Defamation case filed against Rahul Gandhi for 'derogatory' remarks against Savarkar
Thane (PTI): The police in Thane city of Maharashtra have registered a case of defamation against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his "derogatory" remarks against freedom fighter V D Savarkar, an official said on Friday.
The first information report (FIR) against Gandhi was registered at Thane Nagar police station on Thursday, he said.
"The case was filed based on the complaint lodged by Vandana Dongre, a functionary of the Shiv Sena faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. The complainant alleged that Gandhi hurt the sentiments of citizens through his derogatory statements against Savarkar," the official said.
The offence was registered under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 500 (defamation) and 501 (printing or engraving matter knowing it to be defamatory), he said.
Rahul Gandhi, whose Bharat Jodo Yatra is currently passing through Maharashtra, on Thursday held a press conference at Wadegaon in Akola district, where he claimed that Savarkar helped the British rulers and wrote a mercy petition to them out of fear, thereby betraying Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru and other leaders of the freedom struggle.
Two days prior to that, Gandhi had addressed a rally in Washim district organised as part of his yatra, where he called Savarkar a symbol of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). "He was jailed in Andaman for two-three years. He started writing mercy petitions," the Congress MP had said there.
The BJP and Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena, the faction led by Shinde, have criticised Gandhi over the remarks. The workers of these parties are holding protests against him. Uddhav Thackeray, whose faction of the Sena is in alliance with the Congress, also disapproved of Gandhi's statements against Savarkar.
Ranjit Savarkar, the late Hindutva ideologue's grandson, on Thursday lodged a complaint at Shivaji Park police station in Mumbai against Gandhi for allegedly insulting his grandfather.
Gandhi is already facing another defamation case in Thane district. In 2014, an RSS worker had filed the case against Gandhi after watching his speech in Thane's Bhiwandi township, where the Congress leader alleged that the RSS was behind the killing of Mahatma Gandhi. The complainant claimed this statement slandered the reputation of the RSS. In 2018, the court had framed charges against Gandhi in the case, but he had pleaded not guilty.
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NEET-UG: 2 more held, role of several NTA officers under scanner; CBI focussing on source of leak
New Delhi (PTI): The CBI has arrested two more persons in connection with the NEET (UG) paper-leak case, with the role of several officers of the National Testing Agency (NTA) and other organisations, who had access to the printing press where the papers were printed, coming under the scanner, officials said on Thursday.
The agency has arrested Dhananjay Lokhanda from Ahilyanagar and Manisha Waghmare from Pune and conducted searches at 14 locations across the country in the last 24 hours, they said.
The CBI is focussing on identifying the source of the leak that has caused massive disappointment to lakhs of aspirants eyeing a seat in undergraduate medical courses, which are allotted after the highly-competitive examination, the officials said.
According to the CBI probe so far, the involvement of public servants in the leak cannot be ruled out.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested three individuals from Jaipur -- Mangilal Biwal, Vikas Biwal and Dinesh Biwal -- along with Yash Yadav from Gurugram and Shubham Khairnar from Nashik.
Khairnar was in touch with Yadav and informed him in April that Mangilal Biwal was ready to pay Rs 10-12 lakh for arranging leaked NEET (UG) 2026 questions for his younger son.
Khairnar allegedly provided 500 to 600 questions from the leaked paper to Yadav, the officials said, adding that the questions could have helped score enough marks to get a seat in a reputed medical college.
Mangilal Biwal allegedly procured the paper from Yadav, who was known to his elder son Vikas Biwal from an NEET coaching in Rajasthan's Sikar. The deal between Mangilal Biwal and Yadav was for Rs 10 lakh, if 150 questions from the question bank matched with those in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) paper, the officials said.
Mangilal Biwal shared the paper with his son and further distributed it among relatives.
Yadav also told Vikas Biwal to find additional candidates for the questions to recover some of the money that he had spent on getting those, the officials said.
An analysis of digital devices has given the agency incriminating chats, leaked question papers and other digital evidence. The CBI will subject the devices to a forensic examination to get the deleted data, the officials said.
The federal agency has registered an FIR and formed teams to probe the alleged NEET (UG) paper leak that resulted in the cancellation of the exam held on May 3.
The NEET (UG) 2026 was conducted across 551 Indian cities and at 14 overseas centres. Nearly 23 lakh candidates had registered for the test, which was administered by the NTA at centres across the country.
According to the NTA, information regarding alleged malpractice was received on the evening of May 7, four days after the examination was held. The NTA said the inputs were escalated to central agencies the following morning for "independent verification and necessary action".
The Rajasthan Police's Special Operations Group (SOG) has claimed that a "guess paper" for chemistry, allegedly circulated among students ahead of the examination, had approximately 410 questions, including roughly 120 that appeared in the test.
