Author: K Ashish
An election story normally ends with the counting of votes. The winners are declared, the margins are recorded, the number of seats won by each party becomes part of the political record, and the contest gradually recedes into history. The 2026 West Bengal Assembly election, however, may not fit that familiar pattern. There is a figure emerging from the revision and adjudication of the electoral rolls that raises questions extending well beyond the result itself: 70.2 per cent. According to the available data, 2,705,162 voters were considered “not eligible” in the SIR adjudication process. Of these, approximately 18.98 lakh were…
The Goldy Brar recording puts an organised-crime trail on the table in a Nijjar murder case once dominated by allegations of New Delhi’s involvement A reported audio recording of gangster Goldy Brar has introduced the most significant new twist in the three-year-old murder case of Khalistani activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, pointing to a possible criminal motive behind the killing. Coming after a US indictment naming the Bishnoi network and a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) statement finding no evidence of Indian government involvement in its organised-crime investigation, the recording is shifting the centre of gravity of a case that once…
Nearly two decades later, the death of Surendra Koli, the most talked-about name in the infamous Nithari case, in Haridwar on Friday has reopened several old pages of the story. On one side is the conclusion of the courts: the prosecution failed to prove its case against Koli and Moninder Singh Pandher, the owner of the premises where the gruesome incidents took place, beyond reasonable doubt. On the other hand is the question that continues to haunt the families of the victims: if the two were not the killers, then where exactly did those children and girls go? Perhaps that…
If finally selected under the ₹37,500 cr coal gasification scheme, Adani could get up to ₹12,000 cr in government subsidy K. Ashish The Centre’s ₹37,500 crore coal and lignite gasification incentive scheme has produced a striking first-round result: seven proposals have been received, three of them from Adani Enterprises Limited alone. The number, by itself, establishes neither irregularity nor preferential treatment. But it raises questions about how a scheme involving substantial public financial support will operate in practice, particularly when viewed against earlier concerns raised by Coal India Limited (CIL) over the scheme’s rules and continuing questions about the commercial…
For years, West Bengal’s former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee represented one of the most extraordinary political transformations in modern India. She emerged from the streets of Kolkata as a relentless anti-establishment agitator, challenged the seemingly immovable 34-year Left Front regime and ultimately dismantled one of the longest-serving Communist governments in democratic history. To millions across Bengal, she became far more than a chief minister. “Didi” was not merely a political identity. It was a moral construction. That moral authority became the foundation upon which her party, All India Trinamool Congress, built its political empire. But over the years, as scandals…
On the release of former Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane’s memoir Four Stars of Destiny, many serious political questions have been raised. The question is whether the book has been published or not. New Delhi Post has examined the statements given in Parliament and by the government. New Delhi Post found that apart from online resources, the book is easily available in hard copy in the physical marketplace, which common people can buy and read. The investigation also reveals that the statements made about the book by the Lok Sabha Speaker, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and Gen Naravane himself…
For over two decades, Cobrapost has stood at the forefront of India’s most consequential investigative journalism, exposing corruption, corporate malfeasance and institutional decay, often at high personal and professional cost. From the cash-for-questions sting that shook Parliament in 2005 to landmark investigations into defence procurement, banking fraud, media ethics and Big Tech manipulation, its work has repeatedly forced uncomfortable reckonings within India’s power structures. In this wide-ranging interview, Cobrapost’s founder and editor Aniruddha Bahal speaks candidly about the origins of the newly launched “Lootwallahs” series, an ambitious investigation into how Indian corporates systematically siphon off public money through complex, often…
For decades, Dawood Ibrahim, India’s most wanted fugitive and the mastermind behind the 1993 Mumbai bombings, has remained a ghost in the eyes of Indian authorities. Operating from Pakistan, Dubai and London, he was long thought to have lain low, maintaining a careful distance from India. But a deep investigation by New Delhi Post reveals that the don has strategically re-entered India by reasserting his business interests in gambling, betting and corporate sectors through a sophisticated web of global syndicates, offshore companies and loyal henchmen. Dawood Ibrahim is back in India. Not with guns and bombs, but through a sprawling,…
India’s online gaming industry has turned into the new gold rush, drawing in not just corporate giants such as Ambani and Adani, or Kavin Bharti Mittal, son of telecom tycoon Sunil Mittal, but even fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. Their playbook looks strikingly alike: deep ties with cricket and the BCCI, siphoning dirty money through illegal betting, routing payments via cryptocurrency and black routes and often dipping into match-fixing. Following the New Delhi Post exposé titled “Dream11—Devil of Fraud: Inside a Billion Dollar Money Laundering Empire”, in its inaugural issue in July, the government enacted the Promotion and Regulation of…
Behind the Fantasy: How Dream11 Engineered an Offshore Network of Round-Tripping, Sham Valuations, and FDI Violations K. Ashish What economic offense hasn’t Dream11 allegedly committed? In the annals of India’s financial misdemeanors, after Harshad Mehta, the next name that may well be etched in bold is Dream11. What do you call a company registered overseas that, as far back as 2015, allegedly bypassed all FDI regulations and funneled 100% foreign direct investment into India—without scrutiny, without consequence? Today, Dream11 stands accused of being involved in round-tripping and money laundering, in a manner that raises serious questions about regulatory oversight and…
