England captain Harry Brook speaks with Sam Curran and Jos Buttler. (Getty Images)

NEW DELHI: England captain Harry Brook admitted that costly fielding lapses — including a dropped catch of Sanju Samson — played a decisive role in his side’s defeat to India in the semi-final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup on Thursday.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Speaking during the post-match presentation, Brook conceded that England misread the conditions and failed to execute their plans, particularly in the field, allowing India to post a daunting total.

“We thought there might have been hold, spin in the first innings, slid onto the bat nicely, and India batted well. I’ll hold my hands up and admit I made a big mistake dropping Samson. We weren’t good enough in the field. We misexecuted, and can’t afford to do that against India,” Brook said.The turning point came when Brook dropped Samson while the Indian batter was on just 15. The chance, off the bowling of Jofra Archer, proved extremely costly as Samson went on to anchor India’s innings with a commanding knock.Samson’s blistering 89 off 42 balls powered India to a formidable 253/7, a total that eventually proved just out of England’s reach.

“Yeah, catches win matches, don’t they? Unfortunately, it didn’t stay in my hands and yeah, it’s just one of those things. Unfortunately, I didn’t catch it and he played a very, very good innings as well and arguably won them the game,” Brook said.The England skipper admitted that the missed opportunity stayed on his mind throughout the chase.“Obviously, it’s in the back of your mind as the game goes on. I kept on looking at the scoreboard and he was piling the runs on. I was like, ‘I’m going to have to get an 80 or 90 tonight.’ Not ideal, but it’s happened now,” he added.Despite the defeat, Brook found positives in England’s spirited chase, particularly praising young batter Jacob Bethell for his fearless century.Bethell smashed 105 off just 48 balls, while Will Jacks contributed 35 during a counter-attacking partnership that briefly revived England’s hopes.“Bethell was absolutely unbelievable, he’ll earn some serious money. To see him taking it from ball one showed the world what he can do,” Brook said.England eventually finished on 246/7, falling agonisingly short despite Bethell’s heroics and a late blitz from Archer. Brook, however, insisted his side could still take pride in their campaign.“We had a good tournament; we should be extremely proud of how we played. We stuck to it the whole game; unfortunately, we were on the wrong side,” he said.

The constant sound of explosions has become the default soundtrack in the Middle East as Donald Trump‘s mission-driven US military, along with its “wonderful partner” Israel, continues its offensive against Iran. The raging, Tehran after the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has delivered a strong response to the military campaign that began as Operation Epic Fury for the United States and Operation Lion’s Roar for Israel.The furious military operations in the Middle East region has entered 7th day.The American military, in a full-scale flex of force, has struck multiple defence facilities and key locations across Iran, including the capital Tehran. In response, Tehran has launched strong retaliatory strikes, launching multiple missile attacks across the region targeting US military bases and other locations in the Middle East, marking the start of the 19th wave of Operation True Promise 4 on Thursday morning.Donald Trump on combat operations in Iran: “The United States military, in collaboration with wonderful Israeli partners, continues to totally demolish the enemy far ahead of schedule…We’re destroying more of Iran’s missile and drone capacity every single hour.”Trump has repeatedly called for the fall of the Tehran regime and suggested that the United States should help choose Iran’s next leader. Among those considered in the race to become the next Ayatollah after Ali Khamenei, his son Mojtaba Khamenei has been described as an “unacceptable” choice for Trump-led United States.The intense military attacks that began last weekend, even after the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader — show no signs of easing. Instead, the skies across the Middle East continue to echo with the roar of escalating strikes.

Here are the top developments

‘Ready for a long war’: Iran

The military of Iran reflected on its preparedness amid the rapidly escalating situation, saying: “We are ready for a long war. Our new inventions are on the way. We haven’t used anything on a large scale yet. Let the enemy expect painful blows in every wave of attack.”

US strike hits Iranian ‘drone carrier’

The US military said it struck an Iranian vessel described as a “drone carrier,” which it said “is now on fire.”“US forces aren’t holding back on the mission to sink the entire Iranian Navy,” the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a post on X, as the joint US-Israel military attack on Iran entered its seventh day.CENTCOM described the drone carrier as “roughly the size of a WWII aircraft carrier.”The post did not say where the attack took place.A video released by CENTCOM showed the alleged Iranian vessel surrounded by thick smoke after being hit by US strikes.

Satellite images show scale of destruction

New satellite images show the extent of the damage across Iran after days of intense military strikes.The imagery provides a clearer picture of the heavy military action carried out across several parts of the country.However, the strikes were not limited to military sites.

Schools damaged during bombing campaign

Two schools in Iran appeared to have been damaged on Thursday during the bombing campaign carried out by the United States and Israel.Photos of two boys’ schools, an elementary school and a middle school, located southwest of the capital Tehran show shattered windows and damaged or collapsed classroom walls.The images were published by the Iranian semi-official news agency Tasnim News Agency. Exterior photos were later verified by The New York Times.Satellite image analysis also showed several strike marks and burn scars around a school in southern Iran, suggesting it may have been hit more than once. Iranian authorities say that attack killed 168 people on Saturday.The damage to the two schools was reported about a week after dozens of people were killed, many of them children, when a girls’ school was struck in the southern Iranian town of Minab.The two schools damaged on Thursday are located in Parand, a city southwest of Tehran. Shortly after the strikes, an image of a large grey smoke plume appeared online. The New York Times later verified the image and confirmed that the smoke came from the area where the two schools are located.

Trump says US should help choose Iran’s next leader

Donald Trump said the United States should be involved in choosing the next leader of Iran.Speaking to Reuters in a telephone interview, Trump said it would be “wonderful” if Iranian Kurdish forces based in Iraq crossed into Iran to attack security forces.Trump said the next leader of Iran was unlikely to be the son of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a military strike at the start of the war.“We’re going to have to choose that person along with Iran. We’re going to have to choose that person,” Trump said.Speaking six days after the US and Israel launched their attacks, Trump also supported Kurdish fighters taking action.“I think it’s wonderful that they want ⁠to do that, I’d be all for it,” the president said.The conflict has killed more than 1,000 people, including at least six US service members, and has caused widespread damage and instability across the Middle East.

Israel launches fresh strikes on Tehran

Israel said it launched a new wave of air strikes on Tehran early Friday.The Israeli military said it carried out a large-scale “wave of strikes against Iranian terror regime infrastructure in Tehran.”Iranian state television reported several explosions in different parts of the capital.

Hezbollah warns Israelis near Lebanon border

The Lebanon-based group Hezbollah said its fighters had returned to support Iran after the killing of a senior leader from the Shia group in earlier strikes.Hezbollah issued a warning in Hebrew telling Israeli residents in northern Israel to evacuate settlements within 5 km of the border with Lebanon.In its statement, the group said the Israeli military’s actions against Lebanese sovereignty, civilians, and infrastructure “will not go unanswered”.

Qatar intercepts drone targeting US airbase

The defence ministry of Qatar said its air defence systems intercepted a drone targeting the Al Udeid Air Base in Doha.Authorities had earlier raised the security alert level and asked residents to stay indoors and away from windows or exposed areas.

US House backs Trump’s military campaign

The United States House of Representatives rejected an attempt on Thursday to stop President Donald Trump’s air war on Iran and require congressional approval for military action.Lawmakers voted 219 to 212, mostly along party lines. The House currently has a narrow Republican majority.Two Republicans supported the resolution, while four Democrats voted against it.Opponents accused Democrats of bringing the vote simply because they oppose Trump.“We all know that we ⁠wouldn’t be here today if the president’s name wasn’t Donald Trump,” said Rick Crawford, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.Supporters of the resolution said it was an effort to restore Congress’s constitutional authority to approve war.The conflict began after the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran on Saturday, a war that has now killed more than 1,000 people and increased instability across the Middle East.

Mumbai: More than five decades after it was set up to carry secure financial messages between banks across borders, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (Swift) is stepping into territory increasingly dominated by fintech firms. The Brussels-based cooperative, founded in 1973 by a consortium of banks to standardise cross-border payment messaging, has unveiled a new framework aimed at making international retail transfers faster, cheaper and more predictable.Indian lenders State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank are among those first to participate. In the first phase, customers will be able to send money from India to major economies including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and Germany.More than 25 banks globally are expected to begin processing payments under the new rules by the end of June. Transfers across key remittance corridors—including Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, China, Germany, India, Pakistan, Spain, Thailand, the UK and the US—will come with fixed upfront costs, full-value delivery and end-to-end tracking. Where domestic payment infrastructure allows, transfers could also settle instantly.At present, about three-fourths of payments routed through Swift already reach the recipient bank within 10 minutes, which is faster than the targets set by the Group of Twenty (G20). However, the overall customer experience can still be uneven. Delays often occur at the start and end of the payment chain when local banking systems take over. The new framework seeks to address these gaps by setting common rules that improve transparency on fees and delivery times.The move is part of Swift’s broader strategy to retain its central role in global finance as payment technologies evolve. Fintech firms have made rapid gains by offering near-instant cross-border transfers with transparent pricing, pushing banks and legacy infrastructure providers to adapt.Swift’s response is a two-track strategy which involves tightening standards for traditional cross-border payments while also preparing for the next phase of financial infrastructure. Alongside the retail payments framework, it is developing a blockchain-based shared ledger that could enable round-the-clock cross-border transfers of tokenised assets across its network of more than 11,000 financial institutions spanning over 200 countries and territories.

India’s Sanju Samson greets spectators as he returns to the pavilion after his dismissal by England’s Will Jacks during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 second semifinal cricket match between India and England, at the Wankhede Stadium, in Mumbai, Maharashtra. (PTI)

TimesofIndia.com in Mumbai: “Dukhi mat ho bhai… kabhi bhi mauka aa sakta hai (Don’t be disheartened, opportunity can come anytime),” were former India captain Rohit Sharma‘s comforting words when he met Sanju Samson before India’s T20 World Cup opener against the USA at the Wankhede Stadium around a month ago. Little did he know then that the player, who was nowhere close to making the playing XI, would keep India alive in the tournament not once but twice. The backstory, the ups and downs, and the battle for the slot are now in the past, as the wicketkeeper-batter has timed his form perfectly and emerged as a force to reckon with at just the right time.If the unbeaten 97 in Kolkata against the West Indies was calm and controlled, the 89-run knock in Mumbai was pure dominance. Two contrasting knocks resulted in the same outcome for India, a win. As he settled into the chair for a refreshing interaction with the media, the 31-year-old reflected on the two innings but kept his responses measured because there is “one more step to go.”

“It feels really great and also relieving that I have been trying for a few years to do something like this for my country. I have been waiting with a lot of patience, a lot of inner work, a lot of training and a lot of practice. So definitely I should be very grateful, but I also feel that we have one more step to go. If we do that, then I think all the work and everything was worth it.“So I feel that one more innings should be really good. And yes, I think the last innings definitely played a good role in this innings as well. I knew I was timing the ball really well and making good decisions. I thought that if you are in form, you should definitely contribute to your team in this game as well. So that’s how I prepared for today and things came together very nicely,” said Samson.

Sanju Samson of India bats during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup India & Sri Lanka 2026 Semi-Final match between India and England at Wankhede Stadium on March 05, 2026 in Mumbai, India. (Photo by Prakash Singh/Getty Images)

He was within striking distance of scoring back-to-back hundreds for the side, especially in a World Cup, but he chose to look at the brighter side, valuing the match-winning contribution more than the milestone. The Kolkata run chase forced him to bat a certain way due to the regular fall of wickets, but he realised early that domination would be the key while batting first in the semi-final on an absolute belter of a pitch.From 12 boundaries and four sixes in Kolkata to eight boundaries and seven sixes in Mumbai, the intensity remained the same in both outings. The strike rates were in similar territory, but the approach was dictated by the match situation and what would work best for the team at that moment.“Last match was all about taking the team along. As soon as we built momentum, wickets kept falling in the last game, so I had to finish it off till the last ball. But this game was completely different. When you are batting first in Wankhede, you know that no score is enough here, so I just wanted to capitalise on as many fours and sixes as possible for the team,” explained Samson.

Sanju Samson of India celebrates reaching his half century during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup India & Sri Lanka 2026 Semi-Final match between India and England at Wankhede Stadium on March 05, 2026 in Mumbai, India. (Photo by Prakash Singh/Getty Images)

The last time India and England faced each other in a bilateral T20I series, Samson was troubled by Jofra Archer with some short-pitched bowling. But the opener came well prepared to take on the speedster. A stable base and slight alterations to his initial movement have allowed him to get into better positions, and he used the depth of the crease well to avoid being rushed by the extra pace and bounce available early in the innings.In that T20I series, Archer dismissed Samson three times in 23 balls. But Thursday’s contest went the opener’s way as he made the most of an early reprieve off Archer’s bowling to punish the bowler. Thirty-nine runs off just 14 balls, including three boundaries and four sixes, ensured that the highly anticipated battle between the former IPL teammates had a clear winner.“It was definitely playing in my mind. Last time when we played them at home, we played five games against England and Jofra was definitely a very effective bowler at that time. So I had to do some preparation and be a bit clearer in my head about how I was going to face him. I tried to apply that today. He is definitely a world-class bowler.

Sanju Samson of India bats during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup India & Sri Lanka 2026 Semi-Final match between India and England at Wankhede Stadium on March 05, 2026 in Mumbai, India. (Photo by Prakash Singh/Getty Images)

“You need to respect what he does and at the same time you need to be confident as well. I was a bit more confident because I had just played a really good innings a couple of days ago. I needed to take that confidence forward and that helped me tackle the bowlers today,” said Samson.Having played over 300 T20 games, Samson has often started conversations about his batting but failed to sustain them due to inconsistency. The decade-long wait for his maiden T20 World Cup appearance ended in unusual circumstances as Abhishek Sharma was unavailable due to illness. However, he is now the rightful owner of the top-of-the-order spot. While some burden is off his shoulders after two back-to-back Man of the Match performances, he remains focused on Sunday’s title clash.“One more match, then I’ll feel very light,” came his response when asked whether he felt relieved after the match-winning innings.

Rohit, who tried to keep his former T20I teammate in good spirits on February 7, would have been a proud man watching the action unfold from the stands on Thursday.“It’s a long tournament,” the former India captain had said on February 7 while hugging Samson, who assured him that he was fine. The smile was a distraction, but the eyes told a story.That story, however, was rewritten within a few weeks and the next video clip of the two talking is now keenly awaited.

Jefferies has a buy on L&T with a reduced target price of Rs 4,500 from Rs 4,715 earlier. Analysts said global engineering & construction companies with West Asia exposure, including L&T, are down between 10-24% since the Iran-US-Israel conflict began. 37% of L&T’s order book is from the region, with Saudi Arabia at a lion’s share of 75%+. A month of no work would likely impact FY26 earnings per share by 6-8%. Assuming normalcy returns over time in West Asia, L&T should recover most of its share price losses between order flow growth, margin stability and five-year strategy plan that is due to be unveiled in May 2026.BoFA Securities has a buy on AB Capital with the target price at Rs 380. Analysts said the company is witnessing strong growth tailwinds in lending, with the MSME expansion being supported by government measures while in the housing finance sector, retail penetration is improving. The company has a focus on market share. In the AMC, moderation is seen in equity market share losses, and in insurance, there’s strong premium growth. The company targets 2.5%/2-2.2% return on assets (RoA) for NBFC/HFC business in the coming few quarters, and the delivery towards which could support valuation re-rating.Goldman Sachs has a sell rating on Sun Pharmaceuticals with the target price at Rs 1,550. Analysts attended the company’s corporate day. They said that for the company innovative medicines remain a key growth driver. Emerging markets and the rest of the world (ROW) showed sustained outperformance. In India, the company aspires to grow in line with or slightly ahead of the market, though current market share gains (30bps in Q3) may normalize. The company has minimal exposure to the West Asian markets while its Israel operations have continued uninterrupted despite ongoing conflicts. On its M&A strategy, the focus remains on profitable growth, with innovative medicines as top priority, followed by emerging market assets. No explicit size cap, but financial discipline will be maintained. On the GLP-1 launches, the company’s management expects significant competition and pricing uncertainty, and market dynamics will determine eventual pricing. No guidance on margin impact.Kotak Institutional Equities has an add rating on Bajaj Finance with the target price at Rs 1,100. Analysts said that the investors’ myopic focus on near-term trends and credit metrics risk missing a structural transformation that is underway at Bajaj Finance, where Fin-AI is already moving from experimentation to measurable business outcomes. This mirrors broader ‘quarterly trap’, where investors extrapolate near-term trends while underweighting more durable shifts in business models. Analysts remain assertive on Bajaj Finance’s ability to sustain high growth and return on equity despite a large balance sheet.Motilal Oswal Securities maintained its neutral rating on Havells India with the target price at Rs 1,490. Analysts said short-term softness and medium-term recovery are expected. There is strong demand in the cables & wires segment with near-term margin pressure. In the Lloyd division, inventory normalisation is underway but demand recovery is awaited. In its electrical consumer durables, switchgear and lighting divisions, pricing actions are supporting margins amid mixed demand trends.(Disclaimer: Recommendations and views on the stock market, other asset classes or personal finance management tips given by experts are their own. These opinions do not represent the views of The Times of India)

After the first delivery of the 18th over of the first innings of the India vs England Semifinal of the T20 World Cup 2026, the camera panned towards the VIP lounge, where two former India skippers were present.

At the jam-packed Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, along with Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Rohit Sharma was also there in attendance to watch the match live. In the VIP sitting area, when these two former captains met with each other, it instantly turned into a heart-melting moment for the Indian cricket fans. As soon as Sharma spotted Dhoni, he went to greet him and his wife Sakshi.

Watch the epic moment here

Your daily dose of cricket!

🥹🥹🥹🥹
This meetup 🔥🔥

India’s best captain with MS Dhoni#INDvsENG pic.twitter.com/oJSLThkK4I

— Arti🇮🇳 (@ImArti45) March 5, 2026

MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma are all set to feature in the IPL 2026 season

As soon as the camera captured the moment between the World Cup-winning two former Indian captains, the crowd at the gallery was on their feet to cheer the icons. MS Dhoni, 44, retired long ago from international cricket, is all set to feature in the upcoming Indian Premier League season for the Chennai Super Kings. There are speculations that the upcoming IPL season (IPL 2026) can be Dhoni’s last ever league as a cricketer.

Rohit Sharma is currently active only in the One-Day International format. He retired from the T20 International right after winning the T20 World Cup 2024, and retired from the Test last year. There are high chances to see Rohit in the upcoming ODI World Cup, which is scheduled to be held in 2027.

Rohit Sharma is also set to feature in the 2026 season of the Indian Premier League for the Mumbai Indians. He will play under the leadership of Hardik Pandya. As per previous reports, the opener asked the Mumbai Indians team management to utilise him as a regular player, not as an impact cricketer. Last season, in IPL 2025, Rohit Sharma played for the team as an impact cricketer.

Multiple stars and eminent personalities were there at the Wankhede Stadium to grace the show

Apart from the cricket personalities, Bollywood stars are also in the stadium to see the knockout fixture. Veteran actor Anil Kapoor, Varun Dhawan, Tripti Dimri, Ranbir Kapoor, and his wife and actress Alia Bhatt, along with their child Raha, were among those spotted in the stands.

Team India batter KL Rahul also spotted there along with his brother-in-law, actor Ahaan Shetty. Five-time champions Mumbai Indians’ owner Nita Ambani was also there to grace the show. Nita Ambani was spotted with her Akash Ambani, Shloka Mehta, and Radhika Merchant.

The Indian batters did not disappoint the audience, especially Sanju Samson. The opener scored a well-crafted 89-run knock to help Team India registered 253 runs in the first innings of the match.

Read More: Fans lose patience as Abhishek Sharma falls cheaply to off-spin yet again

India’s Jasprit Bumrah (PTI Photo/Kunal Patil)

India’s premier fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah reached a historic milestone during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 semi final against England at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday. The right arm pacer completed 500 international wickets with the very first ball of his spell, striking in the fifth over of England’s chase.Bumrah, who made his international debut against Australia in Sydney on January 23, 2016, has now entered an elite list of Indian bowlers to reach the landmark. He became the eighth Indian to achieve the feat, joining legendary names such as Anil Kumble, Ravichandran Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, Kapil Dev, Ravindra Jadeja, Zaheer Khan and Javagal Srinath.

The 32 year old from Ahmedabad has built a remarkable record across formats. Bumrah has taken 234 wickets in 52 Tests, 149 wickets in 89 ODIs and 117 wickets in 94 T20Is, underlining his consistency and impact in all three formats of the game.His form in the ongoing T20 World Cup has also been impressive. Coming into the semi final with nine wickets from six matches for the Suryakumar Yadav led side, Bumrah took his tally to ten after dismissing England captain Harry Brook in the knockout clash.Earlier in the tournament, Bumrah played a key role in India’s Super 8 victories against South Africa and the West Indies, finishing as the team’s leading wicket taker in both games. He had also made an early impact in the group stage match against Pakistan in Colombo, where he dismissed Saim Ayub and Salman Ali Agha in his very first over at the R Premadasa Stadium.Reaching the 500 wicket milestone places Bumrah among the finest bowlers in India’s cricketing history and further strengthens his reputation as one of the most formidable fast bowlers of the modern era.Bumrah is also India’s leading wicket taker in T20 World Cup history. In the semi final against England, he delivered a disciplined spell of 4 overs for 33 runs and 1 wicket. His control in the death overs played a crucial role in helping India seal the win and book a place in the final.

Yuka Okuda, a Rabindrasangeet performer, delivers a talk on Ray’s ‘Charulata’.

All seats look taken in a mediumsized Tokyo theatre on an Aug evening in the Japanese summer. The audience listens rapt to a woman sitting on stage, framed by the movie screen behind her. Clearly, it’s not just another screening, but then, neither can the topic be called usual for this part of the world. For the woman on stage is discussing Rabindrasangeet, and the context is ‘Charulata’, maestro and auteur Satyajit Ray’s 1964 masterpiece, one of the seven films that were shown last year in Japan as part of a retrospective of his works.The lineup — featuring ‘Jalsaghar’ (1958), ‘Mahanagar’ (1963), ‘Charulata’ (1964), ‘Kapurush’, ‘Mahapurush’ (both 1965), ‘Nayak’ (1966), and ‘Jai Baba Felunath (1979) — earning their first theatrical release in Japan, spans a two-decade arc of some of Ray’s most memorable films. The films were also made available on VOD and home video with Japanese subtitles. The demand has grown to the point that these films are set for a Blu-ray release in March.To Sandip Ray, filmmaker and Ray’s son, however, none of this is surprising. After all, it was the Japanese film great Akira Kurosawa who’d said, “Not to have seen the cinema of Satyajit Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon.” Sitting in his Lake Temple Road residence in Kolkata, he recalled the role of a Japanese distributor, Toho-Towa Co. Ltd, founded in 1928 by film pioneer Nagamasa Kawakita, and said Kawakita’s wife, Kashiko Kawakita, was a Ray admirer.

“She was very close to our family and a die-hard Satyajit follower right from the start,” he said. When Ray first visited Japan, it was Kashiko who arranged a meeting between Ray and Kurosawa in 1966. “I think till the 80s, they distributed all of Baba’s films in Japan. The films must have done good business. Otherwise, why would she ask about new films every year?” said Sandip Ray.The seven restored titles began their theatrical run on July 25 at Le Cinema Bunkamura in Tokyo. The retrospective was to run for three weeks, but a further week was added due to the demand. “The films were not only screened in Tokyo, but in cities like Hiroshima, Osaka, Kyoto, etc, covering 15-20 cinemas nationwide,” said Varsha Bansal, who helmed the restorations of the Ray classics produced by her grandfather, RD Bansal.The screenings were paired with discussions and talks. If film researcher and producer Eri Morinaga spoke after ‘Mahanagar’, Asian cinema researcher Tamaki Matsuoka delivered a talk following a screening of ‘Jalsaghar’. Yuka Okuda, a Rabindrasangeet performer and Bengali language instructor, led a session after a ‘Charulata’ screening. “I offered some reflections on the impact of the Rabindrasangeet in the film... Some in the audience said they wanted to watch the film again. It made us realise all the more that Ray’s cinema is a deeply layered and magnificent creation,” Okuda told TOI .

Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) recently moved a special PMLA court under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEO) seeking to permanently confiscate 15 assets worth around Rs 700 crore belonging to late drug smuggler Iqbal Memon and his family in Mumbai and Dubai. The plea includes Worli properties, comprising Rabia Mansion, Marium Lodge, and Sea View properties, and around 15 properties in Dubai, including Hotel Midwest Apartment in Bur Dubai and over a dozen commercial and residential units in the Business Bay and DEC Towers.The ED alleged that the family acted as the beneficial owners of these properties, utilising trust entities in India and corporate holdings in Dubai to project tainted assets as legitimate wealth. “The fugitive has refused to come to India and he has already been declared a Fugitive Economic Offender. The…case has international ramifications and as observed by the SC [Supreme Court] economic offences are grave… and need to be viewed seriously… it is prayed that the accused be dealt with strictly…and order for confiscation of the assets,” the ED said in its plea.In 2021, the court declared Mirchi’s wife Hajra and sons Asif and Junaid fugitive economic offenders under the FEO Act after they did not return to India despite summons issued in the money laundering case. Under the Act, the court is authorised to order the confiscation of properties.On Wednesday, the court heard arguments from ED’s special public prosecutor Sunil Gonsalves on the plea. The arguments will continue on April 7.Tracing the history back to 1986, the ED found that Mirchi originally acquired the Worli plots from the Sir Mohammad Yusuf Trust for Rs. 6.5 lakh through a partnership firm. To evade government attachment, a ‘Caretaker Agreement’ was allegedly fabricated in 1991, allowing the trust to appear as the owner, while Mirchi maintained actual control. Currently, these plots, measuring nearly 5,000 sq m, are valued at Rs 497 crore. The ED also pointed to the family’s real estate portfolio with the money siphoned off to Dubai. This most expensive is Hotel Midwest Apartment in Bur Dubai, valued at AED 9.3 crore (approximately Rs 233 crore). The ownership is split among the family members. Junaid and Asif each hold a 40% stake, while Hajra holds the remaining 20%. The ED also alleged a suspicious nexus involving DHFL promoter Dheeraj Wadhawan and the Memon family. “….payments to the tune of Rs 154 crore were made overseas to Iqbal Mirchi by Wadhawans for acquisition of properties Sea View…Dheeraj Wadhawan also transferred 14 commercial and residential units to Asif Memon on price of AED 4.5 million (approximately Rs 11.28 crore) against prevalent market value of AED 13 million (approximately Rs 32 crore) from Dheeraj & East Coast LIC, a company owned and controlled by the Wadhawans to settle the various issues in finalisation of deal,” the ED submitted. The portfolio also includes four residential units in DEC Towers, situated in the Marsa area of Dubai. These units were allegedly transferred to Asif in 2015 by Dheeraj & East Coast LLC. The ED alleged that these transfers were made without any “consideration”, even as they have a combined valuation of Rs 6.08 crore.The ED further said that though certain properties stand in the name of Sir Mohammad Yusuf Trust and the Dubai-based assets in the names of Asif, Junaid and Hajra Memon, the investigation conclusively established “that all such entities and individuals were merely fronts, proxies and vehicles used for the acquisition, layering, holding and enjoyment of the proceeds of crime generated from the illicit activities of late Iqbal Mirchi alias Iqbal Memon”.