Kushwaha, who worked as an accountant in the furniture sheet unit owned by Sonam’s family in Indore.
He is now identified as the co-conspirator and the mastermind behind the murder plan.
Police suspect that Sonam deliberately saved Raj’s number under a different name to avoid arousing suspicion. His mobile phone has remained switched off since the case unravelled.
Sonam’s brother, Govind, reacting to the revelations, stated, “I don’t know anything about Sanjay Verma. I just got to know that Sanjay’s name is also coming up.”
He further emphasised that the family has cut all ties with Sonam and stands with the victim’s family in their fight for justice.
The murder has sent shockwaves across the country. What initially appeared to be a case of a missing couple took a dark turn when the body of Raja Raghuvanshi was discovered in the forested terrain of Meghalaya, not far from Nongriat village, where the couple was last seen.
The two had checked out from a homestay on May 23, just 12 days after their wedding in Indore, only for Raja’s body to be recovered on June 2.
According to police, Sonam had a long-standing relationship with Raj even before her marriage. Despite the ongoing affair, she went ahead with the wedding and planned a honeymoon trip to the northeast.
But the trip was part of a sinister plot to eliminate Raja. Police investigations have revealed that Sonam hired three contract killers — Akash Rajput, Vishal Singh Chauhan, and Anand Kurmi — to carry out the murder.
Her cousin, Jitendra Raghuvanshi, is said to have facilitated the first payment instalment to the hitmen.
After days of being untraceable, Sonam surfaced on June 8 in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur district and surrendered at the Nandganj police station.
Her surrender came hours after the three hitmen were nabbed from different locations in Uttar Pradesh, Indore, and Sagar. Raj Kushwaha was arrested shortly after.
On June 11, during police interrogation, Sonam reportedly confessed to orchestrating the murder of her husband.
The murder, laced with deception and betrayal, has gripped national attention, particularly due to the elaborate planning and the disturbing involvement of multiple individuals close to the accused.
Govind, her brother, reiterated the family’s resolve to stand by Raja’s family.
“We have no relation with Sonam anymore. What she has done is beyond forgiveness. Our full support is with Raja’s family, and we will help them in their legal battle for justice,” he had said.
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