The editorial Page: When corruption does not make a political noise 8 ThUrSDAY, JUlY 9, 2026 JournalIsm of Courage LUCknow, LATe CITy, 16 PAGeS ₹6.00 l www.indianexpress.com dA I Ly F R o M : A h M e dA B A d , C h A n d I GA R h , d e L h I , j A I P U R , ko L k ATA , L U C k n o w , M U M B A I , n AG P U R , PAT n A , P U n e , vA d o dA R A Happening today lWith England gaining a 2-0 lead in the five-match series, India are set for the fourth T20I in Bristol after a crushing 125-run defeat in the third match. Under captain Shreyas Iyer, the team is yet to win a T20 international. lCalCutta High Court will hear a plea by the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC faction challenging debit-freeze of party's three bank accounts. lOpEnai Will publicly launch its most capable model, GPT-5.6, after delaying the release last month on the US government's request amid mounting national security concerns that powerful AI systems could be misused. tHe world page 10 accord to end Iran war Is ‘over’, wIll launch new strIkes: trump OpERatiOn ‘haRdball’: 37 ChaRgEd in u.S. indiCtMEnt Nijjar killing: US charges Bishnoi, Brar; no India govt link: Canada Indian agencies shared, verified list of names and hideouts with US Dept of Justice: 24 linked to 3 Indian crime syndicates held in coordinated action by US, Canada & Europe divya a & Shubhajit Roy New Delhi, July 8 ALMOSt thRee years after the then Canadian prime minister Justin trudeau alleged a “potential link” between Indian government agents and the killing of pro-Khalistan figure hardeep Singh nijjar, bringing bilateral ties to a standstill, the US has charged gangsterLawrenceBishnoiand aide Goldy Brar with ordering the assassination. Later, Canadian police said there was “no evidence” of any official involvement from India in the killing. the latest twist in the nijjar case came after a US-led oper- Officers conduct a raid in southern California as part of ‘Operation Hardball’. FBI LoS AnGeLeS/ReUTeRS ation against three criminal gangsinvolvedintransnational crimes, including one led by Bishnoi (33) who is lodged in a Gujarat jail. the two other gangs indictedbytheUSDepartmentof Justice (DoJ) include one headed by Jaggu Bhagwanpuria (38) from Punjab, a Bishnoi associate-turned-rival who is lodged in an Assam jail, and another led by Canada-based Ravinder Singh Dhanda (57). »COntinuEd On pagE 2 Punjab cop named in extortion, US to seek extradition Lawrence Bishnoi is in a jail in Gujarat; (right) Goldy Brar Inspector Gurinderjit Singh Mahender Singh Manral Man aman Singh Chhina New Delhi, July 8 In the run-up to Operation hardball, US law enforcement officials held several meetings with multiple central agencies inIndia,wheretheysharedand verified information on gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi, Goldy Brar, Rohit Godara, Jaggu Bhagwanpuria and their associates, The Indian Express has learnt. Sources said that Indian agencies, through the Ministry of external Affairs (MeA), also shared a list of gangsters based in the US and other foreign countries,alongwithevidence. the meetings gained pace over thelastone-and-a-halfmonths, before the coordinated crackdown by law enforcement agencies in the US, Canada and europe. “After the deportation of gangster Anmol Bishnoi from the US (in november last year), who is wanted as the main plotter in the murder of nCP »COntinuEd On pagE 2 express special Chandigarh, July 8 A PUnJAB Police Inspector is among those named in the US federal indictment, for alleged links with a criminal group and attempting to implicate the family of a US-based person in a murder case as part of an extortion racket. Addressing a press conference in Los Angeles, First Assistant United States Attorney Bill essayli said they would »COntinuEd On pagE 2 Business as usual By EP UNNY From tihar to rohini prisons: to decongest, delhi govt looks for land in 48 urban villages The spot where the accused was killed in a ‘police encounter’ in West Bengal’s Baruipur Tuesday night. exPReSS; ReLaTeD RepORTS, p 5 Accused in minor girl’s rape and murder killed in Bengal police ‘encounter’ Ravik bhattacharya & atri Mitra Kolkata, July 8 PRABhASh MOnDOL, the main accused in the gangrape and murder of an 11-year-old in west Bengal’s Baruipur, was shot dead in an encounter late tuesday night. According to the police, Mondol had been taken to the crime scene to reconstruct the crime as part of the investigation. Police alleged that he snatched a policeman’s fire- arm, fired once at the police party, and tried to escape. Policeclaimedtheyopenedfirein retaliation, injuring Mondol. he was rushed to a hospital, where he was declared dead. theencounterspotisbarely 100 metres from where the girl’s body was found inside a pond. According to officials, Mondol was taken there around 12.45 am. they said it had rained and the area was dark, and Mondol allegedly snatchedtheserviceweaponof »COntinuEd On pagE 2 Sakshi Chand New Delhi, July 8 the DeLhI government has commissioned a survey of the 48recently-declared‘urbanvillages’toidentifylandfortherelocation and expansion of the capital’s prison infrastructure, TheIndianExpresshaslearned. Sourcessaidtheofficeofthe Director General (Prisons) has issued an order constituting fivecommittees,eachcomprising four members, to carry out the survey. “the purpose is to identify land for the decongestion of Delhi’sprisonsaswellasforsetting up a training institute,” a government source said. thethreeprisoncomplexes in Delhi are bursting at the seams — according to official figures, their 14 prisons together house 19,500 prisoners, almost double the sanctioned capacity of 10,026. ‘New Zealand, working with India, needs to remake case for a rules-based system’ Shubhajit Roy New Delhi, July 8 new ZeALAnD Prime MinisterChristopherLuxonsayshe is confident of the strength and potential of ties between his countryandIndia,asnarendra Modi arrives in Auckland Friday for the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to new Zealand in four decades. In an exclusive interview withTheIndianExpress,outliningeconomic,defence,security, andpeople-to-peopletiesasthe three pillars of India and new Zealand ties, Luxon set this againstthe“inflectionpoint”in global geopolitics where the world has moved from “a rulesbased system to a power-based system,amultilateralsystemto a multipolar system”. “we see an America that is talking America first with a fix- express interview ChRiStOphER luxOn new ZeALAnd PRIMe MInISTeR page 7 ation on the western hemisphere.weseeChinawantingto have influence in our IndoPacific region. we also see Russiaillegallyinvadingasovereign nation in Ukraine and wanting to dominate in europe, and so it'snaturalthatthereisarealinflection point,” Luxon said. »COntinuEd On pagE 2 Not ‘gudda-guddi ka khel’: Baghel rules out leadership change in Punjab Cong Man aman Singh Chhina Chandigarh, July 8 Tihar is one of the largest prisons in the world. exPReSS FILe tihar is already one of the largestprisonsintheworld.the Rohini Central Jail was establishedinBadli,northwestDelhi, in2004asanextensionoftihar. A third jail complex with six prisons and a capacity of 3,776 inmates opened in Mandoli in northeast Delhi in 2016. the five committees have been assigned four specific tasks, officials said. “First, they will conduct a survey of available land. Second, they will identify suitable land parcels for the relocation and expansion of Delhi’s prisons.third,theywillcoordinate with the agencies concerned to collect and verify land-related information. »COntinuEd On pagE 2 AweeKago,theCongresshigh command would have thought it had the factionalism in its Punjab unit under control. Facing a push from a section of leaders to replace the state party president, it had managed to strike a delicate balance. But on wednesday, it appearedtobefallingapart,andat the centre of this — like in a similar crisis five years ago — is Former punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi. FILe former CM Charanjit Singh Channi. In a snub to Channi who wants to be the Punjab Pradesh CongressCommitteepresident going into the elections, and thegroupbackinghisclaim,All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Bhupesh Baghel on wednesday reiterated there would be no leadershipchange,sayingsuch things were not a “guddaguddi ka khel (child’s play)”. Baghel, who held a series of meetings for the third straight day at the Congress headquarters in Chandigarh, ruled »COntinuEd On pagE 2 l SHIv Sena CORpORaTOR aRReSTeD FOR aSSauLT aT THane HOSpITaL ‘I was the only male doctor, so I became their punching bag... fear for my safety’ purnima Sah assaulted, submitted their resignation letters, and have not returned to work since. "we FOR twO days after he was as- don't want to work in a place saulted inside Kalyan-Dom- where there's no assurance of bivli Municipal Corporation's security and no respect for us. (KDMC) Shastrinagar hospital People think government docby Shiv Sena corporator Ra- tors have power or high salmesh Mhatre, the 26-year-old aries. I was working for only Rs resident medical officer (RMO) 35,000 (per month). we work says he lived in fear, constantly overtime every day," he told The Indian Express. changing locations page 1 the doctor, who after allegedly resaid he did not want ceiving threatening to be identified as he phone calls and messages, and being followed feared for his safety, added that he chose not to tell his mother by unknown persons. On tuesday, he, and four about the assault. “My mother other staff members who were is a school teacher. She is a Mumbai, July 8 anchor Shastrinagar Hospital in Dombivli, Thane; (above) Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre. ReLaTeD RepORT, page 5 singleparent,andIamheronly child. I don't have the courage to tell her what happened. I cannot imagine what she will go through if she knows. Right now, I am just trying to survive," he said. hours after Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre surrendered before the police on wednesday evening and was arrested along with his aides, the doctor said he felt a sense of relief but rejected Mhatre's claim that he had not assaulted a woman doctor. "he has tried to shift the focus by highlightingthis,knowingthatitisasensitive issue. But that does not justify the assault on a male doctor. no camera angle can hide the truth of what actually happened.” "I feel relieved... I am grateful to everyone who stood by me and brought the truth to light. I hope this sends a strong message — that no politician, or anyone else, will dare to assault doctors and any medical staff in the future,” he said. According to the FIR registeredatVishnunagarpolicestation, the doctor has been work- ingasanRMOatthehospitalfor nearly five months. On Monday, he was on evening duty, from 3 pm to 10 pm, along with another woman doctor, two nursesandahospitalattendant. According to the doctor, the trouble began around 6 pm, when the relatives of a woman asked for a bed in the neonatal intensive care unit (nICU) before delivery. he said the woman’s ultrasound had shown the umbilical cord was wrapped around the foetus, promptingthegynaecologistto adviseanemergencycaesarean section. As the baby was anticipated to require intensive neo- natalcareafterbirth,thefamily insisted on a bed in the nICU. “Shastrinagar hospital has onlyoneemergencynICUbed, which was already occupied by another critically ill newborn suffering from respiratory distress. the family wanted us to give them that bed, and discharge the baby who had already been admitted. we explained that was medically impossible. we assured that we would arrange treatment at another KDMC hospital with nICU facilities, but they insisted on Shastrinagar hospital,” he recalled. »COntinuEd On pagE 2 Lucknow