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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

YouTuber challenges FIR, LoC in HC

Mumbai : The Bombay High Court issued notice to the state government on a petition filed by UK-based medico and YouTuber, Dr. Sangram Patil, seeking to quash a Mumbai Police FIR and revoking a Look Out Circular in a criminal case lodged against him, on Thursday.   Justice Ashwin D. Bhobe, who heard the matter with preliminary submissions from both sides, sought a response from the state government and posted the matter for Feb. 4.   Maharashtra Advocate-General Milind Sathe informed the court...

YouTuber challenges FIR, LoC in HC

Mumbai : The Bombay High Court issued notice to the state government on a petition filed by UK-based medico and YouTuber, Dr. Sangram Patil, seeking to quash a Mumbai Police FIR and revoking a Look Out Circular in a criminal case lodged against him, on Thursday.   Justice Ashwin D. Bhobe, who heard the matter with preliminary submissions from both sides, sought a response from the state government and posted the matter for Feb. 4.   Maharashtra Advocate-General Milind Sathe informed the court that the state would file its reply within a week in the matter.   Indian-origin Dr. Patil, hailing from Jalgaon, is facing a criminal case here for posting allegedly objectionable content involving Bharatiya Janata Party leaders on social media.   After his posts on a FB page, ‘Shehar Vikas Aghadi’, a Mumbai BJP media cell functionary lodged a criminal complaint following which the NM Joshi Marg Police registered a FIR (Dec. 18, 2025) and subsequently issued a LoC against Dr. Patil, restricting his travels.   The complainant Nikhil Bhamre filed the complaint in December 2025, contending that Dr. Patil on Dec. 14 posted offensive content intended to spread ‘disinformation and falsehoods’ about the BJP and its leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.   Among others, the police invoked BNSS Sec. 353(2) that attracts a 3-year jail term for publishing or circulating statements or rumours through electronic media with intent to promote enmity or hatred between communities.   Based on the FIR, Dr. Patil was detained and questioned for 15 hours when he arrived with his wife from London at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (Jan. 10), and again prevented from returning to Manchester, UK on Jan. 19 in view of the ongoing investigations.   On Wednesday (Jan. 21) Dr. Patil recorded his statement before the Mumbai Police and now he has moved the high court. Besides seeking quashing of the FIR and the LoC, he has sought removal of his name from the database imposing restrictions on his international travels.   Through his Senior Advocate Sudeep Pasbola, the medico has sought interim relief in the form of a stay on further probe by Crime Branch-III and coercive action, restraint on filing any charge-sheet during the pendency of the petition and permission to go back to the UK.   Pasbola submitted to the court that Dr. Patil had voluntarily travelled from the UK to India and was unaware of the FIR when he landed here. Sathe argued that Patil had appeared in connection with other posts and was not fully cooperating with the investigators.

Rupee drops 19 paise to 85.63 against US dollar in early trade

  • PTI
  • Apr 7, 2025
  • 2 min read


The rupee declined 19 paise to 85.63 against the U.S. dollar in early trade on Monday (April 7, 2025), facing the heat of the global trade war triggered by the U.S. reciprocal tariff and China’s retaliatory move that also crashed equity markets worldwide to their record lows.


According to forex traders, a steep decline in crude prices and a weaker American currency failed to support the domestic currency amid the incessant foreign fun outflows in line with the global sell-offs.


Meanwhile, they said that market participants remained concerned as the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy committee began its three-day deliberations on key interest rates. The decision of the six-member rate-setting panel will be announced on Wednesday (April 2, 2025).


At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 85.79 and strengthened slightly to trade at 85.63 against the greenback, registering a loss of 19 paise from its previous closing level.


On Friday (April 4, 2025), the rupee settled 14 paise lower at 85.44 against the U.S. dollar, a day after gaining 22 paise on Thursday (April 3, 2025), following the implementation of the U.S.’ reciprocal tariff on about 60 countries.


Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.05% lower at 102.71.


Analysts attributed the weakening dollar to disappointing services, PMI data and concerns over inflation and economic growth due to the global tariff war as China imposed 34% import duties in retaliation to the Donald Trump administration’s sweeping tariff move.


Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell 2.73% to $63.79 per barrel in futures trade, hit by twin shocks of Trump’s tariffs and an OPEC+ decision to increase output faster than previously announced.


In the domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex crashed 3014.32 points, or 4.00%, to 72,350.37, while the Nifty tanked 1,016.75 points, or 4.44%, to 21,887.70 points.


Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹3,483.98 crore on a net basis on Friday (April 4, 2025), according to exchange data.


The Reserve Bank of India on Friday (April 4, 2025) said the country’s forex kitty jumped from $6.596 billion to $665.396 billion during the week ended March 28. In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves rose by $4.529 billion to $658.8 billion.


This is the fourth consecutive week of increase in the reserve, which was on a declining trend recently due to revaluation along with forex market interventions by RBI to help reduce volatilities in the rupee.


A monthly survey released on Friday (April 4, 2025) showed, India’s services sector activity eased slightly in March, weighed down by a marginal slowdown in sales amid softer demand conditions and easing inflationary pressures.


The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Services PMI Business Activity Index fell from February’s reading of 59.0 to 58.5 in March but remained above its long-run average of 54.2.

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