The Editorial Page: Dear Babasaheb, those who sing paeans to you inflict wounds on your Constitution 8 MONDAY, APRIL 13, 2026 JOURNALISM of COURAgE LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES ₹6.00 l www.indianexpress.com DA I LY F R O M : A H M E DA B A D , C H A N D I GA R H , D E L H I , J A I P U R , KO L K ATA , L U C K N O W , M U M B A I , N AG P U R , PAT N A , P U N E , VA D O DA R A CEASEFIRE FATE UNCERTAIN; BOTH SIDES DRAW ‘RED LINES’ Talks fail, Trump threatens to ‘blockade’ Hormuz; Iran says US couldn’t win trust Bo Erickson, Saad Sayeed & Asif Shahzad Miami, Islamabad, April 12 US PRESIDENT Donald Trump said on Sunday the US Navy would start blockading the Strait of Hormuz, raising the stakes after marathon talks with Iran failed to reach a deal to end the war, jeopardising a fragile two-week ceasefire. Trump also said in a post on Truth Social that the US would SPEAKER OF IRAN’S PARLIAMENT Deadlock, but with silver lining: Key takeaways from the US-Iran talks THE GAPS THE GLImmER Shubhajit Roy U.S. CLAIm that Iran refuses to give up its ‘NUmBER of substantive discussions with the ‘We’ve made very clear what our red lines are, what things we’re willing to accommodate them on, and what things we’re not...’ J D VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT ‘The US has understood Iran’s logic and principles... it’s time for them to decide whether they can earn our trust or not.’ mOHAmmAD BAGHER GHALIBAF, nuclear programme. Iranians, that's the good news...,’ said Vance. FATE of nearly 900 pounds of enriched uranium. U.S. SEEKS reopening of Strait of Hormuz, Iran KEEPING door to peace open, Vance said the US left behind ‘a very simple proposal... our final, best offer.’ IRAN’S DEmAND for release of frozen assets. NO WORD on whether talks would resume, though Iran said it was open to continuing the dialogue. says only after a final peace deal. CEASEFIRE Declared on April 8, for 2 weeks. No indication by US or Iran on what happens after that take action against every vessel ininternationalwatersthathad paid a toll to Iran, and begin destroying mines that he said the Iranians had dropped in the Strait. Iran’sRevolutionaryGuards responded with a statement warning that military vessels approaching the strait will be considered a ceasefire breach »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Here are the key takeaways: New Delhi, April 12 Historic moment US VICE President JD Vance’s ‘mission impossible’ hit a wall in Islamabad on Sunday, as US and Iran failed to reach an agreement after 21 hours of talks. Vance, before leaving Islamabad, said, “They have chosen not to accept our terms.” This may have come as a dampener, but the moment is extraordinary. WITH THE INTERNATIONAL CONSORTIUm OF INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS (ICIJ) Rs 1.5 lakh a shot, ‘magic’ cancer drug leaked from top hospitals, fakes sold to desperate patients How nexus of pharmacists and fixers uses authentic batch numbers and used vials of Merck & Co’s Keytruda; company says hospital’s responsibility Kaunain Sheriff m Journalists (ICIJ) has found. Theinvestigationisbasedon New Delhi, April 12 scrutiny of more than 12,500 ONE OF the world’s fastest pagesofpoliceandhospitalrecgrowing cancer populations ords,andinterviewswithseveral and one of the world’s most hospital staff members, includpowerful and pricey cancer ing oncologists. The Indian Exdrugs intersect in a story set in pressalsoinvestigatedrecordsof more than 150 patients across a modest house in Punjab. In early 2022, a 56-year-old the national capital who had rewomannearChandigarhbegan ceived the original Keytruda — treatment for liver cancer at and found that the batch PGIMER,wheredoctorsrecom- numbersmatchedwhatinvestimendedKeytruda—animmu- gators had seized from emnotherapy drug manufactured ployees at top Delhi hospitals. Onagloballevel,theICIJinby US pharma major Merck & vestigationreveals Co (MSD) that how one of the mostfamiliescanworld’s largest notaffordatanofdrugmakers deficial market price ployed tactics to of over Rs 1.5 lakh inflate the volume for a 100 mg vial. THE CANCER of prescriptions Weigheddown and keep the price bytheburden,the high through patient’s family lobbying, while bought12vialsbetween September and De- seeking to prevent cheaper vercember that year from a local sions of the drug from reaching medical store at a “discount”, hundreds of thousands of for approximately Rs 16 lakh. cancerpatients—andcounterButthat“smallrelief”turnedto feit rackets operating from alarm when police from Delhi Nepal to Mexico. In India, counterfeiting is called: the drugs they had used were counterfeit — filled with common across medicines fromantibioticstoantacids,but antifungal medication. This is just one among sev- as The Indian Express spoke to eral cases at the heart of a grow- patientswhoreceivedfakeKeying black market of counterfeit truda,alargerstoryemerged:of KeytrudainIndia,aninvestiga- the grey zone between global tionbyTheIndianExpressinas- pharma, government regulasociationwiththeInternational tions and hospital oversight, »CONTINUED ON PAGE 11 Consortium of Investigative lIFE&DEATh: TrAcKING KEYTruDA: 11sTEPs,lEAKsAT6,8AND10 1. Oncologist prescribes Keytruda 2. Notification emailed from hospital’s Oncology dept to Merck & Co vendor 5. Vendor delivers vials to hospital’s Purchase dept 4. Vendor procures vials from company or distributor 6. Purchase dept sends consignment to pharmacy for hospital patients only 7. Pharmacy issues the drug to Oncology dept 3. Vendor places order, specifies dose needed Source: Police & hospital records, Delhi 8. Drugs prepared by cytotoxic unit and sent to Nursing department 9. Used, empty vials discarded in colour-coded bag calculus 10. Waste weighed, barcoded, binned 11. Handed over to bio medical waste vendor TOmORROW: GETTING KEYTruDA ThE PrOPEr wAY — ThE bATTlE AND ThE chAllENGE This was the first highestlevel political contact between the US and Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Vance came all the way toPakistantomeethighlevel Iranian officials, with Iran’s Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf leading Tehran’s team. This moment of direct contact between the two top E. ExPrEssinvestigation l PlAYINGwITh The legend who sang in a voice that broke many a silence ILLUSTRATION: SUVAJIT DEY US President sees scope for further talks; Tehran says it has full control over Hormuz {ASHA BHOSLE • 1933-2026} What’sKeytruda, whyisitabig dealinIndia’s cancerfight Anonna Dutt New Delhi, April 12 What is Keytruda and why is it considered so effective? Keytrudaisthebrandname of pembrolizumab, an immunotherapy drug manufactured by US-based global pharma major Merck & Co (MSD) for treating several cancers. It belongs to a class called “checkpoint inhibitors” — drugs that remove the brakes preventing the body’s T cells, which are a crucial weapon in the body’s immune system, from attacking cancerous cells. In other words, it uses the body’s own immune system to fight cancer. Pembrolizumab works by attaching to receptors called PD-1 on T cells. This prevents T cells from binding with corresponding PD-L1 receptors on cancercells,lettingthemidentify the abnormal cells and triggering an immune response. First approved by the US FDA in 2014 for advanced skin cancer, Keytruda is now used globallyforcertainlungcancers, cervicalcancer,renalcellcancer and aggressive breast cancer, amongothers.Itisthebest-selling drug globally, generating $29.5 billion in 2024 — nearly half of Merck & Co’s revenue. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 happening today lPUNJAB ASSEmBLY will hold a special session to amend a 2008 Act to ensure stricter punishment for sacrilege. lPRESIDENT DROUPADI Murmu will preside over the first convocation of AIIMS Rajkot. TRACK THESE AND MORE ON www.INDIANExPrEss.cOm Business as Usual By EP UNNY Suanshu Khurana New Delhi, April 12 ASHABHOSLE,oneofthemost remarkable voices in Indian film music with over 12,000 songs to her credit, was never regardedasthecountry’snightingale. Post independence, the nation’scarefulconsciencehad already given the coveted title to her older sister Lata Mangeshkar, who sang delightfully, piously and with a voice that soaredoverageneration’slives. But an astute Bhosle, who passed away on Sunday in Mumbai at 92 after a chest infection,recognisedthisearlyon and sang what was left, from where she could: the street, the nautanki stage, the cabaret floor and the club back rooms thick with smoke. This voice was wild, could shake a leg and take one’s breath away. It seemed to know what a party smelledlike,whatadancefloor felt like at 3 in the morning and »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MORE REPORTS, P 10, 15 Thank you, Asha ji, for that first hug on Dal Lake — the songs and the friendship sPEcIAlTO ThEExPrEss BY SHARMILA TAGORE THE PASSING of Asha Bhosle fills my heart with a profound sense of loss. For more than sevendecades,sheenrichedIndiancinemawithherextraordinary voice, bringing depth, emotion, and joy to countless songs, including many that were filmed on me. Asha ji’s contribution to film music is immeasurable. She did not simply sing; she infused every note with such feeling that the songs became an inseparable part of the stories. She explored every facet of music from the classical depths to the bold experiments in rhythm and expression. Her compositions »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 15 l ARMYMAN BREAKS SHIvNATH SINGH’S RECORD SET IN 1978 28-yr-old Havildar from Himachal breaks India’s 48-yr marathon record — on debut Nihal Koshie clocked 2 hours 11 minutes and 58 seconds to break the late ShivnathSingh’smarathonrecARMY HAVILDAR Sawan Bar- ord of 2:12:00 set in 1978. India’soldestathleticrecord wal did what no other Indian marathonerhasdonefornearly was broken by the long-distance runner makhalf a century. ing his debut in the At the NN MaraPAGE 1 marathon. thon Rotterdam, a India’s top halfWorldAthleticsGold marathoner could Label Road Race on Sunday, the 28-year-old from have gone even faster but for Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, the cold breeze at the Dutch New Delhi, April 12 ‘India follows a policy of strategic autonomy and multi-alignment, that doesn’t mean it is politically neutral’ KEVIN KELLY IRELAND’S AMBASSADOR TO INDIA PAGE 14 anchor SawanBarwal(centre)withhis compatriotTGopi(right)and coachAjithMarkose port city, conditions Barwal isn’t accustomed to. It proved to be a draining effort for Barwal, who experienced two semi-blackouts with 20 metres left in the 41.195- kilometre race. The time Barwal clocked helped him to qualify for this year’sAsianGames.Barwalfinished in 20th place, while his compatriot T Gopi (2:13:16) was threeplacesbelowhiminarace »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Lucknow