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Delhi: Police officer prays before Lord Hanuman, then joins demolition of the temple in Bhajanpura; a dargah also demolished

On Sunday, 2nd July 2023, the Delhi administration demolished two religious places on the footpath in the Bhajanpura area to widen a road. Additional DCP Subodh Goswami of the Delhi police offered prayers to the Hindu deities at the temple before respectfully removing the idols from the temple. The other site peacefully demolished in this drive was a dargah.

On Sunday morning, the Public Works Department (PWD) initiated an anti-encroachment drive in the Bhajanpura area of North East Delhi. The purpose of this operation was to remove a Hanuman temple and a dargah. To ensure the smooth execution of the drive and handle any potential disturbances, Delhi Police personnel were heavily deployed, along with the presence of central forces. Additionally, the entire area was carefully monitored using drone cameras.

The construction of a double-decker flyover by the PWD is currently underway in this area. The design involves the construction of a metro route on the upper level and a road on the lower level. However, the presence of a dargah in the middle of the road and a Hanuman temple on the side has resulted in persistent traffic congestion. There has been a long-standing demand for the removal of these structures to alleviate the traffic jam situation.

According to the police, prior to the demolition of the temple, Subodh Goswami, the additional DCP of North East Delhi, participated in a prayer ritual within the temple premises. Following the prayers, the idols were respectfully removed, and only then did the demolition drive commence.

DCP Joy Tirkey of North East Delhi confirmed that the police engaged in a conversation with the devotees of the temple, and they willingly agreed to cooperate with the police during the demolition process. This mutual understanding was reached as the demolition was necessary to expand the road infrastructure.

DCP Tirkey said, “It was a very peaceful operation, and even the bhakts of the temple helped us during the demolition drive. They took the idols with the utmost respect. When we arrived here, we requested their cooperation. I want to emphasize that during a conversation with them, they understood that the decision to widen the road was made by the religious committee of the government.”

He added, “Some matters fall under the civil administration, while my responsibility is to maintain law and order. When we spoke to the people, they agreed and even assisted us.”

NIA requests Home Ministry to shift 12 gangsters in jails in north India to Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Amidst a crackdown on gangsters and their syndicates, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has reportedly held discussions with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to shift around 12 gangsters imprisoned in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab jails to Andaman and Nicobar Islands. These gangsters are said to be operating their syndicates from behind bars. 

The NIA had earlier requested that up to 25 gangsters be transferred from jails in northern India to those in southern states in a letter to the MHA. The NIA list included gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, who has been named as the prime accused in the Sidhu Moosewala murder case.

Reportedly the initial proposal was to transfer the gangsters to prisons in South India, however, this would be an extensive procedure since permission would have to be obtained from the state governments. Since the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a Union territory administered by the MHA, the procedure will be expedited. The agency is currently seeking legal opinion as well, Indian Express quoted an MHA source as saying.

Moreover, the NIA is also contemplating shifting the gangsters to Assam’s Dibrugarh Central Jail where Waris Punjab De chief and pro-Khalistan Amritpal Singh and his aides are imprisoned.

In August of last year, the NIA filed two FIRs against a number of gangsters in the northern states, alleging a conspiracy by a criminal syndicate with bases in both India and abroad to raise money and recruit youths to commit “sensational crimes,” including the targeted murder of prominent figures, with the goal of “striking terror in the minds of the people.”

In August of last year, the NIA filed two FIRs against a number of gangsters in the northern states, alleging a conspiracy by a criminal syndicate with bases in both India and abroad to raise money and recruit youths to commit “sensational crimes,” including the targeted murder of prominent figures, with the goal of “striking terror in the minds of the people.”

The NIA, during its investigation, found that the majority of these gangsters were “operating smoothly” from behind bars.

“NIA investigations revealed that several murder plots were planned in different states’ prisons and carried out by an organised network of operatives based abroad. We are working to dismantle the growing nexus between terrorists, gangsters, and drug smugglers, and to destroy their infrastructure and funding,” an NIA official told IE.

Recently, NIA in its chargesheet filed in a terror-gangster case alleged that gangster Lawrence Bishnoi expanded his terror network in a manner similar to that of gangster Dawood Ibrahim. 

“The rise of Lawrence Bishnoi and his terror syndicate bears striking parallels to the rise of Dawood Ibrahim, a wanted terrorist, gangster, and drug kingpin who heads the notorious organised terror syndicate D-Company,” the NIA charged in its chargesheet.

Uttar Pradesh: Rashid Khan harasses and forces a Hindu girl to convert and marry him in Gorakhpur, implicates her father in a false case, now arrested

Nine years ago, a gangster named Rashid Khan, son of Vakil Hussain, met a Hindu girl during coaching classes in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh and started a one-sided love affair with her with the intention of getting married. He soon started to put pressure on her to convert to Islam. The victim has reported the incident to the police.

The investigation by the authorities revealed that the accused is a vicious thug who has already been charged with many crimes, including murder. Even the Gangster Act was brought up against him in 2020. He has now been arrested and presented in court where he was sent to jail.

The girl, a resident of the Kotwali area, told the police that the perpetrator who formerly lived in Cheria, Bargo village in Belipar and is currently a resident of Bargo, Ramgarhtal met her in 2014 during coaching while she was a Bachelor of Science (BSc) student. He obtained her phone number from there and has been following her since then.

She stated, “He tried to have a conversation with me during this time but I refused. He got my number from coaching. He started calling me on WhatsApp. He started sending obscene messages after I rejected them. My father scolded Rashid Khan once she shared the information with her family, but his antics did not subside.”

She then changed her mobile number. “He then began calling my father’s cell phone. On refusing, he threatened to implicate him in a false case. Police were also notified of this. Police were also notified of this. On the instruction of the court, a lady brought a rape case against my father.”

Rashid Khan got imprisoned her father in accordance with the court’s instructions by fabricating a rape case against him. She is presently single and he is forcing her to convert to Islam and marry him.

The girl asserted that her father who is a goldsmith by profession was jailed solely after the woman filed a false case at the behest of the culprit. Rashid Khan began to follow her and began pressing her for marriage by embracing Islam after her father was imprisoned. The police opened an investigation and arrested the suspect on June 30 after the victim submitted an application in the chief minister’s Janata Darshan. He was brought before the court by the police on Saturday and was jailed.

He was apprehended by Kotwali police for threatening, molesting and violating UP legislation 3/5 (1) of the Prohibition of Religion Conversion Act 2024 on the orders of chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

Six lawsuits have already been filed against Rashid Khan, according to the police. In Shahpur police station, a case was opened against him for murder and concealing the corpse per section 209. Out of the six cases, three are registered in Shahpur, while the other three are in Kotwali.

Rashid Khan had also accused the girl of extortion. He reported her to the Ramgarhtal police station for the same. He alleged that she demanded two lakh rupees and threatened to bring a bogus complaint against her if he did not comply. He also gave the police access to the WhatsApp conversation. Later, the Ramgarhtal police filed a case regarding the same against the girl under crime number 371/23. However, the issue is still under consideration.

A woman filed a complaint against the father of the girl as an accused in rape case number 162/23 in Kotwali police station under the section of threatening. She claimed that she had mortgaged her jewellery as collateral. When she went to him to get her valuables back, he sexually assaulted her under the guise of help.

In accordance with the court’s directives, the police filed a report and jailed the accused. However, the daughter voiced that Rashid Khan unjustly implicated her father.

Dhoni was unfairly given Man of The Match award ahead of me when India beat Pakistan: Saeed Ajmal shares his decade old pain

Over a decade after the match in question, Pakistani cricketer Saeed Ajmal has come out with a rant that he deserved to be Man of the Match in the third ODI between India and Pakistan that took place in January 2013. Ajmal claimed he should have won the prize after helping bowl India out for a low score. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was named Man of the Match in that game. The match he was talking about was played on 6th January, 2013, and India ended up winning by 10 runs.

Indirectly hitting out at MS Dhoni, Ajmal said, “I think it was my bad luck. I bowled India out for 175 (the actual Indian score was 167) in the third ODI – the only series I played in India. We won the first two matches, and I bowled outstandingly well in both. In the third ODI, I got five wickets which is still my best ODI figures. What is 175? But MS Dhoni, for scoring some 18 runs (Dhoni scored 36) and dropping two catches, took away the Man of the Match award. It’s unfair. What is the meaning of a Man of the Match? A person who has the best performance in a game should win it, right? But since India won the match, they gave Man of the Match award to Dhoni for dropping a catch.” Ajmal was speaking at Nadir Ali’s podcast released on 1st July.

Ajmal and Nadir discussed that he never won any Man of The Match award despite being the “world’s no.1 ranked ODI and T20I bowler”. Interestingly, the so-called facts against Dhoni Ajmal tabled during the podcast were not true. During the match, Dhoni did not score 18, but made 36 runs. In a low-scoring game with bowlers dominating, that 36 proved to be the difference in the end.

Further, Dhoni did not miss two, but one very difficult catch. Interestingly, Dhoni took the catch that dismissed Ajmal after scoring just one on the scoreboard. He also stumped Umar Akmal as he marshaled his troops to restrict Pakistan below the target of 168.

Remembering another match, Saeed Ajmal said, “Even against South Africa, I once dismissed four batsmen. I may not have won a Man of the Match award, but I certainly won the Player of the Series award in ODIs. I dismissed Hashim Amla in the last over when SA needed ten runs to win in 12 balls. I got him out second last. It was the first-ever Pakistan team that won an ODI series in South Africa. In every match, I gave match-winning performances during that tour and still didn’t win a single Man of The Match award”.

Bihar: NIA and ATS teams conduct raids at suspected PFI bases in Patna and Darbhanga, one suspect arrested

On Sunday, July 2, National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) teams are conducting raids in Bihar’s Patna and Darbhanga districts in connection to links with the banned group Popular Front of India (PFI). According to reports, an NIA and ATS teams arrived early morning on Sunday in Patna’s Phulwari Sharif police station area and Darbhanga’s Bahera. This raid is being carried out based on information received from Mumtaz Ansari, the accused in Phulwarisharif Patna police station case number 827.

A suspect named Habibullah has been apprehended in Bahera. SSP Avkash Kumar has confirmed the said arrest. The agencies have a lead that the arrested suspect has links to Pakistan’s ISI. Habibullah is said to be an expert in Arabic translations. He allegedly translated Arabic letters and documents into Hindi, Urdu or English for the PFI jihadis. The evidence has been found in a mobile phone seized from his possession. 

Meanwhile, in Patna, the NIA-ATS teams are raiding a bookshop owned by one Riyazuddin Qasmi near Imarat Shariah in Phulwarisharif. Although nothing suspicious or incriminating has been found yet, it is being reported that the said bookshop was allegedly being used for carrying out extremist activities. The NIA team arrived at the location at around 2 am on Sunday. It is worth noting that a PFI training centre was found in Phulwarisharif earlier and arrests were made. 

Notably, Mumtaz Ansari was apprehended by Bihar ATS from Thiruvallur in Tamil Nadu. According to reports, a team of NIA and ATS officials arrived in Patna and Darbhanga to conduct raids based on information obtained from Mumtaz Ansari.

According to ADG, Bihar Police Headquarters Jitendra Singh Gangwar, the Bihar ATS was camping in the Tamil Nadu district of Tirivallur to arrest Mumtaz Ansari. He was handed over to the NIA by the Bihar ATS following his arrest. Mumtaz Ansari is a resident of the Mehsi police station area of Bihar’s East Champaran district. He had escaped Bihar and was working in Tamil Nadu Tirivallur under a fake identity in a company called Pennar.

“Seems pre-planned”: Manipur CM Biren Singh hints at foreign hand behind violence

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Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Saturday hinted that external forces or elements may have had a hand in the ethnic violence, which has claimed several lives in the state, adding that it seems “pre-planned”.

In an exclusive interview with ANI, the Manipur CM said, “…Manipur shares its borders with Myanmar. China is also nearby. As much as 398 km of our borders are porous and unguarded. There are security forces deployed on our frontiers but even a robust and extensive security deployment can’t cover such a vast area. However, going by what’s happening, we can neither deny nor vehemently affirm…it seems pre-planned but the reason is not clear.” He said.

He said the Centre and the state government were making all efforts for restoring peace to the state, adding that he spoke with his “Kuki brothers and sisters” over the telephone earlier in the day, saying, “Let’s forgive and forget”.

“We are making all efforts, at all levels, to restore peace. A few hours ago, I spoke with our Kuki brothers and sisters over the telephone that let’s forgive and forget; reconcile and live together like we always have…The government has only tried to screen the people coming from outside in the wake of the Myanmar turmoil and send them back once the situation improves. Our priority is to restore peace and normalcy in Manipur,” Biren Singh said.

In an impassioned appeal to the people of the Northeast state, he said all tribes have to live together, adding that he will not allow Manipur to be splintered on ethnic lines.

“We are one. Manipur is a small state but we have 34 tribes. All of these 34 tribes have to live together. We just have to be careful that not many people from outside come and settle here. We have to ensure that there is no demographic imbalance. As the CM, I promise that I won’t allow Manipur to break up and neither will there be a separate administrative authority in the state. I am prepared to make sacrifices to keep everyone together,” the CM said.

Ethnic violence erupted in the state on May 3 after clashes during a rally organised by the All Tribal Students Union (ATSU) to protest against the demand for including Meiteis in the list of Scheduled Tribes (STs).

(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)

Buldhana Bus Accident: RTO rules out driver’s claim of tyre burst, or speeding as reasons

On 1st July, Amravati Regional Transport Office (RTO) submitted a report suggesting speeding and tyre burst could not have caused the Buldhana bus accident that took away the lives of 26 passengers. On 30th June, a bus from Nagpur to Pune on the Samruddhi Expressway overturned and caught fire at around 1:32 AM in Sindkhedraha, Buldhana. There were 33 passengers onboard, out of which 26 were charred to death.

In its report, RTO said they did not find any pieces of rubber or tyre markings at the scene. The report includes the information provided by the survivors. It noted that there was no evidence of rubber pieces that are generally found after a tyre burst. Furthermore, no tyre markings were found on the road. There was an impact marking on the wheel disc that was bent instead of the tyre.

A survivor told RTO officials that the bus hit a steel pole on the right side of the road, following this, the driver lost control over the vehicle and hit the divider. Furthermore, the impact on the front tyre that hit the divider was so severe that it dislocated the assembly from the bus chassis. After the front tyre hit the divider, the bus again hit the divider from the right side of the diesel tank.

Following the accident, the front portion of the bus hit the road, causing friction that generated heat resulting in fire. The engine oil temperature was already high as the bus was in on mode. In the absence of the front axle that dislocated due to the accident, the vehicle overturned on its left side. It got dragged on the road, causing further damage and burning it vigorously. The passengers could not get out because the entry and exit gates of the bus were on the left side. Furthermore, the emergency door became inoperative due to the impact.

The report noted that the bus took two hours and 24 minutes to cover the 152 KM stretch from the entry point of the expressway to the spot where the accident occurred. The bus entered at 11:08 PM, and the accident occurred around 1:32 PM. The average speed of the bus would be 70 KMPH, the report said. That means the speed could not have caused the accident.

Earlier, it was reported that the bus driver identified as Danish Sheikh, was detained by the state police and booked under Sections 304, 279, 184 and 134 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The driver, during the interrogation, claimed to the police that the accident occurred after one of the tyres of the bus burst on the Samruddhi Expressway. According to the reports, the conductor of the bus, identified as Arvind Jagtap, has also been taken into custody by the police and is being interrogated in the case. Jagtap was not booked in the matter.

Fact Check: Pakistani Twitter handle turned ‘human rights outfit’ passes Zarif Ansari as ‘upper caste Hindu’ after he brutally killed a Dalit cop in Muzaffarnagar

On Wednesday (June 28), a Pakistani Twitter handle named ‘South Asian Human Rights Watch (@SAHR_Watch)’ courted controversy after it tried to pass off a murder accused named Zarif Ansari as an ‘upper caste Hindu individual.’

In a tweet, it alleged, “In a shocking incident that has sent shockwaves across the nation, a retired Dalit PAC inspector was brutally beaten by an upper caste Hindu individual. The heart-wrenching assault sheds light on the prevailing discrimination faced by Dalits in India.”

The Pakistani Twitter handle further claimed, “The accused has since surrendered himself to the authorities. However, the victim’s condition remains critical, casting a stark spotlight on the urgent need for comprehensive measures to address the pervasive caste-based violence and safeguard the lives of Dalits in the country.”

Screengrab of the tweet by South Asian Human Rights Watch (@SAHR_Watch)’

‘South Asian Human Rights Watch (@SAHR_Watch) also shared a disturbing video wherein the accused, identified as one Zarif Ansari, could be seen bludgeoning the victim to death.

The Truth about the Viral Video

As per reports, the deceased was identified as a retired Dalit PAC police inspector named Garibdas. Zarif believed that the victim had an affair with his wife. On May 18 this year, he launched an unprovoked attack on Garibdas while the victim was sitting and chatting with a shop owner.

Within a matter of few seconds, the perpetrator hit the victim with a shovel for a total of 9 times. The incident took place in Sikhera village in the Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh.

After leaving Garibdas in a pool of blood, Zarif went to the Sikhera police station and surrendered his weapon. The cops rushed to the crime scene and admitted the victim to a hospital. The retired cop was shifted to Meerut for further medical treatment. He later succumbed to his injuries.

A police complaint was filed against the perpetrator by the victim’s family, following which a case was registered in connection to the case. It is thus clear that while the victim was a Dalit man, the murderer was a Muslim and not an ‘upper caste Hindu individual.’

Pakistani handle posing as a London-based human rights outfit

The Twitter handle ‘South Asian Human Rights Watch (@SAHR_Watch)’ claims to be a non-governmental and non-profit organisation, based in London in the United Kingdom.

Screengrab of the Twitter profile of South Asian Human Rights Watch

In reality, it is a Pakistani-based handle, focused primarily on anti-India propaganda. The ‘South Asian Human Rights Watch (@SAHR_Watch)’ account is known for posting targeted disinformation, alongside graphic and disturbing videos.

Screengrab of the tweets by South Asian Human Rights Watch

While such a social media strategy, it has been able to amass a whopping 1.25 lakh followers. The Pakistani handle is known for portraying the Hindu community in a bad light by falsely attributing hate crimes against Dalits and Muslims to them.

Stones pelted at the newly launched Dharwad-Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express in Karnataka

On Saturday, July 1st, stones were pelted on the Dharwad-Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express train in Karnataka. The stone pelting resulted in damage to a windowpane in one of the chair cars. No serious injuries were suffered by the passengers. 

The stone pelting took place between 3.30 and 4 PM on Saturday, July 1, soon after the train left Davangere. There have been no injuries, and the train service was not disrupted.

The attack comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the exclusive ultra-luxury semi-high-speed Vande Bharat Express between Bengaluru and Dharwad on June 28. This is the third instance in Karnataka that stones have been hurled at the Vande Bharat train.

On February 25, 2023, in eastern Bengaluru, stone pelting damaged six side windows in two chair cars of the Chennai-Mysuru Vande Bharat Express. There were no casualties. To prevent such incidents, RPF officers have been deployed on the Vande Bharat Express and long-distance trains.

Several incidents of stone pelting on Vande Bharat trains have come to the fore. On 18 June, stones were pelted on Dehradun-Delhi Vande Bharat Express near Muzaffarnagar station. However, no passengers were injured as a result of the stone-pelting incident. The stone pelting occurred near Muzaffarnagar station on the Delhi-Dehradun route on the E1 coach of the Vande Bharat Express.

According to a report published last month, Bhopal-Delhi Vande Bharat Express witnessed stone pelting just two months after PM Modi inaugurated the train. In the last sixty days of its run, 30 windowpanes and door panes were damaged due to stone pelting.

“16 windowpanes and door glass have been replaced in the last month. We currently do not have any replacement stock. Temporary repairs have been made to the damaged parts. It could take several weeks. The issue of stone pelting has been reported to higher authorities. Since the train moves at 160km per hour, such damage could result in passengers being injured,” a rail official involved in maintenance informed TOI.

In May, stones were hurled on a Vande Bharat train in Andhra Pradesh. The attack resulted in delaying the train by four hours. After examining the CCTV footage, police identified six offenders, out of whom some were minors. All the offenders were booked under Section 153 of the Railways Act. 

The Vande Bharat Express trains are a major success story for the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative. The Vande Bharat trains have become a popular mode of transportation among travellers, but they have also been a target of political opposition. The Vande Bharat Express, or Train 18, has been attacked multiple times across the country since its first commercial run on February 17, 2019. Earlier this year, OpIndia published a list of attacks on the Vande Bharat Express train since its first commercial run.

Twitter temporarily restricts tweets users can see; verified Blue subscribers are capped at 10k tweets per day while new unverified users can only see 500

On Saturday, July 1, Twitter CTO Elon Musk announced that the social media platform has temporarily restricted the number of tweets a user can see per day. As per the information provided by Musk via his tweets, Blue Verified users can see up to 10,000 tweets per day, while unverified Twitter users can only see a thousand tweets per day. If a user is new to Twitter, only 500 tweets per day are permitted. The temporary restriction came in view of “extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation,” Musk said.

He wrote, “We were getting data pillaged so much that it was degrading service for normal users,” after hundreds of users said they were receiving errors on their timeline.

Furthermore, he said it was only a temporary emergency measure. In another tweet, Musk said, “Several hundred organisations (maybe more) were scraping Twitter data extremely aggressively”.

It is believed that Artificial Intelligence (AI) companies were scraping data from Twitter and other platforms to train language models to power chatbots, which was putting pressure on the resources and creating a bottleneck situation for the actual users. Earlier, Twitter removed access to the timeline without logging in, making it compulsory for users to log in to check what has been happening on the platform.

For those unaware, AI systems like ChatGTP and Google Bard pull a lot of information from the internet, known as data scraping. This data is used to run language models that provide human-like conversations to AI users. Platforms like Twitter, Reddit and others posted in multiple languages provide the necessary structure for the AI to create a human-like chat environment. As AI companies are scraping this data for free, companies like Twitter and Reddit end up paying for the resources without getting anything in return. 

In April this year, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman expressed his displeasure over the problem of data scraping in an interview with the New York Times. He said, “The Reddit corpus of data is really valuable. But we don’t need to give all of that value to some of the largest companies in the world for free.” Furthermore, Twitter is taking steps to ensure it is paid for the data. Recently, it started charging users to access application programming interfaces (API), which researchers and third-party apps, including AI companies, use.

Initially, Musk had announced that verified users could see only 6,000 posts per day, followed by 600 for unverified and 300 for new unverified users. Restricting users on how many posts they can see on Twitter may reduce the burden on the servers for the time its engineers come up with a solution. Still, it will definitely affect the ad revenue model of the platform as it will make it difficult for the advertisers to reach the target audience quickly.

In a rather light-hearted sense, Musk retweeted a parody account’s tweet saying the restriction was put in so that Twitter addicts go out.

Musk’s parody account, which is often confused with the real one, wrote, “The reason I set a “View Limit” is because we are all Twitter addicts and need to go outside. I’m doing a good deed for the world here. Also, that’s another view you just used.”