A Catalonia court on 6 July sentenced football ace Lionel Messi and his father to 21 months in prison in the tax fraud case.

While the Argentinan footballer has been fined 2 million euros for three tax crimes, his father, Jorge Horácio Messi - who handles the Barcelona star' finances - was fined 1.5 million euros for tax crimes.

Lionel and Jorge were accused of defrauding the government between 2007-2009. Investigation revealed that the duo allegedly used a number of shell companies to evade taxes on Messi's income from his image rights. Prosecutors also alleged that tax havens in Uruguay and Belize were used to conceal the various earnings. Messi had earlier said that he "knew nothing" about his financial status.

The Spanish court that sentenced them said that Messi and his father can both appeal the decisions through the Supreme Court.

On 5 July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi radically reshuffled his Council of Ministers in furtherance of his vision of good governance and development. Erstwhile MoS for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar was elevated to a Cabinet rank in the reshuffle, as he replaced Smriti Irani as the Minister for Human Resources and Development.

Addressing a press conference at his New Delhi residence on 6 July, Prakash Javadekar talked about taking the baton from Smriti Irani, and promised to "build upon the good initiatives" that were taken up by his predecessor.

"We will build upon the good initiatives taken up by Smriti Irani," Javadekar told reporters. "We believe education is a weapon of change. To ensure everyone gets good education will be our goal," he added.

Prakash Javadekar is set to take up office as the Minister for Human Resource and Development on 7 July.

In a huge setback for the Congress, the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) on 6 July issued notice to former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, asking her to join the investigation into the water meter scam case.

The notice states: "It appears that you (Sheila Dikshit) are acquainted with facts and circumstances of case and are required to join (the) investigation." "We are probing the matter. The concerned officers have been issued notice and Sheila Dikshit ji has also been issued a notice in this regard," ACB chief MK Meena told the media.

Meena said the case was registered in 2014 in the Anti Corruption Branch, adding that the Delhi Jal Board had bought 2.5 lakh water meters and there are allegations that there was no proper tendering and tender conditions were changed so that the personal companies benefit.

He alleged that Delhi Water Minister Kapil Mishra was not cooperating in the case. "The notice indicates as if an order has been given to the ACB to behave politely with Sheila Dikshit. If she feels bad, then she might expose all the scams of the BJP," Mishra told ANI.

An FIR has been registered by Amritsar Police against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) spokesperson Ashish Khetan for hurting religious sentiments. The case was registered after a complaint was lodged against Khetan for equating the youth manifesto of the party with the Sikh holy book Guru Granth Sahib.

Khetan promised to change the manifesto cover while apologising for his act, saying, "he had no intentions of hurting anyone's sentiments". The manifesto cover had an image of the AAP symbol - the broom - on a photograph of the Golden Temple.

The case was registered under section 295-A (hurting religious sentiments) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the local Civil Lines police station.

The news that Union HRD minister Smriti Irani was removed from her post during the cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday has excited students at Hyderabad University who believe that she was one of several people behind the chain of events that eventually led Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula to commit suicide in January.

On Tuesday, Irani was shifted to the textile ministry, and replaced by Prakash Javadekar from the ministry of environment and forests.

Hyderabad University's students' union president Zuhail KP said he was "really happy" that Irani was replaced, according to The Telegraph.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned down a plea for compensation by six men convicted of bombing Gujarat's Akshardham Temple who were jailed for 11 years, but later found innocent. The SC bench hearing their plea said allowing compensation in this case would set 'a dangerous precedent'.

However, the court allowed the men to file cases of false and malicious prosecution against the state and the prosecuting agencies, says The Economic Times.

Humanitarians outraged by a recent viral video that showed a man throwing a dog off the roof of a building in Chennai have identified him via social media.

The man in the video was identified as Gautam Sudarshan, a medical student at Kundrathur in Kancheepuram district. He and his friend Ashish Paul, who recorded the video, are absconding.

According to the Hindustan Times, the police have apparently contacted the parents of the two men, asking them to tell their sons to surrender. When they do, they will be booked under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

The Madras high court on Tuesday said that Tamil author Perumal Murugan should be 'resurrected' and allowed to do what he does best: write.

Hounded by district officials in Namakkal, Tamil Nadu, who claimed to be offended by his book Madhorubagan, Murugan had announced in January 2015 that "the author Perumal Murugan is dead".

The high court bench was hearing a case that challenged the district officials' decisions against the author early last year during what they called a 'peace committee meeting', says The Economic Times.

The high courts of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta will soon become the Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata high courts respectively.

The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved the proposal of the law ministry to change the names of the courts through an Act of Parliament so that they reflect the changed names of the cities, according to the Hindustan Times.

Though Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told the media that the name of the Calcutta high court will be changed to Kolkata high court, the official document from the government mentioned only the Bombay and Madras high courts.

The PDP-BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday withdrew 104 cases of stone throwing against 634 people. Chief minister Mehbooba Mufti had asked for a review of stone-throwing cases on Monday.

More than a thousand young people have been booked over the years for throwing stones during protests and against security forces in the state, says The Telegraph.

A three-member panel reviewing the cases recommended the segregation of cases of stone-throwing filed between 2008 and 2014, to be withdrawn in phases.

However, cases against people accused of heinous offences will not be reviewed.