Key points
– Delhi Police Special Cell arrests alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Shabbir Ahmed Lone near the Bangladesh border.
– Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar resigns from the state legislative council after winning a Rajya Sabha seat; timetable for his CM exit remains unclear.
– Bengali actor Rahul Arunoday Banerjee presumed dead in an accidental drowning.
– A Russian photographer’s Jaipur photoshoot that painted an elephant pink sparks outrage after the animal later died.
– A WTO summit in Cameroon ends without agreement on an e-commerce levies moratorium.
Arrest of alleged LeT commander
Delhi Police’s Special Cell detained Shabbir Ahmed Lone close to the Bangladesh border, Indian media report. Authorities accuse Lone of heading a Lashkar-e-Taiba cell believed to have been involved in the April 2025 Pahalgam attack in Indian-administered Kashmir, in which 26 people—mostly Hindu tourists—were killed. Reports say Lone is suspected of operating from a hideout in Dhaka. He was previously arrested by Indian counterterrorism agencies in 2007, is said to have skipped bail in 2019, and then fled to Bangladesh. Investigations and legal proceedings are expected to follow.
Nitish Kumar vacates legislative council seat after Rajya Sabha election
Nitish Kumar, Bihar’s longest-serving chief minister, has resigned his seat in the Bihar Legislative Council after being elected to the Rajya Sabha on March 16. Under rules, he must give up his state legislature membership and leave the chief minister’s office within two weeks of that parliamentary election. Media reports indicate he is likely to take his Rajya Sabha oath on April 10, and he is widely expected to step down as chief minister prior to that, though an exact timeline has not been confirmed. The 75-year-old JDU leader, who has served 10 terms as chief minister and is known for shifting alliances between the BJP-led NDA and opposition groupings, leaves open questions about who will succeed him and how Bihar’s political alignments may change.
Actor presumed drowned
Family members have confirmed that 43-year-old Bengali actor Rahul Arunoday Banerjee is presumed to have drowned. Reports say he was swimming alone in the Bay of Bengal after finishing work on a television series; his body was recovered soon after and sent for postmortem. His wife, Priyanka Sarkar, has requested privacy. Banerjee rose to prominence with the 2008 film Chirodini Tumi Je Amar and most recently appeared in the 2025 film The Academy of Fine Arts.
Jaipur photoshoot controversy
Russian travel photographer Julia Buruleva drew criticism after sharing images of an elephant painted pink during a photoshoot in Jaipur. Buruleva said handlers applied organic, non-toxic colours and that the animal was covered for roughly ten minutes. The elephant later died; its owner has denied a link between the pigments and the death. Animal rights advocates and critics condemned the use of wildlife as props and accused the photographer of cruelty.
WTO talks end in stalemate
A World Trade Organization summit in Cameroon wrapped up without consensus after 166 member countries failed to resolve disagreements over whether to extend a moratorium on customs duties for electronic transmissions. India opposed an indefinite extension pushed by the United States, contributing to the deadlock.
These are the main headlines this Monday afternoon in India.