On 4th August, the Supreme Court envoked the spirit of Lord Krishna and referred to him as the “first mediator” during the hearing of the dispute concerning Vrindavan’s iconic Shri Banke Bihari Temple and the Uttar Pradesh government. The state government had issued an ordinance about the projected redevelopment of the temple’s corridor using Rs 500 crore from the latter’s finances.
The top court when requesting mediation between the temple trust and the state government about the corridor’s construction stated, “Lord Krishna was the first mediator, please try to mediate the matter.” The case was being heard by the bench of Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Surya Kant.
They recommended to maintain a portion of the 15th May Supreme Court judgement that had permitted the state to spend temple funds in abeyance and proposed to choose a retired high court or district judge as the temple’s managing trustee. Meanwhile, the Allahabad High Court will review the ordinance’s constitutionality.
According to the court’s proposal, the temple will be run by a committee until the decision is made but the family that was assigned the responsibility shall continue to perform the rites as they did earlier. “The daily rituals of the temple would be continued by the ‘goswamis’ as before,” it pronounced.
The court added that the ASI can be linked to the committee for a comprehensive development of the area and the Collector and other authorities will also be included. The Uttar Pradesh government has been ordered to reply to the court’s suggestions by 10:30 am of 5th August.
According to the 2025 UP Ordinance, a statutory trust will be granted to the temple management. It declared that the “Shri Banke Bihari Ji Mandir Nyas” will be in charge of the temple’s administration and the facilities for the worshippers. It further conveyed that a maximum of seven members will serve ex-officio and eleven trustees will be nominated. The ordinance emphasised that the members of the government and non-government organisations must be followers Sanatan Dharma.
Kamal Haasan, Tamil actor, a full-time Hinduphobe, and an atheist who once admitted to spreading the word of Christ has expressed his desire to ‘’break the chains’ of Sanatan Dharma.
Addressing a gathering at the Agaram Foundation event in Chennai on 3rd August 2025, Haasan said, “Education is the only weapon that can break the chains of dictatorship and Sanatan.”
The founder of Makkal Needhi Maiyam (MNM) added, “Don’t take anything else in your hands, only education. We cannot win without it, because the majority can make you lose. Majority Fools (Moodargal) will make u lose; knowledge alone will seem defeated. That’s why we must hold on to it Education firmly.”
"Education is the only weapon that can cut off chains of dictatorship and Sanatan." – KAMAL HAASAN pic.twitter.com/vGOf3WRXzM
Haasan’s remarks have triggered outrage among Hindus and received backlash from political opponents as well.
Reacting to the Hinduphobic remarks by Kamal Haasan slandering Sanatan Dharma some sort of oppressive religion, Tamil Nadu BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan said, “Kamal Haasan is more thankful to DMK than its own cadres. First, he raised the language issue, dividing people of different states. Now, he is raising the religious issue to create division based on religious sentiments. I am asking why you are talking about Sanatan. If he speaks about Sanatan, Udhayanidhi and Stalin will be happy. However, Tamil Nadu people will be unhappy, and not only Tamil Nadu, the sentiments of all Indians who follow that ideology will be hurt… I strongly condemn this…”
#WATCH | Chennai, Tamil Nadu: On MNM chief & Rajya Sabha MP Kamal Haasan's statement, BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan says, "…Kamal Haasan is more thankful to DMK than its own cadres. First, he raised the language issue, dividing people of different states. Now, he is… pic.twitter.com/3QuN9yMGtH
Before Rajya Sabha MP Kamal Haasan, Tamil Nadu minister and DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin had in 2023 sparked outrage by giving open calls for ‘eradication’ of Sanatan Dharma.
“Mosquitoes, dengue, flu, malaria, corona – we should not oppose these things. They’ve to be eradicated completely. The same is the case with Santanam (Hinduism). Our first work should be to abolish/eradicate Sanatanam instead of opposing it. So, my appreciation to you all for giving an apt title to the meeting,” Stalin said back then.
Despite the outrage and blatant disrespect to Hindu religion in a Hindu-majority country, Udhayanidhi Stalin, who claims to be a Christian, not only doubled down but was also joined by other DMK leaders in making anti-Sanatan remarks.
Unsurprisingly, Kamal Haasan had back then supported Udhayanidhi Stalin. Haasan said that Udhayanidhi Stalin is a young child being targeted over this issue. However, a 45-year-old (at that time) Udhayanidhi was as much a young child as a 55-year-old Rahul Gandhi is decribed as a youth leader by Congress IT cell.
“Today, a young child is being targeted because he has spoken about Sanatan Dharma. Several leaders of the Dravidian movement like Udhayanidhi’s grandfather and late DMK leader M Karunanidhi have also spoken about it in the past. The extent of reformist leader Periyar E.V. Ramaswamy’s resentment towards social evils can be understood from his life,” Haasan said at a public event.
Notably, in Tamil Nadu, ‘Sanatan’ is also often associated with ‘Brahminism’, which again, is wrongly used synonymously for casteism. Thus, Kamal Haasan is vilifying Sanatan, which the Dravidians associate with Brahminism, and they consider ‘Brahminism’ as the root of all ‘evils’. It all boils down to the very core of Hinduism.
Kamal Haasan has a penchant for making anti-Hindu remarks
Incidentally, this is not the first time that Kamal Haasan has made anti-Hindu remarks, in fact, he has been doing so for years now. Back in 2019, the MNM leader had said that independent India’s first extremist was a ‘Hindu’.
“I am not saying this because this is Muslim-dominated area, but I am saying this before a statue of Gandhi. Free India’s first extremist was a Hindu, his name is Nathuram Godse. There it (extremism, apparently) starts,” he said during a poll rally in Aravakurichi.
In 2017, Kamal Haasan labelled Hindus as ‘extremists’ and Hindu groups as ‘violent’ and said, “Hindus cannot challenge others to show extremists among them since extremism has spread to that extent even among the Hindus. Hindus are losing faith in the principle of satyameva jayate and instead, they were subscribing to ‘might is right’. In the past, Hindu right-wing groups would not indulge in violence. They would hold a dialogue with opponents. But now they resort to violence.”
In October 2022, amidst row over Tamil movie director Vetrimaaran’s claim that Chola king Raja Raja Chola I was not a Hindu, Kamal Haasan claimed that here was no Hindu religion during the time of the Chola king.
“There was no name called ‘Hindu religion’ during Raja Raja Cholan’s period. At that time there were Vaishnavas and Shaivites. It was the British who coined the term ‘Hindu’ because they did not know how to express it collectively. It’s just like they turned Thoothukudi into Tuticorin,” Haasan said even as in reality, Vaishnavs and Shaivs have always been integral sects within Sanatan Dharma.
In May 2023, Kamal Haasan labelled the film The Kerala Story, which was inspired from real events involving proselytization and brainwashing of Hindu and non-Christian, their conversion to Islam and subsequent manipulation into joining Islamic terror outfits like ISIS, as a ‘propaganda’ film. Haasan, however, never labelled his own films as piece of propaganda despite their themes being deeply anti-Hindu and outrageous in all respects.
In fact, Kamal Haasan’s filmography shows that the veteran actor has been using movies to push anti-Hindu agenda for long. From mocking Lord Murugan in the film ‘Kaadhala Kaadhala‘ (1998), portraying Lord Shiv as a comic character blowing bubbles with his bubblegum in Pammal K. Sambandam‘ (2002), to vilifying Shaivites, Kamal Haasan’s movies often feature anti-Hindu themes.
Apparently, Kamal Haasan wants students to ‘eradicate’ Sanatan through education while he makes his bid in this direction through his movies.
Desperate for political clout or perhaps driven by deep-seated disdain for Hinduism, Kamal Haasan has wrongly reduced Sanatan, which implies the eternal principles and timelessness of Hindu Dharma, to some sort of oppressive force that needs to be broken free from.
While the actor-politician equated Sanatan to dictatorship, Sanatan, rooted in the eternal principles of Dharma (righteousness), Karma (duty) and moksha (salvation) is itself a profound liberator, unshackling people from material bondage and evils of all sorts.
Haasan, who enjoys a vast fan base among Sanatan-believing Hindus, is perhaps deliberately disparaging Sanatan Dharma since he knows he can get political gains due to it. He can expect praise from anti-Hindu Dravidian intellectual circles, can come across as a ‘progressive’ leader’ and get away with it without any serious consequences. Had Kamal Haasan called education an effective weapon against Islamic terrorism, he would have started getting ‘Sar tan se juda‘ threats by now.
Earlier, Islamo-leftists and liberals claimed to fight against ‘Hindutva’ and now they want to break shackles of ‘Sanatan’, it is but an allusion for Hinduism. The strategy may have changed, however, the target remain Hindus and Hinduism.
A political firestorm has erupted in Kerala after the Communist Party of India (Marxist) organised a celebratory farewell for eight party workers convicted in a brutal 1994 attack that left current BJP Rajya Sabha MP and state vice-president Sadanandan Master permanently disabled.
The send-off, held outside the Thalassery sessions court and later in Mattannur, Kannur, the very town where the attack took place three decades agowas marked by party slogans, cheering cadres, and garlands. Among those present was Mattanur MLA and former Health Minister KK Shailaja, whose public appearance at the event has triggered sharp backlash from across the political spectrum.
Videos from the farewell, now viral on social media, show CPI(M) workers treating the convicted men not as criminals, but as heroes returning from battle. The spectacle comes after the Supreme Court dismissed their final appeal, upholding the Kerala High Court’s verdict that refused any leniency, calling the 1994 assault “premeditated” and “deeply condemnable.”
“This is unfortunate and sends a dangerous message to society,” said Sadanandan Master, the victim of the attack, who lost both his legs in the ambush. “These men were not acquitted. Every court, from the trial court to the Supreme Court, upheld their conviction. And yet, the CPI(M) decided to celebrate them, and worse, an elected MLA like KK Shailaja chose to lead it.
From brutality to bail to celebration
On January 25, 1994, Sadanandan, then a 30-year-old school teacher and the saha karyavah of the RSS in Kannur, was returning home after visiting relatives ahead of his sister’s wedding. What awaited him was a brutal, targeted assault by CPI(M) workers, a planned act of political vengeance that left him wheelchair-bound for life.
The case saw 12 accused, but only eight were convicted in 1997 after a trial in the Kannur court. The other four were acquitted of conspiracy charges. Though initially charged under the stringent TADA (Terrorists and Disruptive Activities Prevention Act), those provisions were later dropped.
The eight convicts were sentenced to seven years in prison but spent most of the past 30 years out on bail as their appeals progressed. In January this year, the Kerala High Court upheld their convictions, observing:
“The incident did not happen in a fit of rage or on sudden provocation… the attack appears to have been premeditated. The accused do not deserve any sort of leniency.”
The court also enhanced the compensation, directing each of the convicts to pay ₹50,000 to the victim. After the Supreme Court refused to entertain their final plea, the High Court cancelled their bail and ordered them to surrender by August 4.
Political message or moral bankruptcy?
Instead of a quiet, lawful surrender, the CPI(M) orchestrated a spectacle. The farewell looked more like a rally than a moment of accountability and critics say it reveals a disturbing culture of glorifying political violence.
While CPI(M) leaders tried to frame it as a show of solidarity with party comrades, the visuals, garlands, raised fists, and party slogans, told a different story.
“As a public representative, KK Shailaja should have known better,” Sadanandan Master remarked. “When leaders glorify convicts, they send the wrong message to the youth, that violence in the name of ideology is honourable.”
With the convicts now lodged in Kannur Central Prison, the episode has sparked a wider debate in Kerala: Is political allegiance enough to wash away the stain of violence or is the CPI(M) rewriting justice with party slogans?
How Sadanandan Master was attacked by CPIM goons?
On the night of 25th January, 1994, at the age of 30, Sadanandan was ambushed by CPI(M) goons near his home village of Perinchery. In a shocking act of political violence, they chopped off both his legs and left him bleeding on the roadside as a warning to those switching political sides.
Recalling that night, he once shared how no one dared to help him because of fear. It was only when the police arrived on the scene, maybe fifteen minutes later, that I was whisked off to the hospital. By then, I had lost consciousness.
But that terrible night didn’t stop him from moving forward. He returned to teaching in 1999 and still works as a social science teacher at Sree Durga Vilasam Higher Secondary School in Peramangalam.
Over time, he also became an active part of the BJP and contested elections from the Koothuparambu constituency in 2016 and 2021.
In his youth, Sadanandan leaned towards communist ideas, just like many young people in Kerala. But things changed for him when he started reading more about the RSS and its views on cultural nationalism.
He was especially moved by poet Akkitham’s article ‘Bharata Darshanangal’ and joined the RSS in 1984, even though his family had strong Left roots. His father was a retired teacher and a CPI(M) supporter, and his brother was also an active party worker at the time.
Today, apart from teaching, Sadanandan is the state vice-president of the National Teachers Union in Kerala. He also edits its magazine Deshiya Adhyapaka Vartha and is part of the Bharatiya Vichara Kendram, an RSS-affiliated intellectual group.
He is married to his college love, Vanitha Rani, who is also a teacher, and their daughter Yamuna Bharati is studying BTech and is active in the ABVP student organisation.
In one of the biggest drug hauls in the Indian state of Mizoram, police have seized crystal methamphetamine and heroin worth around Rs 350 crore and arrested one person, a senior officer said on Sunday, 1st August.
Acting on a tip-off, a team comprising personnel of the Criminal Investigation Department (Special Branch) and the Special Narcotic police station in Aizawl conducted an operation near the state capital.
After a thorough search, officials recovered 20.304 kg of crystal meth, valued at approximately Rs 300 crore, and 1.652 kg of heroin in 128 soap cases, valued at approximately Rs 49.56 lakh. These drugs were concealed in a hidden compartment within a car. The driver, 45-year-old B Lalthazuala of Republic Mual Veng, Aizawl, was arrested and charged under several sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. Investigations are in progress.
This is not the first incident. Within a few weeks, another such big drug haul was seized in Zokhawthar village on 10th July, 2025. The local police had carried out a foot march in the region on the basis of a reliable tip and seized an abandoned green nylon bag near Kudamsen Kai. A 20-year-old Myanmar man, Lalnuntluanga, who now lives in Zokhawthar, was arrested near the location. He admitted to having smuggled the consignment from Khawmawi, Myanmar.
HUGE SEIZURE OF HIGH QUALITY HEROIN Based on an input received from a reliable source, Zokhawthar Police Station team conducted foot patrolling within Zokhawthar village on the night of July 10, 2025. At around 8:00 PM, a green nylon sack, suspected to contain contraband, was pic.twitter.com/zTJoS08ILF
Within the sack, police seized 20 bricks of heroin, each carefully wrapped in clear polythene and sealed with yellow sticky tape, brown paper, and aluminium foil. Each of the bricks had the stamp of “DOUBLE UOGLOBE BRAND,” which historically represents ultra-pure (99.9%) heroin in the Asia-Pacific market. The aggregate weight of the recovered heroin was 7.422 kilograms, valued at over Rs 2.22 crore in the streets.
After his confession, four individuals were arrested, namely three Zokhawthar residents and one from Aizawl. The operation was the biggest-ever heroin seizure by Mizoram Police in terms of purity and amount. A case has been registered formally under the NDPS Act as well as the Foreigners Act.
Meth tablets worth over 9 crores seized by DRI
Adding to this increasing alarm, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) confiscated 9.72 kg of methamphetamine tablets from a Mahindra XUV500 on 30th May, 2025. The seizure was made near Seling on the Aizawl-Champhai road (NH-6). The drug was concealed in an ingenious cavity at the back of the rear seat of the vehicle.
The tablets are valued at Rs 9.72 crore in the global market. One individual was apprehended on the spot. During investigations, it was found that the consignment was smuggled into Mizoram from Myanmar through the Zokhawthar border. Since January 2025, DRI has seized more than Rs 72 crore worth of meth and heroin from Mizoram and made seven arrests about these seizures.
Myanmar: The primary portal to India’s drug trafficking route
These instances highlight a more expansive, more concerning trend. Myanmar has turned into a leading gateway for drug smuggling into northeast India. Mizoram, which also shares an open 500 km-long border with Myanmar, is now a key path for smuggling yaba tablets (methamphetamine), heroin, and other synthetic drugs.
According to a report by The Economic Times, some NGOs in Mizoram have expressed alarm at the increasing control of drug syndicates that move drugs through the Myanmar border.
Drugs recovered in two months of 2020 were worth more than USD 136,000. Security experts noted that the Shan state in Myanmar, part of the notorious Golden Triangle (where the borders of Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand converge), contains so-called makeshift labs churning out billions of meth tablets every year.
India has also seen a remarkable spike in amphetamine-type stimulant (ATS) seizures, 431 kg in 2018 to more than 2.2 tons in 2019, as per a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
In the ongoing investigation into the Balasore student self-immolation case, the Odisha Crime Branch has arrested two male students late on Sunday (3rd August) on suspicion of instigating the victim to commit suicide. The arrestees, identified as Subhra Sambit Nayak and Jyoti Prakash Biswal, were produced before the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) Court in Balasore, where they were denied bail.
Consequently, the two accused were remanded to 15-day judicial custody. The students have been arrested on charges relating to criminal conspiracy and abetment for suicide.
As per reports, the Crime Branch has concrete evidence linking the students to the circumstances leading up to the girl’s death. The evidence include digital evidence and eyewitness accounts combined with forensic analysis.
Notably, one of the students, Jyoti Prakash, sustained injuries while attempting to save the girl after she set herself on fire. He was admitted to SCB Medical College, Cuttack, for treatment and was later discharged. However, the investigators were suspicious of his role and believed that his attempt to rescue the girl might have been a cover to avoid suspicion. The other guy is Subhra Sambit Nayak. The number of arrests in the case has now reached four.
The victim set herself on fire due to inaction on her sexual harassment complaint
In an unfortunate incident, the 20-year-old victim, who was a student of B.Ed. at the Fakir Mohan (Autonomous) College, Balasore, set herself on fire on 12th July due to inaction on her sexual harassment complaint against her Head of Department (HoD), Sameer Sahoo. Before setting herself on fire, she had a meeting with the college principal, Dilip Kumar Ghosh, in his office.
The victim, named Soumyashri Bisi, suffered over 90% burns and was getting medical care at AIIMS, Bhubaneswar. She succumbed to her burn injuries two days later. The victim had submitted a complaint of sexual harassment against Sahoo to the college principal and the police. She was disappointed over no significant action being taken against Sahoo. The college principal and the HoD were arrested by the police after the incident, and an investigation was launched.
The incident attracted widespread outrage and condemnation. Allegations of systemic harassment, administrative apathy and unsafe college environment emerged. A day after the victim filed a complaint of sexual harassment against the HoD, the majority of students from her class did not believe her and signed a letter in support of the HoD. Out of the total 100 students in her class, 71 supported Sahoo and called her complaint false.
In the two-page letter, the students praised Sahoo as a “great teacher who is known for his amiable ways.” They cast suspicion on the victim by stating in the letter that she levelled the allegations after she was debarred from the exam due to poor attendance. As per the FIR lodged by the victim’s cousin, the college forced her to withdraw her complaint and apologise to Samir Sahoo, just minutes before the incident.
A unit of the Crime Against Women (CAW) of the Odisha CID is investigating the HoD’s history of misconduct, the role of the college principal, and the reasons behind the smear campaign run against the victim through the letter.
Administrative inaction, combined with apathy and distrust shown by her peers, caused immense mental trauma to the victim, which seems to have pushed her to take the extreme step.
A disturbing case has emerged from the Shani temple situated in the village of Manti Hasanpur within the Thana Bhawan region of Shamli district in Uttar Pradesh. The authorities have apprehended a man known as Baba Bengali also referred to as Balaknath after his identity was revealed to be 55-year-old Imamuddin Ansari, resident of Kalchini in the Alipurduar district of West Bengal.
He had been serving as a priest at the temple and falsely portraying himself as a Hindu sadhu for at least two years. The authorities initiated legal proceedings against him and presented him before the court where he was remanded to judicial custody for 14 days.
On 2nd August, the Thana Bhawan police received intelligence indicating that the accused is a Muslim and has been living in the temple with a fraudulent identity. They responded promptly and conducted a nighttime raid on the temple and apprehended him. Three Aadhar cards and a PAN card were found in his possession.
One of the Aadhaar cards bore the name “Bengali Nath Care of Kamalnath” with the address listed as Shakambhari Road Water Tank, Laxmi Narayan Mandir in Saharanpur. The other documents exposed Ansari’s true name and actual address. He also obtained land from the village head Rameshwar, under the pretense of constructing a temple. He even took donations from locals to fund its construction and subsequently started to stay inside the temple.
What do the authorities say
Superintendent of Police Ramsevak Gautam stated that charges have been filed against the perpetrator under various sections related to the creation of forged documents, fraud and the violation of religious sentiments. Additionally, the intelligence department is also involved in the inquiry to determine if this incident is part of a larger and orchestrated conspiracy or network.
Currently, Ansari is undergoing questioning and the validity of his documents is also under scrutiny. The police disclosed that Ansari migrated to North India from West Bengal approximately 15 years ago in pursuit of employment. Initially, he resided in Saharanpur and its surrounding districts where he encountered a Baba Kamalnath.
The former was reportedly brought to Manti Hasanpur by an individual from Saharanpur. The villagers believed that the offender was a Hindu saint and permitted him to reside in the Shani temple. He worshipped at the temple and diligently followed Hindu customs. Hence, no suspicion was raised against him.
Once the entire matter was unveiled, the authorities have become more alert and every detail is being monitored closely. The police have stated that further action will be on the basis of the inquiry’s outcomes.
According to media reports, a police team has been dispatched to West Bengal to confirm the address listed on Ansari’s Aadhaar card and collect more information regarding him. They will conduct a thorough inquiry to uncover the truth about him and also look into whether there are any criminal cases filed against him in that region.
Furthermore, the team will examine the circumstances surrounding the alteration of the name on the Aadhaar card including the people who were involved in this. They cops have not obtained any information in relation to him having a bank account. The police discovered that the culprit has not undergone any conversion.
Anger among local Hindu community
The development has sparked anger among the local community who demanded strict action. The police have urged the public to maintain peace and have guaranteed that the probe will be conducted in a transparent and unbiased manner. District Math Mandir Pramukh Bharat Bhushan remarked that this incident was shocking.
The Hindu outfits plan to initiate an investigative campaign throughout the district and monitor such elements closely to prevent similar occurrences in the future. They urged the police administration to treat this issue with the seriousness it deserves and implement strict actions.
Vishva Hindu Parishad’s District Service Pramukh Vinni Rana stated that the organization is fully equipped to deal with such issues and will enforce strict action against Ansari. Workers are being mobilized at the rural level to facilitate it.
VHP’s District Mahamantri Shalu Rana expressed that the organization will dedicate all its resources to ensure strict action is taken against the accused as any conspiracy against Sanatan Dharma will not be allowed to prevail. Additionally, its members and local villagers will also look into those who request for alms while posing as sadhus in rural areas.
Notably, a similar incident transpired at a Shiv temple in Dadri village of Meerut’s Daurala where an alleged Hindu priest was exposed to be Qasim from Bihar, last month.
At the 71st National Film Awards, the movie The Kerala Story received the award for Best Cinematography and its director was conferred the Best Director award. The development has annoyed the usual suspects, who hate the fact that the movie portrays reality more than the movie itself.
The editor of the Filmfare magazine, Jitesh Pillai, took to Instagram to express his disappointment over the movie receiving the honour at the 71st National Awards. Calling The Kerala Story a “dangerously divisive film”, Pillai claimed that the National Awards jury has sent “seriously wrong signals” by giving the awards to the movie.
He claimed that the movie was not just a “vicious propaganda” but also portrays an “insidiously fake narrative”. “It has to be one of the worst movies ever made- it’s shoddily scripted, very poorly acted, horribly photographed and amateurishly directed,” Pillai said in his lengthy tirade.
He did not stop at spewing venom against the movie and went on to slam Ashutosh Gowariker, who is the chairman of the National Awards jury, for allowing the film to receive the award. “Is this the film chairman of the jury, Ashutosh Gowariker, with his claims of being an aesthete with a great understanding of cinema of sense and sensibility, has awarded it for best cinematography?” Pillai fumed. “P.S. Had to add RD Burman’s Sholay background score to take off the bitter taste of a shit show, ” he added.
Talks of “cinematic excellence” are a bit rich coming from the editor of the Filmfare magazine, as the credibility of Filmfare Awards has been questioned by several film actors, directors and celebrities over the years. Legendary actor Late Rishi Kapoor admitted in 2017 that he bought a film award for his movie ‘Bobby’ in 1974 for ₹30,000. He did not name the award, but it was quite obvious that he was referring to the Filmfare Awards, as he got the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for Bobby that year.
National Award-winning actress and BJP MP Kangana Ranaut has been quite vocal about the fakeness of film awards, including the Filmfare Awards, which she has been boycotting since 2014. In 2022, the Filmfare Awards withdrew her nomination after she said that she was offered an award by Filmfare for her movie Thalaivi in exchange for a performance at the award ceremony. She accused the Filmfare of being involved in corrupt practices.
Besides, film stars like Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar and Amir Khan are known for not attending and accepting these film awards due to the zero credibility of these awards.
The Kerala Story is based on the true story of a Hindu girl
The Kerala Story, released in 2023, sheds light on subjects like forced/lured religious conversions, ISIS brides, and love jihad. The movie was banned in West Bengal, and movie makers had to approach the High Court to get the movie released. Despite several attempts to ban the movie, it gained popularity. Starring actress Adah Sharma in the lead role, the movie portrays the reality of love jihad. It is based on the true story of a Hindu girl, Nimisha, who was brainwashed into marrying a Muslim and converting to Islam. She was taken to Syria to join ISIS.
A government employee in Odisha has landed in serious trouble after anti-corruption officials discovered that he had assets way beyond what he could afford on his salary. The man in question, Golap Chandra Hansdah, works as a Motor Vehicle Inspector (MVI) in Boudh district. When the Vigilance department raided his properties on Sunday, 3rd August, they uncovered shocking amounts of wealth, including 44 land plots, one kilogram of gold, and over ₹1.34 crore in bank deposits.
Properties across multiple locations
The raids were carried out at six locations in the state linked to Hansdah. Officials found one kg of gold, 2.126 kg of silver and bank deposits worth Rs 1.34 crore. A statement also revealed that he had spent ₹40 lakh on his daughter’s medical education.
Hansdah owned a two-storey house spread over 3,300 square feet in Baripada, Mayurbhanj district. Of the 44 plots in his name, 43 were around Baripada and one near Balasore town. The official sale deed value of these plots is about ₹1.49 crore, but the actual market value is suspected to be much higher. The Vigilance department is now assessing the true worth of these properties.
He also possessed 2.1 kg of silver and bank accounts with crores of cash. Hansdah, who joined government service in 1991, was promoted to Motor Vehicle Inspector in 2020 and currently draws a monthly salary of ₹1.08 lakh.
Many government officers in Odisha under scanner
Hansdah’s case may sound shocking, but it’s far from being the only one. Over the past few months, Odisha’s anti-corruption wing has uncovered a series of similar cases where government officers have been found living way beyond their means, owning large chunks of land, flats, and unaccounted wealth.
84 acres of land and multiple flats: The case of Dayanidhi Bagh
A high profile case was of Dayanidhi Bagh, a former Project Director of the Watershed department in Rayagada, who is now working as Joint Director in the Soil Conservation and Watershed Development office. When Vigilance officers searched his properties on 30th June, 2025, they were stunned to find that he had amassed 84 acres of land, the biggest land holding ever found by the Vigilance Department.
This included a 40-acre farmhouse with drip irrigation in Bijraguda and another 6-acre farmhouse in Phatakote. He also owned 27 acres of land elsewhere in Nabarangpur and 11 acres near Bhawanipatna. On top of this, three flats in Bhubaneswar and multiple buildings in Nabarangpur were traced back to him, along with a shopping complex and a new construction site.
The total worth of these properties runs into several crores. Officials also found gold, over ₹58 lakh in bank deposits, and even a four-wheeler registered in someone else’s name.
The long list of immovable properties does not end here. Three one-bedroom flats with an area of 1450 sq ft were traced from the officer at Gothapatana in Bhubaneswar, and one building was found at Housing Board Colony, a prime locality of the capital city.
Mr. Bagh is also constructing a building with an area of 3000 sq ft at Padalguda near Majhiguda Chhaka in Nabarangpur town, and he also has one shopping complex comprising five shops with an area of 1400 sq ft near Nabarangpur town.
Forest officer turned landlord with 115 Plots
In another jaw-dropping case, Odisha Forest Service officer Nityananda Nayak was found to have quietly acquired 115 land plots during his 33-year-long career. From protecting forests, Nayak seemed to have moved on to building a massive real estate empire.
His land buying spree started modestly, but picked up pace from 2007 onwards. During his posting in Khariar division, he acquired 64 plots. Then, between 2015 and 2022, he added 39 more, and another 10 after that, including two this year. Most of these plots are in Chhendipada area of Angul district, a region rich in coal, which hints at plans for big returns through land compensation.
He also built a four-storey building in Turanga, Angul, and many of the plots were found in the names of his wife and children, a common way to spread out ownership and avoid scrutiny. Vigilance officials now consider him one of the top offenders in the state’s list of corrupt officials.
105 plots and a market complex owned by Chief Construction Engineer
Another high-profile name is Pravas Kumar Pradhan, the Chief Construction Engineer of the Anandpur Barrage Project. Initially caught with 85 plots, officials later discovered 20 more in West Bengal’s Medinipur district, taking his total to 105 plots.
Pradhan had also built a five-storey building and owned a market complex, over ₹78 lakh in deposits, and nearly ₹12 lakh in cash. Gold worth around 335 grams was also recovered. Officials calculated that his assets were 245% more than his legal income.
How deep does the corruption go
When government officials on regular salaries manage to gather so much wealth, dozens of plots, multiple houses, gold, cash, shopping complexes, and vehicles, it raises serious questions about how deep corruption runs in the system. These cases are just the ones where officials got caught. One can only imagine how many more might have gone undetected, amassing unimaginable wealth without ever being questioned.
The list goes far beyond just 4 cases
In the last year alone, many other Odisha officials have been found to own huge amounts of land and disproportionate assets. Rama Chandra Mishra, Joint Commissioner of Excise in Bhubaneswar, was found to have ownership of 52 plots. Similarly, Pradeep Kumar Rath, Additional Chief Engineer of the Odisha Bridge and Construction Corporation (OBCC), had 50 plots belonging to him. He was booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
These tales present a disturbing picture of how some officials, with public service in their trust, have instead employed their offices to quietly construct private fiefdoms. And if these are just the ones that we are aware of, the real scale of the problem could be much larger.
Umar Ansari, younger son of the late gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, was arrested in Lucknow on Sunday, 3rd August. He has been accused of preparing forged documents for a property, which had been confiscated by the administration under Gangster Act.
According to Ghazipur SP Dr. Iraj Raja, “The property that was seized under the Gangster Act against Mukhtar Ansari was targeted in this fraud. To get the property released, Umar applied to court and misled the court by forging the signature of his mother, Afsha Ansari.”
Umar intended to secure illegal gains and submitted forged documents reportedly bearing the fake signatures of his mother, Afsa Ansari, in court. Afsa Ansari is currently absconding and carries a reward of Rs 50,000 on her head.
The case has been registered at the Mohammadabad Police Station in Ghazipur, and action is being taken under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Officials added that further legal steps are underway.
Mukhtar Ansari, the gangster turned politician
Umar’s father, Mukhtar Ansari, died on March 28, 2024, from a cardiac arrest while he was undergoing treatment at Banda Medical College Hospital in Uttar Pradesh.
In April 2023, he was convicted for the 2005 murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai and sentenced to 10 years in jail by an MP-MLA court. Just before his death, in March 2024, he was handed a life sentence for using fake documents to get an arms licence back in 1990.
Trouble for elder son Abbas Ansari as well
Umar’s older brother, Abbas Ansari, is also in legal trouble. He was a sitting MLA from the Mau Sadar seat but was disqualified from the seat in June 2024 after being held guilty in a case of hate speech. A special MP-MLA court had sentenced him to two years of imprisonment for threatening government officials while addressing an election rally in March 2022. Abbas had threatened government officials that he would “settle scores” with them post-elections once his alliance comes to power.
In a case of Love Jihad in the Burhanpur district of Madhya Pradesh, a Hindu woman was brutally killed on Friday (1st August) by a Muslim man for refusing to convert to Islam and perform Nikah with him.
A 35-year-old Bhagyashree Namdev Dhanuk was murdered inside her home in Navara by 42-year-old Sheikh Raees, who mercilessly slit her throat and stabbed her multiple times. The accused left her profusely bleeding on the spot. However, he was arrested by the police hours later.
The victim’s sister, Subhadra Bai, said that the accused used to physically assault her frequently and force her to convert to Islam and marry him. “Raees used to grab her hair, beat her, harass her… He had been pressuring her for marriage and religious conversion for a long time. My sister refused, so he entered the house at night and slit her throat,” Subhadra said.
According to Additional Superintendent of Police SP Burhanpur Antar Singh Kanesh, a case has been registered against the accused under the provisions of the BNS and the SC ST Act. Two constables were ordered line attendance in the case. Preliminary investigation revealed that the victim and the accused were in a relationship. Both the victim and the accused were married and had separated from their respective spouses.
Victim’s family staged protest and demanded justice
The incident sparked outrage among the Hindu community, leading to protests and demands for strict action against the accused. The victim’s family and members of the Hindu community staged protests by placing the dead body of the victim on the road. The authorities have marked illegal properties of the accused, reportedly built on encroached land. SDM Bhagirath Vakhala said, “The accused has committed encroachments and illegal activities. The administration has taken cognisance.”
Burhanpur MLA Archana Chitnis met the family of the victim on Sunday (3rd August) and assured all possible assistance in the case. She talked to the police and inquired about the action being taken in the case. Nepanagar MLA Manju Dadu said that she mentioned the incident to the Chief Minister. She said that the Chief Minister talked to the Superintendent of Police and took stock of the situation. Khandwa BJP MP Dhyaneshwar Patil said that he also spoke to the Chief Minister regarding the incident and that all possible help would be provided to the family of the victim.
