In a major development in the alleged attack on former Kerala Health Minister Veena George, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Tuesday informed the court that none of the charges against the five KSU activists involved in the case can be sustained.

SIT head U. Preman submitted the final report before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Kannur, stating that the activists had not committed any of the offences mentioned in the charge sheet.

The report says charges of rioting and trespassing into the railway premises will not stand.

It also makes it clear that the protesters did not obstruct the police from performing their official duties.

A black-flag protest, the SIT says, does not amount to a criminal offence.

The latest report marks a significant turn in the case, which had attracted considerable political attention after the police invoked serious charges, including attempt to murder, against the five Kerala Students’ Union (KSU) activists.

The SIT has found that the activists did not attack Veena George.

It has also said that the protesters never managed to reach her during the demonstration at Kannur railway station, early this year.

The alleged assault charge could not be established after the former minister’s gunman, Abhilash, changed his statement before the investigating team.

He told the SIT that he had not seen the protesters attempting to attack Veena George.

The original case was based largely on his statement that the protesters had attempted to assault the minister using weapons.

However, the SIT could not recover the weapons allegedly used in the incident.

The investigation found that what took place was a scuffle between the KSU activists and the police.

The team had earlier submitted a report to the Director General of Police (DGP), pointing out that the protest had been exaggerated and that the activists had not reached the former minister.

The gunman also reportedly told the SIT that he had given a false statement at Veena George’s direction.

This disclosure had raised questions over the original version of the incident.

The latest report before the court now places the entire case in a different light, with the SIT concluding that the protesters cannot be prosecuted for the offences originally alleged against them.

The case had become a major political controversy, with the Congress and the CPI(M) taking sharply opposing positions over the incident.

The CPI (M), as soon as the incident occurred in February, staged protest marches as elections were round the corner.

A police Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) allegedly opened fire on villagers in Balirajgarh village under Babubarhi police station limits in Bihar’s Madhubani district late on Monday night, killing a 50-year-old man and injuring three others.

The deceased has been identified as Ashok Yadav, who succumbed to his injuries during treatment.

The injured have been identified as Dhanik Lal Yadav, Phulo Devi and Vijendra Yadav.

They were initially taken to the Babubarhi Community Health Centre (CHC), where doctors declared Ashok Yadav dead, while the other three were referred to another hospital for advanced treatment.

The accused police officer has been identified as ASI Chandramohan Singh, who was posted at a police picket established in Balirajgarh.

According to preliminary accounts, the incident occurred when the ASI allegedly entered the house of a local resident, Vijay Yadav, in the absence of his wife.

His daughter and the daughter of their neighbour, Ashok Yadav, were reportedly sleeping inside the house.

It is alleged that the ASI entered the house with inappropriate intentions. When a neighbour, Phulo Devi, noticed his presence, she reportedly bolted the door from outside and raised an alarm.

Hearing the commotion, villagers gathered at the spot and surrounded the house.

The ASI allegedly pulled out his service pistol and fired several rounds to escape the gathering, hitting four villagers.

According to an official, the ASI had been visiting the house frequently. SSP Yogendra Kumar said the officer had allegedly developed an illicit relationship with a woman in the village and regularly visited her residence.

He had gone there again on Monday night, following which the villagers surrounded the house.

The SSP said the officer allegedly fired three to four rounds to protect himself from the villagers. The exact sequence of events is being investigated.

Following the incident, senior police officials rushed to the hospital to meet the injured and their families and inspected the crime scene.

The Madhubani SSP has been stationed at Babubarhi police station since the incident.

The accused ASI has been suspended with immediate effect.

Police are registering an FIR, including charges of murder, and have constituted two special teams to arrest him.

He has been absconding since the firing.

The incident has also brought the officer’s previous service record under scrutiny.

Chandramohan Singh was earlier posted at the Madhavapur police station.

A few months ago, he was allegedly involved in another firing incident in Benipatti, where a motorcyclist died during an attempt to stop his vehicle.

Following that incident, the ASI and the driver of a Dial 112 vehicle were suspended.

The police picket at Balirajgarh was established in May 2026 following complaints of disturbances and theft of archaeological artefacts at the local excavation site.

After a meeting between the SSP and villagers, security personnel were deployed to protect the excavation area.

The security arrangement included an ASI, three personnel from the Special Auxiliary Police Force (SAFE) and two watchmen, with personnel staying at a residential girls’ school when off duty.

Meanwhile, the incident has left the village tense.

Ashok Yadav, who ran a paan shop in Bengaluru, was due to marry off his daughter on December 14.

Police are investigating the circumstances leading to the firing, while efforts are underway to arrest the absconding ASI.

The ED attached immovable properties worth Rs 40 crore in connection with a money-laundering investigation arising out of the bank loan fraud committed by Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL) and its promoters, Kapil Wadhawan and Deeraj Wadhawan, an official said on Monday.

The provisional attachment was carried out by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Headquarters Investigation Unit, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

The properties attached in connection with the ongoing case comprise land parcels at Karjat, district Raigad, Maharashtra, and a residential plot at Shanti Niketan, New Delhi, the ED said.

The ED investigation was initiated on the basis of an FIR registered by the CBI, AC-VI, New Delhi, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, pursuant to a complaint filed by Union Bank of India on behalf of a consortium of 17 banks.

As per the FIR, Kapil Wadhawan, Dheeraj Wadhawan and others entered into a criminal conspiracy to cheat the consortium of banks, which had sanctioned credit facilities aggregating to Rs 42,871 crore to DHFL.

The loan funds were siphoned off and misappropriated through falsification of the books of accounts of DHFL, resulting in a wrongful loss of Rs 34,615 crore to the consortium lenders, the ED said.

The ED investigation revealed that the Wadhawans controlled around 225 companies, directly or through family members, associates and employees.

Forensic audits of DHFL identified 66 entities connected to the promoters to which loans and advances of over Rs 29,100 crore were disbursed, the ED said.

The investigation has further revealed that Rs 11,549 crore was diverted from DHFL to 87 promoter-controlled entities through a fictitious “Bandra Branch.” Through this branch, large disbursals to Wadhawan Group entities were split and disguised as home loans in the names of about 2.60 lakh fictitious retail borrowers.

The inflated retail loan book enabled DHFL to raise further borrowings from banks, evade regulatory scrutiny and conceal related-party transactions, the ED said.

It may be recalled that the ED has already filed a chargesheet before the Special Court (PMLA), Mumbai, against 17 accused including Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan, followed by a Supplementary Chargesheet against 5 more accused.

Earlier, during search operations conducted on August 19, 2026, the ED had frozen $5.41 million (Rs 51.75 crore) linked to the disposal of a foreign asset of the Wadhawan family, said the statement.

Investigation revealed that in 2018-19, DHFL diverted proceeds of crime of Rs 40.40 crore to two Mumbai-based proprietorship concerns, namely Reliable Services and Millennium Services, belonging to Harish Dedhiya and his wife Dhara Dedhiya. These payments were made against fictitious services which were never rendered, the ED said.