Jaswinder Bath, wife of Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath, accused Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann of failing to act on his assurances against the cops implicated in the assault on her husband. Jaswinder met Mann in Chandigarh Monday, seeking action against the officers charged with attacking Bath on March 14.
However, she now claims she was misled by the CM’s promises. “I saw hope when CM assured me of justice,” Jaswinder said in a video message on Tuesday. “But, now, I feel deceived. Punjab govt seems to be playing same game as the police – first registering a false FIR, then making superficial suspensions, and now failing to take real action.”
She said that since her meeting with Mann, neither his office nor any officials contacted her, despite his assurances. “I have been calling the CM’s OSD since Monday , but he hasn’t responded to a single message… It feels like the govt just wanted to end our protest, not deliver justice.”
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The Royal Cape Yacht Club will host INSV Tarini for two weeks for maintenance and repairs before its scheduled departure on April 15
The Indian Navy’s sailing vessel, INSV Tarini, reached Cape Town, South Africa, marking the final stop of its global circumnavigation expedition, the Navy announced on Tuesday.
The expedition, Navika Sagar Parikrama-II, was flagged off on October 2, 2024, by Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi and is set to conclude in Goa this May. The mission, led by two women officers, Lt Cdr Dilna K and Lt Cdr Roopa A, aims to cover over 23,400 nautical miles (43,300 km).
So far, the vessel has made three stopovers — Fremantle (Australia), Lyttelton (New Zealand) and Port Stanley (Falklands, UK). Upon entering Cape Town, Consul General Ruby Jaspreet and Rear Admiral Lisa Hendricks, Chief of Staff of the South African Navy Fleet, welcomed the crew, with the South African Naval Band performing at the port.
The Royal Cape Yacht Club will host INSV Tarini for two weeks for maintenance and repairs before its scheduled departure on April 15. During their stay, the crew will engage with the South African Navy at Simon’s Town Naval Base and Gordon’s Bay Naval College, along with outreach events for the Indian community.
The journey has been gruelling, with the crew braving 50-knot (93 kmph) winds and 7-m (23-foot) high waves in stormy conditions.
Commissioned in 2018, the indigenously built 56-foot INSV Tarini has participated in several such expeditions, furthering India’s maritime legacy.
Defence Minister Riajnath Singh to deliver the keynote address at the five-day Army Commanders’ Conference in New Delh
Top generals of the Army assembled at New Delhi on Tuesday for the five-day Army Commanders’ Conference to discuss key policy and operational matters. The biennial conference serves as a platform for senior leadership of the Army officials to review and assess the overall security situation and deliberate on key priorities to deal with emerging challenges.
Aligned to the Army’s goal of an agile, adaptive, technologically-enabled and future-ready force, the senior hierarchy will also engage in intense deliberations with domain experts to usher in new methodologies for effective decision making, a defence spokesperson said.
Other issues under deliberation will focus on enhancing the overall organisational health and easing the processes of the field army to make them more resilient and responsive. The forum will also discuss issues concerning the welfare and wellbeing of its personnel aimed at enhancing the quality of life for soldiers and their families.
Besides, the keynote address by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and a talk by Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan, a presentation on Indian Army’s focus in the ‘Year of Reforms’, a talk by NITI Aayog’s CEO on India’s journey and the envisaged role of the armed forces to build a strong progressive nation are also on the agenda.
It is one of the most critical and challenging high-altitude passes in the world, connecting Kashmir valley to Ladakh
The Border Road Organisation (BRO) has reopened the strategic 11,500 feet high Zoji La Pass in record time after remaining closed for vehicular traffic for just 32 days during the winter season.
Director General BRO, Lt Gen Raghu Srinivasan, flagged-off the first convoy from the Srinagar side towards Ladakh. Zoji La Pass is one of the most critical and challenging high-altitude passes in the world, connecting Kashmir valley to Ladakh.
This year, the pass faced an unusually short but intense closure period due to relentless snowfall caused by a western disturbance for 17 days — from February 27 to March 16 — a defence spokesperson said.
The sheer volume of accumulated snow posed a formidable challenge. The BRO personnel, working under extreme conditions, battling sub-zero temperatures, high velocity winds and avalanche-prone terrain, cleared the snow within a period of 14 days, from March 17-30.
Referred to as the “mountain pass of blizzards” in local folklore, Zoji La experiences heavy snowfall, forcing its closure during the harsh winter months. This temporary closure impacts not only the movement of troops and essential supplies but also disrupts the daily lives of the local population in Ladakh, which depends on this route for trade, medical support and economic activities.
Due to technological advancements, improved snow-clearance techniques and the relentless efforts of BRO, this closure period has been drastically reduced from about six months a few decades ago to a few weeks now.
A 14 km long two-way tunnel is also being constructed under the pass, which will reduce the time to cross the Zoji La from over three hours to just 15 minutes. When completed, it will be the longest bi-directional tunnel in Asia in high altitude area.
The exercise reflects the deepening convergence of US-India strategic maritime interests and the countries’ defence partnership
Exercise Tiger Triumph – 2025, the fourth edition of the bilateral joint humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) amphibious drill between India and the US, began at Vishakhapatnam on Tuesday, with the opening ceremony being held on-board the Indian Navy’s INS Jalashwa.
The exercise reflects the deepening convergence of US-India strategic maritime interests and the countries’ defence partnership. The present edition is aimed at further enhancement of interoperability and combined joint all-domain operations during large-scale HADR operations, according to an official statement.
“Exercises like these enable our forces to work quickly when our partners in the region are facing humanitarian crises,” Jorgan K Andrews, Charge d’Affaires at the US Embassy in India said at the ceremony.
The harbour phase of the exercise is being conducted at Visakhapatnam from April 1 to 7, which involves a planning process for the execution of various training events at sea, as well as further refinement of procedures established in previous iterations of the exercise.
In addition, the harbour phase will include training and subject matter expert exchange (SMEE) events on a range of professional subjects, such as special operations, emergency medical response procedures and operations across the air, maritime, cyber and space domains.
The sea phase from April 8 to 12, will witness the bilateral forces working together to train for maritime, amphibious and HADR operations through a Joint Combined Command and Control Centre.
This phase will conclude with establishment of a joint combined humanitarian relief and medical response camp following an amphibious landing at Kakinada.
Participating units from the Indian Navy include Landing Platform Dock INS Jalashwa with integral landing crafts and helicopters, the Delhi-class guided-missile destroyer, INS Mumbai, Magar-class amphibious assault ship, INS Gharial, Deepak-class fleet tanker, INS Shakti, and P-8 long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft, MH60R helicopters and the Hawk aircraft.
The Indian Army will be represented by an Infantry Battalion Group, including mechanised forces. Special operations force from all the three services, as well as cyber and space specialists will also participate in the exercise.
The Indian Air Force will demonstrate the capability of C-130, Mi-17 V5 and showcase the air portable Bhisma medical equipment.
The participating US task force comprises a US Navy Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship, USS Comstock, with embarked US Marines from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit and the 1st Light Armoured Reconnaissance Battalion, as well as the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, USS Ralph Johnson and a Navy P-8A Poseidon aircraft. The US Space Force and Air Force are supporting the exercise with subject matter experts and a C-130J aircraft, respectively.
The US Army is represented by a platoon, a medical platoon, civil-military operations centre and multi-domain task force combined information effects fusion cell.
Fake ED officials fabricated money laundering case
A 10-day digital arrest ordeal fraught with threatening video calls and fake court notices saw 82-year-old retired Colonel Dalip Singh and his wife Ranvinder Kaur Bajwa lose their entire life savings worth Rs 3.4 crore to swindlers posing as Enforcement Directorate officials.
The couple, residents of Sector 2-A, Chandigarh, filed a complaint with the Cyber Cell of Chandigarh Police after being alerted by an acquaintance. A case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita has since been registered and police are probing the matter.
The ordeal began on March 18 when Singh received a WhatsApp call from an unknown number. The caller falsely accused him of being involved in a money laundering case linked to an account at a Canara Bank’s branch in Mumbai.
Recalling the ordeal, Singh’s wife said, “We got a call from an international number with the caller saying that we are under scanner for involvement in a money laundering case linked with Jet Airways owner Naresh Goyal, who had been in the news for bungling. They told us that there’s an account under my husband’s name, Dalip Singh Bajwa, in Mumbai and even showed a card with his name on it. Everything looked real at the time.”
The scamsters, after showing the card with Singh’s name on it, alleged that he was connected to a Rs 5,038-crore fraud. They sent the couple photos of 24 supposed victims, falsely claiming that one had ended his life and that a whistleblower had been murdered by Goyal.
For the next 10 days, between March 18 and March 27, the fraudsters kept the couple under “digital arrest”, forcing them to keep their phones on at all times and forbidding them from contacting anyone. They used fear tactics, including threats of imprisonment and asset seizure, and even sent fabricated Supreme Court letters. Under immense pressure, the couple disclosed their financial assets and transferred Rs 3.4 crore to various accounts as directed by the fraudsters.
“We were also given a detailed questionnaire to fill as part of investigation and later served notices from Supreme Court of India which we now know were fake,” Kaur added.
Dalip Singh was first asked to pay Rs 8 lakh, but the demands grew to Rs 60 lakh, Rs 80 lakh and Rs 88 lakh. When Singh ran out of fixed deposits to cash, the scammers told his wife to arrange the money to help close the case as early as possible.
When Singh, who lost his two sons and lives with his wife, daughter-in-law and grandchild, contacted one of his son’s friends, he altered them about the digital arrest fraud.
Expressing his anguish, Singh said, “As a youth, I dedicated my life to the service of the nation. Now, in my twilight years, I have lost everything to fraudsters. It is a cruel irony, and my only hope now rests with the Cyber Cell. I hope that our police are equipped with enough skills to nab the fraudsters.”
