www.INDIANeXPReSS.CoM AdvAntAge, IndIA He made Kolhapuri chappals trendy in Florida, beat the best on tennis court, refused to surrender his Indian passport and made a generation of immigrants feel they belonged. Now, Vijay Amritraj has a Padma Bhushan to show for it new delhi, June 28, 2026 LATe CITy 14+4 PAGeS ₹7.00 booKs British-Irish novelist Maggie O’Farrell on her new novel Land (₹8 RAIPUR, ₹15 SRINAGAR) D A I L y f R o M : A h M e D A B A D , C h A N D I G A R h , D e L h I , j A I P U R , K o L K A T A , L U C K N o w , M U M B A I , N A G P U R , P A T N A , P U N e , V A D o D A R A will Come To inDia laTer This year To seT up visiT: u.s. seCy of sTaTe Trump could visit India early next year: Rubio The three were arrested in maharashtra’s Thane, saturday. DeePAK joShI Now, Maharashtra teacher exam paper leaked, 3 arrested Exam was to be E. conducted today, expLained tet ever since 2013 SIT formed soham shah & mohamed Thaver Pune, Mumbai, June 27 tHe mAHArASHtrA teacher eligibility test (tet), scheduled for Sunday, was postponed Saturday after a question paper leak was detected in the Bhiwandi area of thane district. While thane police have arrestedthreepersonsinthisconnection,aSpecialinvestigation teamhasbeenformedtoprobe the question paper leak. According to a press note issuedbytheSecretaryofthemaharashtra State council of examination, a raid was conductedearlySaturdaymorning in the Bhiwandi area based on informationreceivedbypolice. Police found a few individuals in alleged possession of pages The TET in Maharashtra has been held since 2013. There is no limit on the number of attempts. In-service teachers, unable to clear the test until August 2028, will have to take retirement. The TET is mandatory for appointment as a teacher in primary and secondary schools. fromthesealedtet2026question paper packet. Police then called council officials to the spot who confirmed that questions from the exam paper matched those in the possession of the individuals. An Fir was then lodged with Bhiwandi police. the council, which postponedtheexamination,didnot announce a new date. On visa curbs, Gor refers to Modi: ‘He talks about noillegal migrants. We 100% agree with that’ ThefT aT ram Temple us secy of state marco rubio Divya a New Delhi, June 27 USPreSidentdonaldtrump could travel to india early next year, US Secretary of State marco rubio said in an interview to news agency IANS in Washington Friday. He added he would himself make another trip to india later this year to set the ground for the President’s visit. rubio was in india last month for four days for bilateral talks as well as the Quad Foreign ministers meeting. if the visit comes through, this will be trump’s first visit to »ConTinueD on page 2 Trust confirms: Gen secy Champat PM arrives in Seychelles, to mark Rai, trustee Anil 50 years of relations, chart future Mishra have quit Prime minister narendra modi with seychelles President Patrick herminie at a ceremony to hand over Fast Patrol Vessel Lespwar to the seychelles coast Guard, in Victoria, saturday. PTI Three-day visit: 50th independence day of island nation, address to Assembly Divya a New Delhi, June 27 Prime miniSter narendra modi landed in Victoria Saturday to start his three-day state visit to Seychelles, during which he will hold talks with President Patrick Herminie and attend the golden jubilee celebrations of the archipelago nation’s national day celebra- manish Kumar pathak & mohamed Thaver »ConTinueD on page 2 asian games silver medallist long jumper Ancy Sojan broke the 22-year-old national record held by legendary Anju Bobby George, at the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar, Saturday. AmAnfromPunewasarrested Saturday for allegedly distributing capsules filled with zinc phosphide, widely used as a rat poison, in an attempt to carry out “mass poisoning” at a muharram procession of the Shia community in south mumbai Friday night, police said. Police identified the arrested man as 39-year-old Faiyaz Premji and said he told them he was a Shia, and that he had 14,000 capsules with zinc phosphideinablueplasticbag. According to police, Premji wasaPuneresidentwhostayed inadormitoryinthecitybefore checking into a hotel in south mumbai where he received delivery of the capsules. Police claimed he told them that he intended to harm those »ConTinueD on page 2 The jumper from Kerala recorded a massive jump of 6.88 metres in her fifth attempt, bettering George’s previous mark of 6.83 metres. Iran-u.s. truce under test as another shIp hIt In hormuz Mumbai, June 27 ancy sojan in action at kalinga stadium in Bhubaneswar, saturday. AfI page 14 express special From ganga to global pet markets: police in mp map rail route of protected turtles anand mohan j Bhopal, June 27 Police in madhya Pradesh are preparing their first coordinated crackdown on wildlife trafficking through the state’s railway network after an analysis of six years of seizure data uncoveredorganisedinterstate networks smuggling protected freshwater turtles from northern india’s river systems to markets in Southeast Asia and the middle east, The Indian Express has learnt. »ConTinueD on page 2 Leaping past a legend masspoisoning The worLd page 10 bidatmuharram rallyinmumbai, manheld:police Faiyaz Premji gave capsules filled with poison: DCP tions as Guest of Honour. At Seychelles international Airport,modiwaswelcomedby Herminie and the two leaders drove together to Seychelles’ nationalBotanicalGarden.the Pm received a ceremonial Guard of Honour, in the presenceofSeychellescabinetministers and senior dignitaries. Between2020and2026,the State tiger Strike Force (StSF) and Government railway Police recovered 654 protected animals from passenger trains crossing the state — 647 turtles and seven vultures — across what enforcement records describe as four organised interstate networks. Senior police officials said the analysis has convinced them that the animals seized over six years represent only a fraction of the wildlife being lTurtles,trains,trafficking freshwater turtles 647 seized (2020-26) 4 Networks identified 24 People arrested Lucknow Kanpur indore patna Bhopal itarsi mumbai Patna-Lucknow-Indore Kanpur-Bhopal-Mumbai Lucknow-Itarsi-Bengaluru Bengaluru »ConTinueD on page 2 Will insist on strongest punishment to guilty, these clouds will clear: Treasurer bhupendra pandey Lucknow, June 27 AS Police in Ayodhya began making recoveries and widened the probe into the alleged theft and embezzlement offundsandvaluablesdonated to the ram temple, the Shri ram Janmbhoomi teerth Kshetra trust announced Saturday it had received the resignation letters of trust general secretary champat rai and trustee Anil mishra. the trust said a decision on theresignationletterswouldbe taken at its next meeting. rai’s former driver ram Shankar Yadav alias tinnu Yadavisoneoftheeightmenarrested for the alleged theft of temple donations. currently in judicial custody, the arrested men will be produced before a Prevention of corruption Act courtmonday.Policehavesofar recovered rs 79.80 lakh from seven of the eight accused. An unsigned statement in Hindi by trust treasurer Govind dev Giri, posted on X by the trust, said, “the trust has »ConTinueD on page 2 Adani prosecutors happening must justify dropping today criminal case: US judge lThe firsT rashTriya Gra- min Vikas Sammelan begins in New Delhi. The two-day Sammelan will bring together Rural Development Ministers, senior officials and experts from all states and UTs to review key flagship programmes and formulate the future roadmap for rural India. l The Congress will offi- mainroutes shri ram Janmbhoomi Teerth kshetra Trust General secretary champat rai (right) and trustee anil mishra. fILe cially launch a statewide public outreach campaign in Uttarakhand to sound the poll bugle for the 2027 Assembly elections. Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com luc Cohen New York, June 27 AUSjudgehasorderedtheJustice department to justify its decision to drop criminal charges against indian billionaire Gautam Adani, declining to rule immediately on Adani's lawyers’ request to dismiss the case. Brooklyn-based US district Judge nicholas Garaufis said federal prosecutors’ may 18 announcement that they would no longer pursue the case, which charged Adani with securities fraud and wire fraud stemmingfromanallegedbriberyscheme,didnotsufficiently explain their decision. “the Government’s terse, bland and conclusory statement affords the court neither a sufficient basis to reach any conclusion, nor the opportunity to conduct any analysis of the Government's request for dismissal,”wroteGaraufis,who gave the Justice department until July 13 to submit more information. theAdanicasewasbrought in 2024 at the end of democratic President Joe Biden’s »ConTinueD on page 2 l mamaTa’s loyalisTs and The reBels Take swiPes aT each oTher, wiTh BJP waTchinG From sidelines A tale of two trinamools, a less-than-whole Opposition in West Bengal Assembly atri mitra action against leaders of the other tmc faction. Atthesametime,pastfriendAS tHe first half of the inaug- ships also lingered. So when ural West Bengal Assembly Speaker rathindra Bose said he Session after the state polls was giving tmc rebel faction drew to a close thursday, the chief whip Akhruzzaman (the only real opposition mlA from raghunpage 1 intheHouse,thetriathganj, murshidanamool congress, bad) 8 minutes to was busy — fighting speak on the Budget itself, sort of. proposals,thelatterclarifiedthat the bitterness left behind hehadgiven2minutesofhisalbyarancoroussplitevenmeant lotted time to the rival tmc facthat often, one tmc faction ap- tion’s chief whip, Sobhandeb pealedtothegoodofficesofthe chattopadhyay. new BJP government to take Among those left bewil- Kolkata, June 27 anchor dered was Sabina Yasmin, Akhruzzaman’scolleagueinthe rebel ranks, who had laid claim to those 2 minutes openly. then there was the rebel tmc faction’s walkout during chief minister Suvendu Adhikari’sreplytotheGovernor’saddress.thetmcrebelssaidthey were protesting against the fact that post-poll violence against the party’s supporters was not mentioned by the Governor. Firhad Hakim, also in the rebel camp but once seen as a close lieutenant of mamata Banerjee, urged her loyalists such The first Budget session of the west Bengal assembly after the BJP government came to power in the state began on June 18. fILe as Kunal Ghosh and Sobhandebtojointheminthewalkout. Whentheydidn’t,Adhikari, who was himself in the tmc once, took the side of the group that had walked out (thus fanning belief about the BJP’s “hand”inengineeringthetmc split). “the Good tmc walked out but the Kalighat trinamool remained in the House,” Adhikari quipped, Kalighat being a reference to mamata’s residential address. those in the mamata camp argued that they had chosen to stay in the House rather than “flee”liketherebels.Plus,Kunal Ghosh added: “We thought Suvendu Adhikari is giving his first speech in the Assembly as cm, and we should not walk out, but hear his address.” With the tmc rebellion seen as far from over — though heavily tilted right now in favour of the rebels, with 62 mlAs out of the party’s 80 — which legislator was in what corner also remained up in the air. during Ghosh’s address, BJP mlAs were heard asking which side of the tmc he was on. “the ink on my finger has notyetfaded.iamnotatraitor,” Ghosh shot back. BJP mlAs were among the most vociferous in defending the rebel tmc faction’s chosen leader in the House, ritabrata Banerjee, over another of Ghosh’s statements. With the mamatatmcgroupalsolaying claim to the leader of the opposition post, Ghosh asked Speaker Bose: “How can someone accused in a rape case be made the loP?” Bose told Ghosh to refrain from such remarks, and Ghosh objectedtothewayhehadbeen spoken to. BJP mlAs took off from there against Ghosh. to the bemusement of his »ConTinueD on page 2