New Delhi: The Telangana High Court on Friday granted one week’s transit anticipatory bail to Congress leader Pawan Khera in a case registered by Assam Police on charges of defamation, forgery and criminal conspiracy.The court directed that Khera be granted protection for seven days so that he can approach the appropriate court having jurisdiction and file a regular anticipatory bail petition. After hearing the case, Justice K Sujana passed this order.“The petitioner (Khera) is granted one week’s time to file the application before the concerned court,” the high court said in its order, Bar and Bench reported. The case against Khera was registered in Assam following his public remarks in which he alleged that Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, wife of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, had multiple foreign passports and undeclared assets abroad. The complaint leveled allegations under several provisions including defamation, forgery, cheating, criminal intimidation and criminal conspiracy.Assam Police reportedly went to Khera’s residence in Delhi on April 7, but he was not present at that time. He later approached the concerned court in Assam and moved the Telangana High Court seeking transit anticipatory bail to prevent his arrest.Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kheda, argued that the case reflected political vendetta and excessive use of criminal provisions. He raised questions on the FIR, saying that despite a complaint arising from a press conference, several offenses have been added.On the other hand, Assam Advocate General Devjit Saikia questioned why Khera approached the Telangana High Court despite living in Delhi and the case being registered in Assam.He said there was no indication that Kheda faced any threat in Assam and the state was not a ‘banana republic’.Saika said, “There is no indication that he cannot come to Assam. Assam is not a banana republic. There is no threat to his life.” The legal dispute came to light when Kheda approached the court claiming that he was not provided a copy of the FIR and the allegations were not a valid criminal case. He also argued that the allegations were politically motivated.

Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Purohit (file photo)

New Delhi: Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit, acquitted last year in the Malegaon blast case, has been approved for promotion to the rank of brigadier, sources said on Friday. In July 2025, an NIA court acquitted Purohit and six others, including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur, in the case.Purohit had moved the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) after his acquittal and claimed that the prolonged trial had “adversely impacted” his career progress. He argued that the delay in the judicial process denied him a fair opportunity for promotion within the army hierarchy.Also read: Who is Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit? The military officer who faced terrorism charges and was released after being acquitted by the courtLast month, the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) put your retirement on holdHis petition seeking promotion and related service benefits was scheduled to be heard on March 31. The tribunal directed the Defense Ministry to put his retirement on hold until his statutory complaint is decided.At the time of his arrest in November 2008, Purohit was serving as a lieutenant colonel in military intelligence – the first case of a serving army officer being implicated in a terrorism-related case in the country.He spent nearly nine years in custody before being granted bail by the Supreme Court in September 2017.

Malegaon blast

The blast occurred on September 29, 2008, when an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle detonated near a mosque in Bhikku Chowk area of ​​Malegaon, Maharashtra, killing six people and injuring 95 others.Originally, 11 people were accused in the case; However, the court ultimately framed charges against seven.This case was handed over from Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2011. The investigators examined hundreds of witnesses over nearly 17 years before acquitting all the accused of charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Arms Act and other provisions.Those acquitted along with Purohit and Thakur included Major (retd) Ramesh Upadhyay, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhankar Dhar Dwivedi (Shankaracharya) and Sameer Kulkarni.(With ANI inputs)

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri meets Marco Rubio

New Delhi: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to visit India next month after a “productive” meeting with Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri in Washington, where the two sides reviewed key aspects of the bilateral partnership including trade, defense and the Quad.Misri, currently on a three-day visit to the US, met Rubio at the White House. US Ambassador to India Sergio Gore said the meeting focused on “our bilateral relationship, particularly trade, critical minerals, defense and the Quad”, adding that Rubio “looks forward to visiting India next month.”Responding to Gore, the Indian Embassy in the USA wrote, “During his ongoing visit, Foreign Secretary Shri Vikram Misri today met Secretary of State Marco Rubio. We look forward to deepening our engagement in these important areas and strengthening the 🇮🇳-🇺🇸 Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership.”

Focus on defence, trade and strategic relations

During his visit, Misri held several high-level meetings with the US administration aimed at strengthening strategic cooperation. The discussions covered defense ties, technology sharing and supply chain integration under the India-US major defense partnership framework.At the Pentagon, Misri met with senior officials including Elbridge Colby and Mike Duffy, focusing on defense exchanges and industrial cooperation. The talks also reached the Department of Commerce, where they discussed enhancing cooperation in critical technologies and resilient supply chains.The Indian Embassy said these activities are aimed at “transforming the India-US partnership for the 21st century”, including cooperation in AI and critical minerals.

Regional security, Middle East developments discussed

The evolving situation in the Middle East and broader geopolitical concerns were also high on the agenda. Misri’s meeting with US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau included discussions on developments in the Persian Gulf and other regional priorities.He also met FBI Director Kash Patel, with both sides exchanging views on cooperation in combating terrorism, organized crime and narcotics.

Quad cooperation and future roadmap

US Under Secretary of State Alison Hooker said the two sides “explored practical ways to make both Americans and Indians safer and more prosperous, including within the Quad”.The visit comes amid rising global tensions and underlines the continued momentum in India-US relations, with both sides working to deepen cooperation in defence, economic and strategic sectors.

New Delhi: A new international study involving researchers from the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), IISER and the Institute of Remote Sensing has revealed that water ice deposits in permanently shadowed regions of the Moon are much more stable than previously thought.“The Moon’s permanently shadowed regions (PSR) are capable of preserving water-ice and other frozen volatiles for billions of years if temperatures remain low enough. Water ice is preserved on the PSR of the Moon’s south pole, which has seen many of the impacts. (However,) 74% are unaffected by PSR impacts,” said the study, titled “Impacts in the Moon’s Permanently Shadowed Regions,” which was published in “Nature” in April. 2.The findings come at a time when countries are racing to launch manned missions like the ongoing Artemis II mission to the Moon with the aim of setting up a lunar base in the future and India’s crewed lunar landing mission by 2040.Using high-resolution orbital imagery and impact modeling, the research team mapped millions of small craters ranging from one to 20 meters in size in the PSR between 85° and 90° south latitude. The study also took the help of NASA cameras and data generated by ISRO Chandrayaan-2 orbiter. “In this study, 5 m–7 km diameter craters were mapped within a subset of the PSR over an area over 1 km2 located between 85°–90°S latitude using ShadowCam, 1–20 m craters were mapped within the connecting ridge region near the lunar south pole using both ShadowCam (NASA) and the Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter High-Resolution Camera (India) and a Approximate calculations were made,” the study said.The study further said, “Despite millions of impacts in the PSR and the release of volatiles from the crater cavity, the Moon’s south pole region still has the potential to preserve shallow ice, making it a promising target for India’s future Chandrayaan-5/LUPEX mission.”The study suggests that small depressions in these dark areas may have disturbed the ice buried beneath the surface. It also states that in areas without craters, natural surface churning (called “horticulture”) may mix the ice vertically, bringing it closer to the top. This makes such locations good targets for future missions to explore and exploit lunar ice.Chandrayaan mission was the first mission to confirm the presence of water on the Moon. While Chandrayaan-1 (2008) detected lunar water for the first time, Chandrayaan-2 confirmed its stability in the polar regions and Chandrayaan-3 found further evidence of hidden, buried ice, an important step for future exploration. Chandrayaan-5, also known as the Lunar Polar Exploration (LUPEX) mission, is a joint project between ISRO and Japan’s JAXA, scheduled to be launched around 2027-28. It aims to land at the South Pole to detect and analyze water ice by employing a heavy Japanese rover and an Indian lander.