Author: India BBC News Correspondent

It was supposed to be a protest. By the end, it had turned into the kind of incident that generates national attention — and several uncomfortable questions about political violence and press freedom. Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the Cockroach Janta Party — a satirical political outfit that has attracted followers precisely because of its absurdist approach to Indian electoral politics — was assaulted during a demonstration in Jaipur last week. The incident was filmed and has been circulating widely. Who Is Abhijeet Dipke? If you haven’t followed Indian political satire closely, Dipke is worth understanding before the incident makes sense.…

The Raushan Anand case has all the elements that make Indian crime stories particularly difficult to report on — a high-profile accused, conflicting versions of events, a social media ecosystem that has already decided the outcome, and investigators who are being careful not to say more than they have established. Here’s what we actually know, and what remains disputed. The Background Raushan Anand is a tutor who worked in Khan Sir’s coaching empire in Patna — one of the most recognised names in India’s competitive exam preparation industry. Khan Sir himself has become something of a cultural phenomenon, known for…

The ink on the US-Iran preliminary agreement was barely dry when Israeli airstrikes hit targets in Beirut’s southern suburbs. The timing — whether coincidental or deliberate — has created a diplomatic crisis that threatens to derail one of the more significant diplomatic openings in the Middle East in years. Here’s what happened and why it matters. The Agreement That Was in Progress After months of back-channel negotiations facilitated by Oman and Qatar, the United States and Iran had reached what American officials were describing as a “preliminary framework” — not a full deal, but a set of understandings that both…

When a vessel starts taking on water in international waters, the clock starts immediately. Every minute matters — not just for the ship, but for the people on it. Last week, fourteen Indian nationals found themselves in exactly that situation, roughly 90 nautical miles off the coast of Oman in the Arabian Sea. What happened next — a coordinated response involving Indian naval assets, Omani coast guard coordination, and a commercial vessel in the vicinity — is a textbook example of how maritime emergency response is supposed to work. All fourteen were brought safely to shore. Here’s how they did…

Three Indian sailors are dead. Their families are waiting for answers. And a US oil tanker company is under investigation for what happened aboard one of its vessels in the Gulf of Oman. The case has moved through Indian consular channels, maritime investigation bodies, and the Indian Navy — and it has raised uncomfortable questions about the conditions Indian migrant seafarers face in international waters. What Happened The three men — identified as crew members from Kerala and Andhra Pradesh — were found dead aboard the tanker under circumstances that the vessel’s operators initially described as an accident. Indian consular…

Every year, in the weeks before and after a major examination, rumours circulate. NEET is particularly vulnerable to this — it’s India’s largest medical entrance exam, it carries enormous stakes, and the student community’s anxiety about it creates fertile ground for misinformation. This year, the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) has stepped in early. What the EOU Said The Bihar EOU — which has been centrally involved in investigating NEET paper leak cases in previous years — issued a formal public alert warning students, parents, and coaching centres against circulating or acting on rumours about a NEET 2026 re-examination. The alert…

Twenty-one people are dead after a fire tore through a hotel in central Delhi in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Of those, the majority have been identified as foreign nationals — a detail that has added a consular dimension to what is already one of the city’s worst hotel fires in recent memory. What Happened The fire broke out at a mid-range hotel near the Paharganj area — a part of Delhi that has long been popular with budget travellers, including a significant number of international tourists and business visitors. The fire started in the early hours of the…

Khan Sir’s coaching centre in Patna has become something of a national institution — and institutions, when they attract enough attention, also attract threats. Reports of firing near the entrance of the Patna coaching facility sent students and staff scrambling for cover on Tuesday afternoon, and the incident has since spiralled into a complex tangle of criminal allegations, political claims, and questions about the safety of one of Bihar’s most prominent educational brands. What Happened According to police accounts, unidentified individuals fired several rounds from a moving vehicle near the main entrance of Khan Sir’s coaching facility in the Rajendra…

CBSE has a new chairman. And for anyone who follows how these appointments work — quietly, bureaucratically, without much fanfare — the choice of Lokhande Sitaram signals something worth paying attention to. Who Is Lokhande Sitaram? Lokhande Sitaram comes to the CBSE chairmanship from a background in the Indian Administrative Service, with significant experience in the education sector specifically. He has previously served in state education departments and has been part of national-level discussions on curriculum reform and the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. His appointment follows the departure of the previous chairman and comes at a…

Abhijeet Dipke has a talent for turning even a return from hospital into political theatre — and his announcement that he would be arriving at an airport has generated exactly the kind of chaotic, affectionate crowd response that makes the Cockroach Janta Party difficult to dismiss as simply a joke. After his assault in Jaipur and subsequent medical treatment, Dipke posted a cryptic message: “Meet me at the airport.” No time. No date. Just the airport. What Actually Happened Supporters — and there are more of them than most political observers expected — interpreted the message as a call to…