Adani Admits His Lawyers Brought up $10Bn Investment Plan During DOJ Talks; MEA Does Not Repeat Its Explosive Passport Stance; Extorter Leaks Thousands of Files Said to be of Kudankulam Nuclear Plant
Modi Melas and the New Cuddly Diplomacy is Not What it's Cracked up to be; A New Bill Introduced in US Senate to Impose Tariffs on Countries Buying Russian Oil
A newsletter from The Wire | Founded by MK Venu, Pratik Kanjilal, Sidharth Bhatia, Siddharth Varadarajan, Sushant Singh, Seema Chishti, and Tanweer Alam | Contributing writers: Kalrav Joshi, Anirudh SK
If you like our work and want to support us, then do subscribe. Sign up with your email address by clicking on this link and choose the FREE subscription plan. Do not choose the paid options on that page because Stripe – the payment gateway for Substack, which hosts The India Cable – does not process payments for Indian nonprofits.
Our newsletter is paywalled but once a week we lift the paywall so newcomers can sample our content. To take out a fresh paid subscription or to renew your existing monthly or annual subscription, please click on the special payment page we have created – https://rzp.io/rzp/the-india-cable.
Snapshot of the day
July 15, 2026
Sidharth Bhatia
Gautam Adani has admitted before a US court under oath that his lawyers “suggested that my publicly stated intent to invest $10 billion in the United States might be part of a resolution” to the bribery case and suit against him, “if that was what the DOJ or SEC wanted”. His submission comes after judge Nicholas Garaufis, who has declined to approve the Trump administration’s decision to dismiss the case just yet, had asked the tycoon if he was aware of anything promised or sought in connection with the move to dismiss.
Adani also said, as has the Justice Department, that the administration did not factor in the investment angle while deciding to drop the case – where he, his nephew Sagar and others are accused of bribing Indian officials to buy their solar power and then lying to American investors about it. Though Adani admitted to his lawyers’ suggestion, he said he was not aware of anything being offered or sought or any agreement being made in connection with the DOJ’s move. Devirupa Mitra reports.
After igniting a firestorm with its remark, made by an official off the record, that the passport is not proof of citizenship but a travel document, the Ministry of External Affairs yesterday declined to repeat this formulation. Addressing the media during his weekly briefing, ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal instead stuck to the wording of the Passports Act of 1967. An Indian passport, he said, “is issued by the Government of India to regulate the departure from India of citizens of India” and that the “issue of passports to Indian citizens or any other individual is governed by the Passports Act, 1967 and the Passport Rules, 1980”.
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought responses from the Centre and the Delhi government on a petition seeking urgent intervention to end activist Sonam Wangchuk’s hunger strike, reports Bar and Bench and posted the PIL for Thursday. The petition, filed by lawyer and activist Rakesh Kumar Saini, stated that Wangchuk’s health had deteriorated rapidly and that he had lost 8.5 kg during the demonstration. If the hunger strike continued, he could lose his life within two days, it added. [See Reportedly below]
US senators, both Republican and Democratic, have introduced a Bill that seeks to impose tariffs on the top five buyers of Russian oil and gas. Under the Bill, the top five – which in the case of Russian crude includes India at #2 – can face tariffs of up to 100%. The Bill is an updated version of late senator and Trump ally Lindsey Graham’s original proposal of a blanket 500% tariff on those buying Russian oil and gas. Trump yesterday appeared sanguine that the legislation, which per Reuters has 26 co-sponsors at the moment, could become law. “This is in honour of Lindsey … You know how he felt, and there’s a good chance that it gets done,” the president said.
