Breaking: Stunning News Headlines Transforming India – April 16, 2025

Headlines Trending in India and World: Politics, E-Commerce, Lifestyle, Sports, Health & Entertainment on 16th April 2025

1. ED Raids AAP MLA Kulwant Singh in Huge PACL Scam Investigation 
   

Tuesday morning got intense in Mohali as Delhi-borne Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths accompanied by local police raided Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Kulwant Singh’s house in the Janta Land Promoters Limited (JLPL) locality. The raid, as part of an expansive ₹48,000 crore Pearl Agrotech Corporation Limited (PACL) money laundering investigation, took place when Singh was away and his relatives interrogated. PACL scam, a vicious Ponzi scam, is believed to have used investors’ aspirations in realty for luring purposes only to embezzle the money in the name of shell companies across Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Delhi where 15 more locations were searched. Sources indicate that PACL directors channeled cash to avoid repayments, leaving thousands duped. Singh, who has faced ED attention before, was questioned earlier in another case of drug trafficking, adding depth to his legal troubles. The raid marks a noose tightening around one of India’s largest financial scams, with political waves in Punjab’s power circles.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11DcWzwJN6zWOcPtARKphRIyfwn8f0qOw/view?usp=sharing

2. Sonia and Rahul Gandhi Named in ED’s National Herald Chargesheet
   

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) unleashed a bombshell on Tuesday, filing a chargesheet in the Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi that names Congress bigwigs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi as the prime accused in a case of money laundering involving the National Herald newspaper, according to PTI. Listed as accused numbers one and two, the mother-son duo face their first formal chargesheet alongside Congress Overseas chief Sam Pitroda and Suman Dubey, with a hearing set for April 25, said Special Judge Vishal Gogne. Lodged under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Sections 44 and 45, the complaint alleges laundering linked to Young Indian Private Limited (YIL), which owns Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the paper’s publisher. Sonia and Rahul, with 38 percent stakes each in YIL, were questioned in 2022 regarding YIL’s activities and AJL’s shareholding. The case, initiated by BJP’s Subramanian Swamy in 2014, alleges AJL’s ₹2,000 crore assets were seized for ₹50 lakh. Last week, the ED confiscated ₹661 crore worth of AJL assets in Delhi, Mumbai, and Lucknow, fueling a saga of politics and finance.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uZU2mZyrpLrthiHQfuJA11PdxMgMU6Ay/view?usp=sharing

3. Cow Dung Protest by DUSU Chief Baffles Lakshmibai College 
   

Delhi University’s Lakshmibai College was shaken on Tuesday when DUSU president Ronak Khatri glued cow dung onto the walls of the principal’s office in an inexplicable protest that made global headlines. Khatri, in a video confronting the vice-principal—standing in for the absent principal—called the act a rebuke of the college’s plan to coat classrooms with cow dung to “cool” them, slamming it as “unscientific nonsense.” Joined by students, he slathered dung across the office and washroom, igniting social media debates over campus antics and tradition versus reason. His stunt, intended to bring attention to what he believes are regressive practices, has landed the college in a sordid limelight, questioning how far protest art can extend in university corridors.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q94xIQoiegdVCZaaZTeLUs6VEaC2R4C0/view?usp=sharing

4. Harvey Weinstein Faces Retrial in Manhattan for Rape Charges 
   

Back before he was Hollywood’s untouchable titan, Harvey Weinstein returned to a Manhattan courtroom Tuesday as jury selection began on his retrial on rape and sexual assault charges, one year after his 2020 conviction was thrown out. The 73-year-old co-founder of Miramax is charged with one count of rape, two counts of criminal sexual act, and a new charge related to a 2006 assault on a woman who is not identified, presided over by Justice Curtis Farber. Weinstein, in a not-guilty plea, denies ever engaging in non-consensual acts, a position he’s taken since #MeToo’s earth-shattering allegations brought him down. He was first tried, a movement milestone, and sentenced to 23 years, but a 2024 appeals court decision scotched it on grounds of improper testimony from non-connected accusers. Prosecutors, spearheaded by DA Alvin Bragg’s office, characterize Weinstein as a predator who enticed women such as Miriam Haley (assaulted in 2006) and Jessica Mann (raped in 2013) with career bait. Under the shadow of a six-week trial and a unanimous verdict to be reached, Weinstein’s destiny—already attached to a 16-year California sentence—weighs heavily.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kcui2Yd256u-lf0SiXvuEp9leJQ1asVL/view?usp=sharing

5. Sebi Cracks Down on Gensol Engineering, Halts Stock Split 
   

Gensol Engineering Limited (GEL) and its promoters, brothers Puneet and Anmol Singh Jaggi, were severely impacted Tuesday by a Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) interim order that prohibited them from capital markets and directorship, scuttling a proposed 1:10 stock split announced Saturday. Sebi’s Ashwani Bhatia alleged the Jaggis diverted GEL funds fraudulently, treating the listed company’s coffers like a “piggybank” for personal gain through layered, undisclosed related-party deals. Triggered by a June 2024 complaint and accelerated by ICRA and CARE Ratings’ loan downgrades to junk status, Sebi uncovered fake Conduct Letters GEL claimed were from lenders like IREDA and PFC, who denied issuing them. A six-monthly forensic audit will investigate GEL’s books, highlighting governance failures Sebi claims can erode investor wealth if write-offs occur. The order, outlined to Moneycontrol, is damning of a company being managed like a private fiefdom, undermining confidence in a renewable energy player.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tli8RW5jr0Sn_ruHQnaEGiP48nX6v8FJ/view?usp=sharing

6. Waqf Act Comes Under Supreme Court Scanner as BJP Announces Rally 
   

The Waqf (Amendment) Act, implemented April 8 after President Droupadi Murmu’s April 5 assent, comes under the Supreme Court’s scanner Wednesday, with a bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna, and comprising Justices Sanjay Kumar and KV Viswanathan, hearing 10 pleas questioning its provisions. Six states governed by the BJP will stand up for the law, enacted last month by both the Houses, against a storm of protests—most ferocious in West Bengal’s Murshidabad, where three people were killed last week. The tweaks in the Act, intended to rationalize Waqf property management, have triggered charges of overreach, inciting unrest and legal challenges. As the highest court wades in, the case hangs over it, mixing constitutional issues with stark regional rivalry on land and religion.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OQMa1K21ztV00qPwDKfii8OHV66fMEQW/view?usp=sharing

7. NHRC Investigates Murshidabad Violence Following Waqf Act Clashes
   

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) jumped into action on Tuesday, sending a team to West Bengal’s Murshidabad after clashes over the Waqf (Amendment) Act on April 11 killed three, left many injured, and property damaged. NHRC member Priyank Kanungo, in a conversation with ANI, referred to three complaints, one of them complaining of a father-son duo being lynched by a hate mob incited by the Act. “A climate of fear is forcing people to escape to bordering states,” he said, emphasizing the NHRC’s responsibility to move in promptly. The team will take ground reality into account and give a report, as a sense of insecurity pervades a district where protests turned violent. The inquiry highlights the Act’s polarising aftermath, calling for explanations in a region at the precipice.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/104Xbj282PdS0fERDy6pTYuyVatbo2ilo/view?usp=sharing

8. Gurugram Hospital Assault Horrifies Air Hostess on Ventilator  
   

A harrowing complaint shook Gurugram’s Medanta Hospital Tuesday when a 46-year-old air hostess from West Bengal claimed sexual assault at the hands of a hospital employee while she was on a ventilator in the ICU. Admitted on April 5 after becoming ill at a hotel pool while attending a March 31 airline workshop, she alleged the April 6 incident happened with two nurses around but not working, according to the FIR quoted by ToI. Too frail to fight back, she confided in her husband after discharge on April 13, reporting a case at Sadar police station under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections for molestation. Medanta, in association with police, provided CCTV footage but asserted that no allegations have been proven as yet. The case, intermingling vulnerability and betrayal, has outraged, calling for justice in a place where healing was supposed to happen.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_KOYea8-D3dqP9_GiWF79CyYdZEUBpnF/view?usp=sharing

9. Delhi CM Promises Crackdown on Marauding School Fee Increases
   

 Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta stood firm Tuesday, vowing “swift and strict” action against private schools raising fees or threatening students with expulsion, after meeting angry parents from Model Town’s Queen Mary’s Public School. The parents accused the school of coercive fee practices and expelling non-cooperative children, leading Gupta to direct education officials to track down offenders and issue notices. No school may harass students, parents, or raise fees sans process—rules are clear and violators will pay,” she asserted. Setting off a citywide investigation, Gupta positioned schooling as a “social transformer” rather than an entitlement, situating her BJP-led government at the side of affordable, high-quality education. Her determination, ignited by on-the-ground plaints, sets out to control unbridled institutions in a capital where the struggle for schooling hangs in the balance.”.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QfcXYeOSPXmZC7fE8R_815ZiFY9GCUob/view?usp=sharing

10. Punjab Kings Shock KKR, Defend IPL’s Lowest Total

Punjab Kings (PBKS) wrote IPL history Tuesday in Mullanpur, Chandigarh, defending a meager 111 to defeat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 16 runs in a thriller. Bowled out in 15.3 overs, PBKS came roaring back, dismissing KKR for 95 in 15.1 overs—the lowest defended total in the tournament. KKR’s pursuit collapsed prematurely, with Xavier Bartlett and Marco Jansen sending back Quinton de Kock and Sunil Narine. A 55-run partnership by Angkrish Raghuvanshi (37) and Ajinkya Rahane (17) provided some cause for optimism, but Yuzvendra Chahal’s LBW ambush on Rahane—missed through review—caused chaos. Chahal (4 wickets) and Jansen (3) dismantled KKR, and Glenn Maxwell chipped in for the destruction. Earlier, KKR bowlers, spearheaded by Harshit Rana and Varun Chakaravarthy (2 wickets each), had PBKS struggling—Priyansh Arya’s 22 the only spark—before spinners sealed their fate. PBKS’s gritty victory under Shreyas Iyer’s leadership redefined resilience.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KFhi9JHnWvVaenQ_oe-39nZ0Yq7_WKfh/view?usp=sharing

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