Top news of the day: India launches Operation Kaveri to evacuate stranded Indians from Sudan; Patna HC stays lower court’s summons to Rahul Gandhi in defamation case, and more

Top news updates from The Hindu on April 24, 2023

India launches Operation Kaveri to evacuate stranded citizens from war-hit Sudan

India has launched the process to evacuate its citizens stranded in the war-hit country Sudan, External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar announced. The mission to bring over 3,000 Indians back has been named ‘Operation Kaveri’. Vowing to “assist all our bretheren in Sudan”, Dr. Jaishankar in a tweet said that about 500 citizens have reached Port Sudan who will be evacuated by ships and aircraft. “More [citizens] on their way”, he added.

Modi surname remark | Patna HC grants relief to Rahul Gandhi, issues stay order on lower court’s summons

The Patna High Court on April 24 granted relief to former Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in the defamation case filed by Rajya Sabha member and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi. The Court stayed a lower court’s order till May 15 in which Mr. Gandhi was asked to be physically present before the court to record his statement in the Modi surname case. On April 22, Rahul Gandhi filed a petition to quash the summons issued by the MP/MLA court. Mr. Gandhi’s advocate Virendra Rathore said that since a similar matter is already under Surat court, there cannot be another trial in a different court in the same matter.

Poonch terror attack | Attackers untraced as operations complete five days; around 50 detained

As the multi-security agency search operation in Rajouri-Poonch belt entered the fifth day on April 24, terrorists involved in the Poonch terror attack remain untraced amid growing fears that they might manage to migrate to safer locations like the Rajouri attackers, who killed seven civilians on January 1, 2023 in Dangri village. Official sources told The Hindu that the probe into the Poonch attack indicated the meticulous planning by the attackers, who were carrying high-calibre weapons and were working on well-gathered inputs on the movement of army vehicles in the area. The use of armour piercing steel bullets, either smuggled from Afghanistan or procured from China; sticky bombs and grenades have been established so far.

Wrestlers threaten to approach Supreme Court, seek support from all quarters