WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM THE WEIgHT Of APPEARANCES From would-be brides and grooms to aspiring job-seekers, growing number of Indians is jumping on to the weight-loss drug bandwagon KOLKATA, APRIL 26, 2026 LATE CITY 14+4 PAGES ₹7.00 (₹12 IN NORTHEAST STATES,₹20 IN ANDAMAN) D A I L Y In Subodh Gupta’s A Fistful of Sky, memory and migration find place in theatrical installations 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 DAY AFTER 7 RAJYA SABHA MEMBERS CROSS OVER TO BJp Mann seeks meeting with President, focus on AAP’s 3 Lok Sabha members One LS member calls for better coordination, other two say ‘not going anywhere’ Kanchan Vasdev Chandigarh, April 25 ADAYaftersevenofits10Rajya Sabhamemberscrossedoverto the BJP, the spotlight shifted to the Aam Aadmi Party’s three members in Lok Sabha — all elected from Punjab. Meanwhile,theparty'sPunjab Chief Minister, Bhagwant Singh Mann, has sought a meeting with President Droupadi Murmu to press for the “removal” of the seven members from the Rajya Sabha, said AAP sources. Sources said Mann would be accompanied by the party’s MLAsinPunjab.“Heislikelyto tell the President that these members were elected by AAP MLAs, and each AAP MLA is elected by 2.5 lakh people in How ‘mergers’ of Opp legislators with BJP took place in states after 2014 Vikas pathak New Delhi, April 25 THERE HAVE been multiple instances of the Opposition MPs and MLAs changing their partyloyaltiesandswitchingto the BJP since 2014, when the latter swept to power at the Centre with its first absolute majority. The crossing over of seven Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MPs, led by Raghav Chadha, to the BJP Friday falls in one of the ways thishashappened—seekingto E. India gears up for 2030 CWG, but 15 YEARS & DOMINANT: TRINAMOOL NETWORKS RULE STREET, NEIGHBOURHOOD unpaid bills, court More than Didi vs BJP/EC/SIR, it’s Didi vs Didi: cases of 2010 linger »CONTINUED ON pAGE 2 Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha outside his residence in New Delhi on Saturday, a day after he switched from AAP to BJP. ANI »CONTINUED ON pAGE 2 In silences, you also hear talk of ektu poriborton DECISION l ‘Trustedenoughtoconductelections...butaretoldtheycannotcasttheirownvote’ 2026 WEST BENGAL Happening today lLOCAL BODY pOLLS will be held in Gujarat, with the results expected to reflect the mood of voters ahead of next year’s Assembly elections. lDOUBLE HEADER IN IpL: CSK will take on Gujarat Titans, and Lucknow Super Giants will play Kolkata Knight Riders. TRACK THESE AND MORE ON WWW.INDIANExPRESS.COm DECISION pagE 5 EC suspEnds 5 sEnior Cops in diamond Harbour for‘failing to rEmain nEutral’ Vandita Mishra & Sweety Kumari and Ekta Nagar, praising the “scaleofplanning”and“quality of venues”. Yet the legal and financial AS INDIA gears up to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games fallout of the scandal-tainted inGujarat,financialduesofthe 2010 Delhi Games continues to games’Delhieditionheldinthe dragon,accordingtodetailsobcountry for the first time two tained by The Indian Express under the Right to decades back in Information (RTI) 2010, continue to YOUR RIGHT Actandfrompublic linger. records. An outstandResponding to ing liability of Rs AN EXPRESS RTI RTI requests seek28.05 crore was APPLICATION ing details of the cleared in 2025-26. outstanding liabilAn estimated Rs 50 crore has been set aside for itiesoftheerstwhileOrganising 2026-27. More than Rs 13 crore Committee of the 2010 CWG, spent on legal and arbitration the Ministry of Youth Affairs fees.And29casesarestillbeing and Sports said it cleared dues to the tune of Rs 28.05 crore in heard at various courts. Four years from now, 2025-26. This payment was Ahmedabad will welcome made to MTNL. Aparliamentarycommittee morethan70nationsin2030in what will be the centenary year report tabled in the Lok Sabha of the Commonwealth Games. on March 18 estimated that Earlierthismonth,aCommon- Rs 50 crore will be required in wealth Sport delegation led by 2026-27 to clear remaining liapresident Donald Rukare and bilities. However, the ministry chief executive Katie Sadlier did not confirm the figure in its toured venues across Ahmeda- RTI reply. »CONTINUED ON pAGE 2 bad, Gandhinagar, Vadodara Mumbai, April 25 to know Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, Nadia, Howrah, April 25 IN THIS West Bengal election, as the pitch is raised high and higher, Mamata Banerjee paints herself ranged against an array of collusive outsiders —theformidablemachineryof the BJP-led Centre plus an Election Commission it appears to bend and control; the EC’sSpecialIntensiveRevision (SIR) of electoral rolls that has sparked fears of large-scale disenfranchisement plus security forcesbroughtonanunprecedented scale to oversee the Bengal election. The BJP-controlled System in Delhi vs “Didi” in Bengal: There is truth in that framing, certainly. The SIR deletions, in Mihir Vasavda FIROJ ALI: Presiding officer in Suti SWATI MOLLAH: Presiding officer at Domkal SHAHIDUL ISLAM: Presiding officer at Bhagwangola AJIJUL HOqUE: Presiding officer in Palashipara These officers help others vote, but their own names have been deleted from the rolls Atri Mitra & Avantika Basu Kolkata, April 25 “IT IS a shame for the Election Commission of India,” says Ajijul Hoque. For nearly three decades, Hoque says, he has been a presiding officer for different elec- tions across West Bengal. Now, he is among the 65 election officers, all employed with the government, whose plea againstexclusionfromthestate electoral roll was not entertained by the Supreme Court, which told them Friday to wait for the decision of the slow- moving tribunals. Before the first phase of voting, on April 23, the tribunals had managed to process 650odd applications of the 34 lakh pending before them, and added 139 names back to the electoral roll. Two days are left forthetribunalstocomeupwith the last supplementary list for the current round of elections. Says Hoque, 56, over the phone:“Itisunfortunate.Ican’t vote but I am scheduled to conduct the elections at Palashipara Assembly constituency of Nadia district as a presiding YouTuber Salim Wastik arrested for 13-year-old Clashes across Imphal as protests Setback for talks: Araghchi leaves boy’s murder in 1995 »CONTINUED ON pAGE 6 »CONTINUED ON pAGE 2 over killing of two children spiral Pak, Trump cancels envoys’ trip Saad Sayeed, Ariba Shahid & Steve Holland Jimmy Leivon Imphal, April 25 PROTESTERS CLASHED with securityforcesinmultiplelocations in Manipur’s Imphal on Saturday during a mass rally organised by a valley-based civil society organisation, the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI). Saturday’s rally took place after more than a week of sustained protests across Manipur’scentralvalley—several »CONTINUED ON pAGE 2 Islamabad, Washington, April 25 Security personnel and protesters clash in Imphal, Saturday. PTI PRESIDENT Donald Trump cancelled a trip by two US envoys to Iran war mediator Pakistan on Saturday, dealing a new setback to peace prospects after Iran’s foreign minister flewoutofIslamabadfollowing talks in the capital. Trump said in a social media post that he had called off the planned visit by his Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi with Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad on Saturday. REUTERS specialenvoySteveWitkoffand son-in-law Jared Kushner, citing what he said was tremendous confusion within the Iranian leadership. “Too much time wasted on traveling, too much work! Besides which, there is tremendous infighting and confusion within their ‘leadership’. Nobody knows who is in charge, including them. Also, we have all the cards, they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!” he wrote. »CONTINUED ON pAGE 2 Alok Singh New Delhi, April 25 HIS NAME is Salim Khan, and he kidnapped and murdered a 13-year-old boy more than three decades ago — and then jumped bail and seemingly vanishedintothinair.Thatwas more than 25 years ago. He surfaced on YouTube in recent years — and was seeminglynotrecognisedbyanyone. Online, he expressed controversial opinions on Islam that earned him a committed audience, and a reputation as an “ex-Muslim”. At the end of February this Salim Khan alias Salim Wastik in custody of Delhi Police year, this YouTuber was attacked by two brothers who were allegedly provoked by his views on religion. Police described the two attackers, brothers Gulfam and Zeeshan, as “fanatics”. »CONTINUED ON pAGE 2 l ExCAVATION AT VIRLI KHANDAR HAS UNCOVERED A RARE COMPOSITE MEGALITHIC BURIAL FEATURING STONE CIRCLES WITH MENHIRS A 2,500-year-old site throws up a curious burial pattern — upside-down pots AnkitaDeshkar and Head of Department of AncientIndianHistory,Culture, and Archaeology, RTMNU, AN ONGOING excavation at a Dr Prabash Sahu. AccordingtoProfessorSahu, megalithic site in Virli Khandar has revealed distinctive burial the site was selected for three architecture, rare artefacts and reasons, including its unique unusual pottery arrangements, burial pattern. “We have stone offering fresh insights into circlesandwithinthemmenhirs ancient funerary practices in (tall stones set upright), making it a composite megalithic strucVidarbha region. ture — a combinaThe site, located PAGE 1 tion of two burial in Pauni tehsil of types,” he said. Bhandara district in The excavation is Maharashtra, was first reported in 2008 by re- also aimed at training students searchersfromRashtrasantTu- in field archaeology, including kadoji Maharaj Nagpur Univer- exploration, documentation sity. It is currently being and excavation. Additionally, excavated under archaeologist nearbysitessuchasPimpalgaon Nagpur, April 25 anchor Nipani and Tirota Kheri feature dolmen burials, making Virli Khandardistinctincomparison. So far, researchers have documented 69 megalithic burials using drone mapping and field surveys. Of these, four have been selected for excavation,includingtwostonecircles with menhirs in periphery and boulders, and two with only boulder circles. While skeletal remains have notyetbeenconclusivelyidentified, excavations are ongoing. Significant artefacts have been recovered from one of the burials,includingcopperobjects such as a necklace, iron implements like axes, chisels, ladles At the site in Pauni tehsil of Maharashtra’s Bhandara district, 50 pots were found in a burial, with larger bowls covered by inverted ones. and arrowheads, semi-precious stonebeads,notablyetchedcarnelianbeads,andagoldearring. Fragmentary bone remains have also been recovered. One of the most striking dis- coveries is a unique cluster of pottery,notpreviouslyreported in the Vidarbha region. In one burial,nearly50potswerefound arranged systematically, with largerbowlscoveredbyinverted bowls. At least 23 such pairs — amounting to 46 pots — were documented in a single cluster, along with additional red and black-and-redwarepotsandassociated iron objects. Sahu noted another peculiar feature: almost all pots, including larger vessels, were placed in an inverted position, with one pot covered by another from above. “None of the pots were found upright. It appears they were deliberately Kolkata placed upside down within the burial context,” he said. The exact reason for this arrangement is yet to be established and will be studied further. Archaeologists believe the pots may have originally contained food, grains or liquids as part of burial offerings. Samples have been collected for residual and chemical analysis. The pots were carefully placed over a layer of black cottonsoillaidabovethenaturallateritic (murum) base. The sticky nature of this soil helped stabilise the vessels, keeping them largelyinpositiondespitebreakage caused by overlying soil. Sahu said such structures were prepared by digging pits where skeletal remains, if present, were placed along with “grave goods” — objects associated with the deceased, reflecting beliefs in life after death. In another significant find, charcoal remains discovered at the site are expected to help determineitsagethroughAccelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) dating. Preliminary observationssuggestthesitecouldbeat least 2,500 years old. The excavation, which began on March 10, is nearing its final stages. The site will be closed once excavation and documentation are complete, Sahu said.