Ludhiana, July 3 -- Once allies, now rivals - and today, co-accused in courtrooms. In a rare political coincidence, leaders from opposing parties, divided by ideologies and allegiances but united by pending criminal cases, found themselves listed for hearings in three separate trials - all on the same day.

Union minister of state for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu, former Congress cabinet minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Ludhiana district Congress president Sanjay Talwar, and former deputy mayor Sham Sundar Malhotra had a hearing in the court of chief judicial magistrate Pavleen Singh on Wednesday. The case: an agitation held on February 27, 2024, when the group locked the gates of the municipal corporation office near Clock Tower, protesting...