Delhi: Woman arrested with forged diplomatic plates on car linked to several top-BJP leaders
Represented India as ambassador at BRICS: Reports
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New Delhi: The Anti-Extortion and Kidnapping Cell of the Delhi Police’s Crime Branch has arrested a woman from Assam over charges of impersonating a foreign diplomat and driving an Innova car with forged diplomatic number plates to gain access to high-security areas of the national capital. The arrest that came days before the 77th Republic Day has made headlines across the country.
The arrested woman has been identified as Ashma Begum, a resident of Guwahati in Assam. She was detained on January 15 while driving the Toyota Innova car fitted with forged diplomatic number plates in the national capital. Police recovered three forged embassy number plates, a mobile phone and sale documents of the vehicle.
According to the reports, the police detained her while working on a tip-off. The cops have also added that she also used the fake diplomatic identity to gain access to restricted areas including housing central government offices, embassies, consulates and residences of foreign diplomats.
Sources in the police department have also revealed that Ashma had also attended several embassy-hosted event and gathering while posing as a diplomat.
During preliminary questioning, the accused failed to identify the embassy she claimed to represent or produce any valid diplomatic credentials or vehicle registration documents. She later told investigators that she had purchased the SUV from a foreign embassy in November 2024 but had not completed the registration process.
The controversy has deepened on the internet after fact-checker and journalist Mohammed Zubair tweeted several of her photos taken alongside BJP leaders and ministers including Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Kiren Rejiju, Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale and others.
Zubair further claimed that the woman was serving as the National Secretary of the Republic Party of India led by Union Minister Ramdas Athawale. He also claimed that Ashma had represented India as Ambassador and delivered keynote presentations at the opening and closing ceremonies at BRICS.
A case has been registered under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. The accused has been remanded to six days of police custody, and her digital data and activities are being examined to ascertain the duration of the alleged impersonation and identify possible accomplices.
Name of the Woman: Ashma Begum. No News Channels mention her name and party affiliation. She is a National Secretary of the Republican Party of India by @RamdasAthawale. She also represented India as Ambassador and delivered keynote presentations at the opening and closing… pic.twitter.com/rYcF8Lgejt
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) January 24, 2026
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Can't say when I'll return to India; legally barred from leaving UK: Mallya to Bombay HC
Mumbai (PTI): Fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya, facing multiple cases of fraud and money laundering, told the Bombay High Court on Wednesday that he cannot say when he will return to India as he is legally barred from leaving the UK.
In a statement submitted through his counsel Amit Desai to the high court, Mallya said he did not have an active passport after it was revoked and hence, he cannot give a definite date of return to India.
The statement was submitted after a bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad made it clear last week that it would not hear Mallya's plea against the order declaring a fugitive economic offender until he returns to India.
The court had then asked the former liquor to clarify whether or not he intended to return to India.
Mallya, based in the United Kingdom since 2016, has filed two petitions in the HC -- one challenging an order declaring him a fugitive economic offender and the other questioning the constitutional validity of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act.
The 70-year-old liquor baron is accused of defaulting on multiple loan repayments of several thousand crores and facing money laundering charges.
The businessman, in his statement to HC, said he cannot give a definite date for his return as he does not have his Indian passport, which was revoked by the government in 2016, and also because there are orders of courts in England and Wales that prohibit him from leaving the country.
"Mallya is not permitted to leave or attempt to leave England and Wales or apply for or be in possession of any international travel document. In any event, the petitioner is unable to precisely state when he will return to India," Desai read out the statement in the court.
The senior counsel reiterated that Mallya's presence was not required in the country for the court to hear his pleas against the fugitive tag and the provisions of the Act.
"If he (Mallya) were to appear in India, then all these proceedings would be rendered irrelevant as the statute says that once the offender appears in the concerned court of law, then all these orders would be set aside," Desai told the court.
The bench directed the Union government to file its reply to Mallya's statement and posted the matter for further hearing next month.
Mallya was declared a Fugitive Economic Offender in January 2019 by a special court hearing cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The businessman left India in March 2016.
