Two brothers have been arrested for allegedly shooting a 19-month-old male cheetah in Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district, and the licensed gun used in the incident has been recovered from a forest area in neighbouring Morena district, the Forest Department’s Special Task Force (STF) said on Monday.

The accused, identified as Bhagwan Singh and Pritam Singh, were arrested during the investigation into the death of cheetah KNG-22, which was found seriously injured in the territorial forests of Sheopur on October 25.

According to an official statement, Bhagwan Singh, a resident of Navalpura-Behrara village in Morena district, was arrested on October 31. During interrogation, he allegedly disclosed that he and his brother had gone hunting in the forest near Nitanwas village in Vijaypur on October 24.

“On spotting the cheetah in the area, he fired at it with his licensed double-barrel muzzle-loading gun and fled from the spot,” the statement said.

Acting on the information provided by Bhagwan Singh, the STF, with the assistance of Morena Police, also took his brother Pritam Singh into custody.

Both accused were taken to the suspected crime scene for identification, and the firearm used in the shooting was recovered from the Morena forest area during their identification.

The STF said a four-member team comprising forest and police officials was constituted by the state government to investigate the incident.

The team developed an informer network and conducted search operations with the assistance of a dog squad. It also collected information with the help of Morena Police and the forest divisions of Sheopur and Morena. A case has been registered against both accused under Sections 9 and 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, as amended in 2022.

“During the investigation conducted so far, no involvement of any commercial illegal wildlife trade or organised wildlife crime gang has been found in this case,” the statement said.

Notably, KNG-22, a male cheetah born to female cheetah Nirva at Kuno National Park, was rescued from forest compartment number 748 in Sheopur on October 25 after being found in an injured condition.

It was initially taken to Kuno and later shifted to Nanaji Deshmukh Veterinary Science University in Jabalpur for specialised treatment. During emergency surgery, veterinarians recovered five firearm pellets from its body.

Despite medical treatment, the cheetah died on October 27.

The Centre had also deputed a three-member team comprising officials of the National Tiger Conservation Authority and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident and examine the protection measures for cheetahs under Project Cheetah.

The incident has raised concerns over the safety of cheetahs moving outside the protected areas of Kuno National Park.

The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on Monday invoked Stage-II of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) across Delhi and the entire National Capital Region with immediate effect after Delhi’s daily average Air Quality Index (AQI) rose to 324, placing it in the ‘Very Poor’ category.

According to the daily AQI bulletin issued by the Central Pollution Control Board, Delhi recorded an average AQI of 324 on November 2. The CAQM Sub-Committee for operationalisation of GRAP reviewed the current air quality scenario and the forecast provided by the India Meteorological Department and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology.

The forecast indicated that Delhi’s overall air quality is likely to remain in the ‘Very Poor’ category in the coming days. In view of this, the Sub-Committee unanimously decided to implement the complete action plan under Stage-II of the extant GRAP in the entire NCR with immediate effect, in addition to the Stage-I measures already in force.

Under Stage-II, agencies have been directed to carry out mechanical and vacuum sweeping of identified roads on a daily basis along with water sprinkling, preferably during night or early morning hours, while enhancing the number of shifts and hours of machine deployment and ensuring proper disposal of collected dust at designated sites.

Daily water sprinkling with dust suppressants must be undertaken before peak traffic hours on roads and congestion points. Focused and targeted actions are to be intensified at all identified pollution hotspots in Delhi-NCR, with remedial measures strengthened for the predominant sources of pollution in each hotspot.

Inspections for strict enforcement of dust control measures at construction and demolition sites have also been ordered to be intensified. The authorities have been instructed to enhance vehicle parking to discourage the use of private transport.

Resident Welfare Associations have been directed to necessarily provide electric heaters with proper electricity supply to staff engaged in security, sanitation, horticulture and other services so as to prevent open burning of biomass and municipal solid waste during winters.

The governments of Delhi and NCR states have been asked to stagger timings of public offices and municipal bodies in the National Capital Territory of Delhi and the districts of Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddha Nagar.

State governments may also take a decision to stagger timings in other parts of the NCR, while the Central Government may consider staggering timings of its offices in the region.

CAQM has urged citizens to strictly follow the steps listed in the Citizen Charter under Stage-II along with those under Stage-I. Residents have been advised to minimise the use of personal vehicles, prefer public transport or car-pooling, avoid open burning of leaves, garbage or biomass, and fully cooperate with the implementing agencies.

Agencies responsible for implementing GRAP measures, including the Pollution Control Boards of NCR states and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee, have been directed to ensure strict implementation of all Stage-II actions in addition to Stage-I measures.

The Commission stated that it is closely monitoring the situation and will review the air quality scenario on a regular basis in the coming days. The complete schedule of the extant GRAP is available on the Commission’s official website.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday claimed that three crore ‘Bangladeshi infiltrators’ are among ‘absent’ voters sought to be deleted in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and accused the Congress party of trying to protect them.

He declared that the BJP will ensure that every infiltrator is removed from the electoral rolls and driven out of the country.

Amit Shah was addressing the ‘Save Democracy Remove Anarchy’ march organised by the BJP here as part of its nationwide campaign to counter the anti-SIR campaign of the INDIA bloc.

Alleging that by stopping SIR, ‘Congress and company’ was trying to save Bangladesh infiltrators, he termed the rally organised by the INDIA bloc in Delhi on Sunday as a “Save the infiltrators” rally.

“Congress and company are trying to stop SIR because infiltrators are their vote bank. BJP workers stand firmly with SIR. Only citizens of this country will be allowed to vote here,” said HM Shah, who led the foot march from Basheerbagh to Moazzam Jahi Market.

Amit Shah said Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi was lying that 13 crore votes were deleted in SIR.

The Home Minister stated that 6.25 crore voters had shifted while about 3 crore voters were dead. He said another one crore voters had double entries.

“The Congress party wants to capture elections through bogus voting. If one person has two votes, should one of them be cancelled or not? Now we come to the source of ‘Rahul Baba’s’ stomach ache. Three crore votes are such that the people they belong to do not even exist. These are Bangladeshi infiltrators,” he said.

He alleged that by opposing the SIR, the Congress party wants to protect Bangladeshi infiltrators in the country’s electoral rolls.

“But I have come here today to say that Rahul ji and Revanth Reddy ji can put in as much effort as they want. The BJP will ensure that every single infiltrator is removed from the voter list and driven out of the country.”

Dismissing the allegation of Rahul Gandhi that the BJP won only because of the SIR, he reminded the Congress leader that there was no SIR when Narendra Modi won in 2014, 2019 and 2024. “He won because of the voters of India. After 2024, we won in Maharashtra with the biggest majority. We won in Haryana. After 30 years, we won in Delhi. We won in Bihar with the biggest majority. In Bengal too, Didi’s entire political standing has been wiped out,” he said and exuded confidence that BJP will win Telangana too.

Amit Shah remarked that Rahul Gandhi can never become Prime Minister. “Two days ago, you held a mock Parliament. If you had asked me, I would have suggested that you become Prime Minister at least once in this mock Parliament. Because you will never be able to become Prime Minister in the real Parliament. At least if you become Prime Minister in a mock Parliament, Sonia ji’s heart will find some peace,” he remarked.

The Home Minister said that Rahul Gandhi carries the Constitution in his hand but has no respect for the Constitution. Stating that Constitutional responsibilities are discharged through the country’s Parliament, he accused Rahul Gandhi of not allowing Parliament to function.

“I challenge you today from the land of Hyderabad. We are ready to convene a special session of Parliament. Come and participate in a discussion. But he will not participate in the discussion because he knows that only through anarchy and disorder can the Congress party keep itself in the news. If Parliament functions, our Modi ji will completely demolish their arguments,” he said.

On Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that BJP was winning because of EVMs, he asked how Revanth Reddy became Chief Minister of Telangana. “How do parties form governments in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh? If the EVMs are so bad, you should not have taken the oath of office. When you win, the credit goes to the people, but when you lose, you blame the EVMs.”

Alleging that there were scams, scandals and corruption worth Rs 12 lakh crore during 10 years of Congress rule, he said the country can’t be handed over to the Congress again.

Amit Shah remarked that the Congress party is on a ventilator. “Can this ventilator party run a marathon alongside Modi ji? Rahul ji, forget Modi ji. Even my Telangana Yuva Morcha president will defeat you.”

The BJP leader also took a dig at Rahul Gandhi’s foreign visits. “Rahul ji, you cannot win elections this way. You spend three or four months in the country and then go abroad. You will have to sweat it out in the country. You will have to stand united with the people and work to resolve their problems,” he said.

Amit Shah accused Revanth Reddy of turning the entire Telangana into an ATM for the Congress leaders sitting in Delhi and said the people of Telangana will never forgive him for this.

Stating that Rahul Gandhi had promised six guarantees in Telangana, he said not even one guarantee has been fulfilled.

Stating that BRS or Owaisi can’t stop the corruption in Telangana and the conspiracy to sell the state, he said only the BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi can stop it.

He urged the BJP cadres to ensure that the Congress party is rooted out from Telangana and the BJP comes to power with a two-thirds majority