Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad being escorted by police personnel after his arrest

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned Haryana SIT’s line of investigation in the case of Ashoka University professor booked for social media posts on Operation Sindoor saying “it misdirected itself”.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi asked the Haryana SIT headed by a senior police officer to only confine itself to the two FIRs against Ali Khan Mahmudabad over his contentious social media posts and see if there was an offence and submit its report in four weeks.

“We are asking why SIT is, on the face of it, misdirecting itself? They were supposed to examine the contents of the posts,” Justice Kant said.

The bench said though it did not want to interfere or intervene with the investigation, it questioned the seizure of the cell phones and other electronic gadgets.

“It is open for the SIT to say that the contents of the FIRs does not disclose any offence, this case can be closed. It can always say that during the course of investigation, they have come across certain incriminating materials, which constitute separate offences and the law will take its own course,” the bench told Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the SIT.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Mahmudabad, submitted despite the court directing the SIT to focus on the contents of the FIR, it carried out a “roving inquiry” and sent the gadgets seized from the professor to forensic laboratory for examination.

He referred to the interim status report of the SIT saying it had received the forensic lab report of the gadgets and two more months were required for its examination.

Raju said the investigation was SIT’s prerogative and the accused couldn’t dictate terms of the probe.

“All you had to do was examine the posts, whether the expression, words or terminology constitute any offences alleged in the FIR. For that you do not need him, or a dictionary or his gadgets. We want to know for what purposes, these gadgets were seized?” the bench asked Raju.

Justice Kant said if Raju was unable to answer the question it would call the head of the SIT and them about the line of investigation.

Sibal said the posts were very patriotic statements and anyone looking at it would give the same view.

Raju argued to see if there was an offence, devices had to be examined to see if there was more than just social media posts.

“We feel that the SIT has misdirected itself despite the mandate given in the May 28 order,” the bench reiterated.

Since Mahmudabad was cooperating with the investigation, there was no need to summon him again, it said.

The investigation should not have taken two days, it added.

“There are two social media posts and two FIRs. The question is very simple. Which line and which word or expression constitutes an offence. This is what the SIT, being an expert body, has to find out,” the top court said.

The bench relaxed the professor’s bail condition imposed on May 21 and allowed him write posts, articles and express any opinion except on the sub judice case.

On May 28, the top court said there was no impediment on the professor’s right to speech and expression, but barred him from sharing anything online on the cases against him.

The top court had made it clear that the subject matter of investigation was two FIRs lodged against the professor and asked the Haryana police not to go “left and right” in the investigation and seek the “devices”, which the cops said they would like to examine.

On May 21, the top court granted him interim bail, but refused to stay the investigation against him.

The top court had also restrained the professor from expressing any opinion in relation to the terrorist attack on Indian soil or the counter-response given by the Indian armed forces.

It directed a three-member SIT to look into the FIRs against him.

Haryana Police arrested Mahmudabad on May 18 after two FIRs were registered against him.

His contentious social media posts on Operation Sindoor, it is alleged, endangered the sovereignty and integrity of the country.

The two FIRs — one based on a complaint by the chairperson of Haryana State Commission for Women, Renu Bhatia, and the other on a complaint by a village sarpanch — were lodged by Rai police in Sonipat district.

He was booked under BNS sections 152 (acts endangering sovereignty or unity and integrity of India), 353 (statements conducing to public mischief), 79 (deliberate actions aimed at insulting the modesty of a woman) and 196 (1) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion).

Several political parties and academicians condemned the arrest.

New Delhi: Air India on Wednesday completed the inspection of the locking mechanism of fuel control switches in its Boeing 787 planes and did not find any issues, according to an airline official.

On Monday, aviation watchdog DGCA directed airlines to inspect the fuel switch locking system in their Boeing 787 and 737 planes against the backdrop of AAIB’s preliminary report stating that fuel switches were cut off before the Air India plane crash that killed 260 people last month.

“Over the weekend, our Engineering team initiated precautionary inspections on the locking mechanism of Fuel Control Switch (FCS) on all our Boeing 787 aircraft. The inspections have been completed and no issues were found,” the official said, quoting an internal message sent to Air India pilots.

The official also said that all the Boeing 787-8 aircraft have undergone Throttle Control Module (TCM) replacement as per the Boeing maintenance schedule. FCS is part of this module.

FCS regulate the flow of fuel into the aircraft engines. In its preliminary report on the Boeing 787-8 crash released on Saturday, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) said the fuel supply to both engines of the plane was cut off within a gap of one second, causing confusion in the cockpit soon after take off.

A 15-page preliminary investigation report into the Air India plane crash revealed fuel-control switches of the two engines moved from the “run” to the “cutoff” position, within the space of one second, leading to immediate loss of altitude.

“In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cut off? The other pilot responded that he did not do so,” the report said.

AAIB, which mentioned about FAA’s SAIB in the report, did not suggest any recommended action.

The airline has also asked pilots to remain vigilant and report any defect in the technical log, as per the existing reporting process, the official added.

 An earthquake of magnitude 3.7 struck near Jhajjar in Haryana on Friday evening, sending tremors across parts of Delhi-NCR, the National Centre for Seismology (NCS) said.

The tremors were recorded at 7:49 pm, with the epicentre located 10 km northeast of Jhajjar and around 51 km west of Delhi, it said.

People reported feeling the tremors in several districts, including Rohtak, Faridabad, Kurukshetra, Gurugram, Ghaziabad and Noida.

This was the second earthquake to jolt the region in as many days.

On Thursday morning, a stronger earthquake of magnitude 4.4 struck near Jhajjar, triggering tremors across the capital and adjoining areas.

The back-to-back earthquakes have sparked concern and speculation on social media.

“Another earthquake — 2 earthquakes in 2 days! What’s happening?” a Gurugram resident posted on X.

“Another day, another earthquake. Earthquake jolts Delhi once again — second tremor this week! What’s going on with the tectonic plates? Delhiites are literally shaking…,” wrote another user.

Bhubaneswar: A tribal couple in Odisha’s Rayagada district was allegedly forced to plough a field with a yoke placed on their shoulders as a form of public punishment for marrying against community traditions, officials said on Friday.

The alleged incident took place at Kanjamajodi village within Kalyansinghpur police limits on Wednesday, they added.

A purported video of the incident, which went viral on social media on Friday, shows the young man and woman being paraded like oxen with a yoke strapped on their shoulders, made to plough a field in front of villagers and community elders.

PTI, however, could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.

According to villagers, the couple — who reportedly got married in defiance of customary tribal norms — were subjected to a public ‘purification’ ritual.

The young man is alleged to have married his paternal aunt (father’s sister), which is considered a taboo by the community due to their blood relation.

Once the relationship came to light, a kangaroo court of village elders reportedly convened and ordered the punishment, carried out in full public view.

After performing the ‘rituals’, the community leaders allegedly asked the couple to immediately leave the village. Their current whereabouts remain unknown.

Village head Biswanath Kurshika said, “We performed the ‘purification’ rituals and punished them so that they can get rid of the sin they have earned for marrying within the blood relation.”

If the rituals were not conducted, the villagers would have faced crop loss as there would be no rain in the area, he claimed.

Rajendra Kurshika, another villager, said, “The rituals were performed in accordance with our tradition and they (couple) were separated.”

Terming the act as ‘inhuman’, Rayagada sub-collector Ramesh Kumar Jena said he will visit the village on Saturday to inquire about the incident.

MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank on Friday said it has imposed a Rs 4.88 lakh penalty on HDFC Bank for contravention of certain norms relating to foreign investment in India while granting a term loan to its client.

The central bank also imposed a penalty of Rs 2.70 lakh on Shriram Finance Limited for non-compliance with certain provisions of the Reserve Bank of India (Digital Lending) Directions, 2025

Regarding the penalty on authorised dealer bank HDFC Bank the RBI said it had issued a show cause notice to the bank, in response to which the bank had submitted a written reply and had also made oral submissions thereon.

A woman allegedly sought help from two men to get her husband’s phone snatched in south Delhi’s Sultanpur area to delete intimate photos with her lover stored on the device, an official said on Friday.

The men allegedly carried out the snatching and had been absconding since the day of the incident on June 19, they said.

One of them, Ankit Gahlot (27), was arrested who said told police that the woman was in a relationship with another man and her husband had their photos on his phone, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Ankit Chauhan said.

“To retrieve and erase the images, she orchestrated the snatching,” he said.

She provided her husband’s daily route and work timings to the the two men. On June 19, they allegedly snatched the phone and fled, he added.

The DCP said a PCR call was received about a mobile snatching near Old UK Paint Factory, Main Market Road, Sultanpur.

“The complainant told police that two masked persons riding a scooter snatched his phone and fled,” the DCP said.

The pillion rider was spotted wearing a blue T-shirt, and an ANPR scan from Vasant Kunj helped identify the scooter’s registration number. It was found that the scooter had been rented from Daryaganj for a single day, the officer added.

Using rental documents and Aadhaar-linked data, the accused were traced to Balotra in Rajasthan’s Barmer district, he said.

After the crime, the duo checked into a hotel in Old Delhi to evade arrest, the DCP added.

The woman has been bound down in the case, while efforts are on to arrest another associate who is absconding, police said.