India on Sunday night described as “fake” and “completely fabricated” a media report which claimed that a “secret memo” was issued by New Delhi in April to take “concrete” measures against certain Sikh separatists including Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the report is part of a “sustained disinformation campaign” against India and the outlet that came out with it is known for propagating “fake narratives” peddled by Pakistani intelligence.

Online American media outlet The Intercept came out with the report.

“We strongly assert that such reports are fake and completely fabricated. There is no such memo,” Mr Bagchi said.

“This is part of a sustained disinformation campaign against India. The outlet in question is known for propagating fake narratives peddled by Pakistani intelligence. The posts of the authors confirm this linkage,” he said.

“Those who amplify such fake news only do so at the cost of their own credibility,” he said, responding to media queries on the report.

In September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the allegation of a “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Nijjar on Canadian soil on June 18.

India strongly rejected the charges, calling them “absurd”.

In its report, The Intercept claimed that the Indian government issued instructions on a “crackdown scheme” against certain Sikh entities in western countries.

It further claimed that the secret memorandum issued in April by the Ministry of External Affairs lists several “Sikh dissidents under investigation by India’s intelligence agencies, including the Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar”.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The verdict from a five-judge Constitution bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud comes in response to a slew of petitions challenging the Centre’s move four years ago.
The petitioners have argued that Article 370 cannot be scrapped unilaterally by the Centre, since the powers of the Constituent Assembly was vested in the J&K legislature after it was dissolved in 1957.
The top court has questioned who can recommend the revocation of Article 370. Under the rules, a nod is required from the Constituent Assembly to scrap Article 370, which the Constitution held temporary. The court has also asked how the Article became permanent after the Constituent Assembly was dissolved.
The Centre has argued that its decisions were taken within the legal framework. It has also contended that the mainstreaming of Jammu and Kashmir has reduced terrorism and provided a level playing field.
Over the last four years, it has helped move the erstwhile state on the fast-track to development, the government has argued.
Article 370, it also maintained, deprived the people of J&K of many fundamental rights, including the right to education. The Constitutional rights that automatically apply to every Indian could not apply to residents of Jammu and Kashmir unless okayed by the state legislature.
Conversely, Article 35A, which was also scrapped along with Article 370, did not allow people from other parts of the country the right to get jobs, own land and settle in Jammu and Kashmir — which is part of their fundamental rights. These were reserved as special privileges reserved only for the residents of Jammu and Kashmir.
Security has been strengthened in Kashmir Valley ahead of the verdict. The BJP has said the decision of the top court should be respected.
Former Chief Minister and National Conference chief Omar Abdullah said his party will not disturb the peace even in case of an adverse verdict. They will continue their fight in a lawful manner, he said. Mehbooba Mufti’s People’ Democratic Party and the Congress have expressed hope that the court will be on the side of the people.
Article 370 was scrapped and Jammu and Kashmir split in August 2019 – over a year after the PDP-BJP alliance government had collapsed . It took place while the erstwhile state was under President’s Rule.

The cash seizure in the income-tax department’s searches against an Odisha-based distillery company, owned by a Congress MP’s family, has been calculated at Rs 351 crore after five days of counting and is the “highest-ever” haul in a single action by any probe agency in the country, official sources said on Sunday.

The premises of the Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand, Dhiraj Prasad Sahu, in Ranchi and other places, were also covered during the searches by the department. The company and the member of Parliament did not respond to PTI’s queries regarding the action being carried out against them.

The marathon raids against Boudh Distillery Private Limited, its promoters and others entered the fifth day on Sunday. The raids were launched on December 6 by the taxman on charges of tax evasion and “off-the-book” transactions.

The sources told PTI that Rs 351 crore cash has been counted and the process has ended.

The counting involved nine teams of about 80 people from the tax department and various banks, working in shifts in a 24×7 cycle.

Another team of 200 officials, including security personnel, drivers and other staff, joined in after the taxman found 10 almirahs stuffed with cash apart from some other locations.

As many as 200 bags and trunks were used to transport the cash for depositing it in various bank branches in Odisha, the sources said.

The department believes that the entire cache of currency is “unaccounted” money earned from cash sales of country liquor by the business group, distributors and others.

It is the highest-ever cash seizure made by an agency in the country as part of an action against a single group and entities linked to it, the sources had said.

Some of the high-value seizures in the past include one from 2019 when the GST Intelligence raided a Kanpur-based businessman and seized cash amounting to Rs 257 crore and another instance where cash amounting to Rs 163 crore was unearthed by the I-T department during searches against a road construction firm in Tamil Nadu in July 2018.

The department is also recording the statements of the executives and other staff who were present at the searched locations and will soon issue summonses to the main promoters of the company for recording their statements.

It was not clear what amount of cash and other documents were seized from Mr Sahu’s house.

The maximum cache of currency, largely in Rs 500 denomination, was recovered from the premises of the company in Bolangir district, the sources said.

The BJP on Sunday stepped up its attack on the Congress and other opposition parties, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah saying it is now clear that their “propaganda” about probe agencies being misused was driven by the fear that their corruption will be exposed.

In a statement, the senior BJP leader questioned the “silence” of INDIA bloc leaders, saying he can understand why the Congress is keeping mum but wondered why parties like the TMC, DMK, JD(U) and the RJD were doing the same.

While the Congress has distanced itself from the MP, claiming that the party has nothing to do with his business, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah accused the Centre of targeting only the Congress and asked why no searches were carried out against BJP leaders.

Jharkhand Congress in-charge Avinash Pandey said, “Since he is Congress MP, he should make an official statement about how such a big amount of money came to him.” Union Tourism Minister and BJP leader G Kishan Reddy asked why Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was “silent” on the issue.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Friday assured the people that the money looted from the public will be returned and had posted a Hindi newspaper report where the cash recovered by the IT department was shown stacked.

Taking to X, he had said, “The countrymen should look at the pile of these notes and then listen to the honest speeches’ of their leaders …Whatever has been looted from the public, every penny will have to be returned, this is Modi’s guarantee.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)