Sarma’s June 9 letter is his expression of concern. He has also referred to his June 2 letter, which detailed how the Department of Telecommunications (DOT) reportedly made “out-of-the-way, imprudent concessions” to Starlink. Starlink Corporation is owned by USA’s multi billionaire Elon Musk. In that letter, Sarma had argued that allowing the foreign company – which he said was “working in tandem with the US defence services” – a “near monopoly on direct satellite surveillance over India” openly violated the Supreme Court’s 2G spectrum ruling where it said that such resources should not be assigned opaquely.

Sarma also highlighted an “extra-ordinary exemption” granted to Starlink from the standard security rule allowing authorities to monitor a licensee’s equipment near international borders.

Sarma, a 1965 batch IAS officer, has publicly expressed his concerns earlier too. In a letter dated November 14, 2024, to the DOT Secretary, Sarma first warned against directly assigning strategic satellite spectrum, particularly to foreign firms like Starlink with known “close ties with the US Army.”

Sarma has cited reports suggesting Starlink is “a time-tested reliable satellite bus technology that can accommodate various payloads as needed, including radars, optical cameras, and infrared (IR) missile launch signalling systems.” He urged that satellite spectrum be reserved for the Indian Space Research Organisation, the defence forces and strategic Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs).

From February 23, 2025 onwards, Sarma’s warnings have grown more urgent. Citing news that the US had reportedly threatened to “shut off” Starlink in Ukraine unless it secured a deal for a “lion’s share in its mineral resources,” he urged the DOT to tighten safeguards against Starlink. He expressed dismay that India was welcoming the company “with open arms… against all legal norms, ignoring all strategic implications.”

Sarma raised the issue of monopoly market practices on March 13, 2025, alleging Starlink was “forming a cartel with the two domestic telecom operators, namely, Jio and Airtel.” He suggested this would allow them to “dominate satellite spectrum use at the cost of millions of telecom customers in India,” potentially leading to a “scam far worse and more egregious than the 2G spectrum scam.”

Now, in his latest communication, Sarma points to new foreign events to highlight his security concerns. He cites news reports from early June 2025, including a detailed Washington Post article dated June 7, 2025. According to this report, “Elon Musk’s team at the U.S. DOGE Service and allies in the Trump administration ignored White House communications experts worried about potential security breaches when DOGE personnel installed Musk’s Starlink internet service in the complex this year.”

The Washington Post, citing unnamed sources, reported that a Starlink terminal was installed on the roof of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in February. A “Starlink Guest” WiFi network then appeared on White House phones, asking only for a password without further checks. This setup, the report indicated, could allow data transmission “without any kind of record or tracking,” bypassing normal White House IT security.

One source has told the Post, “With a Starlink connection that means White House devices could leave the network and go out through gateways… It’s going to help you bypass security.” Representative Stephen F. Lynch, the House Oversight Committee’s acting top Democrat, said the situation “could have the potential to undermine our national security by exposing sensitive data and information to hackers, our adversaries, or those wishing to do Americans harm.”

Sarma hopes these reports will “wake up the government to the security risk posed by foreign players in India.” He stated, “Evidently, on extraneous considerations, the government has chosen to ignore my cautionary letters and go ahead with granting clearance to StarLink.”

This senior former bureaucrat from India’s civil services has also pressed for a judicial enquiry to examine several points: whether directly assigning spectrum complied with the Supreme Court’s 2G judgment; changes to StarLink’s security license conditions; the strategic effects of StarLink’s near-monopoly and its US defence ties; and the likely loss to the public treasury from not auctioning the spectrum.

He ended his letter stating that the “manner in which DOT had gone out of the way to give a special treatment to Elon Musk and StarLink, throwing caution and legality to the wind, raises serious concerns about the propriety of the deal itself.”

He warned that failing to start an enquiry “would lead one to draw the inference that the government does not wish to hold itself accountable to the Parliament and the public.”

In his previous letter, Sarma had stated clearly that if the government failed to respond promptly, he would “have no other alternative than to seek judicial intervention.”

The government has not publicly responded to Sarma’s latest claims yet.

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The post Ex Sec E.A.S. Sarma expresses ‘serious concerns’ over Starlink deal; demands judicial probe appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Barabanki’s Ramsnehi Ghat mosque was demolished, despite a Allahabad High Court order that it be protected till May 31. While the district administration continues to maintain that the mosque was an “illegal construction”, it is on the records of the Sunni Central Waqf Board documents as ‘Tehsil Masjid’ for the last six decades, reports the BBC. Those in charge of the mosque told the media that it is even older, as the record books came into existence much later than the structure.

The Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board has called the administration’s action illegal, and is likely to challenge it in the High Court, stated the news report. Known locally as the Ghraib Nawaz Mosque, and on the record books as the Tehsil Mosque, it stood in the Tehsil complex in Ramsnehi Ghat before it was demolished on Monday. The Ramasnehi Ghat tehsil complex, said the ground report, is right in front of the SDM residence, and the mosque is “registered as the property of the Waqf Board”. A fact that according to its management has never been disputed. However, according to media reports the Barabanki District Magistrate Adarsh Singh said “a notice” was issued to those concerned on March15,  and the administration took the mosque “under its control.”

The official statement was read out in a video posted on twitter handle of DM Barabanki. A quick translation of the ‘officialese’ states that, “In the case of the illegal structure in the Tehsil Residential Complex, the concerned parties were given an opportunity to respond to the notice on March 15,” adding that instead of responding “the people left the premises and fled.”

दिनांक 17.05.2021 को रामसनेहीघाट तहसील परिसर के प्रकरण के संबंध में @BarabankiD व #barabankipolice अधीक्षक @IPSYAMUNA1 की बाइट~#UPPolice @Uppolice @adgzonelucknow @igrangeayodhya @bstvlive @News18UP pic.twitter.com/3pN6RvkjZu

— Barabanki Police (@Barabankipolice) May 18, 2021

According to a news flash on social media both the Samajwadi Party, and the Congress have condemned the mosque’s demolition and have demanded a judicial probe. However, according to the DM, “A petition filed in this regard by the Lucknow bench of the Hon’ble High Court Allahabad on April 2, proves that the construction is illegal. On this basis, the suit was presented in the court of SDM Ramsanehi Ghat and then complied with its order on May 17.” According to the BBC, the mosque management committee had filed a petition in the High Court against the notice given in March, however, it is still pending. As reported earlier, the Allahabad High Court, on April 24 2021,  had ordered that no action be taken till May 31 on “any religious construction on government properties”. 

Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board Chairman Zafar Ahmed Farooqi told mediapersons that this demolition is thus “directly in violation of the High Court order and the board will soon challenge it in the High Court.” Farooqui was quoted by the BBC as saying, “The mosque was right in front of the SDM’s residence and perhaps they did not like it…” adding “The local committee had gone to the High Court, yet without giving any notice the SDM passed the order and the mosque was demolished” and asked what was great hurry for such an action. 

The Sunni Central Waqf Board stated that it will move High Court demanding “restoration of the mosque, a high level judicial inquiry and action against the guilty officials”. The reports quoted one Adnan Arif, a local resident of Ramsnehi Ghat who said, “The new tehsil complex was built in 1992, and only then the SDM house was built in front of this mosque. The old tehsil was behind the mosque. The mosque has been registered as Waqf Board property since 1968,” it was reported that the mosque has had an “electrical connection since 1959,” and prayers have been offered here every Friday, and even every day by many for decades.

Maulana Abdul Mustafa, a mosque committee member, told The Wire that the administration “demolished our century-old mosque. Thousands of people used to offer namaz(prayer) here.” But there is a backstory to the demolition which explains the relative ease with which this act of erasure – planned several months ago – was eventually accomplished.

On March 20, a day after protests broke out against the administration’s plan to demolish a mosque in Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki, 180 people were booked under serious charges, including attempt to murder reported The Wire. All those named in the FIR are Muslim. The report shared details of FIR 89 – that names 22 people and charges another 150 “unnamed”. According to the news report around six additional FIRs were filed, and around 30 people are still in jail. The Barabanki police also arrested one Ishtiyaq alias Sonu in this case under the National Security Act (NSA) on April 11, reported The Wire. It quotes the police press release as saying, “On April 11, the administration took action against a dreaded criminal Mohammad Ishtiyaq, son of Mohammad Iliyas…who had attacked and attempted to murder police force on March 19.” 

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