New Delhi, Oct 14: A Delhi court has issued fresh summons to YouTuber Dhruv Rathee in an eight-year-old criminal defamation case filed by Vikas Pandey over a video titled “BJP IT Cell Part 2”, with the social media influencer now having been served at his residence in Gurugram.

The case, pending before the Saket Court, relates to allegations that the video was defamatory. The video was also retweeted by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in 2018, who later admitted before the Supreme Court that he had made a mistake by retweeting it.

In its order, the court acknowledged the prolonged attempts to serve summons on Rathee, who ordinarily resides in Austria, and permitted fresh summons to be served through dasti service, while allowing the complainant to accompany the process server. Rathee has now been physically served with the summons at his Gurugram residence. The matter is scheduled to be heard next on October 17.

The proceedings against Rathee had remained pending amid unsuccessful attempts to serve him with the summons since 2019, with the complainant claiming that his continued absence from India had stalled the case.

The matter had previously reached the Supreme Court in connection with a retweet of the same video by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal.

In February 2024, Kejriwal had told the apex court that he had made a mistake by retweeting the video.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna (later CJI and now retired) and Dipankar Datta had granted a stay on the proceedings pending before the trial court while hearing his plea challenging the Delhi High Court’s refusal to quash the summons issued against him.

Earlier, the Delhi High Court had upheld the summoning order, observing that retweeting defamatory content could attract the offence of defamation under Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Pandey, founder of the social media page ‘I Support Narendra Modi’, had alleged that the retweet tarnished his reputation.

Surat, Oct 14: The Surat City Police Cyber Crime Branch have arrested a 54-year-old man in West Bengal for allegedly providing a bank account to cyber fraudsters to route proceeds from a Rs 24.4 lakh fraud in which a complainant’s mobile phone was hacked through a fake Regional Transport Office (RTO) e-challan APK file, officials said on Wednesday.

The accused, Arikul Islam, a resident of Basubati village in West Bengal’s Hooghly district, allegedly opened a current bank account in the name of a charitable trust he had established and handed it over to an absconding accused in exchange for a commission of Rs 50,000.

Police said the accused had allegedly sent the complainant a fake digital RTO e-challan application, named E-Chalan.apk, and induced them to download it.

The application was used to hack the complainant’s mobile phone, following which Rs 24.4 lakh was transferred from their bank account to three separate bank accounts without their knowledge.

A case was registered at the Cyber Crime Police Station under Sections 318(4), 336(2), 338, 336(3), 340(2), 61(2) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and Sections 66(C) and 66(D) of the Information Technology Act, as amended in 2008.

Investigators found that Rs 12,42,117 had been transacted through the current account held at Ujjivan Small Finance Bank between November 29, 2025, and May 3, 2026.

The arrest followed technical investigations conducted by a team led by Police Inspector M.C. Nayak, acting on instructions from senior officials.

“Two other accused, Ritik Bali, 26, and Tinku Parmar, 44, both residents of Badnagar in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain district, had been arrested earlier in the case,” the police said.

In its public advisory, the Cyber Crime Branch cautioned people against downloading APK files or applications sent by unknown persons under the pretext of RTO challans, banking services, customer support, KYC updates, government schemes, appointment bookings or grocery services.

Police also urged people not to click on suspicious links received through SMS or email and advised victims of financial cyber fraud to call the national cybercrime helpline, ‘1930’, immediately, as prompt reporting can improve the chances of freezing the funds in beneficiary bank accounts.

Greater Noida, Oct 14: Police and Anti-Narcotics Team in Uttar Pradesh’s Greater Noida have seized ‘ganja’ worth Rs 1 crore and arrested three for smuggling the drugs, officials said.

According to officials, Badalpur Police and the Anti-Narcotics Team busted an interstate gang involved in the smuggling of ‘ganja’. The arrests were made near Kudi Kheda turn on the Dadri-Lalkuan road in Uttar Pradesh.

Police said 165 kg and 700 grams of illicit ‘ganja’ have been seized, valued at approximately Rs 1 crore. The truck and the car used for the alleged smuggling have also been confiscated.

Apart from that, four mobile phones, Rs 1,980 in cash and bank cards have also been recovered.

Police said that the accused used to transport cannabis from Bhubaneswar in a truck to supply it in Delhi. A secret cavity had been created in the truck to evade police checks.

According to the police, one of those arrested, Dinesh Pal, is the gang leader and had earlier spent about 15 months in jail in connection with the seizure of 250 kg of ‘ganja’ in 2021.

Speaking to reporters, Praveen Ranjan Singh, DCP Central, said: “Last night, during a joint checking operation conducted by the Anti-Narcotics team and the Badalpur police station, a truck was intercepted based on local intelligence. Approximately 1.66 quintals of ‘ganja’, which was being transported from Odisha to Delhi, was seized. Three individuals involved in the operation were arrested: two were in the truck, while the third was driving a car accompanying it.”

“The driver of the car would scout the route ahead, and the truck would follow behind. All three arrested accused are originally from Bihar, though one resided in Delhi. The consignment brought from Odisha was handed over to two individuals—identified as Sameer and Ravi Kumar Sahni—upon arrival in Delhi,” he mentioned.

The police officer confirmed that Dinesh, a Bihar resident, was involved in transporting the consignment.

“He would deliver the shipment to the other two, after which it was distributed through wholesale and retail channels in Delhi. Detailed interrogation regarding the entire gang is currently underway. We are also investigating the truck involved—specifically, which transport company it belongs to, who the owner is, and whether any other vehicles owned by them are involved in this illicit trade,” he added.

A case has been registered against the accused at Badalpur Police Station under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS Act).