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Delhi anti-Hindu riot: Prashant Bhushan hosted the earliest conspiracy meeting with Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and Yogendra Yadav in attendance. Read details

Nupur J Sharma
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Delhi anti-Hindu riot: Prashant Bhushan hosted the earliest conspiracy meeting with Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and Yogendra Yadav in attendance. Read details

The destruction and carnage unleashed during the Delhi anti-Hindu Riots 2020 left the nation in shock. On the 24th and 25th of February, Delhi was gripped with unbridled violence and riots that were unleashed after an elaborate conspiracy was hatched by certain Muslim groups and Left groups. Several conspirators have been charged and are lodged in jail, standing trial for their role in instigating and planning the violence. However, several individuals were either directly or tangentially involved in the conspiracy, who have not been named as accused in the investigation that followed the violence.

The conspiracy chargesheet (59/2020) details how the conspiracy for the Delhi anti-Hindu riots took seed on the 5th of December. In the 2700-page chargesheet filed pertaining to FIR 59/2020, the Delhi Police dedicate almost 700 pages to the chronology of the conspiracy hatched. Confirming what OpIndia had already pointed out earlier, the February riots were inextricably linked to the December violence that was unleashed in various parts of the country such as Delhi, UP and other places.

On the 5th of December, a WhatsApp group called Muslim Students of JNU was created by Sharjeel Imam. This was right after CAB (Citizenship Amendment Bill) was tabled in the Parliament. It was revealed in the chargesheet that Sharjeel Imam and Arshad Warsi (a student of Jamia) were in constant touch and Sharjeel was also in touch with “radical communal group” Students of Jamia (SOJ). In 2023, Arshad Warsi was arrested by the Delhi Special Cell in connection with the Pune ISIS terror module.

On the 6th of December, pamphlets which were written by Sharjeel Imam himself were distributed in the Jama Masjid area by the MSJ group. This fact was revealed by the chats recovered between Sharjeel Imam and Arshad Warsi. The pamphlets were communal and essentially aimed to incite hate in the Muslim community by invoking the Supreme Court decision in the Ram Janmabhoomi case. 

Some of the pamphlets read “Law of Allah above all else” and “The command of Allah is above every law”.

The pamphlets that were distributed in mosques on the 6th of December also had a call to join the protest called by ‘United Against Hate’ at Jantar Mantar in large numbers and to “mobilise mob”. 

On the 7th of December, Sharjeel Imam said that he would be joining the protests called by United Against Hate. This fact was revealed by his WhatsApp conversation with Arshad Warsi. While joining a protest is not wrong in itself, here is the clincher – on the 7th of December, Sharjeel Imam categorically said that he was planning something big in the next week and for that purpose, he would mobilise students from DU, AMU etc with the help of MSJ members.

On the 7th of December, at the protest organised by United Against Hate, the chargesheet says that Yogendra Yadav, Umar Khalid, Nadeem Khan, Sharjeel Imam, Ifat and Sai Balaji were also present. They delivered speeches against the CAA at this protest. Umar Khalid, who was his “senior and mentor” from JNU introduced Sharjeel Imam to Yogendra Yadav at this agitation. 

Witnesses have told the police that earlier, Umar Khalid had already told Sharjeel Imam to make a group of “like-minded individuals” from JNU, Jamia, DU etc and had explained the concept of Chakka Jam to him. As an extension of that theme, at the meeting with Yogendra Yadav, he was told to “mobilise students of Jamia, DU and AMU”. 

According to the chargesheet, four important things were decided in this meeting: 

  1. It was decided between Yogendra Yadav, Sharjeel Imam and Umar Khalid that social media would be used to indoctrinate Muslims and for the mobilisation of people for Chakka Jam. 
  2. Awareness campaigns should be launched in Muslim majority areas.
  3. Attempts should be made to form an alliance with like-minded Muslim organisations for Chakka Jam.
  4. Masjids should be the focal point for the starting of Chakka Jam and the help of Imams should be taken.

The entry of Yogendra Yadav in the conspiracy hatched, according to the chargesheet, dates back to the 7th of December 2019. This was only days before the Jamia violence erupted and several areas of Delhi saw violence. It was also days before Tahir Hussain admitted that he had started inciting people against CAA and pelted stones against the Hindus on the 17th.

By the 7th of December, Umar Khalid and Yogendra Yadav had met Shajreel Imam. While the initial mobilisation had already started between the 5th and 7th of December, it is the events of the 8th of December that we will analyse in this report.

The infamous meeting between Yogendra Yadav, Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid and others

On the 8th of December 2019, a meeting was held between Yogendra Yadav, Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid and others at a Jangpura basement. The image of this meeting has been included in the chargesheet by the Delhi Police.

It was in this meeting, that according to the chargesheet, a plan was hatched on how to implement the Chakka Jam. It was decided that it would be Sharjeel Imam who would organise and lead students from various universities and colleges in and around Delhi. It was, interestingly, also decided that organisations like United Against Hate and Swarajya Abhiyaan would help each other in every way possible. This has, according to the Chargehsheet, been revealed by a witness. 

The fact that this meeting took place was also confirmed by the chats that were discovered between Sharjeel Imam and Arshad Warsi. On the very same day of the meeting, a WhatsApp group was also formed (CAB TEAM) where Umar Khalid, Yogendra Yadav, Sharjeel Imam and other accused were present.

According to the chargesheet, it is evident that this meeting in Jangpura was pivotal in the conspiracy that was hatched. It was in this meeting that the seeds of violence were sown and a collaborative effort between the organisations and people like Sharjeel Imam, and Umar Khalid was decided.

Where was this infamous meeting of the 8th of December held

According to the chargesheet, this pivotal meeting was held at a basement in Jangpura.

The address of the meeting, as mentioned in the chargesheet, is 6/6, Jangpura Ext.

When a cursory search is done, it turns out that the address, 6/6 Jangpura, is where the office of Prashant Bhushan is.

Prashant Bhushan has multiple places from where he functions. His official chamber listed on the Supreme Court website (since he is an advocate on record) is New Lawyers Chamber, Supreme Court of India. 6/6 Jangpura, however, is his office which he has listed in several court documents.

For example, in 2021, Prashant Bhushan was the lawyer representing a petition by Dr Jaboc Puliyel, demanding the release of vaccine data (trial and post vaccination data).

OpIndia found a communication by Prashant Bhushan to the Supreme Court, duly signed by him, where his office is listed at the basement of 6/6 Jangpura.

This document to the Supreme Court, duly signed by Prashant Bhushan, proves that the exact address where the meeting was held on the 8th of December 2019, where the conspiracy for the Delhi anti-Hindu Riots was hatched according to the chargesheet, is indeed the office of Prashant Bhushan.

Basement of 6/6 Jangpura – Not just Delhi anti-Hindu riot, it is the birthing place of anti-India propaganda

The basement of 6/6 Jangpura – office of Prashant Bhushan, has birthed several anti-India campaigns apart from serving as the location where the conspiracy for the Delhi anti-Hindu riots was hatched.

Shanti Bhushan along with Prashant Bhushan had a few years ago set up the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Judicial Reform (CJAR) to supposedly demand accountability in the Indian judiciary. However, CJAR has been at the forefront of anti-India propaganda for long.

In 2017, for example, the Supreme Court fined CJAR Rs 25,00,000 for its petition falsely accusing a judge of accepting bribes from a medical college to pass favourable orders. “No judge can be held responsible for what may or has happened in the corridors, or for ‘who purports to sell whom’. The alleged actions of a retired judge of a High Court, allegedly assuring and promising a ‘favourable’ decision… in a case which was then pending before this court, begs the question, and we wonder, as to what favourable orders have been passed,” the Bench had said in its order.

CJAR was also at the forefront of running propaganda against CJI Dipak Mishra and furthering the narrative of the 4 judges who had held a press conference against the CJI at the time.

CJAR is, however, not the only organisation that functions out of 6/6 Jagpura. NAPM – National Alliance for People’s Movement is a far more vile organisation that also has its office at 6/6 Jangpura – essentially – functioning out of the office of Prashant Bhushan.

NAPM was founded by Medha Patkar of the Narmada Bachao Andolan fame in 1996. In 2022, Patkar was booked in a case of fraud. Medha Patkar and several others were accused of misusing funds in the name of educating tribal children. An FIR was lodged in Madhya Pradesh’s Barwani against Medha Patkar and 11 others in this regard. In the FIR, Pritam Raj, the complainant, accused Patkar of embezzling more than Rs 13 crore on the pretext of funding educational opportunities for tribal children. The complaint also alleged that Patkar had misappropriated funds since she did not have accounts for all of the donations collected for the education of the tribal poor between 2007 and 2022. According to the FIR, Medha Patkar raised more than Rs 13 crore through the ‘Narmada Navnirman Abhiyan’ foundation. She was accused of inciting anti-government sentiment by soliciting donations for education.

Medha Patkar is best known for her ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan’ against the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada river. The protest contributed to the years-long postponement of the Sardar Sarovar Dam project on the Narmada River. So-called social activists and environmentalists like Medha Patkar expressed concern as soon as the construction of the project started. When Medha Patkar visited the project site in 1985, she accused that the dam had fallen short of the social and environmental requirements set forth by the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

For suspected money laundering during the “Narmada Bachao Andolan,” the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed an FIR against activist Medha Patkar on April 5 this year. In addition to the ED, investigations into Patkar’s shady dealings have also been initiated by the Department of Revenue Intelligence and the Income Tax Department.

According to a Pioneer report, Patkar’s NGO received a donation of roughly Rs 1.2 crores within a year of its foundation in 2004 but managed to elude authorities for almost 17 years.

The investigation raised several concerns regarding the payments. According to records obtained by Pioneer, the NGO received the funds on June 18, 2005, from 20 different sources in a single day. Surprisingly, the amount of all 20 donations was the same, which was Rs 5,96,294.  Pallavi Prabhaar Bhalekar, one of the donors, was a minor at the time the donations were transferred.

Coming back to NAPM, it has participated in a number of propaganda campaigns whitewashing the crimes of Islamists and blaming Hindus. Its registered office is also at 6/6 Jangpura.

It is pertinent to note that Medha Patkar had also participated in the anti-CAA protests which ultimately led to violence.

NAPM had come out in support of GN Saibaba. GN Saibaba and several others were convicted and sentenced to life by the sessions court of Gadchiroli in March 2017 for association with the Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF), an affiliate of CPI(Maoist). Saibaba and the others were found to be posing Naxal literature, and the court had said that they intended to circulate the literature among people in Gadchiroli to incite people to join the Naxals. Most of the material both in physical and electronic form was found with Saibaba, and he had introduced others accused in the case with the Maoist organisation.

NAPM extended support to ‘The Kashmir Wala’ and others charged by NIA under UAPA. “The duo, under an active conspiracy and Pakistan’s support, resurrected a platform reviving the narrative in support of the terrorist and separatist ecosystem. They were spreading an anti-India narrative by exploiting digital platforms under a concealed and camouflaged set-up with the help of illicit funding received from hostile foreign agencies and proscribed terrorist organisations,” said an official privy to the case. Earlier in 2023, the court framed charges against Peerzada Fahad Shah.

The organisation came out in support of NewsClick as well. NewsClick is in the dock for being funded by China and running their propaganda against the interest of India.

They blamed Hindus for the Nuh violence where Muslim mobs ran rampage attacking Hindu devotees.

NAPM and its involvement in the Delhi violence

As mentioned earlier, Medha Patkar, who founded NAPM, was also a part of the anti-CAA protests. Interstingly, NAPM’s registered office is the same as the registered office of Prashant Bhushan where the 8th December meeting between Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid, Yogendra Yadav and others were held, conspiring to unleash violence.

Throughout the violence which started in December 2019 and lasted till the 26th of February 2020, NAPM was at the forefront of offering help and support to the accused.

On the 15th of December 2019, NAPM extended support to the Jihadis of Jamia who committed unbridled violence during their anti-CAA protest. It is pertinent to note that the chargesheet also details how students of Jamia had attacked police with weapons, petrol bombs, rods and stick. These violent Jihadis had injured 10 policemen on duty. The police had found that this was a premeditated incident of violence.

NAPM too played to role of instigating mobilisation on the 15th of December 2019.

They have rallied for the release of the Jihadis arrested pursuant to the chargesheet 59/2020 – those who were a part of the conspiracy.

It is pertinent to note that NAPM is spreading propaganda, demanding for the release of Umar Khalid – the very Umar Khalid who was one of the masterminds of the Delhi anti-Hindu riots and was present for the 8th December meeting held at 6/6 Jangpura – the office of Prashant Bhushan and the registered office of NAPM.

Questions that need to be answered

2. In the 59/2020 chargesheet filed by the Delhi Police, the address of a meeting held between Yogendra Yadav, Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and others on the 8th of December 2019 has been mentioned as 6/6 Jangpura basement. Was Prashant Bhushan present at the said meeting between Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid and others? 

3. Was it in Bhushan’s knowledge that a plan for chakka jam and ensuing violence was being hatched at this meeting? 

4. Whose proposal was it to hold the said meeting at Bhushan’s office space? 

5. To what extend was Prashant Bhushan involved in the meeting? 

6. Was he privy to the conversation being held during the meeting? 

7. Ishrat Jahan and Khalid Saifi have named Prashant Bhushan in their disclosure statements during the Delhi Riots investigation. The statements mention that he had extensively participated in the anti-CAA protests which ultimately led to violence. Prashant Bhushan needs to be investigated for the extent of his involvement in these protests. 

8. Was he a part of the DPSG Whatsapp group or any of the groups that were created to coordinate the protests and the ensuing violence? 

9. Has the Delhi Police approached him to question him about the meeting held at his office basement, where the police say the conspiracy for the violence was hatched on the 8th of December 2019? 

The Delhi anti-Hindu riot was an elaborate conspiracy to teach Hindus a lesson. That this violence was specifically designed to target Hindus and the ruling government of India has been established by the Delhi Police in their chargesheets which painfully documents how the conspiracy to spark violence progressed daily ever since the 5th of December 2019. With one of the earliest meetings furthering the conspiracy being held at Prashant Bhushan’s office, it becomes imperative that Bhushan is questioned about his involvement in the violence and the conspiracy to spark violence.

Note: OpIndia has sent an email to Prashant Bhushan asking for his response to this story. No response has been received so far. The article will be updated if and when Bhushan replies.

EVM-VVPAT hacking claims, old wine in a new bottle – Here is how Prashant Bhushan is beating a dead horse

Anurag
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EVM-VVPAT hacking claims, old wine in a new bottle – Here is how Prashant Bhushan is beating a dead horse

On Wednesday, 27th December, the infamous lawyer-cum-activist and a professional andolanjivi, Prashant Bhushan, shared an 11:11-minute-long video on X (formerly Twitter) claiming EVMs and VVPATs can be hacked. In a post in Hindi, Bhushan said, “See for yourself how EVMs and VVPAT machines can be tampered with. This can be done when the program is entered during symbol loading. That is why many countries, including Bangladesh, also went back to paper ballots. Earlier, BJP people also demanded a paper ballot. Now, why did it change after coming to power? Why was the glass of the VVPAT machine blackened?”

Prashant Bhushan shared the video of engineer Rahul Chimanbhai Mehta, founder and chief of the Gujarat-based Right to Recall Party. In the video, Mehta expressed concerns about Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs) being hackable. He claimed that VVPATs could be manipulated to show a particular candidate’s name but register a different candidate. To prove his theory, he used a “DO IT YOURSELF” VVPAT system that he made himself. Of course, he made it himself; after all, he is an engineer who returned from the US.

Anyway, using the dummy VVPAT, he showed how it could be manipulated using the ‘Banana-Apple’ theory that he has been talking about for years. Mehta claimed he was using the mock VVPAT because the Election Commission of India refused to give him a VVPAT machine to check. In the video, he claimed that the manufacturer of the VVPAT machine changed the glass from transparent to black in 2017 to facilitate the manipulation of votes. He further claimed that the black glass used on VVPAT can be used to manipulate what voters see and what happens in the background. All he “proved” using a mock VVPAT machine that he made, possibly in his garage, that it had nothing close to what actual VVPAT looks and works like.

The charlatan then moved a step forward and claimed that as there are transparent screens that can project content, even if the manufacturer rolls back to fine screens, they would not be 100 per cent unhackable. Mehta claimed that the software to manipulate voting could be done at the time of symbol loading, making tracking impossible. He then called for rolling back to ballot papers.

As the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 approach, the opposition parties have started crying foul over EVMs. Almost every other party and leader wants to go back to the ballot paper. Either they have forgotten or think the voters have forgotten the mess ballot papers created during voting.

Booth capturing, fake voting and riots were common in India earlier. Who can forget what recently happened during the Panchayat Elections in West Bengal, where ballot papers were used. Despite all the problems that ballot papers have created in the past, the political parties want to roll back to it. Interestingly, some may think capturing booths would be easier than winning voters’ hearts.

Interestingly, Prashant Bhushan is not the only one who shared Mehta’s bizarre video to raise his voice against EVMs and VVPATs. A courtesy search on social media showed that several X users shared the video in the past 24 hours. Congress leader Vikas Bansal shared the video and claimed EVM and VVPAT machines can be hacked.

Source: X

Founder of The Pillania, journalist Amandeep Pillania, shared the video crediting Prashant Bhushan.

Source: X

Shree Raghuveer shared the video and tagged several Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Digvijay Singh.

Source: X

Now, the question is if Mehta is claiming this for the first time or if he is a habitual fearmonger. Well, let’s go with the latter and have a look at his history. Mehta is an IIT Delhi graduate and a self-proclaimed anti-corruption activist. He worked as a software engineer in the US for some time and came back to India in 1999. In 2018, he formed a political party named the ‘Right To Recall Party’ and contested the Lok Sabha Elections in 2019 on 14 seats.

Mehta’s party candidates lost deposits on all 14 seats they contested. Source: ECI

All the candidates who fought the election under the RTRP banner lost their deposits. The 14 candidates covered eight states: Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, and Delhi. The party received a total of 28,817 votes, out of which 13,140 votes were secured by Pawan Kumar Sharma, who contested the election from Bhilwara, Rajasthan. The remaining votes were scattered across other candidates, with Mehta securing only 1097 votes. He contested from Gandhinagar.

In 2013, VVPATs were first introduced for the single constituency in Nagaland. Later, in 2017, ECI announced that it would use VVPATs for all elections. Since then, Mehta has been claiming that VVPATs can be hacked. A video on the matter was published on his YouTube channel in 2017, where he called VVPATs ‘timewaste’. In the video, he claimed the CIA was pressuring the Election Commission of India to continue using EVM machines and emphasised the return of ballot papers.

The real drama came in April 2019 when he published a video of the famous “Banana-Apple” theory. However, as it was only hypothetical, he did not get much attention.

By August, he had created his first mock VVPAT Machine to explain his “Banana-apple” theory. His first mock VVPAT had roughly cut cardboard pieces. Please note that we are not mocking the effort at all. This is just for the information.

In October 2019, Mehta even gave a newspaper ad describing his ‘Banana-Apple’ theory. The Editor of Scroll, Naresh Fernandes, shared it on social media.

By April 2023, he was ready with a better mock replica of VVPAT that looked much better than the cardboard. This is the same machine in the video Prashant Bhushan and others shared.

A similar fearmongering about VVPATs was created by former IAS officer Kannan Gopinath in 2019 in a thread on X (formerly Twitter).

Opposition crying ‘EVM Hatao Democracy Bachao’, again…

These activists are not the only ones who are demanding to remove EVMs or creating an atmosphere of fear of rigging around them. On 19th December, I.N.D.I Alliance parties tabled a resolution on EVMs demanding the slips should not fall in the box automatically but should be handed over to the voters so that they can put them in the ballot boxes. Further, they demanded 100% counting of VVPAT slips. “This will restore full confidence of the people in free and fair elections”, the resolution read. It is interesting to see Congress did not cry foul in Telangana, where they won the Assembly elections.

On 26th December, Congress’s Sam Pitroda also claimed elections can be rigged using EVMs and VVPATs.

EVMs and VVPATs are safe

Despite all the claims, it has to be noted that EVMs and VVPATs are safe and cannot be manipulated. Interestingly, no one came forward when ECI organised a hackathon and challenged everyone to hack EVM machines.

Notably, VVPATs and EVMs are stand-alone machines. They are not connected to the internet. It significantly nullifies the chances of remote hacking. Furthermore, VVPATs provide a paper trail for each vote. The voters can verify it at the time of the elections and again after the election. All ballots are time-stamped, and all voting booths are under CCTV surveillance, making it impossible to manipulate the votes.

Regarding the technicalities, EVMs and VVPATs run on Application Specific Integrated Circuits or ASICs. These are different from general-purpose computers and resistant to hacking via malware. These ICs are not reprogrammable, which means the code they run cannot be altered. Furthermore, there is no possibility of a Trojan Horse attack either. No subsequent key presses will be recorded once a ballot key is pressed until a new ballot is enabled. It prevents any malicious signal injection. The latest models of EVM machines have temper detections that render the EVM machines inoperative if there is a temper attempt.

In short, all the ‘hallabol‘ around EVMs and VVPATs is nothing more than fearmongering and should be seen as pre-poll acceptance of defeat.

Ayodhya: Yogi govt imposes liquor ban within 84-km radius of Parikrama area ahead of Ram Mandir inauguration

OpIndia Staff
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Ayodhya: Yogi govt imposes liquor ban within 84-km radius of Parikrama area ahead of Ram Mandir inauguration

The Yogi government in Uttar Pradesh has banned alcohol sales within the 84-kilometer-radius of the Parikrama area of the Ram Mandir ahead of the grand opening on 22nd January, 2024.

As per reports, state Excise Minister Nitin Aggarwal stated that all such shops with the 84-kilometre-radius of the Mandir’s Parikrama area will be shut to make the temple area alcohol-free. An official directive has been issued on the matter.

The significant move comes after Aggarwal met with Champat Rai, General Secretary of the Ayodhya Ram Mandir Trust. The Ram Mandir Kshetra (area) has already been made alcohol-free. It has been clarified that the ban is not applicable to entire Ayodhya but only the given radius around the temple.

The preparations for Ram Lalla’s consecration, or Pran Pratishtha ceremony have reached the final stage and final work is in full swing.

State ministers including Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya stopped by to evaluate development efforts in the city.

The general secretary of the Sri Ram Janmbhoomi Tirath Kshetra Trust, Champat Rai on 9th December released beautiful photographs of the temple’s sanctum sanctorum.

Several political leaders including from the Opposition, celebrities, and religious heads across religious lines have been invited to the inauguration ceremony.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to attend the event to install the Ram Lalla idol on 22nd January, drawing thousands of Lord Ram followers to Ayodhya for the landmark event.

Notable personalities like industrialists Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani and Ratan Tata, cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli and Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan among other actors are invited to the consecration ceremony.

The consecration or the Pran Pratishtha ceremony is expected to be a grand event as the Teerth Kshetra Trust has sent traditional invitations to all prominent temples, spiritual leaders, Shankaracharyas, Mahamandaleshwars, and leaders of Sikh, Jain, and Buddhist sects from all over the country.

‘Make Mayawati PM candidate if you want BSP in I.N.D.I. Alliance’, says BSP MP Malook Nagar

OpIndia Staff
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‘Make Mayawati PM candidate if you want BSP in I.N.D.I. Alliance’, says BSP MP Malook Nagar

On Wednesday (27th December), BSP MP from Bijnor Malook Nagar said that the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will consider joining the I.N.D.I. alliance if it makes BSP-supremo Mayawati the Prime Ministerial candidate in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections of 2024. This statement by Mayawati’s close aide Malook Nagar has come after UP Congress president Ajay Rai suggested the BSP should seriously consider joining the I.N.D.I. alliance.

BSP MP Malook Nagar added that the Congress must apologise for weaning away BSP MLAs in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan after the 2018 assembly elections. He claimed that Mayawati is the tallest Dalit leader in the country and support for her cuts across states. He said, “By projecting Mayawati as the PM candidate, the INDIA alliance will be able to stop the BJP from winning a third consecutive term in the upcoming Lok Sabha election. To effectively challenge the BJP, the I.N.D.I. alliance must nominate Mayawati as their candidate for Prime Minister. If that does not happen, no coalition stands a chance against Modi.”

Malook Nagar further said, “The victory formula for the alliance is clear. In the 2022 (Uttar Pradesh) assembly election, the BJP polled 41.3% votes. The parties constituting the INDIA bloc polled around 40% votes and the BSP secured around 13% votes. If the BSP joins the alliance, the vote percentage will go above 50% which is enough to snatch power from the BJP.”

The BSP leader added, ” The projection of Mayawati as the PM candidate will also bring back the Dalit voters who have been lured by the saffron brigade. The I.N.D.I. alliance should decide to project the BSP chief as the PM candidate. Mayawati will (then) not only forgive the Congress for its misdeed to poach the BSP MLAs in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh but will also have a positive approach towards the I.N.D.I. alliance offer.”

Malook Nagar said, “No matter how much anyone discusses Ram temple, it will benefit the BJP. Ram belongs to all of us, not just the BJP, but the politics and questions raised about the temple will benefit the BJP in the coming days.”

Notably, Congress is willing to take BSP along in the I.N.D.I. alliance. However, other parties in the alliance are not welcoming BSP. Especially, the Samajwadi Party of Akhilesh Yadav and Rashtriya Lok Dal of Jayant Choudhari are not willing to join hands with the BSP.

OpIndia Exclusive: Who introduced Robert Vadra to CC Thampi? ED’s chargesheet against Sanjay Bhandari mentions Sonia Gandhi link. Read here

OpIndia Staff
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OpIndia Exclusive: Who introduced Robert Vadra to CC Thampi? ED’s chargesheet against Sanjay Bhandari mentions Sonia Gandhi link. Read here

In its supplementary chargesheet at the PMLA court, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has finally established a direct connection between the Gandhi son-in-law Robert Vadra, CC Thampi and arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari. In a 84-page chargesheet, the ED has detailed how Robert Vadra was linked to Bhandari through a London property and how Vadra came in contact with CC Thampi, a crucial link in the case.

The chargesheet reveals that it was Sonia Gandhi’s PA, Madhavan, who introduced Vadra to Thampi. Cheruvathur Chakkutty Thampi, a Delhi-based real estate dealer, is the accused no 7 in ED’s PMLA case against Sanjay Bhandari and his associates.

The ED, on the chargesheet submitted on 22nd December to the Special Court, mentions that CC Thampi, who worked for the absconding arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari, is a close aide of Robert Vadra – the husband of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The ED established the link in the supplementary chargesheet filed against CC Thampi and Sumit Chadha (said to be a close relative of Sanjay Bhandari) in a money laundering case. This is the first time that ED has named Vadra in their chargesheet.

Source: ED Chargesheet, obtained by OpIndia

Establishing the role of Sonia Gandhi’s PA in the matter, the charge sheet’s page 43 read, “During the course of investigation in the case, statements of Sh. CCT (CC Thambi) were recorded under Section 50 of PMLA on various dates. In his statement recorded on 19.06.2019, Sh. CCT stated that he knew Sh. Robert Vadra for more than ten years, and he (Sh. Robert Vadra) was initially introduced to him (Sh. CCT) by Mr. Madhavan, P.A. to Smt. Sonia Gandhi.”

PP Madhavan has been Sonia Gandhi’s PA for a long time. In June 2022, he was accused of rape by a Dalit woman. However, Madhavan had stated that the charges against him were baseless.

The ED case against Sanjay Bhandari and its links to the Gandhi family

The Enforcement Directorate has named Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Sonia Gandhi and husband of Priyanka Gandhi, in a money laundering case linked to CC Thampi and arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari. In ED’s supplementary chargesheet, it was established that Thampi was a close associate of Vadra. The connection was revealed through financial transactions, including the renovation of a London property and land deals in Faridabad.

Furthermore, links between Rahul Gandhi and CC Thampi were revealed, and it was suggested that HL Pahwa, reportedly funded by Thampi, was involved in the case. Priyanka Gandhi purchased land from Pahwa at a reduced price. The land was later sold back at an inflated price. The funds for these transactions were reportedly provided by Thampi. Our detailed report on the matter can be checked here. OpIndia had broken the HL Pahwa story and Priyanka Vadra connection back in 2019.

Former MP from Bihar duped of over Rs 35 lakhs by his caretakers, three accused booked

OpIndia Staff
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Former MP from Bihar duped of over Rs 35 lakhs by his caretakers, three accused booked

On Wednesday (27th December), the Delhi Police lodged a case against three persons identified as Aditya Dubey, his father Sunil Dubey, and Manoj Shah for duping a former Member of Parliament for Rs 35 lakh. The complaint has been filed under sections 408, 420, and 120 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. According to the reports, the accused persons were employed as the caretakers of the former MP.

Although the former MP has not been identified, the complaint mentions that he was a former MP and MLA from the Sikta assembly constituency in Bihar’s west Champaran district.

The former MP filed a police complaint against the three in which he mentioned that he recently had bypass surgery and so had employed three attendants to look after his schedules and monetary management.

“Aditya primarily managed my banking affairs and handled other responsibilities in Patna. Manoj used to do manual banking work and other errands, including leasing the farmland for the cultivation of crops while Sunil took care of me,” the former MP mentioned in the complaint.

He stated that on 18th February, he received an SMS regarding a Rs 18,396 transaction. He told cops that his phone was with his security guard, who informed him of the transaction.

“The same message was shown to Aditya but he refused that any such transaction happened. I never used any online payment method, thus it created suspicion. I visited Delhi with my grandnephew Rohit Verma, to visit a bank in Parliament Street to meet the branch manager,” he said in the FIR.

“I asked my grandnephew to register an FIR when he got a call from Aditya Dubey who confessed his crime of making a withdrawal of Rs 1.25 lakh and requested not to pursue an FIR. But he later deleted all the chats,” the FIR read.

He also told police that Manoj was also involved in the case. Aditya and Manoj are said to have misappropriated a total of Rs 35,10,717.

The FIR against three has been filed by the Parliament Street cyber police under sections 408 (criminal breach of trust by clerk or servant), 420 (cheating or fraud), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.

“Further investigation is underway. Our teams are checking all the documents related to the fraud and the accused will be arrested soon,” a senior police officer stated.

West Bengal: College girl receives love letter on college letterhead with Principal’s signature

OpIndia Staff
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West Bengal: College girl receives love letter on college letterhead with Principal’s signature

A strange case has emerged from East Burdwan, West Bengal wherein a love proposal written on the letterhead of a college for a girl went viral online. The principal’s signature is also stamped on the letterhead. It is mentioned in the letter that a former student of the college has been long attracted to a fifth-semester student at Gushkhara Mahavidyalaya. However, since the girl is not responding to his romantic advances, he is unable to focus on his studies.

The letter dated 25th December 2023 read, “A fifth-semester student studying in Guskara College is informed that for quite some time an ex-student of our college has developed a soft spot for you, in short, has fallen in love with you. But you are not giving any reply, due to which he is not able to concentrate on his studies. I sincerely request you, please do something so that our student does not face any problems in future, and can study properly.”

The viral letter bearing the seal of the college and principal Sudip Chattopadhyay’s signature sparked an uproar. Subsequently, the principal informed the police about the matter. Moreover, the girl and the accused youth were also called along with their families. According to the local media reports, the accused wrote this letter by scanning an old notice, sealed and signed.

Meanwhile, principal Sudip Chattopadhyay said, “Two female students and an ex-student confessed to us that they were the ones behind the incident. But he did it by forging the seal and signature of the college. They apologized and gave bond. He promised that such an incident would never happen. We have not specifically filed an FIR thinking about their future. However, the entire matter has been reported to the police.”

The girl said that the ex-student sent her this letter over WhatsApp and that she jokingly shared it in her status but deleted it after a while. However, it quickly went viral. The student stated in writing to the college that the college and the principal had nothing to do with this incident. The college letterhead has been altered.

Kick them out: Indonesian protesters storm convention center housing Rohingya refugees in Banda Aceh, demand their deportation

OpIndia Staff
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Kick them out: Indonesian protesters storm convention center housing Rohingya refugees in Banda Aceh, demand their deportation

The campaign against the Rohingya refugees in Indonesia intensified on 27th December when a large number of protesters charged a temporary refugee facility in the Aceh state and pressed for their deportation. A video showed the students, many of whom were sporting the insignias of various universities, running into the building’s basement where large numbers of refugees from the Rohingya ethnic group were present.

The demonstrators were shouting slogans such as “kick them out” and “reject Rohingya in Aceh.” After being driven out of there, 137 refugees were loaded onto two trucks and transported to a new location.

The incident was denounced by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHRC) which stated, “Deeply disturbed to see a mob attack on a site sheltering vulnerable refugee families.”

“Hundreds of youngsters stormed a building basement on Wednesday where refugees were sheltered. The mob broke a police cordon and forcibly put 137 refugees on two trucks, and moved them to another location in Banda Aceh. The incident has left refugees shocked and traumatized,” alleged the refugee agency.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo of Indonesia has attributed the current increase in immigration to human trafficking. He confirmed that the interests of the local population would take precedence over those of the refugees and that the government would offer them temporary humanitarian support.

The people of Aceh became irate when hundreds of Rohingya started to arrive on the province’s coast in boats starting mid-November. They first rejected a vessel and then demanded that the migrants be turned back. Some villagers mentioned they had bad encounters with the Rohingya who had arrived earlier and were “troublesome” while others disclosed that supplies were already scarce for the locals.

Subsequently, little demonstrations arose to internet campaigns against the Rohingya in which Indonesians advocated their deportation and accused the refugees of being colonizers, according to recent statements from officials.

Texas: Malfunctioning robot inflicts serious injuries on Tesla engineer ‘leaving a trail of blood’

OpIndia Staff
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Texas: Malfunctioning robot inflicts serious injuries on Tesla engineer ‘leaving a trail of blood’

A robot went rogue at Tesla’s Giga Texas factory in Austin, Texas seriously injuring a software engineer. The robot malfunctioned while the engineer was programming software for robots tasked with cutting car parts from freshly cast aluminium.

The incident dates back to two years ago and was revealed in a 2021 injury report. The robot reportedly pinned the engineer and inflicted wounds on his back and arm by sinking its claws and leaving a trail of blood on the factory floor.

As per the report, while two of the robots were disabled, a third was inadvertently left active leading to the attack. The injured engineer reportedly suffered an open wound on his left hand.

Despite the severity of the incident, the engineer did not take any time off work. The injury report was filed with federal and Travic County health authorities detailed the injuries as a “laceration, cut or open wound.”

Tesla has not given a comment on the matter yet. As per reports, safety lapses have not been uncommon at the facility although no other robot-related injuries have been reported at the Texas factory in 2021 or 2022.

As per reports, injury reports submitted to the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration reveal a high injury rate at Giga Texas.

Nearly one in 21 workers have been injured last year. The median injury rate is one of 30 workers in the automotive industry.

As per reports, current and former Tesla workers have alleged that the company often compromises on construction, maintenance and operations. An explosion was also reported in 2022.

DMDK chief Vijayakanth passes away at 71 in Chennai, the actor-politician was getting treatment for pneumonia

OpIndia Staff
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DMDK chief Vijayakanth passes away at 71 in Chennai, the actor-politician was getting treatment for pneumonia

On Thursday (28th December), DMDK (Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam) chief, actor-politician Vijayakanth passed away at 71 in MIOT Hospital in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday, December 26, for pneumonia.

A statement from the hospital said, “Captain Vijayakanth was on ventilatory support following his admission for pneumonia. Despite the best efforts of medical staff, he passed away in the morning on 28th December 2023.”

According to reports, he also tested positive for COVID-19 after hospitalisation and was kept on ventilatory support. Earlier, Vijayakanth was admitted to the hospital on 20th November as he had serious respiratory issues during the last month. He remained hospitalised for 14 days and came back home on 4th December.

Vijayakanth’s public life has been distinguished by a prolific career in cinema, with roles in 154 films, followed by a transition into politics. Known as “Captain” due to his memorable portrayal of military roles on screen, he carved a niche for himself as a versatile actor with a remarkable career in the Tamil film industry.

In 2005, Vijayakanth entered the political arena by establishing the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK). The party marked its electoral debut in the 2006 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly elections, where it contested independently and secured a considerable number of seats, making a significant impact on the political scene of the state. In the 2011 elections, DMDK joined forces with the AIADMK-led alliance.

Vijayakanth was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly on two occasions, representing Virudhachalam and Rishivandiyam constituencies. His political journey reached its zenith when he served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from 2011 to 2016. Recently, concerns about Vijayakanth’s health prompted him to reduce his political involvement.

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